WALKING ACROSS THE STREET (2 OF 3)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: Luke 5:27-32
This content is part of a series.
Walking Across The Street (2 of 3)
Series: Connecting People To Jesus
Jeff Strite
Luke 5:27-32
OPEN: Leonardo da Vinci was once at work for a long period of time on a great masterpiece. He had labored long to create this work of art and it was near completion. Standing near him was a young student who spent much of his time with his mouth open, amazed at the master with the brush. Just before finishing the painting, da Vinci turned to the young student and gave him the brush saying "Now, you finish it."
The student protested and backed away, but da Vinci said, "Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?"
APPLY: Last week we talked about the Andrew - how he came to Christ and how he, in turn, brought his brother Peter to Jesus. Among the things we learned in that sermon last week was
• in a survey of 300,000 church goers, ¾'s of them came to church the 1st time because somebody invited them.
• And that fewer than 3% of unchurched people will ever just walk into a church building.
This week we're reading about another disciple and how he came to follow Jesus.
His name is Matthew, or (in the text we're reading today) Levi. Matthew was - of course - the author of the Gospel of Matthew.
And church tradition has it that he spent about 15 years in Holy Land after Christ's resurrection - working with the early church in Jerusalem. After which he went to Persia and perhaps Ethiopia, and it's said he suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword.
Now, whereas Andrew and Peter had fairly respectable jobs as fishermen, Matthew was the only man whose job was absolutely despised by everyone.
He was a tax-collector.
The Gospels reflect the low esteem Tax collectors were held by twice comparing them to prostitutes, and eight times referring to sinners - and then saying that tax collectors were a separate special classification of a sinner.
These men were regarded as traitors to Israel because they collected taxes for the hated Romans. And ...
Series: Connecting People To Jesus
Jeff Strite
Luke 5:27-32
OPEN: Leonardo da Vinci was once at work for a long period of time on a great masterpiece. He had labored long to create this work of art and it was near completion. Standing near him was a young student who spent much of his time with his mouth open, amazed at the master with the brush. Just before finishing the painting, da Vinci turned to the young student and gave him the brush saying "Now, you finish it."
The student protested and backed away, but da Vinci said, "Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?"
APPLY: Last week we talked about the Andrew - how he came to Christ and how he, in turn, brought his brother Peter to Jesus. Among the things we learned in that sermon last week was
• in a survey of 300,000 church goers, ¾'s of them came to church the 1st time because somebody invited them.
• And that fewer than 3% of unchurched people will ever just walk into a church building.
This week we're reading about another disciple and how he came to follow Jesus.
His name is Matthew, or (in the text we're reading today) Levi. Matthew was - of course - the author of the Gospel of Matthew.
And church tradition has it that he spent about 15 years in Holy Land after Christ's resurrection - working with the early church in Jerusalem. After which he went to Persia and perhaps Ethiopia, and it's said he suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword.
Now, whereas Andrew and Peter had fairly respectable jobs as fishermen, Matthew was the only man whose job was absolutely despised by everyone.
He was a tax-collector.
The Gospels reflect the low esteem Tax collectors were held by twice comparing them to prostitutes, and eight times referring to sinners - and then saying that tax collectors were a separate special classification of a sinner.
These men were regarded as traitors to Israel because they collected taxes for the hated Romans. And ...
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