June 11, 2016

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples." Matthew 9:9-10

I have been sharing some significant insights about following Jesus gleaned from the story of Matthew's calling to become a follower of Christ.

1) Being a sinner does not disqualify you from following Jesus it's a prerequisite.

2) Being an unbeliever doesn't disqualify you from following Jesus! None of His earliest followers believed when they began following.

3) The invitation to follow is an invitation to a relationship.

When Jesus called Matthew to follow Him it was clear to Matthew that Jesus was called him into a relationship.

Jesus was a rabbi and when you followed a rabbi you entered into his life-style and came under his teaching. So, Jesus' call to Matthew was "learn from me, live like me and let my love change your life."

I'm not sure if Matthew fully understood what that would look like or what it would require but he was ready for a change and from all he had heard about this Jesus from Nazareth He could be the someone he had been looking for.

A healthy and fulfilling relationship isn't lived "by the book". You don't start your day out by pulling out the rule book so you can check on the "do's" and "don'ts" of a relationship. Rather, you ask, "How can I get to know this person better?" "How can I help this person want to get to know me better?" 

A healthy relationship is driven by the desire to know and to be know by someone significant in your life. You find out what pleases that person and you do that thing. And you make that happen by sharing life's journey with them. You find out what that person enjoys and you share that with them. 

Out of that relationship grows a friendship and that friendship becomes increasingly more fulfilling to you as your friend adds value to your life. You develop a desire to somehow add value to your friend's life because you want to become important in their life.

Answering Jesus' call to "Follow me" changed Matthew forever! From that first invitation to follow Jesus Matthew began to change as he walked with Jesus and became a Friend of Jesus'

It may strike you odd that Jesus didn't ask Matthew to change BEFORE he began to follow Him. He simply invited Matthew to follow and that's how it began.

We often say, with our attitudes or demeanor, "If you change or when you change then you can join us and follow with us.

But Jesus graciously issued the invitation that is extended to every human being on the face of the earth. There is no one too bad or too worthless or too lost that Jesus wouldn't want a relationship with him if he/she will enter into a relationship with Him.

Tax-collectors were the most despised people in Judea and with good reason. They wielded oppressive power to extort large sums of money from the locals and had the force of the Roman army behind them. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with a tax-collector and Matthew was a tax-collector when Jesus called him to follow. Coming into a relationship with Jesus changed His life.

Who wants to have a friendship with a tax-collector? The very same Jesus Who invites YOU to follow!