“Not The
Righteous, But Sinners” Mark
SCRIPTURE INTRO:
The passage we studied last
Sunday was Jesus’ first conflict
with the religious
leaders of
We will see over and over, as
Jesus deals with the Pharisees,
that he addresses a
universal human problem—the problem of self-righteousness.
INTRO: One thing I’ve noticed about preaching—people remember
illustrations.
Five and a half years ago I
started a sermon with an illustration
that I bet some of
you remember.
A well-known Christian
scholar asked his class of seminary students:
What would a town look like if it were
completely controlled by the Devil?
They began to give their
answers—
crimes of every
kind, murders, rapes, robberies,
decaying buildings,
weeds, trash, poverty, exploitation, despair.
When they were finished he
said—that could be right.
But I think a town completely
controlled by the devil would be an orderly town—
lots of laws,
streets swept, yards neat, financially prosperous,
and every Sunday
the churches would be full of people
who would listen
attentively to sermons—in which Christ is not preached.
His point was that according
to the Bible, according to Jesus—
the one thing that
most thoroughly blinds people to their true spiritual condition
is the very order
and morality of their lives.
Even religion, even religion
based on the Bible creates a confidence
in their own
righteousness that keeps them far from God.
All the evidence supports
their belief that deep down, they are good people.
Because of that they think they don’t need
Jesus and his salvation.
And on the other hand,
according to the Bible, according to Jesus—
it is often the
very despair of your moral failure,
it is often the recognition
that you have made a wreck of things,
and that there is
no going back,
the sense that deep
down inside you there is darkness and sin—
That causes people to follow
Jesus when he calls
and find the way to
God’s forgiveness and healing.
That’s what this story is
about.
It’s about Levi the tax
collector and sinners like him—
a man who knew that
he was a moral failure,
a man who knew he
was corrupt and greedy,
a man who had not
darkened the door of the temple or synagogue for years—
because he knew
that he was unclean by religious standards.
This is a story about that
man finding forgiveness through Jesus.
It’s also about the Pharisees—
men who were
confident in their own righteousness,
who knew that they
had kept all the moral laws carefully,
who were always in
the synagogue and temple.
But their confidence in their
goodness inoculated them against Jesus—
so that true
forgiveness, and life with God slipped past them,
and they didn’t
even know it.
Ultimately, as always, this
is about Jesus.
Jesus speaks a word of
encouragement to people who are moral failures.
He calls sinners. He is the physician to people sick with their
moral failure.
And Jesus speaks a word of
warning to people who are morally self-righteous.
He says to them: There is nothing I can do for you.
Because you don’t believe you
have a fatal disease
and have no
interest in the doctor.
Which one are you? More like Levi and sinner friends or
Pharisees?
What’s so interesting is that
these categories aren’t water tight.
We are all moral failures,
whether we know it or not—
and we all tend to
be morally self-righteous, whether we know it or not.
So as you look at Jesus in
this story—
you must simultaneously
heed his warning, and cling to his encouragement.
that is the only
way you will benefit from the forgiveness and healing
of the Great
Physician.
Two headings:
1.
Jesus’ warning to morally self-righteous.
2.
Jesus’ encouragement to moral failures.
MP#1
Jesus’ warning to the self-righteous
When Jesus said: “I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners”
He was not saying that the Pharisees were
righteous—
but that they
thought they were righteous.
And as long as they were
confident in their own righteousness—
then there was
nothing he could do for them.
Jesus illustrated that with
the parallel statement:
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor but
the sick.”
Once again, he wasn’t saying
that the Pharisees were spiritually healthy—
we know that from
all the other things Jesus said about them.
He was saying that because
they thought they were healthy—
they had no
interest in the spiritual healing, so he had nothing to give.
If you are trusting in your righteousness, I
can’t help you.
This is a very sober warning
from Jesus and it deserves a closer look.
The Pharisees could not see
themselves as they really were.
To be fair—the Pharisees knew they sinned
from time to time.
Would not have said that they
were perfect.
But when they looked in the
mirror, they were convinced of their basic goodness.
“I’ve made some mistakes in life, but deep
down I’m a good person.”
That’s the way many people view
themselves.
Years ago I knew a girl who
was anorexic.
Once she was shopping with a
friend of hers, trying on bathing suits.
She came out of the dressing room in a
bikini, stood in front of a mirror.
She was just skin and bones.
Her friend burst into tears
and said: “
She replied:
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine when I lose a little
more weight.”
That’s how self-righteousness
operates at a spiritual level.
Profound self-deception.
Think you are good.
And your self-deception keeps
you away from Jesus.
That
means we need to approach this subject with great humility.
You may be a self-deluded Pharisee. I may be a self-deluded Pharisee.
The Pharisees’
self-righteousness began with a superficial view of sin.
