Loyalty to Christ

Mark 2:14-17; John 6:66-69; Philippians 3:7-11

GOLDEN TEXT: “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”—Philippians 3:7

TODAY’S study tells of the call of Matthew to be one of the twelve apostles. His original name was Levi, just, as Peter’s original name was Simon. He belonged to the Levitical tribe, but his acceptance of service under the Romans as a tax collector socially degraded him and classed him as a “publican.” The term publican in Jesus’ day was applied to Jews who served the Roman Government as tax collectors in Palestine. The name was a reproach because the Jews held to the Abrahamic promise that the whole world should be blessed by them as God’s peculiar people.

They held that this meant they should not only be free from all other governments, but that they should be the masters of the world. And, if so, all the nations should be paying them tribute and they should pay no tribute to others. The most public-spirited Jews, therefore, declined to be the agents of the Roman Government in the matter of collecting tribute or taxes, and the tribute takers, or publicans, were looked upon with disdain as being unfaithful to their religion and to their nation.

Perhaps the quality of independence and humble mindedness which influenced Matthew to become a tax collector and to brave the scorn of his fellow-countrymen were qualities which really favored him in respect to the divine invitation to become a disciple of Jesus. We may be sure this was true from the fact that Jesus gave him a special invitation to become His disciple, and from the fact that he was in the heart condition to forsake all his earthly goods that he might be a member of the Messianic class. We cannot suppose that the Master would call to discipleship any but a noble character, nor can we suppose that any others would have accepted the call as did Matthew.

Matthew was a householder and invited Jesus and His followers to dinner. He invited in also a number of his friends, and these, like himself, were of the ostracized class—publicans and sinners. The term sinner as frequently used in this study and elsewhere in the Gospels, was applied to all Jews who were careless in respect to the orthodoxy of their day. The orthodox Jew of that time (and today) took pride in his religion and boasted of his holiness—as, for instance, the word “Pharisee”, signifies “holy person”—one scrupulously careful in observing the smallest details of the law. There was a wide breach between these zealous followers of Moses’ law and the mass of the nation who, because of not making special profession, were altogether classed as “sinners,” or persons not up to the orthodox standard of carefulness of form, ceremony, etc.

The Pharisees would tolerate and eat with the Sadducees, although the latter were practically unbelievers, because they were of the wealthier and therefore more respectable class; but they entirely ignored and would not eat with their less particular brethren, whom they in general styled “sinners” regardless of their true moral status.

At Matthew’s dinner the scribes and Pharisees watched Jesus closely, and when they perceived that He ate and mingled with the less respectable and less orthodox, they disesteemed Him also, and put the question squarely to Jesus’ disciples: “How is it that your Master eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners, and yet claims to be holy?”

This afforded Jesus the opportunity which He desired in giving a great lesson in a few words. He replied to them, “They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick; I came to call, not the righteous, but sinners.” Here we have the key to much of the misunderstanding of the gospel in that day and now. The first lesson that all must learn is that all sin is condemned of God—the little and the large—and that all unrighteousness is sin, and that there is “none righteous, no, not one.” In other words each must learn that he himself is a sinner, and under divine sentence and needing forgiveness, before he can come into fellowship with God or become partaker of God’s provision for eternal life.

Jesus illustrated this matter in one of His parables saying that a certain Pharisee went to the temple to pray and, full of self-confidence, thanked God that he was not as other men, nor even like the poor publican near him. The publican also prayed; but in humility, feeling that he was a sinner, sought divine forgiveness. Jesus declared that the less scrupulously careful man, the publican, was nearer to divine justice than the more careful, more upright, more orthodox Pharisee, because the latter failed to acknowledge his sins, his imperfections, which could be forgiven only through their acknowledgment. Hence the declaration of Jesus that he “came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” There were none righteous to call, all are sinners, and those who thought themselves righteous, had a barrier before them which hindered their coming to the Lord under the call of this age.

The second section of our lesson refers to a sifting which took place among the Lord’s disciples. Our Lord had uttered some great truths in pictorial language which many of His hearers were unable to receive. Their response was, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it,” and “from that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

The third section of our lesson relates to St. Paul’s declaration of his appreciation of Christ and devotion to Him. How all-important it is that we, too, have our minds thoroughly made up respecting the voice that we will obey and the footsteps that we will follow—for a “double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” We “cannot serve God and Mammon,” however much we may try. We cannot hear and obey the voice of Satan and the world and the flesh, and at the same time hear and obey the voice of the Good Shepherd, the voice of truth, the voice of love. Let this be settled and fixed in our minds, that it may keep us from all wavering after we have once taken our place among the Lord’s people. Let us, as St. Paul expressed it, count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.

QUESTIONS:

What is signified by the word “publican”?

What is meant by the term “Pharisee”?

What did Jesus mean by His statement that He did not come to call the righteous to repentance?

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