A Friend of Sinners

Matthew chapter 9, starting at verse 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him,

Follow me. And he rose and followed him.

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came,

and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples,

Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

But when he heard it, he said,

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying,

Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them,

Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

No one puts a piece of untrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment,

and a worse tear is made.

Neither the new wine put into an old wineskin.

If it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed.

But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.

Well, if you want to open up to Matthew 9, I'll keep it open.

That'll be helpful.

Make sure what I'm saying is true.

Well, if you were to picture the final goal that God is moving all human history towards,

so heaven on earth, in other words,

what would you picture?

What's it look like?

Scripture gives us a lot of pictures that develop certain aspects of what we can look forward to.

One of them is a great wedding banquet, a feast.

Why?

Because it's a great gathering, and it's full of celebration.

That's what it's marked by.

Why is it full of celebration?

Because of the permanent covenant union between two people

who have given themselves for each other in love.

Isaiah 62 verse 5 picks this up.

Isaiah 62:5

So this is the Lord speaking to his people.

For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you.

And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you.

It's quite an emotion-filled image.

God's quite the romantic.

Heaven on earth will be so great because after all of human history of every one of us

chasing after other lovers, thinking we'll find life in them,

finally we'll be united with the God, the lover of our souls,

forever, at peace, in faithfulness.

And it's a time marked by celebration.

It's a banquet.

It's a great gathering.

So Jews of Jesus' day would speak of the time of the Messiah as being like a wedding banquet,

and blessed is anyone who's invited to that party.

We've already heard Jesus use this picture in chapter 8,

but surprisingly not using it for a Jewish person,

but the oppressor of Jewish people, a Roman centurion who expresses such faith,

just taking Jesus' word at face value.

Jesus says in chapter 8, verse 11,

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

in the kingdom of heaven.

It's this banquet.

It's this reclining.

It's this wedding celebration.

In our passage this morning, we've got two paragraphs,

and the first one I think we warm to.

It's Jesus lowering himself, eating with tax collectors and sinners.

And then the second paragraph is about fasting and something to do with garments and wine,

putting it in new wineskins, and we're not quite sure what to do with it.

I think what unites these two paragraphs is this picture of the wedding banquet.

This is the goal of Jesus' mission.

This is the end point.

This is what God wants to achieve, this wedding banquet.

This is what Jesus' mission is about.

So I think that's what unites our passage this morning.

The main obstacle to achieving this union between God and people is our sinfulness.

We all know this, or hopefully we know this.

For Jesus to make this wedding banquet a reality, his mission must first remove the problem,

the thing that breaks the fellowship, which is a lack of faithfulness,

a lack of love for the Lord.

So let's get into the text.

Who will have a seat at this heavenly wedding celebration?

I think we get a glimpse of heaven in verses 9 and 10.

I don't think it's just a little moralistic story of lowering yourself and identifying with the lowest in society.

I think it's much more than that.

I think it's a picture of heaven.

Here is Jesus sitting with people like Matthew.

Above all your aspirations in life, I'm not sure what you're looking forward to this week,

what you're looking forward to this month, in the new year,

what is your greatest aspiration?

It should be having a place at this table, at this wedding banquet that Scripture talks about.

Do you want to arrive at the door and read the table list and find your name?

That should be our greatest desire, to be invited at this wedding banquet.

Don't you love those seemingly rare times?

Oh, I find them rare, where you're with friends, you're with family,

maybe at Christmastime coming up.

Or as Christmas, hopefully, is not stress and fighting,

but you know those rare times where you're just lounging around?

Maybe you're in the living room and the coffee table is just full of food

and some are just sprawled out on the floor, some are on the lounge.

No one's pretending.

There's no pretense in the room.

There's no personal agendas.

There's no tension.

There's just peace.

There's just enjoying each other's company.

There's laughter.

There's food and drink.

Some people need to loosen their belt.

They've just eaten too much.

You know that picture of just being together?

It's what we're looking forward to at Christmastime.

I think that's kind of the picture we've got here.

But instead of Christmastime, we've got Jesus, the Son of God,

God in the flesh, relaxing, reclining at table in the house,

totally at peace, eating and drinking and celebrating, no pretense.

Where is he?

Is he in Jerusalem, the religiously pure place?

No, he's not.

He's in Capernaum.

The people who have mixed their devotion with the world,

they're not devoted to God.

They're mixed up in the world.

Worse than that, he's at Matthew's house.

What's he doing there?

