Tonight I want to start our time together by taking a look at a couple of TV commercials. They are both Coke commercials from their new slogan, “The Coke side of life.” As we watch each one, I want you guys to really watch close and think about what each add is really communicating.
***Watch the two commercials, pausing to talk about each one***
A few of weeks ago, a couple of us went to Gordon to hear a guy named Donald Miller speak in chapel. One of the things he talked about was the way that advertising and marketing work. He shared with us that the classic approach to the majority of advertising today is a two step process. First, an advertiser’s job is convincing you that you aren’t happy. Second, their job is to convince you that if you buy their product, you will be happy.
Subconsciously, that is the aim that these two coke commercials are taking. In the first commercial, it starts with a group marching, very rigidly and uniformed, into the small door at the bottom of this weird shaped building. Once inside, the camera zooms outward to show a coke bottle that erupts into a party. Thus, the coke side of life is a lot more fun than life without coke. In the second commercial, the dog is angry and attacking the bottle of coke while a series of black ink blots in the form of skulls and ghosts, as well as the word No float around him. Once the dog eats the bottle, suddenly his manner changes and the ghosts and no’s are replaced with hearts, smiley faces, and yes’s. Thus again, the coke side of life is a lot better than life without coke.
It might seem funny at first but really think about all the commercials you guys see on a regular basis; so many of them take this approach to advertising. If you don’t wear this brand of clothing, people won’t like you as much and you won’t get the guy or girl you like. If you buy a PC instead of a Mac you are going to end up like this dorky, fat, old guy with lots of problems instead of the young, cool looking guy. If you smoke these certain cigarettes or drink this certain beer you will be cool, popular and most importantly hot.
Advertising has dictated how we view ourselves and the world around us. Almost every commercial we see today communicates that life would be better if only...and according to research, over 3,000 times a day we are told over and over and over again that we and the people around us are not happy, not cool, not pretty, too fat, too thin, and on and on. Marketers make us believe that we, and everyone else around us, are scum unless we buy their product!
Tonight, I want to talk about this idea of thinking that culture has so strongly forced upon us by looking at a story in Matthew 9:9-13. Here we will see this mentality of being scum played out in a number of scenarios that will help us as we talk about jumping into a relationship with Christ.
***Read Matthew 9:9-13***
In the culture that Matthew lived in, it was not the media that had such a powerful influence on the way people thought. Instead, it was the religious leaders of the time that had the powerful effect. Everyday, they would spend their time studying the Old Testament laws and dictating to all of their fellow Jews what was the right way to live and what the wrong way to live was. Everywhere they went they would puff out their chests as they were dressed in beautiful robes and tell the Jews they weren’t good enough for God. They took the same approach as commercials do. They convinced people that they weren’t good enough for God unless they did this or did that. They spent their time selling God as a product.
Matthew was one of the people who would have been most affected by this constant attack of negative messages. A few weeks ago we talked about how Jesus helped a Roman Officer who would have been viewed as unclean by many Jews and a man that they would avoided. Matthew, even though he was a Jew, was actually considered even more unclean and unacceptable than the Roman soldier. Everyday Matthew would have been ostracized by his fellow peers and told that he was scum of the earth for three reasons.
First, he would have been harassed for turning on his people politically. See, as a tax collector, he was collecting for the Romans not the Jews. In some ways, he would have been viewed as working with the enemy and betraying his people.
Second, from a religious standpoint he would have been rejected due to his greed and dishonest actions. One of the big aspects of being a tax collector was that they would charge too much for the taxes and then pocket the money. There was no way around paying extra though because they were given authority from the Roman government. Because of these actions, the religious leaders would have declared that Matthew and others like him were unclean.
Third, because of being labeled unclean, Matthew would have socially been unacceptable for any Jew. They were not allowed to travel with him, do business with him, give him anything, receive anything from him, or have him as a guest or be a guest in his home. Matthew was the scum of the earth!
