Sermon Transcript

Good morning. It’s so good to be with you all this morning! I’m just in awe, after singing and worshiping this morning. I also walk up here and go, “Wow! I get to stand in front of this!” And, even though I didn’t do it last night, I was really tempted this morning, again as I saw that,  to think, “Man, I can come running out that hole,” and just…Boom! We’re there! But I’m kind of large, and I think I probably would knock that over if I came running out. I could try to do that—it might be fun for you all.

If you could turn to the gospel of Luke, that’s where we’re going to be at this morning, Luke chapter 5. As you go there, I realized that when Trent asked me to come and share the Word with you this morning—about six weeks ago—I was coming as a guest speaker. I thought, “That would be really cool to come up to Granger and to preach.” And I get to share the Word with you this morning as one of your pastors! It’s just amazing! I feel so privileged. Six weeks ago we were in a very different situation, and our life has drastically changed in that period of time.

This morning, as we come to this passage, we’re going to read about a guy whose life was drastically changed. So, let’s look here this morning at Luke 5, reading verses 27-32: “After this he [Jesus] went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 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. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’” (ESV) Let’s pray this morning.

Father, would You open up our hearts to receive Your Word this morning? You’ve been so kind to give us Your Word, to reveal Yourself to us, and to reveal to us Your Son, Jesus. I pray, God, that You would move on our hearts in such a way that we would respond to Jesus in the same way that Levi responded to Jesus—that we follow You with all that we are. God, we give You praise. Lead us this morning; speak through me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

This morning, I’m going to maybe go through things a little bit differently. I’m going to share kind of the main idea; I’m going to go through the story in a little bit more detail, and then we’re going to talk about how that applies to us—how we should respond to this text.

The main point, right out of the gate, is. . .

 

1. Regardless of what your life looks like, repent and follow

 

You can be thinking of that as we go through this passage, this morning.

As we come to this passage, we know that Luke wrote this gospel so that Christians would know with certainty who Jesus was. We’re not going to go through everything leading up to chapter 5, but we see Jesus coming on the scene making it clear, “This guy’s pretty cool. He’s special!” He’s ministering to all different kinds of people. He’s calling His disciples. He’s ministering to all kinds of people who are kind of outcasts of society.

So, we come here now, when it says, “after this.” That’s kind of what’s come before. We come here and we read, “After this he went out and he saw a tax collector named Levi.” And I think it’s important for us to pause and to really unpack what it meant to be a tax collector in the first century.

What it meant to be a tax collector there: you could buy a franchise to be a tax collector. You could purchase the ability to be the one who collected the taxes in a particular region that was under Roman rule. And you had the Roman guards, that could back you up as you did your job.

And so, the Roman government would tell you, “You need to collect this much tax for this or that,” and they would go and they would collect those taxes. And they would harp on you and just come after you. I’ve been told there are people in the U.S. government, that work for the IRS, that if you don’t pay your taxes, they will hound you and hound you and hound you until you pay your taxes. Now, they don’t have the ability that Levi had; Levi could hound you to pay your taxes, but he could also charge you a little bit more—or a lot a bit more. And he could tax you on whatever he wanted.

If you were a fisherman, he could charge you for going out and fishing, and for the fish that you caught. And he could say, “Oh! You use nets to catch your fish? I think I’m going to tax that!” and, “Oh! You docked your boat at a dock? I think I’m going to tax that, too.” And so people would just despise guys like Levi, because they hounded them and they oppressed them and they were dishonest—and people knew it! Their word was worth nothing.

One commentator wrote – he said this about a Jewish tax collector – they were barred from the synagogue; they were forbidden to have any kind of religious or social contact with their fellow Jews. Because as a Jew, they were basically saying, “I’m denying my people. I’m going to put myself in line with the Roman government. I don’t care about you!” And then they would oppress their own people, so their people didn’t want anything to do with them.

