Please turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 2 verses 13 through 17.
Again, that's Mark chapter 2 verses 13 through 17.
Good morning. My name is Kirk Miller.
I believe I was here, I can't remember exactly when it was, maybe around a year ago or so.
So some of you look familiar to me and maybe I look familiar to you.
But as Zach said, I'm one of the pastors on staff at Crossway Milwaukee, Crossway Community Church.
So our church and your church have something in common.
We were both started or planted, sent out by Crossway Community Church in Bristol, Wisconsin.
That's where our church gets its name from.
So we are, in that way, sister churches, I guess.
And I'm friends with Mike. Mike, Silvati, and I, we help out with the,
Simeon Trust workshops at Bristol.
And I've been getting to know Zach a little bit more.
So it's great to be able to be here this morning and to help you guys out as Mike is on sabbatical.
And so we pray that Mike and his family enjoy that time and it's refreshing to him.
He's able to come back and serve well as a result.
Let's begin this morning by reading our passage.
Again, Mark chapter 2, verses 13 through 17.
I'm not sure if it's your tradition to stand when you read scripture,
but maybe to play it safe.
That's what we do.
I'll have you guys do it.
Better to have you stand than not stand, I suppose.
Mark chapter 2, verses 13 through 17.
Jesus went out again beside the sea.
And all the crowd was coming to him and he was teaching them.
And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth.
He said to him, follow me.
And Levi rose and followed Jesus.
And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
For there were many who followed him.
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples,
why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
Let us pray.
God, we thank you for your precious word this morning, that your word reveals to us truth about ourselves, about this world, about our sinful condition, our need for your grace.
But not only so, it reveals to us that you have supplied that grace.
And it reveals to us that you have done so in the person and work of Christ.
We pray this morning that we would further encounter your truth, your gospel in Jesus.
Show us a vision of Jesus.
Open up our ears to see him.
Open up our ears to hear him and our eyes to see him.
We ask that you work through the preaching of your word this morning.
Give me clarity.
Give me wisdom.
May I not say anything that I ought not.
May I stay close to your word.
But work through this church as the word goes forth, that you would build them up to your glory.
Amen.
Yes, you can be seated.
Sinners faced with their sin often have one of two responses.
The first response may be despair.
We think I'm too far gone.
It's hopeless.
We're overwhelmed by our sin and our brokenness.
Or the second response is self-righteousness.
We try to ignore or explain away our sin.
We pretend that it's not actually there.
Or at least it's not actually all that bad.
And maybe you find yourself here today tending to one of either of those.
Or maybe at times even both of those responses in one way or another.
Despair or self-righteousness.
The thing is, neither of those ends up satisfying us.
Either we are honest with ourselves about how broken we actually are, but then we are left without hope.
Or we're dishonest with ourselves about how broken we are in order to maintain some sort of false hope.
But as we'll see in today's passage, and even as we've been singing in many of these songs,
Christ offers us an escape from this predicament.
Jesus allows us to be both completely honest with ourselves about how broken we are.
And in precisely so doing, we actually find hope in Jesus.
Our passage today as we read it, and as you hopefully saw,
there's sort of two scenes that show up in this passage,
showcasing Jesus' mission to pursue sinners.
The first scene, verses 13 and 14, we see Jesus calling a sinner, namely Levi.
And in the second scene, verses 15 to 17, Jesus then has table fellowship with sinners.
So he calls a sinner, and then he has table fellowship with sinners.
The first scene gives us a particular example of Jesus pursuing a sinner.
And the second scene, we see Jesus defending these actions against those who challenge him.
And our passage today, we could summarize this way.
If we were to take the whole sermon and put it into a sentence, it would be this.
Jesus has come, not for those who think they are well,
but for those who know that they are sick with sin.
Jesus has come, not for those who think they are well,
but for those who know they are sick with sin.
Let's begin with the first scene here, looking specifically at the character of Levi.
Our passage today tells us of the story of when Jesus called Levi,
or Matthew, as you may know him, one of Jesus' disciples.
