06 June 23, 2013, Come Follow Me, Matthew 9;9-13

Come, Follow Me
MATTHEW 9:9-13
JUNE 23, 2013
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
USA

JUNE MEMORY VERSE
Matthew 28:19-20
“Go, therefore, and make
disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to
observe everything I have
commanded you. And
remember, I am with you
always to the end of the
age.” Matthew 28:19-20

LET FREEDOM
RING CONCERT
Sunday, June 30th
6:00 p.m.
After the concert, we will
have a Block Party on
President Street.

The Capital City Stage
Band will be with us and
we will have inflatables
for the children to play
in.
We will be serving
“Homemade Ice Cream!”

June 30—Lesson 1
from the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association
“The Effective
Christian Life”
Acts 8:26-38
Philip and the Ethiopian

July 7th—Lesson 2
“The Christian Witness”
ADULT SUNDAY
SCHOOL RALLY IN
FELLOWSHIP
HALL EAST AT
9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

July 7th lesson led by Ken
Blackstock and Ken Sims.
July 14th--Lesson 3
“The Care of
New Christians”
1 Thessalonians 2 & 3

1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV
31 Whether therefore ye
eat, or drink, or
whatsoever ye do, do all
to the glory of God.

Two weeks ago we
studied Ephesians 2:8-10.

Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV
8 For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any
man should boast.

10 For we are his (poiema)
workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath
before ordained that we
should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV

It is from poiema
(workmanship) that we
get our word “poem”.
You are a beautiful
masterpiece of God’s
literary workmanship.

You are God’s poem,
allow Him to write the
next verse in your life,
allow Him to write the
next chapter of your story!

Matthew 9:9-13 KJV
9 And as Jesus passed
forth from thence, he saw
a man, named Matthew,
sitting at the receipt of
custom: and he saith unto
him, Follow me. And he

arose, and followed him.
10 And it came to pass, as
Jesus sat at meat in the
house, behold, many
publicans and sinners
came and sat down with
him and his disciples.

11 And when the
Pharisees saw it, they said
unto his disciples, Why
eateth your Master with
publicans and sinners?

12 But when Jesus heard
that, he said unto them,
They that be whole need
not a physician, but they
that are sick.

13 But go ye and learn
what that meaneth, I will
have mercy, and not
sacrifice: for I am not
come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
Matthew 9:9-13 KJV

The MacArthur New
Testament Commentary,
Copyright © Moody Press
and John MacArthur, Jr.,
1983-2007.

*Matthew: the tax
collector
*Come, Follow Me
*Greek vs Hebrew
Methods of Teaching

*The Jewish Educational
System of Jesus’ Day
*Jesus: A Jewish Rabbi
and His Yoke
*Follow in His Dust

*The Holy Spirit!
*PBPGINFWMY
*You are God’s
Masterpiece

As Jesus left "His own
city“ of Capernaum, He
passed on from there and
saw a man, called
Matthew
(“gift of Jehovah”).

When we realize that
Matthew penned these
verses about himself, we
get a glimpse of his
modesty and humility.

Because of his modesty,
Matthew does not
mention the fact, but Luke
tells us that the moment
Jesus called him, Matthew
"left everything behind,
and rose and began to

follow Him" (Luke 5:28).
*That simple call by Jesus
was more than enough
reason for Matthew to
turn his back on
everything he was and
possessed.

Because of his position as
an agent of Rome, he
knew that once he forsook
his post he would never
be able to return to it.
*He knew the cost and
willingly paid it.

Of all the disciples,
Matthew doubtlessly
made the greatest sacrifice
of material possessions;
yet he himself makes no
mention of it.

He lost a career but
gained a destiny, lost his
material possessions but
gained a spiritual fortune,
lost his temporal security
but gained eternal life.

In his own mind, the most
important truth about the
writer's former character
is given in the words,
“sitting in the tax office”.

To Jews of his day, that
single phrase established
Matthew as the most
despised, vile, and
corrupt man in
Capernaum.

Matthew was a publicani
(thus the title publican in
some translations),
a man who served
occupying Rome against
his own people as a
collector of taxes.

*By the nature of his
position, his first loyalty
had to be to Rome.
*Nationals of a country or
province occupied by
Rome could buy
franchises that entitled

them to levy certain taxes
on the populace and on
travelers.

