WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.540 Have you ever walked into a room and wondered, 00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:06.820 am I supposed to be here? A few weeks ago, I 00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:09.199 was out with a friend and we were out line dancing. 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:12.240 And one of the wonderful parts of the place we 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:15.880 went to is it's good for everyone, beginners 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:18.879 included. It doesn't matter if you've got the 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.879 dances down. They'll show you a lot of the dances 00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:25.219 there. And even for the ones that are more advanced. 00:00:25.820 --> 00:00:28.480 It doesn't matter. You can be out there, have 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:30.940 a good time, try your best, and hey, maybe you'll 00:00:30.940 --> 00:00:34.619 figure it out. But I went on a different night 00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:37.219 of the week, maybe a week or two later, and when 00:00:37.219 --> 00:00:40.299 I was there, I realized it wasn't line -dancing 00:00:40.299 --> 00:00:44.700 night. It was West Coast swing. Little different. 00:00:45.390 --> 00:00:47.990 But I thought I'd jump in. They had a class at 00:00:47.990 --> 00:00:50.210 the beginning of it, and I caught most of it. 00:00:50.229 --> 00:00:53.649 And I'm like, I could do this. This is OK. And 00:00:53.649 --> 00:00:56.490 so I finished the lesson, and I stood on the 00:00:56.490 --> 00:00:58.710 side. And this lady comes up and says, hey, would 00:00:58.710 --> 00:01:01.770 you like to dance? Sure. Let's go do it. That 00:01:01.770 --> 00:01:05.150 sounds wonderful. And after about maybe 30 seconds, 00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:07.790 and she looks, and she says, have you done this 00:01:07.790 --> 00:01:12.930 before? No, ma 'am. This is my first time. And 00:01:12.930 --> 00:01:20.469 she said, you should probably sit this out. So 00:01:20.469 --> 00:01:23.209 I went to the room next door and sang karaoke 00:01:23.209 --> 00:01:27.829 instead, which I am pretty gosh darn good at. 00:01:28.750 --> 00:01:33.430 So, oh man, piano man, always a favorite. Have 00:01:33.430 --> 00:01:36.230 you ever had moments like that though? Maybe 00:01:36.230 --> 00:01:39.750 the first day on a new job, maybe a wedding where 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:42.390 you only knew the one person who had you as a 00:01:42.390 --> 00:01:45.500 plus one. Maybe a fancy restaurant where everyone 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:47.719 seemed to understand the dress code except for 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:51.939 you. Or maybe, unfortunately, it could have been 00:01:51.939 --> 00:01:55.599 church. You walk in and immediately start doing 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:58.040 these quiet little calculations in your mind. 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:02.620 Do I belong here? Am I going to say the wrong 00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:06.219 thing? Is everyone going to realize that I'm 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:10.729 out of place? Most of us know that feeling. But 00:02:10.729 --> 00:02:14.110 something subtle happens over time, is that instead 00:02:14.110 --> 00:02:19.009 of saying, do I belong here, people eventually 00:02:19.009 --> 00:02:24.330 start asking, do those people belong here? And 00:02:24.330 --> 00:02:27.229 those are two very different questions, and that 00:02:27.229 --> 00:02:30.490 difference sits at the heart of the Gospel today. 00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:35.530 Matthew was sitting in a tax booth, and everybody 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:39.370 knew what that meant. Matthew was a tax collector. 