Now, Levi was a tax collector, and tax collectors in the Roman Empire system,
tax collection was full of corruption.
A tax collector like Levi made his living by agreeing to collect money for Rome,
but then he would extract above and beyond that amount in order to keep some for himself.
And so extortion was rampant in the tax collection industry.
In doing this, Levi was not only extorting, but he was also then a traitor to his own people.
He saw an opportunity to make good money, but he did so at the expense of his fellow Jews.
He made wealth by essentially becoming a henchman for the oppressive Roman Empire,
siding with the enemy.
Needless to say, tax collectors like Levi were not well-liked by their fellow Jews.
Not only were they corrupt, stealing from their own people,
but they also then served as a tangible, constant reminder of Roman domination.
In fact, tax collectors were so despised that the Jewish oral law at that time said
that tax collectors were not allowed to serve as judges or witnesses in court.
They were automatically expelled from the synagogue by being a tax collector,
and they were deemed as a public disgrace to their families.
In fact, even if they were to enter a house, it was said to make the house automatically, ritually unclean.
Fellow Jews were not allowed even to receive money and alms from tax collectors
since that money was considered stolen.
They were even allowed to lie, the oral law allowed them to lie to tax collectors
in order to protect themselves against what was deemed as theft.
Tax collectors belonged to a class of people known as sinners.
You'll notice that's how Jesus actually describes them in verse 16.
Look at verse 16.
It says that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors.
Those two go hand in hand.
In other words, tax collectors belongs to this group of people known for living in sin,
known as not being Torah observant.
People like thieves and murderers and prostitutes and tax collectors.
Ordinary Jews would have nothing to do with tax collectors then.
You may recall Matthew 18,
this popular passage that teaches us sort of the instructions for church discipline.
If someone sins against you and eventually if they don't listen,
it may reach the point where they're actually expelled and removed from the church.
And Jesus says when you remove someone from the church,
you are to treat them as what?
A Gentile and a tax collector.
Jesus can say this because everyone would have known what it meant
to be treated as a tax collector.
That people kept separate from you.
There was this distance.
Therefore, when Jesus came,
as we see in the book of Mark,
he enters into his ministry proclaiming the kingdom of God,
the arrival of God's reign.
No one would have expected that it would be for someone like Levi.
He's too far gone, they'd say.
They likely would have thought that God's kingdom was for who?
The righteous.
Not someone like Levi.
But one day as Jesus was traveling through Capernaum,
he came by Levi's tax booth.
And to everyone's great surprise,
Jesus looks at Levi
and he calls, of all people,
Levi to be one of his disciples.
Later, Jesus even went to his house and ate with him
along with other tax collectors and publicly known sinners.
As the kingdom of God arrived,
who were to be expected among its citizens?
Who were expected to receive the invitation to the messianic banquet?
Certainly, it was not folks like Levi.
But here they were,
banqueting with that Messiah.
And as Jesus explained,
this was no accident.
In fact, Jesus came for people just like Levi
in order to invite them into God's salvation.
As Jesus says in verse 17,
those who are well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners, Jesus says.
Those who receive salvation then
are not those who think they've earned it,
but precisely those who recognize
that they don't deserve it.
It's those who recognize their need.
The second scene,
we see Jesus again as he is at the house
with these tax collectors and sinners,
but new characters are now introduced.
And this is where we see a conflict emerge.
And out of this conflict,
Jesus explains himself.
These additional characters are scribes
who belong to the religious party
known as the Pharisees.
Now, scribes would have been experts in the Torah
or the oral law,
these sort of additional laws
that the Jewish people created at that time
to sort of create an additional fence,
a further barrier around God's law.
So that's the scribes.
They're experts in the law.
And the Pharisees were,
like today we have political parties.
These were kind of like religious parties.
You had Sadducees and the Zealots,
and you have the Essenes.
You also have the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were a very conservative group,
theologically and ethically,
and they were very concerned with moral purity.
