Calling and Confronting
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
The emphasis of Luke 5 is Jesus ability to forgive sin and call people to follow him as his disciples.
After healing the paralyzed man and sparring with the religious investigative body of scribes and Pharisees present, in v.17-26. Jesus immediately leaves the house where He was teaching and heads toward the Sea of Galilee again.
Mark’s account of this event tells us that the crowd followed Jesus (as they did everywhere he went) and he continued teaching them on his way. But, this time, he was walking with a purpose. You see, at the shore of the sea of Galilee was a tax booth that was occupied by a man named Levi (Matthew), who was quite possibly the most hated man in town.
The geographic location of Capernaum made it a flourishing hub of activity and commerce. This means Matthew’s tax booth was likely quite lucrative. Jesus sees Levi, and calls him to be his disciple. Levi, leaves everything behind at that moment and follows Jesus.
In celebration, he throws a party for all of his “nare-do-well” friends and invites Jesus to attend. Well, Jesus association with the type of people present once again gets under the skin of the religious committee present to investigate him. Creating another debate between them and Jesus. This text has much to teach us today about Jesus mission to save sinners and we examine it by looking at:
A sinner called. (v.27-28)
A Joyous celebration. (v.29)
A Pharisaical critique. (v.30-32)
A confrontation over traditions. (v.33-39)
1.) A sinner called. (v.27-28)
1.) A sinner called. (v.27-28)
Jesus left the house he was teaching in and headed toward the Sea of Galilee with “purposeful intent”. That’s what the phrase “He went out and saw” means.
Jesus left in order to purposefully call this man named Levi to himself for salvation. To those watching, Levi was considered to be the worst of the worst.
He was a tax collector (publican) for the Roman government which to the people meant he was a traitor because he worked for the occupying force and extorted the people.
The romans collected taxes from the people through a system called “tax-farming.” Which assessed the entire district with a fixed tax amount and then sold the right to collect those taxes to the highest bidder. As long as the buyer handed in the required amount of money to the Roman government at the end of the year, he was free to assess and collect as much as he desired from the people.
As you can imagine, this kind of system was rife with extortion. Combine that with the primitive record keeping abilities and the people had no recourse when they were being ripped off.
There were two types of taxes that were collected:
Fixed Taxes:
Poll tax- paid by all men and women simply because they were alive.
Ground tax- one tenth of all grain, wine, oil.
Income tax- 1% of all earnings.
These taxes left little room for extortion, it was the second kind of taxes that created the problem.
Duties and Tolls:
Tolls- for using the roads and docking in harbors.
Import and export duties on all goods.
Sales taxes.
Cart taxes- which was a tax on each wheel your cart had.
A tax collector could stop anyone on the road, make him unpack his bundles, and charge just about anything his larcenous heart desired. If the traveler could not pay, the tax collector would offer to loan him money at an exorbitant rate. Such men were skilled extortionists. The Talmud classified them as robbers (Sanhedrin 25b). Not surprisingly, they often allied themselves with thugs and enforcers—the scum of Jewish society.
All of this made Jewish tax collectors the most hated men in society.
It is highly likely that Jesus and Levi had interacted many times before this. But, this time Jesus intently locked eyes with him.
Jesus didn't see a tax collector and an extortionist he saw a sinner in need of salvation.
There isn’s a grand sermon or a miraculous event that took place, Jesus uttered two simple words
Luke 5:27 (NKJV)
...“Follow Me.”
This is the same call Jesus issues to all mankind. It matters not if you are despised and hated by others. It matters not what place you hold in society. The call remains the same.
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Notice what happened when Jesus called:
28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
This doesn't mean that Matthew never returned and set his affairs in order, he probably did. But Luke is illustrating a drastic change in the life of Levi. A clean break between who Levi used to be and who he was now.
Following Jesus became the regular pattern of his life. Levi, couldn't go back to his job if this Jesus thing didn't work out. There was no fall back position to be had. He left it all behind in order to follow Christ.
Friends, I submit to you that if a person truly has saving faith in Christ, there is a change that takes place in your life.
To the people of Capernaum, Levi was hated. But to Jesus he was loved. Jesus sought out the unwanted of society.
This is one of the beauties of the gospel. Jesus saves the unsaveable.
This is what Luke has been demonstrating to us in Luke 5
He saved the man “full of leprosy”- demonstrating His ability to heal from the ravages of sin.
He saved “paralytic”- demonstrating his power to not just heal, but forgive sin.
and now this!
No matter how ugly your life might be, no matter how scarred your life might be, no matter how morally bankrupt you have been, Christ can make you into someone new.
He can take a tax collector and turn him into a powerful evangelist and a writer of a book of the Bible and he can change you. Respond to his call today.
2.) A joyous celebration. (v.29)
2.) A joyous celebration. (v.29)
v.29 gives us a beautiful picture of the kind of witness every child of God ought to be.
Levi, after responding to Jesus call to salvation, couldn't wait to tell all of his friends.
Because tax collectors were the scourge of society they didn't tend to have friends who were not also scourges upon society. The kind of people Levi would have lived and worked with everyday were likely fellow tax collectors, thugs and enforcers, prostitutes and other “low life’s”.
The very people Jesus came to save.
Levi didn't throw this party in order to brag about his wealth, no, he threw this party in order to introduce his friends to Jesus and to celebrate the life change Jesus had brought.
There is nothing better to celebrate than the salvation of a lost soul!
