The Call to Sinners
Notes
Transcript
1 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city. 2 And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? 5 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 6 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he got up and went home. 8 But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. 10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
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Intro
In the absence of some greater glory people will often set themselves as the standard of glory. They look around at all the problems in the world and think, “If only everyone looked like me.” Before we have any hope of solving the problems of this world we need to first determine: What is truly glorious?
I’m sure most of you have heard the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. The story begins with the hare finding fault with the tortoise. “Do you ever get anywhere?” The tortoise says, “Yes” and challenges the hare to a race. The hare accepts of course, but the hare thinking awfully highly of himself and his progress decides to take a nap in the middle of the race. You know the end of the story, the tortoise wins because he endured to the end while the hare was napping. The story closes with the proverb, “the race is not always to the swift.” But why? I may be stretching a child’s story too far, but the hare made the critical mistake of thinking the tortoise’s problem was that he wasn’t like the hare. “You’re life would be better off if you were more like me.” The hare assumed that what was truly glorious was himself. What the tortoise understood was that the glory was found in finishing the race.
Last week we closed our time with how we endure in our life of discipleship. How do we as disciples finish the marathon of a race set before us? We fix our eyes on what is truly glorious. We fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith that we might run the race with endurance.
In our text today, we find a contrast to this life of faith-filled endurance. We find three groups of people questioning Jesus and his disciples much like the hare did. In three different ways they accuse Jesus and his disciples wondering, “Why aren’t you more like us?” They see Jesus granting forgiveness to sinners, fellowshipping with sinners, and exercising a freedom that is inconsistent with what the Jews understand to be righteous. The Jews see Jesus addressing sin, sickness, and the need for righteousness in ways that they have never seen before. “This isn’t how we do it.” In the end those who consider themselves worthy - those who consider themselves glorious will not finish the race. In contrast those who know themselves to be unworthy - the sinners and the sick - will find glory - they will finish the race for the grace of God found in Jesus Christ.
The call of Christ and His church is offered to the unworthy sinner. For those who consider themselves worthy, they will neither hear His call nor extend it to others.
The call of Christ and His church is offered to the unworthy sinner. For those who consider themselves worthy, they will neither hear His call nor extend it to others.
The call of Christ grants forgiveness to sinners
The call of Christ grants fellowship to sinners
The call of Christ grants freedom to sinners
The call of Christ grants forgiveness to sinners
The call of Christ grants forgiveness to sinners
Starting there in verse 1 we can see Jesus is no longer doing ministry among the Gentiles. Chapter 8 closes with open rejection. The people of the Decapolis - The Gentiles - on the other side of the sea of Galilee openly implored Him to leave. Now Jesus is coming back to his own city, and you’d think he’d be welcome with open arms as the promised Messiah. The following 17 verses are at the very least a warning to Matthew’s Jewish audience. You’re no better than the Gentiles if you openly reject the Savior and Messiah. For those who might think they have a privileged position before God the real question becomes, “How have you responded to Jesus Christ?” That will determine your position before God!
As the narrative begins we see Jesus freeing men from the curse of sin by the authority of God as Jesus did with the demoniacs, and you can begin to see the parallel.
1 Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city. 2 And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” 3 And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.”
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Two responses to Jesus from two different kinds of people. A desperate paralytic with some friends see Jesus coming and they respond in faith! They come to Him believing this Jesus can heal me! In truth Jesus would do much more! Jesus calls this paralytic to take courage… your sins are forgiven. Now apart from eyes of faith or awareness of our sin this call is senseless.
Think about it! Who calls a paralytic to be courageous. This is the kind of call given to Joshua a capable warrior whose about to lead an entire nation in conquest… but to a paralytic? A man who will never walk… What is the reason for this man’s courage? It’s not a courageousness fueled by his strength or his ability to lead, it’s a courageousness rooted in his position before God! Sin, man’s greatest curse and threat has been done away with! He’s found forgiveness in the call of Christ! This is nothing less than miraculous salvation through faith.
It’s a minor detail, but I believe it’s worth noting. Jesus’ call to courage was rooted in the man’s standing before God... not his physical standing. He hasn’t even been healed yet, and God has commanded this sick sinner to, “take courage!” Friends, we have reason for courage though we may walk in tired, weary, and crippled bodies. Jesus used the greatest of examples: A man who needed to be carried into the room to say, even he has reason for courage because He has found freedom from sin in Jesus Christ.