You think about this as post-exile, right?
Before Israel and Judah go into exile,
when you read your Old Testament,
you see Israel and Judah
getting heavily involved in things like idolatry, right?
When you think of Israel in the Old Testament,
you probably think of idolatry, unfortunately, right?
Now, after they returned from exile, though,
the Jewish people developed various responses.
They don't want to go through exile again
due to their idolatry.
And one of the responses was that of the Pharisees,
who said,
let's follow God's law to a T.
Let's add all these extra rules and demands
in order to create a sense of purity,
and thereby, by being pure enough,
we will achieve God's kingdom
and avoid anything like exile again.
You might consider them
sort of your conservative, Bible-believing God follower.
Now, table fellowship,
which is what Jesus is engaged in here,
in the ancient world,
eating meals together
expressed intimate association with others.
Moreover, the Jews had strict dietary laws
in order to avoid eating anything
that would be deemed unclean
or with anyone that would be deemed unclean.
And so they would have been incredibly opposed
to entering into a tax collector's house
to have table fellowship with him.
That would make you unclean.
It would go against everything
that the Pharisees were about.
And so the scribes of this Pharisee party,
they were absolutely infuriated with Jesus.
Who does this rabbi think he is?
This guy that everyone's looking to,
that he's gaining popularity with the people,
and then he goes and he does something
as ridiculous as this,
as if to show that this is okay?
For those like the scribes,
Jesus' pursuit of sinners was scandalous.
You see, a works-based mindset
that says that I'm accepted and worthy
based on my performance,
my moral purity,
how well I keep my moral standards,
if I live as a good person.
You see, this mindset,
it sees grace as something scandalous
and even offensive.
Like Jonah, who's offended
by God showing the Ninevites grace.
When we have this mindset,
we feel like we've done
what it takes to earn recognition
and God's blessing.
And so we are scandalized and offended
when folks who we think
clearly don't deserve that blessing
receive favor and God's acceptance.
But of course, when we think this way,
we're failing to realize
that in fact,
none of us is deserving, right?
That all of us are actually debtors
to God's grace.
Which is what Jesus explains in verse 17.
Again, Jesus,
when he hears their complaint,
he said to them,
those who are well
have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick,
I came not to call the righteous,
but the sinner.
Doctors don't exist
to provide healing
to those who don't need healing, right?
Of course, we have our annual checkups,
but that's preventative even.
Doctors exist to address
the need of sickness and disease.
And Jesus is saying,
I didn't show up
to call those who are all fine and dandy.
My ministry is precisely
for those who are sick.
Why is it a surprise to you
that I go after the sick then?
A doctor is no good
if he stays aloof
from those who are sick.
He has to actually meet them
and encounter them.
Now to be clear,
this isn't saying
that there are some
who are in fact righteous
and don't need healing.
But Jesus is, I think,
indicating that there are some
who think of themselves
as righteous
and not in need of saving.
You see, Jesus has come
not for those who think
that they are well,
but precisely for those
who know that they are sick.
Sick with sin.
Jesus has come
not to separate himself
from sinners,
but to save sinners.
Throughout the book of Mark,
Mark presents Jesus
as the authoritative king
of God's arriving kingdom.
Jesus says at the very beginning
of the book,
verses 14 and 15,
behold,
the kingdom of God
is at hand.
Repent and believe the gospel.
And then as the book goes on,
we see that the kingdom
is arriving
through a king,
which is Jesus.
Now when a king arrives,
who do they invite
into their entourage?
Who do people with authority
often spend their time with?
Oftentimes,
it's the most important people,
the most respected.
They don't invite people
who are from the bottom
of the barrel, usually.
For example,
if a president is elected
and they are selecting people
to be a part of their cabinet,
it would be ridiculous
if he chose people
who had committed treason
against the state
or picking the worst of the worst,
the criminals,
the outlaws of society, right?
That's not what we would
expect them to do.
