About this sermon
Jesus called Levi the tax collector, who left everything to follow him and held a great feast where tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus. When the Pharisees grumbled, Jesus answered that the healthy have no need of a physician, and that he came to call sinners to repentance. Christ graciously invites sinners, gave himself as the bridegroom taken away for them, and transforms them, and those who have received his grace extend the same invitation to others.
Sermon transcript
We’re turning to loose gospel this afternoon, Luke chapter 5 in particular, but one of the challenges of preaching occasionally is that I’m an expository preacher. That means that very few sermons stand alone, and actually I think it helps preachers to be kept honest, where you have to preach through Bible books, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, so that you have to preach the whole counsel of God, You don’t get to preach the things you like to preach and leave aside the things you don’t, and all those other sorts of things. So the challenge in preaching from Luke chapter 5 this afternoon is there’s a much larger context. And so let me set up Luke chapter 5, the particular passage we’re going to look at this afternoon in this way.
That, you know, as we read the Gospels, yes, study the Scriptures, you know that Three of the Gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels, and they trace pretty much in a chronological order the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John is different in that way. But what we don’t often take into account is that on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, The Gospel writers don’t write everything that happened. This is not history. They’re selective in certain passages. Because they’re trying to build a bigger, broader picture that you only get when you read the entire Gospel as a whole. If we preached on the entire Gospel of Luke, we would be here a long, long time. And I would wear out your patience, and my voice would probably wear out as well.
But in this particular, Luke has He’s painting a picture. And the picture that Luke particularly paints is that Jesus is one who’s come for the powerless. That Jesus didn’t come for the important, although he was certainly important, Jesus didn’t primarily come for those who were the who’s who of the world. Whereas Luke’s gospel begins with the accounts which we just celebrate at Christmas time. Very ordinary people. the poor, the outcast, those sorts of things. And so that’s the framework of Luke’s gospel, that this one, named Jesus the Christ, the God of heaven, has come to meet and to get up close and personal to ordinary people like you and me. And so up until this point, what Luke has presented so far is that You know, if we’ve been following Luke in this journey, it’s Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee.
And we’ve been able to walk, as it were, with Jesus as he’s preached to the crowds, and they’ve heard him preach with authority. They’ve never heard anyone preach like him before. We’ve seen, if you’re witnessing to what Luke is talking about in the earlier chapters up to this point, you’re seeing Jesus minister and heal, bring physical and spiritual healing people, and even acknowledge and grant the forgiveness of sins which obviously has some people which we’re going to find that but even today the Pharisees a little concerned about who this Jesus is and we’ve also begin to see that Jesus in his encounter with people has the ability It’s not, we would, it’s more than emotional intelligence, which is one of those buzzwords in our culture right now, of being able to think, now, why are people, you know, what are they feeling and why are they acting the way? Jesus had the ability to discern the unspoken thoughts and the interactions and the intentions of the human heart. And so in his address to people, he addresses them knowing more about themselves than they themselves know. Jesus’ message is good news for the powerless, those unable to change themselves or even their circumstances.
So with that introduction, let’s look there at Luke chapter 5. We’re going to look at actually verses 27 to 39. Look at the whole passage here. Hear God’s word. After this, this is the healing of the paralytic. 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. And Levi made him a great feast in his house. And there were a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with him.
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 Paul the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. But yours eat and drink. And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and they will fast in those days. He also told them a parable.
No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wine skins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, the old is good.
So what’s Luke doing in this particular passage? It suggests to us that Luke is presenting a picture of Christ as Christ as the bridegroom. The very one who is the embodiment of the grace of God. What a wonderful picture it is of Jesus and this picture of describing God’s relationship with us as His people. So this afternoon as we look at, and as we consider it, who Jesus is, as Luke reveals Him in his Gospel, we want to note three things. First of all, Christ’s gracious invitation to sinners. Secondly, His gracious sacrifice for sinners. And thirdly, his gracious transformation of sinners. We see this particularly in his encounter with one man named Levi, who we also have come to know as Matthew. So first consider their Christ’s gracious invitation of sinners in verses 27 to 32.
Let me ask you this question. Have you ever felt left out? Never felt that maybe you were in some way despised by other people, looked down upon, that somehow you just didn’t fit in their social circle. You were made to feel that you were an outsider.
