No Perfect People Allowed

Please turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 2 verses 13 through 17.

Mark 2:13–17

Again, that's Mark chapter 2 verses 13 through 17.

Mark 2:13–17

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.

Mark 2:13–17

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.

Mark 2:13–17

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.

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.