SMALL GROUP STUDY GUIDES

Luke 5:27-39 – Jesus Has Come to Call Sinners Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. NOTE FOR LEADERS This document is intended to be used as a discussion guide, rather than a curriculum. As small group leaders, please feel free to lead through the topic as most appropriate for your group.

HOUSEKEEPING Things going on at the moment to remind your group of: • •

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The Gospel of Luke: Encountering Jesus (Luke 5:27-39)

REFLECT This is a time to generate some discussion around the ideas in the sermon. Some ideas include: • • • •

Ask the group to debrief for those who missed the sermon on Sunday. What stood out? Do you have any questions? Were there any special moments of clarity where God spoke to you clearly? Why is this important and worth discussion?

THE BIG IDEA Over the last two chapters (4 & 5) Luke has been building a picture for us of Jesus, particularly focused on the nature of the authority of His word. We’ve seen Him teach with authority, rebuke demons and illnesses, command nature, restore community and relationships (to the leper) and even forgive a man’s sins which he demonstrated by healing the paralytic. But here, in the story of Levi, we see a man called out of sin, cured of his sin and called into a life of following Jesus. This is the climactic image of Jesus’ authoritative word: His word has authority to forgive sins and to entirely change a person. Levi goes from a sinner actively sinning to the saved man who wants all of his friends to meet Jesus and receive what he has (cf John 4:28-29). Jesus further illustrates this for us in His responses to the Pharisees’ questions. He is a doctor who has come to heal people’s sin. Being rescued from sin and changed by Jesus brings joy like that of a close friend at a wedding – it shouldn’t be, and can’t be, hindered by mourning or ritual. Finally he gives some parables which talk about the new life that is in Him (see Jeremiah 31:31-33). The new life, the way of Jesus, can’t be patched with the old way of trying to save yourself with self-righteousness. If you try to put justification by works with Jesus then you’ll find you don’t have Him at all. Finally, He challenges us by revealing that no one will voluntarily change to Jesus’ way of life, because our sinful hearts prefer to try to save themselves (‘for they say “the old is good”’). The solution to this conundrum is seen in the calling of Levi. We can’t change on our own. But there is power in the word, in the calling of Jesus to forgive our sins and give us new hearts. And the Word of Jesus, the Gospel which we have received of His life, death and resurrection has that same power today, to save people from sin, to change our lives daily (Rom 1:16)

EXPLORE Let’s dig a little deeper. Use the biblical text to discover what God reveals to us in his Word. RELEVANT SCRIPTURES Luke 5:27-39 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

The Gospel of Luke: Encountering Jesus (Luke 5:27-39)

29

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” 33

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. UNDERSTANDING 1. Getting Started: Put yourself around the table with Levi, Jesus, and the other tax collectors seen in verse 29. What do you notice about the scene? What surprises you? 2. What are the Pharisees insinuating about the disciples of Jesus in verse 33? 3. What does this indicate about their understanding of righteousness? 4. The Parables: a. What are the “old garment” and “old wineskins” in Jesus’ metaphor? b. What is the “new wine” and “new wineskin” in his metaphor? c. What is the heart of these parables? (Leaders note: see helpful notes section - Luke 5:36–39 for a great summary). d. What does verse 39 mean? (Leaders note: “The old is good” refers to our heart’s inclination to resort back to pursuing our own righteousness rather than continuing to be changed by Jesus). e. Why do you think we are inclined to prefer “old wine”?

APPLY Help your group identify how the truths from the Scriptures apply directly to their lives. Get group members to talk about the real life implications of the study. 1. Is there any immediate personal response to the sermon necessary for you? 2. Do you struggle to trust that the Gospel is God's power for salvation and that Jesus can truly save sinners?

The Gospel of Luke: Encountering Jesus (Luke 5:27-39)

3. Can you see any ways in which you try to combine salvation by works with the salvation which is in Jesus (by faith)? Think about this in terms of: a. Yourself: Do I believe that my actions can be good enough on my own? Do I slip into thinking that if I could overcome one sin I would be "good enough"? b. Others: Do I see some people as too sinful to share the Gospel with them, as beyond the grace of God? Remember, Levi was a despicable man and Jesus pursued him! 4. Do you remind yourself of the Gospel regularly? Do you see it as a reason to celebrate? Read Col 2:6-7 and consider what it means to walk in Christ, abounding in thanksgiving 5. The challenge of this passage and the whole fifth chapter is to see where we are living as though the old age is still the norm, as though the new life of the gospel had never burst in upon us. Where in your life do you still live as if the old age was in effect? 6. Is God calling you to any practical application? What positive steps can you take? Is there any active repentance necessary?

