17: Jesus, Friend of Sinners (Luke 5:27-39)

Maybe that person has used & abused others, cheated others. Maybe that person is known because of their foul language or crude actions. The person I think of is named Chris. He was a middle linebacker on my high school football team. He went to church. He was friendly & fun. But his language was always laced with 4 letter words. His stories about sexual conquests were legendary in the locker room. His love for alcohol led him into lots of brutal fights. And that didn’t change after high school. Getting drunk, fighting in bars, chasing women was his lifestyle for years. Chris was THE LAST guy I thought would genuinely follow Jesus. But years later, what I found out about Chris blew me away…I’ll explain in a few minutes.

Who do YOU know like that? We are about to meet…THAT guy in today’s study - the last person you would ever think would follow Jesus. PRAY

Luke 5:27a (NIV)

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.

This story is told in all the synoptics (seeing together - Matthew, Mark, & Luke). Mark & Luke call this man “Levi” but Matthew 9:9 calls this man Matthew. But it’s not the name of this man that is the focus of this passage; it’s his occupation. Levi (aka Matthew) is a tax collector, a Jewish traitor - collecting taxes on behalf of the Romans PLUS cheating his own people for his own gain.

Levi was THAT GUY - the last one you think would follow Jesus. Levi worked around Capernaum & since Jesus was living there, Levi had certainly heard the stories of what Jesus had done around town. It’s likely that Levi had even gone to hear Jesus teach before. Luke doesn’t give us any of that information. He cuts right to the chase. The tax collector is going about his daily business, cheating people & making mucho denarius - when Jesus steps up to his tax booth. Notice this: Levi wasn’t pursuing Jesus…instead - Jesus was pursuing Levi!

And it was at this simple set-up just off the main road - where farmers, merchants, and caravans passed - that Jesus calls THAT GUY to be His disciple…

Luke 5:27b-28 (NIV)

“Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

You’ll remember that tax collectors came to be baptized by John the Baptist. When they asked what God wanted them to change, John told them, ““Don’t collect any more than you are required to” (Luke 3:12-13). In other words, John told them to be HONEST. But when Jesus spoke to Levi, He told Levi to be DONE.

Follow me was more than a figurative phrase that we might use, ”Yes, I follow Jesus.” Levi (aka Matthew) literally got up, left everything and followed him. Where Jesus goes, Levi would go. If Levi was a lower level tax collector as many commentators note, as Levi left his boss would have quickly hired someone to replace him. Levi quit his lucrative job to follow Jesus.

Luke 5:29 (NIV)

29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

I LOVE this! Levi/Matthew threw a dinner party…for Jesus! He invited other friends to hang out with Jesus in his home.

Oh that we would use our homes the same way! May our homes be a place where Jesus is honored and people are welcomed! Sadly, many American Christians view their homes as a place of personal comfort rather than a tool to honor the King. May we use our homes to welcome brothers & sisters…and invite a sinner to dinner…like Levi did.

In fact, Levi invited a large crowd of tax collectors. Most Jews wouldn’t want to be ANYWHERE NEAR this motley crew, but Jesus accepted the invitation and took his disciples with Him. Following oriental custom of the day, they would have reclined on a couch or a floor full of pillows as they ate & talked together for a long time.

<Enter Pharisees stage left> The Pharisees were aware that Jesus was there but they would never have contaminated themselves entering a sinner’s home. So they either waited outside until the disciples of Jesus came out or filed their complaint days later.

Luke 5:30 (NIV)

30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

I have 2 Questions about their complaint:

First, What’s the BIG DEAL? Why is it ‘wrong’ to have dinner with a sinner?

“In their society table fellowship implied mutual acceptance.” In other words, many understood that eating with another person communicated that you agreed with them. But couldn’t Jesus be a friend of sinners & yet NOT be a friend of SIN?

Second question: Why did they complain to the disciples of Jesus, rather than to Him? Maybe Jesus wasn’t available - maybe He is inside saying His goodbyes. Or maybe the Pharisees were looking for the perfect opportunity pick on the freshmen disciples - fishermen and a tax collector - instead of facing Jesus Himself. Cowards!

But somehow the question to the disciples made it to the ears of Jesus.

Luke 5:31 (NIV)

31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus compares Himself to a doctor who comes to heal the sick. This probably greatly interested Dr. Luke, the physician writing this text. Dr. Jesus comes to help the sick.

