Matthew's Story

Well, Pastor Robert's been in this series called Face to Face, talking about face-to-face encounters with Jesus, divine encounters with Jesus.

And last week he talked, uh, he gave us a great method for leading people to Christ.

I mean, it was phenomenal.

If you weren't here last week, get online, watch last week's message.

Really great message on how to lead people to Christ.

This week I want to talk about the mentality that goes with the method.

And if you have a Bible, I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 9 and 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention 2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 9, 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention 2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

In this series on face-to-face encounters, one of the things that we've learned is that face-to-face encounters were never meant to be something that you hog.

Face-to-face encounters with Jesus were always meant to be something that we share.

And today we're going to talk about someone who did just that.

We're going to talk about a man named Matthew.

And we're going to read a little bit about his story in Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

So if you're there, you can read along with me.

I'm reading out the New Living Translation.

And if you don't have that translation, you can follow along in yours or follow along with me in the screen.

Matthew chapter 9, verse 9.

Matthew 9:9

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth.

Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him.

So Matthew got up and followed him.

Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.

But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with such scum?

When Jesus heard this, he said, Healthy people don't need a doctor, sick people do.

Then he added, Now go and learn the meaning of this scripture.

I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.

For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.

Now I'm going to tell you from the onset of this message.

The last couple messages I've preached here at Gateway are all about you messages.

Obviously they're about Jesus, but you know, we did Noah was crazy, talking about if you feel God's called you to something bigger.

We did why the wilderness for people who are in the wilderness, and people love those kind of messages.

But here's one thing I know about church.

If we're not careful, we can show up, sit down in that seat, and look in the direction of the preacher and say, What are you going to say to me about me?

As opposed to looking to God and saying, What is it you want to say to me?

That's the reason every single message, Pastor Robert, ends with, What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?

And this message, I'm telling you right now, is not a message for you.

Here's who it's for, every lost person you know.

This will be the most important message I ever preach to every lost friend or person you know.

So I don't want you to check out just because it's not about you, it is about you.

But it's more about them.

So as we walk through Matthew's story here, I want you to listen with the heart of Jesus for those around you that are lost.

Alright?

Here's the first thing I want to point out about Matthew's story.

Number one, Jesus saw Matthew.

Profound, huh?

Jesus saw Matthew.

Verse 9, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth.

Most of us are convinced that God is watching us, but if he's watching us, he's probably doing so to keep a list of all the bad things that we do.

Some of us fall asleep at night, not even sure whether or not God sees us.

I assure you, God sees you.

He's not just watching to keep a list of the wrong things that you do.

He's watching you because he's enamored with you.

Jesus sees you.

Reminds me of a story Pastor Robert told years ago when the church was much smaller.

There was a man who broke into someone's house in the middle of the night, and he was stealing as much stuff as he could, and pitch black, he had his little flashlight, no one was home, or so he thought.

And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he hears this voice.

Jesus is watching.

And it startles him.

Jesus is watching! He hits the deck, he crawls to the door, then he hears it again.

Jesus is watching.

And the voice sounds a little familiar.

So he gets up off of his feet and he quietly goes into the room where the voice was coming from.

Jesus is watching.

And he pops up his flashlight and he sees a bird.

He starts chuckling and he says, Yeah, this bird's name is probably Jesus.

So he says, Is your name Jesus?

And the bird says, Nope.

He says, Well then what is your name, bird?

My name is Clarence.

The burglar says, What kind of a fool would name his parrot Clarence?

And without hesitation, the parrot said, The same fool who named his Rottweiler Jesus.

Jesus is watching.

Now I know it's a bad joke.

But some of us honestly think that God is the Rottweiler in the corner waiting to attack us for doing wrong.

Let me tell you, Jesus isn't keeping a list of your wrongdoings.

The law did that for you.

Jesus came to erase that list and drop your name from every charge the law stuck on you.

I'll prove it to you.

John chapter 3, verse 17.

John 3:17

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 and 14.

Colossians 2:13

You were dead because of your sins, and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.

Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.

He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Is that good news?

That is good news.

Jesus saw Matthew.

Same way Jesus sees you in a crowd full of people that were desperately trying to get Jesus' attention.

How did Jesus see Matthew?

Why did Jesus see Matthew more than anyone else?