Well, consider Levi. Levi was a tax collector. If he were alive today, if this gospel was to be written now, he might be considered a collection agent for the IRS. So imagine someone asks you, well, what do you do? Well, I’m a collection agent for the IRS. That really is going to endear you to a lot of people around you, isn’t it? Or worse yet, or if someone says, OK, well, what do you do? Well, I’m the accountant or I’m a banker for terrorists.
Because the Jewish people thought of the Romans as those who come and oppress them, and they considered them terrorists. Those who were meant to be overthrown. Those who were not the legal or the rightful, maybe legal, including Roman law, but not the rightful occupiers of their land.
And Levi worked for that. In fact, he could demand from his fellow citizens whatever he wanted, pay the Roman what it required, and he kept the rest for himself. But you know, Levi feeling the way that he did, it wasn’t just that he was a, it wasn’t just his occupation. It was also his reputation. Levi was also a notorious sinner. His reputation preceded him. People knew about him and those sorts of things. And he hung out with a questionable group of friends. This was Levi. This was his life.
And notice what Christ does. Christ, with great intentionality on that particular day, After the one healing, he goes where he knows he will pass by the booth of this social outcast named Levi. And what does he invite him to do? He says, follow me. I want you to be part of, I want you to be in this inner circle. I want a relationship with you. I want a friendship with you. And Levi, who was beholden to no one, Probably pretty independently wealthy. Says, okay. Not knowing fully yet who Jesus is. All those sorts of things.
But the fact that Jesus invited him into his circle of friendship. Levi took him up on his offer. Do you see the power of Christ’s amazing grace? Because Christ knew something about Levi that Levi didn’t know about himself. In terms of what his heart was really yearning for. And when Christ comes and calls Levi, we call that effectual calling. We know that God’s grace has been working there and those sorts of things.
Levi was unable to respond to Christ’s call, but Levi leaves everything to follow Jesus. Now, if that were all that was here, that would be an amazing story in and of itself, and a great testimony to who Christ is as the Savior of all mankind, particularly to the powerless. as well as the social aspect, but there’s more. In this account, then, out of gratitude, Levi throws a party for his friends, and he invites Jesus to his party.
Okay? He wanted others to meet the one who, in one single encounter, had understood him, had accepted him, and extended grace to him. And what does Jesus do? He accepts the invitation. In fact, it’s amazing, you know, that Jesus, in a lot of the gospel councils, notice how many times Jesus was invited to parties or to social gatherings. It’s rather remarkable. And Jesus, every time he was invited, accepted that invitation.
In Mideastern culture, the culture of the Mideast, to share a meal was a sign of friendship. In fact, once you’d been in someone’s house, It was sort of socially accepted that you at least acknowledge that person, at least as an acquaintance. You would not do that to an enemy. You would not do that to someone you were having a conflict with. But when you broke bread together, you shared that you made a statement that you were inviting someone into your social circle.
And so when Jesus, it’s not just that Jesus extended grace to Levi. Levi, in inviting Jesus, is saying, I want to invite you into my circle. of earthly friends. And Jesus graciously accepts that. And he sits and he eats with them as a sign of friendship to Levi and his friends.
Now as a Christian and seeking to to be one who understands the gospel and live that out, and none of us do it perfectly. So I don’t say these things in any way to say, oh, look, I’ve arrived. But as a Christian, I’ve tried to make it my practice to graciously accept an invitation that’s given to me by anyone to join them and their friends. And I think back, as I look back at my life, I can think in terms of when I was working, you know, at a grocery store, going through college, and, you know, work late nights.
And there was a whole crew of people that only worked during that period of time. And, you know, they oftentimes, after work, they would go out. Of course, they would go out to drink or to eat or, you know, drink any, in some places, those sorts of things. And they would often invite. And sometimes when, you know, I could not, I had to go back to the dorm. I had to study and all those sorts of things. Well, on some occasions, I went. And they knew I wasn’t going. going to drink the beer, I’d get the coke. But they recognized that I accepted their invitation and it was my attempt to build a bridge with them.
I think of someone that when I worked with AT&T and we commuted for a period of time and you really get to know somebody when you have to commute with them. So I would drive one week And we would listen to things on the radio while we were driving an hour across the Cabin John Bridge. But I wanted to listen to it the following way Jim would drive, and those sorts of things. And his stations and some of the things he listened to were completely different. So he knew I was a Christian, and I knew he wasn’t. But Jim, you know, he just invited me to come over and watch a football game with him. And I went out of my way to make sure that I could do that because of my concern for Jim.
