What's Holding you Back?

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: She made me laugh. Sometimes with her, sometimes at her. Yerome was a good student in my classroom at Maxwell Adventist Academy. A senior. Never boring. The senior class trip was always to the same place. Now they had some choices to where they would go, but they always chose this place. And it was an all-inclusive resort on the coast of Kenya, north of Mombasa, but still south of where the Somali pirates kidnap people. So we were okay. Now the students loved the all-you-can-eat, time of day food more than they did the beach. But we did try to make sure that the trip was somewhat educational. One way was to take the students out in a glass bottom boat to go snorkeling. Love this kind of stuff and and I wanted the students to love this kind of stuff And so I was instructing them even before we left I would draw pictures of coral reefs on the whiteboard and say this you can touch This you can't don't bother that I Wasn't always good about my own instructions. I one of my favorite activities is pestering God's creatures but You guys should leave this stuff alone. Don't touch anything that looks like this, this, or this. Well, we were out there on the glass bottom boat. The students were excited. They're putting on their snorkeling gear, and they're going down the ladder into the Indian Ocean, and there they are watching God's amazing creatures, the things that he made. And I was eager to join them, but... I could not coax Iromé to get off the boat. I said, Iromé, what's holding you back? I was anxious to get in there. What's holding you back? Pastor Kent, I'm afraid. Afraid of what? You know how to swim. No, it's not that. I'm afraid I don't know what's in there. many years before this took place. I knew a man named Richard. His wife was an active member of my church, but he had not joined. ⁓ he would come to many of the services and social events, but not on Sabbath morning. And I asked him, Richard, what's holding you back? I don't know. Well, I knew. he had a well-paying engineering job that required him to work on Sabbath. When he retired, he joined the church. When it was convenient. Couple of Sabbaths ago, Pastor Dawson looked at Matthew chapter 8 where he described two men who desired to follow Jesus. The first was held back because he was afraid of the unknown. You know, foxes have holes. I don't want any place to lay my head. Well, okay. I'm not sure I want that. I don't know what's happening. The second was held back waiting until it was convenient, until he had no longer any family obligations to take care of. But today we look at a different response to the call of Jesus. Turn with me to Matthew chapter nine. Matthew chapter 9 go down to verse 9. As Jesus passed on from there, okay, I like things to be in context. The story preceding this one that he's passed on from is the man lowered through the roof to have his sins forgiven and to be healed that we talked about last week. Does anybody remember the name of that town? Capernaum, thank you. He passed on from there, but he didn't pass on from Capernaum. He just went someplace else in Capernaum. This was the town that we discussed last time as being Jesus' home base for his ministry around Galilee. Verse nine again, as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew. The way the word saw is placed in here and the Greek context indicates that he didn't just see him like you see a guy walking down the street. He saw into him. He saw knowingly Matthew. He knew what was in Matthew's heart. And remember, Capernaum is not a large city. I don't know, it's been a while since I've been there, but I think if you walked from here to Ingles, you will have gone past Capernaum. It's not very long and less wide. And one side is bordered by the sea, Sea of Galilee. And so, since he was there and Jesus called this home, there's every chance that Jesus already knew Matthew. It's a small place, everybody knows everybody's business. And it's most likely they've even spoken to each other before and it may even be likely that Matthew had ripped Jesus off before considering his occupation in Capernaum. Tax collector. Notice the name Matthew. The gospels of Mark and Luke refer to him as Levi. It was not uncommon for people to have more than one name like Paul and Saul. But we get the idea that Levi Matthew preferred to be called Matthew. After all, he wrote this book and that's what he called himself. I have two names too. I choose the one I go by. I go by my middle name. never went by my first name in my life he goes by Matthew. Mark and Luke also refer to him as the son of Alphaeus. Now James is also the son of Alphaeus but we have no indication that they're brothers there's more than one Alphaeus in that area. It's a very common name. Peter and Andrew were brothers, James and John weren't mentioned as brothers but not these two. Again verse 9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. As Jesus walked along, he finds Matthew sitting there in the booth doing his job. Now, when we see paintings of this scene, it's just kind of a little shack with windows on each side where he collects from people that go by. But historians tell us that the tax booth stood high above the ground, much like an elaborate lifeguard station at the beach. It was designed to help the tax collectors to see boats and people coming and going. Mark mentions that this was by the sea. So the tax collector would watch what type of business was going on in every direction, charging boats to