The answer is simple.

It wasn't because he stumbled upon Matthew, it's because he was searching for him.

Jesus saw Matthew because he was looking for him.

That brings us to the second thing that we're gonna point out here in Matthew's story.

Not only did Jesus see Matthew, Matthew responds to being seen by Jesus, and that's the second point.

Matthew follows Jesus.

Matthew follows Jesus.

Follow me, verse 9 says, and be my disciple, Jesus said to him.

So Matthew got up and followed him.

Now, the fact that Jesus called Matthew is huge.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke's Gospels tell us to this point there were four other disciples that had been chosen: Simon, Peter, Andrew, James, and John.

And we know that those four men shared at least one thing in common.

Here's what it was they were fishermen.

They were all fishermen.

Now, in that day and time, fishermen were the lowest of the low socially.

If you couldn't do anything, if you had no trade whatsoever, at least you could fish.

Now it shows how much has changed since then because now the most godly people on the planet fish.

And all the bass fishermen said, hallelujah.

But in this day and time, the fishermen were the lowest of the lows.

And so the first four disciples, it's Jesus making the statement, I go after the socially inept.

Everyone else runs from them.

Watch me, I run to them.

And then Jesus calls Matthew.

Matthew, being a tax collector, an absolute outright heathen.

Jesus' calling of Matthew is significant for this reason.

It was Jesus making the statement: not only do I go after the socially inept, I go after the morally bankrupt.

There's no one who has done so much that I won't pursue them.

Matthew, come follow me.

Now, Matthew didn't have to follow Jesus.

He got to.

Understand something.

Matthew was the fifth disciple, most likely, and by the fifth one, you need to know that everybody started to figure out that every once in a while Jesus was calling disciples.

And there were all of these people that were hoping they were going to win the lottery and become one of the twelve.

Matthew wasn't obligated to follow Jesus.

He got to follow Jesus.

Can I ask you a question?

Why is it?

Why is it that so many people look at following Jesus as a religious obligation?

I wonder if it would change anything if we stopped seeing following Jesus as a religious obligation and started seeing it as the relational opportunity of all time.

I wonder what that would do in our relationships with God.

Listen to me.

Jesus didn't come to earth just so he could get you to do good things and change your behavior.

Jesus came to earth to hold your hand for eternity.

And listen to me.

Some of you might be saying, Well, I don't see following Jesus as a religious obligation.

Let me give you a little test.

Do you have any romance in your relationship with Jesus Christ?

Romance is another word for intimacy, raw intimacy.

Here's why I ask, because if you don't have romance in your relationship with Jesus Christ, all you have is a religious obligation to Jesus Christ.

He wants to hold us by the hand.

And he comes to Matthew and he says, follow me.

And Matthew drops everything, literally.

Listen, if this whole disciple of Jesus thing doesn't work out, Simon, Peter, Andrew, James, and John could go back and fish.

Matthew couldn't go back and be a tax collector and make money.

The way they made money was to overcharge.

And in good conscience, Matthew couldn't go back and do it.

He was dropping everything to follow Jesus.

And here's my question: why would a man drop everything to follow Jesus?

I'll tell you what I believe was the reason.

Because when Jesus walked up to Matthew and he looked Matthew in the eyes, I believe Matthew saw more love in the eyes of Jesus than he had ever seen in his entire life in any other human being at any other point.

He saw so much love that he knew there was enough to go around to the point that Matthew knew I've got to share this thing right here called love with Jesus.

That brings us to the third point.

And we're going to kind of camp out here for a little bit.

Matthew's friends met Jesus.

Matthew's friends met Jesus.

Verse 10.

Later Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.

Now, I want to talk to you a moment about Matthew's strategy because we see a strategy for reaching lost people through Matthew's story in Matthew chapter 9 that I believe is a very, very good strategy.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

And so I'm going to give you three things, because that's what preachers do.

We always preach in three.

So I'm going to give you three things that we see in Matthew's strategy that I think if we all use to reach the people around us, it would be a game changer.

Here's the first part of Matthew's strategy.

He refused to be a Pharisee.

He refused to be a Pharisee.

Listen to verse 11.

But when the Pharisees saw this, the people that were sitting with Jesus, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with such scum?

Awfully friendly.

Tell me why your teacher eats with such scumbags like these people.