He also said that a Jewish tax collector was in a class of swine, because he was held to be a traitor and a liar. He was ranked with robbers and murderers and was forbidden to give testimony in Jewish courts. They were such habitual liars and cheats, they couldn’t even give testimony in court, because you couldn’t trust them.

So, the original hearers, as this was first read to them, and it says, “After this, he went out and he saw a tax collector…”—all of that came rushing into their minds. “This is the kind of guy…What’s going to happen to this guy?” And then, something extraordinary happened.

This guy, named Levi, sitting at the tax booth – Jesus says to him, “Follow me!” Jesus calls this guy? “I mean, really? This guy? Of all the people! I mean, I get that some of the people are having a hard time, but you’re going to go after the guy that everybody hates? You’re going to go after that guy who’s been hounding me for something that’s not his?” So, this would have blown the minds of the original hearers.

And, what’s further crazy about this, is the fact that Jesus doesn’t just simply call him. He responds. It says in verse 28, “And leaving everything, he rose and followed Him.” He leaves everything. This is a wealthy guy, when you think about it. Yeah, everybody hates him, but he’s got all this money and he’s living the good life. And he leaves everything.

Now, before we get caught up in his leaving everything…because when I first read “leaving everything” as a new believer, I was like, “Okay, leave everything! I gotta quit school right now (because I came to Christ when I was in college). I gotta quit school right now and I gotta go somewhere far, far away, to go share the gospel with people in some tribe that can’t even speak English. So I’ve gotta learn some language” – and you can get caught up in all that. But we want to focus on the fact that Jesus is calling him out of a sinful lifestyle. Yes, Jesus might call us to go to a far-off land and leave everything in that way, but the huge thing here is that Jesus is calling him out of a sinful lifestyle—a lifestyle that is filled with lying and cheating and hanging out with all kinds of shady people.

So, he had to leave it, because this is Jesus! Righteousness right in front of him! So, he has to just leave this—there’s no doubt about wanting to leave it. Because it would be like having a house that’s filled with mold. Not like the mold that’s in the back of your refrigerator. Sometimes houses have water and moisture and they actually get mold, and it pervades the house. What happens? People have to leave the house, because there is no other option! So, as Levi is confronted with Jesus, there is no other option. “All of this—even though I’m living the life—I must go, because of Christ. Because of who is calling!” That is what’s happened.

Luke helps us to understand, not just this about Levi, but about the kind of people that Jesus wants to call. As we go on, Luke 5:29 says: “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.” So, not just a tax collector—not just one shady, liar, jerk kind of guy. No, a company of them! There are a bunch of them there. And there are others reclining at table with them. These were probably prostitutes and other shady characters of the day. These are the friends that Levi had. And Jesus goes to them.

So, as an original hearer of this, you’re reading this and you’re blown away by Levi; you’re blown away by this, and you’re like, “Jesus goes to even the outcasts of society? That’s what He does?”

So, Jesus is setting the bar up here, saying, “To be in My kingdom, you’ve got to be like this”? NO! If he was holding a bar, it would drop and hit the floor! No, He’s saying, “To be in My kingdom you need Me! You need Me, to be in my kingdom. It’s not about you or what you have done. It’s about what I have done!”

And then you have some folks here, the Pharisees. Jesus is right in front of them—and they miss Jesus! Jesus is right there in front of them, and all they can do is grumble. You can kind of picture this going on, this grumbling. “What’s goin’ on—murmur, murmur, gripe, gripe, grumble, grumble—Jesus. . .got guys over here, and over there—how can you hang out. . .why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Now, these guys were passionate about following religious rules. They wanted to follow the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament law to the “T,” but they didn’t care about other people.

So, Jesus answers them and says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” These guys did not care if other people stayed sick! All they did was care about themselves—their goodness, how they appeared to be righteous. They felt so highly of themselves that these outcasts of society were just a burden to them, rather than an opportunity—an opportunity to share what God had given them.

