Marked: Called by the Savior - Called Regardless of Our Past

Last week, we studied the Scriptures and saw how Jesus calls people to follow him. When we follow Jesus, we become students (or apprentices) of Jesus, ordering our lives around three primary purposes:

being with God

becoming like Jesus

doing what Jesus did

This week, we want to study Jesus’s radical call to a man named Matthew (also known as Levi) to follow him.

Jesus had been teaching in a house when a group of men carried their paralyzed friend to be healed by him. But so many people had gathered in the house to hear Jesus teach that the men could not get their friend close to Jesus. Therefore, they climbed up on the roof, made a hole in the roof, and lowered their friend down to Jesus—and Jesus healed him! Amazement filled all who were present. As Jesus headed out to the Sea of Galilee (Mark 2:13–14), he saw Matthew.

Luke 5:27 ESV

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.”

The three Synoptic Gospels record the story of Jesus calling Matthew to follow him as one of his disciples. As Jesus was out walking, he passed by a tax booth, saw Matthew, and said: “Follow me” (Luke 5:27).

Notice the similarity in the story to this point between what we saw last week and what we see here with Matthew or Levi.

This brings us to our first point ffor today:

Being Called will Require You to Leave Some Things Behind

We said this last week in passing, but I want to state it today very clearly....Being called of God will require you to leave some things behind. KLet’s look at Matthew’s response

Luke 5:28 ESV

And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

Matthew’s response was simple: he got up, left everything, and followed Jesus (Luke 5:28). Following Jesus is not complicated, but it is challenging. It begins with a decision to believe in Jesus, to turn away from our previous way of living, and to embrace the life and teaching of Jesus. However, being a follower of Jesus is a lifelong journey and adventure with God. It cannot be limited to merely going to church on Sunday, listening to a podcast, reading the latest bestselling books, or reciting certain creeds. It will not be accomplished in a few weeks or even a year. Following Jesus is an ongoing lifestyle of learning, practice, being in community, and being led by the Holy Spirit.

Being Called WIll Require You to Extend God’s Love to All

It’s easy to miss something vital in this story. What may have escaped your notice as we glanced over it in the reading is that Matthew was a tax collector. Jesus’s invitation to Matthew would have been highly offensive to the Jewish religious leaders. As a tax collector for the Roman Empire, Matthew would have been viewed as a collaborator with Israel’s enemy and a traitor. Yet Jesus did not exclude Matthew from the call to discipleship.

Jesus extended the love of His Father to all those He came into contact with, even those that were not what society would have considered acceptable. As those Marked and Called as His children we have a God given responsibility to show and share the love of God with ALL.

That means that everyone we meet, and everyone that we see should be a recipient of the Love of God through us.

You mean the epeople doing that thing that I disagree with…Yes!

You mean the people that think this way about this topic that I feel so strongly about…Yes!

What about those people that I know for a fact are out of line with God’s Word…Yes!!!

Body of Christ you need to understandthat God

In response to Jesus’s kindness and acceptance, Matthew put together a great feast for Jesus at his house. Luke 5:29 says

Luke 5:29 ESV

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

So there is a great group of tax collectors and people sitting at the table hanging out with Jesus and the disciples

Verse 30 goes on

Luke 5:30 ESV

And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Some Pharisees were also at the feast, and they became offended and complained upon seeing Jesus sharing a meal “with tax collectors and sinners” (v. 30).

When Jesus heard them questioning his disciples about why he would eat and drink with such people, he replied

Luke 5:31–32 ESV

And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Being Called is Not Impacted by Our Past

Jesus does not limit his invitation to those who have a nice, clean life and background. If anything, Jesus seems to do just the opposite: he calls sinners.

Jesus came not for the whole, but for the wounded;

not for the perfect, but the ragamuffins;

not for the healed, but for the sick;

not for those who are all cleaned up, but for those who are a mess.

God is not offended by our wounds, our past, or our failures. Nothing prohibits Jesus from calling a person to follow him.

As the apostle Paul stated,

1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

But the religious crowd quickly becomes offended by Jesus’s willingness to associate with “tax collectors and sinners.” They are repulsed that he can allow them to draw near him (Luke 15:1–2). As Rachel Held Evans wrote, “What makes the gospel offensive isn’t who it keeps out but who it lets in”

A janitor at a church camp was once heard to mutter, “I sure could get a lot more done around here if it weren’t for all these kids running around!” While we might laugh at this epic missing of the point, do we ever find ourselves acting similarly? Do the teens in the youth group leave too much chip dust and muddy footprints when they come in—to learn more about Jesus? Do children in the sanctuary make “too much noise” while “we’re trying to focus on the love of God?” Are we annoyed (and maybe even scared) when people of other religions come to our country or community—where they might have an opportunity to meet believers and get to know Jesus?

No matter your past or your present, no matter how wounded and messed up you may be, and no matter what you may think or feel, nothing has disqualified you from answering Jesus’s invitation today to follow him. Just as Jesus called the tax collector Matthew nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus is offering the invitation to you today.