Flipside Christian Church

Well, again, welcome, Presidents Day
weekend.

Right? Yeah.

Which president is it?

All of them.

This is for all. Is for everybody.

Is that what it is?

Yeah.

Well, happy birthday, president.

Hey, Matthew.

Matthew nine today.

Let me just say this, though,
before we get into Matthew nine.

Thank you for the opportunity
to be gone last week.

And, and I got to spend, quite a few days
in Idaho with our kids and,

and our grandkids and having a great time
just being together with them.

Doing a lot of family stuff.

It was, it was
it was a great time to be away.

Thank you for the opportunity.

David did a great job.

Closing out chapter eight last week.

I appreciate him.

But it is super good to be back.

It's it's.

Of course,
I never get enough time with our kids,

you know, and and the grandkids,
but I sure do miss not being here.

So it's it's good to be back with you.

In Matthew nine, we're going to

look at the first portion of that chapter

and then wrap up Matthew nine next week
as we continue

to make our way through the book.

But I want to help us understand, Matthew,
what's in this book,

why this book is written
the way it is and the uniqueness of it.

Four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke,

and John, two of the four Gospels

were written by the disciples
of Jesus, Matthew and John.

Mark and Luke were not disciples of Jesus,
so they're not eyewitness accounts

of the life of Jesus
and his public ministry.

Or was
they were kind of investigative reporters

that were telling others
eyewitness accounts about it.

But Matthew and John
are eyewitness accounts

of the, of the life,
the public ministry of Jesus.

And so what we have in the book of Matthew
is this is Matthew's experience of Jesus

walking with him, being with him,

observing what he did, how he did it.

And, and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Matthew was a Jew, as was John.

And so Matthew, as he presents
the history of Jesus

and his experience with Jesus,
he presents it from a Jewish mindset.

And he's writing basically to Jews

about the revelation
of the Jewish Messiah.

The prophecy for generations
had been that a Jewish Messiah was coming

that would liberate the Jewish nation,
would liberate the Jewish people.

They thought it would be
a political liberation.

And in this context, specifically
from the Roman occupiers of their land,

as Matthew would discover,
and as we know, as we read Scripture,

the liberation that the Messiah brought
was not

a political liberation,
but a spiritual liberation,

and the inauguration
of the beginning of the Kingdom of God

that will culminate
at the Messiah's return

and the establishment
of that kingdom on the earth.

And so it's it's
a very Jewish written book

from a Jewish mindset
written to Jewish thinkers.

And so what Matthew presents
the way he writes

and the things that he communicates
are from that perspective.

And you and I don't grasp the depth

of that and the fullness of it,
because that's not our background.

And so to understand how beautiful
this account is

and how powerful and profound it
is, we've got to do some interpretation,

not just of the Scripture,
but of the Jewishness of it.

And so I'm going to draw some of that out
as we go through this, especially

this morning.

So far this
year, just looking at the first section,

this chunk of Matthew chapters,
let's say one through ten,

there's three sections in this in chapters
one through ten, chapters one and four.

The first section
is the revelation of the person of Jesus.

So Matthew is just revealing to us
the person of Jesus,

who he who
he was as a person born into this world.

Matthew five through seven

are the principles of Jesus
that were recorded.

We call that the sermon on the Mount,
where Jesus says, here's

the principles of my discipleship,
the principles of my kingdom.

So one through four chapters, one through
four, the person of Jesus revealed.

Chapters five, six, seven,
the principles of Jesus being recorded.

And then in this section, chapters
eight through ten,

the power of Jesus being released.

So what Jesus has just got done
doing in the sermon on the Mount

saying, here's, here's my kingdom,
this is my this is my authority.

This is a whole new way
of understanding the kingdom of God.

And he taught it with great authority.

And so now the natural question is, okay,
you can talk a good game.

Jesus.

But do you have any power?

And authority to back it up?

And so chapters

eight, nine, ten Jesus says, yeah,
I do have power to serve to back it up.

And as a proof of that, I'm
going to release my power into your world

so you can see that I have power
in the world to back up the authority

that I've been talking about.

So that's wherever you go.

And in chapters eight, nine, ten,
we're going to see the power of Jesus

released and unleashed.

And we saw that in chapter eight,
in these miracles,

in chapters eight, nine, ten, there's
ten miracles that Jesus will do that

will prove he has the power and authority

to back up his claims spiritually.

And we see these first three miracles
in chapter eight.

These are miracles
just by the grace of God.