In truth whether we look like Joshua or a paralytic being carried into the room the source of our courage is the same! “The LORD our God is with us wherever we go.” This paralytic gained the favor and presence of Christ that day through his faith. Though he was weak and unworthy … through faith in Christ he had reason to be courageous.
This great salvation plays out before the witnesses around Jesus much like the salvation of the demoniac was witnessed by those around and we see the same result.
“The scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.””
The witnesses reject Him in spite of the salvation he brings.
This open accusation has a fundamental assumption that’s openly evil. “This Jesus should behave just like us.” We don’t deal with sin that way - what he’s doing is blasphemy. He’s not God. He’s just like us.
Just as an anecdote, even the scribes and the Pharisees understood Jesus’ claim to be God. In response to those who would claim that Jesus never claimed to be God, you can point to this passage. Then why was he accused of blasphemy?
These scribes are confronted with no less than the glory of God Himself. When confronted with the glorious call of God to forgiveness right before their eyes, those who consider themselves worthy will not hear it. In fact they reject it entirely because they see themselves as glorious.
For everyone’s benefit and ours you might say Jesus is about to air out their dirty laundry. What was said amongst themselves is going to be brought into the light as a warning for everyone.
4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?
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Jesus didn’t have to hear what they said amongst themselves, he discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart and he exposes it for what it is. Like Jesus has already established in the sermon on the mount, sin and righteousness is not simply what’s found in the open and on the street corners. Sin and righteousness are found in the heart and in the private places. Jesus doesn’t even point to the words they said amongst themselves he points to their very thoughts and the affections of their heart and calls them evil.
In this simple statement there appears a striking contrast in the room. There’s a paralytic on the floor who’s more alive and well then the group of scribes standing across the room. Jesus has exposed them to be the ones who are truly dead and sick because their still corrupted by sin. The man on the floor has been forgiven!
I believe there are two things here for us. I’d like to emphasize through the rest of the text how we can be hearers and doers. In contrast to those who count themselves worthy how do we ensure we hear the call of Christ and extend that call to others.
Firstly, let’s not reject the thought of being the cripple in the room. If we’re to hear the message of forgiveness, if we’re to establish our courage through faith we need to recognize ourselves as the one in the room with the greatest need! Do you know how humbling it must have been for that man to be brought helpless and paralyzed to the feet of Jesus before a crowd of onlookers? And yet his humble faith was rewarded with that glorious call, “take courage, your sins are forgiven” Might we count ourselves the most needy in the room, be slow to judge, and approach our Lord in humility that we might hear that call to courage and the assurance of forgiveness. “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Secondly, if we’re to extend this call to faith for forgiveness to others, we must resist the temptation to think of ourselves as glorious. The sin of these Pharisees isn’t only the rejection of Christ’s divinity, it’s the elevation of themselves. As long as we elevate ourselves even in our own private thoughts we’re going to look at the world and simply conclude, “If only you were more like me.” There’s no call to find forgiveness in that reasoning. If however we see ourselves for what we are and know that anything glorious about us comes from Christ we will gladly call the sinner to find mercy and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
The remainder of this section only emphasizes this point. Jesus is the source of our glory and restoration! He responds to the evil of these scribes and their lofty view of themselves with his own glory and power!
5 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? 6 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” 7 And he got up and went home. 8 But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
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Jesus puts his authority and power on display and who benefits? The paralytic is healed and God is glorified. Jesus Himself had every right to receive the worship of this crowd, and even though they still don’t fully understand what’s going on, they worship! God gets the glory. They’ve presumed that such authority has come to men generally. There’s a kind of authority that will be granted to even the apostles, but I think the crowd misses the main point. Jesus is saying, “I am God! I have the authority to forgive sins. I have the authority of the Creator to command my creation as I will.” They may not fully understand, but even in their ignorance they worship. That’s more than the scribes are doing!
Simple point here: When we are humble hearers and doers, sinners and saints see the glory of Christ and not us. When the power, glory and forgiveness of Christ is central to our call God is glorified and the needy are blessed.
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When we establish that our position before God is established through forgiveness and not our own man-made glory we can talk about a call to fellowship. There’s no call to fellowship without forgiveness.
The call of Christ grants fellowship to sinners
The call of Christ grants fellowship to sinners
Moving on from there Jesus comes to the most unlikely of individuals. The author of this gospel. Matthew the tax collector.
