Understanding the Doctrine (Part – 2) : A People after Gods own Heart

Introduction

• Turn with me to Matthew 9:9-13 – 9 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.

  10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well, have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
• Last week, I preached the dangers of being a people so driven by doctrine in such a way that it actually bears no fruit in our lives.
  To be so doctrinally minded, that knowing these doctrines and popularising them becomes the end of all our Christian efforts when in reality knowing these doctrines are meant to be the means by which we draw closer to God.
  And the real question is, are we drawing closer to God?
• One of the most famous phrases in the Bible is the statement made about David – a man after God’s own heart. We speak of it in amazement when we say that the Bible uses such a phrase only of David. Yet, many of us do not understand why this is so, or what this means. Cause I’m pretty sure that Paul was a man after God’s own heart, and so was Moses, and Abraham, and Peter and Matthew and so many others.
  So then, what does this mean when the Bible specifically refers to David as a man after God’s own heart?
  • We all desire to inherit that title in our own lives, don’t we?
    Therefore, in the passage that is before us today, I want to show you what it means to be a people after God’s own heart.
  • And I want to argue that doctrines are the way this happens.
    I’m sure that we can all relate to how we idolize certain people in our lives, whether it be celebrities, preachers, or family members, or anybody else.
 You know how it goes, you have such high regard for them that even when they do the smallest things, you’re impressed.
    [humility, patience, wisdom, etc]. In much the same way, when the living word of God opens our hearts to behold God, when the doctrines or teachings of Scripture reveal the person of God, we are drawn deeper and deeper in our desire and affection for Him.
  • But for so many people, their affection ends in accumulating knowledge and are puffed up by it. And oh my, what a wasted life that is, to have come to the door that opens up to eternity and yet be foolishly satisfied with the little light that seeps through its hinges.

• And so, with last week’s sermon warning on doctrines getting in the way of our spiritual growth, today I want to remind you of how rich and beautiful the doctrines of the word truly are when they lead you to know the heart of Christ and to see His face where the glory of God is in full display.

Exegesis

•  I love preaching passages so condense in truth and revelation that I am tempted yet again to preach a sermon on every line of this passage.
• The author of this Gospel account, Matthew, started with the genealogy of Jesus and took us through the context of Jesus’ birth, the beginning of His ministry and how He grew in popularity in Israel, and now finally, he recounts to us his own personal encounter with Jesus for the first time.
  • When we first began our expository series on Matthew, I preached on the life and background of this apostle who authors this book. And I want to refresh our memories on a few of those things we learned about Matthew, in our time together today.
    • Tax Collector – considered as low-lives, equal to the social status of prostitutes
    • 99 references to OT which is more than the other Gospel accounts put together [self-righteous pharisee and the tax collector on the outer courts – Luke 18]
    • There’s only a single reference to his interaction with Jesus. How much would you have written about yourself if you were to write a Gospel narrative?
    • Wrote the first book of the New Testament, and we know so little about him. The humble apostle.
  • Matthew was a humble apostle who sought not to propagate himself in any way, but that his Saviour and King might be known to the ends of the earth.

• v9 – 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.
  • Beloved, you must understand the enormity of this incident.
    A man reviled by his nation, probably even by his own family. A man who was responsible for this hatred he received because it was his own volitional choice to betray his people by becoming a tax collector. A man who desired to be rich by aiding the oppression of his own people.
    No jew wanted to have anything to do with him. No rabbi would dare tolerate him. Abandoned and isolated, he somehow turned to the scriptures for some relief, which would account for his knowledge of the OT. And then, the Rabbi of rabbis, the one to whom the whole of Judea and beyond were flocking to see and here. The one performing miracles never seen or heard of before, who some were calling the long-awaited Messiah, walks up to him and says, “Follow me”.
  • There were no greater words that this sinner longed to hear than this, that he immediately rose and followed Him.
    In fact, there were no greater words that this sinner longed to hear, that he mentions of no other personal testimony apart from this one. It was as big as it could get for him. There was nothing more excellent than what had happened to him in this encounter – for the Holy one invited the sinner to be His disciple. And especially for a Jewish author, he needs to say no more. The Rabbi walked up to a tax collector and called him to be His disciple.
  • In fact, Matthew makes no mention of the fact that he abandoned everything in following Jesus. Luke tells us this. Somehow when recounting this story, Matthew doesn’t even bother to tell us that he gave everything up. For him, there was no room to talk about loss in view of the surpassing value of Christ before him.