00:02:39.610 --> 00:02:42.750 But you see back then it wasn't just a regular 00:02:42.750 --> 00:02:46.550 everyday job with you know 401k and vacation 00:02:46.550 --> 00:02:50.490 for a few weeks each year This was being a part 00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:54.689 of the Roman occupation of the Jewish promised 00:02:54.689 --> 00:02:59.189 land Matthew was a part of the compromise He 00:02:59.189 --> 00:03:02.490 was a part of associating with people on the 00:03:02.490 --> 00:03:06.349 other side In the minds of his fellow Jews. He 00:03:06.349 --> 00:03:08.770 had aligned himself with all the wrong people 00:03:09.959 --> 00:03:12.840 Matthew, we don't actually know that he was a 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:16.479 corrupt man in any way, but for them, it didn't 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:20.939 matter because he was labeled dismissed. Viewed 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:24.000 as unclean in the moral imagination of his community, 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:28.879 Matthew knew exactly where he stood and the Pharisees, 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:32.460 well they did too. In fact, to be fair, everybody 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:36.439 did. But Jesus walks up and says two words to 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:40.900 them, follow me. And Matthew gets up and follows 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:45.860 him. This is a shocking scene because Jesus does 00:03:45.860 --> 00:03:48.500 not start where other rabbis would have expected 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:52.319 to start. Making sure to correct Matthew and 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:54.599 lecturing him on all the ways that he's gotten 00:03:54.599 --> 00:04:02.379 things wrong, he begins by calling him. Not because 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:06.080 Matthew doesn't need transformation. He does. 00:04:06.659 --> 00:04:12.020 We all do. But restoration with God begins with 00:04:12.020 --> 00:04:15.680 the relationship. The call for Matthew comes 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:18.779 first. The transformation is what follows, and 00:04:18.779 --> 00:04:22.019 that matters. Because if people have to become 00:04:22.019 --> 00:04:25.240 perfect for Christ to welcome them, then nobody 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:29.319 will ever be called. If people have to be perfect 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:33.680 before we welcome them, will anybody ever truly 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:38.389 come to know Christ? Jesus calls people and then 00:04:38.389 --> 00:04:41.610 transforms them. And that changes what we're 00:04:41.610 --> 00:04:45.470 supposed to expect. Because Jesus then, he ends 00:04:45.470 --> 00:04:48.610 up going to Matthew's home and he's reclining 00:04:48.610 --> 00:04:51.810 at table with the tax collectors and the sinners. 00:04:52.310 --> 00:04:55.670 What kind of a label is that? What kind of sinners 00:04:55.670 --> 00:04:58.290 are we talking about? And people like to make 00:04:58.290 --> 00:05:01.670 guesses and assumptions, but to be honest, that's 00:05:01.670 --> 00:05:04.420 not even what's important. What's important is 00:05:04.420 --> 00:05:07.279 that the Pharisees don't care. They're not trying 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:10.360 to investigate all those people and if they're 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.199 really bad people and what sins they actually 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:18.139 committed. For whatever reasons, those people 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:24.139 are now labeled. They are the ones categorized 00:05:24.139 --> 00:05:27.430 as unwelcome in the kingdom for them. See, in 00:05:27.430 --> 00:05:30.529 their box, they're asking, they're saying, why 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:33.430 does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 00:05:33.430 --> 00:05:35.550 sinners? They're not actually asking the question, 00:05:35.750 --> 00:05:38.870 have these people sinned? They're actually saying, 00:05:39.269 --> 00:05:42.310 if Jesus were really holy, like he claims to 00:05:42.310 --> 00:05:44.689 be, then why would he want to spend time with 00:05:44.689 --> 00:05:48.230 the people like that? And that question, it echoes 00:05:48.230 --> 00:05:53.290 for us today, because how often do we get confused 00:05:53.290 --> 00:05:59.410 between respectability and righteousness. How 00:05:59.410 --> 00:06:01.750 often do we get things confused with are you 00:06:01.750 --> 00:06:04.810 a respectable member of society versus are you 00:06:04.810 --> 00:06:08.490 right before God? Are you a person with a stable 00:06:08.490 --> 00:06:12.189 job and a good house over your head? Do you have 00:06:12.189 --> 00:06:15.470 a clean public record? Nothing on the internet 00:06:15.470 --> 00:06:18.290 you ever need to worry about. You know, make 00:06:18.290 --> 00:06:20.250 sure that there are no scandals, good church 00:06:20.250 --> 00:06:24.290 attendance, and... Clearly, no traffic tickets 00:06:24.290 --> 00:06:27.509 where you're driving from Abilene and you happen 00:06:27.509 --> 00:06:29.970 