Neighbourhood Series: Luke 5:27-32

Why our Neighbourhood matters

Because Jesus didn’t come to save those who are good. He came to save those who need him.

Connect:

Welcome to Epping Presbyterian Church, where we are asking the question, why should our Neighbourhood matter to us?

My name is Josh and I’m the lead pastor of this church.

The quick answer to that is because it matter to God. The church does not exist for ourselves. We exist for the sake of others.

Jesus came to save the lost and the sinner.

Our passage today paints Jesus as one of the most controversial person in the history of mankind.

The Passage:

Today, we look at the passage when Jesus calls Levi/or Matthew (they are the same person) to be his disciples and it created such an uproar among the religious authorities.

What’s the problem?

Sermon under three headings: The Problem. The Pathology. Finally we look at the Physician.

Let me lead us in prayer again.

Scripture is a mirror. It shows us our hearts. Pray that we will not have a sense of spiritual superiority over people whom we perceive to be worldly and secular. We also need to see beyond the secular to understand our spiritual poverty without Christ.

1. The Problem

The problem arose because Jesus chose to be with the tax collectors.

This isn’t just that people hate paying taxes, as much as they hated death.

Jesus has no problem with paying taxes. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God (Mk 12:17)

The problem is social-political.

To get an understanding for why Jesus calling Levi to follow him was so controversial - we need to think about the tax collectors do.

Rome collected tax from traveler to provide protection for the people.

Tax collector bid for the opportunity to do that.

So they have to collect what Rome need,

they have collect enough not just to recoup the bids

they need to collect extra on top of that to earn a living.

And they are rich.

The tax collectors were hated because they were perceived as traitors and corrupt.

Here is Jesus sitting and eating with a large crowd of them.

And we must believe that this is intentional. This is part of Jesus’ plan.

The “after this” - the incident before this. Jesus claims to be able to forgive sins. Jesus is adding to the controversy.

The Problem (Stated)

Jesus claiming to forgive sin subverts the temple system. Subverts the need to follow the law of Moses. Jesus is threatening the traditions of the fathers and Moses.

“Jesus was subversive” .

Eugene Petersen who translated the message.

subversive or being Apocalytic. It is to live in one world but is longing, acting, praying as if the new world is already here.

That is why praying is such a subversive activity. We pray the Lord’s Prayer every sunday. That is subversive. We are subverting the kingdom of this world, of satan and longing for the kingdom of heaven.

The church ultimately has to be subversive. Not with political might or oppression. But through our prayers and our preaching.

And so the problem with Jesus hanging out with the sinners.

Transition: We need to dive deeper beyond the symptoms of the illness and understand the cause.

The Pathology

Sin but it is deeper than that.

There are two groups represented here.

The Tax C - mercenaries.

Exploiting the poor for their own gain.

The Pharisees and experts of the law of Moses.

Holding on to the traditions of the fathers.

The Physician

Jesus used an analogy - it is not the well who need a physicians but the sick.

Pharisees and the experts in the law - are also sick.

The cure is repentance.

Applications

(1) Pay attention to the apocalyptic - living in the tension of now and not yet but always yearning for the new kingdom....

Prayer is the most subversive “Eugene Peterson”

(2) Acknowledging that we are all “sick”. The pharisees are good at comparison.

So who do we despise? Who do we think do not deserve God’s compassion and forgiveness because they have already done good for themselves? The rich