FYI, for any church planters, just taking a note out of this chapter, probably not the best way to try and build your church by calling everybody scumbags.

Why does your teacher eat with these scumbags?

Now, the Pharisees were a confused group of people.

They had begun to think that you were filthy if you came in contact with the filthy.

So the Pharisees created this thing that I like to call religious isolationism.

It's actually become a very popular philosophy in the church today.

And here's what it is: it's a works-based philosophy that says, as long as I don't touch what's dirty, I'll remain clean.

Let me give you a news flash.

The only reason we're clean is because of the blood of the Lamb, not because we don't come into contact with sin.

The Pharisees thought, if I touch the filthy, I become filthy.

The Pharisees stood outside of this party that Matthew throws for his lost friends in Jesus.

They're shaking their heads.

I can't believe you're sitting down with this filth.

Now you need to know that in this day and time, sitting down for a meal with someone didn't just mean you associate with them.

It meant you endorsed them.

It was absolutely scandalous that Jesus would sit down with these disreputable sinners and he knew it.

Let me tell you something.

It was absolutely scandalous that Jesus looked me in the eye and said, Follow me, I'll take care of all your junk.

And I'm grateful he did.

The Pharisees separated themselves because they thought we'd get dirty if we touched the dirt.

The Pharisees stood outside the door, and all they could think about was how dirty everyone was going to dinner.

Whereas Jesus was sitting at the table with them all, giddy as a schoolgirl, because all he could think about was how clean everybody was going to be by the end of the meal.

The Pharisees stood outside the door waiting for change.

Change.

Jesus came from heaven to earth to bring about change.

But the Pharisees sat around and said, we're too good to touch that.

Now, in our day and time, there is a reason that some of us have a little bit of Pharisee in us.

There are two reasons that I think mainly that's the case.

If you have any Pharisee in you at all, there's two good reasons.

The first, misinterpreted scripture.

The second, misunderstood wisdom.

Misinterpreted scripture and misunderstood wisdom.

We hear things like 1 John 2, verse 15.

1 John 2:15

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Listen to me, it doesn't say do not love the people of the world.

It says don't love the world and the things in the world.

How about this one?

1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 33.

1 Corinthians 15:33

Bad company corrupts good character.

How many of us heard this growing up or a variation of this phrase?

Bad company corrupts good character.

I'm going to read you this in context.

But listen, some of us have misinterpreted 1 Corinthians 15.

And instead of it saying bad company corrupts good character, here's what we have said it means.

Good people don't hang out with bad people.

Good people don't hang out with bad people.

Now let me read you verse 32.

Paul's talking to people who are arguing about the resurrection of the dead, and there's a group of people going, hey, forget about it, it doesn't even matter.

And he quotes them.

They say, Let's feast and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for bad company corrupts good character.

Paul quotes a group of people and says, This is bad company.

And the quote is this let's.

It starts with let's.

Let us.

Let me make this simple for you.

Bad people are not people who do bad things.

We are all people who do bad things from time to time.

Bad people are people who try to get you to do bad things.

There's a big difference.

A big difference.

Listen, Jesus wasn't saying stay away from people who were doing bad things because they're lost.

Pastor Robert, this is one of my favorite Pastor Robert quotes.

Runners run, golfers golf, swimmers swim.

And can any of you finish?

Sinners sin.

Why is it that when we get around sinners and they sin, we get shocked and our jaws drop to the floor?

It's kind of hard to convince sinners, lost people, that Jesus loves them and is not holding their the charges against them when they do something that is not good and our jaws hit the floor and we look at them like, what in the world are you doing?

How can we convince them God isn't judging them and isn't hating them if we look them in the face and we're disgusted by their bad behavior?

Listen to me.

Don't be at all surprised when a sinner sins.

Paul even says, he got frustrated at one point in chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians, and he said, When I wrote you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin, but I wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin or are greedy or cheat people or worship idols.

You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.

I meant that you're not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin or is greedy or worships idols or is abusive or is a drunkard or cheats people.

Don't even eat with such people.

Jesus wasn't saying, get away from these people.

And that that's the the here's what gets me.

If we're not careful, we can turn Christianity into something that is all about what we stay away from rather than who we stay close to.

That brings us to the second thing that's so great about Matthew's strategy.

