Put on your imagination caps for a minute and visualize this. We are going to set up a radio shop. First we have to have a place to sell radios. So, over here we're going to set up a department and hang a sign that says: “Radio Sales.” See, here we have a good radio. It works just fine. In fact, all the radios over here are brand new and have the latest technology to them. They work great.
But we want our shop to be more than a place where good radios are found. It also has to take care of those that are broken. So, over here we're going to put a department and hang a sign that says: “Radio Repair.” Look, here's a broken one that doesn't work. In fact, all of the radios on this side are old, broken, and out of date.
Now, I want all of you to work in our shop. Which department do you want to work in? Would you rather sell the fancy new radios that work, or repair the old, broken ones that don't work at all? Before you make your choice, though, consider this. Unless you have been trained to fix a modern-day radio, you might do better to sell the new ones. Few of us could repair a radio, but most of us could sell one. Only a specially trained person can do the repair work needed. So, where do you want to work?
Now let's change our store. Let's make it into a “people” store. This section is for “Perfect People,” and this is for “People Who Need Help!” Where would you be in this store? This time I didn't ask where you want to work. I asked where you would be! Are you like a brand new radio that works great? Or are you like the old, broken one that needs repair?
(I. A call of undeserved grace.)
Since we are living and breathing, I guess you could say that we are all in some type of working condition. We talk, we walk, we play, we work, we think, etc. But, we are not in perfect operating order as God looks at it. He made us to be holy; He created our first parents in His image – perfection. But they soon destroyed that when they were tempted and fell into sin, and we just continue the cycle of sin day, after day, after day. As you learned in the Commandments, we fall short of the glory of God. We cheat, we steal, we say bad things, we hurt people, we get angry for wrong reasons, and we even set ourselves above God and His Word because we don't listen to Him like we should and we don't act like He tells us. And we do it with more than just our mouths and our hands; we think these things in our minds and hearts – which is where it all starts, just like it did with Adam and Eve.
Besides that, we fail to help those who need our help. We fail to speak only good things about others. And we act as though we are better than they are. Perfect? Holy? Sinless? We're more than a non-working radio; we're broken in every part. “Beyond Repair” – that's the “department” we deserve to be in.
It's the “department” where Matthew was in our text when the Lord Jesus came to him and called him saying: “Follow me!” Matthew was undeserving of that call to be a disciple of our Lord.
You see, Matthew was a cheat; he took more money in taxes than he needed to, taking the extra for himself. He really stole from his friends and neighbors, maybe from even his own family members. That's what the men who worked as tax collectors for the Roman Empire did in those days.
Can you imagine cheating your parents out of so much money that you ended up driving them out of their home? Maybe you even took over their home and kicked them out so that they had to live in something like an old barn in the back.
That's the way Jewish tax collectors were - greedy, selfish, dishonest thieves, outcasts among their own people who considered them traitors. The Pharisees thought them to be so bad that they barred them from church. “Broken Beyond Repair.” They weren't even in the repair department; they were cast on the garbage heap. It was to such a one that Jesus came and called: “Follow me.”
Amazing grace! Christ called such a sinner to be a disciple, and then an apostle whom He sent out specifically in His name to tell the world of the forgiveness that is there for all in Christ. No merit, no worthiness on Matthew's part, simply the undeserved grace of God. In the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won He does not find lovable objects, but He creates them by repairing the unrepairable.
Dear friends, this is your calling of God, too, for every one of us is like Matthew. We have sinned. Yet, in His undeserved grace God forgives for Jesus' sake and calls us to follow Him. Even before you understood things about God and sin a little bit better, this was your calling as the Lord Jesus came in your baptism, sinful by nature as you were, washed you clean, made you His own, and called: “ Follow Me!” It was a call of undeserved grace – His divine initiative. Like Jesus told the disciples: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (Jn.15:16).
Isn't it astounding that the Lord Jesus chose you out of the mass of unbelieving humanity and made you a follower of Christ in Baptism and through your studies in His Word. You know who He is - your Savior from sin, from all sin. You trust Him for that. And by that faith and faith alone you are His. Amazing! Undeserved yet yours! Praise God this day and always. And Follow Him.
(II. A call to walk only in His steps.)
“ Follow Me!” He says, just like He said to Matthew. Follow Me! That's more than a suggestion. With those two words, just two words, the Lord Jesus is laying claim to your heart, your soul, your life – all of it. He is calling you to walk only in His steps. That means you leave everything else behind you; it becomes secondary to you at best. Money, occupation, entertainments, wants and desires - all are secondary to the importance that the Lord Jesus holds in your life. You let nothing interfere.
For example, Matthew had a high-profit money-making business here. Sure his people didn't like him, and I'll bet that bothered him. But he could push that away because he had money and could buy everything with it, perhaps even friends. But there was always a brokenness within him that couldn't be repaired without the Lord Jesus; it's called sin. Money can't buy everything, and it surely can't buy forgiveness with God, nor can it buy a clear conscience. But when Matthew found his forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ, everything else fell by the wayside in importance. All became secondary at best because money and all else fades away and is gone; salvation lasts forever. That's primary. So Matthew gladly left everything behind that he could walk only in Jesus' footsteps as a disciple.
Do you realize, dear friends, what Matthew walked away from? What are you going to walk away from in this world in order to follow Jesus' call? The disciples may have had their problems, but in this they were all the same – with the notable exception of Judas Iscariot. They were dedicated to following only one person – Christ - because there is no one and no thing that can take His place in life.
No one else saves you; nothing else opens the door to God for you. But Jesus does. So it is that we ask the Holy Spirit to help us walk only in His steps with such devotion and single-minded dedication.
That's something the Pharisees didn't do. Not only did they refuse to admit they were broken like the tax collectors and needed help, but they refused the help of Jesus when He came for them, too. They thought they were just fine the way they were. They weren't sick; the tax collectors were. They wouldn't even raise a finger to help them. In fact, the Pharisees were quite prepared to let the tax collectors go to hell – and to let Jesus go there, too. They refused to walk with Him. See where self-righteous pride will get you. How sad because Jesus only wanted to help.
It must disappoint the Lord Jesus greatly when people turn from Him. The Savior looks for their gratitude. After all, He died for all. The Savior looks for their complete devotion. After all, He devoted Himself completely to all. The Savior looks for them to reach out to others with the Gospel. After all, He reached out completely to us with it. How it must disappoint Him when we don't reach out. He looks for His disciples to do this as they walk in His steps
Think of His disappointment this way. The other day I went out to start the car. I put the key in and turned the ignition. Do you know what I heard? Nothing! The battery was dead. Just when you need it the most, just when you have an important appointment, or a fun place to go, it fails. And what you had hoped for and expected didn't happen. How frustrated and helpless you feel.
Do you think that God sometimes feels that way about us when we fail to walk only in His footsteps. He spoke about that “frustration” in our OT lesson today when He said to Israel , “What can I do with you….Your love is like the morning mist” – it vanishes in the air (Hos.6:4).
Disappointing? Yes. But thank goodness He “desires mercy, not sacrifice” like Jesus said. And so He died to forgive us all sin. He fixed all the broken parts. And now He calls to you: Follow Me.
May God the Holy Spirit enable you to follow Him throughout your whole life. It doesn't stop here, today, but it goes on until the time He calls you from this life. Follow Him. It's a call of undeserved grace to walk only in His footsteps. And don't forget to share Him with others who need Him, just like Matthew did when he invited his friends to meet the Lord Jesus at his house. What a meal that must have been! God grant it to us for Jesus' sake.