Jesus began His earthly mission with a search for a team of apprentices, of high level leaders who would form his inner circle and take on the leadership of building His Kingdom after he completed His mission here on earth.
As was depicted in the drama sketch, the men Jesus chose were not the type of people who would rise to the top of an “Apprentice” series to be selected by Donald Trump. Jesus was choosing a team to join Him in building a Kingdom here on earth that would alter the course of human history and stand forever. To find the right people for such a grand venture it’s surprising that Jesus didn’t go to Rome and recruit some of the powerful people that surrounded Caesar. Or that He didn’t go to Athens and engage in philosophical dialogue with the leading thinkers of the day.
But He didn’t appeal to the powerful, the brilliant, the rich, the famous, or the popular. As we saw in the first two weeks of this series He chose people like Andrew = Ordinary. Ordinary people with ordinary jobs such as fishermen. Ordinary people who didn’t have extraordinary gifts, or talents, or abilities. And He chose people like Philip = Practical. Practical people who approached life with their feet firmly planted in the real world. Who wouldn’t be swept away by the next religious leader who comes along. Practical people who have practical questions and practical concerns that need to be answered before they can step out in faith.
This morning we want to look at another one of the 12 disciples (or apprentices), that Jesus selected in order to understand further the type of person He chooses. We are going to look at Matthew. If the key word for Andrew is ordinary and for Philip is practical, the key words for Matthew are Sold out
We meet Matthew in Luke 5:27 where we read (27a)
You all know about Levi the disciple right? It was Levi along with the other disciple Strauss who founded the famous jeans company…No Levi is the Hebrew name of the disciple we know as Matthew. Matthew had a Hebrew and a Greek name. This was not unusual for Jews living in the Roman Empire with Greek as the language of the day. We see this in a number of people in the New Testament like Paul who also known as Saul.
If you interviewed any Jew on the street from Matthew’s town of Capernaum they would tell you what Matthew was like. He was well educated and rather wealthy, but he was a social outcast and despised by the people because he had SOLD OUT. Sold out to the god of money. He was despised by the Jews because he had SOLD OUT to the Romans.
Capernaum at that time had a growing population of Jews and a thriving fishing industry along the Sea of Galilee. A custom house was established by the Romans to exact taxes from the people of this region. And Matthew was the tax collector. He worked along the main international highway from Damascus through Capernaum to the Mediterranean Coast and all the way down to Egypt.
As a tax collector the Romans gave Matthew the authority to set and collect taxes. He paid a sum of money for this privilege. He was then able to recoup his investment by collecting taxes from his fellow countrymen. And the more he collected the more profit he would make. He set up his booth along the main thoroughfare and could tax you on all sorts of things. He could tax you on how many axles were on your wagon, or how much baggage you were carrying, or even how much money or the amount of goods you were carrying. And he enforced payment by using the threat of force by the Roman army.
We meet him here at his tax booth maybe it’s at the end of the day when he’s getting ready to close up. It’s been another good day. In one sense he had it made—a secure job, financial security, wealth and all the privileges that come with it—a comfortable home, nice clothes, the finest of foods and entertainment at his disposal. So Matthew is going over the figures in his head. Calculating how many years it will take him at this pace to have enough money to walk away from the booth, financially secure, begin to travel and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
But there was another voice inside and a knot in his stomach that he couldn’t ignore. Once again he had endured the icy cold glares, the angry accusations and judgments muttered under their breath by his fellow Jews. He was despised by them and it is easy why. He was seen as someone who had turned his back on his people, SOLD OUT to the Romans. And he was doing work that the Romans considered to be too demeaning to dirty their own hands. He was an outcast banished from the synagogue and the temple. No self-respecting Jew would even sit down at the same table with him.
He felt the rejection. He had tried to attend the synagogue after he set up his tax booth but the reception was so cold he never went back. He had no real friends outside the circle of fellow tax gatherers. And you couldn’t really call them friends. As long as he had money he was accepted but they were all focused on their own selfish pursuits.
Jesus had grown up about 25 miles from Capernaum. [On map]
Surely Matthew had heard about him. Perhaps he had even collected a tax from Jesus or Jesus’ family. He knew that Jesus was in Capernaum and had created quite a stir when he healed a man afflicted with leprosy and healed a demon possessed man. The crowds were gathering to see him and hear him. This was all good for Matthew’s business. Matthew was probably at work when all the people crowded in that house had seen Jesus heal the paralytic who had been lowered through the roof by his friends. But Matthew had heard the rumblings from the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were outraged at the words of Jesus spoken in that home and recorded in Luke 5:20.
Those words stuck with him. “Your sins are forgiven”. Matthew was a sinner and he knew it. For that matter everyone else knew it too. He had SOLD OUT and his sin was out in the open for everyone to see. Could this Jesus truly forgive his sins????
