The Sinner's Friend (Jesus and Matthew)
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus was frequently accused of being a friend of tax collectors and sinners [Luke 7:34]. To this charge He was compelled to plead guilty … and He would yet be found guilty as charged. Those excluded from polite company of religious people are to this day objects of special affection for the Son of God. If that were not so, I would not have been saved, and neither would you have been called to new life in Him. Jesus is the sinner’s friend. The individual who thinks himself or herself an awful sinner has a friend, One who loves that one enough to give everything to set them free from the slavery to their own desires, bringing them into the glorious liberty of children of God.
I recall an incident which took place in the pastor’s office in one of the largest churches in North America. I was present that day because I had the previous night delivered a public rebuke to this greatly loved pastor and I felt it important to explain my stand. As we talked he asked about the ministry I had participated in while serving in San Francisco. I described the congregation – prostitutes made clean, hucksters redeemed by the grace of God, criminals set at liberty, drug abusers freed from their destructive cravings. I told how many of our fellow churches would have nothing to do with us because they considered the people to be the scum of the earth.
That pastor asked me what it was like working in such a congregation. Honestly, I could only remember the deep love they had for one another. Therefore, I spoke of their deep compassion for one another, the responsibility they accepted to fulfil the ministry the Master had assigned one another. They were rejected by other churches in that city, and in this world they had only each other bound together by Christ’s love.
I spoke of George, retired from the United States Postal Service at an early age because of drug abuse. He couldn’t speak two sentences without forgetting what he was saying, and he had a disgusting habit of drooling as he spoke. I told how George filled a seventy-two-passenger bus with families each Sunday and brought them to church. I spoke of Armando, a Panamanian unable to read either Spanish nor English, but he had memorised John 3:16; and standing on the streets of the city he would quote that verse and urge people to be saved with the result that many people came to faith in Jesus Christ.
I told of Tony, dapper and debonair, who was too cool to be a Christian … of Clemente burning with white-hot zeal for Christ who brought someone to Christ nearly every week that I knew him in that city … of Etta and Florence, the spinsters who in later years quietly served with gentleness and quietness. I spoke of Sue Dollin and how in old age she prayed so mightily for revival, and of Sally Martin who joined her in that faith.
The distinguishing mark of that church was that every one of those saints, and hundreds of others, thought themselves awful sinners; and thinking themselves awful sinners, they needed a great God. They found that great Saviour and great God in Jesus Christ. If I think myself to be but a little sinner, I need but a little God. If, on the other hand, I think myself to be a great sinner, I will confess that I need a great God. Jesus is the friend of sinners, and He is a great God.
It was a mark of the greatness of that pastor that he stood from his desk and walked around to where I was seated on a couch. He knelt in front of me and asked that I place my hands on him and pray. “For forty years,” he said, “I have laboured for such a ministry in this city, and I have never seen it happen. Please pray for me that God will give me what you say you found in San Francisco.”
If we will have a great church in this town, it will be a congregation filled with great sinners who have discovered a great Saviour. So long as we consider ourselves to be “Okay,” we will never confess our need for a Great Saviour. Thus content with ourselves and self-satisfied, we will never witness the growth we need. I invite you to return with me to a day when a Great Saviour called a great sinner to Himself almost two thousand years ago. Exploring that event, may God stir each of us deeply to worship that Great Saviour and determine that we will trumpet a great message of life in Him.
Only Sinners Receive God’s Call – I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. After rebuking the religious leaders because their callused hearts had charged Him with evil because He forgave the sins of a paralysed man, the Lord left the house and began to walk away. Walking out of the city and toward the lake He came to a customs booth where the man with the concession was seated as he normally was.
As you enter Canada from the United States along any of the highways, there will be situated a customs booth where you will be required to declare any goods you are carrying into Canada. Those goods requiring payment of duties or requiring the collection of the Goods and Services Tax will be noted and assessed, and you will then pay an amount to the Receiver General of Canada. After you have enriched the Canadian government by cash, cheque or credit card, you will be on your way, your goods now somewhat more costly than when purchased but of no greater value.
The customs booth in ancient Palestine was similar, but with a couple of significant differences. When our customs agents receive monies, they are taxing on behalf of the Canadian government. It is our own nation taxing those bringing goods into the country which to some degree tempers our sense of disgust. Those who operated the customs booths in that ancient day extracted moneys on behalf of a foreign power, which only rubbed salt in the open wounds of the people whom they were taxing.
