Christ Calls Matthew

Christ Calls Matthew

Matthew 9:9-17

I love to hear salvation stories. It used to be common in churches on occasion to hear the testimony of an individual. Testimonies are important because they remind us that each of us must come to Christ individually. In this section of Scripture, we have the testimony of the author of this book. Matthew includes his own story of salvation in his gospel. This story is also recorded in Mark and Luke. We will refer to some details they share that Matthew doesn’t include. This morning I’m going to sho you three things from this text:

The Salvation of a Soul

The Celebration of the Savior

An Illustration of the New Covenant

I. The Salvation of a Soul (9).

A. Matthew was a sinner by trade.

He was a tax collector. Let me be clear, it’s not sinful to be a tax collector. You can be a tax collector today and make an honest living. But in Jesus day that wasn’t the case.

Tax collectors made their living by overcharging the Jewish people for their taxes. When Rome conquered a territory, they would recruit some of the local people to work for them as tax collectors.

Rome used a technique called “Tax Farming” to gather taxes. They determined the amount of taxes a region should pay. They then sold the right to collect those taxes to the highest bidder. At the end of the year that person would have to pay Rome the determined amount. Anything he had collected over that amount was his to keep.

Two weaknesses in the system made it easy to take advantage of people:

First, people did not keep good records. If they had no receipt or proof that they had paid taxes on an item they may be forced to pay twice.

Second, bad communication made it hard for a person to be certain exactly what Rome required they pay. It was better to be safe than sorry, so folks just paid, knowing in the back of their mind they were being ripped off!

Jewish people didn’t want to chance being hauled before a Roman court, so they normally paid what the tax collector said they owed.

John the Baptist referred to this in Luke 3:12-13. Some tax collectors came to be baptized by him. They asked what they needed to do to get right with God. He told them to quit over charging people for their taxes.

There were different levels of tax collectors. Some owned the rights to large areas. These would usually hire out the work to other people. This enabled them to make money while at the same time not being so obvious to the community.

The lower tax collectors rubbed shoulders with those in the community. They worked from a booth, as Matthew did.

There were different types of taxes.

*Fixed taxes- everyone paid these taxes. Poll taxes- men 14-65 & women 12-65 paid 1/10 of their grain, wine and oil as well as 1% of their income.

*Duties and tolls- using roads, docking boats, sales tax, import and export tax. There was even a cart tax that charged for each wheel on the cart! Tax collectors could stop you on the road, make you unpack your stuff and charge you for taxes on the spot.

Capernaum was a crossroads of commercialism. Goods were brought regularly across the Sea of Galilee. This made Capernaum a lucrative place for a tax collector to set up shop. Daily Matthew engaged in the extortion of his own people so he could profit. He was a sinner by trade.

B. Matthew was hated by his own people.

He was working for a nation that was occupying Jewish territory. The Romans had conquered the Jews. Matthew was helping to fund the economy of the enemy.

He was contributing to the oppression of the Jewish people. The Jews were paying more taxes to Rome than they were to their own nation.

Tax collectors were treated harshly by the Jewish community.

They were not allowed to be involved with the life of the synagogue.

They were not allowed to testify in a court of law because they were so untrustworthy.

Religious people prayed prayers like this one, “Lord I thank you that I am not a publican” (Luke 18:11).

They were put in the same category as Gentiles and prostitutes (Matt. 21:32 & 18:17).

They were thieves.

They were liars.

They were traitors.

C. Jesus calls Matthew to Himself.

Matthew was busy doing working. He was sitting in his booth. He was stealing money from his own people. Matthew was probably used to Jewish people saying things to him as they passed by his booth. He was probably used to hearing:

Traitor!

You should be ashamed of yourself!

He was probably used to getting the evil eye from his own people. What Jesus says to him must have shocked him. Jesus said, “Follow Me!”

No doubt Matthew had heard of Jesus. No doubt he knew what Jesus meant. He knew that by following Jesus he would have to leave behind his life of crime. His heart had been prepared by the Spirit of God.

The Bible says Matthew arose and followed Jesus. He left his booth. He walked off the job. This was a big deal for Matthew. It would be easy for Peter, James and John if following Jesus didn’t work out. They could always get a job fishing. But who is going to hire a former tax collector?