You know who DOESN’T go to the doctor? People who aren’t sick. They have no need of a doctor. Since these Pharisees didn’t view themselves as being sick…they had NO NEED of a doctor - especially if that was Jesus. But the tax collectors at Levi’s house were very sick. Even the Pharisees believed that. So the argument in question form might sound like this:

“What exactly do you expect a doctor to DO? Stay away from sick people?”

The Pharisees act like Jesus is there to applaud their sickness, but He is there…to help them get well. The Friend of Sinners is not a friend of sin.

THIS is why Jesus has come. It’s the reason He went to Levi’s house.

BIG TRUTH Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow HimBIG TRUTH Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow HimBIG TRUTH Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow HimBIG TRUTH Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

This is the essence of the gospel:

ALL are sick…and the sick need a doctor.

And “The Dr. is in da’ house!”

Turn to your neighbor and tell ‘em…“The Dr. is in da’ house!” (Come on now. If I was with some of my black brothers/sisters right now…this place would be rockin’!)

3. And the Doctor’s prescription for your sickness - your sin - is this: Repent. That means…

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

Levi couldn’t continue to cheat others AND follow Jesus too. He had to choose one or the other. Those who claim to preach the Gospel without calling people FROM sin to Follow Jesus is no gospel message! Because…

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

THIS is why Jesus is making time for tax collectors, the spiritually unclean, traitors & cheats. These men had been barred from the synagogues…so Jesus went TO THEM. And not only did Jesus go and eat with them. He called one of them - Levi (aka Matthew), to be one of his closest disciples.

How could Jesus take such a SINFUL GUY and USE HIM to impact many others?!

I don’t know…but I’m glad He did…and DOES…Remember THAT guy Chris? Here’s a picture [fire Pic]. The last guy I expected to come to Jesus…started a Christian magazine in 2009. He edits the magazine and writes articles…here’s one…

Chris Cherp’s Magazine article ‘Comfort in His Presence’

As you can imagine, life for me was a blast—for a short season. Then, all hope began to fade. I started to realize I could not fill the emptiness or loneliness in my life. Though I longed for the comfort of having my Father God with me in my everyday affairs, I just didn’t understand how it could be possible, especially since He is perfectly holy and I am far from it (Psalm 99:9).

Then one evening while washing the dishes, I heard some preacher on television say, “Look at my hands; there are no holes. Look at my back; there are no scars.” He went on to say that he is not our Savior but Jesus Christ is and He is our eternal righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

That statement got my attention…The more I listened to this preacher on television, the more I began to see that even my future sins were paid for at the Cross, too. God, who is not subject to time, took all the punishment of my sins and laid it on the body of Jesus at the Cross (1 Peter 2:24). This was all done almost two thousand years before I was even born.

The moment I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior—many years ago now—was the moment ALL my sins were forgiven. I no longer had to go around feeling like a hypocrite, pretending to be perfect, and hiding all my mistakes and failures. I could begin to walk in the freedom of knowing Jesus was, and forever is, my righteousness and that my Father God views me through Jesus, not through my mistakes (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12).

And then…the guy I thought would never follow Jesus writes this to others:

If you’re feeling alone, longing for the comfort of His presence, then I encourage you to stop looking at yourself and begin looking at Jesus and what He did for you at the Cross. Understand that He is God and His work is far superior to any work of man. His work at the Cross was perfect and complete. There is nothing for us to do except believe and not forget all the benefits He has given to us (Psalm 103:2). We are righteous through Christ and as a result, our Father God will always be near us.

If you have never invited Jesus into your heart or even if you have just walked away from your relationship with Him over the years, know that it’s not too late to form a healthy relationship with Him. He waits patiently for each one of us to come to the realization that we need Him, and once we call on Him, He will never leave us.

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

BIG TRUTH

Jesus calls people From Sin to Follow Him

THAT guys Chris - walked FROM his sin and FOLLOWED Jesus …just like Levi.

But instead of being delighted, the Pharisees thought this as deplorable - sinful; but what was their biblical evidence that what Jesus was doing was wrong? They had none.

[Go back to slide of Luke 5:30]

As we mentioned last week, the Pharisees had a high view of Scripture, but they also had a high view of ’The tradition of the elders’ - interpretations and practices of well-learned rabbis. These are the guys who built fences around God’s Laws. If you didn’t break their laws, then you wouldn’t break God’s laws.

Problem is, these Rabbinical Laws often trumped the Written Laws of Scripture.

So while the Bible doesn’t discourage eating with sinners, the Rabbinical Law did.

And THIS is the root of many clashes Jesus will have with the Pharisees in our future studies.

