THE TRAINWRECK OF THE GOSPEL

INTRODUCTION

OPENING STORY: TIME I WENT TO SEE CRAZY RICH ASIANS WITH KORIE…CHICK FLICK ON STEROIDS…MAKE FUNNY. RACHEL AND NICK. SHE’S FROM A VERY HUMBLE BACKGROUND THAT ENTAILED A LOT OF STRUGGLE. HE’S THE EXACT OPPOSITE…THEY DON’T LOOK LIKE THEY BELONG TOGETHER…MOM SEES THAT AND WORKS TO BREAK THEM UP…THE WORLD LOOKS ON BAFFLED. WE SEE THAT TO, BUT THAT’S THE BEAUTY. SORT OF LIKE HOW WE FELT WITH JACK AND ROSE IN THE TITANIC OR NOAH AND ALLIE IN THE NOTEBOOK. MAKE FUNNY...

POINT: THESE STORIES POINT US TO THE BEAUTY OF THE GOSPEL. TOLKIEN SHOWED CS LEWIS THAT EVERY STORY, OR MYTH AS HE CALLED IT, POINTED US TO THE ULTIMATE STORY WHICH IS JESUS...IN THE WAY THEIR STORY HAS THE ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT IN JESUS. WE FILTHY SINNERS DON’T BELONG WITH A HOLY GOD. REALLY HAMMER THIS HOME.

CONNECTING TO THE PASSAGE: SERIES ON ENCOUNTERING JESUS. LAST WEEK JESUS ENCOUNTERS ORDINARY FISHERMEN. THIS WEEK HE ENCOUNTERS A MAN WHO JUST SHOULDN’T BE WITH HIM- LEVI…A TAX COLLECTOR. THIS PASSAGE LAYS OUT THE TRAIN WRECK OF THE GOSPEL AND SHOWS US THAT A TRUE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHANGES EVERYTHING! WE WILL LEARN THREE THINGS ABOUT THE TRAIN WRECK OF THE GOSPEL: 1. IT OBLITERATES OUR OLD LIFE; 2. IT’S OFFENSIVE TO OTHERS; 3. IT GIVES US A COMPLETELY NEW OUTLOOK

THE GOSPEL OBLITERATES OUR OLD LIFE-

EXPLANATION: HISTORICAL CONTEXT…WHY LUKE WRITES- TO SHOW HOW THE LIFE OF JESUS TRANSGRESSES LINES AND REACHES OUT TO THE LEAST LIKELY. PAYS SPECIAL ATTENTION TO WOMEN, CHILDREN, POOR, BROKEN AND THE SOCIAL OUTCAST. QUICK APPLICATION- IF THAT’S YOU LUKE IS PERFECT!

LEVI THE TAX COLLECTOR SITTING AT HIS BOOTH- COME BACK TO THAT LATER. JESUS SAYS FOLLOW ME. AND HE LEAVES EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWS JESUS. DON’T YOU SEE HOW IT TOTALLY MESSES YOU UP? FOLLOW ME IS A COMMAND WHICH MEANS TO ATTACH ONESELF TO. TO TOTALLY REORIENT YOUR LIFE AROUND JESSU! INVOLVES CLEAVING- ATTACHING TO, AND LEAVING THE OLD LIFE. THIS IS RADICAL. LEVI MEANS TO ATTACH! PLAY ON WORDS.

POINT: WE MIGHT CONSIDER THIS RADICAL, BUT FOR JESUS AND THE EARLY CHURCH IT WAS NORMAL. PETER, JAMES AND JOHN LEFT ALL…PAUL GAVE UP HIS LIFE AS A PHARISEE. MOST DIED FOR JESUS…BAPTISMS AND MARTYRS. THIS WAS COMPLETELY NORMAL, AND THAT’S WHY CHRISTIANITY BECAME THE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE THAT IT DID. BECAUSE IT WAS A BAND OF BELIEVERS WHO COUNTED THEIR LIVES AS NOTHING, AND JESUS AS EVERYTHING. YOU CAN’T STOP THAT!

TERRORISM ILLUSTRATION: YOU CAN’T STOP IT…THEY COUNT THEIR LIVES AS NOTHING AND THEIR CAUSE AS EVERYTHING. NO STOPPING.

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER ILLUSTRATION. AND THE POWER OF A PERSON WHOU COUNTED THEIR LIFE AS NOTHING AND JESUS AS EVERYTHING. THAT’S HIS LEGACY. COST OF DISCIPLESHIP- WHEN CHRIST CALLS A MAN HE BIDS HIM COME AND DIE.

APPLICATION: WHAT ABOUT YOU? ME?

AIRPORT SECURITY ILLUSTRATION: HAVE TO LEAVE SOME STUFF. OH THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME TRAVELING. BASIC MESSAGE- WE WILL ONLY GO SO FAR HOLDING ONTO SOME THINGS.

THE GOSPEL IS OFFENSIVE-

EXPLANATION: LEVI IS A TAX COLLECTOR. SHOW HOW VILE TAX COLLECTORS WERE… “Though doubtlessly there were exceptions, toll collectors as a group were despised as snoops, corrupt, the social equivalent of pimps and informants”- Joel Green. AND HE THROWS A PARTY AND INVITES ALL OF HIS TAX COLLECTING BUDDIES! PHARISEES- SEPARATED ONE’S- SEE IT AND ARE OFFENDED! THEY GRUMBLED. WHY- SHARED MEALS = SHARED LIVES. A RABBI WITH A TAX COLLECTOR, DOESN’T MATCH! CEREMONIAL PURITY. THEY COMPROMISE IT.