It took great faith for Matthew to leave this job. Listen to me friend, if your job requires you to sin then God requires you to leave that job. I once had a person tell me that if prostitutes get saved, we shouldn’t expect them to leave their job as a prostitute. This was a Southern Baptist preacher who told me this. The Bible is clear, we must follow Jesus at whatever the cost. Matthew did. He left a sinful job for a holy calling. When we are saved, we will leave behind our sinful life.

Matthew is a rebuke to many of us. Look at the simplicity of that call. Jesus simply said to him “Follow Me.” There’s no miracle. There’s no threat. There’s nothing dangled before. There’s no second stanza of the invitation. Jesus says, “Follow Me” and he follows Jesus.

There are some who are waiting to be saved. What are you waiting on friend? Have you not heard Jesus say “Follow Me”? Your time may run out. You may find yourself on the other side of eternity very soon. What will you say to the Lord?

Lord, if I had seen more.

Lord, if I had heard more.

Lord, if you had offered me more.

Lord, if you had proven yourself more.

But look beyond the gate. Who do you see sitting there? It’s Matthew. He is inside the gate. All he heard were two words “Follow Me!”

II. The Celebration of the Savior (10-13).

A. Matthew celebrates the One who saved him.

Luke tells us that the feast Matthew had was in honor of Jesus. Matthew probably had a large home because he was likely a wealthy man. He invited tax collectors and other sinners to his home to celebrate with him. We may wonder why he invited so many sinful people over. The answer to that question is simple. Matthew didn’t have any religious friends. Religious people hated him. All he had was sinful friends.

Luke tells us it was a great feast. It must have been a good time because it’s not easy to keep sinful people entertained. The house was filled with people.

The disciples were there as well. We can assume that Matthew was telling everyone what happened to him. This was Matthew’s retirement party, so to speak.

I can almost see Matthew. He gets the attention of the crowd. He tells them he has an announcement. He says “Folks, I’m not a tax collector anymore. I’ve given my life to Jesus. I’ll be following Him from now on!”

This celebration was not about Matthew. This celebration was about what Jesus did in the life of Matthew. I’m sure the gospel was preached. I’ sure an invitation was given. The radical change Jesus made in the life of Matthew must have impacted some of the sinful people who were at the party.

Do we celebrate the One who saved us?

Do we tell sinners about our Savior?

Do we use our home, our money and our position to lift up the mighty name of Jesus in a sinful world?

That’s what Matthew did.

B. The Pharisees get angry (11).

They must have been peeking in the windows. I don’t think they were invited to this party. They probably wouldn’t even go inside because tax collectors were considered unclean because they came into contact with Gentiles.

They were peeking and they saw Jesus with all these sinners. They are ready to start rumors. They are ready to attack Jesus’ reputation.

They saw Him laughing with drunks and thought He was drunk.

They saw Him embracing thieves and thought He was a thief.

They saw Him eating and said He was a glutton (11:19).

Can’t you hear them, “We saw Him with our own eyes!”

They ask the disciples a question. It’s more of an accusation than a question. They ask them “Why does your Master eat with publicans and sinners?”

Notice they don’t ask Jesus directly. They’re trying to discourage the disciples from following Jesus. They are telling the disciples the Man they are following is not godly. If He were godly, He wouldn’t be hanging out with such sinful people. If we’re being honest the disciples probably did feel a little uncomfortable. They were good Jews. Here they are hanging out with some awful people.

There are some people who use this to justify their sin. They say Jesus hung out with sinners. That’s true. But don’t forget what’s happening here. Matthew has made Jesus the center of this event. Matthew isn’t hanging out with these folks so he can sin with them. He is lifting up Jesus in the midst of them. The gospel is being preached. Matthew isn’t trying to blend in with ungodly people. He is calling these ungodly people out of the world and to Jesus.

C. Jesus shares a proverb (12-13).

“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

Jesus has already proven Himself to be the Great Physician. He has been healing people left and right. If you look at the end of verse 13, you’ll see the real reason Jesus came. He came to heal the disease of sin. Jesus is the Savior. He saves us from our sin.

Doctors must touch the diseased. Imagine a doctor who said, “I don’t mess with sick people.” What good would he be? What good would a Savior be if He wouldn’t touch sinners.

