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A Call For All
Sinners
Mark 2: 13 -17
When we
get sick, we want doctors and nurses who truly care about our well
being, who are more interested in helping us to get well than they are
in anything else. Someone has made the statement that “The church is not
a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners” and I think there’s a
lot of truth in that statement.
Our passage tonight is the calling of Levi, or Matthew the tax
collector.
Lets read Mark 2:13-17 together.
Matthew apparently ran a sort of tollbooth to collect import and export
taxes on goods going to and from Capernaum. I think it goes without
saying that tax collectors don’t tend to be the most beloved of people
in any society. But in our society, we have depersonalized the tax
collection process through tax withholding. So if we have any anger, it
tends to be directed against the IRS as a whole rather than against a
specific individual.
But in the first century, the tax collector was somebody who lived in
your community. He took the money right out of your pocket and he was
not a popular fellow at all. In fact, he was very much hated by the
Jews, for several reasons.
First of all, tax collectors tended to be dishonest men.
The Romans auctioned the right to collect taxes in a certain area. The
highest bidder got the job, and he was responsible for paying that much
money to the Roman government, and anything he could collect above that
amount he was allowed to keep as commission. Obviously that system lent
itself to terrible abuses. People were at the mercy of the tax
collector. They didn’t know exactly what they had to pay, so they had to
pay whatever the tax collector said. There was no right of appeal if you
were treated unfairly. The result is that many tax collectors became
wealthy men through their illegal extortion.
The second reason is that tax collectors were Jews who were working for
the enemy - Rome.
What angered the Jews more than anything was their religious conviction
that God alone was their king and that they shouldn’t have to pay taxes
to any human ruler. So, for a Jew to work for the hated Romans and take
money from their fellow countrymen was a horrible sin in their eyes.
By Jewish law, a tax collector was not allowed to go into the synagogue
to worship. And he wasn’t allowed to give any testimony in a court case.
“Robbers, murderers and tax collectors” were all classified together. So
Matthew was one of the most despised men in all of Galilee.
Matthew must have felt like a woman I heard about years ago. She went to
a church service. But she had been living with a man of a different race
and had a baby by him, and she took this baby with her to church. When
she came back a second time, the preacher went to her and said, “I need
to ask you not to attend any more. The other women say they will stop
coming if you continue to come.” She looked at him and said, “I know I’m
a sinner, but isn’t there anywhere a sinner can go?”
That must have been the way Matthew felt. And what a surprise it had to
be when Jesus stopped at his tollbooth, looked him in the eye and said,
"Leave your tax collecting; I want you to follow me."
Think about the fact that Jesus called this tax collector!
Not the scribes or the Pharisees. Not the religious authorities. But the
most despised person of his day: a cheating agent of a foreign
oppressor. The one man in all of Galilee most unlikely to become a
religious leader was called by Jesus to be a foundation stone of his
church.
And the most remarkable thing was that Matthew said “yes”. Of all the
disciples, Matthew gave up most. You see Matthew left everything to
follow Jesus.
Peter and Andrew, James and John could go back to the boats. There were
always fish to catch and always the old trade to which to return; but
Matthew with one action put himself out of his job forever, for having
left his tax collector’s job, he would never get it back again.”
And what’s the first thing Matthew does? He throws a party for all his
friends. Matthew wanted to share this good news with all his friends, so
he threw a party and invited his friends, who just happened to be
sinners and tax collectors.
But the scribes didn’t like the fact that Jesus associated with people
like that. They considered tax collectors worse than Gentiles. They were
unclean. So the scribes wouldn’t eat with them or associate with them.
It was their understanding that to associate with such persons would
make them unfit for participation in temple worship.
But Jesus who knows everything even our very thoughts said, “Those who
are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not
come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Mark 2:17
Now that sounds at first like Jesus had no use for good people. But it’s
not that at all. The point Jesus was making is that the one person Jesus
can do nothing at all for is the person who thinks himself to be so good
that he doesn’t need anything from Jesus.
