Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 27 – July 1991

 

Discipleship – The Call

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Luke 5:27-28

Reading: Matthew 9:1-13; Luke 5:1-11, 27-31

Singing: Loving shepherd of Your sheep / Who is on the Lord’s side?

 

Theme: Discipleship begins with the response to a call.

 

Introduction:

Today we want to spend some time looking at DISCIPLESHIP.

And that’s certainly appropriate for all of us.

Christians are known as DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.

  –         But what does it mean for you to be a DISCIPLE?

  –         How does one become a DISCIPLE?

  –         How does one live like one?

There are many questions we could ask about discipleship.

Today we want to look at a very basic aspect of discipleship.

We want to look at THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP.

And specifically as we see it in the life of Levi.

Levi… better known by the name we’ll use today – Matthew.

 

A)        THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP.

1.         I want to draw your attention first to a very obvious fact.

So obvious that it’s easy to overlook.

DISCIPLESHIP BEGINS WITH A CALL… AND NOT WITH A DECISION.

What comes FIRST is NOT Matthew’s decision to follow Jesus.

What comes first is Jesus’ call of Matthew.

That is ALWAYS so.

            I am not a disciple because

             I worked something out and decided.

            But I am a disciple because

             I heard the voice of Jesus calling me.

            Discipleship does not begin with my Decision.

            It begins with Jesus’ call.

Please note that the call itself is very brief.

JUST TWO WORDS: “Follow me!”

            There is no debate… and there is no argument.

It’s true that Jesus did do that with Nicodemus.

And with the Rich Young Ruler.

But when all is said and done the call of Christ
   boils down to a simple command.

We must not overlook that this story too has a CONTEXT.

This story does not begin with the words: ONCE UPON A TIME.

It doesn’t even begin with the words: ONE DAY JESUS…

But it begins with the words “AFTER THIS…”

And so we ask: “After what…?”

Well, after whatever story preceded this one.

And the preceding story is the healing of the paralysed man.

Luke did not do that by ACCIDENT.
            These two stories follow each other in the same order…
                        in all 3 gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

You may say: So what?

They are probably placed in that order
    because they happened in that order!

That’s quite possibly true.

Yet we ought to remember that often different gospels
              arrange events differently.

They often sequence some events in order to teach something.

But here all have left these two stories together.

And both Luke and Matthew strongly link these two stories.

WHY?

Well – what is previous story all about…?

At first guess most of us would answer, “Healing!”

And I’d have to say, “NO!”

The issue there is not HEALING, the issue is FORGIVENESS.

It is all about Christ’s authority to forgive sin.

The healing is the sign that he DOES have that authority.

Many people stop right there when it comes to Christianity.

This is what the Christian faith is all about.

It’s about forgiveness.

And that forgiveness means our salvation and heaven.

And everyone says, Hallelujah, Amen, brother!

As though that is the sum total of Christianity.

But now there immediately follows Matthew’s call.

And we see that there is more to it than forgiveness only.

There is a whole lifestyle the forgiven are called to live.

There is discipleship.

Some might just want to argue at this point.

To say: Okay but this was only for Matthew back then.

After all he was one of twelve special men.
            One of the foundation members of the Christian Church.
            One of the twelve Apostles.

That is true in a sense.

Here is a very special and specific call to discipleship.

Matthew is called in a way that [your name] never will be.

He was called to a task to which you will never be called.

HOWEVER – there is a principle here for all Christians.

To be a Christian is nothing less
            than to be a follower of Jesus.

And so this brief call “FOLLOW ME” is a basic one.

One that is relevant for every Christian.

To demonstrate this lets turn over a few pages to Luke 9.

We have another call to Discipleship in Luke 9:23.
            “Then Jesus said to them all: ‘If anyone would come
             after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross
             daily and follow me.'”

Notice that those words were spoken to ALL his listeners.

And it was an invitation to ANYONE, not just the twelve.

And then notice what follows in verse 24:
            “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
             but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”

Jesus puts this into the context of saving our life.

In other words: Following Jesus has to do with salvation.

So we can conclude:

All this had a very special meaning for Matthew as apostle.

This call led to him being foundation member of the church.

But the principle behind that call has universal relevance.

Discipleship always begins with a call. Not with a decision.

2.         We should also note something about this man Matthew.

He was a very unlikely candidate for discipleship.

We would hardly have judged him suitable for the job.

True!

There weren’t many notable folk among the disciples anyway.

No architects or engineers.  No lawyers or town planners.

But at least the others were honest fishermen.

In Jesus’ day Tax Collectors were not well thought of.

Come to think of it – not much has changed, has it ?

