Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Keeps People From Following Jesus | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 5.27-32

Episode Date: March 2, 2020

"And so Jesus has come for all people, to call all people to repent and to believe in him, but only some people hear that as good news because only some people know that they are broken, that they are sinners. Some people are offended by Jesus." Have you ever tried to help someone who doesn't think they need help? They get mad at you! Instead of thanking you for the assistance, they get upset with you for "interfering." The Gospel is supposed the be the https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/how-the-gospel-preached-treason-learning-to-follow-jesus-luke-4-43/ (Good News of Jesus Christ), but it can also seem deeply offensive. Telling someone they're sinful and need a savior can come across as pretty judgmental and presumptuous. Learn how Jesus calls his followers from https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/keith-simon/ (Keith) as he reads through https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+5%3A27-32&version=ESV (Luke 5.27-32) to continue our series on https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcast-series/how-to-follow-jesus/ (Learning to Follow Jesus). Interested in more content like this? Check out our Resources and Related episodes at the bottom. To learn how to share your faith at work, read https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/stories/how-to-talk-about-your-faith-at-work-an-interview-with-patrick-cox-of-veterans-united/?hsCtaTracking=97e0a638-7cce-4d24-821e-f9167b3d9805%7Cb7bd52dd-d007-49c1-a8a6-2fb7646aca31 (this interview) with Patrick Cox, an executive at Veterans United. To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TheCrossingCOMO (Facebook), https://www.facebook.com/TheCrossingCOMO (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO.  Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're learning how to follow Jesus by working our way through the Gospel of Luke. What keeps people from following Jesus? There might be a few ways you answer that question. You might say that for some people, it's intellectual objections that keep them from being a Christian. For other people, it might be that they're just kind of ignorant.

meaning that they haven't ever really been exposed to Christianity? For others, it might be a bad experience with a family member or a church that makes them resistant. Some people you might say have some sin that they don't want to give up, and that keeps them from following Jesus. I want to add something to that list of possible answers to that question, one that might surprise you. We'll get back to that in just a few minutes. Let's start. though in Luke chapter 5 verse 27, we're going to read about how Jesus calls a tax collector to be one of his disciples. Now, I don't want you to get confused. In this story, the tax collector's name is Levi. We know from other texts in the Gospels that this Levi is the same person that is named Matthew,

the tax collector. So just like Simon Peter has two names, so it seems that Levy's, Levi, Matthew has two names. So Luke chapter 5, verse 27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Now, you've probably heard in the past that tax collectors were hated people. Let me take a second just to explain why. A tax collector bought rights to a certain area. So think of it as a franchise. The tax collector would buy from Rome the right to tax. people in a particular city. And for that right, the tax collector would pay to Rome an annual fee. Now, whatever the tax collector could raise above the fee that he paid Rome, well, that was his salary. That's what he got to keep and to put in his own pocket. And so that was a system that was set up to ensure dishonesty, right? Because I can crack down and charge you whatever I want, and I have every incentive to charge you more than I should so that I can keep the money. Combine with that, that the record keeping was fairly poor by our standards,

and that the communication was difficult, and it made it almost impossible for an average citizen to really challenge or appeal a tax collector's decision. For example of how dishonest this could be, a tax collector could stop a traveler and make that person unpack all their luggage and then tax them based on their belongings. And if the traveler didn't have money to pay, the tax collector would be happy to lend them money at an exorbitant interest rates. So you can see why tax collectors were hated people. Now, Levi isn't just a tax collector. He is a Jewish tax collector. So it's one thing to be a tax collector and to be working for Rome and to be a Gentile.

But to be a tax collector working for Rome and be Jewish? Well, a lot of people thought that those Jewish tax collectors were working for the oppressor, working for the man. They thought of them as traitors. And that's why tax collectors are grouped with people like robbers and evildoers and adulterers and prostitutes and pagans. Did you know a tax collector couldn't testify in court because they weren't thought to be honest? And as soon as a Jew became a tax collector, they were excommunicated from the synagogue. So now Jesus walks up to Levi, the Jewish tax collector, and says, follow me.

