Rubbing Elbows With Low-lifes

Matt 9:9-13

I want to set the image of this passage in your mind so you can see where we are going with the lesson. Everybody has been talking about this new rabbi. His insights are challenging and some are radical. He has been healing the sick, casting out demons and even controlling the weather. This Jesus is the talk of the town. But today, he really got everyone talking. After healing a paralyzed man we started talking with a tax collector and then, believe it or not, he asked this tax collector to be one of his followers.

You have to understand something about tax collectors in those days, they were kind of like IRS agents working for the government that conquered them. They not only took your money for the enemy, they also took money for themselves and used enemy soldiers to force people to pay up. They were considered traitors and crooks. That was the kind of man Jesus asked to be one of his followers.

However the day didn’t stop with that monumental move. Matthew threw a party for Jesus and invited all his friends to come meet this rabbi. Guess who his friends were? Yep, other tax collectors and SINNERS! Some of “those people”, low-lifes, people any good Jew would never associate with.

How could this rabbi, who claimed to know so much about scripture, actually consort with people like that?! That was the question on everyone’s mind… and Jesus knew it.

Wednesday night, Harold asked what a preacher’s job was and someone said to set a good example. He asked what that meant and someone responded “like we shouldn’t ever find him sitting in a bar, drinking.”

That’s EXACTLY how these Pharisees felt about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. So, what can we learn from this meal Jesus shared with tax collectors and sinners?

PRAYER

I. Sinners Know Sinners

A. Jesus and Matthew

1. The first thing that strikes me with this story is who Jesus picked to be one of his inner circle.

2. A guy who by the nature of his job wasn’t a religious elite.

3. He probably wasn’t even allowed into the temple to worship because of who he associated with.

4. So why did Jesus pick this guy?

5. We don’t know. I’m going to make an educated guess.

6. Jesus picked him because he knew Matthew’s heart, and knew Matthew’s friends.

7. Matthew had connections.

a) Not the ones the Pharisees cared about,

b) But they were the ones Jesus cared about.

c) Matthew knew sinners.

d) Jesus knew sinners needed saving.

8. Jesus ate with Matthew so he could get to know the sinners.

9. Jesus ate with sinners so they could get to know the savior.

B. Knowing sinners

1. Now, I’m in a good position here in Rochester.

2. After living here for nearly 14 years, I know a lot of sinners beyond the ones that attend this congregation.

3. Yet, that’s not the case in most churches with most ministers.

4. We move to a town and the people we know and associate with are all Christians.

5. You work with sinners, play with sinners, associate with sinners, and go to school with sinners.

6. I tend to be surrounded by Christians and you tend to be surrounded by sinners.

7. Yet, somehow it’s supposed to be the minister who does all the evangelism for a church.

8. Do you see something wrong with that picture?

II. Taking People Where They’re At

A. Backwards evangelism

1. I’ve noticed that many churches expect a person to know a fair amount of biblical teaching before they will baptize them.

2. When you read Acts, most people became Christians after hearing only one sermon.

3. All they knew was they were sinners and needed to be right with God.

4. All scriptural evidence points to the fact that they did all their theological learning AFTER they were saved.

5. All they needed before was a repentant heart.

B. The sick

1. When the Pharisees questioned his disciples, Jesus offers an intriguing retort

2. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”

3. Several years ago, I got very ill with the flu. I mean, I was sick. I called the doctor and she said they were full. When I pleaded to see the doctor, she finally said “well, come in and we’ll see if the doctor can work you in.” As I arrived at the doctor’s office, the first thing she said to me was, “why did you wait so long!” I was too sick to even answer her. When I sat down, the nurse came out, took one look at me and said, “come in right now, we need to deal with you right away.”

4. It was interesting to me how these two people in the medical office treated me so much differently. One saw me as just another load to her burden, the other saw my sickness and need for help.

5. You know religious people do the same thing.

a) Some see sinners as just another problem in their lives and are much like the Pharisees in our text.

b) Others are like Jesus and see human in need, not just the sickness of sin.

III. Mercy Over Sacrifice

A. Jesus and his quote

1. Jesus knows what they said and replies, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

2. What was he driving at with that quote?

3. To a group of religious leaders who were all about keeping the law and sacrifices, Jesus quote had to have been a monumental insult.

4. How dare you say that something is more important than offering sacrifices!

5. I would love to know if they knew he was quoting from one and possibly two of the prophets.

B. Hosea and Micah

1. The quote is directly from Hosea 6:6.

2. the context of this quote is God condemning the Israelites for the fact that they were practicing the form of their faith, and completely ignored what it was intended for.

3. They did church and said all the right words and did all the right things but their hearts were a million miles away from where they were supposed to be.

4. In Micah, God expands on this thought even more.

5. READ Micah 6:6-8

6. Jesus ate and associated with sinners because he was here for the purpose so save the lost, not to look good to the other religious people.

C. Modern application

1. When you think about the implications of this meal, it’s scary.

2. It means we need to think about how we go about ministry?

3. Is opening the doors and saying “ya’ll come” good enough or do we need to actually go and practice spiritual medicine with the “low-lifes”?

4. If Jesus were an elder or preacher of this congregation, what would he say we need to do this year as we focus on evangelism?

5. That is, after really taking us to task for actually having to have a special focus on evangelism in the first place.

6. How would he change our “box” that we like so much when it comes to sharing the gospel with the lost?

7. Would he still be more concerned with actual ministry than getting the worship service just exactly right?

8. That’s something to chew on, isn’t it?