This is a sinner.

Other sinners would go, well, that's a bad guy.

Now, I don't know if you've watched the TV show The Chosen.

I think the show picks up well how much Matthew would have been hated.

This guy, you read it in Mark and Luke, the same story.

His name there is Levi.

So it's the same person, two different names.

He's a sinner.

Levi, he comes from the descendants of the Levites.

He should have been devoted to the temple.

But he's not.

What's he doing?

He's devoted to being a tax collector.

He's serving those who are subjugating God's people.

He would have been so hated.

And there was no corruption commission to stop Matthew from skimming off the top of the taxes for his own benefit.

He was stealing, robbing from his own people, devoted to himself rather than devoted to God.

And Jesus, seeing Matthew at the tax booth, notice that Jesus is the one who takes the initiative here.

I think it's similar to what we were reading last week with the healing of the paralyzed man.

Matthew is paralyzed in his devotion to himself.

He's sitting and Jesus says, follow me.

And he rose.

I think it's similar to the paralyzed man.

The command of Jesus makes him follow.

He leaves his world behind him and puts all his trust in Jesus to give him life.

So, Jesus is sitting at Matthew's house.

The worst of sinners, devoted to himself.

And he goes to Matthew's house.

And he's reclining.

He's celebrating with them.

He's at peace with them.

And many other sinners come and take their place at the table.

This is the picture of heaven.

Relax together around the table.

It's a glimpse of the everlasting wedding feast to come.

I think it's a beautiful picture.

It's the thing that's moved me most this week.

That Jesus wants to recline with me.

Totally at peace.

He knows my sin.

He's not pretending here.

He knows our sin.

But this is the goal.

To be at peace together in the kingdom forever.

So, do you think you're too sick for God?

Too unworthy to be invited to sit at the table?

Too unworthy to be invited to sit at the table?

Then I'd encourage you to soak in this picture.

Jesus is the friend of sinners.

In fact, he only wants sinners as his friends.

More than a friend, as we're tied up in the second paragraph as well,

he's the groom of sinners.

Even for those who everyone else has given up hope for,

even for those who have given up hope for themselves,

Jesus has come for those very people.

So, whenever you're feeling full of guilt and shame,

remember, you're not too sick for the doctor.

If you feel drawn to the almost unbelievable just acceptance that Jesus has,

then don't wait until you feel better to come to him.

Your place, your acceptance with him isn't because you're a great patient.

It's because he's a great doctor.

Don't wait until you are better before you come to him.

He's a friend of sinners, the worst of sinners.

You're never too sick to come to him.

There is a place at his table.

You are invited.

Come as you are.

He won't leave you as you are.

Fellowship with him will change you.

You won't stay as you are, but come as you are.

Whenever you're plagued with guilt,

feeling unworthy to open his word,

unworthy to pray,

unworthy maybe to walk into church,

you're too dirty to be among holy people like us.

Whenever we're thinking those wrong thoughts,

Jesus is the friend of sinners.

It's fellowship with him that will renew your hope

that one day your sin will totally be gone

and there will be that full peace.

It's fellowship with him that will actually remind us

of why sin is so awful in the first place

because it breaks that fellowship.

It robs us of that fellowship.

It may not break it completely,

but it robs us of enjoying that fellowship.

And fellowship with him

will make us boast in his grace towards us,

not in our own ability or goodness.

So come to him.

You are never too sick to come to him.

And notice in this passage,

who doesn't want a place at the table.

It's the righteous Pharisees.

I think we might be attracted to this story

for the wrong reasons today.

I think we might be cheering Jesus on

that he's sticking it to the establishment.

Go, Jesus.

Align yourself with the minority,

with the oppressed.

Stick it to the establishment.

Stick it to those who have all the power.

Taking down the oppressors.

Defending the marginalized.

But Jesus doesn't rebuke the Pharisees

for being religious leaders.

He doesn't rebuke them for that,

the fact that they did have social influence and power.

That's not their problem.

If we hear Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees properly,

it's going to help us understand our own sin properly.

I think we always get back into that thinking of

sin is bad behavior.

I think we're just inclined to think that way.

But sin is much, much deeper than that.

So let's hear...

Jesus does have a go at the Pharisees.

Don't get me wrong,

but let's hear what the problem is

and not jump to our modern conclusions.

To do that,

I want to first appreciate the Pharisees.

You don't hear that in every sermon.

We love to hate Pharisees.

But consider Matthew.

