The Lord Jesus Calls: “Follow Me!”

by Pastor Edwin Lehmann on June 15, 2018 in

Third Sunday after Pentecost                                                                         June 10, 2018
Text: Matthew 9:9-13                                             ILCW-A                         18:2072
Theme: The Lord Jesus Calls: “Follow Me!”

Last fall I was privileged to go on a great journey. I went to China. I saw people I’d never seen before, I walked the Great Wall, I took a boat ride in an exotic park, full of unique plants, I heard beautiful songs from Chinese choirs, and the Chinese Christians treated me so hospitably. It was quite an adventure. I wish you could have been there to enjoy it with me. Hey, maybe I should have invited you to go along. Well, that was thoughtless of me. Would you have gone with me if I would have asked you?
You smile – some nod “yes,” others “no.” What if I had asked you on the spur of the moment? Would you have gone with me?
Hmmm, I doubt it. Some would think I was joking. Others would say, “Sure wish I could, but I’ve got too many things to do here.” Still others might not even respond to the invitation because they would have no desire to go on a 24 hour-long trip, to a place they knew nothing about. My guess would be that few to none of you would have gone with me. It’s difficult to simply drop everything and take off on the spur of the moment to a destination and work about which you know little, isn’t it?
Let’s change the picture. What if I wasn’t the one asking you to go with him? What if the Savior came and said, “I want you to go with me. Come; follow me.” How would you respond to that? Isn’t that similar to the way it happened to Matthew in our text?

I. It’s a gracious invitation.
Matthew was a tax collector. He sat by the side of the road in Galilee in his toll booth. You’ve seen booths with a similar purpose behind them on some of our highways or at airports or in a parking garage. There the toll collector sits. A sign on the side tells how much the toll is for a car or truck or bus. The bigger the vehicle, the greater the load, the more you must pay.
I doubt if there were any signs like that on Matthew’s booth, nor did he greet the passers-by with courteous and friendly words. Matthew was a tax collector for the hated Roman conquerors. The Romans didn’t collect the taxes themselves but farmed out the work to Jewish contractors who did the collections. No one told Matthew, whose given name was Levi, the limit on the taxes he should collect. The more he collected, the more was left in his own pocket after he paid the Romans what they wanted. So, Levi took advantage and made himself rich at the expense of his fellow countrymen. Because the Jewish collectors did that, no one – unless it was the Romans themselves – was hated more in Israel than the tax collectors. “Traitors, thieves!” they were called.
One day a crowd approached where Levi sat. They were following a man, intent on listening to Him. It must be that new Teacher about whom Levi had heard, the one who performed miracles and taught with heavenly authority, unlike the Jewish law teachers. It was not likely that Levi would get a closer look at Him.
Such a righteous Teacher would not want to dirty Himself by passing near a sinner like Levi. But this teacher was like no other teacher. He did not seem to be afraid of Levi’s bad reputation. He did not seem to hate him like others did. He stopped right outside the booth and looked at Levi with a look that penetrated to his soul. It was a look of mercy, compassion, and forgiving love. It was a look that promised help. The words He spoke were very simple: “Follow Me!”
“Follow Me!” the Lord Jesus Called. “Be my disciple.” It was all He said on this occasion. Levi stood up and went. He left the tollhouse and his chance of becoming richer still. He left his traitorous and thieving way of life. Did he fully understand it all yet? It’s doubtful, for a disciple is a learner and Levi had much to learn. But he knew this Man could help, that He was from God. Could it be the long-awaited Savior? “Follow Me!” the Lord Jesus Called to Levi. It was a gracious invitation that beckoned Levi – Levi of all people! – to be near Jesus.
You know, dear friends, there are special hours of grace which God sends us as well. Indeed, He sends to everyone for He “wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1Tm.2:4). “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2Pt.3:9). For “Christ has come to give Himself as a ransom for all men” (1Tm.2:5). These special hours of grace which God sends are gracious invitations that come as the result of previous working of the Holy Spirit. And if properly used, they lead to glorious results.