Now, before going on—certainly the Pharisees are not the main point of this passage. But, don’t be a Pharisee. I would not be serving you if I did not tell you, don’t be a Pharisee! Jesus was right in front of them, they were living a religious life, and they missed Jesus! And they judged other people.

Why do we build all this cool stuff and have it out there? It’s not so that we can have some event for our kids and just have our church kids come here. No! We want to bring them in! We want to bring all kinds of other people in who don’t know Jesus, so they can hang out with us! So, don’t be like the Pharisees.

I was like the Pharisees. When I was growing up, I went to church every Sunday. Every Sunday, I did all the good things you were supposed to do, said all the right stuff you were supposed to say, but my heart was so far away from Christ. And, when I saw other people who weren’t as good as me – ‘cause I thought I was pretty good. I mean, I got pretty good grades; people liked me; adults liked me, just thought I was impressive – when I saw those other people…maybe it was the kid who dressed funny, maybe it was someone who kind of smelled funny, maybe it was just the kid who lived on the other side of the tracks or in that town that no one wanted to live in, I looked down upon those people. I thought was so righteous! I wouldn’t have used those words, because I was as lost as a golf ball in high weeds! But, I was a Pharisee! I heard stories in my Sunday School class about Pharisees, and never once did it cross my mind that I was them.

It wasn’t until I came to college at Ball State that I realized Romans 3:23, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” that I was a sinner. I was someone who needed to repent and come to Christ. My “goodness” wouldn’t save me, and your “goodness” won’t save you! Maybe you’ve grown up in church. Maybe you’ve come to this church for as long as it’s been in existence. Maybe you’ve gone to church for twenty years or thirty years. None of that will save you if you are spiritually sick.

When Jesus talks here about, “those are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” He’s not talking about the common cold, that I’m experiencing right now (as I’m coughing in the middle of the message). It’s not about that! We don’t see anything in here about Levi having a cold. No, he has an internal condition. The Pharisees have an internal condition of the heart, where their heart is far from God. They’re living for themselves, they’re spiritually sick, and they need a Physician—they need a Savior! So, none of the stuff that we do saves us, but the good news is, we have a Savior! The good news is, Jesus does come, and He calls!

Now, why is it that I would come and help plant the Berrien campus? Why would we go there? I mean, you guys probably saw the slide going through there before church. You’ve got “Berrien Campus,” and it’s got like a background picture of the beach. You see it and you’re like, “Oooh, the beach! I could go up there and visit and we could go to the beach after! Or we could go to church after and go to the beach before! It would be really cool! I’m so glad we’re going to get to go to the beach!”

Every single time I talk to someone—it’s not only the people who live around here—people I know back in Chicago and other places…I’m like, “Oh, yeah, God’s called us to Berrien County.” “Oh, where’s that? Oh, that’s near St. Joe. Oh, yeah, the beach!” Or maybe we’re going to Berrien County because there is a bunch of people who are driving like thirty or forty-five minutes, and that’s just so impressive—and we just want to save them gas money—because they’ve been driving for three or four years, and we don’t want them to have to drive anymore. It will be more convenient for them. That’s where we should go.

We’re going because Jesus says those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. That’s why we’re going! There are people who live in Berrien County who have believed the lie that stuff can satisfy them. Or they are living lives that are just an absolute mess—it’s a wreck! They have lives wracked with sin and brokenness and hurt because of sin. Because people have hurt them, and they have hurt other people.

That’s why we are going to plant a campus up in Berrien County—because there are people who need to know Jesus Christ—who need to be discipled, and who need to be equipped so they can be sent out and plant another campus, or another church someplace else. Because Jesus calls people who are spiritually sick.

Now, we’re going to call people to follow Christ. But before we do, we must respond. We must respond ourselves. There are three ways that I see, in this passage, how we can respond.

 

Regardless of what your life looks like, you need to repent and follow Jesus.

 

Respond to the call of Christ, no matter what you have done.