A franchise required
collecting a specified
amount of taxes for Rome
and allowed anything
collected beyond that
figure to be kept as
personal profit.

Because his power of
taxation was virtually
unlimited and was
enforced by the Roman
military, the owner of a
tax franchise in effect had
a license for extortion.

For those reasons the
publicani were
understandably
considered traitors by
their own people and
were usually even more
despised than Roman

officials or soldiers.
*Many tax collectors
would accept bribes from
the wealthy to reduce and
falsify their taxes and
would then exact
proportionately more

from the middle and
lower classes, making
themselves hated still
more.

They amassed great
fortunes under the
authority of the oppressor
and at the expense of their
own countrymen.

A Jewish publicani was
barred from the
synagogue and was
forbidden to have any
religious or social contact
with his fellow Jews.

He was ranked with the
unclean animals, which a
devout Jew would not so
much as touch.

He was in the class of
swine, and because he
was held to be a traitor
and a congenital liar, he
was ranked with robbers
and murderers and was
forbidden to give

testimony in any Jewish
court.

A certain type of tax
collector was called a
mokhes, who collected a
wide variety of use taxes
— taxes similar to our
import duties, tollway
fees, boat docking fees,

business license fees, and
the like.
*The mokhes had almost
unlimited latitude in their
taxing powers and could
attach a tax to virtually
any article or activity.

They could, for instance,
levy a tax on a person's
boat, on the fish he caught
with it, and on the dock
where he unloaded it.

They had authority to
open private letters to see
if a taxable business of
some sort might be related
to the correspondence.

There were two kinds of
mokhes.
*One kind, called the great
mokhes, hired other men
to collect taxes for them
and, by virtue of partial
anonymity, protected at

least some of their
reputation among their
fellow countrymen.
*The other kind, called
small mokhes, did their
own assessing and
collecting and therefore

were in constant contact
with members of the
community as well as
with all travelers who
passed their way.
The gabbai were despised,
the great mokhes were

more despised, and the
small mokhes were
despised most.

Matthew was obviously a
small mokhes, because he
himself was sitting in the
tax office as Jesus passed
through the outskirts of
Capernaum.

It was to Matthew, the
most despised of the
despicable,
to whom Jesus
said, Follow Me!

Like many new converts,
Matthew's first thought
was to tell his friends
about the Savior.

He was so overwhelmed
that he threw a banquet to
present Jesus to his
friends — all of whom, as
tax-gatherers and sinners,
were social and religious
outcasts.

We learn from Mark (2:15)
and Luke (5:29) that the
banquet was in Matthew's
own house, another fact
that he modestly omits in
his own account.

*This is the example that
Matthew set for us of
inviting our friends into
our homes in order to
meet Jesus.
*The BGEA wants us to
follow this in November.

Go to:
www.myhopewithbillygraham.org

Jesus talked about people
following Him 23 times:
7 times in Matthew
4 times in Mark
5 times in Luke
+7 times in John
23 times in all

The Greek verb translated
"follow" is often used in
this sense of following
like a disciple.
The tense of the verb
indicates that there must
be a continual following.

*The word "follower" in
this verse literally means a
mimic or an imitator.
*In fact, the Greek word
translated “follower”
means mimic in English.

May God’s Holy Spirit
enable and empower all of
us to imitate the life of our
Lord Jesus Christ!

*Matthew:
the tax collector
*Come, Follow Me
*Greek vs Hebrew
Methods of Teaching

GREEK vs HEBREW
METHODS OF
TEACHING

It is helpful to make some
comparisons between
Western (Greek) and
Eastern (Hebrew)
thinking in education.

The object and aim of the
Hebrew system was, “the
knowledge of God”.
The object and aim of the
Greek system was, “know
thyself”.

*These two aims are poles
apart.
*The Hebrew system
started with God;
7 “The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of
knowledge:” Prov 1:7 KJV

The Hebrews taught that:
Man can never know
himself, unless he first
learns of God and is
submissive to His will.

The Greek system, on the
other hand, starts from
the knowledge of man as
he seeks to understand
God through man’s
higher nature.

To the Jew, the ideal of
holiness and separation
was the key to knowing
God.

All education was
directed to this end;
be holy, be different,
be set apart from the other
heathen nations.

