Sermon Tone Analysis

S. I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?"

Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst.

To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders.

We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."

We talk a lot about leadership these days.

And for good reason.

Leadership is important.

Pastor and Author Craig Groeshel often says “Leadership is influence so everyone is a leader.”

But what is often eclipsed by the bright shine of leadership is the importance of following.

How we follow is more important than how we lead.

Jesus only makes a few calls for people to lead in the gospels, but he calls all of us to follow.

Sermon intro

Pray.

Everyone has a place to serve

When I look at this passage, I am amazed that Jesus would go to Levi and invite him to be a disciple.

Levi’s loyalties are in question - he betrays Israel for personal profit and Rome.

Levi’s job means he is despised by most Jews (the people Jesus is trying to reach)

Levi’s social circle is unacceptable company to “good people”.

But Jesus isn’t dissuaded by other people’s opinions.

He sees in Levi ministry and kingdom potential so he goes invites Levi to become a disciple.

And Levi goes for it.

He gets up from the table, leaving all the taxes he has collected there and just walks out.

He so trusts Jesus that he burns all his bridges so he can’t return to that old life and goes all in with Jesus.

And there is a challenge right there to some of you.

Some of you want to have your cake and eat it too.

Some of you want to hold on to the very things that Jesus wants to save you from and this passage is calling you to throw aside everything that is keeping you from following Jesus properly.

Like Levi did, it’s time to get up and leave the old life and start following Jesus.

To be clear, Jesus invites Levi to be a disciple, but not to be one of the 12.

The 12 aren’t the 12 yet.

There is a growing group of people who are disciples of Jesus and from that group, Jesus would choose 12 out of them for special ministry.

What’s amazing is that of all those following him, Jesus selects Levi to be one of those 12.

After he was called to be a disciple, Levi lived in such a way that Jesus appoints him to the 12.

But as Levi sits at his tax collectors booth, he hasn’t done anything to merit Jesus’ choice of him.

It was by grace.

Jesus saw him and invited him and didn’t hold his past against him.

One of the things this story teaches us is that everyone, no matter your past or even your present, has a place of service in the kingdom of God.

God has redeemed you and gifted you for the sake of others.

God did not save you so you can hold down the chairs during our church services.

He has saved you and gives you gifts so that you can serve.

So how do we best find our fit in kingdom service?

1. Discern our spiritual gifts

2. Discern who we are passionate about

3. Discern how we can serve the people we are passionate about with our spiritual gifts.

The story of Jesus calling Levi (or Matthew) teaches us that if God calls “that guy” to be a disciple and then to be one of the 12 apostles, then there is a place for everyone to serve in the kingdom of God.

Some of you have found your place of service.

You are passionate about those you serve, you are using your spiritual gifts and your talents and it’s a joy, as you pastor, to watch you.

But some of you are waiting for something.

Maybe you are waiting to be asked.

If so, I’m asking you today to get involved in something.

Volunteer with our kids, or our teens.

Start and host a small group.

Help us with sound, with cameras or with pro presenter.

Join the worship team.

Help prepare and serve communion.

Organize social events.

Help us maintain our facility or help us find ways of being visually creative both for our online presence and our in-person experiences.

There are untold ways you can help build the kingdom.

All of you have been gifted and called by God and have been invited by me to become more than just passive seat-fillers, but to be co-labourers in the kingdom with us.

After all, if Jesus calls Levi to do that, then he is calling you too.

There is room at the table for everyone

Christianity has always had an aspect of exclusivism to it.

Those who are saved and those who aren’t.

Those who attend our church and those who don’t.

Those who drink Tim Horton’s and those who drink real coffee.

But, because of our sin, we have often extended the exclusivism too far.

We closed ranks and we started defining the church by those who looked like us, thought like us and made the same amount of money as us.

Everyone else got relegated to “them.”

In a world that talks a lot about inclusivity today, it’s almost hard for young people to imagine that there was a time when, for some churches, if you didn’t go to that church, you weren’t saved, even if you went to another church.

It’s hard to believe that leadership was withheld from women and it’s dumbfounding that, either consciously or unconsciously, church leadership was only to be held by white men.

And if you were LGBTQ, you were never welcome in the house of God.

And I want to say, “I’m glad those days are over” but unfortunately, I can’t, because they aren’t.

For many churches today, who’s in and who’s out is still a major issue.

And I don’t have all the answers on it, for sure.

But when I look at this passage, what I see is that there is room for everyone at the table with Jesus.

After Levi experiences this call from Jesus, he gets up and starts following Jesus.

But after being with Jesus for a while, he invites Jesus and the other disciples to his home and he invites all his friends to come meet Jesus.

This isn’t a small, intimate dinner party.

This is a block party and everyone is there.

Look at the guest list.

You have Jesus, the son of God, the creator of the universe.

You have his disciples, including the newest member, Levi.

You have a couple of Pharisees who are the self-appointed guardians of the Jewish faith who, often hypocritically, ensure that everyone is following their rules so they don’t break any of God’s rules.

And everyone else is lumped into two categories: Tax-collectors and sinners.

And by the way, do you see how despised tax-collectors are that they aren’t lumped in as sinners, but are their own genre of “bad people?”

It feels like a prison movie where everyone is telling each other what they are in for: “I’m in for armed robbery,” “I’m in for assault,” “I’m in for murder,” “What are you in for?” “Tax-collection!” “Ooooooh”

But these tax-collectors and other assorted “sinners” are who were attracted to Jesus.

Mark tells us that there were many of this kind of people among Jesus’ followers.

So what does Jesus do with these kind of people - the people who are “the least of these?”

He grabs some food and sits at the table with them.

The amazing thing about Jesus and about this passage is that there is room for everyone at the table with Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t sit with just his close followers who agree theologically with him.

He sits down with everyone and enjoys their company, as they are.

The church in the West is far too concerned with whether people agree with us and far too unconcerned with just making room at the table for everyone to meet Jesus.

The Pharisees considered it a sin to eat with “tax-collectors and sinners” and I wonder if we have drifted towards that position in our self-righteousness.

I wonder if we have become too comfortable with people who look like us, think like us, and believe like us that we have now become uncomfortable with people who don’t.

There is a challenge in this passage for us, both in our corporate church life and in our personal lives to make room at the table for everyone.

To be known as a “friend of sinners” like Jesus was and to learn to become comfortable with people who are different than you are.

It’s going to be messy.

Not everyone will agree and there are lots of nuances.

But Jesus wasn’t afraid of anyone - he just loved everyone.