Bishop J.C. Ryle “It is a far more important event than being married, or coming of age, or being made a nobleman, or receiving a great fortune. It is the birth of an immortal soul! It is the rescue of a sinner from hell! It is a passage from death to life! It is being made a king and priest for evermore! It is being provided for, both in time and eternity! It is adoption into the noblest and richest of all families, the family of God!”
The person who has received the grace of God, doesn't want to go to heaven alone! He wants to take as many people with him as possible.
Levi knew his friends needed Jesus just as much as he did. So he brought them to Jesus.
This is the job of every child of God.
3.) A Pharisaical critique. (v.30-32)
3.) A Pharisaical critique. (v.30-32)
The Pharisees and Scribes didn’t share in Levi’s joy.
It’s interesting to me that though they were not invited to the party (they wouldn't have attended if they were), they somehow were privy to what was going on. Perhaps they were watching what was taking place through a window.
Remember, the Pharisees were extreme separatists. They were incredibly serious about their lifestyle of strict ceremonial rules about people, places, objects and food. Their legalistic mindset didn't allow them to keep company or attend banquets with these types of people.
Notice, they didn't complain to Jesus, no, they complained to his disciples.
30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
To them, Jesus had defiled himself by keeping company with these people. He was associating with the unacceptable. But, once again, Jesus knew what they were saying. Listen to Jesus response:
31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Even the Pharisees and Scribes couldn't argue with Jesus. These outcasts of society were indeed the sickest of the sin-sick. You don’t go to the doctor when you are well, you go to the doctor when you’re sick. These people needed the doctor more than anyone else.
Jesus response to their critique revealed their cold, calloused and hateful hearts. They didn't care one bit about sinners coming to repentance, nor did they see their own condition. In fact, they saw no sin in themselves and were as self righteous as it could get.
They in fact were sick, they just didn’t know it. The self righteous often don’t know or don’t accept that they need repentance. But, sinners know the depth of their sickness. They know they aren't well. They know they are lost and without hope apart from Jesus.
15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
These Pharisees were religious, they looked and acted the part of the righteous but they were as lost as lost can be.
4.) A confrontation over traditions. (v.33-39)
4.) A confrontation over traditions. (v.33-39)
Knowing they lost that argument, now they change the subject from Jesus association with sinners, to his not keeping their religious traditions.
33 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”
The Pharisees fasted as a ritual, they went beyond what the scriptures commanded and looked down their noses on others who didn't.
The law of God only commanded fasting to be done once a year in association with the “Day of Atonement.” (Leviticus 16:24-31). Outside of that, it was meant to be a spontaneous act of prayer, mourning, or repentance. By the time of Christ, the Pharisees, by way of their tradition, had made it law for Jews to fast twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays) if they really wanted to be godly. Many would even go to great lengths to make sure everyone knew they were fasting by powdering their faces to look pale and wearing their religious garments in a disheveled way in order to appear godly.
Extra-biblical rules have a tendency to rob something of its meaning. They took something meant to demonstrate a persons need for God and a genuine desire to have a special sense of his presence into something ritualistic. It wasn't their need for God that drove them to fast, it was their man-made ritual that drove them to fast. It becomes all about adherence to a ritual and nothing about God.
Jesus doesn't answer their question directly, he instead uses three illustrations:
A.) The Bridegroom (v.34-35)
He compares himself to a bridegroom at a wedding.
A newly married Jewish couple did not honeymoon but stayed home for a week-long open house during which there was continual feasting and celebrating. The bride and groom were treated like king and queen that week (sometimes they even wore crowns). They were attended by chosen friends known as “guests of the bridegroom,” which means literally, “sons of the bridal chamber.” These wedding guests were exempted from all fasting through a rabbinical ruling that said, “All in attendance on the bridegroom are relieved of all religious observances which would lessen their joy.”
Jesus was comparing himself to a groom and his disciples to his attendants at the wedding. Saying that as long as he was with them, they had no need to fast.
That his presence brought joy to their life, not ritual and ceremonial demands.
There was no need for fasting for a special sense of God’s presence, if the Bridegroom, the Son of God, was already present with them.
There was coming a day when he would die and sorrow would come but that day wasn't this day. One day, there sorrow would come at the foot of the cross. But, even then, it wouldn't last long as their joy would be restored at the resurrection.
B.) Garments (v.36)
Judaism, as good as it was, had become like an old, worn out garment full of wholes. It couldn't be patched up and repaired. Jesus didn't come just to add new things to the old covenant. He came to bring about something entirely new.
The Gospel, is better than the old system of laws and customs. It sets us free to live in Christ.
C.) Wineskins (v.37-39)
In ancient cultures, people would skin a goat and leave the skin in as much tact as they could and then partially tan the hide and then use it to fill with new wine and begin the fermentation process. The natural elasticity and strength in the skin would expand along with the gasses that were released during the fermentation process.
However, if new wine was put into a used old skin, the brittle and inflexible condition of the old skin would cause it to burst and the wine spill out on the ground.
Jesus was saying that his presence produces an expanding joy in the hearts of his disciples. The new wine life can’t be restrained by the “old wine” structures.
Jesus came to bring a new way of life that was far better than the old way.
39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”
Jesus understood that someone living under rules and regulations would struggle with the new way of living he brought. So much so, that people can even be reluctant to try it, because they imagine the “old way” is better. They wont even give the new wine a taste for the sake of comparison.
Friends, that is arrogance and folly!
Friends, the freedom that Christ gives us to live for him cannot be compared with an old archaic ritualistic system.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Call sinners to repent, encourage to tell their friends and family, call out pharisaical thinking and talk about how Jesus is better tan rules and regulations.