Title: God Called Matthew by Grace
Contents
Title: Jesus Called Matthew by Grace
Bible: Matthew 9:9-13
Starting Point of the Word>>
Today, we will share a sermon with the title of “Jesus who called Matthew by grace” through the text of the text.
In today's text, we see the story of Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, to make disciples.
Matthew was a tax collector.
He was sitting at the customs office as usual, working, and Jesus was just passing by and saw Matthew.
But what we should be amazed at is that Jesus, who sat down and saw the tax collector Matthew, called him.
And what he says to him is, “Follow me.”
Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, and made him his disciple.
But, as we all know, Matthew was not qualified to be a disciple at that time.
The reason is that they have jobs that Jews hate.
At that time, Israel was under Roman colonial rule.
Therefore, a publican is an employee charged with collecting taxes for the Roman government.
All the tax collectors did was pay their bills through oppression and exploitation, and use their position and power to harass people.
So the Jews treated tax collectors as sinners like whores.
Even on the Sabbath, they were not allowed to come to the synagogue, and their families despised them.
Due to this kind of contempt in their own society, tax collectors naturally neglected to keep the law. They also ignored the Jewish chastity laws and did not pay tithing.
So the scribes and Pharisees called tax collectors trash.
That is why tax collectors could not, and could not, live a religious life.
But Jesus called the hopeless publican Matthew as his disciple.
It is as if we were sinners today and took up the cross for us who had no choice but to be crucified and die, so it is an event in which Matthew called me with great grace.
People around me could not accept this.
How can a man called the Son of God make disciples of sinners?
But this is possible because it is Jesus.
But what is even more surprising is that Jesus went to Matthew's house and ate.
Also, tax collectors with the same profession as Matthew were invited.
Looking at verse 10,
“While Jesus was sitting at Matthew’s house to eat, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.”
Says.
At that time, Jews did not share a table with sinners.
Because to be with unclean people is to burn uncleanness.
So, this amazing act of Jesus drew criticism from the Pharisees.
In verse 11, the Pharisees are speaking to the disciples of Jesus.
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Where there is God's favor P, two different phenomena always appear.
One is tax collectors who are rejoicing and having a feast after being treated with wrath.
A confession overflowing with grace and gratitude arises from them.
The other, however, are the Pharisees, who are displeased with this and are scolding them, and they are full of complaints and dissatisfaction.
We hope that it will be a time to think again about the heart of Jesus who called us by this grace that appears in today's text.
Go to Word>>
Jesus told the complaining Pharisee why he was with tax collectors.
That is, “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” This verse is saying that the Pharisees are healthy people, and tax collectors are sick people.
The Pharisees lived a perfect life of faith before God.
At the same time, he despised the tax collectors who had fallen spiritually, and this was manifested in the pride of faith.
Outwardly, his faith was near perfection, but on the inside he was full of hatred and dissatisfaction.
Like Jesus' lamentation, the faith of the Pharisees was like whitewashed tombs.
Jesus quotes from Hosea chapter 6.
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice; I desire the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
God wants kindness, or mercy, more than sacrifice.
Compassion is a heart of compassion.
This is the heart of God.
The purpose of the sacrifice is to forgive sins by God.
Therefore, the basic sacrifice is to be forgiven through God's mercy.
Those who have received forgiveness of sins through sacrifice must also learn to show compassion to others. That is the duty of those who are forgiven.
But the Pharisees are the ones who pride themselves on offering perfect sacrifices.
Yet they show no mercy.
Jesus was telling the Pharisees to learn the basic principles of sacrificial sarcasm.
If we look at the end of verse 13,
“Go ye and learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The Pharisees were important to cause, social status, and face, but Jesus broke their social stereotypes.
He taught that publicans are also objects of love that should be treated equally before God.
The problem with the Pharisees is that they have no thanks.
That's why it's all about scolding, resentment, and complaining.
Grace is to be treated generously.
The tax collectors are being treated with wrath by Jesus.
This is grace.
Publicans don't deserve to be treated like that.
Nevertheless, it is pure grace that you have been treated like that.
Then, did the Pharisees not have this kind of grace?
no.
Compared to the tax collectors, they enjoyed tremendous grace.
The Pharisees enjoyed all kinds of social status and religious authority.
It was just that the tax collectors were dissatisfied with what they enjoyed.
We are all receiving God's great grace.
Grace of grace is the grace of the cross of Jesus Christ.
By this grace we are delivered from destruction.
I was saved by occupying that glorious heaven.
He also received grace to save people like me, to feed them, and to clothe them.
But the problem is that we do not realize this grace.
We must learn to understand grace.
Responding to grace is gratitude.
Matthew met the grace of Jesus.
Jesus called him, came to his house, and allowed him to invite his friends to a banquet with him.
He ate together at the same table, and loved himself to the end, regardless of the criticisms of the Pharisees.
Matthew must have made up his mind that he would serve this kind of Jesus with all his life.
He is the one who treats me like this.
You must have had a heart to serve the Lord with all your life.
At that time, Matthew fulfilled his mission without fail as a true disciple of the Lord.
This is to experience grace, to realize grace, and to be thankful for it.
To not be thankful is not to understand grace as grace.
To receive grace and not be thankful is to forsake grace.
At the end of the speech>>
Let me give you a conclusion.
Today's text tells us that Jesus called Matthew, who had neither qualifications nor ability, and Matthew, a tax collector who was criticized by people.
Matthew was able to become a disciple of Jesus because he realized the grace that Jesus had bestowed upon him.
In other words, Matthew obeyed Jesus' call by grace with undeniable faith.
Are we better than Matthew?
We too are sinners who have no choice but to die.
As the Apostle Paul confessed, “I am the chief of sinners,” we are sinners who are ridiculed and despised by the world.
But even now, Jesus is calling us to grace.
We must realize the grace of that calling and become saints who confess our thanks.
In the name of the Lord, I ask that you have a blessed day to live today as a witness to many people who do not believe in the love of Jesus, who called us by grace through the life we have been given each day.