Matthew 9:9-17: “The Calling Of Matthew / Jesus Fields Some
Questions From John The Baptist’s Disciples About Fasting”
by
1. INTRO:
1.1.
In this next section of Matthew we will look at the
calling of the author of this gospel, Matthew
1.1.1. He was a
tax-gatherer and thus one of the most hated of men by the Jews, yet because of
the grace of God he was called to be an apostle and author of the first gospel
1.1.2. His Hebrew
name is ‘Levi’
1.1.3. We see
humility in not mention himself in his conversion story
1.1.4. We also see
the profound effect of his coming to Christ in this story
1.2.
Then, we are going to look at how Jesus handled the
questions posed to His disciples by some disciples of John the Baptist about
why they did not fast as John had taught them and the Pharisees practiced
1.2.1. Jesus did
not teach His disciples to fast on any kind of a regular basis
1.2.2. The Pharisees
fasted twice a week and thought Jesus to be unspiritual because He didn’t do
likewise
2. VS 9:9 - “9 And as Jesus passed on from there, He
saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He *said to him,
“Follow Me!” And he rose, and followed Him” - Matthew includes here his own calling to fulltime
vocation by Jesus
2.1.
As with each of the other Biblical writers who recount their own stories,
the humility of Matthew is seen in his not wanting to draw attention to himself
2.1.1. Matthew didn’t even record
that it was he about whom he was writing
2.1.2. How different is often the
attitude of leaders in the church these days (as is often seen on Christian
television), for today’s leaders often speak loftily of themselves and enjoy it
when others do the same about them
2.2.
As was mentioned in the beginning of this book, Levi is the Hebrew
translation of His name, and Matthew is the Greek
2.3.
Mark in his gospel, chapter 2 verse 14, records that Matthew (or Levi as
he called him) was the son of a man called ‘Alphaeus’, thus at least two and
possibly up to four of the apostles were sons of this man
2.3.1. The Apostle James (James the
less) was recorded as being a son of Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3)
2.4.
We also talked at the beginning of this book about the life of a tax
gatherer
2.4.1. They were the most hated of
all people by the Jews
2.4.2. They extorted as much money
from people as they could get away with
2.4.3. They worked for hated
2.4.4. They were more like the
Mafia than the IRS
2.5.
Here we see Matthew the tax gatherer sitting at in his office at the
gates of the city watching everyone who came in or out so that he could pounce
upon anyone whom he thought that he could have some leverage to gouge out more
money
2.6.
The grace of God is so abundantly shown in the calling of Matthew
2.6.1. Not only would Jesus bring
this man to salvation, but He would also call him as an apostle
2.6.2. Matthew wrote the first book
accepted in the canon of our New Testament
2.6.3. Matthew’s name always
appears at the beginning of the list of the apostles
2.6.4. Jesus could have rubbed
Matthew’s nose (so to speak) in all of the sin which He knew that he had
committed, however Jesus never even brought it his sin because He knew the
great hurt in Matthew’s life and that all Matthew needed was to be forgiven and
for Jesus to speak to him and ask him to follow Him
2.7.
We see the genuine evidence of a
salvation experience in Matthew’s life, for at the bidding of His Master, he
left his profession, belongings, family, and all he had in order to go and live
the nomadic lifestyle of one of Jesus’ apostles
2.7.1. Luke records in Luke 5:28,
that Matthew left everything behind when he left to follow Jesus
2.8.
As all of the apostles were called to ‘follow’ Christ, so we too ought to
see ourselves as followers of Christ, and to ‘follow’ Christ means “to imitate
His example, to study and apply oneself to His teachings, to seek Him and spend
time with Him, and to go wherever He wants you to go and do whatever it is He
wants you to do
3. VS 9:10 - “10 And it happened that as He was reclining
at the table in the house, behold many tax-gatherers and sinners came and were
dining with Jesus and His disciples” -
Matthew threw a big reception in honor of Jesus since he had now
committed his life to following Him
3.1.
We know that it was Matthew who threw this reception mentioned here in
the gospel of Matthew because of Luke’s account of this incident in Luke 5:28
3.2.
Since tax gatherers were held in such low regard amongst the people, and
yet Jesus had called Matthew to follow Him, it must have been with great joy
and gratitude that he held this reception in honor of Jesus
3.3.
To this reception, Matthew had invited friends and acquaintances, fellow
tax gatherers, and even some Pharisees, and in Luke 5:29 we read that it was “a
great crowd”
3.3.1. The term ‘sinners’ probably
refers to their being some gentiles in amongst this group
3.4.