In contrast, the Greek
world did not understand
education to be tied to a
holiness of life.

Teaching involved the
transfer of knowledge in
intellectual areas such as
art, music, or athletics.

*The Greek teacher aimed
at developing the talent
and potentials of his
student.
*In Greek society only the
wealthy and leisure
classes were educated.

Our English words school
and scholar come from
the Greek word,
”Scholazo”, which means
to have leisure, or to have
spare time, or to have
nothing to do.

Conversely, Jewish
education was for all
people and concerned the
whole person.

In summary, the Greeks
learned in order to
comprehend,
the Hebrews learned in
order to revere.

To a Jew, wisdom was
what you did, not what
you knew.
It was action and
behavior, not the nine
points of theology.

*Jesus took His disciples
out into life to teach them
how to act.
*He demonstrated
personally, and as they
acted and reacted He
taught them the truth.

*It was not “to know”,
but, “to experience”.
*It is helpful to look at the
Jewish educational system
during the time of Jesus
and see how that shaped
His style of teaching and

made Him a rabbi in the
eyes of His constituents.
Jesus was often called
rabbi by His peers in the
stories of the New
Testament.

In fact, the Gospels record
that Jesus was called,
”Rabbi” on sixteen (16)
different occasions.
What was a rabbi and
how did you become one?

The word “Rabbi” means,
“My Master” or literally
“My Great One”.

It came from the word
“RAV” that means great
or honored one and was
used by slaves to their
master or by a servant to
his lord.

The word “Ravi” means
my master or
my boss.
One definition of the
word “sin” is not letting
God be the boss of my life.

To understand how Jesus
became a Rabbi, let’s look
at the Jewish educational
system of His day.

*The heart of all Jewish
education was the home.
*The home was the center
of learning.
*Most of their education
took place in the home.

*Any other education was
just an extension of the
principles taught at home.
*Although both parents
shared in this task, the
father bore the chief
responsibility for the

instruction of the children.
The father was the main
instrument in the learning
process.

The heart of Jewish
education was a child
seeing his family,
especially the father, in
action in life situations.

The foundation for Jesus’
education would have
definitely been His father,
Joseph’s example – in
addition to His heavenly
Father.

The father was
responsible to teach his
son Torah and to teach
him a craft as well as
almost everything else in
life.

When the child became
old enough to attend a
formal school setting, he
went to the school that
was attached to the local
synagogue.

There were three levels of
school available to the
students in Galilee of
Jesus’ day: 1) Bet Sepher
2) Bet Talmud
3) Bet Midrash
(Talmidim)

1) Bet Sepher - ages 6-10
House of the Book
2) Bet Talmud - ages 10-14
House of Learning
3) Bet Midrash -ages 15-30
House of Study
Talmidim - disciple

Psalm 119:103 KJV
103 How sweet are thy
words unto my taste! yea,
sweeter than honey to my
mouth!

The teacher of the Torah
would say:
“May the words of God
be the most pleasurable,
the most enjoyable thing
you could ever
comprehend.”

The Hebrew children
were introduced to the
Scriptures as there was
nothing more enjoyable in
the entire universe than
tasting, receiving ,
accepting the words of

God and making them a
part of their life.
10 “And I took the little
book out of the angel's
hand, and ate it up; and it
was in my mouth sweet as
honey:” Rev 10:10 KJV

The best of the best from
Bet Sepher went on to Bet
Talmud and the best of
the best of the House of
Learning went on to Bet
Midrash (House of Study)
at age 15.

In Jesus day, there were
two different kinds of
Rabbis:
1) Common rabbis
2) Rabbis with s’mekah

For example, a common
rabbi would say, “It is
written”, or, “Rabbi so
and so says”, but the
Rabbi with s’mekah
would say, “You’ve heard
it said, but I say to you”.

Look at Matthew 7:28-29.
Jesus had just finished
giving the Sermon on the
Mount and the Bible says
they were amazed at His
teaching, because He
taught as One Who had

authority (s’mekah) and
not as their regular Torah
teachers.

The rabbis with s’mekah
referred to their own
unique collection of
interpretations of
Scripture as their “yoke”
or yoke of learning.