We would expect them
to sort of draw on those
who are seen with a lot
of prestige and acceptance.
But this is exactly
what Jesus does.
When he comes as the king
and he puts his entourage together,
he chooses people
like Levi,
a tax collector.
You see,
Jesus is an unexpected king
of an upside-down kingdom.
He doesn't operate
by this world's standards,
the way that this world
does things.
Jesus is the king
who comes for sinners
like you and me.
Jesus has come
not for those who think
they are well,
but precisely for those
who know
that they are sick
with sin.
And this unexpected king
accomplishes his
unexpected mission
fully by heading
to the cross.
You remember when
Jesus asks his disciples
in chapter 8
at the turning point
of the book,
he says,
who do people say
that I am?
And they answer
all sorts of things,
but he says,
what about you?
Peter says that you
are the Christ.
Blessed are you,
Peter.
Flesh and blood
hasn't revealed that to you,
but my Father
from heaven has.
But then when Jesus
goes on and explains
what it means
for him to be the Christ,
you see,
Peter understood
that Jesus was the Christ,
but his conception
of what the Christ was,
this king,
it was off.
When Jesus goes on
to explain that he
must suffer and die
in Jerusalem,
Peter rebukes him,
and Jesus returns
by rebuking him,
get behind me, Satan.
You see,
Jesus' kingship
came to fruition
in an unexpected way.
He's an unexpected king
who actually reigns
from a cross.
He is the king
who comes not to be served
like we would typically
think a king would do,
but what does he say
in Mark 10, 45?
He came to serve.
He's a king
who shows his kingship
by servanthood,
by love,
by self-sacrifice,
to serve and give his life
as a ransom for many.
That our king reigns
and he achieves his kingdom
by actually bearing
our sins on himself
so that all those
who trust in Christ,
who turn from their sin
and they look to Christ,
they don't look to themselves,
they don't look to anything
that they can do,
any way that they can
earn acceptance with God,
but they look solely to Christ,
they lean solely on him,
they are saved
through what he has done.
As we think about
how we respond then
to this message,
first let's consider
how this changes,
how we view ourselves.
None of us
is in fact righteous
and well.
We are all
of the sick
according to this passage.
We all fit that category
of being sick.
So my question to you
is do you know yourself
to be sick?
Or do you think of yourself
as well?
And if you can agree
with that at least theoretically,
yes I know I'm sick,
I know I'm not well,
do you nonetheless
believe it on a functional level
in your heart?
You see we like to pretend
that we are well.
In fact it's quite common today
in our society
to actually label
things that are sickness,
things that are sin,
we actually label them
as health.
But Jesus
is of no aid
to the person
who thinks
that they are well.
The person who denies
that they have anything
wrong with them
is never going to go
to the doctor
and therefore
they're never going
to get the help
they need.
So the first step
in receiving healing
is recognizing
that we need Jesus.
Is recognizing
that we need healing,
that we are sick.
But for those
who know
that they are sick
with sin,
Jesus welcomes us
as that perfect physician.
And so if you are here today
and you are deeply aware
that you are sick
with sin,
know that your sin
is actually not a barrier
to you coming to Christ.
If anything,
it actually makes you
all the more eligible
for Christ.
Christianity is not
for those
who have it all together.
or we should say
who think
they have it all together.
You see,
the message of Christianity
is not one of self-improvement.
Jesus is not just
some moral teacher
who teaches us
how to clean up
our lives.
No, Jesus describes himself
in terms of a physician.
The gospel isn't a command
to make ourselves better,
but it is a promise
that he will heal us
of our sin.
And so put your trust
in the physician.
Sometimes folks
will complain
that church
is full of sin.
It's full of hypocrites.
Well, yes,
which is why
we will all
fit in
quite easily, right?
The church
is not a museum
of saints,
as some have said,
but it is a hospital
for sinners.
sinners.
In the church,
there are no
perfect people allowed,
except for Jesus,
I guess, right?
The church,
what though,
is a family
of saved sinners.