These first three people
that that are healed

by Jesus
as he releases his power and authority

in this world to back up his
claims were done simply by God's grace.

None of these three people
deserved anything from God.

The first who was healed was a leper
and a leper.

Was that person who was this, this
debilitating and fatal disease, incurable,

who was cut off, ostracized, cast out,

denied by the community, by the society.

He had no standing, no place completely
shut off from all human contact.

He brought nothing to the table
that would make God say, you know what?

You deserve to be healed.

It was just by the grace of God.

The second person who was healed
and in chapter eight

was on behalf of a Roman soldier
whose servant was sick

and Jesus, in responding to the faith
as a Roman soldier, a non-Jew,

the opposition force

who was brutalizing
the Romans were the Jewish God's people

asked Jesus to heal his servant,

the Roman soldier
brought nothing to the table

that would say, that would make God say,
you know what, Roman soldier?

You're worthy for me to step in and
intervene and, and, and and do nothing.

It was simply by the grace of God that
soldier did not deserve God's good hand.

And then the third

person in Romans
eight was Peter's mother in law,

who didn't ask Jesus for anything.

She was she was out cold.

And Jesus, just by his grace,
it was a woman and woman.

Women in this culture
had no standing whatsoever.

She had no right to ask anything.

And she didn't ask anything.

It was just by the grace of God.

And so what we see
these first three of ten miracles

is the grace of God
extending through the person of Jesus

to assert his complete authority
that backs up his claims.

And then these next two miracles
that we see

in, as David taught last week,

Jesus's authority,

over chaos and his authority to deliver

when it calms the storm and frees
the demon possessed men.

And he's he's saying,
look, I know I made some big claims,

and now I'm going to prove to you
I have authority to make those claims.

And then in chapter nine,
we're going to continue to see

the revelation of his power
and the release of his power in the world,

and the inauguration of a new kingdom.

Here's what I want us to get the big idea
for this.

This morning.

Jesus doesn't patch torn up lives.

He recreates them.

Jesus did not come

to patch the holes in our life.

He came to recreate our life.

We have to understand this
because I think this is

this is what we miss so often.

We know that our lives get broken right?

We know the holes that we have,
the terrors

that we have, the pains that we have,
the problems that we have.

And so many of us come to God
and say, God, fix that right?

Like step in and do something

like, patch this.

Jesus has too much power

and a thorn to patch it up
to get us further down the road.

He wants to recreate it.

He doesn't want to patch the hole
in the tire

so we can make it a few more miles down
the road of our life.

He wants to completely remake it
and reform it

and reshape it, make it completely new.

And I think are so many of our problem
is, God, would you just help

me get further down the road?

He says, no, I don't want to do that.

I've come to make all things
new, including you.

And if all you want from me
is to patch your hole

so you can get off,
you can make it another day.

You don't understand who I am.

You don't understand what I do.

And you're asking far too little of me.

And I'm not going to devalue

who I am to fit in your little box.

It's a new kingdom,

and I'm too big

to fit in your left over broken spaces.

I want to recreate them to understand.

So let me read Matthew nine
verses one through eight,

and there's a, corollary
passage in Mark 12.

I'm going to read that one too, in
just a minute.

But Mark nine verses one through eight,
this is what the Bible says.

And getting into a boat,
he crossed over and came to his own city,

which is Capernaum.
We'll learn that later.

And behold, some people brought to him
a paralytic lying on a bed.

And when Jesus saw their face,
he said to the paralytic,

take heart, my son,
your sins are forgiven.

And behold, some of the scribes

said to themselves,
this man is blaspheming.

And Jesus knowing their thoughts.

That's a frightful sentence.

He said,
why do you think evil in your hearts?

For which is easier to say, your sins are
forgiven, or to say, rise and walk,

but that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority

there it is on earth to forgive sins.

He then said to the paralytic,
rise, take up your bed and go home.

And he rose and went home.

Then the crowd saw it.

When the crowd saw it, they were afraid,

and they glorified God
who had given such authority to men.

And that's
how Matthew tells this eyewitness account.

Now in in Mark chapter two,

we see this same account
from a different perspective.

Now, Mark was not a disciple,
so this is not Mark's eyewitness account.

Many people believe that
Mark was the scribe for Peter,

and Peter was a disciple.

So this is probably Peter's retelling
of Mark as Mark writes it down for Peter.

Okay, so

first, chapter two, verse one.

And when he returned to Capernaum,
that's his home towns.

