Don't Waste Your Summer | Luke 5:27-32

Intro

Hey Y’all! How is everyone? We are counting down the days to summer. How is everyone feeling about that? Seniors, how are y’all feeling? I remember my senior year, about this time I had pretty much checked out from School and was just getting ready for summer.

Who all drives? Were you able to get gas? I didn’t even know that was a thing until like the 3rd inning of our softball game on Monday. Did y’all do like I did and just pile in at the Marathon Gas Station? I rode over there after the game, that place was wild.

Before we get in to it, i have gift card to give out. So let’s do this.

DQ Gift Card time. we are created set apart from creation in the likeness of God; no one is worthless.

Anyways, this is kind of our last normal Wednesday night. We started to meeting back up in I think August of last year, we were able to make it a whole year as a student group. Remember when we met out in the Sanctuary and that place was way too big. Wild.

But tonight is our last night really being in here and doing what we do. So I want you to think about that. I want you to think about the coming summer, not in how you are going to relax and hangout with your friends, but how are you going to make your summer count? And what i mean by that is, are you going to live in a way that points people to Jesus. We have talked a good bit in here about what our calling as individuals is and what our calling as the church is. I want you to think about how you can use this summer break to really start, or refresh or reload your walk with the Lord.

Fuge Camp is coming up, I want you to realize that Camp is supposed to be fun, but it is not meant to merely be fun, but for you to know the Lord deeper. And I have been a student before, I was in youth group, we went to camp every year, and it was awesome and there always seemed to be this same thing that would happen. We would come back from camp with a renewed sense of purpose, we were on top of the world ready to you know storm the gates of Hell. Every year that would happen. and I’ve talked to other student pastors and their students seem to have the same thing happen to their students. And i’m guessing you may have experienced the same thing before, yo go to camp, you spend a week immersed in knowing the Lord deeper, but when you get back that fades because we get back in to our comfortable rhythms. This year can be different, this summer can be different from past summers. You can start right now being intentional about knowing the Lord deeper. Think about how much more you might get out of Fuge if you are already following close to Christ, if you’re already setting up daily rhythms that let you know the Lord deeper.

The thing about Christ is His goodness is infinite, it goes on and on, the more you know Christ, the more you see there is to know. You never get to a point where you’ve gotten all you can.

So imagine how much more you would get out Fuge if you prepared, if you were already setting yourself up to know Christ better.

So think about it, are you going to be intentional this summer or are you going to waste your summer. So think about that while we are looking at God’s word tonight.

Context

So tonight we are going to be in Luke 5, verses 27-32, this is a simple passage that gives us super simple truths, that should really make us think about our calling and what we are going to do with our lives.

Does anyone need a bible? if you do throw a hand up, y’all are doing really well by bringing them with you, most of you seem to have a bible. But if you need one, you know the drill.

So before we get in to it, let me pray for our time in the word tonight.

pray

Okay cool, while you are flipping over to Luke 5, let me give you some context as to what is going on. We are in Luke, Luke wrote the book of Luke, pretty straight forward.

This passage of scripture is in the middle of Jesus calling his disciples, and just after Jesus healed the paralyzed man that they cut a hole in the roof to get him to Jesus. So jesus is still getting His ministry off the ground. He is traveling around and preaching about the kingdom of God being at hadn, and is calling his disciples to follow Him.

So that is where this text is, we are about to see a very simple scene that is actually two different scenes.

Main Idea

So our main idea tonight is simple, Jesus is calling us to know Him deeper. if you don’t remember anything else from tonight, remember that, Jesus is calling us to know Him deeper.

So Luke chapter 5, verses 27-32, read this with me.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

29 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. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

The Call of Jesus is Simple

Okay So what is going on here?

First we see a guy named Levi who is a tax collector, and that off the bat should tell us something right off the bat.

One that Levi is a tax collector, which means this dude is not gonna be well liked in his community. Levi was Jewish, his people were Jewish his family was probably in the tribe of Levi, the tribe that all the priests would have come from back in the Old Testament. But Levi was a Tax Collector, this means, his people didn’t like him, his main job was to collect taxes from his own people, and he didn’t get paid by the people he collected taxes for, so he got paid by collecting more taxes than he had to and pocketing the money.

This would be like if you owed 10 dollars in taxes but the tax guy said you owed 20. There was nothing you could do about this. It is just how is was.