It felt like, you know, God had put us two in these vehicles, and for 14 months we were driving north of Virginia together. I think of another man that I met, actually an African-American man, very broken family, and he was pretty foul-mouthed and those sorts of things, and I was astonished when he invited me to join his family for a get-together over an Easter weekend. And I thought, well, you know, he’ll never go. I mean, I could invite him, and I’ve always been declined on various things, but to go to a service on Easter.
He’s invited me to spend some time with his family and his gathering. And I gladly did. And I was the only Anglo there. I felt honored to be invited into that circle. And I could go on in those sorts of things. And you could go on as well. And I’m going to embarrass my wife in just a second here. One of the things that’s remarkable in terms of Barbara’s life is just the people who got us put across to her path.
And so she and Bella, who works at the same place that Barbara does, She’s a Syrian Muslim. And the questions that Bella has asked, and there’s this friendship developed. You know, God’s invited her into that inner circle, and there’s a relationship that’s built there. So you don’t have to go to Japan in order to minister to international people. God’s present right here. And Barbara’s seeking to be faithful in that.
You know, I say all those things because there are people like that all around us. If we take the time to notice, They’re the ordinary people. There are sometimes the people on the outside, socially. They might even be people that, you know, normally we wouldn’t have any interactions with.
But they’re the people that God has put across our path that we, who have received the grace of God, have the guts to extend that grace to other people. And so if we call ourselves Christians, we have to ask ourselves every once in a while, do we share Christ’s attitude? towards ordinary people who really need God’s friendship. Because you and I, if we understand the doctrines of grace, we know that it wasn’t because of anything we did that we’ve come to faith in Christ, but also that God’s at work. And sometimes God’s at work, and even as He was praying for us in some of the most unusual places, among the most unusual people, we never know what God is doing. But what we do know is that God is very intentional. in terms of people he puts across our path, and people that he intends to draw to himself.
Now, while Jesus is doing all this, of course, there’s Matthew and his friends, and they’re enjoying it, they’re disciples who are marveling at what Jesus is doing, and there’s another group of people that they’re also taking notice of what Jesus is doing, and they’re the Pharisees.
They’re the religious leaders of the day. I could say more about that, and make a comparison to who they might be in our circles. But that being left unsaid, what we know about the Pharisees is that they were outwardly pious. They were self-righteous. They practiced, in their minds, they were so concerned about sanctification, but it was sanctification by isolation.
Somehow it was the people out there and the things that they did that calls them to sin. And so if you stay away from those people, you stay away from those things, well, you’ll stay away from sin. And they didn’t recognize that the sin that stumps most of us and causes most of us to stumble is a sin that first begins on the inside of the human heart. And so they criticize Jesus’ disciples. And by way of implication, they’re criticizing Christ himself. And of course, the disciples hear it and they don’t really know what to say or what to do.
They’re not looking for conflict. After all, it’s a party. Why they were there on the outskirt, I don’t know, because they certainly were not ones who enjoyed what was going on. But nonetheless, they were there. And notice, well, Jesus hears it all. His disciples are being attacked. He’s being indirectly attacked. Notice how Jesus responds. with wisdom, with grace. We read here in terms of how Luke records it, Levi, who becomes Matthew, and we’ll talk about that in just a second. Matthew, in his own gospel account, recalls these words of what Jesus said. He said, it’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means.
I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I’ve not come to call the righteous, but sinners, and as Luke adds, to repentance. Jesus graciously calls out to sinners. Sinners like you and me. The Apostle Paul would say this, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. But for that reason, for that very reason, I was shown mercy. Paul, thinking in terms of the murderer, persecutor of the early church, a Pharisee as well, I was shown mercy, so then meet the worst of sinners.”
Jesus Christ might display His unlimited patience as an example to those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life. Have you responded to Christ’s gracious invitation to you to believe in Him, to turn from your sins, to follow Him, to be part of His inner circle of friends? And when Jesus said to His disciples, We call you servants but friends. So Jesus invites us to be part of that inner circle of friends. And hopefully we’ve responded to that. And if we have responded to it, and we’ve understood the grace that’s come to us, and we’ve allowed Christ to do that work in us by His Spirit, then in turn, Christ is not content just to have a small circle of friends.
Scripture tells us there’s a great multitude that God’s called to Himself of every tribe, nation, and tongue. And so that’s not only what we see here in terms of Christ’s gracious invitation of sinners, but then we see His gracious sacrifice for sinners. We see that particularly in verses 33 and 35.