After some days,
it was reported that he was at home,

whose home is probably Peter's home,
because he had just

healed Peter's mother in law,

and many were gathered together

so that there was no more room,
not even at the door.

And he was preaching the word to them.

You know, I read that and I thought,
that is awesome.

Like he's not doing anything.

He just preaching.

And there are so many people
that come from the entire town

that they can't even get inside anymore.

That sorry.

You're stuck with me.

And so far, there
no line outside the door.

So we'll just we'll go with what we got.

And it is what it is.

But. Jesus,
he could lay it down, preaching,

And they

came, bringing to him
a paralytic carried by four men.

And when they could not get near him

because of the crowd,
they removed the roof above him.

And when they had made an opening,
they let down the bed

on which the paralytic lay.

And when Jesus saw their faith,
he said of the paralytic, son,

your sins are forgiven.

Now some of the scribes were sitting there
questioning in their hearts,

why does this man speak like that? He's
blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

And immediately Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they requested,

that they thus questioned
within themselves,

said to them, why do you question
these things in your hearts?

Which is easier to say to the paralytic,
your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise,

take up your bed and walk,

but that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins.

He said to the paralytic, I say to you,
rise, pick up your bed and go home.

And he rose and immediately picked up
his bed and went out before them all,

so that they were all amazed and glorify
God, saying,

we've never saw anything like this.

So same account, different perspectives.

It's important to understand

both what Matthew says about this
and what Mark says about this.

What we

learn is that there's a paralyzed man,

and we learn from both accounts
that they're friends.

There's four of them

are so concerned about their friends need

that they do everything in their power

to introduce their friend to Jesus.

And the Bible says that Jesus saw faith.

Whose faith did
Jesus see that prompted his healing

in their friends faith?

Apparently
the paralytic had no faith whatsoever,

but their friends had faith.

There are times in yours in my life

when we need to borrow
someone else's faith,

when we just don't have it anymore,

stuff goes down.

Life happens.

Our faith falters, and we think God help.

And we need people around our lives

who can believe for us
when we can't believe anymore.

You understand

who have enough faith.

I say, listen,
I know that you can't see this right now.

You can't understand this right now.

You have no faith.

Let me lend you my faith for a time.

And this is why it's so important.

Why we are a part of a group of people

who are people of faith

that we walk with and do life
with each other, who are people.

Because there will come times,
you know, this

either in your own life
or on behalf of your kids or what,

where you're like, I can't in them,
I don't know.

And we need people who say, listen, though

you don't believe in this moment,
let me believe for you

to understand. Yeah.

And sometimes that's all God requires
in order

to work in the faith
of the one who has lost their faith.

And their

faith became the touch point
for a healing from Jesus.

It wasn't his faith,

but it provided a touch point
for him to be healed.

And the first words out of Jesus's mouth,
well, let me say this.

Let me say this. Let me see this.

What these people are doing

is they're evangelizing their friend.

Now, all evangelism means is good news.

When you evangelize, all of you do
all that is, it's a churchy word.

Don't let it scare you.

All it means is you tell someone
the good news of Jesus.

That's what that means.

And so these people are like,
look, you have a need

that cannot be met by anything or anyone.

I got good news for you,
and I want to introduce you to Jesus.

That's what they're saying.

That's what they're saying.

Oftentimes, I want you to notice this.

Oftentimes evangelism
begins with being inconvenienced.

These
for stopped everything in their life.

They were so burdened by their friend
and their friends need that.

They thought
how do we get this guy to Jesus?

How do we introduce him to Jesus?

They were so burdened and so overwhelmed

because their friend had a need
that they could they couldn't meet.

Nobody could mean it,
but they knew Jesus could.

Anybody?

And they were so overwhelmed,

out of love for their friend

who was far from God and suffering

that they would stop at nothing
to introduce him

to Christ.

Do you love anybody like that?

What have you stopped at?

So they press in the door.

They can't get in.

They'll make a way.

Here's what we have to understand.

The best of friends
don't just support you.

They bring you to Jesus.

If you are a Christ follower

and you have people in your life
who need Jesus,

the best friend you can be
is not someone who just supports them

in their pain and encourages them.

The best thing you can do
is stop at nothing

to introduce them
and bringing them to Christ.

To understand, know.

This is why
I'm teaching that class tonight.

I will give you the tools you have to have

the desire.

The first thing
Jesus says this guy is what?

He's laying there paralyzed.

Do you have a Bible?

Look at it.

No, he doesn't say your sins are forgiven.