The Pharisees will point to Rabbinical Law & Jesus will counter with Written Law.

Here’s another example.

Luke 5:33 (NIV)

33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Fasting in Jesus’ day, was a sign of waiting, of mourning that God’s kingdom still had not arrived. It was a way of remembering how God had disciplined disobedient Israel, and humbling oneself in repentance to pray for God’s mercy.

The Pharisees fasted twice a week (as seen in Luke 18:12) - on Monday and Thursday, but there is only one annual fast mandated in the Old Testament - on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29, 31). Once again, this fasting was a Rabbinical Law, not a Written Law - a man-made law, not a God-made law.

Maybe this was one of those days and instead of fasting, these people are hanging out with sinners and partying like it’s A.D. 99.

Why aren’t they fasting and mourning instead of feasting & laughing?

Luke 5:34-35 (NIV)

34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

During Jewish weddings there was lots of food and drink - a week of celebration! Now Jesus compares himself with the bridegroom. People don't fast at the wedding celebration - they eat & enjoy one another’s company. They honor the newly married couple. This anticipates the messianic banquet at the end of time - when Jesus comes to live with His bride - His church. But before that can occur, the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast. This refers to the time when Jesus is crucified, before His resurrection.

Then Jesus gives an illustration they wouldn’t like. You & and I might not like it either.

Luke 5:36-39 (NIV)

36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’ ”

Guess who the old garment & old wineskins are…the Pharisees and teachers of the law. We all have the tendency to get rigid and comfortable in our old ways instead of being flexible and willing to change. Old wineskins wouldn’t be able to stretch when new covenant was added. The result of putting this new wine in old wine skins would result in an explosion.

This is EXACTLY what happens when we confuse our man-made traditions with God’s truths. We must be wary of the belief that what pleases us most, pleases God most.

Did you know this can even happen among us church folks? (sarcastically)

Some of us think OUR style of music is the only style that pleases God and there is no wiggle room for anything ‘new’. It’s okay to have a favorite style - we all do. Just don’t claim that YOUR favorite is God’s favorite.

Like the Pharisees, some of us begin to think that God rather have us spend all our time with church folks rather than make time to have ‘dinner with a sinner’.

Sometimes our traditions keep us from doing something new.

Here’s a good example: I sat with some other pastors to discuss the Love LOUD, Day of Service on April 6 [Fire Love LOUD] (please sign up to serve today). Many of them talked as if their churches wouldn’t have anything to do with it; as if the only option on Sunday mornings is to meet in our buildings at certain times.

It’s hard to convince some people of something different. Do something long enough & it can become a tradition that rivals God’s truth. Oh Fellowship, may we be the people who never compromise God’s truths by getting shackled to man-made traditions. I pray that if Jesus wanted to do something new in Madison County - one of the churches He would call would be Fellowship. May WE BE new wineskins [Fire v38-39]- flexible to what He wants.

new wine must be poured into new wineskins

So rather than trying to teach old dogs new tricks - rather than trying to reform Pharisees & teachers of the law, Jesus would use fishermen and tax collectors. And if these guys thought forgiving sin, eating with sinners, & not fasting on Mondays & Thursdays was wicked…just what would happen when they heard Jesus say opposing Him meant they opposed God!

What do we need to take away? [Fire Title Slide]1. Jesus is a Friend of Sinners, but not a friend of sin. Leave your sin and follow Him.

2. Beware the tendency to value the laws of men over the laws of God.

3. Jesus spent time with sinners, Calling people from sin to follow Him. So should we.

Feet to Faith (Homework) [Fire Feet to Faith]

Invite a ‘sinner’ to dinner this week.

It might be a same-sex friend or their whole family.

If you are able, invite them to your home. If not, take them out to eat.

If it’s in your home, may it be a place where Jesus is honored and people are welcomed.

Ask how you can pray for them…and do it.

Look for the opportunity to share your 3 minute faith story (before Christ, meeting Jesus, since then…) and share how they can trust Jesus. Build a friendship and leave the door open for future talks.

[Slide of Phone Numbers]

We are going to finish today with a song on video. I want you consider the lyrics - and use this time to talk to God through song or prayer. [There is one phrase I could pick apart doctrinally, but the primary message is solid]

During the video or after, come see me. Text any of our staff right now or later this week - we are HERE to help You!

Grab a Christian friend near you (If you need help…I’m right here).

After the video ends, you are dismissed to go to your mission.

Casting Crowns ‘Jesus, friend of sinners’

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