Judea and Galilee were occupied territories. The Jewish people were no longer free to conduct their own affairs, and the funds extracted for customs were forwarded to the occupying power, Rome, thus enriching foreign coffers. Those operating the customs booths were, however, Jews. They bid for the right to operate these booths. That way, Rome would receive up front a sizeable sum of money based upon estimates of normal receipts from the area under the concession. The successful bidder was then free to extract whatever he thought appropriate from those unfortunate enough to pass through his concession. The customs fees imposed were not subject to appeal, and the tax collectors were notorious for gouging those taxed.
Tax collectors are not greatly loved within contemporary societies. They have a job to do and their work is not always appreciated, especially when we receive the bills they deliver. They were positively hated in Palestine. They were traitors and turncoats in the eyes of their fellow countrymen. They were thieves and robbers with a well-deserved reputation for greed. They were excluded from polite society and scorned by everyone. They existed only by the fear inspired through their appeal to occupation troops. They were considered the lowest creatures in the land … lower than any other form of sinner.
Jesus’ words to Matthew, also known as Levi, were few and to the point: Follow Me. They were, however, sufficient to accomplish His will. When the Saviour speaks few words need be spoken to arrest to the heart of sinful man and to effect a dramatic change. Follow Me. The whole of life is summed up in that one command. Follow Me – and not another. The Me is emphatic. Matthew had been following His own desires for wealth, and now the call was received to give His allegiance to the Master of life. Matthew gave immediate allegiance to the Master, left His booth and followed Jesus. Luke notes that he left everything to follow Jesus [Luke 5:28].
Matthew surrendered a lucrative concession. It had already cost him a sizeable sum of money since he had been required to purchase the concession from the Romans. He could anticipate making back the purchase price with considerable interest in the course of time, but he would have to operate the taxation concession for a period in order to make such wealth. We do not know how long he had been a tax collector. If he had operated for only a short while he no doubt suffered a great loss in following Jesus. If he had held the franchise for a period of time, he had already accumulated a fair amount of moneys, no doubt, but surrendered all future profits.
Matthew’s response to the Saviour’s call is commendable in no small measure because there was apparently no debate on his part. He seems to have seized upon the spirit of the words of Jesus spoken to another. The account is recorded in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus called a man to follow and the man responded I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family. To this delay, a form of pleasant demurring, Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” [Luke 9:61,62]. The call of the Master is to be obeyed immediately. Just so you, when Jesus calls, must not delay but answer quickly by obedience to Him.
Salvation cannot be hidden. The whole of life is affected by the transformation. The joy of the Lord breaks forth and the face of the redeemed shines with an inner light. The step is lighter. The soul rejoices. The redeemed of the Lord are compelled to say so. It is the most natural thing in the world for the new believer to want to tell others of the life discovered in Jesus. Especially does the new-born child of God desire the salvation of friends and acquaintances. So it was with Levi, henceforth to be known as Matthew, as he invited the outcastes of society who had to that point comprised his circle of friends. He wanted them to come meet the Master. And Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners. Matthew’s first act as a new follower of the Christ was to introduce his friends to Jesus. In order to do this he gave a dinner and invited his friends, all of whom quite naturally were tax collectors and “sinners”. The religious folk and the nice folk would not have anything to do with a social bottom dweller such as a tax collector. Jesus and his disciples ate them and had opportunity to speak with them, explaining Matthew’s response to the call of God. We can only imagine, but consistent with His character, Jesus must surely have rejoiced at the presence of so many sinners hearing of life in Him.
Those among us who consider ourselves to be good people cannot know what it is to be saved. Quite frankly, one cannot be redeemed by Christ until he considers himself to be a sinner. I don’t mean that one must somehow wallow in the mire of utter dissipation, but I do mean that one must recognise that before God he or she is lost and without hope of ever pleasing God. How can a contaminated spring spill forth good water? How can a blighted tree produce good fruit? Until we realise that we are wicked in the sight of Holy God we will not seek His mercy and grace.
This was the frightful condition of the Pharisees. They were good in their own eyes. Therefore, they were horrified that Jesus would associate with tax collectors and sinners. Though we are perhaps too nice in our day to ask the truly wicked of society to leave our churches should they be so crass to attend, neither are we anxious to invite them to attend. Jesus, hearing of the complaint of these self-righteous men, commented on their sense of moral disgust. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
With these words the Master positioned them by their own attitude. Since they did not consider themselves to be sinners in need of divine mercy, they needed no forgiveness. Since they did not consider themselves sick, they needed no healing. Thus they were by their own attitudes excluded from receiving what only the Master could give – life, liberty and light.