That's not what he says. First, right?

Yeah.

He doesn't say, rise.
Take up your bed and walk.

What you say,
the first thing he says, take heart.

Be of good cheer. Now watch this.

These guys are so burdened
that their friend.

No, Jesus, they can't get in.

So they go to the roof
and start tearing off the roof.

This is Peter's house.

Can you imagine what Peter's thinking is
like?

Look, Jesus, I followed
you and you're just disrupting everything.

Like, first

mother in law.

I mean, we talked about that
two weeks ago.

Like I never asked that you.

Well, go with it, though.

And now my house.

Do you understand that sometimes

when you attach to Jesus,
he makes stuff chaotic?

And so Peter's looking at this.

The roofs came, you know, whole.

And all of a sudden
this paralyzed man is laying there

and the first words out of Jesus mouth is,
what can't be of good.

Yeah, literally be of good cheer.
Okay. Wait, wait.

Be of good cheer.

I'm paralyzed.

Why does Jesus say be of good cheer?

There are times

when you and I don't need a new situation.

What we need is a good word from God.

There are times

when what we need is to hear God
say, listen,

I know you,
I see you, and I've got good news for you.

That's the first thing
we need to hear from him.

There are times
when we don't need a new plan.

We don't need good advice.

We need hope.

Spoken to us.

And that's what Jesus does.

First, I have hope for you.

I have hope for you.

Sometimes

when we enter into the difficulty
of another person

and speak hope into their life,
we're not blowing smoke up.

There's
what we're doing is that hope is fuel

for their faith.

You reminded me that God is good

and that he can

be of good cheer.

That's evangelism.

It's good news.

And he says to this man, be of good cheer.

He's looking at the paralyzed guy,

sees the faith of his friends,

be of good cheer.

Here's the good news.
Your sins are forgiven.

What do you think
the four guys are thinking?

Well, what?

The paralyzed.

We tore the roof off so we can get to you.

And you're going to tell him
his sins are forgiven?

I mean, what do you say?

We don't know. But what's the x?

What do we think they were expecting?

When you beat them, you get up a walk
and Jesus says your sins are forgiven.

What do you think
the paralyzed guy's thinking comes over?

Okay, cool.

Let me suggest something.

I think Jesus knows his greatest
not only need,

but his greatest desire.

Healing

would come, but healing was evidence.

Forgiveness was the mission.

And Jesus addressed his deepest

need first, not the most visible need.

Paralysis was temporary.

Unforgiven. Sin was eternal.

Jesus understood.

And I'm going to suggest to you
that this man understood that

Jesus will deal with the eternal problem

first,
before he addresses the physical one.

See, the worst thing in life

is not what hurts us,

but what separates us from God.

And this is why I think

Jesus addressed his spiritual need first,
because I think

this man wanted that addressed

though he couldn't speak it.

What do we know about Jesus?

In his response to the scribes
who said, this guy's blaspheming?

What do we know about Jesus?

He knew there what?

So put it together.

He knows the scribes thoughts

and he addresses their thoughts.

Right?

That's what he deals with.

I suggest to you

that in looking at this paralyzed man,
he knows that this paralyzed guy

ultimately knows life is fleeting
and is difficult.

I need to be right
with God before all else.

And so Jesus deals first with that
deepest desire that this man had.

God, would you just make me
right with you?

If you could do
that, I will give up my legs.

That was
the greatest desire that this man had.

That's my suggestion to you.

That's why Jesus dealt with it.

First, because he knows our thoughts.

To understand.

And so the question that I have in reading
is understanding

that is this.

If all I do is want

God to show up and meet my most immediate,
visible need

and I'm willing to sacrifice

being right with him for him to do it.

Why would he?

Why should he?

Can we say,

can we say, can we be okay?

Say, Lord, even if you never hear me,

I just want to be right with you.

Is your faith

worth your legs?

That's what he was saying to the paralytic
in the paralytic said absolutely,

absolutely.

And of course, out of that

just says, okay, look.

And you don't think I can forgive sin?

What's easier to say
your sins are forgiven?

Or to say, get up and walk.

So to prove to you
I have authority over what I said,

I'm going to release my power
in this guy's life.

Get up your

take up your bed and walk.

Let me just say this

a word about healing and repentance,
and I just

I just want to throw this out there.

I don't have all the answers this,

but I just want to help
you understand what the Bible says.

There's a danger in us
walking away from this thinking, well,

if someone isn't healed
because they're sinful, that's not

that's not what the Bible says.
That's not what I'm saying.

