Kingdom Priorities

Introduction

Well, good evening!

If you have a Bible, and I hope that you do, open ‘em up with me to the Gospel of Mark…We’re gonna be in Mark chapter 2 this evening.

And listen, as you turn there…let me go ahead and read our passage for us.

It says this starting in verse 13:

Mark 2:13–17 ESV

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Listen, hopefully…as we’ve walked through this book so far…you’ve noticed that the Kingdom of God, as we’ve seen through Jesus’s ministry, it seems to operate upside down from the way the rest of the world works. Right?

In our world, we tend to call qualified people…we call the talented, we call the successful, we call the morally impressive. But when Jesus steps onto the scene, we see Him do something radically different. He doesn’t call the religious elite…He doesn’t call the social influencers…He calls a tax collector. And then He sits down to dinner with a group of people that society and religion had already written off.

Listen, this passage, its not just a moment in Jesus’s life…its a window into the priorities of His kingdom. It reveals something very deep about the heart of God…and it should challenge the assumptions we so oftentimes bring to faith and ministry.

This passage, it shows us that Jesus invites the unlikely, He creates a community grace…grace when no one deserves it, He confronts our comfort zones…because His kingdom, its for sinners…not the self-righteous.

And listen, here’s the big question we have to wrestle with as we walk through this: Do we actually want the kind of Kingdom Jesus is building? Or have we built a more comfortable version…one that keeps us safe, one that keeps us separated, one that’s surrounded by people just like us?

Guys, let this passage challenge the way you see the world outside these church walls. Are you moving toward outsiders the way Jesus did? Are you sitting at tables with the very people He came to seek and save?

And maybe even more directly: Are you actively participating in the mission you’ve been called to? Going to the lost, not just waiting for them to come to you?

Guys, let this passage…let it open your heart…allow the priorities of Jesus to reshape on own.

Amen?

If you taking notes, our three points this evening…Number 1, The Call of the Kingdom…Number 2, The Culture of the Kingdom…and then Number 3, The Challenge of the Kingdom.

And so, if you’re there with me…let’s dive into these points together.

I. The Call of the Kingdom (v. 13-14)

Again, point number 1…the call of the Kingdom.

Let’s read those two verses again:

“He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.” — Mark 2:13–14 (ESV)

Now, at first glance, this looks just like another call story…where Jesus calls His disciples. But if we slow down and look very carefully, these two verses, they show us something very important about the kingdom of God. These verses show us the radical nature of the call of Christ…It shows us how His Kingdom, it moves toward the least likely of people with grace and authority.

Jesus Meets Us Where We Are

Mark, he tells us that Jesus “went out again beside the sea.” Which seems like a simple narrative transition, but it tells us something important about Jesus’s pattern of ministry.

He wasn’t setting up in the temple or waiting for people to come find Him. He was on the move—going where the people were.

Mark’s Gospel repeatedly shows us Jesus in motion, pressing into towns, meeting outcasts where they were, going to the synagogues, people’s homes…and now here, by the sea.

Why? Because the Kingdom of God doesn’t just wait behind stained glass. It moves into the world.

Sinclair Ferguson, he said this, “The Son of God came down so that the outsider might be brought in.”

And who does Jesus move toward in this moment? A man named Levi, sitting at a tax booth.

Jesus Calls the Unlikely

Now, here’s where this passage would’ve gotten real uncomfortable for the original readers. Levi wasn’t just some blue-collar worker doing his job. He was a tax collector.

In that culture, tax collectors weren’t just seen as greedy — they were seen as traitors. They worked for the Roman Empire, collecting taxes from their own people to fund the empire that oppressed them. And on top of that, they were known for extorting extra money for their own pockets.

To say it plainly: Levi was a sellout. He would’ve been socially despised, religiously unclean, morally suspect. No rabbi in his right mind would call a man like that.

But Jesus did.

R.C. Sproul said this about this story, “Grace doesn’t choose the worthy; it makes the unworthy worthy.”

Look at the simplicity and power of Jesus’s words: “Follow me.”

That phrase isn’t just a polite invitation. It’s a command with divine authority. In the ancient Jewish context, to follow a rabbi meant to become his disciple — to walk where he walks, adopt his teaching, conform your life to his pattern. And rabbis didn’t go around recruiting students. Students came to them — and only the best of the best made the cut.

But here comes Jesus, flipping that model on its head. He goes after the reject. He pursues the outcast. He speaks to a man who had likely given up on any religious future, and He says, “Follow me.”

Guys — that’s how grace works?

This call, it demands a response.

Just look at what Levi does: “And he rose and followed him.”

Just like that. No hesitation. No argument. No delay. Levi gets up and leaves behind the tax booth — leaves behind his wealth, his safety net, his career — to follow Jesus.

And listen, this would’ve cost him a lot.

For Peter, James, and John, when they left their fishing nets to follow Jesus, if things didn’t work out, they could always go back to fishing. (And spoiler: they actually do, post-crucifixion.)

But for Levi? There’s no going back. Once you abandon your post as a Roman tax collector, someone else takes your seat — and Rome doesn’t take kindly to quitters. This was an irreversible break with his old life.

This is repentance in action. This is what it means to follow Jesus — not just to admire Him, not just to listen to His teaching, but to leave behind the old identity and step into a new one.

“Conversion is not the improvement of the old man, but the creation of a new man.” — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

And guys, this is where the rubber meets the road.

Some of us wanna follow Jesus without leaving the tax booth. We want the comfort of grace without the cost of obedience. We want Jesus to bless our lives, but not interrupt them.

But Jesus doesn’t just ask for your weekends. He asks for your whole life.

When He says, “Follow me,” it’s a call to surrender — to die to self and live unto Christ.

And listen, this call, its for us too!

Maybe you're sitting here tonight and thinking, "That sounds great, but I’m not sure Jesus would call me."

You’ve got a past. You’ve got shame. You’ve made decisions you regret. Maybe, like Levi, you’re compromised. Maybe people have written you off, or worse — maybe you’ve written yourself off.

Hear the words of Mark: Jesus sees you. Just like He saw Levi.

He doesn’t wait for you to get cleaned up before He calls you. He calls you so He can clean you. He meets you in the tax booth. In the middle of your brokenness. And He says the same words: “Follow me.”

That’s grace.

Grace doesn’t just pardon Levi — it transforms him. The man who was once Levi the tax collector becomes Matthew the Gospel writer. That’s the power of Jesus’s call.

So what’s holding you back? What booth are you still sitting in tonight? Maybe it’s the booth of people-pleasing…or secret sin…or comfort…or fear of rejection.

Jesus is passing by tonight — and He’s calling.

Will you rise and follow?

Some of us…hopefully most of us have responded to that calling.

We know the call of the Kingdom isn’t reserved for the religious, or the polished, or the impressive. It’s a call that comes to sinners, to the forgotten, to the messed-up and marginalized. Jesus calls the unlikely and says, “Follow Me.”

And when that call lands on your heart, it changes everything. It disrupts your life, but it also gives you a new one — a better one.

Let’s not just admire the call Jesus gave to Levi. Let’s respond to it ourselves by being transformed (leaving behind our old life)…and let’s respond by going out in the same ways as His followers.

Listen, as we move into these next couple of verses, we’ll see exactly what happens when the unlikely actually do follow Him…when grace takes root and when community starts to form around the Savior.

II. The Culture of the Kingdom (v. 15)

Let’s keep going — point number 2, the Culture of the Kingdom.