Matthew The Twelve Apostles Sermon Series Part 9 of 14

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries, my name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being with us today. We are in the middle of a great sermon series about the 12 apostles. Today we are going to be talking about Matthew.

This is part 9 of 14. We have already gone over several of them. Do you remember them? Perhaps it is your first time with us, if that is the case then hit that subscribe button, hit the follow button, like the video, all of that great stuff, and stay tuned because we have got more coming. We are on 9 of 14 so we have got a lot to go.

In addition, you can check out a playlist on our YouTube channel or our website and be able to get caught up on the previous messages. We had an overview and introduction. We spoke about Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, and today it is Matthew.

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Share this with them and make them know more of the names of the apostles, but not only their names. Help them know exactly who they were, what they stood for, what they did, and how we can apply that in our lives. That is the most important part. How can we learn from what they did and apply that in our lives today? Even though they lived 2,000 years ago, what they did can still influence us today.

Like I said, we are talking about Matthew. Matthew was a pretty popular disciple and also a pretty unpopular disciple. Why? Well, he was popular because he was educated, so he was able to write things down, document stuff. He had an educated brain, let’s say. That does not mean the other guys were dumb, but they were commoners, fishermen.

Matthew had an elevated status. He was let’s just say in politics and people did not like that. People do not like politicians. He was not a politician though, he was a tax collector which is worse than politicians. Nowadays people do not like lawyers and politicians. In those days it was tax collectors, they probably did not like the other politician people either, but Matthew was a tax collector and people hated him. People just hated tax collectors, they were worse than the outcasts and the exiled, and the unclean.

Matthew was mentioned about 5 times throughout the New Testament. In addition, he had another name, Levi, and that was mentioned about 3 times, so in total about 8 different times, Matthew is mentioned. Now of course he wrote an entire book. He has got all of those words that he wrote, but his name alone is only mentioned about 8 times in the Bible through a handful of verses.

Now Matthew was the son of a guy named Alphaeus. Where do we go for that? Remember all of these, if you have been with us, all of these sermons are going to be heavy Bible verses, so turn with me to those verses in your Bible. If you cannot, come back later, they will all be in the description and you can look them up and read them to gain a little bit more understanding about who Matthew was or who these disciples really were.

We are going to go to Mark chapter 2 verse 14. Mark 2:14 says, ‘As Jesus walked along he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.’ Pretty cool. He was sitting at the tax collector’s booth, but more importantly son of Alphaeus, that is what we are going to. There was another disciple who was also a son of Alphaeus and this was James The Lesser. We spoke about him, you can check out a card on him on this video or navigate to our YouTube channel or our website.

James was the son of Alphaeus. Now there is some question on whether Matthew was the son of Alphaeus and James is a son of Alphaeus, they must be brothers, they both have the same father. Yes and no. There is quite a bit of disagreement. A lot of scholars say no because there were multiple Alphaeus’ just like today. How many Johns do you know? Quite a few. So there are quite a few Alphaeus’ in this day. It is very possible they were not brothers.

Some people say, hey it is the same name, they were brothers. Why would it be mentioned if they were not brothers? What you choose to side with is not a salvation issue, that is the beauty of it. You can believe they were brothers or you can believe they were unrelated and whatever you believe in that instance does not affect you going to heaven.

All you need to believe in order to go to heaven is that Jesus died for your sins. That He saved you. He took your punishment. You need to believe in Jesus and ask for forgiveness and live your life for Jesus and you will be saved.

So James may be Matthew’s brother, but we do not know. It is pretty likely given that all the rest of the disciples, we have other sets of brothers and maybe cousins and things like that. It is also possible that these guys were distant cousins, maybe two cousins were both named Alphaeus and then we have Matthew and we have James being born. It is possible they are related at the very least.

Now remember this is James The Lesser, not James the brother of John. James and John were also brothers, but this is a different James. We have spoken about both of those James’ already. Now Matthew was a tax collector. He lived in Capernaum and the real point about this is that people may say well, why does everyone always say Matthew is a tax collector? Why do they say the other people are fishermen?

It is just like today when you meet someone, oh what do you do, and you start talking about what you do for a living. What is your career? That was a sign. It was something of status. What do you do? It is a very common question. In the Bible, they lived that way too. What do you do? They were fishermen. Now they are going to be real fishers of men. The tax collector Matthew was a tax collector, but the real point that they are trying to make by saying that Matthew was a tax collector is because people hated tax collectors, they did not like them at all.

But Christ called a tax collector. Jesus called him and the point of that is Jesus calls everyone. He is calling you, He calls everyone, and then there is that verse, ‘many are called but few are chosen.’ Oh well does that mean you have to be chosen? Guess what, if you choose to step into your calling, you are part of the chosen, that is how it works. It is your choice.

It is not that God specifically chooses you and if He does not choose you, you are damned for hell. No, God calls everyone and it is your choice whether or not you step into that calling and become part of God’s chosen people. It is your choice.

