pdf sermon notes - you're invited to the celebration (luke 5.27-39)

7/28/2019 PDF Sermon Notes - You're Invited to the Celebration (Luke 5.27-39)

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Youre Invited to the Celebration ~ Luke 5:27-39June 9, 2013 ~ New City Church Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson

One of the main objections that people in Calgary have to Christianity is that it is too exclusive:

You Christians think you are the only ones who are right. But what about others who arehonest, sincere, & good people? Are you saying that they are going to be excluded justbecause they dont believe the same way as you do?

Maybe this is one of the obstacles that has prevented you from becoming a Christian.Or maybe you are a Christian, but you have wrestled with the idea that some people areconsidered in and others are considered out. Many people wrestle with this.

This objection actually hides behind its own form of exclusion. Notice it argues onbehalf of those who are honest, sincere, & good. Thats fine if you think you are one ofthe ones who is honest, sincere, and good.

But what about those of us who are not honest, sincere or good? What about those ofus who been deceitful or untruthful? Insincere and have mixed motives? Who areacutely aware of some of the evil things we have done? Is there any hope?

The conventional way of thinking says you have two options for hope: (1) you mustlearn to love yourself, or (2) never cease striving. But that sounds a little too trite &simplistic for those of us who have been dishonest, insincere, and immoral. Surelytheres better news.

We are going to look at a passage today from the life of Jesus that turns the conventionalthinking about religion and spiritualityabout whos in & whos outupside down.

And its vividly portrayed for us in terms of a great feast: Youre Invited to the Celebration

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth.And he said to him, Follow me.

1. Tax Collectors were hated for two reasons: (1) they worked for Romans; (2) they wereskilled extortionists.

Hughes 183, the scum of Jewish society. So notorious were they that Jewish society banned them from serving as

witnesses in court, and they were even excommunicated from the synagogues.

2. Imagine Peters thinking: I didnt sign up for this. Has Jesus lost his mind? How arewe going to gather a following & crown Jesus King if he has this scum following him?

28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

He made a decisive break with his old life and followed Jesus.


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29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company oftax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

1. Levi wanted to throw a party for his friends with Jesus as the guest of honor

2. The dregs of society, the bottom wrung, the worst of the worst. And Jesus goes to hangout with them!

30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, Why doyou eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

1. This is now the second time Luke mentions the Pharisees & their scribes, and they arestill not happy with Jesus. They are still insisting that Jesus & his early disciples aregetting it all wrong.

2. The Pharisees modus operandiwas to separate themselves from those who wereimpure & unclean. Jesus was to hang outwith them.

31 And Jesus answered them, Those who are well have no need of a physician,but those who are sick.

32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

1. Jesus compares himself to a Physician whose calling is to go to the sick.

2. Ryken, This is the climatic moment to which the whole story has been building. HereJesus makes one of his great mission statements. He did not come to spend timewith people who had it all together. Rather, he came to save people who really neededhim: messed-up, broken-down, law-breaking sinners.

33 And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers,and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.

1. First gripe: Jesus was spending too much time with sinners. Second gripe: his followerswere doing too much celebrating.

2. The Pharisees mandated fast days every Monday and Thursday. Fasting = mourning.

34 And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while thebridegroom is with them?

35 The days will come when bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fastin those days.

1. It would be wrong to mourn and fast b/c the Kingdom of God is breaking into thisworld through me and my ministry. I am like a bridegroom at a wedding, and youwant my guests to fast?

You Pharisees mourn and fast b/c you the Kingdom of God is absent; but I sayits time to celebrate b/c it is arriving with me.


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2. A note of the shadow of his coming crucifixion.

36 He also told them a parable: No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts iton a old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new willnot match the old.

1. The old way of thinking is like an old worn out garment.

2. The new way of life and celebration that Jesus is ushering in with the Kingdom ofGod cannot be wed to old practices.

37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burstthe skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

1. If one put new wine into old wineskins, the fermentation process would expand &burst the old wineskins. You cant fit Jesus into the Pharisees movement, or even

Johns b/c they were BC.

His way is characterized by feasting rather than fasting, rejoicing rather thangrumbling, inclusive rather than exclusive, grace-based rather than performancebased, welcoming rather than unwelcoming.

2. Jesus compares what he is doing as totally new: new garments, new wineskins, newwine.

39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, The old is good.

1. Jesus is capitalizing on a popular proverb or saying to describe the refusal of someto follow him.

2. So sure are they that their own efforts to be honest, sincere, and good will be all theyneed to be accepted before God will find no reason to give any attention to Jesus.

And the subtle indication here (which will become much more evident) is thatthose who want to stick with the old will find themselves outside the celebrationof the kingdom of heaven.

So, why did Luke record these stories in his historical biography of Jesus?

Main Idea:

Following Jesus is like joining a celebration you never thought youd be invited to,and being given the privilege of inviting others to join in the celebration with you.


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Imagine: What would it be like if everyone in Calgary paid attention to Jesus on this point?What if we viewed spirituality more in terms of joining a celebration?

What if we stopped talking about how we are different and better than everyone elseand started talking about how stunned we are that wewe who have been dishonest,insincere, and anything but exemplarywould be invited to an eternal celebration withGod?

Imagine: What if Christians became known in Calgary as those who loved to celebrate withpeople from all walks of life, from all kinds of backgrounds, from all different levels of society?

Illustration: Tony Compolos birthday celebration for a prostitute.

What if we were much more like Jesus and much less like the Pharisees? What if people in the city of Calgary loved to spend time with Christians?

Application:

1. RSVP

1. Pharisees agreed that there would be a party, but disagreed with who is invited.

Only those who clean themselves up, only those who prove their worth.

2. Jesus says, Come, just as you are. There is a celebration in store for you.

3. Tim Chester, When Jesus eats with Levi, the message is clear: Jesus has come for

losers, people on the margins, people who have made a mess of their lives, people whoare ordinary. Jesus has come for you. The only people left out are those who think theydont need God: the self-righteous and the self-important.

2. Invite

1. Not only do we have the privilege of coming to the celebration, but we can invitewhoever wants to come. Indeed, Jesus has so designed it that those who come get toinvite others to come as well.

2. Jesus viewed people in terms of what God could make them into. Levi Matthew (the

gift of God).

One final note

All of history is headed toward The marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9)the eternalfeast that God has planned for us to celebrate with Jesus, and if you stick with theconventional thinking of this world, all the wrong people will be there.


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And all I can say is, Hallelujah!

Mark Twain, Heaven goes by favor [i.e., grace]. If it went by merit, you would stay out andyour dog would go in.

pdf sermon notes - you're invited to the celebration (luke 5.27-39)

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