            So, in light of the fact that we have this guy, Levi, who lives this kind of life that he has been living, you can know the truth that you do not have to have it all together to follow Jesus. You don’t have to have all your ducks in a row. You don’t you have to have all this here, “I’ve gotta be good and do all this before I can follow Christ.” No! You do not have to have it all together to follow Jesus! You’re qualified to go and follow Jesus because you don’t have it all together.

Maybe you are a teen, living in your home, and you have some kind of hidden sin—or you’ve been living the life of a Pharisee—and you need to follow Christ, not do the stuff. Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re saying, “Jamie, I’ve lied! I’ve cheated, I’ve stolen, I’ve hurt people. You don’t get it. If this is good for others—and I’m glad to be here, and it makes me feel good—but I don’t know if I can be all in.”

Maybe you’re telling me, “Hey, my life is a train wreck! You don’t understand what I have done.” And you’re wondering, “Really?” Maybe you’re starting to lean forward. You’re wondering, “How much sin does Jesus forgive?” I’m here to tell you this morning, He forgives all of it! All of it! There is no one outside of His reach. And the fact is, He’s reaching.

You think you have to come? Jesus went to Levi. He went to him! He went to his tax booth, and He said, “Follow Me!” And Jesus is coming to you right now and saying, “Follow Me!” It doesn’t matter what you have done. You can respond to the call of Christ. You don’t have to have it all together to follow Jesus. So regardless of what your life looks like, you can repent and follow Jesus.

But, it’s not enough to know who Jesus is. It’s not enough to know that He died for sinners. It’s not enough to simply know that He calls the spiritually sick. You have to respond! You have to respond. How do we respond? We respond by repenting.

Here’s response number two:

 

Respond to the call of Christ. Follow Jesus with repentance and faith. 

 

We respond to the call of Christ with repentance and faith.

Luke 5:32 says, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Repentance is a word that gets a bad rap. Oftentimes, you hear “Repent!” and it kind of shocks you a little bit, particularly if you’ve not heard it before.

For me, the first time I became really familiar with the word “repent,” was when I was in college. At the college—Ball State—there’s an intersection in the middle of campus where the lights can go red in all directions, and then people can cross any which way they want to cross while those lights are all red. So, all kinds of stuff happens there. People hand out fliers…

Every fall, there was this guy who would come to our campus and stand right at that corner. He would have a sign, strapped on with this belt—on this big pole—and it said “Repent!” and some other stuff. I just remember the word “repent” was like really big, and probably in red. He was this old guy! Now, he was probably my age (now) when I was in college—but he looked old. And he looked older because he was just angry!

To anyone who would come by, he would yell out, “Repent! You need to repent! Sinners! You’re going to the bars and you’re sleeping around; you need to repent!” And, even Christians who would go up to him with their Bibles open, wanting to speak with him—he was just screaming, and he was angry. And I was just like, “Repent? I don’t what that is, but I don’t want to do that!” And it’s situations like that—and other situations—where the word “repentance” gets a bad rap.

But “repent” is a beautiful word. It’s actually a beautiful word! We don’t want that idea to come rushing into our minds when we hear the word “repent.” Repentance is when you are turning from your sin and you’re turning to God. When you’re going this direction and you realize you are steeped in your sin, and you turn and you see Jesus, and you go and you follow Him. That’s what repentance is. You’re leaving the mess! You’re leaving the sin! You’re leaving the struggle and the strife, and you’re going to the Savior who is calling you. That’s where the faith comes in. It’s not just about putting off the sin; it’s about trusting in Jesus and going to Him.

So, repentance is a beautiful word, because it’s less about what you’re running from and more about what you’re running to. Jesus is the King of Kings! We took communion to remember what Jesus has done for us. He calls us to say, “You don’t have to do it, because I have done it. It is finished! You can take My righteous life and I will take your sinful life,” and He paid it to the full – the punishment that was due us. And He’s calling us. Jesus is calling you away from your sin, like He was calling Levi.