Sin is a sickness. Because of sin we have a diseased soul. We will die from the sickness of sin. The wages of sin is death. We are all infected. When Jesus said, “They that be whole do not need a physician” He wasn’t saying some people don’t need Him. He was saying some people won’t admit they’re sick. The religious leaders didn’t see their need for Jesus because they didn’t see their sin. That crowd of sinners at Matthew’s home needed to be saved. There were all sorts of sinners there and they all needed to be saved.

Think of all the different illnesses Jesus healed:

Leprosy

Fevers

Paralysis

Blindness

Deafness

Crippled limbs

Missing body parts

No matter what your sickness was Jesus could heal it. No matter what your sin is, Jesus can heal it. We have come to believe, like the Pharisees, that some people are beyond help. We are wrong! Jesus is a sin doctor! There isn’t a sin He cannot forgive and there isn’t a sin He cannot give us victory over.

Tell the homosexual!

Tell the drunk!

Tell the drug addict!

Tell the adulterer!

Tell the thief!

Tell them the Doctor is in the house and there isn’t a sin sick soul that He can’t cure.

Jesus takes a shot at the religious leaders. Look at the beginning of verse 13. He says, “But go ye and learn”. That was a phrase used by rabbis as an insult to those who didn’t know what they should already know. Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6. They should have known that verse. It teaches that God isn’t just looking at the external actions of people. When He looks inside of us, He wants to see a heart of mercy. The Pharisees had no mercy on sinners. All they had was disdain for them.

III. An Illustration of the New Covenant (14-17).

A. John’s disciples were confused (14).

John the Baptist was in prison. He had told his followers to follow Jesus. Many of them followed Jesus and the disciples around. They were confused. They asked a legitimate question of Jesus. They asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often but your disciples don’t fast at all?”

Their leader lived a reclusive life.

He wore funny clothes.

He lived in the desert.

He ate bugs.

He was in prison.

It seemed Jesus and the disciples were living it up compared to the way John and his disciples lived. Jesus is having a party in a rich man’s house. It didn’t make sense to the disciples of John.

B. Jesus answers their question.

It’s not proper to fast during a wedding. In Scripture, fasting is connected with sorrow. Weddings are times of celebration. The relationship of God to His people in both the Old and New Testament is described as a marriage relationship. God is the bridegroom; His people are the bride.

Jesus is God. He became man and dwelt among His people. The bridegroom was with the bride. Jesus said soon the bridegroom would depart. Jesus would be killed; He would rise from the dead and He would ascend to heaven. That would be the proper time to fast.

The time Jesus spent with His disciples was not to be a time of sorrow. It was to be a time of celebration.

C. Jesus shares two illustrations (16-17).

The illustration of new cloth and an old garment. Everyone knew that new cloth shrunk when you washed it. Clothes were often patched in Jesus day. They didn’t throw something away when it got a hole in it. But if you took an old shirt and put a patch on it made with a new cloth the patch would shrink and pull away from the fabric. Patches had to be made from cloth that had been washed and broken in.

Jesus says no one puts new wine in an old wine skin. Old wine skins were dry and cracked. If new wine was put in them, the wine would cause the brittle skin to expand and split spilling the wine on the ground.

There are some who believe the old cloth and the old wineskins represent the Old Covenant. That isn’t the case. The old cloth and old wineskins represent the dead religion created by the unbiblical rabbinical teachings and traditions of the religious leaders. The salvation that Jesus brings is incompatible with the dead religion of the Pharisees.

If you are saved, what God has done in your laugh is brand new. It is life transforming. It’s not the result of a man-made religion. It’s the result of God invading your life with Himself.

When you have experienced the new birth. When you have experienced what Matthew experienced your life will be filled with joy. You will want to see sinners saved.

We often wonder “Can God save them?” That’s what the Pharisees got hung up on. But let me help you out. Have you ever thought about how amazing it is that God saved you?

He saved you! If He saved you, He can save anyone.

We were sick with sin!

We had a terminal disease!

There was no cure!

The Great Physician healed us, He saved us.

From these passages we learn what it looks like when God saves a sinner:

We have a radically different life.

We exalt Jesus.

We desire to see others saved.

There is an internal and external change.

Matthew met the Master. Have we met Him?