When Two Worlds Collide!
Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsWhen we encounter Jesus, two worlds collide! Peter, James, and John's lives collided with Jesus in that fishing boat... Levi's life collided with Jesus on that street... The Pharisees' lives collided with Jesus in that dinner party at Levi's home... When our lives collide with Heaven, we cannot help but be changed by it! This message is inspired by a sermon by the same title written by Pastor Jeffrey Anselmi (Oct. 2001)
Notes
Transcript
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
A few weeks ago, we talked about Jesus’s encounter with Peter, James, and John in their fishing boat… They hauled in a catch so big, it threatened to sink the boats… And when they got to shore, they left EVERYTHING and followed Jesus!
Look what He said to them:
Luke 5:10 (NIV)
… Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”
They could have stayed where they were… They could have said, “Look at this catch! We’re going to be rich!” They could have taken their catch, sold it, and raked in the profits… But they didn’t!
They saw something in Jesus that made them forsake everything else…
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
“The truth is that a person can have full nets but still have an empty life.” — Holman
These three would-be disciples… These rough and rugged fishermen… could have rested in the comfort of their “known” lives… In their abilities and skills… but they didn’t…
They decided to leave everything and follow Jesus, and their lives were changed because of it!
When we decide to follow Jesus, our lives will not — and are not — supposed to be the same!
But… That’s the problem, isn’t it?
We don’t like change… We don’t like different… We want to benefit, but not to have to change… So we try to sprinkle just a little bit of Jesus on our lives…
Not to much, (You know) we don’t want people to think we’re weird…
Just enough to get that business benefit… that praise for a good deed… that “feel good” feeling from helping in a ministry project…
But not enough to make us uncomfortable…
We’re going to look at the calling of Levi again this week… WHY?
Because it ties in with the passage for this week…
You see… When Jesus comes into our lives, two worlds collide!
Turn to Luke 5:27.
Levi was a tax collector…
The Jews fiercely hated tax collectors, because they hated being under Roman rule.
The Romans used local people in the countries they were taxing to collect the taxes, and most of those people were dishonest, and extorted more than they were supposed to from the people…
Because they worked for the Roman government, they were hated, and they weren’t allowed in the synagogue… Their money was considered tainted…
They were lumped into the same category as robbers and murders…
Needless to say, Levi was not one you would expect Jesus to call… But, he is exactly who Jesus came for.
Think about it: He had already made Himself unclean for a leper… He had already forgiven the sins of a paralytic man… (and if we look at the parallel accounts) He had confronted a man’s demons…
Jesus’s call to “Follow me” meant that Levi’s life was going to change forever!
His old world was about to collide with his new one!
When you give your life to Jesus, you are making a LIFETIME commitment to Him… When you make that commitment, your life WILL be different!
Look what happens when the OLD meets the NEW.
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,
28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
We looked at this last week…
Jesus is walking along, and He sees Levi… So, He goes up to his tax booth, and tells him, “Follow me.”
Just like with Peter, James, and John, when Jesus came into Levi’s life, he immediately — without hesitation — left his old life for a new life with Christ!
Now, Does this mean that when you become a Christian that you have to quit your job? Yes and No!
For most of us, NO!
But for some… Like Levi… Jesus was calling him into “full-time” service… That would require him to leave his vocation!
(I don’t think he had a problem with that!)
Now, we are not all called to that.... We don’t all have to leave our jobs to follow Jesus, BUT… We do have to leave something!
We do have to leave ANYTHING that gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus!
When we give ourselves to Jesus, and receive a New Life in Him, our whole life is to be different!
Jesus’s goals become our goals.
What we consider entertaining will change… Where we go will change… What we do will change…
Our old life is buried with Christ at baptism, and we embark on a new adventure with Jesus!
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
We have to be willing to cut ties with our old life, because it gets in the way of serving Jesus.
When your old life meets your new life, Your new life should be the way you are going!
The calling of Levi is interesting, because Jesus reached out to somebody who was considered one of the lowest parts of society… a social leper… an outcast!
That’s who He came for!