Matthew was devoted to himself,

greed at the expense of his people,

not serving God.

He was not even trying to love God.

And then you've got Pharisees

who were totally devoted to keeping God's law

and the Jewish tradition.

Totally devoted.

Let me just give you two examples

that are probably going to make us all

feel a bit uncomfortable

because it puts us to shame

with how devoted they were.

Consider their giving.

How much did they give?

The Old Testament commanded tithing 10%

of all produce to the Lord

to thank him, acknowledge him

as the giver of all things

and to give to the work of his temple,

of his kingdom work.

The New Testament tithing is changed.

It's not the law anymore,

but it's kind of expanded.

In 2 Corinthians 8,

it's out of the joy that we have in Christ

that we give in our poverty.

It's not 10%.

It should be more than that.

It should be coming from a heart of joy in the Lord.

In chapter 23 of Matthew,

now the full context there,

we won't go into it.

Jesus is again rebuking the Pharisees,

but notice the good part of what they do,

how devoted they were.

They would tithe even their herbs in the garden.

Not just their main income,

but the herbs, the mint, the dill, the cumin.

Did I say that right?

I always get cumin.

It's like us on the way to church,

we find a dollar coin

and we go to the bank and break it

so that we can give the 10 cents.

It's that precise in making sure they keep the law.

Well, what about their missionary zeal?

We're called at the end of Matthew's Gospel

to join Jesus in his mission to the world,

to the lost.

We do that ourselves

as we are light

in wherever God has planted us,

but also by supporting the church

in sending out gospel workers.

In chapter 23 again,

we're told the Pharisees were willing

to travel across seas and land

to make one disciple.

Would we be willing to give up

a large portion of our life and income

to make one follower of Jesus?

The Pharisees would.

Well, not of Jesus,

of their own brand.

These were devoted people.

So the question I've had

in thinking about this passage is,

why did Jesus come to call sinners

and not the righteous?

At least the Pharisees were trying.

Matthew wasn't even trying.

We need to understand

why Jesus quotes Hosea in verse 13.

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

This is the rebuke.

This is their problem.

Now, what does he mean?

At face value,

that's quite a confusing sentence.

Does it mean that God never

wanted those animal sacrifices

commanded in the Old Testament?

That doesn't really make sense

because God commanded it.

It was a pleasing aroma to him

when people did it properly.

So what does this mean?

Well, let's go back to Hosea

and see what the problem was

in his day.

Do you remember the prophet Hosea?

I think he's one of the most memorable

because he's the one

who's instructed to marry

an adulterous woman.

And their marriage was

to be a living parable

of the relationship

between the Lord and his people.

And like Hosea's wife,

Israel had gone after other lovers.

Instead of finding their life in God,

their bread,

and their safety,

their security,

they go after other gods

to get those things.

Spiritually adulterous.

And in chapter 6 of Hosea,

on the surface,

there was still plenty

of religion going on,

plenty of good behaviour

still going on

on the surface,

but inside,

they were chasing other lovers.

They weren't trusting the Lord

to give them life.

And so Hosea 6,

your love is like,

your love for the Lord,

your love is like a morning cloud,

like the dew

that goes early away.

I desire steadfast love,

not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God,

rather than burnt offerings.

In other words,

the Lord isn't pleased

with externally good behaviour

if inwardly a person

is giving themselves

to another lover.

It would be like a wife

who flirts and flirts

with other men.

I'm stealing this from Matt Hand

who did a youth talk

on jealousy on Friday night

that God's a jealous God.

Someone who flirts and flirts

but then thinks her husband

should be pleased

that she takes care

of the laundry.

It's not about the behaviour.

Where's your affection?

Where's your devotion?

Where's...

That belongs to me,

says the Lord.

I want steadfast love.

It belongs to him

as our creator,

our saviour.

This is a sharp rebuke

of the Pharisees.

Yes, on the surface,

in your behaviour,

you are good,

or you seem good,

but inwardly,

you do not love God.

You're not...

You're going after

something else.

And for the Pharisees,

I think we saw in chapter 6

where they'll do their religion

to be seen by others.

It's probably their love of status

and glory in the community.

Could be something different

for you and I.

So where do we see

in this passage

that shows the condition

of the Pharisee's heart?

I think it's in

that loaded question

to the disciples.

We all know

when someone asks a question

but really they're making

a statement.

I think of a dad

saying to a teenage daughter,

are you really

going to wear that?

That is not a question.

That's a statement.

