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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

Who Desires Mercy

When was the last time that a limo caught your eye?

There's something about limousines that when they go by, you just can't help but follow them on their way past.

I remember we were in Chicago with my family over 1 Christmas holiday and we were going to go into a restaurant and while we were waiting a limo pulls up out front and automatically you're thinking who is inside?

Who is so important that they want to eat at the same restaurant that we do?

Well this guy by the name of Sinbad hopped out.

Some of you remember him from the Cosby Show days.

And he walked in, asked how long the wait was and he didn't want to wait that long either and got back in his limo and away he went.

Because limos are driven for people that are important, or for people that are trying to pretend they're important, right, Terry?

You can't help but wonder who's inside But on this particular night there wasn't just 1 limo pulling up out front But 1 after the next after the next after the next day were lined up Coming to this big party the place was jammed There were limos everywhere.

However, this time, the paparazzi wasn't there.

You know, those ambiguous, gawking cameramen that are always showing up when there is something happening, but there's no paparazzi tonight.

Because the word's out, nobody important is coming.

But the invited guests drive up with their rented status symbols, the men in their greased back black hair with a pasty gaudy girl on their arm and 1 by 1 by 1 they come but there's no sight of the guest.

The party's already begun and eventually he arrives you see him in fact you can hear him a long way off chugging in his old beat-up Ford Taurus and He pulls right up to the front and gets out.

No girl just a Walmart special blue light suit blue light special suit is that how it's supposed to go anyway but when the host sees him he goes bounding down the steps as if it's the President of the United States and welcomes him there.

I want to look at an unforgettable late night party recorded in scripture.

Now Matthew is so humble that in his account he does not let us know that he is the 1 throwing the party.

But if you look in Luke and in Mark, they are very sure they want to make sure that you understand that Matthew is throwing this party in his ornate mansion Yet here in Matthew where we'll look this morning.

He doesn't say a word about it Matthew chapter 9 beginning verse 9 before we get to the party Matthew chapter 9 verse 9 as Jesus passed on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting on the at the tax office and he said to him, follow me.

Now I've gotta say, this is a very gutsy call on the part of Christ.

Because need I remind you, in case you forgot, Matthew was a member of the hated tax collectors You know who the tax collectors were don't you?

They were those wealthy Jews who collaborated with the despised Romans to raise the taxes of the land of Judea.

They would assess an area like Hendersonville and the Romans would say it's worth about 500, 000.

The bad part is The Romans would say, we don't care how you get it, just get it, otherwise we'll take it out of your high.

So when they were under that kind of pressure, they would set exorbitant levels of taxes to make sure that enough came in.

But whatever came in above was simply gravy.

And so you can understand that tax collectors were not the most popular men in the village.

In fact, they were despised, hated as co-laborers or collaborators who had cut some kind of a deal with the devil himself.

So you gotta admit, there's a pretty gutsy call on the part of Jesus to call that kind of man, hey Matthew, yes you, follow me.

I'm going to make you part of my inner circle of my closest Wow reading verse 9 again as Jesus passed on from there he saw a man named Matthew seen in the tax office and he said to him follow me so he arose and followed him verse 10 now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house, behold that many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

Again, Matthew doesn't give us any indication that he's the 1 throwing the party.

But Luke is absolutely insistent that we know it's Matthew himself.

He will not be wealthy for long But he's living in this opulent mansion So Matthew's throwing the party and because verse 9 and verse 10 are juxtaposed side by side both Matthew's calling and this party.

It's Matthew's kind of subtle way of telling us why he's throwing the party.

Reason number 1, I believe he's overwhelmed with a deep and almost tearful gratitude to the Jesus of Nazareth who saved him from the life of under-the-table extortion and greed.

And reason number 2, Matthew cannot wait to have his buddies with their consorts, their girlfriends and their wives meet this very same Jesus who obviously is a friend of tax collectors.

Because when mercy comes running for you, you cannot keep that fact to yourself.

Now hit the pause button right there before we go on.

Some like to use this story to say Jesus went to parties as if he drank and caroused from time to time.

If you study the story, the party was thrown for Jesus.

And while many sinners were there, I don't think it was because they were into sin, but rather were sick of sin.

So Matthew's having a party, a huge party.

And so verse 10, while Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with them and his disciples." Notice the coupling of those 2 categories, tax collectors and sinners.

Whenever the Jews played word association, have you ever played word association?

I say a word and you respond, the first thing that comes to your mind, whenever they would play that game, whenever they would say tax collector, the winning response was always sinner.

So now all these tax collectors and sinners and other such social ecclesiastical outcasts are asking Matthew, what happened to you?

In the course of that conversation, Jesus invariably comes up.

I mean while he was still a sinner, Christ called me, he probably has to say.

And as they talk, they say, we've got to meet this guy.

I was in someone's home just this week, someone who made a decision last week.

And she was telling me about how many of her friends were saying, what's going on?

She's already handed out Bible studies and brochures.

And so at this party, talking with Jesus, and guess what?

They just went ahead and showed up anyway.

And so verse 11 we read, when the Pharisees saw it, Pharisees, when the Pharisees saw the party, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

It's like that old jingle, every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you, party pooper.

They weren't invited, drove up in their Honda Accords.

You picture Jesus, I love this, look at this, because the Pharisees, these haughty religious prelates, wouldn't be caught dead in the house of an unclean publican.

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Who Desires Mercy

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