100523 A Tax Collectors Dream
Mk 2:13-17
Tim Franklin
Introduction:
· How many would like to handle a lot of money?
· Matthew, in the Bible, was a tax collector. He handled lots of money. He became very wealthy handling taxes. Yet with all that, his life was empty. He was living the good life yet it was empty.
· I want to show you the heart of God today towards you. I want to show you how Jesus can give even a tax collector a dream.
1. Live Your Life to Create a Dream
A. How magnetic is your Christianity? Magnets attract other metal objects and magnets.
i. Mark 2:13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. NKJV
ii. You have to be doing something right to attract multitudes of people. What makes your faith appealing? What makes the way you express your faith appealing?
iii. You go where they are. Jesus ate with them. House of tax collectors, house of Pharisees, house of Roman soldiers, in the tombs (demoniac).
iv. It is fishing—you go where the fish are. You use the right bait (attractant). You set the hook!
B. There are certain desires inside the heart of all people. Certain needs that God put their so that we could become an interdependent people-that our hearts would intertwine.
C. What made Jesus so magnetic?
i. He was kind—
a. John 8:1-11 Woman caught in adultery.
b. Mark 5 Demonic—delivered and befriended.
c. Luke 7:44 Woman crying on his feet. “Do you see this woman?”
ii. He was an encourager
a. Woman at the well. In spite of her lifestyle, Jesus offers her living water.
b. Nicodemus –you must be born again.
c. Peter-John 21 Feed my sheep. Those words came after Peter’s failure.
iii. Because he encouraged people he gave value to their lives.
iv. He loved well
v. He walked through life with a good attitude—you do not find Jesus complaining. He seemed to always be at rest with himself, his Father, and with others.
vi. He was supernatural—the miracles he worked gave hope to many who were afflicted. It is one of the reasons we are contending for the supernatural here. It gives hope to others, brings God glory, and magnifies Jesus.
D. When you are these things in life you create dreams in others of what can be. Your kindness, your love, your encouragement inspires others to be more! It creates possibilities and causes them to dream again.
i. Multitudes followed for this very reason.
ii. Multitudes saw an opportunity to truly live, so they followed in order to get some.
2. Live Your Life to Make A Dream Come True
A. Levi received the invitation. The heavenly Father highlighted Levi to Jesus. Jesus made Levi’s day when he called him to follow him.
i. There will be people among the multitudes, that you encounter on a daily basis, that God will highlight.
ii. When God does this, He is positioning us to release His grace to them. For many, the arrival of that grace is a dream come true!
iii. Follow me. The greek word for follow is akolutheo- which means disciple. One who follows another for the purpose of learning and becoming. A disciple is a person who has put his faith in Jesus Christ, is committed to governing his life by Jesus teaching, and passionately pursues Jesus’ mandate as his own personal mission. This is what Levi gets invited to do.
B. Levi received Jesus into his house.
i. How good is that? Jesus invites Levi to follow him and then ends up following Levi to his house.
ii. What a privilege—Jesus is in my house. It’s a dream come true.
iii. So much happens around a table while eating. People get comfortable and begin to share their heart/begin to open their heart. (Ie. When we lived in KC, every Thursday night we were in someone’s home who had visited the church. We presented the gospel weekly and weekly we saw people saved. Sometimes they would invite us back to tell their friends what they just experienced. Cambodians-came in by the clan!)
C. Levi received Jesus. It was a dream come true.
i. We know that Levi received Jesus as his Savior because Levi is also known as Matthew-the first book of the NT.
ii. Vs. 17 Jesus states that the sick need a doctor. He was speaking of those who were living life without God—they were dying, not living. They needed a doctor. A heart specialist! And when Levi opened his heart to Jesus, Jesus went to work giving him a new heart. It changed Matthew’s life.
3. Help Those Whose Dreams Have Died
A. The Pharisees were men whose dreams of God had died. They were no longer fascinated by the beauty of God/the life of God.
i. Religion that is just rules and regulations is cold and lifeless. Many people, especially those who have been around church for a long time or possibly grew up with church, have acquired a life of religious living that is empty of life.
ii. Their righteousness is a work and not a pleasure.
iii. Their ‘right’ has become a reason to judge others and not a reason to offer them life.
iv. They have lost the dream! Somewhere along the way their dream of freedom died, and now they are bound by cold religion. Most in this place don’t even know that their dream of God has died.
B. Others like the tax collectors, prostitutes, ‘riff-raff’ as the Message Bible says, are already dead. They are living in darkness. You can have all that this life offers, but without God, you are still lost when you pass through deaths doors.
i. The ‘good life’ without God is still empty.
ii. The ‘cool date’ without God is still empty.
iii. The biggest house without God is still not a home.
C. Jesus is like an ER (emergency room) doctor. Triage is full and he has to assess all who come in.
i. Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." NKJV
ii. Jesus is not saying that the Pharisee’s are spiritually healthy. He is saying, “they assume they are well and do not need him.” The sinners he ate and drank with realized that they had a need and Jesus gives them the cure—repent and live.
iii. Jesus comes with God’s cure for sin but you have to realize you have a need before you will accept the cure. Praise God for cure! Praise God we realize we have need of Him.
Conclusion:
· Jesus can certainly cause us to dream. As you look at Jesus and what He did for others do you realize he desires to do the same for you? Just looking at His life creates possibilities! He gives hope where there is none. He gives life where there is none. He gives light where there is only darkness. He can change your life.
· Has he caused you to dream today?
· Have you lost your dream? Is your faith lifeless? Do you realize you have a need even though you have the lifestyle? He will give you life again.
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