“THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP”
Matthew 9:9-13
If I asked, “How many of you are disciples of Jesus Christ?”, you would all raise your hands and say, “I am.” But if I asked, “How many of you remember the day you became a disciple of Jesus Christ?”, the show of hands would likely be far less. There are exceptions, of course. If you came to faith in Jesus at an early age, perhaps as a teenager. or later as an adult, you may well remember the time of your conversion. The apostle Paul certainly remembered the time of his conversion. In his letter to the Galatians, he wrote about his first encounter with Christ in great detail—to the very day and hour—more than seventeen years after it happened.
The blind man of John 9 must have also remembered the time of his coming to faith in Jesus. On the same day that Jesus gave this man the gift of sight, Jesus also gave him the gift of faith. “I was blind, but now I see” was followed by “Lord, I believe;” a far greater type of seeing.
However, many Christians can’t remember their call to discipleship because they’ve been disciples their entire lives. They have no recollection of a “before Christ” and “after Christ.” What the apostle Paul said of young Pastor Timothy applies equally to them: “From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” 2 Tim 3:15. The Greek word translated as “infancy” in this verse really does mean an infant or baby. The same word is used of the newborn Jesus in Luke 2:12, and even of John the Baptist ‘in utero’ in Luke 1:41.
Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. These are the names of the original disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ, as listed in Matthew 10. But you realize, of course, that this list of disciples has never stopped growing.
Were you to view that list today, you would find your own name on it as one called to discipleship by Jesus Christ and one commissioned by Jesus Christ to share saving gospel. You can say with the same certainty and validity as those original twelve disciples: “I am a called disciple of Jesus Christ.” What a privilege. What a gift of grace. What a cause for thanksgiving.
In the call of Matthew, recorded in his own inspired words, we can see what the same loving and compassionate God has done for each of us. For our call to discipleship is no less comforting and no less of a miracle. There are four aspects of this calling I’d like to share with you this morning; specifically, that the call to discipleship is a call from God; a call of grace; a call for change; and a call to share.
First, the call to discipleship is a call from God; and as such, it is entirely God’s doing. Of the twelve original disciples, only the calling of Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew are recorded in Scripture. But significantly, each description of each calling contains the same two words positioned side by side. See if you can identify them.
Let’s begin with the call of Peter and Andrew, Matthew 3:18, “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.” Next the call of James and John, Matthew 3:21, “Going on from there, He saw two brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.” And then the call of Matthew, Matthew 9:9, “As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew at the tax collector’s booth.”
So, which two words appear side by side in each of these passages? The words: “He saw.” Jesus saw. Jesus saw Peter and Andrew and called them to discipleship. Jesus saw James and John and called them to discipleship. Jesus saw Matthew and called him to discipleship. Jesus went to them. They did not come to Jesus on their own initiative or by their own strength.
This is important. Well-meaning Christians often speak of “making a decision for Christ,” as if a decision to follow Jesus were the result of human intellect, logic, or rationality. But if true, this would make Man the source of own discipleship instead of God. But is it possible for Man by nature to see Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or to make a logical decision to follow Jesus Christ? No.
The Bible is very clear about the source of faith, grace, salvation, and discipleship. Ephesians 2:1, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” Can the dead say, hear, or decide to do anything? Of course not. Or consider the words of John 1:12-13, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or of a husband’s will, but born of God.” Jesus Himself best summarized the source of discipleship in John 15:16, saying, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.”
I cannot imagine more comforting words than those of Jesus: “I chose you.” Those words have special meaning for me because I was adopted. I spent the first eight weeks of my life in an orphanage in Tampa, Florida. On the day my new parents took me home from the orphanage, my dad said to me: “Pack your suitcase, son. We’re going home.”
When asked why I am so open about my adoption, I’ve always responded, “Why shouldn’t I be? Two complete strangers walked into that orphanage and into my life and gave me a home, name, Christian education, and more love than I had any right to expect. They adopted me because they wanted me. They chose me. I did not choose them. That I am who I am is no accident. And dear friends, the same is true of our adoption into the family of God.
When you feel alone, worried, depressed, helpless, hopeless, and unwanted; when you wonder if the infinite God sees you in your daily problems and cares about your headaches, heartbreaks, and pain—remember how Jesus Christ saw Matthew as he went about his ordinary circumstances. Remember that the same Jesus Christ saw and sees you. Remember that the same Jesus Christ who called you to follow Him will never forsake you or lead you down a wrong path. As Paul told the Philippians: “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,” Philippians 1:6.
Second, the call to discipleship is a call of God’s grace. It has nothing to do with who we are and everything to do with who God is—the God who said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Do you recall those days on the schoolyard playground, when someone would say, “Okay, let’s choose up teams?” The kids who were most liked or who had the most athletic skills were always picked first. No one wanted to be the kid picked last for a team or to hear the dreaded words, “Aw, do we have to take him?”
Matthew would have been the “kid picked last;” or more likely, the “kid never picked at all” and even booed off the playground. The question of the Pharisees in today’s text, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” is the equivalent of asking, “Aw, do we have to take him?” It is also the equivalent of questions like, “Do we really want that type of person attending our church? Do we really want to waste our outreach resources on that type of neighborhood?”