Please don't think that if someone is ill,
that's because they're sin.

Unrepentant sin.

Don't don't think that
and don't ever put that on somebody.

If you just had more faith, you're more
holy. You'd be healed.

Don't ever, please don't ever do that.

That's just a lie from the devil.
So I want I want to be clear about that.

But I also want us to understand
Scripture.

And the book of James says, therefore

confess your sins to one another, and pray
for one another, that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person
has great power as it is working.

Here's what he's saying.
You're saying that there's a correlation

between unrepentant and

unforgiven sin and our bodies.

Again, it doesn't mean that
if someone's sick or ill that they're sin.

But think about it like this.

If if, if if if you're

living in the sin of alcoholism

and you say, God, please heal my liver,

God is going to say no.

Why don't you confess that sin
and repent of it?

First,

you're a chain smoker
and you say, God, please heal my lungs.

He's going to say,
why don't you repent of your sin?

The that that's more along this line.

You understand that?

And so and so we have to be.

But there's another verse in, in,

in the book of third John, John
the Apostle, he's an old man.

Look at what he said. This is
this is amazing.

I don't have the answer.
That's not what the Bible says.

Beloved, listen, I, I pray that you may
prosper in all things and be in health.

That's not a bad prayer,
but look at what he attached to it.

Just as your soul prospers.

In other words, listen.

I pray that your body is as healthy

as your soul. Wow.

And so many times

when we have these needs, God,
I need you to step in and intervene.

Do this for me physically, he says I can,

but you make sure.

That the spiritual thing

is taken care of first.

Many people ask me to pray for them
in this church, and I do.

But my prayer for you

is, father, as they are devoted to you

and right and serving your kingdom, move
and intervene in their life

so they can continue serving you
and loving you.

Don't just heal them
so they can go off in their sin

to understand,

Yeah. Yes.

In in Mark

chapter two, verse 11 about this account,
Jesus says, look, you're healed.

He says, now go home.

He sends them home.

He doesn't say, you go out in the public
square and tell them all about me.

He doesn't say.

He says, just go home.
And here's what I think that's important.

Here's why I think that's important,

because healing that

Jesus has to be seen at home first.

It has to be seen at home first.

The change in you as a man, as a husband,

as a father, has to show up at home
behind closed doors.

First.

The change in you as a wife,

as a mother, has to show up
behind closed doors at home.

First.

If we act apart in public
but don't live apart

at home, it's a false conversion
and a false faith.

You understand this

well.

We're nice to everybody else.

And a terrible person at home.

It's a false faith.

Go home.

Live a saved, redeemed life at home.

And then we come to the other.

In verse nine.

And Jesus passed on from there.

And he saw a man called Matthew sitting

at the tax collectors
booth and said to him, follow me.

And he rose and followed him.

This tax collector,

we know from another passage
that this guy Matthew, his name was Levi.

That's important because he was probably
from the tribe of Levi.

And that is important because
the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe.

So here's this young man who was probably
part of the priestly tribe,

who should have gone into the ministry
but rather

chose the world of materialism.

He became a tax collector

in this day, as Rome ruled the world,

they taxed the Jews very heavily.

They had what was called a poll tax,
which was they taxed the right to breathe

because they believe
that all air was Roman air.

And so for the Jews, once a boy turned 14,

until the age he was 60,
he was taxed for the right to breathe.

Girls, they started at 12 years old to 60,
taxed him for the right to breathe.

They had a will tax.

If you had a card with one will,
you were tax a certain amount,

but every will you added to
that cart was more taxed.

They taxed every wheel, even the
for the fisherman every fish was taxed.

They didn't tax the right to fish
and they didn't tax what you gained

on the fish though they did tax income
tax 10% right off the top.

But they added to that tax
for every single fish that the fishermen,

they were overtaxed. Yeah. Anybody.

And so then this he's not in the Bible.

But historically there's this guy
named Newsome who came along that copied

their tax code.

Yeah, yeah.

And and so
and so the way Rome collected their taxes

is they use Jews
to collect taxes from Jews.

And a Jewish man
could buy the right to be a tax collector.

He would have to pay them, pay Rome
for the right to collect taxes,

and then Rome would tell him, here's
how much all the taxes are.

They wouldn't tell the popular show.

The people had no idea
what the tax rate was.

The tax code was the the Rome
told the tax collector, and then Rome told

the tax collector, this is what our do is
you can tax them how much you want.