Notice the Pharisees’ response to all of this. They use it as an opportunity to stir up a controversy. There’s something they really don’t understand, but there clearly is, there’s something they don’t like. And they’re stirring up a controversy. And they ask Jesus a question about why his disciples do not fast and pray the way that John the Baptist’s disciples do and the way that the Pharisees’ disciples do. The essence of their saying is, well, Jesus, you know, the rest of us, this is what we do. Why are you different? Why do you choose to be different? Why are you letting your disciples, you know, associate with this riffraff? Both John and Jesus had preached about sin. They both had preached about salvation. They both preached about a need for repentance and faith and also a need for personal holiness. Yet their practice differed.
In many of John’s disciples, like John himself, they had separated themselves from others as preparation. Preparation for the coming of the Messiah. What John would say is, behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And so there is this one of seeking separation in preparation for what God is coming.
The Pharisees, they looked self-denial, call times to prayer, which are practices not evil in themselves, not at all spiritual practices, and the Pharisees were oppressed. Because of the things that these John’s disciples did, they thought, well, they’re pretty spiritually minded, and this practice they sort of liked because it matched their own outward emphasis on legalistic traditions But you know, it’s interesting, as much as they were impressed with John’s practice, and the disciples of John, their practice, they had rejected John’s message. John had told them that they ought to be the first to come and repent. And they weren’t willing to hear that. They resisted when John preached to them about a genuine need for a change of heart, of repentance, not just on the outside, By way of illustration, I’m going to share this with you, actually an analogy.
And let me ask you this question. What do you think, and I have a little bit of medical background, found some little medical background to ask this question, what do you think causes ulcers in your life? Have you heard it’s stress, maybe it’s coughing, maybe it’s spicy food? Wrong. wrong, wrong, according to Daniel Henley of the Associated Press. For years, that is what doctors thought caused ulcers.
But in the early 1980s, two doctors, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, discovered a bacterium in the lining of the digestive system, which they suspected might be the real cause. The bacterium is called, and I’m sure I’m going to botch this because I don’t know Latin well, Helicobacter pylori, or H. pylori, it’s called. Now, though they had this thought in the 1980s, there was much more research that needed to be done, those sort of things, the proof of their idea was slow in coming, but by the early 1990s, there were over 2,000 articles that appeared in medical journals on the subject of the bacterium, and gastroenterologists agreed with them. Henley writes, it turns out that about half of all U.S. adults are infected with H. pylori.
Most do not get ulcers. But when ulcers do occur, the bug is probably responsible for 80% of them or more. The only major exception is ulcers triggered by aspirin and some other painkillers. But nevertheless, though this was a discovery that was made, and scientific research being done, most people suffering stomach discomfort do not go first to a gastroenterologist to get relief. They go to a family practitioner. or to a general internist. And so news about the real cause of ulcers has been slow to reach those people because that’s not their area of specialty. So instead of prescribing an antibiotic that would cure the problem, many of general practitioners and others prescribe acid-blocking drugs that may heal ulcers temporarily, at least the symptoms, but in time, the ulcers come back. In a similar way, many people seek relief for spiritual or emotional problems. But if a person has a sin problem, no amount of self-help or other technique will completely take away the pain or cure the disease. That antibiotic, in spiritual terms, is repentance. a turning away from self and a turning towards God and putting full trust and confidence in Him. You see, the Pharisees were concerned with the relief of the symptoms and they thought we could manage this disease, these sorts of things, but they didn’t deal with it at the heart.
And Jesus goes for the heart, with wisdom and with grace. If you think about that, this is really what distinguishes Christianity from all the other religions of the world. You’ve probably heard this before, that most other religions of the world, their religious practice is one by which someone can make themselves right, so that then, being a more righteous person, somehow they can have a relationship with God.
And Christianity says, no. God takes the initiative. You and I cannot have a right relationship with God unless God initiates it, His grace extends to us, His friendship and His kindness, and His kindness leads us to repentance. We don’t make ourselves right in order to have a relationship with God. It’s when we have a relationship with God, by faith, He makes us right. Completely different. Our relationship with Christ, then, is one to be of great joy. And celebration, for Christ has come and he saved us from our sin. Christ has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The message of the gospel is good news for the powerless.