Have you ever noticed the number of times Jesus warned “good” people against persisting in their own narrow self-justification? His caution to such good people against relying upon their goodness was a hallmark of His ministry. When the religious people came inquiring about the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus challenged them. To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
”We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her actions [Matthew 11:16-19].
Doctor Luke, in the Gospel which bears his name, wrote of a time when the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear Jesus speak. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were muttering that this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Note the parable which Jesus related to them before launching into the parables of the lost coin and the lost son. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent [Luke 15:4-7].
The point of the parable of the two sons was stated in these point-blank words: I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him [Matthew 21:31,32].
I suppose that one of the greatest parables demonstrating the Master’s concern to those who endeavoured to justify themselves is that which is found in Luke 18:9-14. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
I suppose that I see things somewhat differently. My first ministry was to men and women incarcerated at a Texas prison farm. By the grace of God many of those to whom I preached week-by-week were saved and brought into the fellowship of the church from which I was sent. Upon arrival in Canada I was quickly engaged in ministry at Oakalla, a British Columbia Provincial Gaol. Again, God was gracious in giving new birth to some to whom I ministered. My family, just like yours, has a few skeletons in the closet. Our son is incarcerated in a federal prison. Though convicted of a grave crime, he has professed Christ and in difficult circumstance endeavours to serve Him. Should I deny my own family? Should I deny those very men I was privileged to lead to faith in Christ throughout the early days of my ministry?
Were these ministries not present, yet I recognise that I am an awful sinner saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot exalt myself against anyone since He brought me from a mighty long way. When all is said and done, I can only say that I am a sinner saved by grace. And that is your situation as well!
Mercy is Greater than Sacrifice – Jesus then quoted from Hosea’s prophecy, But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” [cf. Hosea 6:6]. Those receiving His rebuke would be challenged to think through the words He quoted. Sacrifice was good. God had Himself instituted sacrifice in the Garden of Eden after our first parents sinned. The Lord God clothed them with garments made from skins of animals [Genesis 3:21]. Animals had died to provide a covering for their nakedness.
From that time, those coming before God were to come bearing blood as a propitiation for their sin. After Noah and his family had landed on Mount Ararat, his first act was to offer a sacrifice. The whole of the Levitic Law is based upon the need for sacrifice to provide a way into the presence of God.
You may recall the words of the writer of the Hebrew letter: When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God [Hebrews 9:11-14].
Sacrifice was not bad; it was good. It was instituted by God and commended by God. Even our Lord came to give His life as a ransom for many. He became our eternal and infinite sacrifice, the perfect Lamb of God. However, never in the mind of God does rite and ritual, cant or creed, become a substitute for faith. The acts or worship are performed out of faith and not as a substitute for faith. The one exercising faith will have received mercy and is compelled to exercise mercy.
We each no doubt learned the Model Prayer in Sunday School or through some other religious training we received at some point. As Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, He concluded His instruction with some arresting words. He said, if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins [Matthew 6:14,15]. With those words He articulated an axiom of the most holy Faith: the one who has received mercy must show mercy. Underscore in your mind this truth: the unforgiving heart is an unforgiven heart. The haughty spirit exposes a self-righteous individual. Because they were haughty in their spirits toward the tax collectors and sinners, these Pharisees were self-condemned.
It is a good thing to go to church, but is your church a welcoming church? Does anyone from our society find a welcome there? It is a good thing to give our gifts to underwrite the ministry of our church, but is the church of which you are a member a merciful church? Are sinners welcomed in your church? Do your fellow church members show mercy to those in need of mercy? Where is your life invested? Are the outcastes of society welcomed by you when they enter your church building? In contemporary terms, the investment of your life into the life of another is of greater value than are your gifts of money.
The fact that Jesus attended Matthew’s party disgusted the Pharisees. These paragons of religion went straight to the disciples since they lacked the courage to confront Jesus Himself. They endeavoured to destroy the faith of His followers, since they dared not confront Jesus directly. Their question no doubt served to place the disciples on the defensive: Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners?” They hadn’t the courage to ask Jesus their question. Cowards that they were they thought to hurt Him through inducing questions in the minds of His disciples. Cowards always work through innuendo, through surreptitious insinuation and slander. Manly faith boldly confronts the issue since it seeks not to hurt, but to help.
