Gtcotr/062319
Matthew 5 NKJV
46 “For if you love those who
love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
47 “And if you greet your
brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors
do so?”
48 “Therefore you shall be
perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
·
Perfect
= Full of integrity and virtue
·
Tax
collectors? It sounds like people group are a bunch of lowlifes.
o Why is Jesus dissing
tax collectors?
o And, bless Matthew’s
heart … that’s what he was when Jesus called him to become a disciple. (Matthew
9:9)
It
seems odd to me that Jesus would relegate a whole group of people to being
sinners without integrity and void of virtue simply because of their job
choices. Basically Jesus is saying, “Don’t be like those tax collectors, they
are all selfish liars and cheats. They only love people who give them money and
won’t even say hello to you unless you’re one of them.”
Tax
collectors were considered notorious sinners who did not just volunteer for the
job, but they often entered into a bidding war with their competitors to win
the right to levy and collect taxes from their neighbors and fellow Jews. Their
salaries came from the overage they charged, and they had the power to seize
property and to bind those who could not pay in slavery or debtors prison.
This
people group were hated, and it was against Jewish customs to allow a tax
collector to even to participate in any civil proceedings because of the belief
that tax collectors would seek the bribe instead of the truth.
Jesus
often referred to tax collectors as sinners. He lumped them together. And then,
Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, to become one of His disciples. This
shows us that no matter how a person is perceived or actually are, a face to
face encounter with Jesus can change everything.
There
is another famous tax collector in the New Testament who encountered Jesus and
it changed his life. His name is Zacchaeus. You may remember the story of
Zacchaeus climbing a sycamore tree in Jericho so he could see over the crowd when
Jesus was coming into the city. We find this account in the book of Luke,
chapter 19.
Luke 19 NKJV
1 Then Jesus entered
and passed through Jericho.
2 Now behold, there was
a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see who
Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the
place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and
come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
6 So he made haste and came
down, and received Him joyfully.
7 But when they saw it,
they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a
sinner.”
8 Then Zacchaeus stood and
said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I
have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
9 And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;
10 for the Son of Man has
come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Over
the past 40 years I have both coined and collected more than 750 points which
epitomize principles found in the storied of the Bible. I call them my Points
To Ponder. This morning I want to share 3 of these points with you which I believe
God wants us to learn from the account of Zacchaeus.
136. The account of your life
will be written by the choices you now make for your future and not by the
choices you have made in your past.
·
Bad
decisions, wrong decisions and costly mistakes are a part of the process, not
the problem.
·
186.
God is not stuck in your past.
·
What
you are going through is not punishment for your past but positioning for your
future.
·
254. Our future does not
depend on what we did yesterday, but on what we do today.
·
288. There is always more
potential in our future prospects than in our past accomplishments.
·
323. Often it is not about
what we did but rather about what we are doing about what we did.
142. What we do with what we
have shows who we are and what we believe.
·
God
is willing to give to you what He can give through you.
·
205.
Do not be deceived, a man is not willing to die for something he is unwilling
to live for.
·
434. Everything you want
may cost you everything you have.
·
506. God gives to people
through people.
·
653. Don’t expect anyone to ever be
any better than you are.
174. You are writing the
story that others will one day tell about you.
·
202. The birth of a new
future will put an end to the old past.
·
244. It is less important
where one is when he begins his journey than where he is when he finishes.
·
234.
Right now there are a bunch of nobodies God is preparing to be the next
somebody He uses.
Zacchaeus was a nobody in history, just like
all the other nobodies. He would have remained a nobody except for one decision:
He turned his whole life over to Jesus. Today Zacchaeus is not remembered as
the notorious sinner he was but rather for the example he is. How about you?
You’re always one decision away from being someone’s hero. Don’t let your
personal ambitions be the shadow you die in. Give your whole life to Jesus.
Food for Further Thought:
199.
Five Necessities of The Valiant
*
A purpose you are proud of
*
Principles you can defend
*
Priorities that stand the test of time
*
People you are willing to die for, and
*
A Past that cannot haunt you
