Jesus Chose WHO?!?
Suddenly, by a simple act of faith, the dreaded traitor becomes a new man with a new name and representative of a new and welcome message!
The very word floods your world with breath-robbing anxiety. As soon as it is stated, you find yourself feeling guilty and defeated. You immediately shift into fighting mode and begin to defend your character! For some reason, few events in life so implode our sense of peace and well-being have receiving the notice: “Your tax filing records are being AUDITED”
The whole inconvenience of going back through old documents, retrieving bank account records, sorting and arranging tattered receipts, trying to recall income and expenditure activities long since forgotten. Rare is the event that can so incredibly ruin one’s day as to hear the IRS say, “You tax filing records are being AUDITED”
Suddenly it all gets very personal. While knowing that the Word says we are to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” we have a deep distrust of Caesar and his henchmen. When we put together our guest list for significant social gatherings, chances are pretty good it does not include the name of our IRS Auditor!
So what does Jesus do? He walks right into the IRS office, stands directly in front the Auditing Agent, and says, “Follow Me!” And the dude stands up, closes his books, locks his office door for the final time, and “Follows Him”! (Matthew 9:9) Then Jesus does the unthinkable…He accepts a personal invitation to a “Going-Out-Of-Business” party that is attended by the kind of people with whom no respectable citizen would ever want to be seen.
The turn-coat son of a priest, outcast rebel and public disgrace to his heritage, is specifically chosen by God to take a message of hope to a hopeless world. Suddenly, by a simple act of faith, the dreaded traitor becomes a new man with a new name and representative of a new and welcome message! Levi the feared tax guy becomes Matthew, the “gift of Jehovah” and rather than being the bearer of bad news he becomes the voice of the greatest news the world would ever hear!
If God could chose to save Levi/Matthew, could God not chose to save even you?
See you Sunday, Church, as we begin to hear together the Greatest Message ever Preached by the Greatest Preacher ever to preach. This week we begin to listen to the Sermon On The Mount!
Pastor Tom