The tax man isn’t exactly the best friend
            of the average Aussie either.

But in Bible times it was worse.
            They were considered the rip-off merchants of the day.
            Corrupt and always ready to line their own pockets.
            Not known for their honesty or a hard day’s work.
            And worse than that… considered unpatriotic.
            Serving the Roman overlords or that hated ruler, Herod.

It’s helpful to note how the Bible speaks of Tax Collectors.

 – Just after our text in Luke 5:30
            they are lumped together with public sinners.

 – In Matthew 18:17 Jesus mentioned them
            but in the same breath as pagans.

 – In the story of the Prodigal Son
            they are mentioned together with prostitutes.

Hardly the kind of person a good Jew would have to dinner.

In fact they were utterly despised by the Pharisees.

Yet Jesus calls THIS MAN… this man to discipleship.

In fact there’s something very deliberate
            about the actions of Jesus at this point.

Luke tells us Jesus SAW Matthew sitting at his toll booth.
            But when Jesus SAW him it wasn’t with a cursory glance.
            It’s not so that Jesus caught a glimpse of him; then called.

             – Luke uses a very specific word for “SEE”.
               Jesus didn’t just SEE Matthew there in his office.
               Jesus OBSERVED him there.
               Jesus took a careful and deliberate look.
               And then he called that man despised by his society.

That makes us realise that the CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP
               is especially a matter of GRACE.

Jesus calls to discipleship those despised in the eyes of the world.

That’s something we need to remember time and again.

Just recently someone said to me:
            The Reformed Church is a very well-to-do church.

There’s a real danger that we heartily welcome other well-to-do folk.
            And that we less heartily welcome the down and out.
            After all there are some people who just aren’t our kind of people.

Jesus calls a lousy Tax Collector.
            Because in the Kingdom of Christ it isn’t our deserving that earns a call.

It is GRACE – sheer undeserved favour.

So in Matthew’s own life there is acted out the truth of the gospel.
            That Jesus came to save and call sinners.

3.         Some folk have a problem with Matthew’s speedy response to Jesus.

How can this really happen this way – it’s totally unrealistic.

How can Jesus just walk past someone and say: Follow me!

And then the fellow called promptly does exactly that.

Matthew’s response is just a little too quick.

Or was it that Jesus’ appearance was so formidable?

Some people want to read a little more into this story.
 –  Matthew had heard Jesus a number of times before.
            And his heart had grown strangely warm
             to this outspoken teacher from Galilee.

 –  Or perhaps Matthew had felt guilt about his tax job.
            For a long time he had been burdened
             especially when hearing Jesus talk of forgiveness.

 –  Matthew was a little like that other tax man, Zacchaeus.
            He had desperately wanted to know Jesus better
             and when Jesus called, he was ready to go.

All of that… is reading into the text what is not there.

Our text speaks only of the call and of immediate response.

If Matthew had met Jesus before, our text isn’t interested.

If Matthew had long felt guilty, our text doesn’t really care.

What may or may not have happened beforehand isn’t important.

All our text wants to do is show the power of the call of Jesus.
Jesus calls…
            And because it is Jesus who calls, Matthew follows.

A call by Jesus doesn’t need preliminaries.

It doesn’t need all sorts of social niceties.

A good round of debate and discussion isn’t necessary first.

A call by Jesus has the power to call for instant response.

I’m fascinated by Matthew’s own account in Mat.9:9.
            He ends the previous story of the paralysed man
              on that vital note of AUTHORITY…
            THEY PRAISED GOD WHO HAD GIVEN SUCH AUTHORITY TO MEN!

And then he goes right on to tell the story of his own call.
And the response to it.

It’s almost as though he’s saying:
            I personally experienced that authority.
            He called me and I could do nothing else than follow.

Jesus has authority to forgive sin.
And Jesus has authority to call someone to discipleship.

Some, like Matthew have experienced that in powerful ways.

Paul – on the road to Damascus.

C.S.Lewis – felt he really could do nothing else.
            He once called himself the most reluctant convert in all England.

Some of us know it too.

We have heard the call of Jesus.

We have felt the authority of the Son of God in our lives.

 

B)         THE RESPONSE OF THE DISCIPLE.

1.         Let’s look a little more closely at the disciple’s response.

Because it is something very instructive for us.

Here I come back to the original questions I asked.
            What is it to be a disciple ?
            What does discipleship involve ?

True! The word disciple as such is not used in our text.
            Nor in the parallel passages in the other gospels.

So at this stage I don’t want to look at the word as such.

However…
            It is clear that this is precisely what Matthew becomes.
            A disciple of Jesus Christ.

