Encounters with Christ
Levi’s Effectual Calling
Luke 5:27-32
Luke
5:27-32 (ESV)
After this he
went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax
booth. And he said to him, "Follow me."
[28] And leaving everything, he rose and followed
him.
[29] 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. [30] And the
Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying,
"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and
sinners?" [31]
And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need
of a physician, but those who are sick.
[32] I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance."
When Jesus gives an
effectual call everyone responds.
Jesus didn’t come to earth to make salvation possible
but to make it a reality.
Jesus makes the first
move. He seeks out
Mathew (Levi) the tax collector (Romans 3:10-12).
1.
The Call to Follow Christ (5:27)
a.
Jesus’ call was effectual.
When Luke uses the word saw,
he means an intense and soul penetrating gaze.
He looked Matthew square in the eye and commanded him to
become a follower.
b.
Jesus knew exactly who He was getting.
Jesus knew Matthew.
Jesus knew what kind of people tax collectors were.
2.
The Fruit of Repentance (5:28)
Earlier, Luke writes
about the tax collectors who came to hear John the Baptist
preach (Luke 3:7-13).
I wonder if Matthew
was one of these tax collectors who first heard about repentance
through the preaching of John.
And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
Matthew didn’t know
what was in store for him but he did know what he was leaving
behind. Once the
toll booth was left abandoned it would be immediately filled
with someone else.
If you are a
Christian today, Christ has called you to leave something.
Everyone must leave something to follow Christ.
a.
We Must Love Christ More Than We Love Other Things-(Matthew
13:44).
b.
We Must Love Christ More than We Love Ourselves- (Luke 9:23-24).
c.
We Must Love Christ More Than We Love Other People-(Luke 14:26).
Christ isn’t
interested in being tacked on.
He will not be one of our idols.
We must have no other gods before Him. Matthew left
everything that would keep him from following Christ.
Jesus is showing
everyone why He came to earth.
Christianity is not for good people.
In calling Matthew, Jesus shows us a great truth: I
have not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance."
When Jesus declares
who his target is He excludes all who think their righteousness
is sufficient. If
you think you’re basically a good person you should be alarmed
because if you think you’re a good person you can’t be a
Christian because Christ didn’t come for you.
He came for sinners.
3. The Fruit of
Self-Righteousness (5:30)
A truth that we often
see in Scripture is that those who think themselves righteous
are comparing themselves to other people and not to the plumb
line of God’s requirements.
They looked at Jesus
and His band of sinners and scoffed saying we’re better than
you and your losers. We
have superior breeding, coming from Abraham.
We have a superior religious system.
We are fine religious folk who live in a nice
neighborhood.
But Jesus says….(Matt.
23)
Here’s what we have
to get right.
We sin because
we’re sinners. Sin
comes from within (Mark
7:15).
Sin is within us, not
righteousness. What
we need is an alien righteousness, one that comes from outside
of us, one that comes from Christ.
The Pharisees had it
backwards but Matthew had it right.
4. Jesus Came to Save
Sinners (5:31-32)
Here we are given
Jesus’ mission. He
came to save sinners. Paul
said it like this, (Romans 5:6).
The religious
Pharisees had spiritual cancer and didn’t even know it.
The tax collectors saw their sin as terminal.
Jesus went to Matthew
and looked intently at him in a way that pierced Matthew’s
soul. He called Matthew to come and follow Him.
If Christ had not
called, Matthew would not have followed (John
6:44; John 6:65; John 15:16).
Jesus didn’t come
to help, He came to save. Jesus
didn’t come to make salvation a possibility but He came to
make it a reality.
Matthew’s encounter
with Christ caused him to be a life long follower of Christ.