As I have mentioned before in this study, Jesus did not mind nor hesitate
a minute to mingle socially amongst those who were the notorious sinners in
their society, and in this He ought to be our example
3.4.1. We in the church may be
careful not to allow ourselves to feel disdain towards notorious sinners,
however this is not mingling socially with them
3.4.2. We in the church may be glad
that there are institutions, many even which are Christian, which reach out and
meet the needs of notorious sinners, however this is not mingling socially with
them
3.4.3. We in the church may even
give money towards charitable organizations, many which may even be Christian,
however this is not mingling socially with notorious sinners
3.4.4. Finally, we in the church
may actually be people who hang around non-believers a lot in social settings,
but if we are not being a witness to them and using those opportunities to be
able to share the gospel with people, then we are also not following Jesus’
example
3.5.
In order to win most people to salvation through Christ, we Christians
are going to have to go to them and mingle on their turf because they are
probably going to be too intimidated to just accept our invitation for them to
visit us or come to our church
3.6.
Since Peter, Andrew, James, and John had previous had a call by Jesus to
follow Him before their second call to fulltime service, it would seem more
natural here with Matthew that he had to some extent followed Jesus previous to
this event
4. VS 9:11-13 - “11 And when the Pharisees saw this,
they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-gatherers
and sinners?” 12 But when He heard this, He said, “It is not those who are
healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 “But go and learn what
this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to
call the righteous, but sinners.”” -
The Pharisees grumble to Jesus’ disciples about their Master eating
with the ‘tax-gatherers and sinners’, and Jesus answers their question
4.1.
The Pharisees haven’t yet openly rejected Jesus as the Messiah, however
they are at this point in this gospel growing more and more disillusioned with
Jesus because of the fact that instead of coming straight to the religious
leaders of Jerusalem and working within their system, He instead goes to the
very people that they sought to avoid having any contact with: sinners and tax gatherers
4.2.
Jesus didn’t accept the Pharisee’s leadership, and He also didn’t accept
their humanly devised rules and regulations for religion, and thus He totally
bypassed them and their spiritual authority over the people
4.3.
Jesus probably exercised supernatural ability here in knowing what it was
that the Pharisees were asking His disciples about, and thus He was able to
answer the question that they were asking
4.4.
Jesus couldn’t go to the Pharisees and make Himself known to them as the
Messiah because He could only come to those who realized their own sinfulness
and need of a savior, and the problem with the Pharisees was that they didn’t
see their need to be saved, for they thought that they were right on top of
everything from a spiritual perspective
4.5.
Jesus told the Pharisees that He, being the Great Physician of the soul, was
called to come to those who were sick and hurting, to those who knew of their
own sinfulness and inability to please God in their own flesh and will-power
4.6.
Jesus does not for a moment imply that the Pharisees were actually
righteous here, but rather that they thought of themselves as being righteous
4.7.
Jesus challenged the Pharisees here to go to the scripture and to measure
up their life with what it says, for the scripture reveals that God desires
‘compassion’ over ‘sacrifice’, and the Pharisees’ religion was all an external
thing, it consisted merely in performing external sacrifices and demands of the
law, and they never once applied themselves to having internal holiness and
living a godly life of love and compassion for people
4.8.
Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6 here, ““6 For I delight in loyalty rather
than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.””
4.9.
Oh, how man’s religions fall short of the righteousness of God, for just as the Pharisees did, so every
attempt by man to reach God, every attempt at religion, always falls short of
the expression of the love of God as taught and demonstrated by Jesus, and that
which is taught as real Christianity in the Bible
5. 9:14-17 - “14 Then the disciples of John *came to Him,
saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15
And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long
as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”” - Some disciples of John came to Jesus and asked Him why
His disciples do not fast, but they and the Pharisees fasted?
5.1.
First of all, I’d like to mention that it is interesting that at this
point there were disciples of John the Baptist who had not come and begun
following Jesus, and become His disciples
5.1.1. John the Baptist did not
intend for his disciples to stay his disciples, but rather that they would join
up with the One of whom he spoke as being Him whose sandals he was not even
worthy to unlatch
5.1.2. John the Baptist had
probably already been imprisoned and beheaded by this point
5.2.
It is evident from these verses and Jesus’ answer to the question of the
disciples of John the Baptist that it was not part of the disciples training by
Christ to practice or learn how to fast
5.3.