to get stuck in a speed trap where they catch 00:06:29.970 --> 00:06:33.709 you at 44 in a 30, and both of your parents happen 00:06:33.709 --> 00:06:37.470 to be sitting right next to you. I'm sure no 00:06:37.470 --> 00:06:42.389 one here has ever had that happen to them. But 00:06:42.389 --> 00:06:46.050 you see, with all these things, we assume some 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:49.529 level of spiritual health. But then there might 00:06:49.529 --> 00:06:52.920 be some other person with a messy past. visible 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.959 struggles that they can't or maybe won't hide, 00:06:56.540 --> 00:06:59.920 a broken history and we assume, well that person 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:02.939 must be far from God. Look at what a mess they 00:07:02.939 --> 00:07:06.959 are. But we sometimes do the same thing today 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:10.480 when we sort people into different tribes. Social 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:14.459 tribes, economic tribes, cultural tribes, political 00:07:14.459 --> 00:07:17.199 tribes. You know who's in your tribe and you 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.810 know who's not. Someone says the right phrases 00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:23.649 and we assume we know exactly who they are, someone 00:07:23.649 --> 00:07:26.110 says the wrong phrases, well we know them too. 00:07:27.069 --> 00:07:30.329 We hear the slogans, the talking points, the 00:07:30.329 --> 00:07:33.769 moments in public life that reveal so much about 00:07:33.769 --> 00:07:38.329 them. One of the jokes that came up was, After 00:07:38.329 --> 00:07:41.209 the comedian Stephen Colbert his original show 00:07:41.209 --> 00:07:44.889 had come to an end and he was famous on there 00:07:44.889 --> 00:07:48.990 because he would talk with a persona that sounded 00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:52.829 like one type of person but he was actually trying 00:07:52.829 --> 00:07:57.629 to get at the complete opposite. What was ironic 00:07:57.629 --> 00:08:01.290 though is that people could listen and watch 00:08:01.290 --> 00:08:05.189 and think he agreed with them completely no matter 00:08:05.189 --> 00:08:08.189 which way they were going. Because they were 00:08:08.189 --> 00:08:11.790 listening for the phrases, for the words, they 00:08:11.790 --> 00:08:13.750 weren't actually paying attention to the person. 00:08:15.269 --> 00:08:18.129 The label replaced the listening. And that's 00:08:18.129 --> 00:08:21.269 what we saw with the Pharisees. They heard tax 00:08:21.269 --> 00:08:26.029 collector, and they think sinner. The conversation's 00:08:26.029 --> 00:08:28.589 over before it even began, and that's the danger 00:08:28.589 --> 00:08:31.790 that Jesus was exposing. Because once labels 00:08:31.790 --> 00:08:35.450 are more important than people, we stop seeing 00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:39.649 all the people that God is calling. Everyone. 00:08:40.509 --> 00:08:43.149 Whatever might be this background, whatever they 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:45.909 might have gone through before, we start seeing, 00:08:46.129 --> 00:08:49.509 here's a category for you. And then of course, 00:08:49.610 --> 00:08:55.690 no wonder they start filling in the gaps. Because 00:08:55.690 --> 00:08:59.029 somehow, we've put them in exactly what we expect 00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:03.429 of them. But that distortion on our part, that's 00:09:03.429 --> 00:09:08.779 actually sin. Jesus is responding and saying, 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:11.779 go and learn what this means. I desire mercy 00:09:11.779 --> 00:09:15.639 and not sacrifice. He's quoting Hosea. That's 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:19.440 the one she was actually reading. But you know, 00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:24.220 in Hosea's day, Israel was still very religious. 00:09:25.199 --> 00:09:28.100 Sacrifices were being offered, festivals being 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:30.919 observed, worship services continuing on the 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:34.019 outside. It looked like everything was functioning 00:09:34.019 --> 00:09:38.100 exactly as it should. Oh, the congregation's 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:41.240 full. Everybody's doing all the things we expect. 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:45.559 From the outside, they were happy. But God saw 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:48.860 something deeper. Their hearts were far from 00:09:48.860 --> 00:09:53.539 Him. Devotion was shallow. Repentance was temporary. 