Jesus Came for Sinners

Well, friends, let me invite you to stand.

Let me invite you to stand as we turn to God's Word.

Our sermon passage this morning is found in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2, verses 13 through 17.

Mark 2:13–17

That's page 786 in the Pew Bible, and we'll have it on the screen too.

Let me read our sermon text for us, and then I'll pray.

So this is Mark, chapter 2, verses 13 through 17.

Mark 2:13–17

He, that is 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, and he said to him,

Follow me.

And he rose and followed him.

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 tax collectors, 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.

Go ahead and take a seat.

Let me pray for us.

Father in heaven, let us hear what your Spirit is saying to us through this passage.

As we consider Jesus, give us eyes to see and hearts to believe in him,

that our lives might reflect him more and more as a church.

Amen.

So when it comes to becoming a follower of Jesus, how far is too far?

In other words, are there certain sins or flaws or addictions or lifestyles or backgrounds

that put someone beyond the reach or beyond the desire of Jesus and his kingdom?

Now, I think maybe we know the right answer intellectually,

but do we really believe that at the heart level?

And does our life together demonstrate it?

You know, in your head, you might say,

No one is too far gone for the grace of the Lord Jesus.

But at the heart level, maybe you feel like you're too far gone.

The things you've seen or done or the things that have been done to you

or how long you've been stuck, you might think,

Jesus couldn't call me or use me or accept me.

On the flip side, in your head, you might say,

No one's too far gone.

But at the heart level, you might look at other people

or other kinds of people and think,

They're certainly too far gone.

Given the things they've done or seen or been,

you think they could never be called or used or accepted by God.

But all this raises the deeper question.

Who did Jesus come for?

Who did Jesus come for?

This morning, we're kind of jumping ahead a little bit in our series in Mark,

ahead to chapter 2 here,

and we see a story about just that.

Who did Jesus come for?

As he brought God's kingdom,

as he inaugurated the reign of God on earth,

who is it that Jesus came for?

And we see two things in this passage.

The first point we see here in our short text is this,

that Jesus came for sinners.

Jesus came for sinners.

We see this in the first few verses of the story,

which center on the call of Levi.

This scene immediately sort of reminds us of the calling of Simon and Andrew

and James and John from chapter 1.

Right?

Jesus meets them at their work.

He calls them to follow him,

and they immediately respond.

But of course, the new element here in this story is Levi's profession,

his job.

He's a tax collector.

Now, tax collectors were nearly universally despised in the first century.

Now, I know we have some people who in our community have worked for the IRS before.

I won't point them out.

But, you know, in our culture,

sometimes we have to really work up love for tax collectors.

But in the first century, it was utterly,

they were utterly despised,

especially by the upright, good, believing Jewish community.

Why?

Because on the one hand, what were they doing?

They were collecting taxes on behalf of Rome,

the pagan Gentile empire that held the Jewish people in nearly constant subjection.

And so these Jewish tax collectors,

they were agents of the oppressors against their own people.

But even more than that,

the way that tax collectors made their living

was by charging people more than Rome required

so that they could take that extra off the top and line their own pockets.

In other words, they would sort of get a contract from Rome

to collect taxes in a certain area

and then charge whatever they needed on top of what Rome required to make a fortune.

So they were profiting literally at their fellow Jews' expense.

In later Jewish tradition,

tax collectors would be lumped together

as morally equivalent to thieves and murderers.

A Jew who collected taxes was disqualified as a judge or a witness in court.

They were expelled from the synagogue

and they were a cause of disgrace to their family.

Again, in later Jewish tradition,

the touch of a tax collector rendered a house unclean.

Jews were forbidden to receive money or even alms from tax collectors

since revenue from taxes was considered robbery.

In short, tax collectors were considered the worst of the worst.

If there was anyone who was too far gone,

who had gone past the point of no return,

if there was anybody who had no place in God's kingdom,

no seat at the table of the king,

it was Levi,

the wretched tax collector

and all of those sinners who gathered around his table.

But what does Jesus do?

He says to Levi,

the same exact thing he said to Simon and Andrew and James and John,

follow me.

In other words, Jesus says,

I've come for them too.

There's no sin so bad that Jesus didn't come to rescue.

And that means no matter how deep or dark or stuck you feel in sin,

whether it's addiction or anger or bitterness,

Jesus calls to you and says,

I see you and I love you.

Come follow me.

Come sit at my table

and come dine with me.

If Jesus called Levi

and welcomed him to dine,

then he will and does call and welcome you too.

Jesus came for sinners.

And I think we can apply this in two ways.

First, Jesus came for sinners,

so come to him.