dock, charging people going by with carts. They would even count the number of wheels on the cart. And you'd be taxed by how many axles you had. You think things have changed? This is called the DMV, the Department of Mammal Vehicles. The only cheap way to get around was on your own two feet or you could ride something and would not be taxed for that. The Roman military government had set up a tax system and the whole nation of Israel was divided into districts. Each district was required to collect an assigned tax amount. And that's what the tax collector did. He would collect that amount and anything he could get more than that was his to keep. And we call that corruption. But they called it doing business. Matthew's tax booth was located in a region ruled by Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee, which meant that Matthew was an employee of Herod Antipas. The Roman tax system allowed individuals to bid for the right to collect taxes for them. The highest bidder would win the contract and then be given the right to collect those taxes. There's another man in scripture that I know you've heard of that was a tax collector. Remember his name? Zacchaeus. Luke 19.2 says that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and he was rich. To win that position, he must have submitted a high bid for the job. When he was awarded the contract, then he's given authority to hire others under him. So he would be the one. in charge of people like Matthew that are on the streets doing the dirty work getting things thrown at them insults whatever being called a traitor because you work for Rome So tax collectors would send to Rome only what Rome demanded. The rest was theirs to keep. That's why Zacchaeus was rich. That's probably why Matthew was probably a wealthy man. But wealth off the misfortune of his own neighbors. Two types of taxes were collected. Fixed and duties or tolls. The fixed taxes were set at 10 % for food products, oil, grain, wine. And then there's a 1 % income tax that was also collected. And then there were duties and tolls, taxes for road use, as we've talked about. There was no limit to the amount of money the chief tax collector or his employees could actually collect. Rome didn't care. In fact, some of them even hired enforcers. They were looked at as part of the mob. Enforcers would go around threaten you. I'll break your legs if you don't pay your taxes I'll kidnap your child and then you'll have to pay your taxes to get them back as well as a ransom Tax collectors were hated and That's not too strong a word they were hated and it's very likely that even James and John and others would have been overtaxed by Matthew and So they were called things like, ⁓ you mobster, you corrupt person. ⁓ The Jewish Talmud, which is basically a collection of rabbinic opinions, describes tax collectors as robbers. The Jewish Mishnah, a collection of sacred laws and duties pertaining to living a clean life, said that if a tax collector entered a Jewish home, it would become unclean. So IRS officers were similar. Two lepers. Are they that way today? Don't you say yes, they're watching. No. Lady in my last church, career working for the IRS. One of the most beloved Christian ladies you would ever meet. So, they're not all lepers. So tax collectors were dishonest and hated and despised. considered to be traitors, the mob. Why would Jesus choose somebody like this? Somebody that would be called a swindler, a cheater, a crook, an adulterer, somebody that would run prostitution rings, that's what they were known for. Every word out of their mouth was considered a lie. How can you tell if a tax collector's lying? His lips are moving. That's the way they looked at it. But the tax collectors didn't care that much because they were rich. They could have anything they wanted except love. So why did Jesus pick Matthew? Why did Jesus pick a rich man to be his disciple? The answer is not found in Matthew's wealth because Luke says that he left everything to follow Jesus. He became a poor man in order to follow Jesus. Remember what Zacchaeus did? I'm giving it all away, four times. So Matthew left the tax booth, his employees, and the money. How many of us would walk away from our jobs in order to follow Jesus? Some of you have. What did Jesus see in Matthew? When the Bible says Jesus saw Matthew, he did not see a rich tax collector. Jesus looked past his occupation. He saw a man who had the heart to follow after God. Like we heard in the children's story, we're capable of looking on the outward appearance. We can't see what's inside. He picked someone everybody else had rejected. He saw a man who was teachable and would someday be a great apostle for the cause and glory of God. He saw a man who one day would die as a martyr. This is a great reminder. I don't care who you are. God not only can use you, he wants to use you. includes each one of us. I don't care what you've done. God can say, follow me. But there's a key requirement. We must be willing to leave everything, letting nothing hold us back. Nobody should ever ask the question, what's holding you back? Nothing should be holding us back. Look at verse nine again. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me. So he arose and followed him. Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house that behold many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. Notice tax collectors, they're their own degree of sinners. They're not lumped in with the rest. These are worse. Okay, whose house is this? It says the house. According to Luke 529, it says it's Matthew's house. Now Matthew would have had a nice house. This is what Luke says, then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. Now maybe Matthew's being modest in his version of events in his home, but Luke seems to be quite impressed. with the proceedings. A great banquet, a large crowd, tax collectors, where did they all come from? In the stories of Matthew and Zacchaeus we see men who have been used to taking now giving generously. The gratitude for salvation is felt swift and In fact, the theology departments of our colleges try to figure out who is actually called to be a pastor and who is just grateful for being saved. Because so many people, when they find Jesus, they're like, ⁓ I'm so grateful, what can I do to spread the message? I know, I have to become a pastor. Well, people that are saved by Jesus are called to spread the message, but they're not all called to be pastors, or else that's all we would have. We are all called to the task of spreading the gospel, spreading the good news about what God did for each of us. True gratitude is powerful. I had a friend that was in that circumstance. He was a theology major when I was, and he made straight A's and I did, and he had a four point GPA. It would have been higher if they'd given higher. But he was so grateful to God. God had pulled him out of cocaine addiction and everything else you could imagine and put him on his feet and he says I have to be a pastor and he spent six and a half years in school and then realized wait a minute I can't do that he became a tax collector ⁓ actually a bill collector and but we all should be so grateful to God for what he has done for us that we can't wait to share with somebody else. Now I'm looking at this feast. Seems like an over the top response. One might think that Jesus would say, no, no, no, Let's not have a banquet. You don't need to do that, Matthew. ⁓ Let's just use this money to feed the poor. Bring it along with you, Matthew. We got a lot of poor people to feed. Don't waste a thing on me. Nope. And neither did he say that to the woman who anointed his feet with expensive perfume, did he? It was others who said that. Desire of Aegis says, the entertainment was given in honor of Jesus and he did not hesitate to accept the courtesy. He well knew that this would give offense to the Pharisaic party and would also compromise him in the eyes of the people. But no question of policy could influence his movements. With him, external distinctions weighed nothing. That which appealed to his heart was a soul thirsting for the water. Sometimes, you know, we let things get in the way. What will people think? Will my position not be seen quite so high or whatever if I do this or this for somebody else? If I'm seen in somebody else's... Desire of Ages continues and says, sat as an honored guest at the table of the publicans by his sympathy and social kindliness, showing that he recognized the dignity of humanity and men longed to become worthy of his confidence. Upon their thirsty hearts, his words fell with blessed life-giving power. New impulses were awakened and the possibility of a new life opened to these outcasts of society. She goes on to say that some of the very people that were at some of these events where Jesus is speaking, where Jesus is being honored, that when Pentecost came and thousands are brought to Christ in a day, that some of those were these people that had been there and seen this. You know, when we have evangelistic meetings, you might be like, ⁓ yeah, look, they came in. Why? Why did they come in? It's because we had contact with them. earlier. And I have always seen that to be the case. Those that come into the church are usually people that know you out there. They see you out there. They live next door to you. They live next door to me. And they go, ⁓ those people aren't as strange as I thought. A little funny, but I think they have something. Get to know the people out there. so that they will feel comfortable in here. The despised publican became one of the most devoted evangelists in his own ministry following closely in the steps of Jesus. So Matthew does what a Christian should do. Introduce the people that he hangs out with to Jesus. Who would be the only person to accept a tax collector? Other tax collectors. That's who it says was in his house. The only one who can change their lives though is Jesus. But there were some guests at the party that neither Jesus nor Matthew had invited. They just came in unannounced because they had political clout and no one dared turn them away. It was a group of scribes from the Jewish council. They weren't there to put a stamp of approval on Jesus and Matthew but to find fault and point fingers and blame and guilt. Verse 11 says, and when the Pharisees saw it, They said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Luke 530 in some versions tells us that the scribes and Pharisees were grumbling or murmuring. The Greek word is igongazon. I like that word, igongazon. It's from the word gogozo. And this was said to mimic the sound of cooing doves or pigeons. If you know anything about doves or pigeons, they don't shut up. They just keep going. You might not think that very irritating, but you've not heard the doves of East Africa. You will if you watch East African safari programs. There's a dove that always seems to be making a noise in the background of every film. I always like the sound because it just kind of went with being out in the bush. But we had... family from Canada that came and visited