That's an accusation.

Listen to their question,

why does your teacher

eat with tax collectors

and sinners?

They're not wanting to learn.

If they wanted to learn,

they'd probably do

what John's disciples do

and go to Jesus himself.

They're talking to the disciples,

not to Jesus.

Their question is an accusation.

Your teacher is unholy,

befriending people like this,

associating with people like this.

Notice what the Pharisees

don't do.

They're not attracted

to Jesus' compassion.

They're disgusted by it.

They aren't even intrigued by it

and want to find out more.

They don't ask for a seat

at this table.

Let me put it this way.

They are so devoted to God

that when they see God's mercy,

they're repelled by it.

Their behaviour might look good,

but they don't love

the mission of Jesus.

They don't love his mercy.

Even in Hosea's day,

the heart of God

is seen as he pursues his people.

It says in Hosea 2,

I will betroth you to me forever.

I will betroth you to me

in righteousness,

in justice,

in steadfast love,

in mercy.

I will betroth you to me

in faithfulness,

and you shall know the Lord.

Here is Jesus

showing this same grace.

And the Pharisees,

they don't like it.

They don't like it,

what they see.

They think they're too good

to want any part of it.

They don't realise

how sick they are.

Jesus isn't saying here

that there's two categories

of people,

sick and healthy,

righteous,

and sinners.

He's not saying

there's two categories.

There's only one category.

Everyone's sick.

They've all got

the same sickness.

Some are going to show it

by doing whatever they want,

like Matthew.

Others are going to show it

religiously

by being good people.

Same sickness

if you don't love

the mercy of Jesus.

What he's saying is

they had the wrong

understanding

of his mission.

Christ didn't come

for good people.

He came for bad,

people.

There's no such thing

as good people.

My principal at school

growing up

used to say this phrase

that puzzled me

for years,

only bad people

go to heaven.

It puzzled me

for years.

God's heart

has always been

for the lost.

He always wants

to relate

based on mercy.

And this helps us

understand

what the sickness

Jesus came to deal

with is.

It's not primarily

bad behaviour.

It will show itself

in bad behaviour

but the real root

sickness is

not loving

God,

his character,

his mercy.

That's sin.

Not loving

his mercy

and going after

other lovers.

teeth.

I heard an interview

by a dentist

once that

one of the

major problems

with people

with their teeth

is they only

go to the dentist

if they've got

pain.

There's a problem

with that

because sometimes

if you leave

that pain

too long

it can get

so corroded

in the nerve

in the teeth

that the pain

stops and you

think you don't

have a problem.

outwardly

you've still

got the teeth

but they don't

come soon enough.

You don't realise

how deep it is

there's no pain.

It made me think

of sin

but sometimes

we think it's

just behaviour

that is what

God wants

it's not.

We can get

not even realise

that we don't

love Jesus'

mercy.

Don't realise

how sick we are.

So do you think

you're too

healthy for God?

Some of us

are going to be

here this morning

thinking we're

too sick for God

but maybe others

of us are

thinking we're

too healthy.

We don't really

need his mercy

or maybe we did

back then

in our life

but we're

okay now.

Or I think

this pandemic

we've gone through

and we're still

going through

has exposed

our values.

We've had to

make choices

stark choices

about what

is more valuable.

We've got to

order our values

during this time.

I think

we're left

with a question

of what would

we want Jesus

to do at the

moment?

Would we want

him to put

our life back

the way it

was?

Maybe a little

bit better

than it was

before the

pandemic?

Or is

our greatest

desire that

we grow in

deeper enjoyment

of fellowship

with God

ourselves

and that

God would

use us

in bringing

others into

that fellowship

that we

enjoy?

I've got to

admit to you

this very

week

there's

something I'm

looking forward

to in January

that I got

excited about

and I'm

spending time

with some

unbelieving friends

next week

and I'm like

oh okay

yeah let's do

that.

it just

the excitement

wasn't

proper

proportion.

Are we

happy to

leave people

as they

are as

long as

they're

socially

decent

people?