• v10 – And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
  • Matthew saw the heart of his Saviour, that his next step was to host a great feast where he would invite all his friends and colleagues, that they too might be saved by coming to this Messiah. Even here, Matthew chooses to avoid mentioning the fact that this was his feast, and that it was a great one. It is Luke who gives us this information. Jesus reclined at the table in this sinner’s house.
    Look at this, beloved. Jesus did not fear the accusations His associations made. So many Christians today want to distance themselves from associating with certain kinds of people out of fear of what others might think of them. But here we have Jesus dining with all kinds of disreputable people, and He was misunderstood by many who watched Him. And in this story, the sin was not on part of Jesus or His disciples, but on the part of those making the false assumptions.
  • behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples

    I love how Matthew chooses to title his guests – tax collectors and sinners. The people whom he invited were apparently sinners by profession.
    When Matthew, who never even thought that someone like Jesus would draw him to Himself, realised the heart of this Saviour, his reaction was to call all his fellow sinners and traitors, and this Saviour welcomed them all and reclined at the table with them and ate with them. Now, we know that this was not Jesus accommodating sin, but welcoming sinners. We will see more on this as this story goes on.

• v11 – 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
  • The Pharisees were probably gathered outside Matthew’s house curious to see the outcome of what they counted an unholy gathering. They were disgusted by the call of Matthew as it is, but then to welcome such a crowd of sinners and to dine with them.
  • This was not an inquisitive question on the part of the Pharisees but a derogatory one.
    They were mocking the so-called great Rabbi for how could a truly Holy man dine with such unholy people. He must be in cohort with these people. They probably went around saying, “Hey, did you know that Jesus the Rabbi approves of tax collecting?”
  • Here was a group of people who could not see the heart of this Saviour that Matthew saw. Such is the nature of the Gospel beloved, that the self-righteous and proud among us will always find God’s actions strange and unbecoming.

• v12 – 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
  • Jesus did not condone the sins of the people. He came to treat them like a good doctor treats his patients. He did not come to give them pain-killers to die quietly in their sins, but to treat and heal them of their sins.Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

    God’s heart is that of the healer and redeemer who forever has called His people to turn from their wicked ways, repent and believe in Him.
    Matthew 23:37 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Beloved, this was unheard of in the Pharisaical theological landscape, yet the OT has been full of such indications.
  • v13- Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

    None of this was entirely new theology. Jesus does not excuse the Pharisees for not having the means to have known the heart of God. Instead, He calls them out on their lack of learning. That’s like looking at the most well-read, legalistic, law-byhearting, self-righteous, and knowledgable people to go back and learn properly. Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 – I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.

    God has expressed His heart’s desire. He desires mercy and not sacrifice. It was not the rituals that pleased God, but a people after His own heart. He expected the Pharisees to care for sinners and bring them to repentance. And then Jesus says, “For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

    These two sentences together show us how Jesus yet again speaks from His own authority and sets it at part with the Scripture. The ‘I’ from Hosea 6:6, and the ‘I’m from Jesus’s statement that follows that quote, are the same person.
  • The point here, beloved, is not that the Pharisees were righteous and the sinners were those attending that feast. It is that all men, whether the Pharisees who were probably crowded outside Matthew’s house or the sinners that attended the feast, were all sick.
    Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
    But it is the sinner who identifies his sin, who repents and turns to God. Self- righteousness, and pride are soul-destroying plagues worse than any pandemic that has hit the human race. It is a blinding disease that keeps people from turning to God.

Conclusion

• What we learn from this incident is that all the characters in this story were surprised by the heart of Jesus, in His desire for sinners to be saved.
  God’s intent was not to utterly destroy all sinners but to save those who would repent and turn from their sins. He came for the sick, and not the righteous, and Romans 3:10 tells us that there is no one righteous, no, not one.
• You see, beloved, to be a person after God’s own heart means to be a person who is driven to desire what God desires. A man after my own heart is a man who pursues and performs to do that which I desire to do. And David was such a man! The reason that the Bible gives such a title to David is not that there were none else who was after God’s own heart, but because God meant for the particular life of this King of Israel to be a testimony of a man chasing after God’s own heart. In fact, the character apart from triune God, who is most talked about in the Bible is David. From the OT to the NT, David is a staple name throughout.Paul talks about David in Acts 13:22, 

  22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

  1 Samuel 13:14 – 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”Considering all the narrations related to David from the Goliath incident to Sparing Saul’s life twice to Bathsheba and more, in all these encounters we see that David’s heart was drawn to do the will of His God. In all these encounters we see that David’s heart was drawn to do the will of His God.
  • And when Jesus came with the desire to see sinners saved, it was the sinners who responded to this call, and the teachers of the law were hardened. For they were not men after God’s own heart even after byhearting the Torah. That is the fate of those who pursue the Bible as the end in itself. Sola Scriptura, scripture alone, does not mean that Scripture is the end of all things, rather that it is the only means by which we can come to know and worship God.
  • Jesus, the greater and better David!