And then as Matthew looked through his books that day, he could feel it. He didn’t even have to look up. He knew Jesus was standing right before him. And He could feel as Jesus’ eyes not only looked at him, but also looked right through him. Through his books, through his empty life, right into his heart. He braced himself for judgment. He felt dirty, guilty…He braced himself for words of rejection or rebuke. Instead he looked up to see Jesus looking upon him with eyes that knew him fully but instead of a look of rejection they were eyes of acceptance and Jesus spoke to him that day saying: (27b) “Follow Me.”
Matthew was the type of person God chose that day. And in one sense or another there is a little bit of Matthew in every one of us. We have worked at our education, making a home for our family, or our career. Striving to earn our share of the pie. But somewhere along the way we have sold out. Sold out to the god of money. Sold out to the god of pleasure. Sold out to the god of convenience. Sold out our souls. Sold out to sin. Chosen a path that separates us from God’s plan for our lives. Maybe your sin has been like Matthews out there in the open for everyone to see. Or maybe it has been hidden in your heart where no one else has ever seen. Either way you know it’s there.
Either way, you can know that just as Jesus chose Matthew to follow Him, He chooses you and me even when we have been SOLD OUT. This morning we want to look closer at Matthew to see what we can learn about the type of person God chooses.
Read Luke 5:27-30
I want to look at three things we can learn from this encounter Matthew had with Jesus. The first thing we learn is that you must…
1. Recognize your need
The Pharisees and religious leaders and teachers had a system to follow that they believed was the way to please God. They were into following all of the details of 100’s of laws in order to be right with God. And they were into comparing. And when they compared themselves and their standing before God compared to the likes of these tax gatherers and sinners they felt pretty good about themselves. They could point out everything that was wrong in the lives of these god forsaking people.
And when Jesus chose to spend time with the likes of Matthew they didn’t understand this. They complained about the types of people Jesus was hanging around with. These sinners. Spiritually sold out people.
But Jesus explained that these were the very people He came for. That He came for people like Matthew who recognized their need.
Look what He says in 31-32.
Jesus didn’t go to the Pharisees school of theology for His disciples, He didn’t choose scholars to walk with Him. He didn’t choose people who had proven themselves against some religious ranking. Because those people didn’t know they needed Him. Instead He explains, He came as a physician, to heal us of our sickness called “sin”. He came not for those who have got it all together on their own, but for those who are sick, for those who recognize their need.
When Matthew encountered Jesus at the tax booth that day there was no question in Matthew’s mind, no question in his heart that he was sick in need of the Great Physician, that he was a sinner in need of a Savior.
What about you? Have you got life and pleasing God all figured out on your own? Or do you recognize your need? Do you recognize your life has fallen short of what God created you for? Do you need a Savior or do you feel you can handle it all on your own.
As Jesus is here this morning to encounter you—the first thing you must do is to recognize your need.
2. Become sold out for Him
Jesus looked right into the heart of Matthew that day and saw a man who was ready to follow Him. It didn’t matter at all that Matthew had sold out to the Romans or the god of money. What mattered was that in Matthew Jesus saw a man who was willing to be sold out for Him.
Matthew had trusted in his profession for security, for satisfaction, for fulfillment, and had come up empty. He now was faced with the question: was he willing to walk away from all that he had? All that he had trusted in? Was he willing to become sold out for Jesus? To trust Jesus for the present? To trust Jesus for his future?
And this was no easy decision for Matthew. Matthew paid a high price to follow Jesus. Think about it, if this venture ended in failure the fishermen who became disciples could return to their nets. But former tax collector is not really what you want to have on your resume when you try to search for another job. You couldn’t walk away from the Romans and expect to ever return. And the Jews would not want to have anything to do with a traitor like him….
Matthew considered all these things. He counted the cost and closed his books, closed his booth and made up his mind to become SOLD OUT in a completely different way. A decision that would alter everything about his life from that moment forward. It would change his whole identity. He was no longer
Matthew – tax collector sold out to Rome. He would be
Matthew – disciple sold out for Jesus.
That’s what Jesus wants to do for us. He wants to transform our lives, but He doesn’t do it against our will. We must choose to follow Him. In the same way that Matthew got up from that tax booth and left it all behind, Jesus asks you and I to leave behind anything we have been sold out to. Anything that we depend on for our security, our peace, our fulfillment, apart from Him.
That’s what Matthew did. Contrast Matthew’s response to Jesus with that of the rich young upright Jewish man in Matthew 19:16-22. This wealthy young man had asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus called him to give up all his wealth and follow Him the Bible records his response:
Matthew 19:22
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
That wealth had a hold of his heart. He was sold out to it. There is nothing wrong with having money. The Bible says it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. It is when you are sold out to it.