Or do

we see

sin

the heart

that doesn't

want to

know God

as the

main evil

in our

lives

and in

the lives

of our

family

and friends?

maybe we

think

ourselves

maybe we

think

others

are too

good to

need

his

mercy

it's

not

their

main

need

but

Jesus

is the

friend of

sinners

he's

come for

fellowship

with

sinners

and then

we come

to that

third

section

the

second

paragraph

we've

still got

to deal

with

the

question

of

John's

disciples

from

verse

14

onwards

it

seems

to be

a

sincere

desire

to

understand

what

is

Jesus

about

what

is

his

mission

about

I

think

this

section

helps

us

clarify

why

devotion

to

God

will

look

completely

different

to

the

Jewish

law

why

does

Jesus

change

everything

with

all

this

eating

and

drinking

reclining

with

sinners

does

Jesus

and his

disciples

take

God's

law

seriously

do

they

take

sin

seriously

why

aren't

they

fasting

and

repenting

of

sin

longing

for

God's

kingdom

of

righteousness

to come

how can

they party

when sin

is still

so prevalent

sin

and

Jesus

makes

himself

the

answer

and

the

wedding

guests

mourn

as

long

as

the

bride

groom

is

with

them

imagine

turning up

to a

wedding

reception

and

going

let's

start

let's

celebrate

I'm

here

who

can

say

that

only

the

bride

and

groom

only

the

main

show

Jesus

is

saying

I'm

the

reason

everything

is

about to

change

you

can't

just add me in to God's law into your old way of thinking of how to relate to God I'm going to change everything something new is coming or is here the goal of God's goal of history that fellowship that wedding banquet has begun because the groom has turned up it's a claim to be

the anticipated king

God's

it doesn't it it doesn't seem right to be the cows on a man's norm of the christian

it doesn't seem right is he just pushing sin to the side he's not I think it's I think we get a hint of how seriously Jesus takes sin in verse 15 the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them before there can be a wedding

there must be an execution there will be a sacrifice it's just not the animal sacrifices of old

sacrifices of old. It'll be the groom himself. There will be a temple. It's just not the

temple of old. I'm going to be the meeting place. The groom is here. That picture is

no longer needed. The real thing, the groom is here. So it won't do to just add Jesus

to the old ways of being devoted to God. He's more than that. The goal is here. We need

new clothes for the wedding. We need new wine put in new expressions, new wine skins, new

ways of showing devotion to God. We're not told precisely in this passage what that new

form of worship will be, so we need the rest of the New Testament to teach us that. But

what we are told is Jesus changes everything. That great wedding day has arrived. Sin is

dealt with. It's taken away. That's what his mission is about. Completely dealing with

sin. I think we are given one hint as to what devotion to God is going to look like now the

groom is here. So if it's not obeying the laws of old, what does it look like to show devotion

to God? I think it's captured by that call of Matthew, follow me. Follow me. It's just

got to be all about him in other words. He's the new wine. And if Jesus' mission, if what

Jesus is on about is showing mercy, calling, reclining with sinners, then following him must

at least mean we join him in that. We love him, love his mercy and want to share that

mercy with others. The peace and fellowship we richly enjoy, knowing we are fully accepted.

Do we want that for our children? Do we want that for our extended family? Do we want it

for our friends? Do we want it for that person we have only one conversation with randomly down

the street? Do we want it for people on the other side of the world who will never meet?

Do we want that reclining with Jesus, at peace with him, knowing our sin is completely dealt

with? We're called to follow him in that mission, reclining with sinners, sharing his call.

The wedding banquet has begun. We're enjoying it already by grace, by faith in him. One day

soon. Just think, if all here this morning who have faith in Jesus, we will be seated there

one day in his presence. Excuse the expression, but loosening our belt because we can't quite

take in how much feasting there will be. We will be there one day. Do we want others with

Jesus? So, my sinful brothers and sisters, seeing this glimpse of that everlasting wedding banquet,

isn't it such good news that Jesus is the friend of sinners? You're never too sick for him.

But be convicted deeply if you ever feel like you've arrived. If you feel like, in this situation,

I don't need his mercy. We need to be convicted by that. And let's follow him on his mission.

Let's recline with sinners. Will you pray with me? Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Father, I just pray that you would press that image into our hearts so that it becomes the

greatest longing, the greatest joy, that we will be seated with you, fully at peace with

you, enjoying your company in that great eternal wedding banquet.

Lord, please fill our heart with that goal because that is your goal. And Lord, I pray that you would

help us just rejoice in your mercy, that we would worship you for that, that we would relate all of our

lives to your mercy, that everything we receive is because of that. Everything we have to look

forward to is because of that. So, Lord, yeah, make us look forward to that great day when we're seated

with you. Thank you that our sin is already dealt with. I pray that you would motivate us with your

same love for the lost, just as you pursued us. In Jesus' name. Amen.