And once you pay us, you get to keep
everything else and so the tax collectors

were extortionists, backed by the Roman
authority and by Roman soldiers.

So the Jews were at their mercy.

And so a Jewish tax collector

was hated and despised by the Jews.

He he lost all of his Jewishness
by being a tax collector.

And so this guy Levi, who
probably should have been in the ministry,

sought materialism instead

and cut himself off from everything

that was Jewish and became a tax collector

and he was despised by the Jews.

But he was also because he was you.

He was disposable by Rome.

So understand what this means.

For Matthew to follow Jesus,

it cost him greatly.

We know from the book of.

We know from the book of, Luke

after this same account.

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 rose and follow him.

We don't understand what this means
when he says, you left everything.

And notice
Matthew doesn't say he left everything.

Matthew just says, I followed.

Luke tells us that he left everything.

Here's why that's important.

He had already left his Jewish community.

He couldn't go back to the Jews
because he was a tax collector.

He lost his Jewish community.

He lost his use. Ideally,
he lost his Jewish connections.

He lost his Jewish family.

He lost his Jewish everything
because he was a tax collector.

So now for him to leave,

being a tax collector
now, he was cutting himself off from Rome.

He can never go back.

If this Jesus thing didn't work out
and started being a tax collector again,

he was. He became an island to himself.

He had no Jewish connection
and now he had no Roman allegiance.

He left everything the fishermen

Peter and Andrew, James and John.

If the Jesus thing didn't work out,

they go back to fishing,
which they did after the crucifixion.

Matthew could not go back to anything.

If Jesus didn't work out for him,
he was done

for him to follow Jesus.

He left his paycheck.

He left his position.

He left his protection.

He left his stability.

He left his future.

He left his identity.

He left everything.

So much courage.

So much courage.

Listen.

Discipleship begins where excuses end.

I wonder

how many of us, how many times
we said, Lord, I would love to.

I just.

I just can't right now.

Can't afford it.

Too busy.

Got this going on.

Got that going on. Too much in debt.

I mean that would I would have to leave,

you know.

And Matthew is one of my heroes.

Such a courageous young man.

He had nothing.

If this didn't work out.

No negotiation, no delay, no conditions.

Total allegiance.

Here's what I know.

Comfortable faith
isn't the same as Christianity.

This is not the same.

And so what? Jesus.

Jesus is radical man and he's called.

He said, look, this is what my kingdom is.

I'm not calling you

to be a moral good person.

I I'm calling you to a total allegiance

to a completely new kingdom.

We've got a few more verses.

You all right?

Here we have verse ten.

And Jesus reclined at table in the house.

So this is at Matthew's house.

Okay.

We call it a table in the house.

Behold, many tax collectors
and sinners came and were reclining

with Jesus and his disciples.

I mean, the only friends Matthew had
was a bunch of,

you know, sinners like him, right?

Tax collectors and prostitutes,
you know, government people.

I mean, this is just kind
of their kind of their world.

And when the

Pharisees saw this,
they said to his disciples,

why does your teacher eat
with tax collectors and sinners?

But when he heard it,
he said, those who are

well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.

Go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for
I came to call, not to call the righteous,

but sinners.

We don't understand because this is such

a Jewish thing about eating with people.

This is why the reason
is just revolted against it.

Let me tell you what's what happens,

when in the Jewish mindset,
when they would eat with someone.

David, stand up here.

Like,
if Dave and I are having a meal together.

Take a piece of the bread.

Just a piece you got to eat.
I mean, that's it.

Like chunk. My gosh.

And just eat it.

Just eat it. Yeah.

I mean, we're we're eating together.

The loaf of bread, the bread together,
you know

what happening in the Jewish mind

is this little bread is my sustenance.

It's my life.

Because as I eat it
and my body ingests it,

the nutrients of it
go into every cell of my body.

And same thing with Dave.

You're still eating it?

No, we need some wine or something
to go with it.

Right?

Oh, no. It's church water.

We need water.

And so Dave's doing the same thing.

And as he eats
that the nutrients from the loaf

are permeate a permeate
permeating every cell in his body.

And so Dave and I are sharing
from the same life.

And this life is now part of both of us.

Do you understand?

So to eat with someone means that
now our lives are connected

now, not we're we're part of each other

now, and there's a relationship
and there's an intimacy,

and there's my life is part of you,
and your life is now part of me.

It was a special,
sacred thing to eat with somebody.

Well done.

Here's your bread.