PRAY Close time in prayer. Praise Jesus that he pursues the unlovely, cares for the sick and, and restores the sinner. Pray that the Spirit would be continuing to change our hearts to match his, and that we would also be known as people who love and pursue the broken. Pray for each other in our fighting against returning to the “old wine” of self-justification by works instead of enjoying the “new wine” of faith in the gospel of Jesus!

HELPFUL NOTES Luke 5:17–6:11 The Beginning of Controversy. Luke returns to the theme of opposition to Jesus (cf. Luke 4:28–30) by including five accounts of controversy (cf. Mark 2:1–3:6). Luke 5:27–32 Jesus Calls Levi. Jesus now brings forgiveness to a despised tax collector. Matt. 5:46–47 In Palestine, tax collectors were representatives of the Roman governing authorities. Their tendency to resort to extortion made them despised and hated by their own people (cf. Luke 19:8). Christians should not merely do the same as unbelievers; their transformed lives should result in behaviour that shows significantly greater love. Luke 5:27–28 Levi. In Matt. 9:9 he is called “Matthew”. Follow me An invitation to a total commitment to Christ. Levi responded by leaving everything (cf. the “rich ruler,” Luke 18:18–30). Luke 5:30 Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Such table fellowship implies welcoming these people into extended interpersonal association, which the Pharisees thought would make a person “unclean.” But just as Jesus would cleanse the leper rather than being made unclean by the leper so Jesus will bring sinners to repentance (v. 32) and forgiveness rather than being defiled by association with the sinners. Luke 5:31–32 Those who are well … those who are sick. See notes on Matt. 9:13 below

The Gospel of Luke: Encountering Jesus (Luke 5:27-39)

Matt. 9:13 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus’ offer of salvation to sinners threatens the Pharisees’ way of life, yet it is at the heart of the gospel he came announcing. “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” is a quotation from Hos. 6:6. “Sacrifice” summarized observance of religious rituals. More important to God was “mercy” (the Septuagint rendering of Hb. hesed, meaning “steadfast love”), which would have led the Pharisees to care for these sinners as Jesus did. Luke 5:33–39 A Question about Fasting. This account contrasts the “new” situation of the kingdom of God with the previous, “old” situation under the Mosaic law. Luke 5:33–34 Can (they) fast while the bridegroom is with them? Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom, who in the OT was the Lord (cf. Isa. 62:5; Hos. 2:19–20). While Jesus is present with his disciples, they are to rejoice; when he is taken away from them … then they will fast. They will then return to the practice of fasting to seek the presence of God, but they need not do that when Jesus, the Son of God, is with them. “Taken away” is an indirect prediction of Jesus’ death (see Isa. 53:8). Luke 5:35 days will come. Jesus is fully aware of his coming death. when the bridegroom is taken away. Although a riddle for Jesus’ audience, Luke’s readers would have understood this as referring to Jesus’ death. In those days, that is, in the time between Jesus’ death and resurrection, and also after he has returned to heaven, fasting will be appropriate for his followers. Luke 5:36–39 Jesus concludes his response to the question about fasting (v. 33) with a parable consisting of two main metaphors: (1) A new patch cannot be put on an old garment, for upon washing it will shrink and, pulling on the already shrunken, old garment, will tear it. (2) One does not put new wine into old wineskins. New, fermenting wine would stretch the old, inelastic wineskins and cause them to burst. New wine needs newer, more elastic skins. No one is best understood as an ironical condemnation of the Pharisees, who favoured the past and rejected the arrival of the kingdom and the “new covenant” (22:20) it brought. The point of these two metaphors is that one cannot mix the old and the new covenant, and that the new covenant era inaugurated by Jesus’ coming will require repentance (Matt. 4:17), regeneration (cf. John 3:3), and new forms of worship (cf. John 4:24).

REFERENCE: Developed with the help of the following: • • • • •

Tom Wright. For Everyone Bible Study Guides – Luke. Ada Lum. A LifeGuide Bible Study – Luke: New Hope, New Joy. Biblica. Understanding the Books of the Bible: Luke-Acts Kent Hughes & Bryan Chapell. Preaching the Word: Luke – That You May Know The Truth. ESV Study Bible, Crossway.

The Gospel of Luke: Encountering Jesus (Luke 5:27-39)