9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
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It’s important we get a little perspective here. Matthew wasn’t just any other Joe Smith found on the job like Peter and John were. Matthew’s job as tax collector is particularly frowned upon. At that time tax collectors were in the employ of the Roman Empire. Israel essentially functions as an occupied territory of Rome at this time. They have their own regional governors with the blessing of the Roman empire, but at the end of the day they pay taxes to Caesar. Amidst this occupation, the Roman’s thought it would be better if local Jews were the ones exacting payment from their fellow countrymen, so you’ll see men like Matthew and Zaccheus who are Jews but employed by the Roman empire as tax collectors. Now you might imagine how someone like Matthew could be viewed as siding with the bad guys. You’ve betrayed your countrymen to serve the Romans all the while enriching yourself.
Not exactly the kind of reputation we’d be looking to add to our friend group is it? But again, the call of Christ isn’t a call to those who look like us. It’s a call to the undeserving that they would receive mercy and grace and be changed.
You’ll notice Matthew’s response isn’t one of hesitation. He doesn’t ask like the scribe did, “Let me first bury my father.” He got up and followed Him. He answered the call to discipleship because he found belonging and fellowship in Christ from a position where no one would welcome him or fellowship with him. He wasn’t a true Roman welcomed among his employers, and he likely wasn’t accepted among his countrymen because his duty was to Rome. You might say he was empty of fellowship and the call to follow Christ offered Him everything. A place to belong!
In the greater context the contrast is plain. There are scribes who in the estimation of most Jews would be welcome at their dinner table. They were respected men in the eyes of most people, and yet it was the scribe who was tripped up by his possessions when it came to answering the call of Christ.
Here we find Matthew who likely wouldn’t have been welcomed in anyone’s home. No one’s inviting the local tax collector over for dinner. And though He was undeserving He received the call. He heard, and he followed.
In the same way that it’s better to be the paralytic and respond to the call of Christ than the healthy who reject Him,
It’s better to be rejected by men and respond to the call of Christ than accepted by men and reject Him.
If Matthew weren’t enough, the scene only gets better.
10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.
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The truth is Matthew is not the exception. He’s not an isolated data point to be ignored. Some kind of news has reached the ears of the tax collectors and the less than pious Jews - these so called sinners. Something has reached their ears that they have the confidence to come to sit with Jesus and have dinner with Him and his disciples.
2 particularly striking things there I don’t think we can ignore.
(1) Those who were rejected by the religious elite felt they could approach the Savior and His disciples.
(2) Jesus and his disciples don’t deny them this fellowship. They don’t see these sinners as a threat to their holiness like the religious elite might.
Jesus and his disciples are taking on the work of physicians and doctors.
Think about it for a moment.
What good is a doctor who the sick feel they can’t approach? Rather than providing treatment for the sick all he does is criticize their lifestyle and send them back out the door. He might advertise the treatment of forgiveness but he never actually sits down with anyone who’s sick to provide that treatment. There’s a sign at the door to his office that simply denies entry to those who have more than a head cold.
It’s an absurd scene, but it’s the very demeanor of these Pharisees who stand by and watch. They accuse Jesus and the disciples with that same accusation we’ve seen already, “Why aren’t you behaving like us?” … “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”
They’ve made a fundamental misjudgment that’s so easy to do.
They’ve determined that the holy isn’t meant for the unholy.
They’ve determined the healthy should never reach to the unhealthy.
Ultimately they’ve judged that God in his unapproachable glory should not reach out to save an unworthy people.
In their own eyes the holy is reserved for the holy.
The healthy gather with the healthy.
And God should only reach out to the worthy.
In one sense they’re right. God in all his holiness should not fellowship with the ungodly, but they’ve forgotten that God is a merciful God.
They forgot the mercy that was extended to the people of Israel after they worshipped the golden calf at the foot of the mountain.
6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
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In the midst of God’s righteous judgement upon the wicked is mercy! A mercy that Israel desperately needed!
They forgot that whole of the tabernacle and the priesthood was made holy so that sinners - The people of God - might boldly approach to have their sin and iniquity atoned for by a spotless lamb.
All in all these Pharisees have lost sight of the mercy of God and their desperate need for it.
They’ve assumed of themselves:
We’re holy, we belong with God.
We’re healthy, we don’t need a doctor.
We’re worthy and God is for us.
A truly deadly assumption. Should they hold to that assumption, they will never hear the call of God and they will never extend it to others. They will never open the door to the sinner in need of mercy.
It’s these tax collectors and sinners who have the greatest hope of becoming true disciples because they’ve taken that critical first step. They’ve admitted that Jesus has something that they don’t have. That’s more than the Pharisees can admit. They’re standing by the wayside in criticism. Why isn’t Jesus more like us?
