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Christ Community Chapel is a church in Hudson, OH, that invites people to reimagine life because of Jesus. Learn more about us at ccchapel.com.
Luke 527 through 32.
After this, he went out
and saw a tax collector named Levi
sitting at the tax booth,
and he said to him, follow me.
And leaving everything,
he arose and followed him.
And Levi
made him a great feast in his house.
And there was a large company
of tax collectors and others
reclining at table with them.
And the Pharisees and their scribes
grumbled at his disciples, saying,
why do you eat and drink
with tax collectors and sinners?
And Jesus answered them, those who are
well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
One of the most hurtful things
you can experience in life
is when people say things
about you that aren't true.
Know when they
talk about things that you did,
only you didn't.
Things
you said that you didn't say, things
they're telling other people you thought
or felt that you never thought or felt.
That's
an incredibly painful experience, in part
because it's hurtful that anyone would do
that, would tell things about you
that aren't true.
It's also hurtful that people would listen
and not defend you, that
they would believe those things,
that that's its own kind of damage.
The Bible talks about that
a lot is called gossip and slander.
And, one day a sermon on that will be
super helpful to all of us, I'm sure.
But that is not this sermon.
This sermon is actually about the times
people talk about you.
And they're right.
It's about the things
people talk about that
you did actually do, that.
You did actually say that you do
think that you do feel.
This is about the kind of pain
that you experience, not from rumor,
but from reputation.
Reputation that's deserved, that's earned.
It's about the guilt and shame
that can often accompany
feeling like everyone is mad at you,
or everyone has rejected you,
that you're alone because you deserve it,
that your family is broken
and you're the one to blame.
It's about reputation,
but it's about more than that.
Because this spring we're spending time
talking about Jesus as Redeemer.
Jesus is the one who sets us free.
And so this sermon is really about
exploring whether or not Jesus can set us
free from reputation, set us free
from guilt and shame that we deserve.
To answer that question,
we're going to be looking at a passage
in Luke chapter five.
So if you have a Bible, would you take it
out and open it to Luke chapter five?
Use your phone, your tablet,
however you want to get there.
And hey, if you're here
and you didn't bring a Bible
or maybe aren't
super familiar with the Bible,
we do have Bibles available to you
in the pew in front of you
here in the West service in the east,
service in the back of the room.
And in those Bibles, I can tell you
today's reading is on page 809.
Of course, the words will be on the screen
behind me if you want to follow along.
That way.
Also, hopefully when you walked into
either venue you got this card.
And on this side is my outline.
If you want to take notes
or just have reference
for what I'm talking about, three points.
Very simple.
I want to talk about reputation and me
reputation and God reputation
and them reputation and me reputation
and God reputation.
And then I'll start with the first one.
Reputation and me.
This is how our passage begins
this weekend.
It says this after this he he
there as Jesus went out
and saw a tax collector named Levi
sitting at the tax booth,
and he said to him, follow me.
And leaving everything,
he rose and followed him.
I've been thinking about this
a lot this week, getting ready
for this sermon,
because I've been asking what?
What kind of a man leaves his job,
quits his job, leaves everything
just because another guy said, follow me.
Like God.
Like, what was that conversation
like when Levi went home
and told his wife,
hey, I quit my job today.
What happened?
Well, a guy showed up and said, follow me.
And that seemed like a good idea.
It feels like
that would be a tough conversation.
Why would you leave everything to go
follow a random guy?
I think there are only two possible
answers to that question.
The first is that you found something
so beautiful,
so powerful, so compelling that it's worth
leaving behind.
Whatever you had.
Like, for example, if I told you
it doesn't matter how much you love your
job, if I told you the church was hiring
and the job paid $1 million a year.
Now, just full disclosure,
no one makes that here.
Okay?
But if I told you that job paid $1
million, you would quit your current job.
And when they said how?
How can you leave?
I thought you liked it here.
You would say, it's not about here,
it's about what I'm going to.
And they would say, what is the job?
And you say, I have no idea,
but it pays $1 million a year.
So I'm moving into that.
It's possible to read Levi is leaving
everything behind because he's found
Jesus to be so powerful, so compelling,
so beautiful that he's worth it.
And Jesus is those things. But not yet.
I mean,
this is Luke chapter five,
not Luke chapter 25.
Not a lot has happened
so far in the story.
In fact, Jesus launches
his public ministry in Luke chapter four.
So at this point when Jesus says,
follow me,
the ministry of Jesus is 57 verses
old, 57 verses.
Okay, there is not enough
that has happened
that would cause a man to leave
everything out.
Levi might have heard some stories about
Jesus, but people are always talking.
It's not like he was following
Jesus on Instagram
and it was aware of everything
that had been happening,
so I don't think he leaves everything
because of Jesus.
