Following Jesus

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

I'm Jack Graham. Now, out of all of the intimate close followers of Jesus, Matthew, who is also known in the Scriptures as Levi, was perhaps the most notorious and irreligious sinner of them all. And the transformation of this man is truly one of the most vivid illustrations of what it means to follow Christ. For you see, Matthew was a tax collector or known as a publican when Jesus called him to himself. And you would have presumed being a tax collector, having sold out to the Roman government, the Roman government constantly taxing the people more and more, and then these Jewish tax collectors were invited to not only collect the taxes, but to take off at the top anything they desired. So they were known not only for their dishonesty, whether they were dishonest or not, but they were certainly known as traitors, as turncoats, as extortioners, and they were despised and hated, and among the most least likely to follow Christ.

And yet this man became a leader in the church, the writer of the Gospel that bears his name, the Gospel of Matthew. This disgraceful man, this despised man, this lowest of the low. If you want to think just how low socially this guy was in the eyes of the Jewish people at least, and even the Romans considered these Jewish tax collectors as weak and as turncoats themselves, greedy.

If you want to know just how low this man was, think drug dealer or think pornography, just a social outcast. But notice what happened to his life in verse nine of chapter nine of Matthew's Gospel. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, follow me.

And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at a table in the house, behold many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 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 not to call the righteous but sinners. Think for a moment about the call to follow Jesus.

Matthew is sitting at his booth near Capernaum, and he's taking the tolls, he's taking the taxes. And then seemingly out of nowhere on this ordinary day, Jesus calls him to himself. Just two words, two commanding and compelling words. Not just an invitation but a command, written in the imperative, written in the present active. That is, follow me.

Start right now, and for the rest of your life, the rest of your days, follow me. Now again, I want to mention that Matthew was an unlikely candidate for the band of believers that followed Jesus. Matthew must have heard of Jesus and his miracles. Jesus was the talk of the town. Jesus had now settled near the Sea of Galilee.

His home away from home was Capernaum, the home of Simon Peter and others of the fishermen who followed Christ. So certainly Matthew, being a public figure, would have known about Jesus. It's also clear, especially when you read the Gospel of Matthew, that this man was well versed in the Scriptures. When Matthew wrote his Gospel after following Christ, he often referred to Old Testament Scriptures that promised and predicted the coming of the Messiah. So perhaps Matthew was wondering, is this amazing man, this man who is doing miracles, is this one called Jesus of Nazareth?

Could he be the one we've been expecting? No doubt he admired Jesus. But on the other hand, he realized that Jesus, no doubt, didn't come for people like himself, a tax collector, a hated man. He wondered if it was too late for me.

My life is a mess. Really it would be maybe a great thing to follow after Jesus. There's just no way that he would include someone like me. I wonder how many people are like that today who are wanting help, who want to know God, but wonder if he would include them, wonder if they're really loved by God, who admire God, who believe in God. Did you know that nearly 75% of the people who don't attend church in America believe in God? But they wonder if God believes in them sometimes, often because of the way they've been treated by those of us who claimed the name of Christ. They feel like outsiders.

They feel excluded from the presence of God. That's the way Matthew must have felt. And yet on that day it was different because the Scripture tells us that, especially in Luke's account of this same story, that Jesus passed by and he looked at Matthew. And the word that is chosen by the Holy Spirit in Luke's account, he looked, it means a long focused look. It literally means he was staring at him. Jesus was looking at him.

And as he was looking at Matthew, Matthew no doubt feels his eyes, the eyes of our Lord looking at him. I mean have you ever had that experience of maybe being somewhere, being in a restaurant and you feel some eyes on you and you look and sure enough someone's looking right at you, staring at you. And you turn back and you try to go about your business eating your food, but you still realize somebody's looking at you and then you look back and they're still looking at you. And you're thinking why is this person looking at me? Or maybe it's in church.

I've had this happen a time or two. You know I'll be preaching along and you know I like to sort of lock eyes with people and connect and communicate with people and sometimes people will walk out and say was he looking at me? Was he talking to me? I mean but what if I, you know what if I preach this whole sermon about half of it, you know just looking right at you, just staring at you. I mean would you think the message was for you?

Sure you would. Well Matthew feels these eyes on him. He'd felt eyes looking at him before, eyes full of anger, eyes full of hatred. People who passed him by, who sneered at him or who kind of looked at him but just really didn't look at him, just went away. Just ignored him because he was so despised and so rejected and so hated. He was a wealthy man, he had the money, he had sold out to the Romans to have a good career in this despicable thing of taking taxes but it had cost him everything with people.

Maybe his own family and friends didn't care much for him. So he feels the eyes of Jesus and he thought you know he's looking right at me and Jesus knows what is in the heart. He looks past the surface, he looks beyond the facades in our lives and he looks right into our hearts and he knows what's there. And so Matthew realizes he knows what kind of man I am. He knows my heart.

But as he looks into the face of Jesus, as he returns the look he realized that Jesus is coming his way and right now his heart is beating, his pulse is racing. What's he going to say to me? Is he going to judge me like everyone else, especially all these religious types around here? Is he going to call me a loser, a lousy person?