Let’s make this personal. What does it take to be a hearer and a doer in response to this call of Christ to fellowship.
If we’re to be hearers of this call to sinners we need to first recognize who God is. God is Holy and yet he calls us sinners to come to Him because he’s merciful. There is no sickness of sin this merciful physician is unwilling to treat. There is no humble sinner he’s unwilling to welcome because it’s the humble who are ready to repent and believe. “Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” When we look around and realize I don’t belong here. I’m not as worthy as those around me. Everyone has rejected me, know that should we humble ourselves, Christ welcomes us to his table. This very gathering here this morning is not defined by those who’ve made themselves worthy and acceptable. We’re but a gathering of sick sinners who’ve sought the mercy of God. There is no other claim to belonging here except, The Lord has been merciful to me, and I’ve set my faith in Him.
If we can count ourselves hearers having seen the fullness of the mercy of God toward us we can be doers as well and call others.
Jesus’ call to compassion is the image of all they’ve seen in Christ before them.
13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
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The people of God - His church - are always called to image their creator and Savior. Our heart should be the heart of Christ. Our call should be the call of Christ.
We’ve already established that we’re to extend that call to forgiveness in Christ, but here we see what that actually looks like. There’s a heart and a setting for us to strive for here. Firstly, does our call to sinners come from a heart of compassion or a heart of pride. Pride looks at the world and puts them in a different category of sin than us. They need to find some kind of sacrifice for sin that bad. They deserve justice and punishment and the full weight of the law! They don’t belong at our dinner table. The thing is all those statements are true. Their all just statements of justice that have no mercy in them. They will need to atone for that sin some day. True! They do deserve justice and punishment. True! They don’t belong at our dinner table! True. .. We find compassion for people when we realize we don’t belong at Christ’s table either. Christ came for sinners and that includes me! We find compassion for people when we realize that apart from the grace of God we would be just as lost and depraved in our sin as they are.
We’ll never extend the call if we don’t have the heart of Christ to do so. Might we pray for hearts of compassion. If I could extend this: compassion is evident in our setting. Jesus’s compassion towards these sinners looks a particular way. It’s not a pity from far off that simply wishes the best for people. He actually welcomes the sinner to fellowship with him. That’s what compassion looks like. He opens the door of the doctors office and makes it clear to everyone, all may come to find mercy and grace!
John Chrysostom was arguably the greatest preacher of his day around 400AD. He’s known to have said this regarding the church, “For here is a hospital, not a courtroom; not the demand for punishment of sins, but there is the forgiveness of sins.”
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The call to forgiveness has a setting - a place. The church! We the church gathered in this place are the hope for sinners whether they realize it or not. It’s what Christ is teaching his disciples in this scene. He’s equipping the saints to welcome sinners that they may find salvation.
For us this morning I’d like to stretch our understanding of who we ought to fellowship with as Jesus did with his disciples. Christ never intended for the church to isolate itself from the world. So often churches today presume that holiness means isolation. It’s just not the case. We the holy priesthood of God - His church - should be the first to invite the tax collectors and sinners to fellowship with us. We carry the healing power of God in the gospel, shouldn’t we be the first to welcome the sick?
Boiling it all down, let’s befriend the lost. Let’s pursue them to the degree that they know, “I know I’m welcome at their dinner table, and I’m not going to be pushed away.” In seeing the mercy of Christ in us, by God’s grace they’ll see they need more than our friendship. They need the forgiveness of God provided in the death and resurrection of Jesus!
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In these final few verses Jesus is faced with one more question. In His response we’ll find further definition to this call Christ presents to sinners.
The call of Christ grants freedom to sinners
The call of Christ grants freedom to sinners
14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
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Up to this point in Matthew, Jesus has made clear that the righteousness of the Pharisees is openly lacking. It’s but an exterior facade and a display for all to see. We see that in the questioning up until now. “Why aren’t you like us? Why don’t you wear the facade we do?” This question here comes in a very similar form, but it comes from disciples of John. These disciples have distinguished themselves from the Pharisees having heard John’s call to repentance, but they still hold on to some of the formalities of the Pharisees. We can say these are humble Jews who recognize the Messiah, but don’t yet fully understand the nature of the kingdom of Christ. Their hearts are in the right place, but they have a hard time fully understanding what it means to answer the call of Christ and walk with Him.
“Why do we fast, but Your disciples do not fast?
In three different pictures Jesus wants to make it clear that something new has come.
15 And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
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Three pictures of something new that does not fit with the old.