The word, “call” here—it’s not like, pick up your cell phone and call somebody. The word “call” here has the flavor of “calling you to my house.” “I want you to come to my house. No, don’t stay where you are. I want you to come to my house.” The King of Kings is calling you to come to His house, to be His child, to be under His rule, to have the benefits of being a child of His. That’s what that call means. When Jesus is calling you, He’s calling you not just away from a mess to live an okay life—no, He’s calling you into His kingdom! Jesus is calling you to leave your sinful life.

If you’ve trusted Christ, and you’re struggling with sin – or maybe you’ve gotten a hidden sin – He’s calling you away from that. He says, “Come! You don’t have to get it all together so that you can come back and enjoy the benefits of being in my family. No. Come now. Come to My house.” And so, what does that look like? It looks like repentance, and what repentance can look like is simply confessing our sin.

We start by confessing our sin. Scripture says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It’s not just about the confession; He’s faithful to forgive us! It’s not, “I’ve gotta come and I’ve gotta be a real. . .[whatever]” No, you come, and you’re going to open up, and you’re going to confess your sins—because He already knows what they are. He’s not shocked, because He went to the cross for you. You can believe the truth that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Know that you’re forgiven!

Do you know, repentance can continue to look like? “We need to remove distractions in our lives. That’s what leaving everything was for Levi. He had to remove the distractions, and for him it was everything. For you, it may be something else. Maybe there’s some kind of media that you need to leave; maybe there are friends that you need to leave; maybe there’s a house that you need to leave. I don’t know what that is. You know what that is, and I believe the Lord’s speaking to you right now, and you need to leave that to follow Christ—because repentance means leaving.

But, more importantly than believing—we’re going to leave; we’re leaving to something, because the faith part is going to Jesus—it’s believing in Jesus; it’s pursuing Jesus. So, get into a small group; study the Bible, read the Bible with somebody. Pray and know—know that Jesus hears your prayers, and He wants to talk with you, so you can pursue Him in faith. Again, you don’t have to do this alone.

We come here, we enjoy the fellowship; we have small groups and fellowship because we were never called into just “me and Jesus.” We’re called into the family. You’re in the family of God. So, as you pursue Christ, you can pursue Him with others who can walk along with you, and who can point you to Jesus—like many of you have already done for me as we’ve been here just a few weeks. You’ve been pointing me to Jesus! So, regardless of what your life looks like, we repent and we follow Jesus.

But, there are two aspects here—verse 28—“And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.” There is certainly the leaving, there certainly is the repentance as the leaving and turning from sin, but there is the pursuing of Christ, no matter the cost. So point three is:

 

Respond to the call of Christ, no matter the cost. Follow Jesus.

 

See, responding to Christ is not just something that we do…following Jesus is not just something we do at conversion. Certainly we do that at conversion, but it’s an ongoing thing. When you follow someone, you wouldn’t say that you were following someone if you just said, “Oh, I’m going to follow them,” and then—as they kept walking—and if you were still just standing there, waving, saying, “See you later!”. . .we would not say you were following that person. Following Christ is an ongoing work. It’s an ongoing activity—because Jesus is worthy of being followed. It’s Jesus!

But there’s sacrifice involved in following Christ. A life of following Christ can often mean leaving those things that are comfortable. I don’t know what it is that God might call you to leave—but you may have to leave something that’s comfortable. Some of you may have to leave a house to go. For some of you, it could be leaving the comfort of the normal routine of serving here in this place on Saturday night or Sunday morning—or another context—to go to Berrien County with us. Because there are people who need to know about Christ.

You are sitting here and you are thinking, “Oh, that’s just going to be for those people who live like on the other side of the state line, right? You’re doing that for those people over there and the people who want to go to the beach.” No. Jesus is going to call some of you!