And and and and so what

they're saying is, Jesus, if you're this
holy man, how can you share?

Let there life is a part of you.

They're horrible people
and your life is a part of them.

You you've instituted this relationship
between each other.

That doesn't compute.

What do you think?

Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

You partake of me

and now we are partaking of the same loaf
together.

There's a sacredness
and an intimacy between Christ followers.

In the Jewish mind, they

could never have a business meal
and let it get

like,
like rough and abusive with each other

because there's an intimacy
to eating with each other.

And that's why
it just didn't compute with them.

And Jesus says of him, listen,
I didn't come to call righteous people.

I came to.

I came to call people who are sick.

I love what Matthew is doing.

He's throwing a party.

And this is one of the styles
of evangelism.

It's to be able to throw Matthew parties.

I this what it is.

It's way that he invites all these sinners
who don't know.

Jesus throws a party and has Jesus there
so we can introduce him to Jesus.

It's one of the stars of Evangel.

This is why I want you to come tonight.

Some of you throw great parties.

That's your natural style of evangelism.

You just don't do it.

You throw parties, but you get liquored up
and don't ever talk about Jesus.

And so, like, you're missing the point.

You're saying

I'm gonna teach you how to do this
so it becomes evangelistic?

I mean, oftentimes you reach friends

better or faster
with a meal than with a debate,

right? Yes.

And so I said, look, I didn't come to call
righteous people, you think.

And religious people I came to call sick
people who who are the sick people?

You know, you and me.

You and me.

Jesus just said in Matthew five,
blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn.

You shall listen when you realize
the poverty of your spirit,

when you realize how sick you are,

then you can be blessed by me.

Every one of us.

We're the sick
when we realize our poverty.

Matter of fact, Paul will say in Romans
three, none is righteous.

Who's the unrighteous ones?

We are because none is righteous.
No, not one.

Not one understands.

No one seeks for God.
All have turned aside.

Together they become worthless.

No one does good. Not even one

who are the sick that need

Jesus, not the sinners. Me?

I'm the sinner. You.

One last thing.

Two more versus let me do 16 or 17. You.

I don't know.

Starting in 14.

Then disciples of John came to him saying,
why do we in the Pharisees fast

are your disciples? Don't fast.

And Jesus said to them,
can the wedding guest mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come

when the bridegroom is taken away
from them, and then they will fast.

So he says, listen, I did.

You know the Jews were only required
to fast one day a year on Yom Kippur.

But the Pharisees, they had them
and their disciples fast two days a week,

just kind of prove
how spiritual they were.

That's why Jesus addressed the fasting
thing in the sermon on the Mount.

He said, when you fast, don't like

make yourself look miserable
because all you're doing is trying to make

everybody think you're super religious
and you're not.

Your hearts are so far from me.

All your religious activities,
I mean, that darn thing.

And so Jesus says, look at all
your people fast

because you're doing it all wrong
for the wrong reasons.

Listen, my disciples, right now,
they're enjoying my presence.

There's no reason to fast. I'm with them.

They don't have to fast.
We're just having a good time.

Like they're experiencing me
in the fullness of me.

So there's come at a time

when the bridegroom is going to leave,
and then they'll fast.

Not out of mourning, though,
out of anticipation.

They'll be so excited to be with me again
that they will go without food

so they can lean into their, their,
their spiritual relationship with me

as their connection with me.

So they will fast one day.

But right now
we're just enjoying each other's company.

If you want any information on fasting,
one of the books

I wrote in the Welcome Center on Spiritual
Disciplines talks all about fasting.

I encourage you to pick it up
to practice fasting,

not as a way to manipulate God's hand
and not out of mourning,

but just out of anticipation that God,
I cannot wait to be with you intimately.

And then Jesus says
this, and I'll finish with this.

No one

puts a piece of cloth on old
and an old garment for the patch.

Tears away from the garments,
and a worse tear is made,

and neither is new wine
put into old wineskins.

If it is, the skins burst and the wine
is spilled, and the skins are destroyed.

But new wine is put into fresh wineskins,
so both are preserved.

Here's what he's saying.

Back in the day,
when they would make wine,

they would put them in
like leather pouches.

This is not one of them.

It's the closest I could find on Amazon.

But similarly they would.

It's new and they would put new wine in
there as as wine fermented

because it has some elasticity in it.

And this new it would stretch as the wine
expanded.

Okay, new wine to new wineskins.