When the bridegroom has come for his bride it’s time for feasting, not for fasting.
A new patch doesn’t serve the old garment.
New wine can’t be held by old wineskins.
Notice, that Jesus isn’t saying one is good and one is bad. There’s simply a distinction between the two that needs to be recognized.
What’s this distinction? What’s new that has come?
There’s a new covenant coming! There’s about to be a wedding and covenant promises made.
If you look back at verse 13 Jesus is actually quoting from Hosea 6:6.
For those who may not know, the whole book of Hosea is about Israel’s infidelity to the covenant they made with God.
You can follow Hosea 6:6 to the following verse.
6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.
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This is the diagnosis Jesus lays on the table before them. No matter your faithfulness to the law, to fasting, to various forms of piety, to sacrifices … this covenant has been broken. Something new is necessary to wed together God and His people once again, and this is first picture Jesus points to. Jesus is pointing to Himself. The bridegroom has come ready to establish a new covenant with an unworthy and undeserving bride. When Israel wanted to renew their covenant with God having sinned they would come fasting and in solemn assembly. We see Moses serving as prophet and priest fasting on the mountain as he’s about to call the people of Israel to renew their covenant with God under the law.
In some sense you can understand why these disciples of John have come with such questions. They follow John who’s calling God’s people to repentance like the prophets of old. They look at the prophet priest and king and ask, why aren’t you fasting? That’s what Moses did before he renewed the covenant.
But this is new!
The author of Hebrews says (I paraphrase), “you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire… you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God… to the general assembly and the church… to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”
Jesus desires compassion and not sacrifice because He has come in compassion - He is the sacrificial lamb shedding his own blood. He’s come to join Himself to His church the bride not on the basis of our faithfulness, fasting, solemn assemblies, or merit, but on the basis of His merit and His mercy!
The Father’s delight is in the Son. He is the merciful one who is the perfect sacrifice. It’s in this bridegroom in the New Covenant founded in the mercy and righteousness of Christ for us that we are made new and find an extraordinary freedom in Him.
We have the freedom to rejoice like groomsmen at the wedding because we’ve all been made new from the heart!
As Paul says in Romans
5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
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Jesus isn’t advocating for a freedom that is unrighteous. He’s advocating for a freedom that is consistent with the newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. We can’t put new wine into old wineskins. These disciples of John are looking for service according the oldness of the letter. As Paul makes clear in Romans there’s nothing wrong with the oldness of the letter and the law just like there isn’t anything wrong with old wine, but when the bridegroom has come the call of Christ isn’t to the oldness of the letter. He calls sinners to life in Him! Life in the Spirit. Freedom in Christ that from a renewed mind and a circumcised heart gladly walks in the footsteps of Christ.
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One more time: In response to this call how do we be hearers it for ourselves and extend it to others.
If we’re to be hearers of this call to freedom we need see that we’re not the faithful covenant keepers in this relationship we have with God. There are those who like John’s disciples might prefer the oldness of the letter because they think their fasting and their faithfulness is what’s going to restore that covenant. They might mean well as John’s disciples did, but they’re mistaken. It’s not our commitment to this covenant that binds us to Christ, but His! It’s by His grace and His blood we are made new and set free to serve Him with joy as His covenant people.
If we can remove the idea that my faithfulness is establishing or restoring my relationship with God, we avoid extending that call to others. When we go to sinners or even our fellow saints in the most well meaning posture let’s be sure we’re not calling them to the oldness of the letter. There are so many ways in which we can look to even our brothers and sisters in Christ and ask, “Why aren’t you more like me?” “Why doesn’t your church [insert any well-meaning form of service]” If we lose sight of Christ we can turn our service into sacrifices. The way we do things is really the way for the Lord to delight in us. Jesus acknowledges the merits of their practice, the disciples will do that eventually, but his priority is to defend the freedom of their faith. The bridegroom has come. Look to the bridegroom and in Him find your faithful service in the freedom of the Spirit. In calling sinners and saints to righteousness we must defend the freedom we have in Christ because it’s in Him that we find favor with God not our sacrifices.
At this point I may sound like a broken record, but Jesus is just making the same point in three different ways. Pharisees call sinners and saints to put their faith in the way they do things to win favor with God. The Church calls sinners and saints to put their faith in Christ to win favor with God.
It’s in Christ that we find forgiveness.
It’s in Christ that we find fellowship.
It’s in Christ that we find real freedom.
That’s the message we sinners need and that’s the message we proclaim because only through faith in Christ will the Lord delight in our service.
Let’s Pray