Six weeks ago, I thought I was going to be planting a church in another city in Indiana, and there have been many times in my life where we’ve had to leave where we were at, to go. I’ve never had to leave this quick and show up this quick! But we didn’t come because it was comfortable. There were opportunities that we had to even stay in Chicagoland—to not sell my house; my kids could have stayed where they were at. But why did we come? Because we’re following Jesus. We’re following the call of Christ! Yeah, we were saved, and I want to continue to grow in my walk with Jesus. When He says it’s time to go, I need to go!

So, even though I’m here now, and God’s calling us and we’re doing this, I’ve learned anymore not to say, “Yep! The next place I’m moving is the graveyard next door!” I don’t know! Maybe. That would be great, if I didn’t have to move again—but this ain’t my home! This is not my home, because I’m following Jesus, who had no place to lay His head.

But, then one day there will be a great rest. And I’m not gonna have to move from that spot! Micah was talking about that—with the sea of glass and all that—that’s going to be awesome! No one’s going to be called away from that; we’re going to be called to that. But, in this life, right now, we’re called to follow Christ, no matter the cost.

So, I want to challenge you. What does following Jesus look like in your life? That’s not for me to tell you, but I assure you—if you ask the question, Jesus will tell you. Actually, Jesus will tell you even if you don’t want to hear it, and He will mess with you until you listen, because He’s worth it. He’s worthy, and we want to pour out our lives for Him. So, we respond to the call of Christ, no matter the cost!

So, let’s follow Christ together. Some of you, come with us to Berrien County! Now, I told the folks last night that they were all coming—so that would fill up the YMCA, so all of you don’t have to come. But if all of you did come, that would be okay. I hear some of you laughing – ha ha ha. Trent keeps saying, “There are too many people—we don’t have enough space.” Well, let’s just all go to Berrien County—we’ll have lots of space! No, some of you will be called here. Some of will want to go, but the call of Christ will be for you to stay here. Some of you will want to stay, but the call of Christ will be for you to go. I don’t know who that is, but Jesus knows—and He’ll be talking to you about that.

In closing, I want to come back to Levi. Levi who Jesus came to. Jesus comes to you and calls you. See, Levi started out with this reputation of a cheat and a sneak, and no one liked him, and he was wealthy. But we know Levi better by another name. That name is Matthew. If you look to the left in your Bible, there’s a gospel book by his name, because that’s him. He’s a guy who came from a messed-up life, who lived the good life, but walked away from it all to follow Christ. And then he gave his life for Christ. He wrote a gospel for us. He shared the gospel with numerous people, he made disciples, and he gave his actual life for Christ.

So, Jesus can turn your mess into something beautiful! So don’t be hindered by what you’ve done, or where you think you’re at right now. Look to Jesus! Follow Jesus! If you’ve never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to do that this morning. Don’t wait any longer! You’ve heard that call through this passage of Scripture, you’ve heard that call as we were singing about the Name of Jesus. Don’t wait! There are going to be some pastors and elders up here after the service. I want you to come to them, after we’re done singing, and talk to them and say, “I need to learn more about Jesus! I’m not fully sure about this, but I need to follow Jesus!” We want to pray with you. If you’re struggling with some sin, we want you to come. We want to pray with you. Let’s follow Christ together! Let’s pray.

Father, I want to pray right now. God, I ask that You would meet those of us who are here this morning who have never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Right now, as they’re seating in their seats and wrestling and thinking that they’re not worthy. Jesus, overwhelm them with Your words, and Your glory and Your fame, and that You came from Your highest place, to come down. Lord, overwhelm them right now with that. Lord, overwhelm us all with that reality—that You condescended, You came down and became a man to come to us, to die for us, and then to call us to follow You so that we could be reconciled to God. I thank You for that, God!

I pray, Lord, for those who are struggling with sin, God, that You help them to take that step of faith to confess that sin, to repent of that sin and to experience Your grace and forgiveness. I pray for those, God, here this morning that are stirred to be a part of a new work that You’re calling us to as a local church. God, as You’ve provided for my family, provide for them, for their family, so that we could proclaim the Name of Jesus, starting in Berrien County—as we move to the ends of the earth. We ask all this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.