The Kind of Person Jesus Calls

Matthew 9:9–13 ESV

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

When I was growing up as a young boy, I recall being dragged to weddings.

Personally, I despised weddings as a young boy.

Weddings were never enjoyable.

You had to dress up.

You had to remain quiet.

For many reasons, weddings, weren’t my favorite.

But as I’ve grown older, weddings have become a truly beautiful thing.

It’s not that I’ve enjoyed dressing up more than I did then.

But particularly the way the Bible talks about our relationship with Christ has changed weddings for me.

Weddings have a whole new level of meaning to marriage.

Seeing a bride in her wedding dress is no longer about that bride or even the couple getting married.

It has become for me a prelude to my own story.

It’s become a prelude to the story of the church and her groom.

The Bible tells us over and over again that Christ is the head of his church.

Ephesians 5:32 ESV

32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

The Bible tells us that the church is like a bride adorned for her husband.

But I wonder, what do you see when you look in the mirror as the bride of christ?

Do you see metaphorically speaking the white clothes that we see so often pictured at weddings?

Or the garments that you wear as stained brownish.

Or maybe you see a dark shade of brown?

Or maybe even black entirely.

You know when we approach the gospels, I fear the too often we approach them in either one of two ways.

One way of approaching the gospel narratives is to see ourselves in dazzling white.

As though there is not a tarnish of sin to be found.

“Jesus is pretty lucky to have me around!”

The other option is to approach the gospels and to see oneself as dreadfully black garments with no hope of cleansing.

“I can never be made white.”

Keep in mind that Jesus just left the house of a Pharisee.

In that religious leaders house, he declared that a paralytics sins have been forgiven.

Taking the prerogative of God alone, Jesus declares people forgiven.

Remember that we saw last week that forgiveness is something that God grants because transgression is something that we do against HIM.

This makes what Jesus is saying about, forgiving him to be astounding.

There’s also a pattern we’ve been seeing in Matthew.

Jesus will demonstrate His power and authority.

Then immediately after it are calls to follow Him.

It’s like Matthew saying,

“This is what Jesus is like, so follow Him!”

“You see his power and authority, so obey to Him!”

Like we saw in Matthew 8:18-22, Jesus demands that those who follow Him must give everything—No retreats, no regrets, and no reservations.

But here again Jesus will tell us what it means to follow Him.

He will lay down the kind of people that can follow Him.

The Kind of Person Jesus Calls by Example: Matthew the Tax Collector.

Matthew 9:9 ESV

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Tax collectors were viewed as societal filth.

Matthew describes his own call to follow Jesus.

It seems that in the Gospel of Mark and Luke, they refer to Matthew as Levi.

We are told in Matthew 9:9 that Matthew is a tax collector.

Remember, the tax collectors were the scum of the earth in this society.

Tax collectors were often rich because they were taking advantage of the people they were collecting taxes from.

This is why Zaccheus was said to be a rich man in Luke 19.

Luke 19:2 ESV

He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

Text collectors we’re wealthy because they defrauded other people.

They took advantage of other people.

They made their money from robbing ordinary people.

It was an understatement to say that these men were hated from society.

They were the low lives.

They were the scumbags.

They were the people you would never want to associate with.

Notice to the place that Jesus goes to to call Matthew.

Matthew 9:9 ESV

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth…

Jesus goes to the equivalent of a defrauded IRS.

A corrupt tollbooth of sorts to tell the man stealing from innocent citizens to follow him.

And yet here is Jesus calling Matthew to follow him.

Jesus calls the society filth to follow Him.

I am sure that Matthew had interacted with many Rabbi’s before.

But none that called him to follow him.

If you want to follow a rabbi in this day, you needed to basically apply to the Rabbi.

The Rabbi would choose who follows him.

He would decide if you could follow or not.

But Jesus is so unlike them.

He comes and calls Matthew out to follow Him.

It’s even possible that Matthew was in the process of robbing another unsuspecting taxpayer.

And yet in that moment, the Lord Jesus calls him.

The apostle Paul says later…

1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

When we see Matthew being called by the Lord Jesus, we’re seeing another example of what Paul is describing in 1 Timothy 1:15.

Matthew will serve not only as a witness and a preacher.

He will serve as example of the mercy of God to a sinner.

Jesus has come for all those who mourn their sin and rely on Him alone for mercy.

Matthew 5:4 ESV

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

God delights to take the base things of this world and make them lovely in Jesus.

He delights to take the wise things of the world and make them foolish.

When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

We hear that phrase, “The natural person” And I think we have in her mind something like a beast of a man.

A savage.

A monstrous man that is irrational.