Jim Elliot a missionary who was killed in South America in the late 50’s said: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”
We are to be sold out to the eternal things we cannot lose rather than selling out to the temporary things here that we cannot keep. What have you turned to for your security, for your identity, for your fulfillment? Are you willing to leave all that to follow Jesus? To give up that which you cannot keep, to gain what you cannot lose?
Jesus is not just looking for a nice group of people. Or extraordinary people with all kinds of knowledge and experience and abilities. He is looking for people to join Him in transforming the world for all eternity. People who will become sold out for Him. What about you? Are you willing?
We must be ready to…
3. Follow with open arms
Matthew had been the kind of guy who was grabbing for every piece of the pie he could get. Taking and accumulating whatever he could for himself. That was Matthew the tax collector.
But we have a very different picture when it comes to Matthew the disciple. What is the first thing that we see Matthew doing after he chooses to follow Jesus? He invites all of his friends and colleagues over to have dinner with Jesus. He invited people who would not have normally associated with a Jewish Rabbi to come and meet Jesus. Sinners, tax collectors, traitors, prostitutes and other such lowly types. Matthew calls them all together for a dinner party. He wants to share his new life in Christ with all of them. He was a man of means, he owned his own nice big home, and he had the resources to put on a feast, so he uses it all to introduce people to Jesus.
We too are called to follow with open arms reaching out to share with others, to use what He has given us, to invite people to our homes, invite people to share a meal or an experience, and to share with them what Jesus has done in our lives…
How did the Jewish leaders respond to Matthews banquet? They were up in arms that Jesus would associate with such sinners. But how do you think heaven responded? Heaven was rejoicing that day. The Bible tells us that the angels sing over one who comes to know Christ. There was a celebration going on in heaven because Matthew was using what he had been given to bring others to Jesus.
Jesus uses our unique background and abilities when we follow with open arms. Look at Matthew. His background as a tax collector was anything but spiritual. If you were going to look for a profile of who would communicate to the Jews about Jesus, a tax collector would probably not even enter your mind as a possibility. Humanly speaking Matthew seems like the worst candidate for a disciple to influence others to follow Jesus.
But from Jesus’ perspective Matthew was the perfect choice.
Matthew follows Jesus, his life is changed. He shares with other tax collectors and sinners…He travels and learns from Jesus for three years and serves as a disciple. Tradition tells us that he stayed and preached to the Jews who had despised him in Judea after Jesus ascended for 12-15 years and then went out to foreign nations. Eventually ministered and martyred in Ethiopia.
And what else did he do? Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Matthew writes what we know now as the first book of the New Testament the Gospel of Matthew. His abilities to account for financial records didn’t seem very spiritual. But that keen mind which once greedily kept track of figures and ledgers now preserves for us the Word of God.
And the Gospel of Matthew is not about Matthew at all. In fact he declines to record much about himself (banquet…) Instead Matthew makes clear that he is just someone sick who needs the Great Physician, a sinner in need of a Savior. Each of the four Gospels is distinct in its emphasis. Matthew’s Gospel is distinctively Jewish in it’s orientation giving special emphasis to how Jesus fulfilled the OT prophesies about the Messiah. In his “traitor” role as a tax collector he had to be fluent in both Hebrew and Greek. God uses this to make Matthew’s gospel a bridge between Jews and Gentiles.
Matthew followed with open arms and God used his past, his relationships, his resources, his abilities to impact Jerusalem, Judea, to Ethiopia and beyond…to us!
That’s what Jesus asks you to do. Follow with open arms. To take who you are, your past, your experience, your resources and offer them all to Him with open arms. You might think, “but what do I have to offer?” You might look at yourself and your background and your abilities and think none of it is very spiritual…but if you yield yourself, offer yourself with open arms you’ll be amazed at what God will do.
I remember two years ago when Tony Sanchez was expressing a desire to offer himself more in service. But as we went through a class on discovering your gifts and your ministry he just didn’t feel like it was helping him to see what he really had to offer spiritually. As we talked about his abilities, his passions, …ability to manage a complex project and to break it down and keep it moving forward…
In that conversation our Children’s ministry facility team was born!!! We will have a new children’s ministry facility in 2005, children and families will be brought to Christ because Tony followed with open arms.
Will you follow Him with open arms? Let him take all that you have even that which doesn’t seem so spiritual and let Him use it all? If you do, you’ll be amazed at what God will do!
Can you relate to Matthew? Feel like you’ve sold out spiritually? Do you feel on the outside looking in when it comes to the people of God? Do you feel unqualified to be chosen by Him, to be His disciple, to influence others, to change the world? Well we learn again this morning that you are exactly the type of person God chooses. And He says to you: Follow Me!
How will you respond?
Do you recognize your need?
Are you ready to become sold out for Him?
Will you follow Him with open arms?