And the one person for whom Jesus can do everything is the person who is
very conscious of his sin and desperately aware of his need for a
Savior.
II. So what does this have to do with me?
1. We are all in need of a physician.
We all have struggles and needs. Now I realize that we don’t always
convey that. In fact, sometimes I think we try to hide it. And the
reason we do that is because we think everybody else at church has it
all together.
We come to church and nobody else seems to be struggling with the same
things I’m struggling with. Surely nobody else had an argument with
their spouse on the way to church. Have you ever done that? Maybe one of
you is running late and the other one is sitting out in the car waiting
and waiting, getting more and more impatient.
You finally get everybody in the car and someone says. “I don’t
understand why you can’t be ready on time! You have had all day to get
ready but what have you done?”
“Yeah, well maybe if I didn’t have to pick all your stuff up off the
floor every day I could save a little time, and get ready like you.”
“Well, maybe if your mother didn’t stay so long the night before, I’d
have the time to help out instead of falling in the bed so exhausted.”
“Don’t start with my mother!”
And the argument gets really heated about the time you pull into the
church building parking lot. So what do you do? You can’t sit out there
and argue. So you put on your plastic smile and come in the church
building, “How are you doing?” “I’m fine. How are you?” Come on, let’s
be honest – you’ve all had that happen before. It might have happened to
you today!
Why is it that when we come together, we want to give the appearance
that we don’t have any problems, everything’s going just fine?
Is it because we look around at everybody else and it looks like
everything’s fine with them and we don’t want to be any different. Of
course, they’re putting up that front because they think we’ve got it
all together.
The truth of the matter is, we all struggle. We’re not here because
we’ve got it all together and everything is perfect in our lives. We’re
here because we realize how much we need God and how much we need one
another.
And so we come together as a group of hurting people. Some of us are
hurting physically. We’ve got members who are really struggling in a
battle against cancer. We’ve got other members who are confined to
wheelchairs. We have members who have lost a loved one in the past year.
We could create a lengthy list of all the physical problems that we
face. But it’s not just physical. We have members with financial
difficulties, members battling depression, members who are struggling to
keep their marriage together.
And we struggle spiritually. So often, we’re afraid to talk about those
struggles. “If anyone ever knew that I struggle with this particular
temptation, what would they think of me?”
And so we keep the mask on. The truth is we’re all struggling. We’re not
here because we’ve managed to attain perfection.
It is sad that I have had folks say to me in the past, “Jeremy, I’m
thinking about becoming a Christian, but I just don’t feel I’m good
enough. I want to get some things straight in my life before I make that
step.”
Let me tell you this – those folks tend to wait a long, long time
because the truth is we never get to the point where we do everything
just right. If we could reach that point, then we wouldn’t need Jesus!
We’re not here because we’re well. We’re here because we’re sick. We’re
here because we are all in need of the forgiveness and salvation that
only Jesus Christ can provide. We are all in need of a physician.
The second thing that I believe that we can learn tonight is…
2. Our Spiritual deliverance should cause us to reach out to others in
need.
Did you notice what the first thing Matthew did after he accepted the
invitation to follow Christ?
He invited all of his friends to come meet Jesus as well. It only makes
sense that those who have found a physician who can heal want to share
that good news with others.
There’s a beautiful story in 2 Kings 7.
The situation is that Samaria was surrounded by the armies of the
Syrians. The Syrians decided the way to capture the city was just to
keep any food from going in and eventually starve the Samaritans into
submission. When things got unbearable, there were four lepers who were
starving as well. They decided to go to the enemy camp and beg for food.
They figured the worst that could happen was that they would be killed
and they were dying anyway.
But, when they got to the enemy camp, they found that God had caused the
enemy to scatter, leaving behind all their food. Those four men had a
feast. They ate and drank to their heart’s content. But the verse I want
you to notice is verse 9.
Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a
day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning
light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and
tell the king's household."
They said, “We have found something and it’s not right for us to sit
here enjoying it without telling anybody else.”