POINT: WE SEE AN ESSENTIAL TRAIT WITH JESUS- HE WAS ALL ABOUT DOING LIFE WITH THOSE OUT ON THE MARGINS…THE SINNERS AND THOSE REGARDED AS FILTHY. LEPER. PROSTITUTE. WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY. WHAT A MOTLEY CREW. LEVI WITH FISHERMEN HE HAD TAXED ARE TOGETHER! THIS IS OFFENSIVE TO THE RELIGIOUS.

TULLIAN TCHIVIDJIAN- GRACE INSULTS OUR SENSIBILITIES. IT IS INSULTING. WE HAVE BEEN CONDITIONED BY THE MERITOCRACY TO MERIT OR EARN. NONE OF THESE PEOPLE DESERVE JESUS. THAT’S THE POINT! GRACE!

LES MIS ILLUSTRATION…ALL ABOUT GRACE. TRAGEDY IS JAVERT WHO IS HANDCUFFED BY WHAT HE THINKS IS RIGHT/JUST. SPENDS HIS LIFE PURSUING VAL JEAN AND IT KILLS HIM. HE’S OFFENDED BY GRACE AND THAT’S SOME OF YOU!

APPLICATION: SOME OF YOU ARE LIKE THAT HERE…YOU’RE A PHARISEE. YOU LOVE TRUTH MORE THAN PEOPLE. YOU ARE MORE COMMITTED TO POSITION PAPERS THAN PEOPLE. RIGHT AND WRONG THAN LOVE. EMAILS ON GAYS…WE ARE LOOKING TO ASSEMBLE A MOTLEY CRUE HERE.

THE GOSPEL GIVES US A NEW OUTLOOK:

EXPLANATION: PHARISEES GRUMBLE WONDERING HOW IN THE WORLD COULD JESUS KEEP COMPANY WITH THESE PEOPLE. JESUS’ RESPONSE…THEY ARE SICK. I LOVE HIS ANALOGY. FOR SEVERAL REASONS. IT TAKES WHAT THEY DO OUT OF THE CATEGORY OF CHOICES, AND INTO THE REALM OF HELPLESSNESS. .

SIN IS A DISEASE WE ALL HAVE- . IT WILL END UP KILLING US-N . WE SIN BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN STRICKNESS WITH THE DISEASE OF SIN…WE ARE HELPLESS. NOW WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US? IT MEANS WE SHOULD SEE OURSELVES AS A COMMUNITY OF SICK PEOPLE, AND IT SHOULD INSTIGATE IN US NOT SELF RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT IN THE ILK OF THE PHARISEES, BUT DEEP COMPASSION FOR OTHERS. THIS IS WHAT JESUS MODELS.

ILLUSTRATION: TIME I WAS PREACHING AND A BOY OF ABOUT 12 KEPT FRANTICALLY WAVING HIS ARMS AT ME. GETTING UPSET. PARENTS DID NOTHING…TALKED TO THEM LATER…HE HAD TERETS. THAT CHANGED MY WHOLE OUTLOOK FROM ONE OF JUDGMENT AND CONDEMNATION TO ONE OF COMPASSION.

APPLICATION: ALL OF US ARE SICK. AND OUR SIN SICKNESS HAS DIFFERENT SYMPTOMS. GOSSIPS. SEXUAL IMMORALITY. GREED. SELF-RIGHTEOUS…BUT WE ARE ALL SICK. AND WHAT CURES US IS NOT TRYING HARDER, BUT IT IS COMING TO THE GREAT PHYSICIAN JESUS.

APPLICATION: WHEN WE SEE SOMEONE WITH CANCER WE DON’T GO…WHY ARE YOU VOMITTING ALL THE TIME, SO TIRED, NO ENERGY, MISSING ALL THIS WORK, CAN’T YOU JUST GET IT TOGETHER? THEY ARE SICK! SINNERS ARE SICK PEOPLE. AND JUST LIKE WITH CANCER YOU CAN’T JUST TRY YOUR BEST AND IT’S GONE. THERE NEEDS TO BE AN OUTSIDE SOURCE. NOT MAKING LIGHT OF SIN

COMPASSION: WHEN WE UNDERSTAND THIS WE HAVE COMPASSION.

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WHEN A PERSON HAS A SICKNESS THEY CAN SOMETIMES MANIFEST DIFFERENT SYMPTOMS.

ILLUSTRATION: FATHER DAMIEN- A SAINT IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH- FOUND HIMSELF MINISTERING TO A LEPERS COLONY IN HAWAII IN THE LATE 1800S. LEPROSY A HORRIBLE DISEASE WHERE YOU CAN’T FEEL PAIN…SOCIAL OUTCASTS LIKE LEVI…HE GETS THERE AND HE SAYS, “"one who will be a father to you, and who loves you so much that he does not hesitate to become one of you; to live and die with you". AND EVENTUALLY HE WOULD CONTRACT LEPROSY, THE VERY DISEASE HIS PEOPLE HE WAS SERVING HAD AND HE WOULD DIE OF IT. THIS IS JESUS. HE CAME TO WE OUTCASTS AND WALKED WITH US AND IT WAS OUR DISEASE, OUR SICKNESS OF SIN THAT LEAD TO HIS DEATH!