II. It leads to a break from the past and a new life before us.
This gracious invitation was so wonderful that Levi could not
keep it to himself. He planned a big dinner and invited his friends to meet the Savior. Oh, yes, Levi had friends, but they were not the kind of friends that most people wanted. They were the bums, the crooks, the riffraff of the town – and he invited other tax collectors. But if Jesus was willing and able to help Levi, He could help these people too.
Ah, a break from the past. Before this Savior came to him, Levi had only thought about himself. But not anymore! Such a wonderful thing, a Savior who cares for all no matter how far they have strayed in the past! Such a wonderful thing cannot be kept to one’s self when there are so many others that are hurting in the world. God wants them as well to know the special hour of grace that He sends to us in Christ. So, Levi invited them to his house.
The Jewish leaders saw Jesus and His disciples enter there. For themselves, they would never have dreamed of entering that house, of going through that door, of sitting by that man. For Levi was so filthy in their eyes that he was not fit company for any good Jew.
“How can you lower yourselves?” they asked the disciples. “Your master eats and drinks with those you know are tax collectors and sinners!”
Ah, the Pharisees and scribes were extremely proud of themselves and what they felt was the pure way of life. Oh, they kept God’s commands carefully, but they only did it with their hands and they had forgotten what God’s redeeming love meant for the new life within that He lays before all who break from the past and live in the Savior’s forgiveness.
They had asked the disciples, but Jesus answered. He knew the Pharisees needed a Savior just as much as the others did. But while Levi and his friends knew they were sinners and needed help, the Pharisees imagined they were healthy on their own. They had no use for a Savior.
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor,” Jesus said. “Sick people do. I came to save the sick – the sinner.” And then He gave them something to think about. “Sacrifices are not enough. God works in mercy and in love.”
They could hardly avoid the question; we can’t either: “Do I need Jesus, too?” Yes, whether great or small, rich or poor, the mighty or the lowly, all need His redeeming love and dare not rely on their own abilities that fall short of perfection.
The story is told of a little girl sitting in church, snuggled at her mother’s side. The organ was playing but the girl’s eyes were intent on the picture of Jesus in her Sunday school lesson. Looking up into her mother’s face and pointing to the picture of the Savior, she whispered with a happiness that lit up her face: “He loved me!”
Yes, He loved her! If only we who are older could always remember with joy and gratitude the love which He had in His heart for all! If only we could repeat with the same fervency and affection the simple words of St. Paul: “He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Ga.2:20).
All that a person needs for time and eternity is summed up in the simple sweetness of those tender words. Does the world hate me? He loved me! Do I find the way hard, the path dark, the night lonely, the world friendless? He loved me! Does the shadow of tomorrow’s burden haunt my step and cause me to falter? He loved me – and His love can never change. His love is everlasting.
Or is it my sin that seeks to cause my heart alarm? My restless conscience? My crimson record? I need not fear. “He gave Himself for me!” He took my sins to Calvary’s cross and drowned them in the depths of His merciful love. He bore my guilt. He paid my debt. He endured my punishment. He suffered all – He gave Himself for me! And now He invites: “Follow Me!” It’s a gracious invitation that leads to a break from the past and a new life before me. And all because He loves me!
What a blessed, renewing thought to inscribe across the threshold of each new day! Whether tax collector, sinner, or even Pharisee, my Savior loves me and gave Himself for me. It beckoned Levi and led to glorious results in his life. By the way, you know him better as Matthew. How is that?
As Jesus called, the gracious invitation led Levi to break from the past. He found no pleasure any more in his old name that was linked with his previous sinful ways. He took on a new name that reflected the new life in Christ that lay before him. That name, Matthew, speaks of higher and better things. It means “gift of Jehovah.” And what a gift Jehovah granted him: salvation in Christ, faith in Him, and the call to be His apostle – all because the Lord Jesus Called: “Follow Me!” God grant it in our lives of faith for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Pastor Edwin Lehmann

Preacher: Pastor Edwin Lehmann