Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

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I don’t have to tell you that our world is falling apart. You already know it. You’re reminded every time you turn on the news. You’re reminded every time you get on Facebook. The world we live in is getting worse and worse. Christians, even today, are being persecuted all over the world. When we hear about things like Christians being kidnapped, beaten, and beheaded, we’re very aware that the earth is not a safe place for us to live.

And yet, when a newspaper editorial once asked the question, “What’s wrong with the world?” a well-known Christian at the time wrote in and replied, “I am.”

You see, the thing is, when we think about why the world is as bad as it is, we should also remember that we’re part of the problem. We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But the good news is that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And, in fact, Jesus came into the world to save only sinners.

And while all people truly fall into that category, not all people acknowledge it. And the thing is, someone cannot accept the grace of God until they first admit that they need the grace of God.

I once saw a huge sign in a church building, right at the entrance to the sanctuary, which said, “No perfect people allowed.” You see, one of the most basic things about being a Christian is admitting that we are not perfect, we have all sinned, and that we are not worthy of God or His heaven.

But God demonstrates his love for us in this way: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And if God demonstrated His love for us in that way, we ought to demonstrate our love for Him by living for Jesus.

Read Luke 5:27-32

At the beginning of this passage, we see once again the absolute abandon that we should have when we follow Jesus. When Jesus called Levi to follow Him, Jesus left everything and followed Him. We saw this also with Peter, Andrew, James, and John in verse 11 of this chapter. They left their boats and nets, and Levi left his tax booth, but the implication for us is the same: are you willing to leave everything to follow Jesus?

A couple weeks back, I was driving in my car on a freezing cold day. So I turned the heater on full blast. But it wasn’t getting any warmer in the car. You know those days? It’s just so cold out. So after a few minutes, I’m still freezing, and I put my hand over the air vent, thinking I can at least warm my hand up, but it just kept on blowing freezing cold air. A couple minutes later, I did the same thing, and it seemed even colder than before, so I looked at the temperature control to see what was going on, and sure enough, it was set to full blast, but it was set to blow cold air rather than heat!

You’re never going to get hot when you’re stuck on cold. You’re never going to be on fire for Jesus if you keep intentionally doing things that are opposed to Jesus.

People wonder sometimes why they’re not growing in their faith. Why God seems so far away. Why they’re discontent in life when Jesus promised them joy, and I ask them: are you reading your Bible? Are you praying every day? Are you faithfully gathering with God’s people to worship, not just because you think you have to, but because you long to know God more and worship with His people, and serve Him because you’ve experienced His love and grace? When you love Jesus, you’re going to live in such a way that shows how much Jesus loves you.

Levi’s story is a great example of this. Being a tax collector meant being a crook. Tax collectors would collect the taxes they were supposed to collect for the government, but then they would collect a little extra for themselves. So when Levi left his tax booth, he was leaving his greed. He was leaving his sin. He was demonstrating the absolute abandon that we should have when we follow Jesus.

Are you willing to do that? Or are you still holding on to your sin? The thing is, when you take God’s call on your life seriously, you’ll gladly give up sin to follow Christ.

But it’s not just that you give up sin, it’s that you rejoice in Christ! Look at what Levi did (v. 29). He threw Jesus a party! He invited everyone he knew: other tax collectors, other friends, Jesus’s disciples, and Jesus Himself, and they all kicked back and had a great time! When you come to know Jesus as Savior, it’s a joyful thing! The Bible says that angels in heaven celebrate when just one sinner repents. And we should join in on their celebration! It’s a joyful thing to follow Christ! It’s not about a bunch of rules to follow. It’s not about being a good person. It’s about experiencing the love of God, the grace of God, and therefore desiring to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And desiring to love your neighbor as yourself. Because Jesus gave His life for you, and it’s a joyful privilege to give your life for God and others.

If you know me at all, you probably know that I’m not much of a sports fan. I mean, if you want to talk sports with me, I’ll smile and nod, but just know that I have no idea what you’re talking about. But I do know this: if your team loses it’s passion, it’s going to lose the game.

I played a couple team sports when I was in school: baseball, and a little bit of basketball, and even though I usually sat the bench, I could tell when we’d lose the game without even looking at the scoreboard. It was when my team had given up even before the end of the game.

As Christians, we need to have a passion for living for God, and it comes from remembering how much God loves us. He causes us to have joy, even when nothing else in our lives is right, we can rejoice in Christ, and rejoice in our salvation.

