Tax Collectors and Sinners

Church Potluck in 2 weeks with a guest speaker John Franklin our new AMS director for Christian County. i am excited to hear him and encourage you to come that day.

Scripture Reading:

Hebrews 1:1–3 NASB95

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Pastoral Prayer

Pray for transformation within our hearts

Pray for God to draw people to this place

Pray for us to look at people like God looks at people

Main Idea: The ministry of the church is not so much to those who believe they are right with God but to those who know they are sinners.

INTRODUCTION

I want to take a poll this morning:

How many in here would say that believers ought to have no association with the lost on account of this principle by the apostle Paul “Bad company corrupts good morals”?

How many would say that since Jesus was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, we too should be friends with sinners and those who do not follow God?

This is what I want to talk to you about today, this tension of being in the world, but not being of the world. Called to associate with the world, so that we can minister to the world.

People normally go too far one way or the other when it comes to this subject. They either completely neglect the biblical principle of “bad company corrupts good behavior” and they have a bunch of lost friends and pretty soon they find themselves doing the things their friends are doing.

OR they go too far the other way and become like the Pharisees who completely separate themselves from any and all people who do not follow Christ, and become ineffective at winning anyone to Christ.

The church must find a balance between these two principles and learn to live within that balance to become effective at winning people to Christ. If we completely separate ourselves from society and never have any contact with lost people then we are never going to win souls. BUT there must be a line drawn so that we do not forfeit our allegiance to Christ and find ourselves participating in the deeds of the world.

How do you reconcile these things?

Friendship with the world is impossible for a born again believer. James 4:4 “do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

What you will find out is that when you spend time with unbelievers, you will have very little in common. Why? Because a believer and and unbeliever live two completely different lives.

But your purpose is not to become like them! Your goal is not to be led by them! It is to lead them into a relationship with Jess Christ and when that person tries to get you to participate in things that you should not participate in, YOU MUST SAY NO! Because your allegiance is to God above everything else!

Everybody in this room is called to be an evangelist. Jesus said, “come follow Me andI will make you fishers of men”. And Jesus was the greatest evangelist who ever lived and lived out this tension perfectly for us. I want us to study just a small section of Scripture today and see if we can learn anything about winning tax collectors and sinners to the Lord.

Matthew 9:9-13 “As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The focus on these verses is not so much about the tension we talked about, but about the unwillingness of those who follow the Law to even associate with tax collectors and sinners. And that is important to us because this is often the state of the church today.

We often become so offended by the sin of others that we forget about the grace of God

Matthew 9:9 NASB95

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

Explanation

Tax collectors

They were the despised by the people. They severed Herod who served Rome. And instead of charging people to correct amount of taxes that were due, they would charge them more and line their pockets. In fact, many tax collectors were rich because extorted the people of God on a regular basis. They were considered what many would call today the scum of society.

Jesus

And here we have Jesus walking along and sees “a man” sitting in a tax collector booth. Notice that it never says He saw a tax collector, he saw a man sitting who was called Matthew. I think it is so significant that the Scripture separates this human being made in the image of God from the deeds that he was practicing.

Jesus was not offended so much by the man’s sin, that he labeled him by what he did. What Jesus saw was a human being made in the image of God who was precious and valuable in God’s sight. What Jesus saw was a man who desperately needed new life that only Jesus could give him. What He saw was a man who was wasting away his life on earth by ripping people off to line his pockets with things that would perish along with his soul.

Bridge

No matter what the sin is in someone’s life, every person has single person has great value because every person is made in the image of God. If we as the people of God see others by their sin and not their God given value then we must also confess that we are hypocrites.

Because the Bible says, “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles over one point is guilty of all” (James 2:10).

In other words just because their sin is different from our sin does not mean they are worse than us! We are all sinners who desperately need grace and my greed is no better than their adultery. My judgmental attitude is no better than their drug addiction.