There are some of us here today… in fact, there are many people across this community, who think that they are unreachable… That they can’t be loved by God…
Let me tell you: No-one is beyond the reach of Christ!!!!
He can, and wants, to use us all for the sake of His kingdom, BUT… We have to accept His call.
Let me ask you: When we accept His call, what about our friends?
What do we do with them? Should we leave them behind? Should we avoid them because they don’t know Jesus, or might make fun of us? Should we ignore them because of the sin in their lives?
What about them?
I love Levi’s solution…
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
I love it!
Levi throws a party!
Why????
Because he wanted his friends to know Jesus too!
Levi was celebrating his decision… His New Life… His restoration… Amen?!? AND, he wanted them to celebrate it with him!
I have heard testimonies from people who make it sound like they were having the time of their lives with drugs… and booze… and sex… and … until Jesus showed up and ruined it all for them!
That’s not how we should be!
When we decide to follow Jesus, it should be a time to celebrate! We have been given a New Life!
Our story is being rewritten! Christ has Reclaimed… Restored… and Repurposed us!
The past doesn’t matter anymore… We have a New Life!!!! (can you get excited?!)
What better way to celebrate that, than to introduce all your friends to Jesus!
He saved you… He restored you… He gave you a New Life and a New Purpose… Wouldn’t it be great if He did it for all the people you know too?!?
But what do the “religious people” — those “church people” — do?
They complain!
30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
The religious leaders complained about the fact that Jesus was eating and drinking with the sinners and tax collectors!
(What’s funny to me is… They were there too!)
How else could Jesus reach them unless He made some contact with them?!?!?
Let me ask you:
How many people do you spend time with who do not claim to be Christians?
We CANNOT reach those we have NO CONTACT with.
This doesn’t mean that we go get drunk with them at the bar, but… It does mean that we make contact with them at work, or we go out to dinner with them.
It means that we make time to “hang out” with them.
We have to be willing to do the things they do in order to reach people for Christ! — Pastor Tony
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
Now… Don’t get me wrong — We do not want to go into a place that will cause us to sin, but we must be willing to go to people!
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Do you hear the sarcasm in Jesus’s voice?!?
He came for those who need Him, not those who think they are too righteous for Him!
13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The Pharisees were so caught up in being holy, that they were not!!!
They were a mess inside… They were more interested in a religion, than a relationship!
IS THAT US???
Are we more interested in a religion than a relationship?
Religion gets in the way of compassion, EVERY TIME!!!
A relationship with Jesus will cause us to have compassion on those who need Him.
Pay attention to this!
Jesus was telling these guys that they were more concerned about appearances, then they were about the lost being saved!!!
They were more concerned with being able to CLAIM righteousness, then they were about BEING righteous!
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Do you see what Jesus is saying here?
When the Old meets the New, our attitudes must change!
Jesus was not hard-hearted toward people, and neither should we be…
Jesus didn’t look at lost people as the enemy, but as victims!
And He had compassion on them!
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
We need to look at every lost person that we know, and meet, as someone who needs Jesus!
No matter what they’ve done… or said to us… No matter what their past, or present, looks like…
We need to try to take Jesus to them!
If we are not reaching out to our community — the community in which we live — we are NOT being the church! — Pastor Tony
Bonham Community Church is not a church for the “saints” — It is a hospital for sinners who need Jesus!
Amen?
But… Let me warn you… When we focus on being that, people WILL question us!
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
In other words, “John the Baptist’s followers follow our religious rules, why don’t yours?”
“Why aren’t you and your followers fasting and praying like you’re supposed to?!?!”
“Why aren’t you doing things the way we have always done them?!?”
Look at Jesus’s response:
34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
Do you “see” it?
Jesus tells them, “This isn’t the time for mourning, it is the time for celebration!”
A wedding is not the time to mourn, it is the time to celebrate!
Here’s an interesting piece of info, that not many will admit to in the messianic circles: The Jews were only commanded to fast on the Day of Atonement, which was a day to mourn over their sins…
The Pharisees ordered the rest of the fasts.
They would fast on Mondays and Thursdays and they made sure the people knew it!