I’ve seen and heard the same pharisaic attitude expressed among religious people, the elite of society. These people don’t belong here. Let them worship with their own kind. Ours isn’t that sort of church. Comments such as these do not reveal the Spirit of Christ, but rather a spirit of self. Where do seeking people belong, if not in the church? Shouldn’t the lost seek Christ within the church? Perhaps such queries are correct and those seeking Christ should seek Him where He is most likely to be found – with sinners, with the outcastes of society, with the poor and injured masses.
In a church I once pastored for a brief time, the Spirit of God moved in power and many people were being added to the church. They were not as those who had long been worshippers at that particular assembly. They were mostly poor, mostly first generation Canadians, mostly seekers after the love of God which was being revealed in Christ. The good burghers of that congregation were incensed to see so many people of colour occupying their pews. They were angry at the thought that these people were seated beside them and loudly praising God with them.
During a deacons meeting, the chairman of the church (I am always amused at the audacity of churches which permit the creation of august titles for those usurping power) said, “This pastor has done a good job; but he has brought in too many of the wrong kind of people. They are not like us.”
Looking him straight in the eye I asked, “What is wrong with them? They have two eyes, two legs, two hands.”
“They are not like us,” he responded.
“No, thank God,” I replied, “they have been converted.”
Are sinners welcome here? Do the despised of society find a welcome among us? Are those suffering because of their own wickedness welcome to join us, that they might discover the grace of God in Christ the Lord? If the Spirit of Jesus is among us, they are. Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. Do not, however, think that He is unconscious of the muttered questions, of the hostile glares, of the caustic accusations. He hears, though nary a word is spoken. To any such who mutter and murmur against sinners, Jesus responds: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Jesus’ call will not be heard by the righteous, they are justified in their own eyes. Religious people, puffed up in their own estimate, cannot imagine lowering themselves to the level of sinners. I am not a judge, but I do have eyes, and when I see the actions of some who think themselves religious as they exclude the sinners, I cannot help but question their professions of love for Christ. For how can we love God if we have no love for those whom God loves? What else can John’s penetrating words mean? If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother [1 John 4:20,21]. Love for God touches even the manner in which we relate to the lost and to the least around us.
Where the Spirit of God abides in power, sinners will find a ready welcome. Saints will not need to seek out the outcastes of society; they will find the house of God on their own as they come to Christ. With Him they are assured of finding a welcome. Let us determine that we will receive all whom the Lord our God sends to us. Let us renounce any pretensions to social acceptance and embrace the fallen as those loved by God. Let us challenge our attitudes and purify our hearts for Christ’s sake.
The Outcastes of Society Find a Welcome in Christ – There is balance in the Master’s call. He does not compromise the call to godliness through such outreach. Ever and always He calls men to the standard of God, a standard of holy living. Those who are called to Him are transformed and can no longer continue as they once did. Those who were unable to previously show mercy must now show mercy. Those who once were unscrupulous in their dealings must now be righteous. They are changed, not in order to be children of the Living God, but because they are children of God they are changed.
How often have I heard people say, “If only that person would become a Christian they would really do something for God.” Generally by such a statement the individual reveals that he or she is focused on natural ability instead of seeing as God sees. The testimony of the rich and famous seldom adds anything to the cause of Christ. I am not against the famous of our world becoming Christians, but I am of the opinion that one godly individual committed to Christ is worth thousands of those worshiped by society.
I was at one point a member of a church which was a social magnet for the surrounding countryside. The notable within society wanted to be members of that church. The biggest names in sports, in music, in business were very careful to unite with that church whenever they moved into that city. They professed to be saved and no doubt many of them were Christians; but on the balance few such notable members of society added anything to the cause of Christ. They were generally too busy with their careers to make much of a contribution to the life of the Body.
I learned through that experience that it is not what a person is which determines whether they will accomplish anything of worth to God; it is the One who calls who transforms us. As the old saying goes, reputation is what people think you are, but character is what you are. When it came to changing society, one rather simple man named David Umfreville filled with Christ’s love was worth a thousand famous people. David loved God and gave himself to serve wherever God would place him. Today he heads up a ministry to the outcastes of society. In the last report I had of David hundreds of men and women were set at liberty from addictions and added to the Kingdom of God. He is heading up a prison ministry both in county jails and to the Texas State Prison. Many who are saved are set at liberty from the very bondage which landed them in the hoosgow in the first place and becoming men and women of character. Years ago a Texas divine said, God can hit some mighty straight licks with some mighty crooked sticks. It is the transforming presence of the Spirit of God which changes those whom God calls and not our own abilities.
