I have reflected often on the events that happened when the Lord chose His disciples, the apostles of the Lamb, events that created that undeniable encounter, the revelation of who He is that made that phrase “follow Me” an irresistible proposition.

We have seen in another treatise the case of Peter and Andrew his brother and the Zebedee sons; let us now consider another example in Luke 5:27-32 and Matthew 9:9-17, the case of Matthew also called Levi. To understand this, the key is in the conversation in Matthew 9:1-8; where Jesus declared in verse 6 that “He had the power on earth to forgive sins.”

The marvel and clamour of the multitude who heard this statement may have reached the hearing of this tax collector who by nature of his job was publicly called a sinner! Levi found neither friend nor acceptance beyond the limited circle of sinners. His long desire to be freed from the condemnation that had trailed his life saw an opportunity in Christ, an opportunity he grabbed with all his might. In his joy, Levi invited the Lord along with his circle of untouchables in Matthew 9:9-11, after having accepted the call to follow Him.

**When Jesus heard the comment of the Pharisees, He Himself took the initiative to answer for His disciples. He did not:

• evade the question.
• distance Himself from the other guests, neither did
• play down their character,

but drew a comparison: just as it is not the healthy but the sick who need a doctor, so it is not the hypocrites and self-righteous who need Him as Savior, but the sinners—**Author Unknown

We thus understand the foundation of Paul’s declaration in our text scripture.

Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So, we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So, we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 NLT

Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 MSG

**It is just for them that He came. Such sinners He calls, like Levi. Jesus called them to sit down at table. Jesus now calls to repentance, to faith. He wants to transform people. This change begins in the heart, with the sinner condemning his former way of life before God. This is repentance, and this is what Levi has just done. But now he lives in a completely new, completely different way: he now lives for Jesus Christ, and for those who still need Him as Savior. That is why he has brought Him together with his professional colleagues and the other tax collectors, that they should also find Him as Savior —**Author Unknown

Can you imagine this same Levi is the Matthew (the fifth disciple called by Jesus Christ) who wrote one of the four gospels. Your sordid past need not be a hindrance to answering the call once you are fully repented and committed to following Him. Shalom.

Pastor Afolabi Oladele