Jesus said:
“Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in

heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 KJV

When a rabbi was seeking
new disciples, he would
question bright fifteen
year old men to
determine their
knowledge of the:
Scriptures, the prophets,

the sages and the law.
Ultimately the rabbi
would be seeking to
answer just one question.
That is....

Can this potential
disciple, really become
just like me, or putting it
another way, can this
potential talmid become a
mirror image of me?

Breaking that down, the
rabbi was trying to
determine if one could:
a) learn all of his
teachings
b) learn to think and act
as he acted and

c) could then spread his
“yoke” to others.

At the end of study at Beit
Talmud, when a Jewish
boy was 14 years old, if he
thought that he was the
best of the best, then he
would present himself to
a well-known respected,

powerful rabbi (the
highest position in Jewish
society).
He would say, “Rabbi, I
want to become your
disciple, your talmudim,
your student.”

So the rabbi would then
examine the young man
and ask lots of questions,
to find out if indeed this
child was the best of the
best (one of the "Harvard
boys").

Each rabbi wanted to
teach his thinking, his
interpretation of Scripture
and his philosophy –
what became known as
his “yoke”.

If the rabbi believed that
the student was not the
best of the best, that he
was not able to become a
rabbi, he would say,
“Ah, my son, you do
know Torah.

And you know Torah
well. But you are not able
to be my talmudeen, my
disciple, my student.
Go, home to your village.
Make babies. Pray that
they become rabbis.

Go home and learn the
family business - fishing,
farming, carpentry.
Because you won’t be
studying to be a rabbi.”

A rabbi wasn’t going to
spend his valuable time
training someone that he
didn’t think could be
successful.

But for those who were
the best of the best Jewish
boys the rabbi would say,
“Lech Acharai –
Come, follow me.”

For a young Jewish man
to hear, “Come, follow
me”, was the highest of
honors for that young
man and for his parents.

The boy would then leave
his family, his family
compound, his village.
He would leave the local
synagogue. He would
leave everything and
follow that rabbi.

He would become a
talmudim, a disciple, a
student. He would devote
his life to becoming
exactly like that rabbi.
He would follow him
everywhere.

The disciple would desire
to emulate the rabbi even
in all of his mannerisms.
He would eat the same
food in exactly the same
way as his rabbi.

The disciple wanted to be
so much like his rabbi that
when the rabbi would
pick up a piece of straw
and put it in his mouth
then the talmudeen would
mimic him.

He would go to sleep and
awake the same way as
his rabbi and, more
importantly, he would
learn to study Torah and
understand God the exact
same way as his rabbi.

It would be said to such a
student - “May you be
covered in the dust of
your rabbi.”
The disciples would
follow their rabbi so
closely that they would

become covered with the
dust of their rabbi.
A common blessing of
Jesus' day was:
“May you follow him so
closely that the dust of his
sandals covers you.”

Are we walking so closely
with Jesus, that we’re
covered in His dust?

In calling the twelve,
Jesus was calling those
who apparently weren’t
viewed as rabbinical
candidates and instead
were back working in the
business and economic

world.
Bluntly, it would appear
that Jesus was settling for
the rejects, those that the
other rabbis had already
turned down.

If you were a rabbi
looking for men to
become part of the current
religious system of that
time, these men were
definitely not your first
choices.

If you were looking
through human eyes and
considering natural
abilities, they didn’t
measure up.

But Jesus didn’t do that.
He called disciples who
had already failed the
rabbi test.
He said, “Lech Acharai –
Come, follow Me”.

“Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me.”
Why did Jesus choose
these guys?
Because He believed they
could become like Him!

And you know what?
Jesus wants to be your
Rabbi.
He wants to be your
Teacher, your Master.
He wants you to be His
disciple, His student,

His talmudeen.
He is calling you
today,“Lech Acharai –
Come, follow Me.”
It doesn’t matter who you
are. It doesn’t matter
where you are. It doesn’t

matter what company you
work for.
The most important thing
is not how much you can
memorize.
It’s not about how much
you know.

It’s all about Who you
follow.
You can be just like the
Rabbi!
He believes that, do you?

*But Jesus wasn’t making
His choice based on
natural human reasoning.
*He wasn’t making His
decision based upon the
natural abilities of any of
those men.

*His choices were made
using much different
criteria.
*He saw the potential that
exists within anyone who
would allow His Holy
Spirit to live through them.