That may seem strange to say when you think
about how religious they were
and how offended
they got over sins they saw people commit.
But they essentially defined
sin as a list of really bad things.
idolatry,
blasphemy, murder, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness.
breaking the Ten
Commandments and their other religious laws.
Sin for them was doing the
bad things that are on the list.
Well, what if you’ve never
done the bad things on the list and don’t intend to?
You’ve never murdered, committed adultery, stolen,
taken God’s name in vain.
You’ve been religiously diligent all your
life and will continue to do so.
What sort of self-image does
that give you?
Do you see yourself as a desperate sinner in
need of salvation?
Of course not. The little sins you do are noting, easily
excusable.
You are fundamentally a good
person.
Now, of course, that is a
very superficial, external view of sin.
The Bible says that sin comes from our
naturally rebellious, selfish hearts.
The Bible also says that sin
is not just notorious, highly visible actions,
but also words,
thoughts, and attitudes of the heart that are against God
and our
neighbor. The Bible says we are judged
according to light we have.
To whom much is given, much
will be required.
But self-righteousness and a
superficial view of sin go hand in hand.
And the outward manifestation of
self-righteousness
and a superficial
view of sin, is the tendency to compare yourself to other people.
Do you often look at the
moral failings of other people, cluck, shake your
head,
and say, “I just
don’t understand how a person could do that.”?
Self-righteous people do that
a lot.
It’s a way of affirming your righteousness. It feels good.
If you’ve never done it, try
it some time.
It will give you a wonderful jolt of
superiority.
I can speak from personal experience.
You see the Pharisees doing
that in this story.
They compared themselves to tax collectors
and other sinners.
Tax collectors extorted money
and were traitors to their own people.
We’re going to talk about Levi in a minute.
But the Pharisees were
scrupulously honest when it came to financial dealings,
and they were
patriots, would have died before working for oppressors.
“I don’t see how any Jew could be a tax
collector.”
That comparison was very
important to them.
That’s why it bothered them so much when
Jesus ate with them.
Knew that Jesus
was somehow undermining this comparison.
Wanted Jesus to eat with them, shake his
head, and talk about the state of morals.
They weren’t looking for Jesus as a Savior.
Millions of church members have
indulged
in the very same
self-righteousness as the Pharisees.
And even though they profess
to be Christians,
they are no more
looking to Jesus for their salvation than the Pharisees did.
When they look in the mirror
they see good, moral people, who have kept the rules,
and not done any of
the really bad things.
Don’t se selves as they
really are: Sinners estranged from God
without Christ.
I’ve told you before the
story of William Haslam, 19th century
Anglican minister,
who was famous as
the preacher converted by his own sermon.
He had been a minister for
some time but was he was an unsaved man.
There were some members of the church who
knew this.
On
that the Pharisees
had been condemned because they failed to believe
that Christ had
come to save them from their sins.
As he preached, he realized
for the first time that he did not really believe either.
As he continued with the sermon he saw the
truth more and more clearly:
Himself as a sinner and
Jesus as the Savior.
He says in his autobiography:
“I do not remember all I said, but I felt
a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul.
Whether it was something in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know
not; but all of a sudden a local preacher, who happened to be in the
congregation stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out, ‘the parson’s
converted! The parson’s converted! Hallelujah!’ and in another moment his voice
was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred of the
congregation.”
His coming to Christ occurred
at the moment he realized he thought like a Pharisee.
He had thought like one for years, even as a
minister, and never realized it.
Millions in the church, more
millions outside who think the same way—
and do not realize
how fatal a mistake it is. That’s Jesus’
warning.
Until you know your sin, know
you need him—fatally deluded.
We’ve heard Jesus’ warning to
the morally self-righteous, now lets consider . . .
MP#2
Jesus’ encouragement to moral failures
“I have come to call
sinners.” “Not the
healthy who need a doctor but the sick.”
What do we know about Levi?
We know he made a very bad choice at some
point in his life that had brought
about all sorts of
unforeseen problems and sorrow.
What was that bad choice?
He decided that he was going to become
wealthy no matter what the cost.
Historians tell us that tax
collectors in that day purchased their office
from the
government. Purchased the responsibility
of collecting taxes or tolls
in a certain area,
guaranteed to fill the amount required by the government.
Anything extra they collected
was theirs to keep.
The whole system was built on corruption and
extortion.
No person with a sense of
morality would have gone into this line of work.
You became a tax collector if you wanted to
make money and didn’t care how.
That’s the profession Levi
had chosen.
This Jewish man, who should have known
better, but wanted to get rich.
Maybe he started out
saying:
I’m only going to charge a reasonable amount
for a modest standard of living.
And what happened? That didn’t last.
He found himself squeezing people, hurting
people.
Remember, that’s what Zaccheus
admitted doing.