And Levi, it says, God up, left everything and followed him. To everyone's surprise, and to a lot of people's dismay, Jesus called Levi the tax collector to follow him, and that tells us something right there, doesn't it? Doesn't it tell us that there is no sin so great that Jesus can't forgive it? And doesn't it tell us that no one is past the love and grace of God if they will only turn from their sin and follow him? Doesn't it tell us also that Jesus cares about those people that the rest of society is against or hates or marginalizes. Jesus could have chosen anyone for his disciples, but he intentionally went up to this tax collector and called him. What he's telling us here is that you can't go into your neighborhood or your office or your school and think, well, who might be

interested in following Jesus? Who might be ready to become a Christian? Who is someone that I could invite to church that's really close to becoming a Christ's follower. I think that's how we think. We try to observe people and based on really superficial issues decide who may or may not be interested in following Jesus. But I promise you that no one in Levi's day would have said that he was likely to be a Jesus follower. And yet Jesus went up to him and called him to be his disciple. and Levi left everything and followed Jesus. Now, when he left everything, this is a decisive break with his past. It was a substantial sacrifice for Levi to leave all of his wealth behind.

And he couldn't go back to his job. Like the fishermen that Jesus called, they could go back to fishing if this didn't work out. but because Levi was a tax collector, there was no going back. I think one thing that's really cool here is that Jesus had a vision for Levi's life. He saw Levi as a tax collector today, but as a follower of Jesus tomorrow, as a leader in the church. He didn't just see Levi where he was at the moment, but where through the transforming power of God, where he could end up. Levi ended up being a leader in God's Church.

He was one of the first disciples and the first apostles of the church. He wrote a gospel, the gospel called Matthew. Who would have thought that Levi the tax collector would be the author of one of the four gospels? Be careful. Be careful not to pay. pigeonhole people and to see them only as they are today. If Jesus had done that, he probably would have walked right past Levi and never called him. But Jesus saw where Levi could end up through God's power.

So Levi was extremely excited about following Jesus, and he has this big party for Jesus at his house, and he invites all of his friends. So we know that lots of tax collectors were there along with other people. maybe it was a goodbye party, him saying goodbye to his friends as he left that way of life and started following Jesus. We know that Jesus was the guest of honor, and we know that he invited his friends so that they could meet Jesus. Isn't that interesting to think about? Levi the tax collector was now a Jesus follower, and his first reaction is to want to have his friends to hear about Jesus. He wants them to meet Jesus so that they might end up following Jesus too. Who are some friends in your life that

you would like to talk to about Jesus? People that you care about, people that you work with, people in your family. Well, you know things couldn't keep going so well, and in the next verse, we're told that some Pharisees and teachers of the law started to complain to Jesus' disciples. They said, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? See, they're upset about the kind of people that Jesus is eating with. They evidently had missed the point that God's heart was for sinners. But it also indicates that that's not how they saw themselves. They didn't think they were sinners like the Gentiles.

They didn't think they were sinners like this Jewish tax collector, the one who sold out to Rome. They didn't think they were sinners like other people. And then here's the payoff verse. Verse 31. Jesus answered them. So he's answering to the Pharisees. He's answering the teachers of the law who are complaining that he's eating with sinners and tax collectors. He answers them and says, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now what's Jesus saying there? Is he saying that some people are healthy and he didn't come for them? Because they don't need a doctor? Is he saying that some people are righteous? And, well, he didn't really come for them because they don't need a Savior. No, that's not what he's saying.

He's saying that some people grasp how sick they really are and some people think they're healthy. Some people grasp their sin, but some people are under this illusion that they are righteous. See, everybody is sick. Everybody is sick with sin. And so Jesus has come for all people to call all people to repent and believe in him. But only some people hear that as good news because only some people know that they are broken, that they are sinners. Some people are offended by Jesus. They're offended that he ate with tax collectors.

They are offended that he would think that they are broken. they don't think they're broken? And that leads us back to where we started. Remember we were making a list of why people don't follow Jesus, and we said for some it's intellectual, for some, it is maybe a bad experience for others, maybe it's a sin that they don't want to give up. But here's an unexpected reason that people don't follow Jesus.

Their goodness. Their goodness. And by that, I mean their perceived goodness. They think they are good, and so they don't need a savior. Sometimes it's our goodness that gets in our way, more than our badness. Because when we see our sin, we know that we need someone to pay for that sin. But when we think we are good, when we refuse the label of broken, well, that causes us to miss out on Jesus. Because he came for the sick.

He came for the broken. He came for the sinner. Admit your sin. Admit your need for Jesus. Amen. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating.

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