So Levi was not liked, he was seen and probably was kinda crooked. The also didn’t like him because not only was he a tax collector, but he was a tax collector for the people on charge, who are the Romans, they’re the dudes in power over pretty much all of the known world. So not only is Levi kinda crooked just by nature of being a tax collector, they don’t like Him because is collecting taxes for Rome, from his own people, the Jews.

you know how every parent has super high expectations for their kids, like it seems like every parents dream is for their kids to grow up and be you know Doctors or Lawyers, especially if the parents are doctors and Lawyers. So Levi becoming a tax collector would be like the lawyers or doctors kid growing up to work for the Mafia or something like that. They’ve got money and are successful, but they do it by being a scourge on society. nobody likes them, and they probably aren’t super thrilled by it.

So that is the first thing that we see about Levi, he’s a tax collector, that basically no one likes. He is pretty low in everyones mind.

But the thing we see is Jesus seeing this man Levi. Jesus knows who he is, knows what he does. Jesus knows everything about Levi. So we see Jesus seeing Levi and then walking up to Levi and saying two, very simple words to him.

Jesus says, “Follow Me.”

And this seems super simple, because it is super simple, Jesus is saying follow me. If you’re writing things down, write this down, The Call of Jesus is Simple.

and this isn’t even deceptively simple, it just is simple. nobody is going to try and pull one over on you by telling you to just follow Jesus. So what does that mean? What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Following Jesus means you have to know Jesus. You have to get to know Jesus, just like you would get to know anyone, you have to spend time with them. You have to spend time with Jesus.

how do you make friends? you get to know them. Imagine i brought some random guy up here, that you’ve never seen before, let’s call him Larry. And I was like, this is Larry, he has been your best friend since you were 6. Y’all would look at me like i had two heads, y’all would be like, “I don’t Larry, pretty sure we aren’t best friends.” And you would be right! I’d be crazy if did that. This is ya boi Larry. Nope, and the reason why is, you don’t know Larry, you’ve never spent time with a Larry.

So the first step in following Jesus is spending time, it is submitting your life to following after Jesus.

Have any of you ever been backpacking or done some really intense hiking? When I was a senior, I went to camp Winshape and the age group I was in would basically go backpacking for two weeks in the mountains. It was awesome, but there was some parts that looking back were actually really dangerous, like we would be hiking near a cliff and the way through was extremely small, and so you had to rely on the guy in front of you, and basically where ever your guides feet stepped, you need to also step. If you didn’t, it could be all over.

That is what following Jesus is like, you don’t know the way, Jesus does, you are walking so closely with Christ that His steps are your steps. His will is becoming your will. You have to rely totally on Him, because you don’t know the way, Jesus does. So that is what Following Jesus is, it is daily becoming more like Christ. Daily submitting your will to His will. Jesus has to be calling the shots.

This is what Levi did, Jesus told Levi to follow him and he just got up and went, the passage says, Levi left everything and followed Him. That is what Jesus is asking of every single one of us. He is calling us to follow Him, leave your life behind, everything that you thought was what gave you purpose, leave it, Jesus is better. What ever plans you have for your life, Jesus is calling you hand those over to Him, let Him make your plans.

The Call of Jesus is for Everyone

Okay, so lets keep going, now we see the scene change, we go from the tax booth to Levi is cooking or having someone cook. Levi is throwing a party, I know the text says feast, but a feast is in those time is a big party, i know when we think of feast we think of a giant meal, you know you’re cooking all day long and eating a big meal. But really it’s more like thanksgiving and the following couple days.

You know thanksgiving, the holiday we made up to just eat a ton. Thanksgiving day rolls around, and you get together with people and give thanks by eating your weight in turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce that isn’t really a sauce, but more of a thicker can shaped jelly or jam. So you eat as much as you can, then somehow there is more left over and you take it home and eat on it for the next 4 days. So feast. That is what we are talking about, a party that lasts 4 days and you eat a ton.

So that is what we see here. Levi made Him a great feast, meaning He threw a party for Jesus basically. Levi invited basically everybody he knew to come and meet this guy Jesus. The text says large company. So a ton of people. And knowing what we know about tax collectors, these were probably not the high rungs of society that showed up for this party, but other tax collectors, like the text says, and then other people who hung out with tax collectors.

So this feast is going on, Jesus is there, some of the other disciples are there, and they seem to be having a good time, talking and eating. And then the Pharisees see what is going on, and see who Jesus is hanging out with, who the disciples are hanging out with and they are disgusted. They grumbled about it, asking the disciples why they are hanging out with these tax collectors and sinners?

And then Jesus hears this and answers their question, by saying, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but those who are sick do.” Jesus then says, he has not come to the righteous to repentance, but sinners to repentance.

And we don’t get to see the Pharisee’s response, but I can imagine they were not please by this, because really, this is calling them out.

Through out Jesus’s ministry here on earth, Jesus was everyone, He wasn’t saying to the Pharisees that they were righteous, but that they were also sinners. Jesus came to the Pharisees, in John 3, Nicodemus, the guy who Jesus gave the most famous verse in the bible to, was in fact a Pharisee and repented and followed Jesus, He actually helped bury Jesus after the crucifixion.