Matthew was a champ at filling the lobby with sick people.

He filled the lobby with sick people.

Verse 12, when Jesus heard this, he said, healthy people don't need a doctor, sick people do.

Have you ever felt guilty?

And I want you to be honest at all of our campuses.

Have you ever felt guilty for being around too many lost people?

I want you to just put your hand up.

Just be honest.

My hand is up.

I have felt guilty from time to time because I'm go ahead, put it up high.

Put it up high.

Listen, many of us have been there.

When I moved out to Scottsdale, people would ask, you know, when I left here, hey, do you know a lot of people since you went to college out there?

Do you know a lot of people that will help you build the church?

Here's the answer: I know more people that are the reason I'm going to build the church than people who can help me build the church.

It's 20 to 1.

When I go to my children's games, I'm surrounded by lost people.

And I started to get a little scared that as people were finding out what I did for a living, that they were judging me because I was surrounded by lost people.

But listen, Jesus slapped my hand, told me to get over it, and said, Preston, as long as there are sick people going to hell, get over what everyone else thinks.

Listen.

Matthew filled the lobby with sick people.

There are too many people sickened by diseases that should never touch them.

Spiritually speaking, listen to me.

We know the best doctor of all time.

I hope every game I I visit and stand on the sideline, I hope that it looks like the lobby of a hospital.

Listen to me very, very carefully, and this is a strong statement.

If all of the people I love love Jesus, I don't love enough people Let me say it again.

If all of the people I love love Jesus, I don't love enough people.

And I don't understand the love of Christ.

I imagine Matthew going to Jesus and he's so excited he can hardly contain it and he says, Jesus, I got this great idea.

I was messed up, Jesus.

Yes, Matthew, you were messed up.

The message translation, Jesus probably would have said, Matthew, you were jacked up.

Jesus, I was messed up, but but I know this is gonna surprise you, but I have some friends who are even more messed up than I was.

And Jesus, I've sat with them in a drunken stupor because they were going through a divorce.

I've sat with them when they had stolen from their workplace.

I sat with them in the midst of an affair.

Jesus, these people are messed up, but I've got a great idea.

What would you say, Jesus, if I threw a party?

I don't know if you know this, but Jesus liked a party.

Here's how you know he was the life of the party.

Jesus, what if I throw a party at my house?

And I invite you as the guest of honor.

Well, that sounds great, Matthew.

And I'll bring the disciples too, you know, even though I don't like all of them.

But Jesus, what about this?

What if I invite all of my messed up friends?

Would you sit down with all of my messed up friends?

Because Jesus, here's all I want.

I just want them to look into your eyes.

Imagine Jesus.

He might have even quoted Luke 19, Matthew, welcome to the club.

I came to seek and save the lost.

Throw the party, son.

And Matthew did.

He threw the party.

That brings us to the last part of his strategy.

He led them to more than a decision.

When I was growing up, I grew up in a denomination that was very evangelistic.

And I love evangelism, obviously.

I mean, I've given my life to the gospel and the cause of Christ.

But as I was growing up, this denomination taught me that evangelism is all about the decision.

When we evangelize, get people to the decision.

Get them to the decision.

Here's what I've learned as I've grown up: evangelism is not about a decision, it's about a savior.

Yes, we make a decision to follow Christ.

But listen to me, if we focus too much on the decision, it's the equivalent of saying, the key to marriage is a good wedding.

Ladies, how would that be for you?

If your husband just said, I am going to be the best husband ever, and you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna give you the best wedding ever, and then I'm gonna check out for the rest of our marriage.

We can't focus so much on the decision that we remove the relational component.

Listen, Matthew knew if I can just get them to the table across from Jesus, a decision is inevitable.

But see, I grew up and they they taught me.

The first time I witnessed to someone, I went to a park, they were teaching us how to do cold turkey evangelism.

I don't even know why we called it that.

Well, you just walk up to people and you talk to them about Jesus.

So I was in the ninth grade and I was an extremely overconfident ninth grader, and so I attacked the oldest couple I could find.

I went right up to him and I said, Excuse me, can I speak with you for a moment?

Sure.

Would it be alright if I talked to you about Jesus for a minute?

Okay.

And I started going down the road, and here's what I did.

I watered it down.