When we have Jesus, our life should reflect a celebration of that fact!
We shouldn’t be “lemon” Christians (as Pastor Anselmi puts it)… We should be celebrating the Joy of the Lord!
We should be going around so excited about what He is doing and has done in our lives that we can’t wait to find someone to pour that Joy out on!!!
The Joy of the Lord is not like the joy of the world… It is not a “feeling” or and “emotion”… It is a deep seated, world altering, ground shaking Joy that carries us even in our darkest times, because we KNOW who our saviour is!
It is not based in this world, or in the conditions of our lives, but in our place with the Creator of the Universe!
That is the Joy that surpasses all understanding…
Before we had Jesus, we had a reason to mourn… We were stuck in our sin… we had no hope… but since Jesus came into our lives, WE HAVE A REASON TO CELEBRATE!
And that celebration should push us into a stronger faith!
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’ ”
(Now… People like to use this parable in a lot of ways…)
Let me tell you: Before a person becomes a Christian, they have faith in something.
Everyone does…
It may be some other religion… or themselves/ their abilities… or their social status… or their job… or science… or their family…
We ALL have faith in something.
When we accept Jesus, when we put our faith in Him, we are saying that we KNOW that He is the ONLY way… that He is the ONLY Truth… that He is the ONLY Life… and that He is the ONLY way to get to God.
To many people want to take Jesus… and to cut Him up into little pieces… and to sprinkle those little pieces over their lives…
Instead of putting on the new garments, we want to keep the old ones on, and then just cut out the “bad pieces” and patch them with the new…
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
Jesus says, “That won’t work!”
If you try to patch the Old with the New, you will ruin both!
Some people say that Jesus has not done anything for them, but it is because they have not put on the New garments.
They’re still holding on to the Old… struggling to “save their old lives”… and trying desperately to patch up the holes with Jesus!
Instead of getting out of the boat, they’re busy bailing the water!
Are you in that boat today?
Are you trying to use Jesus as a patch?
Are you desperately trying to cover the holes you see, or are you wearing the New Clothes of Christ?
We are not called to just call on Jesus when times get bad… We are called to rely on Him daily… to walk with Him daily… to serve Him daily!
If you are trying to live your life without fully committing yourself to Jesus, the patches will not even match what you are doing.
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
Jesus goes on to illustrate His point.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
You cannot put new wine in old wineskins!
(explain the fermentation process - gasses build up)
If you try to live your new life in Christ in your old body, something will give.
Something will eventually burst.
We are New Wineskins when we are immersed in Jesus!
Some people will try to sprinkle a little Jesus into their old self… It won’t work!
If you are going to follow Jesus, you have to give your all to Him!
You have to “die to self”.
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Baptism is where we die and where we clothe ourselves with Christ.
27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Jesus is speaking about the old religious traditions of the Law and Pharisees.
Can you imagine still having to sacrifice goats and bulls, even after Jesus has paid the price for sin?
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’ ”
I think Jesus was looking directly at the Pharisees when He said this…
I think He was speaking directly to them…
They were content with the system they had, to the point that they would not even taste what Jesus had to offer.
Many people today do the same thing.
They think they have it figure out… That their way to God is good enough… They don’t like to be challenged to chan — to grow — to be convicted of their need to change… When they are, they feel attacked…
They don’t want to step out of their comfort zone!
Is that you???
Are you comfortable right where you’re at?
Do you think what you are doing… how you are serving… is enough?
Or are you willing to let Jesus move you?
When we come to Jesus, two worlds collide!
Jesus will impact every area of your life. BUT…
You have to decide to let Him!
The choice is yours!
You have to choose to make Him Lord of every area of your life.
Lord of your family… Lord of your entertainment… Lord of your marriage… Lord of your finances… Lord of EVERYTHING!!!
And let me tell you — Making Him Lord, means giving Him FULL CONTROL!
The great thing about this is that for every area you give to Jesus, He will bless you in ways you will not believe!
I promise you… Jesus will rock your world!
He will take you on the ride of your life!
If - You - Will - Let - Him!
Are you ready to do that???