What kind of words am I going to hear? And as Jesus gets closer he realizes that as Jesus is walking there in his eyes, his eyes are smiling. No doubt in my view Jesus is smiling a big, broad, beautiful smile on his face. Don't get the idea that Jesus was some kind of a pale sanctimonious religious recluse. The Bible says he has anointed me with the oil of gladness more than any of my companions.

And so Jesus is looking at him with eyes full of compassion, with eyes full of love and understanding and mercy and grace and forgiveness. And rather than the looks of confrontation came words of invitation. Follow me. Just two words. Follow me.

Leave this life behind and begin a brand new life with me. A journey of faith, an adventure that starts now and lasts forever. And with those simple words, follow me.

No explanation. Not a message or a sermon, but just two words. So compelling. So amazing was our Lord. So irresistible was his call that Matthew left everything behind and he began to follow Jesus. Just like that. Instantaneously.

Miraculously. He began following Jesus and this is what we call conversion. He was converted. And every person needs to hear the words of Christ, follow me. And that means to leave your old life behind and begin following Jesus Christ. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message following Jesus. When you set aside daily time to connect with God, he'll give you the ability to live a godly life and fulfill his plans for you in the coming year. And we'd like to help you walk even more closely with the Lord in the year ahead by sending you Pastor Graham's 180 day devotional moments in the word. It's our way to thank you for your gift today to help proclaim the gospel to more people around the world through PowerPoint.

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Our website again is JackGraham.org. Now let's get back to today's message following Jesus. So Matthew just walks away from his past. He walks away from his money and his lucrative career. He walks away from his sin and his guilt. Why would a man do this? Why would he do this?

Pretty obvious really when you think about it. Down deep in his heart, this man was a God-fearing Jew, probably raised by religious parents. And yet, he had abandoned his faith and he had settled in life and he had sold out in life. And he had left his religion behind and now he's empty and now he's lonely and now he's alone. He had this career but he had lost his character and something on the inside of him was crying out for, for meaning. He had money but he didn't have meaning.

So he's thinking, why am I throwing my life away? And the moment that Jesus called into something greater, something better, the moment that God's grace touched his life, he was ready. He was responsive because God has a purpose for your life and every life to know him, to love him, to follow him.

And who wouldn't want the privilege of following him? Yes, he counted the cost. Yes, there was a price to pay as he left the old life behind. But he recognized that this is an amazing privilege to follow Christ. And while he had given up some things, he gained so much, while he gave up his security, he gained eternal life. While he gave up an old life that wasn't going anywhere, he gained a brand new life, an abundant life, an eternal life of following the Lord Jesus Christ. That call that is so compelling, he became a Christ follower.

Matthew left behind this dull, distasteful job of bean counting and tax collecting. And he joined Jesus in changing the world. That's what it means to be a Christ follower. You can leave your past behind. You can leave your sins behind.

You can leave your emptiness behind. You can walk the rest of your life following Jesus. And Matthew stands as a remarkable illustration, an example of the fact that Jesus loves outsiders. Jesus loves outcasts. Jesus loves the most despicable people on the planet.

And when he meets them at the point of their need, he changes their lives forever. Follow me? It's the same compelling call that the Spirit of Christ is giving today. Follow me.

Follow me. Well, it didn't stop with the initial call and conversion because as noted, that word follow me means a continuous act of following. Matthew didn't hit it and quit it, but he became a follower. In fact, he was so changed that it appears that Jesus gave him a new name. He was known as Levi, but Jesus called him Matthew, which means gift from God. And Matthew was a wonderful gift to Christ and his church. Because the first thing apparently that Matthew did was to invite his friends to meet Jesus. As we read the account here in Matthew chapter 9, it jumps into the story of Jesus having been invited to a party at Matthew's house.

Luke's gospel tells us more of the story that Matthew had this big party, this great feast to celebrate his new birth, his new life in Christ. And everybody was having a great time. For you see, Jesus was there. But not only was Jesus there, Matthew, all of his friends were there. Now, one thing about a tax collector, didn't have many friends. And the friends that he had were the other lowlifes in town, the other despicable kites, the other outcasts and socially reprobates of the city. And so Matthew, while he left his past and he left his sins and he left his job, he left all that, he didn't leave his friends behind. He wanted his friends to meet Jesus. So he's thinking, okay, I care about these guys. These are my friends. And if somehow they could just hear this good news, if somehow they could just meet Jesus, he could change their lives like he's changed mine. But how am I going to do this? And he thinks, well, option number one is I could, you know, I could deliver a testimony.

I could give them a sermon. But he wasn't trained. He just started following Jesus. He was barely getting started. He didn't think he could do that. And he certainly didn't have any seminary training or courses in apologetics.

He couldn't confront them and communicate with them all the reasons yet that Jesus was the Messiah. And so he says, that's not going to work. And he said, I guess I could take them down to the temple. And no, that's not a good idea. That would certainly scare them all the way. They wouldn't be accepted there anyway. And maybe he thought, well, maybe I could just sort of follow Jesus and hope for the best. And maybe these guys will see it and come along. But he said, I know that's not going to happen really. That's unreasonable. So he's wondering, what can I do to connect my friends with Jesus?