And in this picture, where Jesus himself then describes the bridegroom, Christ is the bridegroom and we are the invited guests. and his desire of intimacy with us as his people. And just like a wedding, it’s a time of celebration, for the kingdom of God has come. John the Baptist spoke, behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world. And Jesus came in his public ministry and says, the kingdom of God has come. Repent and believe the good news. And so just as a wedding is a time for celebration, just like a wedding is a time for a commitment. because Christ himself comes and lays down his life for his bride. You see, it was costly for Jesus to interact with Levi. It was costly for Jesus to turn us as his enemies into his friends. He calls Jesus everything. But he did it because of his love for us. Romans puts it this way.
You see, at just the right time, When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely would anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so we gather here this afternoon, grateful for his death, but more importantly, to fully celebrate his resurrection. And because of what Christ has done, accomplished on the cross, and been vindicated and now sealed by his resurrection, is it a day to be sour and dour, gloomy and glum? According to Jesus, it’s not. Not at all.
It’s to be a day of joy and gladness because we have come to know the Savior and the lover of our souls. So we see Christ’s gracious invitation to sinners. We see His gracious sacrifice for sinners. The last thing we want to look at, we see this in verses 36 to 39, His gracious transformation of sinners. When Christ calls someone, as His call has come to us, it produces a change. We can say, first of all, they’re enabled to respond to the grace of God, but it produces a much greater change than even just salvation. It produces a change on the inside. that became the lifelong process of becoming a different person.
Levi, named after the priestly tribe of the Old Testament, Levi, whose name in Hebrew was one who meant joined or connected, had joined himself to the enemy of God’s people, the Romans, done just the opposite of what his spiritual upbringing should have point him in the direction of. Levi becomes Matthew. The name, the Greek version of that is Matthew, but the Hebrew for that is gift of God. You see, Levi’s encounter with Jesus changed him from the inside out. He had been given a great gift by Christ himself, by Christ’s gracious notice, acceptance, invitation, and willingness to enter into his life. And Levi, Matthew, became a changed person. And he is the author of the first gospel in the New Testament.
That’s the way God works. His grace extends to some who are the ordinary, some who we wouldn’t think would have any interest in God’s work. To illustrate this truth, and to try to help the Pharisees understand, and notice that Jesus wisely, there’s wisdom and grace here, he tries to minister to the Pharisees, he loves them in his own way too, but he’s trying to give them something to really think about. He’s planting a seed to sort of blow up their worldview, to help them really see things the way that God sees things.
And so Jesus tells three related parables. And he even uses something as an illustration that probably many in the Christian church would be uncomfortable with. Maybe the illustrations are about alcohol. But it’s at a party, and Jesus is there, and he’s using what is an apt illustration so everyone can understand the point he’s trying to make.
The Bible says this, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, and the new is come. God’s grace changes everything. And the message of the gospel, God’s presence in our lives, is designed to transform us. It’s designed to change us. It’s not just to make us better. It’s to really change us, completely, from the inside out. The gospel message is a radical message. You know, being a Christian is not about sort of using Jesus as a patch on our existing life.
Well, you know, I have my life and if I pray to him, I believe in Jesus and I pray, well then my life is just going to go a little bit better. You know, Jesus is sort of that patch. Jesus was quite clear. He said, look, if you want to have a new life, you don’t put a patch of new cloth on an old garment because they’re going to tear away from each other. So if you’re going to understand this gospel and if you’re going to respond to my invitation, it’s not me coming and just patching up your old life. It’s, I’m going to give you a new life. Being a Christian is not just adding or pouring Christ into our lives and keeping our old life together.
I’m not saying it’s okay, I have these areas of my life all taken care of and now I’m going to add Jesus. You know, I’d created these years ago when there was these advertisements, and I think people meant well, but, you know, it was sort of, you know, get, you know, they had Jesus sort of on a bottle and labeled like you have Coke. You know, so it was like, okay, you get Jesus like you get Coke. You know, it just makes your life better.
You know, it’s not pouring Jesus into your old life. You know, and Jesus’ point here, he says, look, you don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If your life is something, if these are the things that bring you satisfaction, and you just want Jesus to be poured into your life so you get more satisfaction, guess what? The wineskins aren’t gonna hold, they’re gonna burst. No, you pour new wine into new wineskins. Jesus says, I’m not going to be added to your life, I wanna give you a new life. Jesus being a Christian is also certainly not about refusing to change. were to accept the newness of Christ.