But that word for “natural person” in Greco Roman culture had the idea of the ideal man.

The ideal man that stands in the ideal culture with sophistication and strength and dignity.

And as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, this man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.

He does not accept them because they are foolishness to him.

This man of great societal pomp must lower himself.

He must find a position which makes him significantly lower than he was before.

The Gospel according to Matthew

Matthew “lost a comfortable job, but he found a destiny. He lost a good income, but he found honour. He lost a comfortable security, but he found an adventure the like of which he had never dreamed”.

Think about all this meant for Matthew.

Before coming to Jesus, he had societal clout.

Before coming to Jesus, he had significance in the eyes of the wealthy and the elite.

Unlike the common fisherman that Jesus called, it would have been virtually impossible for Matthew to come back to his job.

They would’ve quickly found somebody else to fill this position.

We see elsewhere that the fisherman that Jesus called later find themselves fishing, but not for Matthew.

Jesus’ call to him was absolute.

It was an definite break with a former association of life practices.

The Kind of Person Jesus Calls by Principle: Sinners instead the “righteous”

Jesus has a pattern for revealing truth to his disciples.

He shows them an example which is what we just saw with the way he called Matthew.

Then a situation arises which calls forth a principle that he uses to teach.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus called Matthew…

Luke 5:29 ESV

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

He immediately got up.

He immediately made a great feast in his house and invited all of his friends (Luke 5:27-32)

Matthew 9:10 ESV

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

To eat together in this society was a great honor.

It was to commune together and fellowship.

Sharing a meal together is a sacred thing.

It creates community.

It forms fellowship.

It was intimate.

It “usually implied an endorsement of the practices of those with whom one associated.” —Craig Blomberg

It’s surprising that Jesus ate with and had intimate friendship with tax collectors and sinners.

Jesus, the Friend of sinners–eating with the ungodly.

Matthew 9:11 ESV

11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Remember that society is a whole despised and hated tax collectors.

The religious groups viewed sinners as unclean.

To eat with those regarded as culturally sinners was an unclean activity.

The Jew saw themselves as defiled when they commune with those who were regarded as a “big sinners.”

A Pharisaic maxim would have been something like,

“Keep thee far from an evil neighbour and consort not with the wicked” (’Abot 1:7)

The religious leaders were those who kept their evil neighbors far from them.

They didn’t share life with the wicked.

The Gospel according to Matthew

The Pharisees would have received repentant sinners, but they would not seek them out.

Notice too that these disciples don’t complain to Jesus, they complain to Jesus’s disciples.

They’re not seeking information.

They’re making accusations toward Jesus.

And like many accusations, they don’t come directly to the person, but are told two people surrounding the person.

Jesus is pursuing sinners.

He’s not merely plugging his nose to spend time with them.

He is fellowship with them and pursuing them.

“See! Even Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners! We should just be accepting with other people’s sin.”

This is why Paul and John actually condemns eating with false teachers.

1 Corinthians 5:11 ESV

11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

To eat with a person who bears the name “brother” and yet is unrepentant is a stench.

It’s a stench because there’s contradiction happening.

The contradiction is to remain in the outward, grievous, and serious sin yet have “fellowship” with a brother as though nothing is happening.

Matthew 9:12 ESV

12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Jesus, the Physician to the sick and not the healthy.

Jesus’s point is very simple here,

“Only the sick need a doctor.”

“Only those who have need will find help.”

It makes sense that only a sick person goes to the doctor.

Who are those that are sick?

The answer to this is simple enough: It’s everyone.

Everyone stands under the sickness of sin that plagues the human race.

Every one of us are those who are dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-2).

It’s only hypocrites that are satisfied in their own self-righteousness.

It’s only those who hold a mask up and pretend that they are healthy.

The word hypocrite was initially theatrical term of a person who holds a mask up to pretend to be something they’re not.

It’s only hypocrites that hold up a mask and are satisfied to pretend that their external mask looks good enough to deceive others.

Their content that they appear righteous to others though what is behind the mask is dreadfully ugly.

This is the reason the Pharisees and religious leaders become angry that Jesus dwells with “BIG sinners.”

The Pharisee’s anger at Jesus’ association with sinners.

They’re angry at the association of sinners because they claim righteousness for themselves. They claim that they are righteous and therefore do not need a doctor.

The purpose of Jesus’ coming. Jesus came to make sinners, righteous.

The Pharisees revealed something to us that we must not miss.

They may have been willing to acknowledge,

“Yes, of course, we need mercy!”

“We love that God has shown us mercy!”

But if you notice it’s not their own disgust with their sin that bothers them.

It’s the fact that the Lord Jesus is touching and dwelling with those they regard as “unworthy.”