Not fully.
So the second reason you would leave
everything is if you were growing
increasingly convinced that your presence
date wasn't good enough,
if your
dissatisfaction was getting high enough
that anything that came along
was better than what you currently had,
I think that's where Levi was.
Levi was a tax collector.
What that means is that when the Roman
Empire would subjugate a group of people,
one of the main reasons they would do
that is for revenue, for tax revenue.
So they needed to collect taxes.
And what they decided was it was better
to hire indigenous leaders to do that.
Right.
There's a lot of reasons for that.
Language, culture, customs. Right.
So they would hire Jewish people
to collect taxes from other Jewish people.
Another reason you would do that
is because the indigenous
leaders,
Jewish people knew who had the money.
So maybe you could convince the Romans,
hey, it just hasn't been a good year.
Sorry, I'd love to give more,
I just can't.
But the local Jewish guy,
the guy you grew up with,
he would be like,
no, I see what you're driving.
Come on, come on, you've got more.
So they would hire these guys and
these guys were hated for obvious reasons.
They were seen as traitors.
They were seeing as taking advantage
of a terrible situation,
making it a good opportunity
for themselves.
They would often collect
more taxes than were owed
because they would pocket the difference
and you could get mad about it.
But everywhere they went,
they had Roman soldiers behind them.
So you had to pay it.
They were thieves.
They were basically mafioso.
I mean, I just want you to imagine
that guy in high school that nobody liked,
okay?
And I want you to imagine he shows up
at your house and says, I need money.
And he had soldiers behind him.
That's how you would feel about Levi.
And I imagine that Levi knew that.
Right?
That that people
made comments to him about.
I bet people talk to his wife
when she was at the store or his parents.
What kind of son
did you raise that he would do that?
And then the only way Levi
got up in the morning and went to work
is because he had convinced himself
they were wrong and he was right.
No, I don't need the Bible for this.
I do this all the time.
When someone criticizes me.
My first reaction, either externally
or internally, is to justify is to defend.
I imagine
Levi went to work and said, look,
if it wasn't me collecting taxes,
it would be somebody else.
I mean, people gotta pay taxes and hey,
don't I deserve a little extra?
I mean, all the
the bitterness and ridicule
I have to deal with,
I mean, people have no idea.
I work hard, I deserve it, he justified.
But slowly and surely
that wasn't working for him anymore.
So that this morning
when Jesus shows up and says, hey, follow
me, Levi is ready for change
because Levi has moved
from excuses to ownership.
See, the first thing
this passage teaches us
is that the first step towards an actual
encounter with God, the first step towards
being set free from your reputation
is to stop blaming
other people and to start taking
ownership for yourself.
I don't
mean that other people haven't been wrong.
I don't mean that other people
haven't done
and said things they shouldn't have done
and shouldn't have said. But.
But what this passage is telling us
is if you really want to meet God,
if you really want to be set free
from your guilt and your shame,
you got to stop focusing on their 20%
and start focusing on your 80%
that Levi is ready to meet God
because Levi is tired of himself.
Are you there yet?
Are you ready to admit that
the reason you're alone
is because of things you've done and said?
The reason your family is broken
is because of,
at least in part,
the things you've done and said.
Do you recognize your addiction and
the way it's hurting people around you?
Do you see your marriage crumbling
as the fruit of your choices?
Listen, I know that's hard.
I know how easy it is
to make excuses and defend.
But if you do that, that's
what this passage is telling us.
You will miss God.
The first step towards God is
a step away from yourself,
a step of ownership.
But I want you to see that if you will
deal with your release your reputation
in that way, then second point here's
how God deals with your relationship.
Now, we tend to think that
if we take ownership of our sin,
if we acknowledge the things we've done,
the things we've said, if we're honest
about our guilt and our shame,
it will cause people to push away from us.
That's why we defend ourselves.
We're we're vulnerable. We're insecure.
We think if we own it, they'll reject us.
And and maybe they will, but we'll. God.
It's interesting.
I'll give you an example.
Post-Covid, I think we've gotten
much better at what I call sick etiquette.
And here's what I mean.
A part of my job is meeting people
for coffee and lunch, which I love to do.
And every now and then in this winter,
which has been awful for sickness,
I'll get a text from someone
and they'll go, hey,
I was looking forward to meeting today,
but I'm feeling under the weather
and I don't want to get you sick,
so let's reschedule.
I think that's very nice.
I mean, I have five kids,
so I've probably already had it.
Okay, but I still. You're thinking of me.
I think that is very nice.
We've gotten a lot better at that.
But you would never do that
to your doctor, would you?
Would you ever
text your doctor and be like,
hey, listen, I know we had a 10:00,
but I'm feeling a little under the weather
and I wouldn't want to get you sick.