I watered it down, and as he asked me questions, now, if I give my life to Jesus, can I still do some of these things?

And I said, and I would say things like, Well, uh, you know, I think it's okay, and you know, it was not okay.

I was watering it down, here's why.

All I wanted him to do was make a decision, and I wanted to make it as easy as possible.

So I get to the end of my spiel, answering the guy's questions horrifically, and the man says, Can I say something to you?

I said, Sure.

You want to make a decision?

No?

I've already made a decision.

I'm the senior pastor of the church right down the street.

And he said, Can I give you a piece of advice?

You need to meet Jesus before you try and introduce someone to him.

Yes, sir.

I'm sorry, sir.

But here was the problem.

All I was focused on was a decision.

Listen to me carefully.

Yes, Jesus wants a decision.

You know what he wants the decision to be?

That you'll hold his hand for the rest of your life and for all eternity.

Not just say yes and give him your heart in a moment at an altar at some point in your life.

Matthew led them to more than a decision.

Now I want you to see something because you need to understand that God's heart is to reach the people around you that don't know him.

And I want to say something kind of strong.

Because if your lobby isn't full of sick people, that's a problem.

Let me say it like this.

If all of the people I love love Jesus, I don't love enough people.

If all the people I love love Jesus, I don't love enough people.

And I don't understand the love of Christ.

2 Corinthians chapter 5, if you turn there, we'll end with that.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

I want you to see, we talked about Matthew's strategy for reaching the lost.

I want you to see God's strategy.

2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 18.

2 Corinthians 5:18

And all of this is a gift from God who brought us back to himself through Christ.

And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.

For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them.

And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

So we are Christ's ambassadors.

God is making his appeal through us.

We speak for Christ when we plead.

Come back to God.

God wants to reach the world, and he wants to do it through us.

At the end of this party, imagine Jesus leaving Matthew's house, and throngs of people are standing outside the door waiting for Jesus to come out.

And as Jesus comes out, he heads towards his next destination, and many of these people follow Jesus, but some of them hang around Matthew's house because they want to talk to people who have a firsthand account of sitting at the table with Jesus.

And Matthew's friends walk out the door.

They say something like this.

What was it like?

What was it like?

I mean, that's my dream come true.

You got to sit at the table with Jesus.

I'd give anything just to have dinner with them one time.

What was it like?

Better yet, how in the world did you get to meet Jesus?

And I imagine Matthew's friends all kind of looking at each other, thinking the exact same thing.

And they respond saying, This.

Matthew introduced us.

I imagine heaven to be a little bit like that.

I wonder if there will be a day in heaven where we're all standing around and there's some excited people, even more excited than we are, walking around going, How'd you get here?

Isn't this awesome?

How in the world did you get here?

Here's what I hope more than a few say.

I got here because of Jesus.

But I met Jesus because of you.

Matthew's story was full of loving on the lost and leading them to Jesus.

Here's my question.

Will your story be full of that too?

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

And in a moment, we're going to go back into worship.

And when we do, I'm going to have you stand.

And when we stand, there are going to be some people who come forward to this altar.

And if you're here today and you've never met Jesus before, I want you to know you've met him today.

Anytime we come into the presence of Jesus, we get to meet him.

You saw Jesus today.

And if you want to do more than just meet Jesus, if you want to do more than just see Jesus, if you want to get up and follow Jesus.

When everybody else stands up after I'm done praying, I'm going to ask you to leave your seat and come forward and pray with someone here.

I want you to follow Jesus all the way down to this altar.

I want you to give your life to Him.

Maybe there's some of you that would say, I have a little bit too much Pharisee in me related to reaching the lost.

I need to wash that out.

I'm going to ask you to come forward and leave that mess here at this altar.

And maybe some of you are like me, and you have some people in your life that you've been leading to Jesus for 15, 30, 50 years.

And they've never made the decision to follow him.

And during the message, you felt you needed to stand in the gap for that person, just like Matthew did.

I'm going to ask you to leave your seat.

Come forward and lift that person or those people up in prayer.

So after I pray, don't hesitate.

And if you need ministry for anything at all, we'd love to pray for you.

Holy Spirit, I ask you, give every person here who needs ministry, give every person who needs to come forward for prayer the boldness and the courage to do so.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.