If we feel that it’s too much to be associated with others who are baptized and come to the Lord’s table, then we are no different than these Pharisees.

Matthew 9:13 ESV

13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus desires to give mercy and not receive sacrifice.

Jesus is not calling them to go off on a journey.

He’s calling them to make “a genuine effort to understand” (L. Morris) what he’s saying.

Jesus quotes from the book of Hosea.

If you remember in the book of Hosea, God commanded a man named Hosea to take a wife, Gomer.

This wife would go and cheat on Hosea, but he was supposed to still pursue her and pay off her debts to her lovers.

Gomer did not remain faithful to Hosea and God predicted this, but Yahweh’s main point is:

the way Gomer treats you is how Israel has treated Me.

God has been the faithful husband to Israel. God invited Israel into marriage but she forsook the covenant.

In Hosea 6:1-3, Hosea depicts Israel and Judah’s unrepentance.

He describes their “knowledge” of the Lord in a merely informational sense.

They “know” about Yahweh, but they don’t really “know” Him. Hosea 6:4

Hosea 6:4 ESV

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.

Their love is fickle.

Their good behavior is short lived. It’s like the morning dew that quickly extinguished from the heat of the sun.

In this section of Hosea, God is charging the people of Israel who would be outwardly pious and yet inwardly corrupt.

The word “sacrifice” that Jesus uses from Hosea likely refers to “strict obedience to the commandments of God” (Hagner 1993: 239).

Hosea isn’t trying to get rid of the sacrifical system.

He’s saying,

“If you don’t have a heartfelt repentance, you can sacrifice till the cows come home and it won’t make a difference.”

“There’s not enough sacrifices in all the world that can give you a genuine change of heart.”

We see Jesus quote this text in Hosea again in Matthew 12:7.

Matthew 12:7 ESV

7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

The religious leaders should have rejoiced when they saw the culturally outcast coming to Jesus.

They should’ve rejoiced when they saw people like Matthew repenting.

But instead of rejoicing, they grumbled.

Instead of being delighted, they were filled with contempt.

The religious leaders were ready to let the sinners die in their sins without any movement toward them.

They lacked compassion toward those who were utterly lost.

And what this revealed was their view of themselves.

They lacked compassion because they themselves thought they didn’t need it.

Jesus applies to the Pharisee’s the most scathing of rebukes.

They were essentially a hollow brood.

Jesus means much more than be more sympathetic to outcasts.

He means to show these religious leaders that they are aligning themselves with apostates.

They are aligning themselves with God’s enemies.

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

It’s an appropriate passage, that Jesus cites from in the book of Hosea.

The reality of sin makes each of us stain to the core.

We just like Israel have prostitute ourselves to any number of idols.

And the wonder and the beauty of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has come to purchase his bride back.

Your cleanness before God most high doesn’t depend upon your feelings.

It doesn’t depend on what you think of yourself.

It doesn’t depend upon your past.

It depends upon the mercy of God in the gospel.

It’s only gospel logic that takes red blood and mixed things white.

Romans 9:15–16 ESV

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

There is no amount of religious duty.

There is no amount of spiritual exercises.

There is no amount of law keeping that can make you clean.

It is only the mercy of God in the cross of Jesus Christ that makes stained sinners white.

The mercy of God is the ground and reason for the reception of the gospel in the life of believers.

Jesus has come for all those who mourn their sin and rely on Him alone for mercy.

Matthew 9:13 ESV

For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus came not for “the righteous,” but sinners.

This is why we can speak about the grace of Christ all day long.

We can talk about God’s mercy and kindness in the cross of Christ till we are blue in the face.

But unless a person understands their sin before a holy God, we speak to the deaf.

Unless a person sees their sinfulness and destitute state, we motion to those who are blind.

The mercy and kindness of God are of no advantage to the person who is not aware of his sin.

Paul can say to the Thessalonian believers…

1 Thessalonians 1:4–5 ESV

4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

Paul says that he knows they have been “chosen” or “elected” because they received the gospel.

The reception of the gospel doesn’t create election as much as reveals it.

Reception of the gospel is the fruit of election and the work of God’s effectual calling in their lives.

1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 ESV

9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Paul knew that the gospel had taken root in the lives of the Thessalonians when they turned from idols (repentance) for the purpose of serving the living and true God.

And they wait in hope for the revealing of the Son of God.

True living faith reveals itself in obedience .

This is why we can have churches filled with religious types, that speak of the mercy of God.

The words they sing express the grace and kindness of our God.

And yet it can mean nothing to them as they sing.

Lips that utter truths yet are of no value.

Jesus has come for all those who mourn their sin and rely on Him alone for mercy.