We have the tendency to move to either of two extremes. Either we shun those who are not part of our social circle, or we excuse their sin and confirm them in their lost condition. We must not permit ourselves to fall into such a trap. We must reach out to any whom the Lord our God brings into the sphere of our ken, but we must reach out calling them to Him that He might transform them by His great power.
Jesus called Matthew and the subsequent life revealed that his transformation. When called, Matthew got up and followed Him. Zacchaeus, called to follow Christ, demonstrated a changed heart by restoring all that he had taken through deceit and fraud. When the demon possessed men were freed as we saw in a previous sermon, Christ did not leave that one which followed Him to wander naked in the tombs nor send him to be a pig farmer, He sent Him home to His family, clothed and in his right mind. Underscore in your mind this singular truth: Whom Christ calls, Christ transforms. He doesn’t provide near beer for the alcoholic; He sets such a one free from bondage. He doesn’t make the adulterer willing to give up one night a week for his wife; Christ purifies the heart and calls that one to commitment. We must not permit ourselves to think that we can tell the sinner that they can sin just a little bit. Make no mistake, Christ calls us to righteousness.
Similarly, we who are saved must not ignore the social outcastes; it is precisely those poor, miserable, fallen individuals whom Christ loves. They know they are in need of a Saviour and in Christ they will find a welcome. I once ministered to a young woman who had been hospitalised for heroin addiction. Over the course of weeks I told this sixteen-year-old girl of Christ’s love for the outcastes. I told her that His was a pure love freeing all who received Him. She repeatedly countered my plea with the challenge that she had never met a man who did not want to use her. Her life as a prostitute became so painful that it had driven her to use drugs to dull the inner pain of loss of self-respect. She simply could not believe that any man could love her as she was and not use her.
I doubt whether that young woman would be received with love in many churches. My own board was uncomfortable when I spoke with them about her and her need for a loving home. They weren’t certain whether she would “fit in.” I gently pointed out that she likely wouldn’t “fit in,” but then each of them had been rather rough cases when I first met them. You see, the most of that board had been brought to faith through a ministry of outreach I had conducted and now they were serving as deacons of the church which had received them. The point of the illustration is that we become comfortable with one another and begin to think that the whole of the world is like us and like our friends at church.
On one occasion while serving in Vancouver I stood on a hill with a visiting minister as that fellow servant commented how beautiful the city was spread out below. The city was lit up and lights shone through the windows of each home making a most beautiful effect at twilight. Something about that scene touched me more deeply than at any time before. For a brief moment I understood Jesus’ heart as He wept over Jerusalem. I choked back my tears and said, “Yes, it is like ministering in a beautiful cesspool. Each light represents a broken heart. Each family residing in those houses harbours a story of sorrow. It is my call to speak to the city and to win as many as possible for Christ’s sake.” That night I began with new determination to invest my life in ministry to the outcastes of society as I began to visit again in the prison and the jails of the city. There is where Christ’s heart will be found.
Reflect with me on the message. I trust that if you did not know previously, that I have convinced you that Jesus welcomes the outcastes of society. He welcomes them, not to affirm them in their sin, but to bring them into His glorious presence where they might be transformed by His power. If you knew this, I trust that I have encouraged you in your outreach to those otherwise shunned by the polite members of churched society. No one of us who know, or rather are known by the Lord Christ, can ignore the most humble member of human society.
May I therefore make two recommendations to our church. First, let us commit ourselves to reach out to the outcastes. Instead of lowering our heads and hurrying by those revelling and pouring out from the bars late at night, let us determine that we will ask the Lord of the Harvest to give us His heart of compassion. Let’s determine that when such pathetic individuals show up in our church we will welcome them, inviting them to Christ and to His church. All about us are men and women forgotten by the church and ignored by the most. Perhaps they are the ones to whom we should first reach out. Perhaps through preaching the Good News to them we will discover the heart of the Saviour in a fresh way we could not otherwise have ever imagined.
Second, let’s determine that though we will reach out to those who are otherwise ignored by the church, we will not compromise the call to righteousness. Don’t let yourself be cowed by the false thought that compassion excludes godliness. We who are Christians in love with the Saviour do more by accident for the welfare of society than does the rest of charitable and government agencies can do on purpose. Because we are changed by the grace of the Risen Son of God we cannot view people as we once did. We can neither ignore their plight, nor can we leave them in their pitiful condition of condemnation before the Living God. We call them to Christ and we call them to His righteousness. Isn’t it time that we began to call others to Christ as the Lord called Matthew to Himself? Amen.