What qualifies you to be a member of the church? Shortly after we came to Belmont two years ago, my wife was at the hardware store, and the clerk asked her about herself. After noting that she was the wife of the new local Lutheran pastor, the clerk began to tell a "horror story" about the church his family had almost joined several years earlier. The family met with the pastor to finalize their membership, and the pastor asked for one more thing: their W2's! It seems that unless this family forked over their financial information and committed to giving at least ten percent of their income to the church, they wouldn't be accepted into membership. To say the least, that particular church had set some unfortunate standards for membership.
What qualifies you to be a member of the church? In some cases, it's not the church that turns people away with mixed up standards. In some cases, it's the people themselves who keep themselves away. The teenage girl who got pregnant and then had an abortion is so racked with guilt that she thinks God could never forgive her. The drunk driver who killed a family of four is so disgusted with himself and with his horrible lack of judgment that he's sure the Lord will never be satisfied with him for the rest of his life.
What qualifies you to be a member of Christ's church? Forget the unreasonable demands some churches place on their people; forget the unbearable burden that some people drag with them wherever they go. Forget all the assumptions and presuppositions for a moment. What qualifies you to be a member of Christ's church? I suspect that many people in this world would be surprised to learn the biblical answer to that question. In order to be a saint (and that's what the Bible calls anyone who belongs to Christ), we must be a sinner first. Sound strange? Perhaps, but this thought will become crystal clear as we study the words of the Holy Gospel for this special day set aside to remember St. Matthew, one of Jesus' twelve apostles. As we listen to Matthew recall his call to apostleship, he will also help us to understand that you can't be a saint unless you're a sinner -- a sinner whom Jesus has called to sainthood, and a sinner who relies solely on Jesus for sainthood.
Matthew was probably a well-educated man. His job was to be a toll collector for the Roman government at one of their seaports. That job would have required him to be bilingual, speaking both Aramaic and Greek. But Matthew was probably also a despised man. You might remember that thought from this morning's Prayer of the Day: "Almighty God, your Son our Savior, called a despised collector of taxes to become his apostle." Any Jew that was employed by the Roman government was considered a traitor, especially those that collected taxes for the Romans. It was a well-known fact that many Roman tax collectors overcharged their constituents, and since there was nothing the people could do about it, they ended up with plenty of rage and resentment for any of their fellow countrymen who would have taken up employment with the Roman government.
Given that information, Matthew seems like an unlikely candidate to become an apostle of Jesus. But in one simple verse, our Lord refutes such thinking and shows that this unlikely candidate for the ministry was just the man Jesus was looking for. "As Jesus went on . . . he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' [Jesus] told him, and Matthew got up and followed him." With two words, Jesus turns to this unlikely candidate for ministry and says, "Follow me." The form of Jesus' command shows us that this wasn't something just for that day, but this was a permanent call to follow Jesus as his handpicked disciple. And with little fanfare, Matthew tells us that this is exactly what he did. An unlikely, despised tax collector becomes an honored apostle of the Savior.
Do you feel like an unlikely candidate to be a Christian? Do you wonder to yourself, "How could God ever accept me at face value?" There aren't many people in this world that would qualify for the title "saint" by earthly standards. But there are not any people in this world that would qualify for sainthood by heavenly standards. The secret and shameful sins of our past are not hidden to an all-knowing God. He's seen our brainless mistakes and shameless actions. He's heard our biting comments and detected our bitter thoughts. If you think you're not good enough for God, guess what -- you're right! If I try to be a saint on my own, it will never happen, and if you try to be a saint on your own, it will never happen, either.
We're not good enough for God. We're not good enough, that is, until our Lord Jesus intervenes. Jesus takes sinners who are hell bent and hell bound, and he turns them into heaven bound saints. You can't become a saint unless you're a sinner first, a sinner whom Jesus calls to sainthood. Matthew was an unlikely candidate to become a follower of Jesus, and quite honestly so are you and I. In fact, that is the confession that every Christian acknowledges. Why should God want anything to do with people who haven't listened to him, haven't followed him, and haven't lived for him? But that's what makes our sainthood status such a miracle. Jesus took you and I, sinners bound for hell, and he called us to sainthood. He placed us on the one and only path that leads to heaven. Jesus took you and I, dirty as we were with sin, and washed us from sin in his shed blood as he cleansed our hearts with the pure waters of Baptism. Jesus took you and I, who had failed to live up to his Father's high standards, and placed our failures on himself as he offered his holy life on the cross to pay the penalty we deserved for our failures. Jesus took you and I, dying with sin, and placed faith in our hearts that assures us that because he lives again, we too will rise from death and enter into a new heavenly existence together with all the saints before and behind us.