So what Jesus is saying here, is The call of Jesus is for everyone. if you’re writing things down, write that down. The Call of Jesus is for Everyone.

So what do we mean by that? It means that everyone you come in contact with can be saved and reached by Jesus. This applies to everyone you know and everyone you will ever know, this even applies to you. If you don’t know Christ, Jesus is calling you to follow him.

Jesus is calling us who do know Christ to look at the world through this lens of everyone is being called by Christ, so no matter who you meet they are being called by Christ to follow him, and you are to see them as a potential brother or sister in Christ. The Call of Jesus is for everyone.

The Call of Jesus Demands Action

So lets look at this some more, because there is one more thing to see here, The Call of Jesus demands action. if you’re writing things down, write that down. The Call of Jesus Demands Action. Look at to the first scene in this story, Jesus tells Levi to follow him, and Levi does. He lays everything down to follow Jesus. Let’s think about this for a second. Levi probably was not well liked in society, but he did have friends, he also had money. He had some serious wealth because he was a tax collector. He made a good bit of money. Levi had a pretty comfortable life. Levi had some friends, had a ton of money, he had a pretty good life compared to the rest of the people he lived with. He was able to throw the great feast. But Levi left all of that to follow Jesus. He is called Levi in this passage, but he goes by another name in the rest of the bible, he known as Matthew. You know the book of Matthew. And if we are looking at His life, we see Matthew followed Christ for the rest of his life, early church tradition holds that Matthew was eventually one of the ones sent out to Africa, to spread the Gospel, Matthew ended up in Ethiopia, where he was impaled on spikes and then had his head cut off.

So Why did Levi give up his cush life to just go an have his head cut off in Ethiopia. Because he knew that Following Jesus was better, That Jesus was better. That Jesus is Better. The life that Jesus is calling each one of us i not one where we are comfortable and live a good life, retire at 65 and then live out our lives in Florida going to see the mouse kingdom every couple months. Christ is calling us to a life following after Him, to lead others to Him, to submit your life to Him.

Remember what Jesus says to the Pharisees, he is calling not the righteous but sinners to repentance. This means he is calling everyone, we are all sinners, who need Jesus. Repentance means turning form your sin and walking away from it, it means walking away from sin and to Christ. Laying your life down to follow after Christ. Following after Christ is a life long pursuit, this means that if you prayed a prayer a long time ago when you were 5 or 6, but you definitely know that you are not following after Christ, you have your whole life mapped out, and haven’t even considered the call of Christ in that, then I want you think really hard about that.

The Call of Christ demands Action, The Call to follow Christ is a call to actually follow Christ. Not to just say that you followed Christ.

Think of it like this, lets say you signed up to go to Fuge, you know you went on Realm, made the account, paid your money filled out the forms, said yup I’m going to Fuge, I’m going to camp, but then when it came to actually leave for came, to actually go to camp. You didn’t go. You just stayed home, you didn’t really feel like. but then when we all got back from camp you were like, “man, camp was awesome, i loved camp. We had so much fun, I think we even won mega relay. I had so much fun at camp.” and when someone said, but you didn’t go to camp, you just stayed home, you would say, yeah, but I signed up for camp, I paid and everything, my name was on the list. I signed up to go before any of y’all did, i signed up before Christmas. It was awesome. but you didn’t go. You can sign up, but if you don’t go, you don’t go.

The Call of Jesus Demands action, Jesus is actually calling us to follow Him, not to say that we are on the list, but to actually Follow Him.

Point to Christ

So, why does this matter? What is the point of all of this tonight? Why talk about it? Because summer is coming, this is the last normal Wednesday night for the semester, after this we are done for the summer. That does not mean we won’t do some stuff together, we have camp, we are going on a mission trip, we will do some other fun stuff, but i want you to think about your calling. Jesus is calling us to follow Him, this means we have a choice to make, are we going to follow closely after him, are we going to make this summer count? Are we going to prepare ourselves for when fall comes and we are back in the rhythm of school and work and it is easy to forget our calling. We can prepare now, to follow after Christ today, and for the rest of our days.

This text is calling us a believers to follow closer to Christ, if we are just sort of going through the motions use this summer to draw closer to Christ. If you’ve wanted a closer walk with jesus, don’t waste your summer, don’t waste tomorrow.

if you don’t know Christ, this text is giving you a choice of are you going to follow. re you going to see Jesus as king on the Throne, or are you going to put yourself on the throne, a throne that will pass away, and be destroyed in the age to come. Who are you going to follow? Just know that Christ is better.

Pray with me.