And so that means
it's okay
not to be okay.
You don't have to put
on a front
when you come to church,
when you get together
with other church members.
You don't have to pretend
to have it all together.
In fact,
you shouldn't.
We should be open
and honest with each other.
The church should be
a place
where we can be
transparent with one another
about our sin
and our struggles.
Now,
if you're like me,
you don't like
having your sin
pointed out, though.
Or,
you don't like people
knowing about your sin.
It's humbling,
and we tend
to be prideful.
We want to be self-righteous
like the Pharisees.
We want to be right.
We want to be seen
as good.
But the gospel
enables us
to be honest
with ourselves
and to be honest
with our sin.
The gospel
already shows
that we are sinners.
That means
we cannot confess
to anything worse
than the gospel
has already said
about us.
That we are utter
sinners
in need of God's grace.
But the gospel
also tells us
that we have
complete forgiveness.
So,
if we are believers,
that means
there's nothing,
there's no sin
that we confess
that the gospel
hasn't already
declared as forgiven.
That it hasn't
already declared
as paid for.
I can't confess
and make you known,
make you know
about anything
that the gospel
hasn't already
made known
and already forgiven.
we're no longer
enslaved
than to needing
to establish
our own righteousness
in our own eyes,
in the eyes of God
or in the eyes
of each other.
We are freed
to be honest
about our sin
and to seek healing
and Jesus
among his people,
the church.
But Christ also
doesn't leave us
in our sin.
He not only
welcomes the sinner,
but you'll notice
our passage
describes him
as a physician.
And so he heals
us of our sickness.
He actually
transforms us.
I think of
Ephesians 4.20
where Paul talks about
like,
are you to continue
living in sin?
That's not the way
you've learned Christ.
That's not what
you've learned
about Christ.
What he does,
he makes us
a new humanity
in him.
Or in John 8
when Jesus
interacts with the woman
caught in adultery,
he says to her,
go and sin
no more.
He not only forgives,
but he heals.
He transforms.
Secondly,
let's consider now
how this changes
how we view others.
We've looked at
how it changes
how we view ourselves,
but how does a message
like this,
a passage like this,
change how we view others?
As we consider
our posture
to the surrounding culture,
maybe our friends,
our neighbors,
our coworkers,
do we look down
our nose
at others in judgment,
particularly those
who are not believers?
Do we talk about them
with disdain
and ridicule?
Or does our speech
reflect our own need
for grace,
reflect our own
indebtedness
to grace?
We live
acknowledging
that we too
are debtors
to God's grace.
One of my favorite
verses in the Bible,
if I had a life verse,
this would probably
be it,
is 1 Corinthians 15.10.
Where,
like Paul,
we ought to have
this sort of reflex,
this sort of instinct,
this impulse,
where we say,
by the grace of God,
I am what I am.
We don't think of ourselves
as better than others
by somehow
something we've done
or we've merited
or we've produced.
But anything
that I am today,
any ounce
of transformation,
the fact that I
can even see
Jesus in the gospel
and believe in Jesus,
it's only by the grace
of God
that I am who I am.
I have no reason
to boast,
no reason to look down
at someone else
in comparison to myself.
So pride,
disdain,
self-righteousness
and judgmentalism,
any sense of animosity,
they have no place,
they have to go out the window.
We only are
who we are
by the grace of God.
Our debt to God's grace
should make us humble
and gentle
and sympathetic.
Our interactions
with others then
should be dripping
with this sense of grace.
If Jesus pursued sinners,
then so should we as well.
As Jesus says
in Matthew 10, 24,
a disciple is not
above his teacher
nor a servant
above his master.
And certainly
there are ways
in which Jesus
is going to be
quite different than us,
right?
That we aren't like Jesus.
But Jesus nonetheless
presents himself
in his ministry
as a model
for our own lifestyle.
And so if Jesus pursued
those who are sick,
shouldn't we?
Do we pursue those
who are sick with sin?
Are there certain people
that we keep our distance from?
