Jesus and Our Reputations | Jesus The Redeemer | Pastor Zach Weihrauch

Luke 527 through 32.

After this, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi

sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, follow me.

And leaving everything, he arose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house.

And there was a large company

of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying,

why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

And Jesus answered them, those who are well have no need of a physician,

but those who are sick.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

One of the most hurtful things you can experience in life

is when people say things about you that aren't true.

Know when they

talk about things that you did, only you didn't.

Things you said that you didn't say, things

they're telling other people you thought or felt that you never thought or felt.

That's an incredibly painful experience, in part

because it's hurtful that anyone would do that, would tell things about you

that aren't true.

It's also hurtful that people would listen and not defend you, that

they would believe those things, that that's its own kind of damage.

The Bible talks about that a lot is called gossip and slander.

And, one day a sermon on that will be super helpful to all of us, I'm sure.

But that is not this sermon.

This sermon is actually about the times people talk about you.

And they're right.

It's about the things

people talk about that you did actually do, that.

You did actually say that you do think that you do feel.

This is about the kind of pain

that you experience, not from rumor, but from reputation.

Reputation that's deserved, that's earned.

It's about the guilt and shame

that can often accompany feeling like everyone is mad at you,

or everyone has rejected you, that you're alone because you deserve it,

that your family is broken and you're the one to blame.

It's about reputation, but it's about more than that.

Because this spring we're spending time talking about Jesus as Redeemer.

Jesus is the one who sets us free.

And so this sermon is really about exploring whether or not Jesus can set us

free from reputation, set us free from guilt and shame that we deserve.

To answer that question, we're going to be looking at a passage

in Luke chapter five.

So if you have a Bible, would you take it out and open it to Luke chapter five?

Use your phone, your tablet, however you want to get there.

And hey, if you're here and you didn't bring a Bible

or maybe aren't super familiar with the Bible,

we do have Bibles available to you in the pew in front of you

here in the West service in the east, service in the back of the room.

And in those Bibles, I can tell you today's reading is on page 809.

Of course, the words will be on the screen behind me if you want to follow along.

That way.

Also, hopefully when you walked into either venue you got this card.

And on this side is my outline.

If you want to take notes or just have reference

for what I'm talking about, three points. Very simple.

I want to talk about reputation and me

reputation and God reputation

and them reputation and me reputation and God reputation.

And then I'll start with the first one.

Reputation and me.

This is how our passage begins this weekend.

It says this after this he he

there as Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi

sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, follow me.

And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

I've been thinking about this a lot this week, getting ready

for this sermon, because I've been asking what?

What kind of a man leaves his job,

quits his job, leaves everything just because another guy said, follow me.

Like God.

Like, what was that conversation like when Levi went home

and told his wife, hey, I quit my job today.

What happened?

Well, a guy showed up and said, follow me.

And that seemed like a good idea.

It feels like that would be a tough conversation.

Why would you leave everything to go follow a random guy?

I think there are only two possible answers to that question.

The first is that you found something so beautiful,

so powerful, so compelling that it's worth leaving behind.

Whatever you had.

Like, for example, if I told you it doesn't matter how much you love your

job, if I told you the church was hiring and the job paid $1 million a year.

Now, just full disclosure, no one makes that here.

Okay?

But if I told you that job paid $1 million, you would quit your current job.

And when they said how?

How can you leave? I thought you liked it here.

You would say, it's not about here, it's about what I'm going to.

And they would say, what is the job?

And you say, I have no idea, but it pays $1 million a year.

So I'm moving into that.

It's possible to read Levi is leaving everything behind because he's found

Jesus to be so powerful, so compelling, so beautiful that he's worth it.

And Jesus is those things. But not yet.

I mean,

this is Luke chapter five, not Luke chapter 25.

Not a lot has happened so far in the story.

In fact, Jesus launches his public ministry in Luke chapter four.

So at this point when Jesus says, follow me,

the ministry of Jesus is 57 verses old, 57 verses.

Okay, there is not enough that has happened

that would cause a man to leave everything out.

Levi might have heard some stories about Jesus, but people are always talking.

It's not like he was following Jesus on Instagram

and it was aware of everything that had been happening,

so I don't think he leaves everything because of Jesus.

Not fully.

So the second reason you would leave everything is if you were growing

increasingly convinced that your presence date wasn't good enough,

if your

dissatisfaction was getting high enough that anything that came along

was better than what you currently had,

I think that's where Levi was.