00:09:54.009 --> 00:09:58.350 Love of God was disconnected from faithfulness. 00:09:59.090 --> 00:10:02.149 So God says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. 00:10:02.990 --> 00:10:07.389 Not because sacrifice is bad. God Himself commanded 00:10:07.389 --> 00:10:10.570 sacrifices. Giving things up for God is not a 00:10:10.570 --> 00:10:13.750 bad thing. The problem was they took the outward 00:10:13.750 --> 00:10:17.830 signs of looking holy and confused it with the 00:10:17.830 --> 00:10:21.490 inner reality of if they were truly turning to 00:10:21.490 --> 00:10:26.519 God. they confused the religious activity for 00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:30.000 the spiritual health. See, that's the piece here. 00:10:30.899 --> 00:10:35.259 When we forget what it is to be merciful, we 00:10:35.259 --> 00:10:41.240 are actually sinning against God. They thought 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:44.759 they had everything right, but God wanted their 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:48.659 hearts transformed, including the way they were 00:10:48.659 --> 00:10:53.409 treating one another. Jesus says, that it is 00:10:53.409 --> 00:10:56.929 the Kingdom of God that He proclaims. And is 00:10:56.929 --> 00:11:00.009 that what our intention is? Do we want to promote 00:11:00.009 --> 00:11:03.149 the Kingdom of God? But are we misunderstanding 00:11:03.149 --> 00:11:06.769 the heart of God? Because the Kingdom of God 00:11:06.769 --> 00:11:10.009 is not just saying, I know the sins that need 00:11:10.009 --> 00:11:14.789 to be forgiven. It's also about restoring every 00:11:14.789 --> 00:11:18.809 part of creation that has been broken. And in 00:11:18.809 --> 00:11:22.200 order to do that, it means reconciling all people 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:27.200 to God. Calling sinners back into relationship 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.820 with the Creator. The Pharisees focused on their 00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:35.200 boundaries, but they used them to exclude instead 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:39.039 of finding a way to restore. And that's why Jesus 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:42.539 is at that table. Not because sins don't matter, 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:46.539 but because the sinners do. Jesus was saying 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:49.299 those who are well have no need of a physician 00:11:49.299 --> 00:11:55.299 but those who are sick. Physicians do not avoid 00:11:55.299 --> 00:11:59.259 sick people. They move toward them. And that's 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:02.340 exactly what Jesus did throughout the Gospels. 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:07.179 He moved toward Matthew. He moved toward Zacchaeus, 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.019 a tax collector who did have some corruption. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:13.960 He moved towards Samaritans, toward Gentiles, 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:17.379 toward a broken world. By the way, don't forget, 00:12:18.139 --> 00:12:25.039 we are all Gentiles. And it is our place to know 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:28.399 how grateful we are that the Pharisees did not 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:32.799 have the last word on all of those laws. Because 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:35.139 the Kingdom of God is always meant to go outward, 00:12:35.860 --> 00:12:39.240 to restore, to reconcile. But you see, the easiest 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:43.360 sins is to look at someone else's, not to notice 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:47.340 our own. Because that's when we start to be satisfied 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:51.799 that we can do everything on our own. It becomes 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:55.879 easy to ask familiar questions about who can 00:12:55.879 --> 00:13:00.840 or cannot fail in God's eyes. Who is or is not 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:05.419 accepted? Who the real Christians are? But Matthew 00:13:05.419 --> 00:13:09.610 presses deeper. Can someone be so convinced of 00:13:09.610 --> 00:13:13.049 their own wisdom and clarity that they begin 00:13:13.049 --> 00:13:15.769 standing in the way of other people finding Jesus? 