And I am in no way saying all sins are the same, because they are not, “whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven!” Jesus said to Pilate, “The one who delivered me over to you has the greater sin”.

But what I am saying is we all desperately need the grace of God or non of us would be here! And there is no sin that the grace of Jesus cannot overcome.

Application

What do you see when you look at the drunkard, or a poor man, or the man living in some sort kind of immorality? What do you see when the lady comes into the church dressed in provocative clothing? What do you see when you see the man pretending to be homeless begging for money at the entrance of Walmart?

What we ought to see a human begin made in the image of God who desperately needs the grace of God! What we ought to see is an opportunity to witness and tell them that jesus died for their sins and through Him they could have new life.

Do not be so blinded by the sin of others, that you forget about the grace of God. The church desperately needs to learn this principle and take it to heart.

I want you to see an amazing truth that happens when the church begins to minister to the outcast and the lost. Look at the next verse.

Matthew 9:10 NASB95

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

When you win one sinner to the Lord, you win an entire circle of prospects who need Christ

Explanation

Notice what Jesus does, he goes to the house of Matthew whom he had just called to follow Him and the next thing you know he is surrounded by all of Matthew’s friends. But it was not only Jesus, His disciples were with Him!

And can you imagine things were getting a little uncomfortable for the disciples? These were Jewish men who probably had similar thoughts about tax collectors and sinners as the Pharisees did. And here they are reclining at the table with them. (talk about what it means to recline at the table)

Can you imagine what was going through their minds? They must have felt like they were sitting in the waiting room of the ER surround by COVID patients! But what a grand opportunity to share the gospel! Can you imagine the questions they had for Matthew who just walked away from a legal occupation that made him rich to follow this Jesus!

Listen to what Mark records about this event:

Mark 2:15 (NASB95)

And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

Who was following who? The friends of Matthew who were lost had come to faith in Jesus because of the testimony of Matthew and the presence of Jesus.

Bridge

This is the same thing you will find happening today when one sinner comes to repentance. Lost people are friends with lost people. And when the church ministers to the lost and wins a lost soul, they also win and entire circle of potential converts. And what happens is that one who came to faith, becomes a light in a dark circle. The radical change in that one person’s life strikes so much curiosity and shows them that this thing called Christianity is real and truly is life changing.

You take a group of people to Mammoth Cave and send them into the cave to find their way through, they ain’t going to make it. Its too dark, and no one can see.

You take another group of the same size and give one a light, they’ll prolly make it because that one with the light can lead all the others out.

Application

When you win one sinner to the Lord, you are striking a bright burning match in a dark place. And the worse the sin in this person’s life, the brighter the match burns! Ands those friends of that person cannot help but see that bright match burning and knows that something happened to them that they cannot explain!

And I am telling you God will work through that person, and in that person’s life as a glorious witness to power of Jesus Christ!

Which brings us to the next point:

Church Ministry is not about how many we can gather, its about the spiritually sick being healed

Matthew 9:11–12 NASB95

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

Explanation

Here was the question from the Pharisees. Why is your teacher spending time with sinners? Why if your Teacher is this holy man who knows God associating with the outcasts and talking to these lowlifes?

Ands what does Jesus tell them? The sick are the one’s who need a doctor, not those who are well. Jesus did not come to primarily teach in the synagogues (though He did that), and He did not come to meet the physical needs of people (though He did that too), but He came as a Physician to heal the spiritually sick and lead the captives out of captivity. He purposely put Himself where the spiritually sick were.

Bridge

Can you imagine a doctor who only made house calls to people who were not ill. A doctor who only made house calls to people with health problems. Or an ER who had a sign up that says, “only the healthy are welcome here”. If you are sick then you need to go home and use WEB MD and figure it out for yourself.

We would fire that doctor wouldn’t we! We would say some doctor he is! He does not even care about the sick and that is what he has been called to do! That is what he has been trained to do! He has the cure for many of these people’s illnesses and yet completely neglects those who need him the most!