That’s what Levi did. He threw a party for Jesus as soon as Jesus called him to follow him, because Levi knew that even though he had been living a life of sin as a tax collector and crook, Jesus had forgiven him. And, when you’re forgiven by Jesus through faith in Him, you have all the reason in the world to rejoice with Jesus.

But the Pharisees grumbled about it. You know that one guy who never seems to be happy for others? That’s the Pharisees.

Levi had just come to Christ! He was excited about following Christ! And Levi was rejoicing that He had a Savior in Jesus, who saved him not on the basis of his own goodness, but because Jesus is good, and loves us, and gives us His grace. We need to rejoice with those who rejoice! Especially when people come to Christ! And especially when those who come to Christ are great sinners, which, by the way, all of us are.

But the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled about it, saying in verse 30, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus was sharing a meal with Levi and all his friends, having a great time, because Levi was rejoicing that Jesus was with them, and rather than rejoicing with them, the Pharisees grumbled and wanted to criticize Jesus and His disciples.

And as the Pharisees were being critical, notice what they called the people Jesus was spending time with. They called them tax collectors and sinners. And they certainly were! Levi had been a crook. Many of his friends were crooks. But Jesus was rightly called a friend to sinners. He ate and drank with them. He spent time with them. Jesus never condoned sin, yet He was always eager to welcome sinners and forgive sinners when they repented of their sin. And these people that came to Levi’s party were definitely sinners.

But notice what the Bible calls these same people (v. 29). It calls them tax collectors and others. The Bible doesn’t call some people sinners and others not. And it doesn’t distinguish some people as worse sinners than others.

Sometimes our natural inclination is to label some people as worse sinners than others. “Oh, I’d never do that…that’s just awful.” “Did you see the way that mom treated her child? That’s just horrible.” “All those people in prison deserve to rot there. They’re getting what they deserve.” But the thing is, we’re all sinners in need of the grace of God, and like Jesus, we need to love people, even when the people around you aren’t exactly like you. Yes, they have issues to work through, but so do you. So do I. Don’t be so critical. We need to love people where they are, because Jesus loved us where we were. When we spend time with people in order to encourage them and share the gospel with them, we should never look down on them. Because we’re sinners, too.

And even though Jesus wasn’t even a sinner, He didn’t look down on sinners, either. He had compassion on them (v. 31-32). Jesus was comparing sin with sickness. When someone is sick, you don’t look down on them for being sick, you have compassion.

Now, there’s a movement today to label all kinds of things as sicknesses and diseases rather than call them sin. And certainly there are some biological and mental health issues which cause some people to be tempted in certain ways. But by comparing sin to sickness, Jesus was not excusing the sin, but was saying that He is the cure!

Whatever struggle you have, never be complacent. Never use it as an excuse to sin. Strive in all things to be faithful to Christ, because He is the great Physician, and He will help you to overcome your sickness and sin.

In fact, if you don’t do that, if you don’t look to the Great Physician for the healing of your sin-sickness, then I think Jesus was clear here that He didn’t come to call you to be saved. Jesus said that He didn’t come to call the righteous. What He was saying was that if you think think you’re doing ok, then Jesus isn’t for you. It’s not that you don’t need Him, because you do, but you just won’t ever really accept Him.

As long as you think you’re righteous, or at least good enough, you won’t fall down before Jesus and ask for His help. His forgiveness. His grace.

Now, this illustration might not make much sense to some of you, because you’re still where I used to be. But I didn’t realize how much I needed an iPhone until I got an iPhone. Those of you who have iPhones, or another smartphone, know what I’m talking about. I used to think, back when I was using my normal old flip phone, “This is good enough! I mean, an iPhone might be nice and all, but this does everything I really need. I can make phone calls, I can text message, I can even use it to tell time! This is good enough!” But then I got my hands on an iPhone, and saw how much easier it is to use to text, and how helpful it would be to keep my to-do list on it, and how I could keep my calendar on it, and I could use it as a camera, and have my Bible on it, and my prayer journal on it, so that I could have these things with me all the time without carrying around a suitcase of all these things and I realized, “This is exactly what I need!”

I don’t share all these things to convince you that you need an iPhone, because you don’t, and I don’t, not really. But I share this to illustrate the truth that as long as you think your life is good enough, you will never ask God for what you really need.

Listen, God wants to forgive you, but first you need to really realize that you need His forgiveness. You need to really realize that you’re sick. And you need to truly believe that Jesus is the Physician who can heal you, and forgive you, and save you from your sin.