Levi was a tax collector.

What that means is that when the Roman Empire would subjugate a group of people,

one of the main reasons they would do that is for revenue, for tax revenue.

So they needed to collect taxes.

And what they decided was it was better to hire indigenous leaders to do that.

Right.

There's a lot of reasons for that.

Language, culture, customs. Right.

So they would hire Jewish people to collect taxes from other Jewish people.

Another reason you would do that is because the indigenous

leaders, Jewish people knew who had the money.

So maybe you could convince the Romans, hey, it just hasn't been a good year.

Sorry, I'd love to give more, I just can't.

But the local Jewish guy, the guy you grew up with,

he would be like, no, I see what you're driving.

Come on, come on, you've got more.

So they would hire these guys and these guys were hated for obvious reasons.

They were seen as traitors.

They were seeing as taking advantage of a terrible situation,

making it a good opportunity for themselves.

They would often collect more taxes than were owed

because they would pocket the difference and you could get mad about it.

But everywhere they went, they had Roman soldiers behind them.

So you had to pay it.

They were thieves.

They were basically mafioso.

I mean, I just want you to imagine that guy in high school that nobody liked,

okay?

And I want you to imagine he shows up at your house and says, I need money.

And he had soldiers behind him.

That's how you would feel about Levi.

And I imagine that Levi knew that.

Right?

That that people made comments to him about.

I bet people talk to his wife when she was at the store or his parents.

What kind of son did you raise that he would do that?

And then the only way Levi got up in the morning and went to work

is because he had convinced himself they were wrong and he was right.

No, I don't need the Bible for this.

I do this all the time.

When someone criticizes me.

My first reaction, either externally or internally, is to justify is to defend.

I imagine Levi went to work and said, look,

if it wasn't me collecting taxes, it would be somebody else.

I mean, people gotta pay taxes and hey, don't I deserve a little extra?

I mean, all the the bitterness and ridicule

I have to deal with, I mean, people have no idea.

I work hard, I deserve it, he justified.

But slowly and surely that wasn't working for him anymore.

So that this morning when Jesus shows up and says, hey, follow

me, Levi is ready for change because Levi has moved

from excuses to ownership.

See, the first thing this passage teaches us

is that the first step towards an actual encounter with God, the first step towards

being set free from your reputation is to stop blaming

other people and to start taking ownership for yourself.

I don't mean that other people haven't been wrong.

I don't mean that other people haven't done

and said things they shouldn't have done and shouldn't have said. But.

But what this passage is telling us is if you really want to meet God,

if you really want to be set free from your guilt and your shame,

you got to stop focusing on their 20%

and start focusing on your 80%

that Levi is ready to meet God

because Levi is tired of himself.

Are you there yet?

Are you ready to admit that

the reason you're alone is because of things you've done and said?

The reason your family is broken is because of,

at least in part, the things you've done and said.

Do you recognize your addiction and the way it's hurting people around you?

Do you see your marriage crumbling as the fruit of your choices?

Listen, I know that's hard.

I know how easy it is to make excuses and defend.

But if you do that, that's what this passage is telling us.

You will miss God.

The first step towards God is

a step away from yourself, a step of ownership.

But I want you to see that if you will deal with your release your reputation

in that way, then second point here's how God deals with your relationship.

Now, we tend to think that if we take ownership of our sin,

if we acknowledge the things we've done, the things we've said, if we're honest

about our guilt and our shame, it will cause people to push away from us.

That's why we defend ourselves.

We're we're vulnerable. We're insecure.

We think if we own it, they'll reject us.

And and maybe they will, but we'll. God.

It's interesting.

I'll give you an example.

Post-Covid, I think we've gotten much better at what I call sick etiquette.

And here's what I mean.

A part of my job is meeting people for coffee and lunch, which I love to do.

And every now and then in this winter, which has been awful for sickness,

I'll get a text from someone and they'll go, hey,

I was looking forward to meeting today, but I'm feeling under the weather

and I don't want to get you sick, so let's reschedule.

I think that's very nice.

I mean, I have five kids, so I've probably already had it.

Okay, but I still. You're thinking of me.

I think that is very nice. We've gotten a lot better at that.

But you would never do that to your doctor, would you?

Would you ever

text your doctor and be like, hey, listen, I know we had a 10:00,

but I'm feeling a little under the weather and I wouldn't want to get you sick.

I imagine your doctor would shoot you a text back where she would say,

I'm not really sure you know what I do.