I imagine your doctor would shoot you
a text back where she would say,
I'm not really sure you know what I do.
Which is why it's interesting.
We're going to skip a few verses.
We'll come back to him.
When Jesus gets criticized
for calling Levi to follow him.
This is what he says
the very end of our passage.
He says this.
And Jesus answered them, those who are
well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
You see, you and I think that
if we take ownership of our sin,
if we are honest about our mistakes,
that maybe, just maybe,
God would push back from us,
that he wouldn't
welcome us, that he wouldn't love us, that
he wouldn't want anything to do with us.
To which Jesus texts back and says,
I don't think you understand what I do.
Jesus calls himself a doctor for the sick.
He says he came for sinners,
not the righteous.
For those
who are ready to own their guilt.
He says that's his target demographic.
Jesus.
His message
to Levi in the midst of his reputation
is follow me.
That begs the question,
though, doesn't it?
Where are they going?
Where is Jesus taking Levi?
Where will he take you if you are ready?
Well, I think the answer to
that is three places
you got to read the rest of the gospel.
But I'll give you some spoilers.
Three places
that Jesus is going to take Levi.
Three places
he'll take you if you are ready.
The first is he's going
to take Levi to the cross.
That's where Jesus's life is headed.
He's going to go to the cross
and and as he takes Levi to the cross,
I imagine on the way there, Levi
is going to be saying things like,
Jesus, are you sure?
Are you sure you want me?
Are you sure you love me?
Are you sure there's a place for me
and what you're doing?
I mean, do you know what I've done?
Do you know what I've said?
Do you know the excuses
I've made, the lies that I've told?
And Jesus is saying to Levi, yeah, that's
why we're going here.
The Bible says that on the cross
God made him who knew
no sin to become sin.
In order that we might become
the righteousness of God.
You see on the cross, Jesus,
the Son of God, goes to the cross,
and he becomes for Levi.
He becomes the traitor.
He becomes the liar.
He becomes the extortionist.
He becomes the thief.
He becomes the mafioso.
He becomes
the guy who rationalizes and justifies.
And he comes up under the anger and wrath
and judgment of God,
and it's poured out onto Jesus, God
the Father, pouring it out
unto God the Son as part of their divine
and loving plan to rescue sinners
so that Jesus's dying words are
it is finished.
Meaning, Levi, your guilt,
your shame has been dealt with.
You see, if you own your sin,
God won't tell you not to worry about it.
Just forget it.
Let's move past it.
That wouldn't help you, would it?
You know it's too big for that.
It's too dirty for that.
You can't sweep it under the rug.
You would still wonder
if you're really loved if you did that.
So Jesus Christ goes to the cross
and he becomes your addiction,
your infidelity,
your bankruptcy,
your lies, your anger, your pride.
And he deals with your guilt and shame
by taking the punishment.
The second place, Jesus will take Levi,
is not just to the cross,
but to his empty tomb.
You see, Jesus dies and three days later
he rises from the dead.
And that's meaningful because it shows
that God has accept did Jesus's
sacrifice for Levi, but it also shows this
which you and I need to hear,
which is that God can do anything.
We don't just need our guilt and shame
dealt with.
We need to believe that God can change us.
And the resurrection is God saying, well,
which is harder to get you sober
or to raise the dead?
To put your marriage back together,
or to raise the dead,
to fix your anger or to raise the dead.
You get the point.
You see, Jesus says to Levi, follow me.
Not just because he wants to forgive him,
not just because he wants to cleanse him,
but because he has a better future
for a Levi.
And the third place
Jesus will lead Levi in you.
It's not just to the cross,
not just to the empty tomb,
but Jesus will ascend into heaven
and sit on the throne of God.
Be given the keys to heaven.
Jesus will say to Levi, I'm a king.
I have a kingdom,
and there's a role for you in it.
You might imagine that Jesus,
even if he includes Levi, might tell Levi,
listen,
I'm a have a pretty public ministry,
so if you wouldn't
mind, stand in the back,
blend in.
I mean, you're welcome, Levi, but
but I don't want any controversy.
But actually, Levi goes on
to become one of the 12 apostles.
You see,
God doesn't just want to forgive you.
He doesn't just want to change you.
God has meaning
and purpose for you in his kingdom.
You have bought into the idea
that because of your reputation,
your meaning and purpose is over.
But if you will surrender to Jesus,
God says, we're only getting started.
The most meaningful years of Levi's life
were ahead of him, not behind him,
not because of him, but because of Jesus.
If you're ready to say I am broken,
I am sinful, I am guilty.
What they say about me,
at least most of it is true.
