We Are Called!

We Are Called for Mission

Matthew 9:9-14

January 13, 2019

Not in his worst nightmares could he have ever envisioned that he would end up here. If you could go back in time and make different decisions he would do it in a second. His parents had turned their back on him. His friends were no longer his friends. He was even disgusted at himself. The people considered him worse than a sinner. Guys like Matthew were worse, he was a “Tax Collectors.”

One day Matthew was sitting at his post and a crowd of people were hovering in the area. Not to see him, but to see some guy called Jesus of Nazereth. He tried to listen to what this Jesus was saying. People were interrupting Him, and Jesus saw a man who was paralyzed. He looked at the man and his friends and Jesus saw their faith. He told the man “Your sins are forgiven.”

People laughed and people starting yelling at Jesus that He had no right to forgive the man’s sins. Then Jesus did the remarkable, the unthinkable. He told this paralyzed man, not only are your sins forgiven, but get up and walk and go home. At once the paralyzed man was paralyzed no more. He got up and started to walk home. The people were astonished and many glorified God.

As Matthew watched what was happening, Jesus began to walk towards his booth. It was like Jesus was walking right at him. Finally, Jesus was standing right in front of him, and Jesus simply said, “Follow me.”

It was like Matthew didn’t even think, he just got up and started to follow Jesus. He simply got up and walked away from his tax collecting booth. Matthew knew this was life changing, but he still didn’t realize what he was really doing.

Matthew was invited by God to join Him in ministry, to serve God and others. We arr all called by God and when we accept that call, our lives can be transformed.

I believe God has a mission for each person’s life. There’s a purpose and a plan. Sometimes we ignore that plan, we don’t like it, or we don’t hear it, so we miss out.

Others will kind of flirt with God’s plan and purpose. They dip their toes into the water, but don’t get in the water.

Then there are those who hear the message and just jump into the water and swim away with God.

I believe we’re all seeking purpose, we’re seeking something bigger in our lives. We all want to have a purpose for what we’re doing in our lives. We want it to be more than just getting up and going to work everyday . . . ultimately, we want it to be more then going to school. We want to make a significant difference in this world. I believe that’s part of the cause for so much restlessness in this world. Ultimately, we were created to serve, for missions!

As we begin this venture to see how we are made for mission, that we are called, we’re going to look at the story about Jesus calling Matthew. After Jesus healed the paralyzed man, Matthew tells us –

9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow me.”

And he rose and followed Jesus.

The fact that Jesus, a Jewish man even approached Matthew, the worst of the sinners was astonishing. Understand that tax collectors were Jews. They had sold out their own people in order to become wealthy. People hated them. You would think these would be the last people Jesus would choose to be part of His inner circle. Who would want to hang out with a tax collector?

I believe this is really important for us because some of us think God would never want me to do anything for Him. I’m not good enough. I’ve done too many bad things, I’m a really bad person. We come up with all kinds of reasons to justify not being involved.

BUT - - and this is really important, if God called Matthew to serve Him, why not you?

In his book Gaining by Losing, J.D. Greer, the Southern Baptist Convention, president wrote, “There is a widespread myth in the church that “calling into ministry” is a secondary experience that happens to only a few Christians. Their job is to do the ministry and everyone elses job is to just show up and foot the bill. Few lies cripple the mission more than that one. Each believer is called to leverage his or her life for the spread of the gospel. The question is no longer whether we are called, only where and how.”