The Call to Follow

Introduction:

What would you be willing to leave behind to follow Jesus? For many of us, we have not had to leave much. The cost of following Jesus in the United States might get us a few snickers or sneers from people; but generally speaking, even in the world that we live in that is growing more and more unchurched, people have a level of respect for you as a Christian and there are few costs to you socially in following Jesus.

Just this week I started reading a book by David Platt called Radical in which he speaks about many in the underground church who have to meet together in a one room home under secrecy. They have to arrive at different times throughout the day to avoid detection. We also have been reading as a family the story of Amy Carmichael who was a missionary to India. She was just like you and me, but God gave her a burden to serve Him. She didn’t dismiss it, but went and followed Christ to the country of India to serve. Many of the girls who came to Amy Carmichael risked their lives to be able to follow Jesus. They were often drugged by their families, beaten, tortured, and many times killed in order to prevent shame to their families.

In America, Christians struggle to stay even an hour at church, much less make the sacrifices that so many of these brothers and sisters around the world are called to make. What we call following Jesus in America is so foreign to the rest of the world. It’s foreign even to the Bible. Let’s look more closely at what The Call to Follow really means this morning as we see the story of a man named Levi.

Read Text. Pray.

1. The Call to Follow Christ Requires Complete Abandonment of All the World Has to Offer (vv.27-28)

The command to follow is simple. Jesus did not give a lot of specific situations in which to follow Him. He simply gave the blanket command to follow. It is two words that means giving your whole life to Him. You are giving Jesus full authority over every area of your life.

David Platt mentions in Radical that nowhere in the Bible do we find people giving their hearts to Jesus. No one accepts Jesus. No one asks Jesus into their heart? They instead follow. To follow requires radical, complete abandonment of everything the world has to offer and choosing Jesus at any cost.

What did Matthew give up?

Life of a tax Collector

Representatives of the Roman Government

There were levels of tax collector. Matthew is a toll collector. Zacchaeus is a chief tax collector over many other tax collectors.

used extortion and physical violence (often through Roman soldiers) to extract revenue

they didn’t garnish your wages a little at a time if you couldn’t pay, they would take your property, including forcing your family members into slavery to pay your debt

They could collect extra for themselves in addition to what the Romans required

They were hated by the people and considered sympathizers with the Roman occupation of Israel

Pretty much can’t get lower than a tax collector. The only people tax collectors hung around were other tax collectors and “sinners” (people who were prostitutes and low lifes)

Original Question: What did Matthew give up?

Matthew was probably a toll collector. He would never be able to get his job back if he walked away from it.

There is no hesitation on his part. He simply gives up his position and follows Jesus.

2. The Call to Follow Christ Compels Us to Share the Gospel (v.29)

If you really believe the gospel, wouldn’t you want your friends to know also?

The only friends Matthew had were tax collectors and sinners

Jesus is eating with them. The closest form of fellowship you can have with someone other than your spouse is to share a meal with them around a table. Jesus is inviting these outcasts in for a personal relationship with Himself.

Jesus is not defiled by the tax collectors and sinners He eats with, instead He leads them to repentance and makes them righteous

This is one of the most effective evangelistic techniques we can use as well. Invite your neighbors, family, friends, and coworkers to share a meal with them and share the gospel.

Jesus is not defiled by the tax collectors and sinners He eats with, instead He leads them to repentance and makes them righteous

3. The Call to Follow Christ Is for All Who Will Come (vv.30-32)

The Pharisees did not consider themselves as unclean. They did not have the mindset that many of us have that says we are all sinners saved by grace. They were under a works based system of righteousness. They were very religious and believed that they were blameless in keeping the law. Jesus even said that unless your righteous [deeds] exceeded those of the Pharisees, you would not enter the Kingdom ().

The point was that even though the Pharisees were as righteous with regard to the Law as you could get, you will never be made clean by the Law. The Law only serves to magnify our unrighteousness and point to our need for a Savior ().

Romans 5:20 ESV

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Jesus is not defiled by the tax collectors and sinners He eats with, instead He leads them to repentance and makes them righteous

Jesus didn’t come for those who were cleaned up. If they were already clean, they wouldn’t need Jesus. The Pharisees needed Jesus just as much as these outcasts that Matthew invites in, but they were blind to their need.

Conclusion:

If any of you are really sick, you go and see a doctor. You may not be one to visit doctors much, but when you start to notice symptoms appear and you begin to get somewhat worried, you will soon visit a doctor. You want to go to someone who can fix your problem. You don’t keep trying to fix yourself.

Some people try. Some refuse to see a doctor no matter what. Some even stubbornly die because of it! But you don’t try to heal yourself and then go see a doctor. The doctor would probably look at you and wonder why you wasted his time. You aren’t there because you are showing off how healthy you are. You are there because you are sick and it just so happens that doctors fix sick people.

Do you realize this morning that you are sick? We all are! We all need a physician, and it just so happens that we have the best one in the whole universe.