If you're ready to stop
looking at what they get wrong
and to start
looking at what they get right,
if you'll take that to Jesus,
Jesus says, we'll go to the cross.
I'll pay for it.
We'll go to the tomb.
I'll change it. We'll go to the throne.
I'll give you something better to do.
Are you ready?
Listen to this church.
We don't push for decisions
because everybody has their own journey,
their own pace, their own story.
But that doesn't mean every now and then
it isn't worth looking at you and saying,
why wouldn't you go to Jesus today?
But if you're open to that,
let me warn you.
That's my third point reputation.
And then I wish I could tell you that
if you are ready to give Jesus your life
to let Jesus deal with your reputation,
then everybody would welcome that.
But this passage tells us that isn't true.
Let's go back to the verse as we skip
this is what they say.
And Levi
made him a great feast in his house.
And there was a large company
of tax collectors and others
reclining at table with them.
And the Pharisees and their scribes
grumbled at his disciples, saying,
why do you eat and drink
with tax collectors and sinners?
This passage tells us,
if you let Jesus change your life,
some people will love it
and some people will hate it.
The ones who love it will be
those like you who know they need change.
Those who like
you know they need forgiveness.
No, they need meaning and purpose.
They will be drawn to you.
They will want to know who did you meet?
What do you know what is changed?
How can I meet him?
How can I know it? How can I change?
Levi throws a party
and everyone like him comes
because they have the same guilt
that he had.
I'm telling you, this is one way that God
will give you meaning and purpose.
Is that what if?
Not only does God want to forgive
you and change you and give you meaning,
but what if he wants to use you
to bring that into your entire family?
You have no idea what he can do,
but some people will hate it.
And I have to tell you, the biggest sucker
punch of all of this is that
the people who hate it will be the ones
you thought you could count on loving it.
It will be religious people.
What's the story?
Religious people hate it. Do you know why?
Because of one of the most common
human ways of not owning
your sin is to be religious.
The thinking goes like this
if I, I won't ever have to actually deal
with my stuff if I do enough good things
to drown it out.
It's like when your house stinks
and you spray orange
air freshener you think you've covered
at the rest of us.
No, it just smells like orange bad stuff.
My right.
I'm right.
Religious people
will hate the change in you.
They'll hate the freedom in you.
They will hate the new conscience.
The clean conscience.
They will hate the idea that God can use
you because you are challenging them.
You're saying,
what if God isn't looking for the good?
What if God is looking for the guilty?
And for them?
That will mean starting all over
and they will hate it.
Listen, I want to tell you something
that isn't about you.
It's about them.
It isn't about you.
It's about them.
You keep moving.
The religious crowd hated Jesus,
so count it
joy when they include you with him.
But church family, you must know that.
That's the point of this story
for us, isn't it?
How will we respond to Levi's
when God brings people into this church
whose reputation we know,
people in our family
and our network, people whose
reputation includes things
they've done to us.
When God forgives them,
when God changes them,
when God cleanses
them, we respond with joy.
I think this
passage is telling us that the best
indicator of how you really view your own
sin is how you respond to the redemption
of others.
Because you see,
if Jesus is our leader
and I think we would say that, right?
I mean, my job title is lead pastor,
but if somebody said
who's in charge of KCC, I would say Jesus.
But if Jesus is a doctor,
then what does that make this place?
A hospital,
a place for Levi's?
Listen,
that's what every Minute Matters is about.
That's what the way we do
Ministry is about.
God bring more and more Levi's.
Are you in with that?
Do you have your scrubs on?
I mean, that's why we give.
That's why we serve.
That's why we we do the things we do
so that God might change.
More people rescue more families.
Are you in with that?
I'll give you one practical way.
I mean, we're at capacity last week
and I said 700 seats across four services.
We are at capacity in a hospital.
Here's what that means.
You will say to me, Zack, where
do you have the most seats in a service?
And you'll go to that one.
You'll sit as
close to the front as you possibly can.
You'll make sure there's if there's there
is room on your row, it's on the end.
And you will say to God, put a Levi
in that seat.
Last week I was helping
someone find their seat at 1130.
I had to walk them all the way down
to the front and sit next to Joe,
and my heart broke because I saw it.
And I do this too,
because I do it too. I'm not judging you.
We're all the same.
I do this too.
I thought none of us have thought
about this family.
When I stopped them, they said, it's
okay, we'll stand in the back.
It's not about me.
It's not about you.
This place is a hospital for the sick.
Because that's who Jesus is.
Let me pray for us.
Father God, thank you so much
for the story of Levi, the tax collector.
I know there are people here right now
who came in thinking
you could not possibly love them.
You could not possibly forgive them
that the truest thing about them
was their reputation.
God made the truth of the resurrection
drown out the truth of our reputations.
This morning,
in the name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.