*He knew that Who was
inside Him could be
inside those men as well.
*Jesus knew that God, the
Father dwelt not only in
Him but could dwell in
those men as well.

*They just needed to
realize it themselves.
*He knew that all things
are possible when a
person allows God’s Holy
Spirit to indwell them.

*Jesus also knew that He
wasn’t looking for men to
be part of the religious
system of that time.

God, through Jesus, was
looking for men to rise up
and challenge the
religious and political
system of that day (and
our day as well).

Perhaps, we ought to
consider the possibility
that He wants to do the
same thing through us
today.

The real Gospel is the
Good News that God
totally accepts you, just as
you are.
God loves you as you are,
not as you ought to be!

The Gospel is that God
truly does love all of us
unconditionally and
wants every single person
to prosper in body, soul
and spirit.

If you want to know how
God would think and act
as a human being, Jesus
says, “Look at Me!”

As amazing as that
statement may be, it is
even more amazing that
He says the same thing
about His disciples and in
fact He is saying that
within every follower

is the potential for the
words,
“If you have seen me, you
have seen Jesus” to be
true.

God, through Jesus, is
telling us that He is
absolutely confident that
we can bear His image
and He is also confident
that we can go out and
change the world as the

disciples did so
powerfully in the first
century.
The entire rabbinical
system was based upon
the rabbi having faith in
his disciples.

A rabbi would only pick a
disciple who he thought
could actually do what he
was doing.

Notice how many places
in the accounts of Jesus’
life that He showed
concern about His
disciples not living up to
their potential.

Was He concerned
because they were
incapable?
No, but because they were
capable of doing much
more!

He saw what they could
have been and could have
done, and when they fell
short, it brought about
His displeasure.

It isn’t their failure that
was the problem; it was
their greatness.
They didn’t realize what
they were capable of.

So at the end of His time
with His disciples, Jesus
had some final words for
them.
He told them to go to the
ends of the earth and
make more disciples.

And then He left.
He promised to send His
Spirit to guide them and
give them power, but
Jesus Himself left the
future of the Gospel in
their hands.

And He didn’t stick
around to make sure they
didn’t mess it up.
He left!
And He trusted that they
could actually turn the
world upside down.

God has an extremely
high view of Spirit-filled
people.
God believes that Spirit-
filled people are capable
of amazing things.

Yes, we need to believe in
Jesus but we also need to
realize that Jesus believes
in us.
The Rabbi knows that we
can be like Him!

Isn’t that an amazing
thing – that according to
Jesus we will be like Him?

God is not finished with
us yet, but His work will
not cease until He has
made us into the perfect
likeness of His Son
(1 John 3:2).

1 John 3:2 KJV
2 Beloved, now are we the
sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we
shall be: but we know
that, when he shall

appear, we shall be like
him; for we shall see him
as he is.
1 John 3:2 KJV

The apostle Paul tells us
in Philippians 1:6 that
when God begins a good
work, He will bring it to
pass.

Philippians 1:6 KJV
6 Being confident of this
very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work
in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus
Christ:

The story is told of the
rowdy, disruptive young
boy in a Sunday school
class who continually
frustrated his teacher.

One morning the teacher
asked him, "Why do you
act like that? Don't you
know Who made you?"
To which the boy replied,
"God did, but He ain't
through with me yet."

All of us are still
imperfect, uncut
diamonds in the rough
being finished by the
divine Master Craftsman.
PBPGINFWMY

PBPGINFWMY
Please Be Patient,
God Is Not Finished
With Me Yet

*In Ephesians 2:10, the
passage that we studied
two weeks ago, Paul says
we are the workmanship
of God, God’s poem!
*God is not finish writing
all of His poetry yet!

Allow Him to write the
rest of your story.
The Gospel
According to You?

10 For we are his (poiema)
workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath
before ordained that we
should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 KJV

…“created in Christ Jesus
unto good works” for
God’s glory!
WHAT’S THE
#1 THING?

15 But sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts: and be
ready always to give an
answer to every man that
asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with
meekness and fear: 1 Ptr 3

06 June 23, 2013, Come Follow Me, Matthew 9;9-13

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06 June 23, 2013, Come Follow Me, Matthew 9;9-13