Jesus says
nobody puts new wine in old wineskins,

because if this is already expended,
all its elasticity

and you put new wine in that,
that wine is going to expand

and the pouch will burst, and the new wine

and the wine, old
wineskin will both be ruined, he said.

So new wine is put into new wineskins.

Here's what he's saying.

Wine is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

And what Jesus is saying here is

the father
doesn't pour new Holy Spirit work

into old wineskins, because the old
wineskins can't contain it.

They've lost their elasticity

and Jesus doesn't
want to do away with the old.

He came to fulfill it,
but the new he wants to do

will be in people's lives
who stay elastic,

who stay flexible, who stay permeable.

Religion wants to modify.

Jesus wants to transform.

The Spirit of God will create new life.

And the Spirit of God
is always about newness.

And the Spirit of God desires
to do new things.

But our danger is not in opposition
to the new things of God.

It's rigidity towards it.

And there are so many people
who've been in church so long

that they become
so stuck in their own ways,

and their own experience of church
and their own experience of the spirit

and their own experience of Jesus
and their own relationship with God.

They become so ingrained
in what they've always done

and the way they've always experienced it.

And there's no new expression.

They get stuck in their own style.

They get stuck in their own system.

They get stuck in their own experience.

There's
so engraved, ingrained with the way I am

that God can't do anything new.

That they've lost the ability
for a new expression.

Not just a new experience of God,
but a new expression

of themselves.

And we get so content
with the old expression,

I come in, I sit down,
I listen to the band,

I listen to the bald guy
who sometimes he does a decent job.

I don't say hi to anybody.

I'm not doing anything new.

I walk out, maybe I show up the next week,
maybe I don't.

I'll be back at some point.

And there's no elasticity
and there's no newness.

And God
will not pour new wine of his spirit

in an old rigid container.

It will destroy you.

And God doesn't want he won't say,
that's fine.

You want to be rigid?

Stay over there in a corner,
do your thing,

but you will never experience
a new move of the spirit

ever.

It's too alive and it's too big,

and it's too active for people to say,
it was good.

Didn't like the song.

So much is all right.

You know what?

No way I'm going to do this

when I'm singing, I that's
that's a little bit crazy.

Never done it. Don't.

That won't ever.

If ever be in a position to pray out
loud in public.

And the moment someone asks you,
your eyes do this.

I shouldn't sing well, I do,
I just aren't comfortable with that.

Yeah, yeah, because you're so rigid.

God can't pour new wine into you.

You're not flexible anymore.

The truth is, a Holy Spirit fills

surrendered hearts, not stubborn ones.

Listen,

Jesus did not come to patch up what's old,

he can't replace it.

We have to stay elastic.

Every person in this passage has responded
differently.

Friends carried someone to Jesus,
the paralytic, and trusted Jesus.

Matthew. Follow Jesus.

The Pharisees were rigid towards Jesus,
and the disciples simply just enjoyed him.

The question is not what is Jesus doing?

The question is, which person will I be?

Listen, we don't need
a better version of our life.

We need a whole new one.

To understand.

You don't need to be
with the best version of you.

You can be.

You and I need to be a whole new person.

And that's what Jesus came to do.

Father, thank you

that your mercies are new every morning.

Thank you for your grace,

the favor that you pour out

on old, rigid people like me.

Continue.

Pour your mercy and grace on us.

I pray that we choose to stay elastic,

ready for a new work.

Friends,

if you've never given your life to Jesus,
I want to encourage you in this moment.

Just say a real simple prayer.

The ABCd of Faith.

This prayer won't save you.

Only Jesus saves you.

But this prayer is
you surrendering to him.

Just simply this I admit I've sinned

and lived my own way.

I believe Jesus died

for my sins and rose again.

Forgive me.

I accept your forgiveness.

I commit to turn from my sin

and I dedicate my life to you.

Help me live for you openly,

without shame and without hesitation.

Amen.

Said I love you.

I'm proud of you.

Read Matthew nine the whole chapter
this week, over and over and over.

Let him bubble up inside
and we'll finish chapter nine next week.

You understand?

One last plug for the evangelism

class tonight.

Stay elastic.

Learn how to do this
and the way that fits you

so you can fulfill your purpose
on this earth.

If you're a Christian and still breathe

and this is the only reason
you're still alive,

understand that call.

Understand that responsibility.
Quit neglecting it.

Delayed obedience is just disobedience.

Learn how to share your faith.

So you can carry your friends
who are paralyzed in faith.

To Jesus.

6:00 tonight

listening.