Of course, when you're that deep in something

that's so obviously despised,

one of the great barriers to coming to Jesus is shame.

Shame works in a lot of ways.

We feel shame because we've done something wrong.

We feel shame because others have told us we've done something wrong.

We feel shame sometimes because something wrong has been done to us.

Is it so hard to imagine Levi sitting at his tax booth,

seeing the disgust on his neighbor's faces as they passed him,

and feeling in the pang of his own heart what he's doing?

Is it so hard to imagine Levi sitting there gripped by shame?

It's not hard to imagine if you've ever been somewhere like that in his shoes.

But how does Jesus approach Levi?

The same way he approached everyone else.

He called him and he communed with him.

Jesus sat down at his table

and ate his meal with his friends

as if to say,

I love you, Levi,

no matter what you've done.

Let me cover your shame.

Now, does Jesus approve of Levi's sin?

Is the point of this story that tax collecting

and wronging other people

and cheating others is okay in Jesus' eyes?

No.

Jesus didn't come to approve sin,

nor did he come to judge,

but to heal.

He's a great physician.

You know, if you go to a doctor,

if you go to a doctor,

they're not going to say,

you know, you have cancer.

Congratulations!

Just be yourself and you'll be okay.

Right?

But nor will they say,

you have cancer.

How dare you get out?

You have no place here.

Instead, they'll say,

here's the news.

You have cancer.

Let's begin the process of healing.

It's the same with the great physician, Jesus.

He's looking at you and me and saying,

let's begin a journey

of grace-fueled recovery

from all of sin's chains.

Jesus came for sinners,

and if that's you,

then come to him.

But I think we can apply this point

in a second way.

Briefly, Jesus came for sinners,

so we should go with him.

We should be willing to meet people

where they are with the love of Christ.

Does that mean we should join people

in their sin in order to win them for Christ?

Well, notice,

Jesus is eating with Levi and his friends.

He's not sinning with them, right?

Jesus didn't start collecting taxes

in order to call and commune with Levi.

He didn't start frequenting brothels

to call and commune

with the so-called sinners

around Levi's table,

but Jesus did find ways

to connect and call

and commune with us.

He wasn't afraid to be seen with us.

He wasn't afraid to engage with us,

even in our sin.

And if you look at your life,

I'm sure you can see many ways

to follow Jesus

in his loving pursuit of the lost,

whether it's at the local gym

or the local school

or the roommates right under your roof.

How can you be showing

this love of Jesus

to those around you?

Jesus came for sinners,

so we should come to him

and we should go with him.

But, you know,

there's another important piece

of our passage.

We see in the calling of Levi

that Jesus came for sinners,

sinners, but we see in the second half

of this passage

that Jesus came for sinners

and only sinners.

Jesus came for sinners only.

Let's look again at verse 16.

Mark says,

the scribes,

that is the legal experts

of the Pharisees,

you know,

those Pharisees

who were legal experts,

when they saw that Jesus

was eating with tax collectors

and sinners,

said to his disciples,

why does he do that?

Why does he eat

with tax collectors and sinners?

Now, the Pharisees

were sort of like a movement

in first century Judaism,

a movement that valued

the law of God

and sought to keep it

as best they could.

So what they did was

they developed traditions

about things that you should

or should not do

so that you wouldn't get anywhere

even close

to breaking God's law.

They would put sort of

this hedge of rules

around the law,

extra requirements,

so that if you kept

those extra requirements,

then you wouldn't be anywhere near

to breaking God's law.

Then you would be set apart.

Then you would be pure,

which is maybe

where the name Pharisee

comes from,

the separated ones,

the pure ones.

And when they hear

that Jesus,

this popular teacher

who himself is getting

quite a movement

of his own,

when they hear

that he's eating

with tax collectors

and sinners,

they're offended.

They're scandalized.

That is not what good people

and good teachers do,

they think.

You don't welcome

and commune

with people like that.

Those people

are the very problem.

They're the very people

we're trying not to be like,

according to the Pharisees.

But this Pharisaical heart,

it wasn't just a problem

in the first century.

It lives on,

doesn't it?

Some people are afraid

to come to church

because they think

they'll be judged.

But some people

are all too ready

to come to church

because they think

they get to judge.

Of course,

Christians are called

to holiness of life.

But it's very easy

for pride to creep in.

We catch ourselves thinking,

if I raise my kids right,

they won't be like that.

I've worked hard

to get where I am.

They must just be lazy.

If that person

really believed,

they wouldn't be

struggling like that.

The heart of the Pharisee,

if we're honest,

creeps in the corners

of all of our hearts.

