The Model of Discipleship

Matthew 9:9-13

a. The disciple’s response in obedience (9:9)

b. The teacher’s purpose in service (9:10-13)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. The disciple’s response in obedience (9:9)

i. Verse 9 starts with Jesus calling Matthew. Interesting to note that in Mark and Luke, they address Matthew as Levi. Although the names are different, there’s no reason to believe that they are different people. So it tells us that as Jesus was moving from entering Capernaum, he saw Matthew sitting in the tax collector’s booth.

ii. Now it should be noted that there are some considerations that people have claimed saying Matthew might not have been Jewish, but there seems to be evidence that He was Jewish. I think some things to take into account is the difference in the names. Matthew names him Levi which shows most likely Levi was his Jewish name. Matthew was most likely his Greek name for business purposes was he was a tax collector dealing with Romans.

iii. The strongest argument is the strong Jewish tone the book of Matthew presents. The genealogy in Matthew helps provide background of Matthew’s ancestry as it proclaims a Jewish king from the lineage of David.

iv. With that said, it tells us that he was sitting in the tax collector’s booth which suggests that most likely he was a tax collector. Why is this significant? Tax collectors during the time of Christ were hated because they took taxes from Jewish people and gave it to the Romans.

v. Why was this an issue? Well for one, they usually exacted more than what was necessary and most likely would give you a hard time if you didn’t pay. Lastly, they were hated because they were Jewish and made money off of their own people, in this case, due to the fact that Matthew was Jewish, He would take from his own people.

vi. So when Jesus sees Matthew, He calls him to follow Me. It tells us that he just got up and followed him. Matthew left everything that he was doing, left his old lifestyle and got up and followed him. When we consider the other incidents dealing with people who wanted to follow Jesus, the decision of Matthew to follow Christ provide a stark contrast to true discipleship and false discipleship. Matthew’s response of obedience is the key. True discipleship is marked with obedience. If you want to see someone who is a disciple of Christ, their lives are marked by obedience. It’s not obedience to the pastor or the church. It is obedience to Jesus Christ. It is obedience to the Word of God and striving to follow and obey the Word each and every day.

vii. What do I mean by obedience to the Word? Well, when you have an argument with someone or you get into a fight, the flesh tells us that we want to fight back. But as we read in Matthew 5:21-22, if you ever got angry with another person, you will be guilty before the court for murder. When we consider the significance of what the Bible is telling us, we should seek to obey it. In this case, if we get into a fight with someone, take seriously what the Bible is saying and to not be angry or stay angry at people. It is not enough to apologize to someone and stay angry. If we apologize, we must seek to forgive and reconcile and move on. We should not seek to stay angry. This is obedience to the word.

viii. So we fast forward a little and verse 10 tells us that Matthew held a big banquet based on Luke 5:29 and Jesus and His disciples were invited. Verse 10 tells us that Jesus was sitting down having dinner with others. Specifically, it tells us that many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, Why is your teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?

ix. I think this is pretty straight forward. The scene here is that Jesus is invited to a party and eating dinner with sinners and the righteous people, are questioning Jesus, why is He eating with sinners? Why isn’t He having fellowship with sinners? Now we understand this, but what is the issue at hand? Many people today find this as concerning. The Pharisees found this concerning. Why is Jesus sitting with sinners?

x. This is a great question. But it should provoke some thought in us. This could be the attitude that we have. Many people today believe that the church is for everyone, and yet, we don’t do what Matthew did. What did Matthew do here in this passage? He provided a venue, an opportunity for sinners to come to Christ. As Christians, what is our job? It is to bring sinners to Christ. It is to evangelize. What we see from Matthew’s action is that, believers who are disciples, do the work of evangelism. Discipleship and evangelism can’t be separated. We just saw Matthew get up, drop everything and followed Christ. The moment he did this, he invited all his friends so that they could meet Christ.

xi. Due to Matthew’s influence, many tax collectors came. Many of his co workers and friends came to this dinner because Matthew invited them. But for the first time, Jesus was invited and Jesus came with His disciples. This allowed sinners to meet with Jesus.

xii. So what is the significance? The Pharisees didn’t like this. They didn’t like the fact that Jesus ate with sinners. What does this mean? It is that some people today don’t believe in evangelism. Many churches in America are declining. Why are they declining? It’s because they have the same attitude as the Pharisees. They see church as a place where believers get together and spend time together. They don’t believe that Church is for both believers and unbelievers. It is for believers so that they can get together and worship/fellowship together. But it’s also for the unbeliever so that they can meet Jesus. It is an opportunity for an unbeliever to hear about Jesus Christ.

xiii. Verses 10-11 expose the hearts of many Christians today. It reveals to us, what kind of heart we have. We should do everything and anything to make sure that we can bring people to Christ. We should strive to meet with unbelievers and get to know them so that when we do invite them somewhere, like Matthew did here, because of his reputation and because they knew him, they came when he invited them.

b. The teacher’s purpose in service (9:10-13)

i. Verse 12 tells us that Jesus heard this question by the Pharisees and He responds, it is not the healthy who need a physician but those who are sick. Jesus’s response here is interesting because He uses physical illness to describe spiritual need. Obviously nobody there was sick. They were at a party eating dinner and there’s no mention of someone being sick. Jesus was speaking directly to the reality that they were spiritually sick.

ii. Jesus was also stating that just as doctors don’t spend time with healthy people, Jesus was also extending His presence to the sick, to those who were spiritually dead. This really reveals the heart of Jesus. Jesus came not for Himself, but He came for us. But this also shows the heart of the Pharisees. They viewed themselves as well in some sense and the tax collectors as sick. But what reveals more is the fact that they knew, that they were sick because that was the question in verse 11. Why is your teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners? Why isn’t He surrounding Himself with godly people like us only? Why is He dealing with people who are not like us?

iii. But at the same time, if they knew they weren’t godly, why would they not share the Gospel with them and bring them into Christ? What is their concern for their spiritual state? Why would you allow them to continue down to their destruction if they indeed, had the panacea to this problem? We see from these questions who the actual sick people are. Sickness in this sense is apathy for those who are sick, but real sickness is watching them suffer and doing nothing for them. It is to not even desire to help them. It is to just leave them to themselves.

iv. This is why in verse 13, Jesus tells them to go and learn what this means and quotes Hosea 6:6. Jesus is calling the Pharisees who know their Old Testament to go and study and make a genuine offer to understand. Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 to challenge and call God’s people to show love and loyalty. Hosea 6:6 challenges God’s people to first understand and love the God who loves them so much. Hosea as a whole is a book about the radical love of God. But if they know the love of God, how are they not to love others as God loves them? So when Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, He is calling the Pharisees who say they love God to show compassion for those who are lost instead of rejecting them.

v. Then Jesus provides an astounding statement. Jesus reveals the purpose of His mission. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus did not come to congratulate people like the Pharisees who were so well satisfied with themselves that they condemned all who didn’t meet their standards. But Jesus came indeed for sinners, those who must produce repentance if they were to be saved. Jesus provided to the Pharisees and all those who were there, the attitude and heart of every true disciple of Jesus Christ. We must have compassion for those who are lost and not leave people who are left far, but to make every attempt to bring them near. We should not let these people die in their sins because that reveals the true heart of a pharisee. We should never be satisfied with people who don’t come to know Christ. We should never just sit there watching them slowly die. Let us take the words of Christ seriously and seek compassion over the lost.

3. CONCLUSION