But tax collectors, no one would have thought that He would have called a tax collector. That would be like someone today saying, let’s say they are a serial murderer or a rapist or something like that. They are in prison, they have 5 life sentences and God calls them and everybody is like why on earth would God call that person? They are the lowest of the low, they are the worst of the worst, we do not like them.

God called them and maybe they were a serial murderer because they ran from their calling and now they finally stepped into their calling afterward. The point is they can choose whether or not they are going to listen to the calling and right here in Mark 2:14 it says Jesus said follow me. Jesus told him that means right there, right then and there. Matthew had a choice.

It says he got up and followed Him. He made the choice, it was not like Jesus went over there, picked him up, and took him with Him. No, He went up and said follow me, and guess what, at that minute he had a choice. He could say, nope I got a lot of work to do. I got to collect the taxes. This is my job. I take it very seriously. Because he did, he took it very seriously.

He was super analytical, super involved in his work, very committed and he could have said I do not know who you are, I am taking this very seriously. But instead, immediately he got up and followed Jesus. He made the choice. He stepped into his calling and became part of the chosen.

That is why this is so significant. Of course, in today’s world, it is not a significant fact, people still though today hate paying taxes but there is not someone that goes around and collects the tax. I mean we just pay it all the time, it is actually probably a hundred times higher than it was in that day, we just do not know.

Every time we swipe our credit card to the store and look at the receipt, what the heck is all this 5% this tax, 2% county tax, this state tax, and by the time you are done you are paying like 8% tax on whatever you bought? Plus then you got to pay your 20% income tax and all your other taxes, your property tax, your vehicle taxes, the gasoline tax, every time it is like we are getting taxed like 50% of all of our income because we have to spend and pay all this tax it is even worse. They are just hitting us, killing us quietly.

Today it is behind the scenes, but tax collectors then took it all at once. Certain times a year they went out and set up their booth, people had to come and literally hand them money to pay the tax to settle the tax, and if they did not then they would record the assets that they had and eventually they would go seize the assets and it would be the government of Rome or whomever that would seize it. I mean it was a big deal.

But then in addition these tax collectors of that day were also regarded as criminals and referred to as gentiles and sinners. They were outcasts. It did not matter even if they followed the law, if they were Jews they were still regarded as gentiles and sinners. They were thrown out. No one liked them and we can see that in a number of verses.

Matthew 18:17 is one, we are going to read that real quick. This is Jesus talking, Matthew 18:17 says, ‘If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.’

Wow, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. So tax collectors are lumped right into the pagans. The Jews would have treated the pagans like dirt because they did not believe. They were outcasts. They were get out of here, we do not like you, a pagan or a tax collector. So not nicely.

Matthew 21:31, let’s read that, it says, ‘Which of the two did what his father wanted? The first, they answered. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you.’

This is a different story. It is in a parable, but the point that we are making here is Jesus lumped in tax collectors and prostitutes together. Nowadays, even in today’s day and age, prostitutes are deemed as kind of like an outcast of society or like undesirables, let’s call them.

Now of course some people desire them of course, but they pay, it is a business. But the prostitutes are known as sinners, they are not following the law at that time. They were really outcasts and Jesus is throwing these tax collectors right in with the prostitutes and with the pagans. They are being associated with them. They are sinners.

Matthew 21:33, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.’ This is going on and on about a story, a parable of the tenants, and how they did not follow. But the point is that tax collectors were thrown in right here, but the tax collectors and prostitutes are not highly regarded.

Matthew chapter 9 verse 10, ‘Well Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples’. Tax collectors and sinners. They threw that right in there. They had to make the point known that tax collectors were also sinners.

Mark 2:15, we have got all kinds of verses, I will put them in the description below but you can read them at your will. Mark 2:15, ‘While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, tax collectors and sinners were eating with them’.

Luke 5:30, another one says, ‘A large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them, but the Pharisees and teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples. Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’

The people despised these tax collectors, they did not like them. Tax collectors and sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes, tax collectors, and pagans, they were all thrown in with the lowest of the low, with the undesirables. No one liked them.

Some of the reason was that the tax collectors were also notoriously unjust. They would rip people off. They would do surprise visits and say oh you owe an extra x number amount and if you cannot pay all I am taking your donkey, all right I am taking this or I am taking this, and then they would probably go sell it somewhere and pocket the money.

They were rip-off people. They were not just, they collected money that was not theirs, and then what they did was they took that extra money and loaned it out to other people. They were known as usurpers. You say what is that?

That means I would collect some money that is not mine and then I would loan it out to you at a really high interest rate, 50% or some astronomical amount. They were like loan sharks and so they would loan this out at high rates of interest, kind of like the banks do today. They collect in money, they pay you like 0.002% but then they loan it out at like 9% or credit card companies at 30%, usurpery.

They are loaning out money that is not theirs at super high rates of interest, getting rich making tons of money and people were upset about that at the time. Today it is normal. Back then it was criminal. But Jesus called Matthew, He called him.

Let’s go to Luke chapter 5 verses 27 and 28, ‘After Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Follow me, Jesus said.’ Leave, he got up, left everything, and followed him. That seems to be a common theme among a lot of these disciples. They get up and leave everything behind. They gave 100%, they gave it all up, fishing nets, their boats, the tax collector’s booth.

