"Church People"
Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsJesus calls EVERYONE to a New Life - to leave our worldly lives behind and embrace the Kingdom Life. BUT, have you ever noticed that some people embrace that call, while others stand firmly against it? In Levi's story, sinners and hated people embraced the gospel, while "church people" criticized and complained.... Which are we?
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Transcript
Can you imagine living in an environment where you are completely and totally hated by everyone?
Where you’re told — daily — that you are cursed by God? That you don’t deserve companionship? That you you are unacceptable… horrible… ugly… not worthy of love and respect? All because of what you did for a living…
How would you feel?
— Depressed?
— Guilty?
— Shameful?
Our culture… our society tends to do just that:
— you’re not rich enough…
— you’re not smart enough...
— savvy enough…
— fast enough…
— strong enough…
— popular enough…
It’s depressing and oppressive…
It leaves us wondering:
“How can I ever be good enough to be accepted by God?”
“How can God love me?”
BUT… That doesn’t happen in the Church does it? After all, we are God’s children… His chosen people… those who are “saved by grace”… surely we wouldn’t engage in this kind of destructive attitudes…
Let me tell you: “Church People can be the most dangerous people to someone’s walk with Christ!”
Look at Luke 5:27-32
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,
28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
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.
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?”
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.”
Now… Let me set this up… because this is a fun little part of the narrative…
At this point… Jesus has cast out demons… touched a leper… forgiven sins… and now He is calling an absolutely detestable, hated man into His presence and the Kingdom…
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,
I love it!
Jesus is out for a walk, and — What do you know! — There’s a tax collector!
Holman — “The rebel with a cause against religious power structures met the man who represented the foreign power structure at its worst…”
(I love it!)
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,
Jesus is walking along… enjoying the morning… and there he is, This man who is despised… hated… verbally abused… rejected… disowned by his family and his people… This representative of evil…
Jesus sees him… and says to him, “Follow me.”
No fancy words… No elaborate invitation filled with flattery… just two little words…
But those two little words are filled with so much love and acceptance that Levi cannot help but respond!
28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
How awesome is that?
Levi hears Jesus’s words and doesn’t hesitate!
He immediately leaves everything sitting right where it is — no questions asked — and follows Jesus!
Holman — “Levi showed how to join THE proper power structure.”
— He left everything — his profession, his profits, his personal identity, and followed Jesus.
Think about that…
Luke says: “Levi got up, left everything, and followed Jesus.”
He didn’t tidy up first… He didn’t secure his belongings first… He didn’t even ensure that the tax moneys were taken care of…
He left EVERYTHING and followed Jesus.
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Levi shows us that:
Following Jesus is more than saying a short prayer…
Following Jesus is more than just “wandering the country side listening to Him teach and preach.” (Holman)
It’s more than coming to church on Sunday…
It’s more than reading your Bible every now and then… or even everyday.
It’s more than singing Christian songs and hymns…
It’s more than occasionally posting “Christian” memes and videos on Facebook, TikTok, Reels, Instagram, …
It’s more than acts of kindness and charity…
Following Jesus is a commitment of EVERYTHING to Him!
Holman — “Following means using your influence and skills [and finances] for Jesus.”
It means taking EVERYTHING you now use for selfish reasons — for worldly personal gain — and using them for the purposes of Christ.
NO MATTER WHAT THOSE PURPOSES ARE!!!
— Too many of us are willing to invest those things in the kingdom… only if we get a return.
— We want to “feel” good about it… We want praise for it… We want to be able to “brag” about it…
— That’s NOT why we’re supposed to do it!
We are called to give ourselves completely to Jesus — to His purposes for us AND our finances…
When we call Him “Lord,” we are saying “It’s all Yours. Tell me how to use it, and I will do it.”
That is what Levi did!
And Jesus changed his life because of it!
Jesus CANNOT change us… He CANNOT move in our lives… He CANNOT walk us into a New Life and a New Identity in Him until we leave the old — all of it! — behind!!!
“Levi left the tax table to invite people to the supper table.” — Holman
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.
Following Jesus means telling others what He has done for us.
— That means we have to know what He has done for us personally!
Levi did! And he threw a party!
(29) We know who the tax collectors are, but…
Who were the “others”?
— They were people Levi knew.
I’m sure most of them were not new acquaintances…
I’m pretty sure Levi didn’t have a bunch of conversations on the streets and get them to come to his party…
These were his friends… those people he had a relationship with already…
Levi didn’t worry about “offending” them… He didn’t consider their “beliefs”… He didn’t worry about how they felt about religion…
Jesus had done something for him, and he wanted them to know who Jesus was!
So he threw a party! He celebrated!
And Jesus celebrated with him!!!
Look at the “church peoples’” reaction:
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?”
Are you getting the picture????
Here was Jesus — this Rabbi — this Teacher — this supposedly Godly man — EATING WITH SINNERS!!!!
How could He?!?!?!?!
Do you see the issue?
— He wasn’t being “prim and proper”…
— He wasn’t acting “respectable”…
— He wasn’t doing what every “good preacher” should do…
— He wasn’t “keeping his position” of honor and respect…
— He wasn’t doing what they had always done…
He was eating… and drinking… and celebrating with sinners!!!
How horrible! How could He?!?!! Didn’t He know that’s not what “Good Holy Preachers” do?!?!?
—> All of heaven celebrates the salvation of one sinner! And i really don’t think the Angels, the Cherubim, and the Father are concerned with what is “proper” according to our standards.
(verse 30)
How often have we heard people make those same complaints?
We’ve all heard them…
— How could that pastor go there?
— Why would he do that? He shouldn’t be a part of that! Do that!
— How can he allow that?
— He’s supposed to be above that… above reproach… perfect… It’s “ok” for me, you know, for “normal” Christians, but not for the “teacher”!
(Tammy example, don’t use names)
Look at Jesus’s response:
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.”
It’s not “good times”, and “good health” that drive us to the doctor… It’s illness.
Jesus is our spiritual doctor.
— He holds the keys.
— He brings forgiveness and salvation.
— He gives us a New Life and a New Identity.
— He washes us white as snow!
Jesus’s message is a message of repentance and healing!
Let me ask you: “Who really needed the doctor here?”
— The tax collectors? Levi’s friends?
— Or… The “Church People” who knew God better than God did?
We quickly say, “The Church People!” Those Pharisees and scribes, those judgmental, holier-than-thou people who think they have the right to judge and mistreat “those filthy sinners”!
BUT....
Are we guilty of being “Church People”?
Do we sit around thinking that we are “good to go”? That we “know what God wants”? That the message is meant for someone else?!?
I think — way to often — we are…
We hear a message… We read a scripture… and instead of looking in the mirror, we look out the window…
We consider ourselves to be “good”… to be doing all that is necessary… and so we point at others as the “problem”… as the ones who need to change… to do things differently… to “do better”…
We see God working through someone, or through a situation, in a way that we think it shouldn’t be done, and we criticize and judge, instead of supporting and loving…
Are WE “Church People”???
(prayer)