What can I do? What's unique to me? What's my gift? And he remembers that all of his friends like to party. And so they do it.

They have a party. And Matthew is standing back. He's watching all this. And Jesus is having conversations with these suspicious characters. And some of these people are already connecting to Christ. They're feeling the power of Jesus. And about that time, the religious establishment shows up. And Matthew says, okay, this is just great.

I'm trying to do something good. And now these guys show up. And now Jesus is in their target zone. They're going to attack Jesus.

And now the whole thing's down. He said, I'm hosed. Jesus looks at him. He hears all this going on, the commotion. He sees the Pharisees pointing and sneering and snobbing and so on. And so Jesus says, Matthew, don't worry about this. Let me handle it. So Jesus walks over and he says something like this.

You guys just don't get it, do you? You're clueless as to who God is and what I'm about. Because I didn't come for healthy people or people who don't think they need anyone. I came for sick people. I didn't come for righteous, especially self-righteous people. I came for sinful people.

I mean, you think just because you have all the credentials and because you know all the scriptures and you've got these beautiful robes and you have these hard attitudes, you think that God doesn't love people like this. You think that I don't care about people like this, but I do. And that's why I'm here. So the Pharisees, you know, they storm out and Jesus must have walked over to Matthew and says, Matthew, love the party. Love being here.

Loved everything about it. I really like your friends. Some of your friends are going to start following me. And the thing that I love about what you've done, Matthew, is that nobody told you to do this.

Nobody taught you how to do this. You just have a great heart for people who need me. You care about people, Matthew, like I care about people.

And I can really use a man like you. You see, as you follow Jesus, you can't go to heaven by yourself. You mustn't go to heaven by yourself. You must do everything possible to reach your friends for Christ. God loves sinful people. Jesus came to forgive people and change their lives.

And to follow Jesus Christ means that we are willing to lay aside and take some risk and with compassion to love people. When was the last time you had a party at your house and you intentionally invited some people from your neighborhood or your office who needed Jesus so that you could build a relationship with them and have the opportunity to talk to them and introduce them to your Savior? When's the last time that happened? When's the last time you had a foursome to play golf and you included somebody in your foursome that didn't know Jesus for the express purpose of loving that person and maybe just maybe leading that person to Christ? When was the last time you had a watch party of some ball game over at your house and you invited some of your old buddies from college, some of the people that you hang out with? And again, I know this is messy.

You know why this can be messy? Because lost people do what lost people do. And lost people do what some of you used to do before you met Jesus. When was the last time you called up an old friend from college and say, hey, come over to the house and let's watch the game together like old times and you somehow work it into the conversation how Jesus has transformed and changed your life.

When's the last time that happened? Matthew had no evangelism training. He had no theological expertise at this point in his life. He just had a heart for Jesus and he had a heart for his friends.

And he used the gift that he had. He said, I know how to do a good party and I'm going to get Jesus involved in my life. So what could you do?

You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message following Jesus. Looking ahead to a new year can fill you with expectation, but it can also fill you with desperation. What if things get worse?

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Moments in the word is our special thanks for your gift this month. This is the last week of this offer. So call today. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. Text PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.

Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? I want you to think about Jesus' words, follow me for a moment. They were written in Matthew 9, 9 as an imperative, which means it is a command. Jesus didn't ask Matthew to follow him if he felt like it. No, Jesus commanded follow me.

Start today. Follow me for the rest of your life. Don't ever stop following me. But please understand this, the words follow me actually mean to walk alongside the road with me.

Now it's truly incredible. Jesus, the great God of the universe told Matthew, a social outcast, to walk with Him. And you know, Jesus says the same thing to you and to me today. The great Savior of the world, the God of creation is saying to you, follow me. Not walk way behind me, but walk with me. God, the Lord Jesus Christ wants to be your master and friend. But you know, you could be thinking, well, there's some things in my past, things that God could never forgive.

It's really too late for me. Well, I'm here to tell you today that Jesus Christ is passing your way and He's calling your name and saying, follow me. Now that is an incredible deal. You can leave your sin and leave your past and walk into a brand new life changed by the power of Jesus and live a life with Him forever and ever. Do you want to take Jesus up on his offer to follow him today? Will you say yes to the Lord Jesus Christ? I want to invite you to receive Christ by praying this prayer. Lord Jesus, I hear you calling me and I am coming to you.

I will follow you. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again. And right now I put my faith in you. I turn from my past and my sins and I trust in you.

And by your grace, I will follow you all the days of my life until you come for me. Now, if you will sincerely pray a prayer like this and invite Christ into your life, then you can count on the fact that He will hear your prayer and give you a brand new life. And the Christian life is not just a brand new start. It's not just starting over.

It's being made brand new. So I want to welcome you into the family of God. And that is today's PowerPoint. Today, if you prayed that prayer with Dr. Graham and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, we'd love to hear from you so we can help you begin your new life with Christ. Please call us at 1-800-795-4627.

That's 1-800-795-4627. Join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can be set free to live your life as God has created you to live. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.