He got rich. Tax collectors lived very well.
He probably had a big home and all the
luxuries.
But as the years went by, there
were more moral compromises
And he found himself trapped in the life of
his choosing with no way out.
Maybe he tried at times to be
honest and change,
but the demand and
drive for wealth and power always drew him back.
From that came the
condemnation and hatred of many people.
Tax collector were
despised because of their greed, collusion with government.
It may have been that Levi’s
on extended family condemned him.
Here was a man who was a disgrace to his own
Jewish people.
He’s like a man in our day who sells himself to his work,
success at any
cost, looks up one day to find his wife has left him,
his children
despise him, and his only prospect is to go back to the office
that has become his
slave master.
All for the
decision to pursue money and success as his highest good.
He’s like a woman who give
herself to a promiscuous lifestyle,
only to find that
the excitement and feeling of acceptance it brings,
has left her, and
she does not have the love and intimacy she wants.
Levi’s decision ultimately
brought him an empty life.
Condemned by many people,
Trapped in cycles of unethical behavior,
Powerless to change his
life.
Perhaps, with different
details, you have known this same life.
Sinful decisions that seemed so right at the
time—
but then, as the
years go by, the consequences start to come home.
Sinful decisions that lead to
more sinful decisions.
Attempts to change that lead nowhere.
Find yourself condemned,
empty, and powerless to change.
It seems hopeless—but it’s
not.
That’s what’s so amazing about the Gospel,
amazing about grace.
Levi, for all the moral ruin
of his life, had one thing the Pharisees didn’t have.
He knew his need for salvation.
He knew he had a fatal disease and he wanted
a doctor.
And that’s exactly where
Jesus found him—sitting in his tax collectors booth.
Wonderful line in commentary
by Kent Hughes:
The first link between my
soul and Christ is not my goodness, but my badness;
not my merit, but my misery; not my standing, but my
falling; not my riches, but my need.”
That’s where it starts—has
been true of so many of God’s people through the years.
No hymn loved more than
Amazing Grace.
No hymn writer more loved for the story of
his life than John Newton.
He was a vile man, an African slave
trader.
His life was so corrupt there
seemed to be no way out—he tried many times,
but found himself
back in that work that was ruining his soul.
Then, in a storm he saw
himself as he truly was, in his need Jesus saved him.
He became a pastor—and to the end of his
days, referred to himself—
as the vile African
slave trader—but was honored by all God’s people.
How does Jesus meet your
need? The same two ways he met Levi’s.
He calls you and he eats with you.
1. When you know your need, Jesus calls you.
Jesus said, “Follow me” and
Levi got up and followed him.
We are told an interesting detail in
Matthew’s account—left everything.
Unlike Peter and Andrew,
James and John who left their fishing to follow—
they went back at
times to fish, weren’t totally cut off.
For Levi to leave his tax
booth meant that he quit his position—
he left it behind,
never to return.
What sort of financial
repercussions did this have? We don’t
know.
But here’s the wonderful thing: The call of Jesus gave him the power to
change.
Probably many times Levi had
said, I’ve got to leave this job—but couldn’t.
He was powerless against the grip it had on
him.
When Jesus called, call empowered him to
change.
That’s true for you as
well.
Knowing your need, knowing your helplessness
is just where Jesus
likes to find you,
so that he can call you to a new life.
2. When you know your need, Jesus eats with you.
They went to Levi’s house and
they had a feast,
house full of
people like Levi, morally compromised, sinners.
What did that meal
communicate to Levi?
I accept you and I honor you.
That’s amazing but true, when
you know your need,
no matter what your
moral failures, Jesus accepts and honors you.
And God’s people honor you.
True Christians always
rejoice over and honor most those believers
who feel their need
most deeply and who have been brought to Christ.
Levi had another name, he was
called Matthew.
He was the disciple who wrote the Gospel of
Matthew.
When we open the NT, here is a name we
honor, one who ate with Master.
CONC: Jesus has gone to heaven. But he has left us something very precious.
Has given us the Lord’s
Supper. We’re about to come to
the Table.
He’s has left very specific
instructions about who can eat at this Table.
This is a meal for people who know their
need of Jesus.
If you are here this morning
and you would say about yourself:
I may have done a few bad things—deep down,
I’m a good person.
Stay away from this
table. Not for you.
You will eat and drink judgment on yourself.
But if you say: Oh, I’ve made a mess of things.
The things I’ve said and done. The failures.
The struggles and compromises. They weigh me down.
Jesus says: Pull up a chair, let’s eat together.
Old Scottish Puritan Rabbi
Duncan was serving communion one Lord’s Day
and a weeping woman
passed the common cup without drinking.
Pressed it into her hands and
said: Drink it woman—it’s for sinners.
Do you know your need? You must, or you are condemned.
Because
Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.