SUMMER SERMON SERIES, 7/27/25
CHRIST’S CHOSEN: MATTHEW
Matthew 9:9-13
In week 7 of our summer sermon series CHRIST’S CHOSEN, we will be studying about the APOSTLE MATTHEW.
Most Christians have heard about Matthew, although there are only 10 verses in all the gospels and the book of Acts where he is mentioned; and several of those passages are repeated in the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. Of course, the first book in the New Testament bears his name—his gospel account of the life and ministry of Jesus.
Of all the men that Jesus chose to be His apostles, Matthew is probably the most surprising simply because of his chosen profession—a tax collector. If he was like any other tax collector, he was hated by most Jews because he worked for the enemy—the Roman government, and, therefore, were considered traitors.
Throughout the gospels tax collectors are often paired with “sinners” (Matthew 9:10 and Luke 15:1). The reason being, they were known to cheat their fellow Jews while collecting taxes for Rome. For this reason and others, they were hated by most Jews and were social outcasts. But then comes Jesus who one day walked up to a tax booth where Matthew was sitting and said, “Follow me.”
Come join us this Sunday as we delve into what Matthew writes about the day when Jesus changed his life.
MATTHEW 9:9-13
9 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.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
