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*“Why Jesus Came to Planet Earth” *Luke 5:27-32
Of course it is impossible for us to fully figure out everything there is to know about God.
He is so awesome and complex that He is beyond our understanding.
However, Jesus told us we have to become as little children to understand God.
Somebody gave me a book by Bill Adler entitled /Children’s Letters to God. /I really got a chuckle and a blessing out of some of the simple approaches some children take when they are writing God a letter.
Some of my favorites were: (1) Dear God, is it true that my father won’t get to heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house?
(2) Dear God, in Sunday School they told us what you do.
Who does it for you when you are on vacation?
(3) Dear God, hugging is a good thing, did you think it up?
(4) Dear God, there were no clouds in the sky on Saturday, I think I saw your feet.
Did I really?
(5) Dear God, I think about you sometimes, even when I’m not praying.
I love that simple approach.
Knowing God is not all that complicated.
We are going to see in the passage of scripture that Jesus is going to give us the simple yet profound reason why He came to visit planet earth.
Let’s look in Luke 5: 27-32: After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.
“Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belong to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
From this passage, we can learn lessons first from Levi (or Matthew), the Scribes and Pharisees, and finally, from Jesus.
*I.
LESSONS FROM A TAX COLLECTOR (27-29)*
Levi was a tax collector in Capernaum.
You might say he worked for the IRS (In Rome’s Service).
The word literally means he collected the tribute or the toll as people passed into the Galilee region.
He would have had a nice tax booth set up on the major highway.
Herod Antipas, the procurator of Galilee, demanded a certain amount of tribute from which he would send a portion to Rome.
The amount Levi and the other tax collectors charged was at their own discretion.
Tax collectors often charged twice the required amount and pocket the difference.
Matthew probably had access to Roman soldiers who enforced the payment of this tribute (for a fee).
Levi had it made with this lucrative civil service job.
His favorite song was probably “Deep in the Heart of Taxes!”
Tax collectors were hated and despised by the ordinary Jewish people, and particularly by the religious leaders.
They were considered traitors and turncoats because they worked for the hated Romans.
Tax collectors were considered on the same level as swine and were barred from attending synagogue.
They were considered the worst of the worst sinners.
Matthew had certainly heard of Jesus who had been preaching and healing in that area for several months.
One day as Jesus was walking by Matthew’s booth; He gave him this simple two-word command, “Follow me.”
Jesus spoke those words and then kept walking along.
Matthew had to make an important decision.
He looked at his money and he looked at the back of the Lord and he made the greatest choice of his life.
He left it all to follow Jesus.
He didn’t leave his pen, however, because later he wrote an entire account of the life and ministry of Jesus.
When Jesus calls you to follow Him, you don’t often have the privilege of singing fifty verses of “Just As I am.”
He says, “Follow me” and we must decide.
To everyone reading these words, Jesus has given the same command.
I’ve said before the entire Christian life can be summarized in the three commands of Jesus when He said, (1) “Come unto me.” (2) “Follow me.”
And (3) Abide in me.
Although Matthew, the terrible tax-collector-sinner seems like an unlikely candidate, that’s who Jesus called.
He is calling you today, even if you think you don’t qualify.
Have you accepted the call of Jesus to “Follow me?”
If you don’t know whether you are following Jesus or not, there are some marks of discipleship that we see in Matthew’s example.
Let’s look at three of them.
*When you are following Jesus:*
*1.
He becomes the center of your life*
Before Levi started following Jesus, his life revolved around his job.
He was going to make a boatload of money because he was fixed for life in this lucrative occupation.
When Jesus called him, he had to choose whether his life would revolve around making money or around pleasing and obeying Jesus.
Let me ask you today: What or who is at the center of your life?
Let’s consider our solar system as an example.
You know a huge sun is the center of our solar system.
Did you know the sun is so large it comprises 99% of the mass of our solar system?
It is huge.
The planet Jupiter is 300 times larger than earth but the sun is 1,000 times larger than Jupiter.
The gravitational pull of the sun keeps all the planets in orbit.
Think of your life as the solar system.
Think of Jesus as the sun that is central to your life.
Allow all the planets to represent something in your life.
Think of Mercury as money, possessions, houses and land.
Let Venus represent romantic love.
Earth can be your personal feelings and desires.
Let Mars represent food, like a Mars Bar.
Neptune can be work, success or your job.
Jupiter can symbolize the big events like weddings or anniversaries.
Saturn can represent leisure time, travel or entertainment.
Uranus can be art, good books or the theater.
Finally, Pluto can symbolize sports, recreation and hobbies.
All of those are good things in your life but if one of those planets ever moves into the center of your solar system, your life is going to be seriously out of balance.
That may be why your life seems out of control right now–you don’t have Jesus at the center.
Can you imagine what would happen if the enormous sun tried to orbit around a planet or two?
It would be so out of sync the entire solar system would tilt and spin out of control.
For the same reason, we need something (or Someone) stable and powerful at the center of our lives to keep everything in balance.
That Someone is the Lord Jesus Christ.
After all, He made you and He knows you.
When you truly follow Jesus, He becomes the /center /that gives you balance and you will find all the areas of your life will orbit smoothly around the /Son.
/Discipleship means Jesus is in control of every area of your life.
Everything revolves around Him, not you.
Matthew had to make that decision and he chose to let his life revolve around Jesus.
He got up, left everything and followed Him.
Next, if you are truly following Jesus:
*2.
**You will invite Him into your home*
The first thing Levi did was to throw a party and invite Jesus.
It is an occasion for celebration when someone follows Jesus.
Some people think the Christian life is a somber, solemn, straightlaced experience that is to be endured.
Jesus taught that the Christian life is a happy, joyous, abundant experience that is to be enjoyed!
In other words, the Christian life is like a feast not a funeral.
Jesus said, “There is joy in the presence of angels over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)
Sadly, too many people are unwilling to invite Jesus into their homes and families.
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