Maybe you're like me
and you feel some sort of
inner resistance
and hesitation
to this idea
because embracing
those who are sick
can mean
sacrificing
a more comfortable
and convenient
Christianity?
As churches,
we should ask ourselves,
who are the sort of people
that we attract
in our gatherings?
Is it those
who have their lives
together?
Those who sort of
fit the mold
of a comfortable,
convenient Christianity?
Or does it look like
sinners are welcome here?
the sick?
Those who are
clearly broken?
Are there any
subtle or unspoken
expectations
about the sort of people
that are welcome
in our churches?
Of the sort of people
that make up our churches?
Of who our churches
are for?
We should strive
to be churches
where the most broken,
the most unwanted,
the most destitute
can look at our church
and say,
yes,
that's a place
precisely for me.
For those of us here
who are parents,
I imagine
that many of us
would want our kids
to feel like
they could turn to us
if they ever found
themselves in a time
of trouble.
Maybe even a trouble
of their own making.
Unfortunately,
though,
many kids don't have
their experience.
Maybe when you were a kid,
you didn't have
this experience.
That your parents
maybe were the last
people that you would
turn to if you got
yourself into trouble.
because you're afraid
of how your parents
would react.
And likewise,
I'm afraid that for many,
the church in America
has gained a similar
reputation.
That it's actually
the last place
that someone would
turn to
if they were caught
in sin.
Because they're afraid
of how we respond
to their sin.
Rather,
we should make it
our aim
to gain
reputations
in our community
as the first place
that people
turn to
in sin.
That we are churches
precisely for
broken people.
No one
is beyond
the gospel's reach.
Maybe we feel
that some people
are just simply
too far gone.
They're too sinful
to come to Christ.
Maybe it's a
co-worker,
a friend,
or a family member.
Maybe you're tempted
to feel this way
as a parent
about a child
who has walked
away from the faith.
Or maybe you're here today
and this is what you're
thinking about yourself,
that I'm too far gone.
But if Christ came
precisely for those
who are sick
in their sin,
then our sin,
far from making us
ineligible,
actually makes us
perfect candidates
for this physician's
healing.
It is not
those who are well
who need a physician.
No, because Christ
is in the business
of healing
sinners.
Such are the very
people
that Christ
came to save.
Let's pray.
God, we thank you
that this,
in fact,
is true.
That we see
a Jesus
who when he shows up
on earth
and conducts
his ministry,
he is pursuing
after the unexpected.
He's pursuing
after people
like Levi,
Matthew,
tax collectors.
Those who are
rejected by others,
Jesus goes out
of his way
to pursue.
He leaves the 99
to go after the one.
And Jesus,
we recognize
before you,
we confess
before you
that we ourselves
are the unexpected.
We ourselves
are the same
as someone
like Levi,
the unexpected
one that you
have called
and have said,
follow me.
May we see
ourselves
more accurately
this week
as those
who have received
your grace,
as those
whose sin,
although,
of course,
we want to turn
from it,
is not a barrier
of your love,
but the very
reason that
in your love
you came
to save us.
and help us
to view others
as a result
of this truth.
That we would
deeply sense
our indebtedness
to grace
in all of our
interactions
with others,
whether fellow
believers
or non-believers
alike,
that we would
deeply sense
our indebtedness
to your grace
and therefore
reciprocate that grace
as we respond
to others.
And help us
to pursue the loss
just as you
are doing it.
Use us
as the vehicles
of your message
of reconciliation.
As Paul says
in 2 Corinthians 5,
that you are
making
your appeal
through us
to be
reconciled
to you.
That you are
working in this
world right now
to reconcile
the world
to yourself.
You have done
so in Christ
and now through
the church
empowered by the
spirit to the
ends of the earth.
You are spreading
this message
of the cross
of reconciliation
to you
through the son.
And we ask
that you would
empower us
to do that.
Give us
opportunities
to share
the gospel
this week
and open
our eyes
to see them
when they
come about.
Amen.