Jesus teaches here that it was inappropriate for His disciples to fast at
this point for He likened them to being attendants of the bridegroom at a very
festive and joyful wedding ceremony
5.4.
Conversely, Jesus teaches that fasting is associated with mourning and
sadness, and since He knew all things that were going to befall Himself and His
disciples, He also knew that in time His disciples would fast for they would
have occasion due to their mourning
5.4.1. Fasting as a result of
mourning can occur for different reasons
5.4.1.1. A person may be mourning
over their own sin and fasting so that they might be strengthened by God’s
grace and thus have victory over future temptation to sin
5.4.1.1.1.
This is the type of fast that Isaiah wrote about in Is. 58:6-11, “ 6 “Is
this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo
the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every
yoke? 7 “Is it not to divide your bread
with the hungry, And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own
flesh? 8 “Then your light will break
out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear
guard. 9 “Then you will call, and the
Lord will answer; You will cry, and He
will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the
yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10
And if you give yourself to the hungry, And satisfy the desire of the
afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become
like midday. 11 “And the Lord will
continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give
strength to your bones; And you will be
like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail””.
5.4.1.1.2.
In Neh. 9:1-3, the people came together to fast and pray before Ezra the
scribe who read them the law so that they might repent of their sins and turn
back to the Lord, “9:1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons
of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dirt upon them. 2 And
the descendants of
5.4.1.2. A person may fast as part of
a very concentrated prayer beseeching the Lord
5.4.1.2.1.
In 2 Sam 12:16, David fasted and prayed to the Lord asking the Lord to
save the life of his child, “ 16 David therefore inquired of God for the
child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground”.
5.4.1.2.2.
In 2 Chron. 20:3-4, when Jehosophat was afraid because of the threat of
an invading army of Moabites, Amonites, and Meunites, he gathered all of the people together to
fast and to pray to the Lord, “3 And Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his
attention to seek the Lord; and proclaimed a fast throughout all
5.5.
The Old Testament only prescribed one fast each year, and this was on the
Day of Atonement
5.5.1. This is recorded in Lev.
16:29,31, “29 “And this shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh
month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls, and not do
any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; 31 “It is to
be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a
permanent statute””.
5.6.
Jewish tradition however had come to include fasting twice a week
5.6.1. The hypocritical prayer of
the Pharisee spoken of by Jesus in Luke 18:12 reveals this, “12 ‘I fast
twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’”.
5.7.
The fasting that the disciples would eventually be led by the Lord to do
was not the kind of fasting which the Pharisees performed, and perhaps not the
kind of fasting performed by the disciples of John
5.7.1. The fasting that the
disciples would eventually be led to perform would not be part of any ritual
duties that they had to perform
5.7.2. It would be inspired by the
Holy Spirit and the burden for it placed upon the hearts of Christ’s disciples
5.7.3. Jesus told these disciples
of John that when Jesus was taken away from His disciples that this sorrowful
event would lead them to fast
6. VS 9:16-17 - 16 “But no one puts a
patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the
garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do men put new wine into old
wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the
wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are
preserved - Jesus
teaches that Christianity cannot be contained within Judiasm, as a fascet of it
6.1.
The question posed by the disciples of John the Baptist concerning
fasting led Jesus directly to this teaching, for these men did not understand that
in Jesus God was creating a new Covenant, a new economy, one of the Spirit not
of the letter of the law, one of grace not of law, one that would have internal
demands for righteousness not merely external ones (though the Old Testament
covenant was never meant to place merely external demands upon people), and
that Christ’s new economy did not have a place for ritual observances such as
fasting
6.1.1. All other religions teach
that there are tangible ways to gauge a person’s spirituality, through the
rites and disciplines that they perform, however Christianity rightly
understood is not about keeping rules and scoring points for external rites
performed, rather it is about being regenerated and walking in the newness of
life through the power of the Holy Spirit
6.2.