Application

There are many churches like this today. They have forgotten what we have been called to do. They have so drifted from the original calling that Jesus placed upon the church that they began to believe that success in the church is about how many we can get to attend our service and, not how many are made well.

Can I tell you something? Crowds impress men not God. God is not impressed when 300 people show up at church on Sunday morning and never think even think about Him again until they need something from Him. God is not impressed by our churches who boast numbers because redemption is a secondary factor! God is not impressed when our churches become more about personal glory rather than the glory of God.

How can we live this principle out? The church must be willing to go out of their comfort zone to minister to the sick. How man of us (I’m preaching to the choir) make a point to take a lost person out for a meal, or on a fishing trip, or invite them over for dinner? How many of us stop and share a Word of truth to the man scamming people for money at Walmart? The church must come back tot eh realization that it is the sick who need a doctor, not those who are well.

QUESTION: Would you be more excited if this church had 200 people attending on Sunday morning who were lost or 1 sinner who has been delivered from death and sin and hell and transformed into a child of God?

Religious practices can take the place of the mercy of God

Matthew 9:13 NASB95

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Explanation

Notice what Jesus says, “go and learn what this means”. He is talking to the Pharisees and he is telling them their understanding of Scripture is backwards! And he quotes Hos 6:6 that says, “I desire compassion and not sacrifice”.

In Hosea, the nation of Israel still practiced the letter of the law which was to make sacrifices, but their hearts were far from the Spirit of the Law. They did what they had to do by the law, but their hearts were far from God. And what Jesus is saying is the error of the Pharisees, the same error with the people in Hosea’s day.

The Pharisees

They would do all the religious practices: tithing, memorizing Scripture, fasting twice a week, attending services in the synagogues. And they would look at themselves and think they were so holy because of these things. And their error was putting their trust in those things, rather than in the fished work of Christ. Those things were never meant to replace a relationship with God, they were only designed and implemented to enhance it.

And the pharisees had taken this theology and began to teach others this is the way to follow God. You just have to do this and do that. What they should have been saying is there is nothing that we can do, it is about what Christ has been done. And the only way we could ever be truly righteous is if somehow God could give us His righteousness.

Bridge

This error is often repeated today. People can easily become so routine in doing the religious practices that they come to believe that is what ministry is about. And those people begin to think all the church needs to do is get people in here who will do these things and we will be a healthy church.

But Jesus would say religious practices never saved anyone from hell. Tithing, church attendance, fasting, praying, offering sacrifices, reading our Bibles…these things do not give us what we need most.

What we need is mercy. And that mercy only comes through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Application

What is the church to do with this today? We are to have an accurate understanding of Scripture and what it means to have a relationship with God.

We are to understand what verses means such as:

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

We are to know that getting people to adhere to practices will not deliver their souls from hell and that is really all that matters.

CONCLUSION

I want to close with this quote by Grant Osborn:

“Too many of us are Pharisees at heart, hypocrites who talk the talk but do not walk the walk. It is easy to become “churchified,” i.e., to perform all the external rituals but fail to have a heart for God and others. The Pharisees loved only their own kind but had no mercy or love for the despised in society. A true biblical church will have a community-wide ministry that shows God’s love to all around. This is true for ministry both outside and inside the church. It is shocking how many believers go through hard times with no one offering a helping hand in the church. In the early church “there were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:34), for the members did whatever they had to (even selling property or homes!) to meet the financial crisis. Can any church in the West come close to that biblical ideal?”

The ministry of the church is not so much to those who believe they are right with God but to those who know they are sinners. Ministry is hard work. It is messy work. But there is no better work that a man can do on the face of the earth.

I want to challenge you this week to reach out to the sinners and tax collectors whom you come into contact with. I want to challenge you to get outside these four walls and tell people about the grace and mercy of God.

There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a lost sinner give up this life and begin to follow Jesus. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a new believer grow in their relationship with Christ and begin to walk by faith. That is the good stuff.