This is what the Pharisees struggled with. They just didn’t understand that the Kingdom of God was coming and Jesus was inaugurating it. They were set in their senses, well, we just don’t understand. And they wanted to hold on to their own religious traditions. And who could fault them for some of those things? I mean, they were the ones who preserved the scriptures, the study of the law of God, all those sorts of things. But they didn’t recognize that all of those things were preparation. for the true coming of the one of whom the scripture spoke, which was Christ himself.
So Jesus says, you know, you don’t want to be drinking old wine and never wanting or tasting the new. God’s doing a new thing. And so it’s not a matter of hanging on to our traditions. You know, being a Christian, for us who’ve come to receive Christ, is all about allowing the Holy Spirit to change us, to transform us from the inside out, and to continue to change and transform us all the days of our life, but also all the parts of our being. The Holy Spirit pours into us the wine of the gospel.
Now sometimes such a change is difficult to understand or accept. No one likes the word change. I think the word change that I begin to see inflects more emotional duress than the word cancer, which also begins with C, though obviously cancer is much more deadly. I’ll give you an illustration here. Some of you may know this.
I’m sorry for the teams that are mentioned, because this is Pittsburgh, but until 1996, the Cleveland Browns football team had some of the most loyal fans in all the sports. For them, Sunday was the main event of the week. Early on Sunday morning, rather than going to worship, they would go to Cleveland Stadium to enjoy tailgate parties and talk about their beloved Browns. And then the afternoon, they’d follow the stadium to cheer and honor. A whole day was spent.
But all that changed in 1996, when Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore and changed the name to the Ravens, crushing the hearts of the Cleveland fans. But surprisingly, That did not stop these fans from doing what they had done for years. On opening day, September 1st, 1996, some fans showed up at Cleveland Stadium just as they’d done for the last 46 years and had tailgate parties. They wore Browns jerseys, waved Browns flags, and chanted, let’s go Brownies. And then shortly before 1 PM, they refilled their cups and marched to the stadium gates.
But the stadium was quiet and empty. because the team had been moved. Traditions die hard, not just in the realm of football, but even religious traditions often die very hard. An empty tradition can so easily become an end in itself, a habit without meaning. It is like having cheering fans without a team or a game. And in religious traditions, when we do those things and we just go through those motions, God the Holy Spirit is not present.
The power of the gospel is seen in its ability to be used by the Holy Spirit to change and to continue to bring forth newness of life. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. I like the way the gospel writer puts it when he writes this in the hymn Love Divine. Finish then Thy new creation. Pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation perfectly restored from Thee. Indeed, change from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.
Christ the Bridegroom has come to redeem His people. every tribe, nation, and tongue. Some who are maybe very notorious sinners. Some who are, at this point in time, don’t even realize that they’re going to be hounded by heaven and by God’s grace. And in the kingdom of the kingdoms of men and the kingdoms of this world, Christ is at work building his kingdom. He’s calling people, and He calls us as those who have been, essentially, the pre-invited guests to the wedding of the Lamb. The Church, to be those who help Him go, as He said in other parables of the kingdom, go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come.
But that takes initiative on our part, to be where people are. To be accepting, to be loving, to be willing to receive and extend friendship for the sake of the Gospel, realizing that it is God’s grace that alone can change them, as it has been God’s grace alone that has changed us.
Are we ready for what God intends to do, what He is doing by His Spirit? Have we changed our rags, our filthy rags, for His righteousness? Are we dressed for the occasion? Have we tasted the wine of his love for us? Are our hearts filled with joy overwhelming that we even get to be invited into this company? Have we heard Christ, by his grace, say to us, I am yours and you are mine forever and ever and ever? Christ the bridegroom, this is God. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word Lord, we thank you for the way that it reveals to us that Jesus is dealing with very ordinary people, even sometimes those who are the outcasts and the socially unacceptable. Lord, we thank you that his love, his grace conquered all. Among those who became his friends, and Lord, even among those who were his enemies. For he could cry out on the cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
Well, we pray that Christ’s grace might come in all its fullness to us and that work of grace, by the work of your spirit, might continue to transform us, that we too, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, or as those who are part of his royal family, we might be used by you to extend that invitation to those whom you are calling to yourself. And so we pray that you might give us eyes to see and ears to hear, And Lord, that you might make us sensitive to those people that you’ve put across our path to extend your grace to. In the name of Christ. And so it’s in His name we pray. Amen. If I should turn with thee, stand together and sing hymn number 432. Jesus, what a friend for sinners.
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