us there and we took them on in a Safari it was an amazing Safari they saw about everything there was to see I told them don't ever come back you'll never find a Safari this good again you'll always be disappointed but as great as the Safari was their 16 year old son Anthony suddenly said out by the picnic table by the campsite said If those birds don't shut up, I am going to go absolutely mad. I wonder if Jesus ever felt that way with a constant murmuring of the Pharisees. Wish they He's obviously against us being that way. The spirit of prophecy tells us that murmurers and complainers should be converted or stay home. Wow. Let no murmurs, criticism, or complaints come from your lips. Remember, angels hear these words. At church, remember this morning, the place was still empty, she said, but the angels are. We can't see them. I was in a store last week and they had figurines of angels and I said to my son, you know, there's angels with us and they're looking at these figurines right now saying That doesn't look like us But the angels hear these words she says this separates the believer from God and Is the reason why the fiery serpents were sent upon the children of Israel? Some act as if criticism is a spiritual gift They must be reading a different Bible than the one I have. I can't find it in any of the lists of spiritual gifts. May they be blessed with a spirit of criticism and murmuring. No, it's not there. Our gift is to be used to reach out and find people. Find people for Jesus. Verse 12 says, when Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician. Have you ever been to the physician and said, yeah, I'd like to pay you today. Well, what's wrong? ⁓ I don't have anything wrong with me. I'm feeling great. I'm wondering why though. We don't go to doctors doing that. We go when we feel not right. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, but go and learn what this means. Okay, who's he talking to? Scribes. the most educated people on the planet but go and learn what this means I desire mercy and not sacrifice for I did not come to call the righteous but centers to repentance Jesus told them that those who are not well don't need a doctor. Only those who are sick, men and women, are no different today. There are those who do not know that they are spiritually sick. Many of the Jewish religious leaders considered themselves to be spiritually well. Jesus' message is clear. He did not come for them because they would not accept his message. He came for those who would respond. The scribes did not care about the spiritual condition of the men and women at Matthew's party, but Jesus did. So he told them to get up, read the scrolls, and learn their meaning. A bit of a rebuke for these smart guys. Jesus quoted from Hosea 6, which says, ⁓ Ephraim, what shall I do to you? ⁓ Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud. and like the early dew, it goes away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and your judgments are like light that goes forth. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. What's Jesus saying here? You're so caught up in the way you think things ought to be. You're so caught up in rituals and, Do this before you do that, but after this, policies and all this, that's all that occupies your mind. I desire mercy. Mercy on your fellow humans. Reminds me of our scripture reading this morning, Micah 6, 6 through 8. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams and 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? We love verse 8, we sing it. He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? Don't you want to know what the Lord requires? It says it right here. He requires us to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God, as we learned in Sabbath school this morning. Walk humbly with your God. With that call being given, what's holding you back? Are you afraid of the unknown? Are you waiting for a more convenient time? Pride in the way well you know I've lived this way so long if I changed that means I'd have to admit that I was doing it wrong I knew people like that like I can't change now because then I look bad Well look bad who cares? Go ahead look bad Eternal life is at stake Jesus has made himself known and the time is now. I know that some of you have been on the edge of decision for some time. It's time to be like Matthew. Step out of the booth. Leave everything else behind. No matter who you are or what your life has been like, the Savior has called. Follow him. But don't just follow him. Be like him. And being like him means that you're looking for other people to follow him. It's time to get out of the boat and become fishers of men. It took some convincing, but Iromae finally got onto the ladder and lowered herself slowly and gently into the Indian Ocean with her mask and snorkel in place. I was relieved. Okay, finally she's off the boat. Now my turn. I turned and started to put on my snorkeling gear, but I heard a commotion behind me and standing there in the back of the boat dripping wet was a Romy with great big eyes. I said, Romy, why are you back in the boat? What's wrong? Pastor Kent. There's fish in there! Yes, C. Romy, it is the ocean. That is where fish live. Yes, yes, yes, I know. But I didn't know that there would be so. Father, there's a lot of fish out And some of them are like Matthew, just waiting to be seen for who they really are. Just waiting to be called to follow. May we get off the boat and be faithful. In Jesus' name, amen.

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