            In Mat.10:3 we find a list of the twelve.
            In verse 1 of that chapter they are called DISCIPLES.
            And in that list we find MATTHEW THE TAX COLLECTOR.
            So we have here – clearly – the response of a disciple.

Note that the response to the call…
            – is not just intellectually agreeing Jesus is Lord
            – it is not just standing up to profess faith in public
            – not is it first of all undergoing some ritual – baptism

Discipleship may include all these things.

But it is more than all these together.

It is primarily a positive response of OBEDIENCE.

There is a recognition that Jesus has every right to call.
                        every right to make such a claim on us.
            It’s more than accepting forgiveness from Him as Saviour.
            It’s submitting to His call as Lord.

And it seems to me that both of these two themes
              come together in this passage of Scripture.
            In forgiveness He’s the Lord who saves us.
              He shows that in his dealings with the paralytic.

In the call to discipleship He’s the Lord who claims us.
              He shows that in his dealings with the Tax Collector.
            So the only appropriate response is to bow before that claim.

For Matthew there was an act of obedience.

A decisive act of obedience.

All three gospels tell us quite specifically: Matthew “got up”.
            There in his office he stood up to obey.
            A deliberate act of obedience – getting up out of his office.

Jesus called… Matthew acted.

Plain and simple obedience.  No more. No less.

Here is the first mark of the disciple.
            Obedience – with no ifs and buts.

2.         But let’s not underestimate what this meant for Matthew.

Remember: He was a Tax Collector.

And Tax Collectors were wealthy people.

That was certainly true of Matthew.
  –  It’s evidenced by the great banquet he put on later.
  –  It’s evidenced in that he seems to have had his own house.

No doubt the source of his wealth was his cushy job in the tax dept.

Now he breaks with that.

He gets up and turns his back on it.

Luke in fact tells us something the other accounts don’t.
            Matthew LEFT EVERYTHING.  He burned all his bridges.
            No longer would there be that lucrative source of income.

This is not said to compliment Matthew for his devotion.

Someone gives up a well-paid job and becomes a missionary.
And folk say:  Marvellous to see that kind of commitment.

That is NOT why Luke tells us Matthew left everything.
            Rather it is to drive home the radicalness of the call.
            Personal ambition is sacrificed to demands of discipleship.
            There won’t be any going back for this disciple.

Here we see that discipleship means something for our lifestyle.

Please understand this correctly.

Matthew was not told to sell everything like the rich young ruler.
            Later He still throws a party in his own house.
            Yet there is a change in attitude.

            Matthew had been the materialist… that’s why he was in the tax business.
            He could provide for himself out of his well-paid job.
            Having it good without doing good.

Now he leaves it all behind – no more trusting in his work.

Faith is now in the Master to provide.

And what he does have is now used in service of Jesus Christ.

Discipleship involves an attitude…!
            And that attitude determines our lifestyle.
            It means that we stop trusting in our own securities…
            And we launch out in faith with Jesus Christ to serve Him and not self.

3.         That leads us to the central feature of discipleship.

The very heart of what Jesus calls for.

And the very essence of what Matthew did.

The very core of discipleship is FOLLOWING JESUS.

In fact that is a very common theme in the gospels.
 –  FOLLOW ME – that was Jesus’ last recorded word to Peter.
    We have always understood that as the core of discipleship.
    A Christian disciple is one who follows Jesus.

Down thru history it has been variously described:
            Thomas a’Kempis called it “the imitation of Christ”
            Shelden in his classic saw it in terms of walking in His steps.
            It is following His example.  It is obeying His will.

However this following of Jesus isn’t a “one off” decision.

It wasn’t a momentary decision for Matthew either.

Following Jesus is not just a decision we make.

It is a life that we live.

Because this response to Jesus is life-style oriented.

That is very obvious in the Greek text of Luke 5:28.

It does not say: He left everything and FOLLOWED…. Past tense!

It is a continuous tense.
            The NASB reads: He began to follow Him…!
            Matthew wasn’t just a disciple in name.
            Matthew went out and began to live the life of a disciple.

Being a disciple is not just a decision that you make.
It is a life that you live.

 

Conclusion:

Matthew seems to have been a man of few words.

We have no record of him ever speaking in the gospels.

Yet the life of service for Christ is very obvious in this man.
 –  It began when he introduced his friends to Jesus
            at that farewell banquet at his house.
 –  We today still benefit from his life of discipleship
            because he used his education and tax collector’s pen
                        to write the gospel that bears his name.

The life of the disciple is the life of the servant.

May it be that for you and me too.    Amen.