Which is why it's interesting.

We're going to skip a few verses. We'll come back to him.

When Jesus gets criticized for calling Levi to follow him.

This is what he says the very end of our passage.

He says this.

And Jesus answered them, those who are

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

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

You see, you and I think that if we take ownership of our sin,

if we are honest about our mistakes, that maybe, just maybe,

God would push back from us,

that he wouldn't

welcome us, that he wouldn't love us, that he wouldn't want anything to do with us.

To which Jesus texts back and says,

I don't think you understand what I do.

Jesus calls himself a doctor for the sick.

He says he came for sinners, not the righteous.

For those who are ready to own their guilt.

He says that's his target demographic.

Jesus.

His message to Levi in the midst of his reputation

is follow me.

That begs the question, though, doesn't it?

Where are they going?

Where is Jesus taking Levi?

Where will he take you if you are ready?

Well, I think the answer to that is three places

you got to read the rest of the gospel.

But I'll give you some spoilers.

Three places that Jesus is going to take Levi.

Three places he'll take you if you are ready.

The first is he's going to take Levi to the cross.

That's where Jesus's life is headed.

He's going to go to the cross and and as he takes Levi to the cross,

I imagine on the way there, Levi is going to be saying things like,

Jesus, are you sure?

Are you sure you want me?

Are you sure you love me?

Are you sure there's a place for me and what you're doing?

I mean, do you know what I've done?

Do you know what I've said?

Do you know the excuses I've made, the lies that I've told?

And Jesus is saying to Levi, yeah, that's why we're going here.

The Bible says that on the cross God made him who knew

no sin to become sin.

In order that we might become the righteousness of God.

You see on the cross, Jesus,

the Son of God, goes to the cross, and he becomes for Levi.

He becomes the traitor.

He becomes the liar.

He becomes the extortionist.

He becomes the thief.

He becomes the mafioso.

He becomes the guy who rationalizes and justifies.

And he comes up under the anger and wrath and judgment of God,

and it's poured out onto Jesus, God the Father, pouring it out

unto God the Son as part of their divine and loving plan to rescue sinners

so that Jesus's dying words are it is finished.

Meaning, Levi, your guilt, your shame has been dealt with.

You see, if you own your sin, God won't tell you not to worry about it.

Just forget it.

Let's move past it.

That wouldn't help you, would it?

You know it's too big for that.

It's too dirty for that.

You can't sweep it under the rug.

You would still wonder if you're really loved if you did that.

So Jesus Christ goes to the cross and he becomes your addiction,

your infidelity,

your bankruptcy,

your lies, your anger, your pride.

And he deals with your guilt and shame

by taking the punishment.

The second place, Jesus will take Levi, is not just to the cross,

but to his empty tomb.

You see, Jesus dies and three days later he rises from the dead.

And that's meaningful because it shows that God has accept did Jesus's

sacrifice for Levi, but it also shows this which you and I need to hear,

which is that God can do anything.

We don't just need our guilt and shame dealt with.

We need to believe that God can change us.

And the resurrection is God saying, well, which is harder to get you sober

or to raise the dead?

To put your marriage back together, or to raise the dead,

to fix your anger or to raise the dead.

You get the point.

You see, Jesus says to Levi, follow me.

Not just because he wants to forgive him, not just because he wants to cleanse him,

but because he has a better future for a Levi.

And the third place Jesus will lead Levi in you.

It's not just to the cross, not just to the empty tomb,

but Jesus will ascend into heaven and sit on the throne of God.

Be given the keys to heaven.

Jesus will say to Levi, I'm a king.

I have a kingdom, and there's a role for you in it.

You might imagine that Jesus, even if he includes Levi, might tell Levi,

listen, I'm a have a pretty public ministry,

so if you wouldn't mind, stand in the back,

blend in.

I mean, you're welcome, Levi, but

but I don't want any controversy.

But actually, Levi goes on to become one of the 12 apostles.

You see, God doesn't just want to forgive you.

He doesn't just want to change you.

God has meaning and purpose for you in his kingdom.

You have bought into the idea

that because of your reputation, your meaning and purpose is over.

But if you will surrender to Jesus, God says, we're only getting started.

The most meaningful years of Levi's life

were ahead of him, not behind him, not because of him, but because of Jesus.

If you're ready to say I am broken, I am sinful, I am guilty.

What they say about me, at least most of it is true.

If you're ready to stop looking at what they get wrong

and to start looking at what they get right,

if you'll take that to Jesus, Jesus says, we'll go to the cross.