Matthew was probably making some really good money. If everybody else had one year’s wages or whatever in today’s day and age, let’s say it is $50,000, that is kind of poverty level fisherman. Matthew probably was making $150,000 and he gave it all up. He left it and he went and followed Jesus. They gave everything up.

Matthew was a great disciple. He followed Jesus with everything he had. He was also the first to write down the teachings of Jesus in the Hebrew language. Because he was educated he wrote it all down, he could do that. Matthew also realized that this stuff needed to be written down.

For so long they were just kind of passing it by word of mouth, by telling stories, and because they thought Jesus was coming and they are like man we are getting to the end of our life here and Jesus is not back, we got to start writing this down so that it is carried on to future generations just in case Jesus does not come in our lifetime.

So he wrote that down. He was more educated than the other disciples, he could read and he could write, he could count. It is interesting that Matthew being a tax collector, a money man, was not the treasurer of the ministry. You will learn later on if you do not know already, that it was Judas Iscariot. He was the treasurer, he was the one who took care of all the finances. Why not Matthew?

Well, Matthew gave up all of that to follow Jesus. He left it behind, he gave it all up, so he probably did not want to do that. Another thing is maybe the disciples did not trust him because he was a tax collector. They learned to trust him, but they did not like tax collectors so there was no way they were going to let him manage the money.

Matthew, he also died a martyr. There was a king in Ethiopia who did not like Matthew for some reason. Well, we know it is because Matthew was a Christian and Matthew was out there preaching and converting people.

King Hirtacus sent out an assassin, a swordsman and that assassin went out and stabbed Matthew in the back, and why? Because Matthew criticized or convicted the king and his morals. The king was unjust, the king was doing things that were wrong and Matthew confronted him and criticized the morals and said, it is not right, it is unjust. So the king dispatched his assassin who stabbed Matthew in the back and killed him.

Matthew was in an impossible situation that Jesus made possible. Matthew was hopelessly lost, he was a tax collector, the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst, no one liked him, he had no friends, he had the company of no one, he ate with the dogs, he was the lowest of the low, people did not like him, they despised him. But Jesus called him.

Jesus called him and Matthew got up, left everything behind, stepped into his calling, and followed Jesus. If you have doubts as to whether Jesus would call you, guess what, He is calling, you are just not listening. Just get up, step into your calling.

There is a reason that the Bible says they got up, left everything, and followed Him. Rather than just saying, and they followed Him. No, it is an action. You gotta do it. It is not like you are just chosen and God takes you with Him. No, you gotta do it, you gotta meet God halfway. You got to put in some effort. You need to get up, leave everything, and follow Him.

Now does that mean you are going to walk out on your family and your house and your mortgage and all that right now today? No, that is not what it is talking about. It is like you need to make some effort into following Jesus. What does that mean? It means reading the Bible and understanding what it means.

You would know if you read the Bible, that you are not going to just walk away from all your family and your responsibilities, you are going to get up and you are going to make an effort to step into those responsibilities and fulfill them and do right by the people around you and do what you can to live like Jesus. You gotta get up. You got to follow. Jesus is calling you. He is.

You say, no I am too bad of a sinner. You say, no I am a convicted felon, He could not call me. No, I murdered someone. No, I had involuntary manslaughter. No, I did some really bad things in high school. No, I was a terrible kid. No, I made some wrong choices and got into the wrong crowds, drugs, gangs, violence, whatever. Guess what. He is calling.

Start listening, answer. Step into your calling, get up, and follow Jesus just like Matthew did. There was essentially no hope for him, but he got up and followed Jesus just like you can today.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus thank you so much for having Matthew respond to the calling, for giving him that desire and that willingness to step into the calling that you were putting on his life. Thank you for the great example that we truly know anyone and everyone is called. We are all being called.

Lord, I pray that those watching and listening that they would start listening to your call and that not only would they listen, but that they would respond to the call. That they would get up and start following you. That they would not be worried about anything in this world. That they would get up and follow you.

Lord Jesus, please in your name, we pray upon these people watching and listening, and if they are reading, whatever they are doing for this text, that they would get up and follow you. That they would start listening and responding to your call on their life and that they would become part of your chosen people. It is all on them. They have the choice, they can choose to be chosen, they just need to respond to your call.

Lord Jesus if they are not responding or they are not listening, then I pray that you would be louder and more apparent, get in their way, and be loud so that you would be heard. Give them eyes to see and ears to hear and a thought and action to get up and respond. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I am not lying. It is so true. You are being called. Jesus wants you to follow Him. Respond to the calling. One great first step is to invite Him into your life. You say, dear Jesus, thank you for dying for me. Thank you for calling me. I want you in my life. Forgive me for my sins. I want to respond to your calling every single day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you want us to pray with you, you want us to pray for you, comment below, contact us. We would be happy to do that. It is time for you to get up and follow the call on your life. I hope you join us next week. We are going to be talking about James, this is James The Lesser. We already spoke about James The Greater. Join us next week as we talk about James. God bless.