Today, of course, we speak of Matthew with great reverence. We recognize him as one of the Savior’s original twelve disciples, and as the author of the gospel record that bears his name. We use his God-inspired writing as sermon texts. We even name churches after him with titles like “Saint Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.”
However, had you lived in Israel during the time of Jesus, you would have called Matthew by other titles: “Cheater” or “Liar” or “Collaborator” or “Conspirator” or “No-Good Thief.” Matthew was a TELONAS, the Greek word for tax collector. Even the modern dislike Americans have for taxes, tax collectors, and the IRS cannot begin to approximate the hatred and revulsion first-century Jews felt for men like Matthew.
Matthew was a Jew—Levi was his Jewish name—in the employ of the hated Roman government, and as such, viewed by other Jews as a traitor. The position of tax collector was actually auctioned to the highest bidder. The highest bidder was the one who promised the most tax revenues to the Roman government. Tax collectors were permitted to keep anything above the guaranteed revenue and also received a percentage of taxes collected; so most were very wealthy. The Romans cared nothing about the way in which tax collectors operated as long as they delivered the promised revenue. Not surprisingly, abuses were rampant: fraud, theft, over-taxation, intimidation, corruption, strong-arming.
At the time of Jesus, tax collectors were considered to be “the worst of the worst.” Knowing this, we can better understand the question of the Pharisees in our text; and why the Pharisees scornfully said of Jesus, ‘Here is a friend of tax collectors and sinners;’ and why the Pharisees so resented the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector, as well as the stinging words of Jesus in Matthew 21: “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”
The call to discipleship is based on who God is, not who we are. God knows who we are: lost and condemned sinners, incapable of saving ourselves, and therefore in desperate need of Jesus Christ as our Savior. Jesus came to save people like Matthew. Jesus came to save you and me. Jesus came to save sinners. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15. I don’t know why that should surprise us—and it won’t surprise us if we remember the words of 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
May I tell you something? If Jesus Christ had not dined with sinners; He would have always dined alone. If Jesus Christ had not come to save sinners; He would have had no one to save. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.”
The call to discipleship is a call of grace. And what comfort this brings, dear friends. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, where you’ve gone, or how long you’ve been away. With Jesus Christ, you don’t have to pretend to be something you’re not; for He sees who you are and knows what you need, and by His Gospel transforms you into the person He has called you to be.
Today, this very hour, He is calling you through His gospel; calling you to follow Him; calling you to come to Him for forgiveness, rest, peace, and salvation. That Jesus Christ would suffer and die for wretched, unworthy sinners—well, isn’t this why “Just As I Am” is one of our favorite hymns? “Just as I am, without one plea but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee; O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”
Third, the call to discipleship is a call to change. When we follow Jesus by faith, by necessity we must also leave other things behind, and this certainly includes our former way of life. Remember how each Bible passage describing the call of Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew emphasized that Jesus saw them; that their discipleship was entirely God’s doing? Each of those calls to discipleship also has something else in common.
The call of Peter and Andrew: “’Come, follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed Him,” Matthew 3:19-20. The call of James and John: “Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him,” Matthew 3:21-22. The call of Matthew: “He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him,” Matthew 9:9. In a heartbeat, at Jesus’ invitation, Matthew got up, left behind his lucrative business and his dishonest life, and followed Jesus.
Jesus so often said throughout His ministry, “Repent and believe the good news.” The Greek word for repentance is METANOIA. And METANOIA literally means ‘a change of mind.’ A change of mind. A change of heart. A change of priorities. A change of life and lifestyle.
Is it really so difficult to understand why Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew would be willing to forsake everything to follow Jesus Christ? How can anyone truly know, believe and experience the love of Jesus Christ and not be changed? Can we be forgiven by Christ, yet refuse to forgive? Can we be loved by Christ, yet refuse to love? Can we receive freely from Christ, yet refuse to give freely? Can we truly understand what Christ paid to redeem us from sin, yet think it is acceptable to go on sinning?
Matthew’s name is mentioned in his own gospel record, along with the gospels of Mark and Luke, and also in the Book of Acts. But only Matthew refers to himself as “Matthew the tax collector.” It’s as if he could never forget what he had once been, and how the love of Jesus Christ had found, called, saved, and changed him—love so magnificent, so divine, that Matthew had to tell others.
Which leads to our final point this morning: The call to discipleship is the call to share the good news of Jesus Christ. What is one of the first things Matthew did after becoming a disciple of Jesus? He hosted a banquet to honor Jesus. Where was the banquet? In Matthew’s own home. Who did Matthew invite? People just like himself—the unwanted, the undesirables, tax collectors, sinners; in other words, people who desperately needed to know the love of God in Jesus Christ.
And what made Matthew such an effective witness? Was it years of seminary training? No. Was it holding a degree in theology? No. Was it eloquence of speech? No. Was it extensive missionary training? No. Was it a large mission budget? No. Was it colorful, attention-getting brochures? No. What made Matthew the tax collector such an effective witness was his simple gratitude for what Jesus Christ had done for him.
What is true of Matthew is true of you. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ. Your call is from God. Your call is of grace. Your call is for a change of life. Your call is to share with others what God has done for you. And so we say with the hymnist:
“Savior, I follow on, guided by Thee.
Seeing not yet the hand that leadeth me.
Hushed be my heart and still,
Fear I no further ill,
Only to meet Thy will my will shall be.” LH 422:1