00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:19.470 And by doing that, sinning against what Jesus 00:13:19.470 --> 00:13:23.990 was doing. You see, the irony though, is that 00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:27.250 everyone needed a physician. I mean, could you 00:13:27.250 --> 00:13:30.669 imagine how many times that a physician might 00:13:30.669 --> 00:13:34.409 be telling someone you have an illness and they 00:13:34.409 --> 00:13:38.049 say, I don't feel it. I don't see it, so therefore 00:13:38.049 --> 00:13:41.970 it couldn't possibly be real. And how often it 00:13:41.970 --> 00:13:44.850 is that we are doing that with God and our own 00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:49.289 sin. See, oftentimes we take pride in who we 00:13:49.289 --> 00:13:52.309 are before God, and we get that confused with 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:57.490 wisdom, experience, faithfulness. We think that 00:13:57.490 --> 00:14:01.149 we've got it figured out when in reality, God 00:14:01.149 --> 00:14:05.870 is reminding us the only one who is good. is 00:14:05.870 --> 00:14:10.889 the one from God. But you see, He ends up taking 00:14:10.889 --> 00:14:14.370 us to show there is a person that should have 00:14:14.370 --> 00:14:17.649 made this point clear to everybody. See, if Christ's 00:14:17.649 --> 00:14:19.789 mission is restoration, then what exactly are 00:14:19.789 --> 00:14:22.470 we trying to restore? Are we trying to restore 00:14:22.470 --> 00:14:25.909 the Kingdom of God? Or are we trying to restore 00:14:25.909 --> 00:14:30.929 what we prefer to be the Kingdom of God? Because 00:14:30.929 --> 00:14:33.980 those are not always the same thing. We begin 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:37.179 to take our expectations, our instincts, our 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:40.240 customs, and we make them the same as the Kingdom 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:44.960 of God. But what if we went backward in history? 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.220 Would all of our assumptions still hold? If we 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:51.620 went back in history before there were any parties 00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:56.500 to join, would we still believe that only righteous 00:14:56.500 --> 00:15:00.399 people belong to our group? when there was a 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:02.399 time when our group never even existed in the 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:06.100 first place? Of course we would. But what if 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:08.500 we went back before our nation even existed? 00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:11.179 Would we still believe there are faithful people 00:15:11.179 --> 00:15:13.799 in a world that didn't have our way of looking 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:18.039 at things? Absolutely. What if we went back before 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:20.860 our culture existed? Before our language existed? 00:15:21.220 --> 00:15:24.279 What if we went back before all the assumptions 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:27.279 that we think are obvious and natural? would 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:32.379 God still call people His own? Absolutely. And 00:15:32.379 --> 00:15:35.779 the same thing happened with Abraham. For all 00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:38.419 the much that the Jewish people had looked up 00:15:38.419 --> 00:15:42.179 to Abraham as their forefather, Abraham was there 00:15:42.179 --> 00:15:45.679 before Israel was ever a nation, there before 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.179 there was ever a temple, before there were ever 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:50.840 priests, before dietary laws, before the Sabbath, 00:15:51.179 --> 00:15:55.769 before circumcision, before the law. So was Abraham 00:15:55.769 --> 00:15:59.169 still righteous before he could even follow all 00:15:59.169 --> 00:16:04.629 of their expectations? Absolutely. Because he 00:16:04.629 --> 00:16:10.029 had faith in God. So why did Abraham belong to 00:16:10.029 --> 00:16:13.669 God? Not because he had it all figured out. He 00:16:13.669 --> 00:16:17.309 was definitely not flawless by any means. His 00:16:17.309 --> 00:16:20.629 story had so much uncertainty. So many things 00:16:20.629 --> 00:16:23.990 delayed. Have you ever had those times when you 00:16:23.990 --> 00:16:27.090 weren't sure and you wondered if God's plan for 00:16:27.090 --> 00:16:31.029 you was a little delayed? That's the thing about 00:16:31.029 --> 00:16:35.769 this as much as his reasoning might