I'll pay for it.

We'll go to the tomb.

I'll change it. We'll go to the throne.

I'll give you something better to do.

Are you ready?

Listen to this church.

We don't push for decisions because everybody has their own journey,

their own pace, their own story.

But that doesn't mean every now and then it isn't worth looking at you and saying,

why wouldn't you go to Jesus today?

But if you're open to that, let me warn you.

That's my third point reputation.

And then I wish I could tell you that if you are ready to give Jesus your life

to let Jesus deal with your reputation, then everybody would welcome that.

But this passage tells us that isn't true.

Let's go back to the verse as we skip this is what they say.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house.

And there was a large company of tax collectors and others

reclining at table with them.

And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying,

why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

This passage tells us, if you let Jesus change your life,

some people will love it and some people will hate it.

The ones who love it will be

those like you who know they need change.

Those who like you know they need forgiveness.

No, they need meaning and purpose.

They will be drawn to you.

They will want to know who did you meet?

What do you know what is changed?

How can I meet him?

How can I know it? How can I change?

Levi throws a party and everyone like him comes

because they have the same guilt that he had.

I'm telling you, this is one way that God will give you meaning and purpose.

Is that what if?

Not only does God want to forgive you and change you and give you meaning,

but what if he wants to use you to bring that into your entire family?

You have no idea what he can do,

but some people will hate it.

And I have to tell you, the biggest sucker punch of all of this is that

the people who hate it will be the ones you thought you could count on loving it.

It will be religious people.

What's the story?

Religious people hate it. Do you know why?

Because of one of the most common human ways of not owning

your sin is to be religious.

The thinking goes like this if I, I won't ever have to actually deal

with my stuff if I do enough good things to drown it out.

It's like when your house stinks and you spray orange

air freshener you think you've covered at the rest of us.

No, it just smells like orange bad stuff.

My right.

I'm right.

Religious people will hate the change in you.

They'll hate the freedom in you.

They will hate the new conscience.

The clean conscience.

They will hate the idea that God can use you because you are challenging them.

You're saying, what if God isn't looking for the good?

What if God is looking for the guilty?

And for them?

That will mean starting all over and they will hate it.

Listen, I want to tell you something that isn't about you.

It's about them.

It isn't about you.

It's about them.

You keep moving.

The religious crowd hated Jesus, so count it

joy when they include you with him.

But church family, you must know that.

That's the point of this story for us, isn't it?

How will we respond to Levi's

when God brings people into this church whose reputation we know,

people in our family and our network, people whose

reputation includes things they've done to us.

When God forgives them, when God changes them,

when God cleanses them, we respond with joy.

I think this

passage is telling us that the best indicator of how you really view your own

sin is how you respond to the redemption

of others.

Because you see,

if Jesus is our leader and I think we would say that, right?

I mean, my job title is lead pastor, but if somebody said

who's in charge of KCC, I would say Jesus.

But if Jesus is a doctor,

then what does that make this place?

A hospital,

a place for Levi's?

Listen, that's what every Minute Matters is about.

That's what the way we do Ministry is about.

God bring more and more Levi's.

Are you in with that?

Do you have your scrubs on?

I mean, that's why we give.

That's why we serve.

That's why we we do the things we do so that God might change.

More people rescue more families.

Are you in with that?

I'll give you one practical way.

I mean, we're at capacity last week

and I said 700 seats across four services.

We are at capacity in a hospital.

Here's what that means.

You will say to me, Zack, where do you have the most seats in a service?

And you'll go to that one.

You'll sit as

close to the front as you possibly can.

You'll make sure there's if there's there is room on your row, it's on the end.

And you will say to God, put a Levi in that seat.

Last week I was helping someone find their seat at 1130.

I had to walk them all the way down

to the front and sit next to Joe, and my heart broke because I saw it.

And I do this too, because I do it too. I'm not judging you.

We're all the same.

I do this too.

I thought none of us have thought about this family.

When I stopped them, they said, it's okay, we'll stand in the back.

It's not about me.

It's not about you.

This place is a hospital for the sick.

Because that's who Jesus is.

Let me pray for us.

Father God, thank you so much for the story of Levi, the tax collector.

I know there are people here right now who came in thinking

you could not possibly love them.

You could not possibly forgive them that the truest thing about them

was their reputation.

God made the truth of the resurrection drown out the truth of our reputations.

This morning,

in the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.