The only two New Testament ordinances which Christ taught His disciples
to perform was observing the Lord’s Supper and Baptism
6.2.1. Observance of the Lord’s
Supper was meant to cause us to remember what Christ did for us on the cross in
dying sacrificially in our place, for
our sins, and in His blood covering our sins
6.2.1.1. It was never meant to be the
means of receiving grace or forgiveness, for the scripture says nothing to this
effect, it just says that we are to confess our sins and thus we will be
forgiven (1 John 1:9)
6.2.2. Observance of Baptism was
not meant to be the means of receiving salvation, grace, or church membership,
but rather just to be a testimony to the world of our commitment to live for
Christ, and that we have died to the old life of sin (just as Christ was nailed
to the cross to die) and that we have been raised up to walk in the newness of
life, as a new creature in Christ (just as Christ was resurrected from the dead
to life immortal and eternal)
6.2.2.1. Baptism is a testimony of what
God has already done in our life, it is not to perfect or complete our faith
6.2.2.2. I always tell people that if
you go down into the waters of baptism dirty you will come right back up just
as dirty because baptism is not meant to perform that sort of work in the
believer’s life
6.3.
The concept of ‘sacraments’ is not taught in the Bible for people do not
receive grace through these things
6.4.
The two illustrations given by Christ tell the story of why Christianity
cannot be contained within as a facet of Judaism
6.4.1. Patching an old garment with
a new piece of un-shrunk cloth
6.4.1.1. In time and with washing,
weathering, and use cause the new piece of cloth to pull away from the old
piece for it will shrink
6.4.2. Putting new wine in old
wineskins
6.4.2.1. In Jesus’ day, people would
take an animal skin and sew it to make a container or bag in which you could
store and carry wine
6.4.2.2. Newly made wine would
ferment and expand, and thus if it was placed in an old wineskin which no
longer contained much elasticity, the seams would tear and cause the wine to
spill out
6.5.
When Christ began the building up of His church, He began something
totally new which had never been done before, and the new covenant which we as
Christians have entered into has new principles upon which it works, principles
which could only be compromised were the church to come into being as an entity
within any other religious system, such as Judaism
6.5.1. Throughout history, and
beginning in the book of Acts with the Judaisers, there have been many groups
which have come up which have taught that your not complete as a Christian or
your not ‘really’ spiritual unless you do something else besides just believe
in Christ for salvation
6.5.1.1. The Judaisers taught that
you had to also keep the Jewish law in order to be saved
6.5.1.2. Some groups in the latter
days have taught that in addition to believing in Christ, you had be baptized
in order to be saved, and of course to be baptized properly you had to have
someone with the proper authority baptize you, and since they believed that
their church was the true church, you had to be baptized by their church in
order to be saved
6.5.1.3. Some groups have taught that
if you really want to soar with the eagles spiritually you need to go to the
synagogues and celebrate the Jewish festivals, not that your salvation was
dependent upon this, but you wouldn’t be really spiritual unless you did it
6.5.1.4. Some groups have said that
you have to have a certain spiritual gift and that if you don’t have it your
not really spiritual (some have said that you must not be saved with this gift)
6.5.1.5. Roman Catholicism has always
taught that you must observe certain rites in order to be saved, for grace is
imparted by these rites: baptism,
communion, confession, matrimony last rites, etc.
6.5.1.5.1.
Seen in its true light it is really a futile attempt to be saved by your
own works, which can never save anyone (Rom. 3:20)
6.5.1.6. Etc.
6.6.
The New Testament clearly teaches that we Christians have been set free
from the Law and legalism, and thus we are not to be people who are primarily
concerned with keeping of rules and earning points by external acts that we
have performed, and that freedom that we have been given we should be ever so
cautious never to give away through adopting legalism, for to give away our
freedom to legalistic rules is to again become enslaved
6.7.
I have know many many Christians who have after being saved thought that
they were going to be able to stay in a dead or apostate church and be used by
God to transform it and bring it to life, and to date I have never yet seen one
of them be able to do it, and I believe that it is because of this very
principle taught by Christ, you need a new wineskin if you want to pour into it
new wine
6.7.1. I have seen them all burn
out and hit the ground in flames though, and in time (sometimes after many
frustrating years) most have finally realized that what was best for them was
to go to the church of the new wineskin where they themselves could be fed and
equipped and grow in their knowledge and walk in the Lord
6.7.2. As a Christian, its best to
go not to the church of the ‘old wineskin’ but rather the church where you can
grow in the greatest way, be taught the full counsel of the Word of God (the
entire Bible), and learn to walk in and be dependent upon the Holy Spirit
working through your life
6.7.3. In the Calvary movement, we
believe that primarily the church services are to be designed for the believer,
so that he can be built up and equipped in his faith, and thus the most
important thing that we should do is to teach the whole counsel of God, that is
why we teach verse by verse throughout the whole Bible, from Genesis to
Revelation