Day after day of being told he was scum began to sink deeper and deeper into Matthew’s subconscious. People no longer needed to say anything or even give him that look of disgust. Instead, he told himself he was scum all the time. It had been engrained into his mind and on his heart that he was worth nothing and that life had no point or purpose. Matthew spent a lot of his time hanging out with the other tax collectors and “unclean” people that he knew and the rest of his time working and stealing more and more money, thinking if he got enough he would eventually be happy.
One day as Matthew sat at his tax collector’s booth, this man named Jesus came by. At first Matthew, braced himself for another attack for he had heard of Jesus and knew he was a great Rabbi. As Jesus approached though, he saw something very different in His eyes. Instead of seeing hatred, displeasure and disapproval, he instead saw love and compassion. Jesus’ gaze was overwhelming as He looked at Matthew in a way that Matthew hadn’t been looked at in years. As Jesus came up to the table, all Matthew could do was look back into the deep brown eyes staring at him. Jesus then uttered words that Matthew would never forget. “Follow me and be my disciple.” Matthew, suddenly feeling worth something, and overwhelmed with acceptance and love, left everything to follow Jesus.
I think a lot of us find ourselves in Matthew’s shoes time and time again. As we said earlier, over 3,000 times a day we are told over and over again that we are worthless unless we do this or that. Suicide and depression is at an all time high among young people. Sometimes the home isn’t even a place that tells us anything different from the world as our family and friends tell us we can always do better, run faster, or look prettier. This feeling has been engrained in a lot of our minds that we are worthless and that we have no purpose.
Jesus wants to correct our thinking and he approaches all of us today that same way He approached Matthew. He doesn’t care what the people around you are saying, He doesn’t care what your parents say about you, and He doesn’t care what the media says about you. He created you just the way you are and loves and accepts you no matter what. He extends his arm to you, offering His hand and He says, “Come and follow me! You are not scum but dearly loved and created with purpose!”
As Matthew followed Jesus, he immediately thought about all his friends. Knowing they felt the same way he did, he knew they needed to meet Jesus. So, later on, Matthew put together a party and invited everyone he knew. As people arrived he introduced them to Jesus and he warmly greeted them and listened to them. The room began to buzz as more and more people were amazed and surprised that this religious teacher was there with them, caring about them, and loving them!
Eventually, the Pharisees showed up uninvited and looked around in disgust. They turned to Jesus’ disciples and asked, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
I think a lot of us, along with finding ourselves in the shoes of Matthew, can find ourselves in the shoes of the Pharisees. It is so easy to look around and find people who aren’t culturally cool, socially acceptable, or even religiously “clean” and then treat them like scum. We stay away from them and make fun of them. But this is not the attitude that Jesus wants us to have.
As Matthew knew, and what Jesus was saying when he talked about the sick needing a doctor and not the healthy, was that He wants to have a relationship with everyone, but especially the broken, the dirty, the poor, and the unaccepted. A lot of the people that we would normally stay away from are just the people that Jesus wants us to introduce Him to.
As Jesus heard the Pharisees’ question, he responded by saying, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor-sick people do. Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
The catch 22 of this passage is coming to the realization that really, without Jesus in our lives, we really are scum! In light of all the rules of religion and being a good person, we can’t do it by ourselves and we will always fall short. No matter how much we buy or do, there will always be another commercial telling us we are worthless until we buy into this or that. This is exactly the place that Matthew was. He was sick of trying and being called a failure. He understood that he was spiritually sick with sin and disobedience to God and that he needed help. He would never be able to do the right things, never have the right job, and never be able to be accepted by the Pharisees and all the rules.
The only escape from this depressing pattern is to turn to Jesus where we will find true love, acceptance, and purpose no matter what. As we jump head first into a relationship with Christ he promises to always be there with us to help us and encourage us, even when we fail. His love is not conditional.
As Christ gazed at Matthew, he told him that I love you despite your shortcoming and failures! Come and follow me and find everything you have ever wanted. Tonight, Jesus gazes deeply into your eyes saying the same thing. I love you and I always will, no matter what! You don’t have to buy my next hot product. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be so focused on the rules. Just come and jump into my arms!