And what does Jesus say to us?

Verse 17,

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.

Now,

what's Jesus' point?

Does Jesus' reply here

mean that there are

actually some people

who are righteous,

who are spiritually healthy enough

so that they don't need him?

No,

that's not Jesus' point.

Rather,

Jesus is saying,

if you want to sit

at my table,

if you want to sit

at my table

and dine with me

in my kingdom,

then you have to take

the seat of a sinner.

You must sit

in the seat

reserved for sinners only

if you're going to sit

at this table at all.

Jesus is confronting

the Pharisee

in all of us,

confronting our self-righteousness.

If you continue

to cling

to your own

moral record

as that which

puts you apart

from anyone else,

if you don't admit

that you need

as radical a rescue

as the most obvious

moral failure,

then you will stand

outside the feast

that Jesus has come

to bring.

In other words,

Jesus is asking us

to do something

that is radically

undoing

for so much

of our identity.

You have to admit

you're a sinner

just like Levi

and his friends.

You see,

we like to divide

the world

into the good people

and to the bad people,

don't we?

We're very good at that.

These are the good people,

these are the bad people,

but according to the Bible,

there aren't good people

over there

and bad people

over there.

No,

we're all made

in the image of God

full of dignity

and worth

and we are all

sinful and broken

and in need

of a radical rescue.

But how could a Pharisee

like you and me

ever admit that?

How could we

when so much

of our time

and energy

is spent

trying to bolster

a sense

that if we achieve enough

and have done enough

and have loved enough,

then we are something.

We spend so much

of our time

trying to do that

through our achievements

and what we've done

and who we are

and what we follow.

Would it not utterly

undo us

to admit

that we're sinners?

But listen,

the one who is calling you

to admit

that you need

this radical rescue,

the one who says

you have to admit

that you're a sinner,

you have to identify

with them,

sit down in their seat,

the one who says that

is the one

who himself

has also done that.

The Lord Jesus

is the only one

who is ever truly

without sin.

He was more righteous

than the Pharisees

could ever imagine.

But he puts himself

in the seat

of a sinner.

Don't you see

what's happening

on the cross?

The righteous one

is putting himself

in the place

of the unrighteous.

He takes all

of our sin

and he takes

all of our shame

willingly

on himself

to give us

in exchange

the favor

and acceptance

of God.

He takes all

of our shame

and says,

here is favor.

God's

God's

God's

pronouncement.

It was God's

public

pronouncement

of favor

and acceptance

proclaiming to the world,

this is my beloved

son

in whom

I'm well pleased

and that favor

and acceptance

is freely given

to all

who trust

in him.

So don't you see

what he's done

for you

and for me?

He sat down

in the seat

of your sin

so that you can

sit down in it too

so that you can

admit your need

so that you can

confess that you

too are a sinner

but because of the cross

when you sit down

in that seat

you find that it's

not a seat

in the courtroom.

It's not a seat

of condemnation

but you sit down

and it's a seat

at the banquet.

It's a seat

of forgiveness

and favor

and freedom.

At first

the call of Jesus

sounds like

the very undoing

of our identity.

Wait,

I have to admit

that I'm so lost

that I need someone

to rescue me?

It sounds like

it's going to undo us

but what you find

is that it's not

your undoing

it's your very

liberation.

It's your freedom.

It's the joy

of sitting

at the banquet

with the king

with no more hiding

and no more performing

and no more pretending

surrounded by others

who are also done

hiding

and performing

and pretending.

No longer defined

by their shame

or by their self-righteousness

but defined

by the grace of God.

Could that be us

as a church?

Where the love

of God in Christ

is so real

and powerful

that we're no longer

ruled by shame

or self-righteousness

but we all sit down

at this table together

as sinners

saved by grace?

Where we really

believe in our hearts

that no one

is too far gone

to be welcomed

by the gospel

and where we're

willing to commune

with each other

on this long road

of God's transforming grace?

Could that be us?

Maybe we're not

all the way there yet.

In fact,

we're always going

to have room

to grow.

But that's where

the gospel's taking us

because that's why

Jesus came.

Not for the righteous

but for sinners.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven,

Lord,

I know that many

of my friends

in this room

and many that

I haven't met yet,

Lord,

I know that many

of us are wrestling

with shame.

Lord,

help us to see

the love of Christ

with a fresh clarity

this morning

who comes to us

where we are

and speaks those

loving and embracing

words,

come follow me.

Lord,

and I pray

that by your spirit

we would all

know the reality

of that radical grace

and you would continue

to drive

self-righteousness

from our hearts

to make us

into a community

of real

welcome

and transforming

grace.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.