A couple of months ago I was asked to visit a man dying of AIDS in a San Francisco hospital. I had put of this visit for some time because I just didn't know where to start. Eventually I called some other pastors in the area for advice. In the course of the discussion, one of the pastors with whom I spoke said that he believed that if Jesus were on the earth today, he would probably spend a lot of time around people like the needy, the sick, and yes, those dying with AIDS. Many times during Jesus' ministry we see him associating with people that elite members of society would preferably stay away from at all costs. To some degree, this was the case in today's Gospel. As an expression of gratitude to Jesus who had called him to service, Matthew held a banquet at his home in honor of his Savior. "While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and 'sinners' came and ate with him and his disciples." Jesus was not drinking fine wine at a black tie event with the upper crust of society. He was rubbing shoulders with people who were disliked by the Jewish society of his day. He was spending time with people who, to a greater or lesser degree, may have had some shady backgrounds.
The religious elites of the day, the Pharisees, saw Jesus associating with such people and couldn't believer their eyes. "When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and "sinners"?' On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'"
Jesus essentially had three quick responses to his opponents. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." These men who were so scandalized by Jesus' actions didn't understand their own spiritual condition. They thought their souls were in tip-top shape. Of course, that wasn't the case. When Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor," he was pointing out their pumped-up personal pride that had convinced them they didn't need a substitute and Savior from sin. Jesus continues, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'" The Pharisees to whom Jesus was speaking were known for their strict adherence to all of the Jewish religious laws and customs. They prided themselves that they observed these customs and rituals so precisely. But Jesus saw through their stony hearts. He knew they were more interested in getting the rituals right than getting their hearts right. They weren't concerned with caring for others; they were concerned with capturing attention to themselves. And so Jesus concludes, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." If these religious elites wanted to earn a saintly status before God, they were heading in the wrong direction, because you can't be a saint unless you're a sinner. Jesus has no interest in calling those who think they're hot stuff into his kingdom, because such people don't see their genuine need for the rescue that Jesus provides.
Now that school is back in session, kids are back into the routine of taking tests and quizzes. And you know what happens after the tests are corrected and handed back? Kids like to compare their grades, especially if they did well. There aren't too many students who want to show off their D's and F's, but if you aced the test, well, that's worth a little bragging time!
Unfortunately, that's a way of thinking that people are often bring into the spiritual realm. In fact, that's a way of thinking that can especially rear its ugly head among us. "I belong to a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran church." "I give a greater percentage of my income to church than most of the other members." "I've taught Sunday School for years." "I'm on the church council." "I'm in Bible study more regularly than the rest of the members." "I live my faith much more boldly than most of the Christians I know." Oh, really. Do you, Mr. and Ms. Pharisee, think that this will impress God? Will our nickel and dime's worth of good deeds and noble actions make up for the multi-trillion dollar sinful debt we rightly owe God? Not a chance!
God will judge you either on the basis of your own life, or on the basis of the life of your substitute. There's no middle ground. There's no 50/50 deal with God in which Jesus got things started and we can take care of the rest. You can't be a saint unless you're a sinner who relies solely on Jesus for sainthood. Don't ruin the gift of forgiveness Christ has secured for you. Receive that gift, the gift he places in your heart through faith in him. You and I are frail, fickle, and feeble when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. Why, then, would we want to play Russian roulette with our salvation? In Jesus' life we have something far more secure -- the perfection he lived as our substitute. In his death we have something far more secure -- the payment he offered as our substitute. In his rising we have something far more secure -- the promise he secured as our substitute. From start to finish, he's covered it all. He changed you from a poor sinner into a precious saint, a sinner who now relies on him alone for sainthood.
These saints days and minor festivals that occur in our Lutheran Church calendars are often chosen because the day selected is believed to be the anniversary of that particular saint's death as a martyr. In some cases days are chosen because a prominent church bearing that saint's name was dedicated on that day many centuries ago. Why September 21 was chosen to remember the apostle Matthew is a bit uncertain, but what we remember on this day is crystal clear. Despite our faults, flaws, and failures, the Lord Jesus has made us sinners into his saints. He's called you. Rest your faith on him alone, and one day you'll rejoice because of your saintly status forever. Amen.