have said 00:16:35.769 --> 00:16:39.409 Maybe my nephew will be my descendant. Maybe 00:16:39.409 --> 00:16:42.330 my servant will be my descendant. Maybe the son 00:16:42.330 --> 00:16:45.990 of my servant will be my descendant God wanted 00:16:45.990 --> 00:16:50.450 him to turn to him and trust because that was 00:16:50.450 --> 00:16:55.909 when God truly fulfilled Isaac in him. See, that's 00:16:55.909 --> 00:16:58.429 the thing about righteousness. Righteousness 00:16:58.429 --> 00:17:00.210 is never about making sure that we've gotten 00:17:00.210 --> 00:17:03.009 it all figured out, we've got it all clarified, 00:17:03.250 --> 00:17:05.569 and we've followed every single law that other 00:17:05.569 --> 00:17:09.349 people might expect of us. So why can't it be 00:17:09.349 --> 00:17:14.069 the same for us today? Why can't faith come first? 00:17:14.930 --> 00:17:18.259 Before we look at our cultural belonging, or 00:17:18.259 --> 00:17:21.960 our moral achievements, our alignment with someone 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:25.339 else's politics, or the way we try to perform 00:17:25.339 --> 00:17:29.160 among all the other religious people. Why can't 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.279 we remember that it's always because of grace 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:36.940 and mercy? Because we are all guests in the kingdom 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:40.539 of God. Just like some clumsy person hoping he 00:17:40.539 --> 00:17:42.559 would be allowed on a dance floor that he wasn't 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:46.599 sure he was welcome to. we have all been welcomed 00:17:46.599 --> 00:17:50.339 as guests into a kingdom where the host wants 00:17:50.339 --> 00:17:56.119 us all in there. So how can we possibly be standing 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:59.339 at the door trying to figure out who we want 00:17:59.339 --> 00:18:03.900 to let in when we had to be welcomed first? There's 00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:06.680 nothing wrong with the law. There's nothing wrong 00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:09.059 with doing what is good and what is right, even 00:18:09.059 --> 00:18:11.759 the things that make sense for our own context. 00:18:12.329 --> 00:18:15.269 But that is not where we see our relationship 00:18:15.269 --> 00:18:18.670 with God and that is not where we start in bringing 00:18:18.670 --> 00:18:22.750 that to anyone else either The Pharisees saw 00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:26.910 someone on the outside But Christ knew everyone 00:18:26.910 --> 00:18:29.390 had been on the outside from the very beginning 00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:33.650 The gospel does not leave any room for posturing 00:18:33.650 --> 00:18:36.430 all have sinned and fallen short of the glory 00:18:36.430 --> 00:18:41.750 of God and That mercy is meant for us all So 00:18:41.750 --> 00:18:45.230 even for the times whenever we pause and we think, 00:18:45.230 --> 00:18:49.490 maybe if I shame this person, if I ridicule them, 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:52.670 if I dismiss them, would they finally get right 00:18:52.670 --> 00:18:57.710 with God? And that is never where we begin. Why? 00:18:58.410 --> 00:19:02.470 Because we always begin with faith. And that's 00:19:02.470 --> 00:19:06.089 where righteousness is. It's in Christ Jesus. 00:19:06.990 --> 00:19:10.250 Because let's be honest, there are labels that 00:19:10.250 --> 00:19:14.329 we tell ourselves sometime as well. The things 00:19:14.329 --> 00:19:16.950 that we wish we could get rid of so we could 00:19:16.950 --> 00:19:20.710 feel right in God's eyes. But the forgiveness, 00:19:21.470 --> 00:19:25.509 the grace, and the calling of God is ours no 00:19:25.509 --> 00:19:28.150 matter what label we continue to give ourselves 00:19:28.150 --> 00:19:31.190 in our own minds. So when Jesus says, follow 00:19:31.190 --> 00:19:35.130 me, he's not speaking to the qualified. He's 00:19:35.130 --> 00:19:38.250 speaking to the sinners. And thanks be to God, 00:19:39.130 --> 00:19:42.579 that's all of us. because we're finally willing 00:19:42.579 --> 00:19:46.339 to admit what He's already seen. Because the 00:19:46.339 --> 00:19:51.240 table, it was set for Abraham, for Matthew, for 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:56.380 the Pharisees, for you, and for me. So may we 00:19:56.380 --> 00:19:59.460 come not as those who have it all figured out, 00:19:59.980 --> 00:20:03.180 but as those who are being called by faith alone 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:07.240 to follow Him. Thanks be to God.