Imagine someone who finds a cure for cancer, or common cold, and they
say, “We’re not going to tell anybody else about it.” No – when you find
a doctor who can help you, you want to tell everybody else who needs to
know.
That’s the way it is with the Great Physician. We are very much in need
of healing. But we have found the one who can heal us, and we want to
share that with as many others as we possibly can.
We need to do everything we can to tell as many as we can that there is
healing to be found in the Great Physician.
We have to realize that the Church is a spiritual life-saver, and God is
calling us to represent Him to the world in our response to people in
the same spiritual condition that all of us are in: people who are in
need, people who are hurting, people who are spiritually hungry, sick,
or injured.
The last thing that we can learn tonight from this passage is…
3. We draw strength from one another
The story is told of a doctor who was making rounds with a group of
first-year medical students. He pointed to an X-ray and said, “As you
can see, the patient limps because his left fibula and tibia are
radically arched. Matt, what would you do in a case like this?”
Matt said, “Well, I suppose I'd limp, too.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another,
just as you also are doing.
One reason we come together is to edify and encourage one another. Our
History is full of stories of people doing wonderful things when they
were encouraged to.
If we were to be open and honest with one another, if we could sit down
and openly discuss our struggles and fears we would realize that we were
not alone. We would see that we are not the only one to ever struggle
with fear, or worry about or finances, or struggle with our spouse, or
even struggle with God.
We can gain strength from one another when we realize that we don’t have
to walk alone.
Last October I was spending the day with my mom when she received a
phone call from her doctor. She had a test run that the results didn’t
look very good and they wanted her to come back for another round of
tests. We were a little stunned but we are a praying family and we would
just pray about it.
Well the next round of tests proved that the doctors were right to be
suspicious and they said the word that we were afraid of, cancer. We
were in shock but quickly went about making preparations for the
upcoming biopsy and if that proved to truly be cancer then what would
our next steps be.
Over the next 6 months we watched as she endured surgery, and then
Chemo, and then radiation. We watched as her hair, that had not been cut
since her two year old baby asked her not to ever cut it again, fell
out. We saw how the chemo ravaged her body, not only making her sick but
causing sores and her skin to split. We saw how the radiation burned her
skin and made it feel as tough as leather. It was truly a disturbing
time.
Our only grace was that the Mayfair Congregation where they attend in
Huntsville has a cancer support group. My parents attended the first
session in November and told the group what was going on. It was in this
group that they found understanding. Mom was approached by several women
who were survivors of the same type of cancer. They asked her questions,
like “What time in the morning do you wake up? Mine was at 2:00 and I
was awake for the night. When you wake up tonight give me a call I’ll be
waiting.” And other questions that proved they knew.
My parents say that Mayfair has been a blessing to them in times of Joy
and Struggle before but never like this. In this group they found
compassion and understanding for the patient and caregiver.
Last week I was invited to attend the Cancer Support Group with my
parents. It was mom’s first time to attend as a survivor. I was
surprised by what a wonderful time the members had. I was expecting a
solemn group lamenting one another’s sickness but what I found was a
room full of laughter, and everyone was all smiles. They clapped and
whooped at each victory and cried and hugged with each set back. I
learned two things last week that I believe fits perfectly with our
passage tonight.
1) We need to take life this moment in time.
2) And God gives us grace for this moment by the people He puts in our
lives.
Church God made us a body, so that we can find strength and support from
one another.
Paul admonishes us to
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15
And
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians
6:2
We can only rejoice with you if you will let us. We can only mourn with
you if are willing to share. And we can only bear your burdens tonight
if you are willing to trust this body that God has given you for
support.
Conclusion:
I don’t know what struggles each and every one of you are facing here
this evening, but I’m confident in saying that each of you have needs of
some kind. I want you to know that my family is here to help you in what
you’re struggling with, and so is this church. We’re not here to look
down on you because of what you’re going through. We’re not here to tell
you that we’re the doctors with the cure. We’re here to tell you that we
struggle as well, but we have found the Great Physician and we want to
share his healing power with you.
Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those
who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to
repentance.” Mark 2:17
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