Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-07-24
Golden Text: IL am not come to
call the righteous, but sinners, to


repentance. Luke 5:32.
Our study todIy is OF Theodore
Levi. No, you don't recognize him
by that name. He was first named
Levi, being of that priestly tribe.
Then he sank pretty low until Jesus
to=nd him; and after that he was
called III eodore, or Matthew, for
they both mean Gift of God
Matthew is the Greek way of writ
ing the Hebrew word Matthyah,
which has the meaning above and
Theodore is another Greek 'deriva-
tive meaning the same.
AS a member of the tribe of Levi
his place was TO stand for God be-
fore the people, and to stand for the
people before God; but early in life
there hid been born in him desire
! to get rich. He wanted !. oney. AS
he grew older that desire began to
control n" lEe--desires have a way
of doing that aG&eaS they are brought
under control-and finally it became
the oVerweening desire of his life;
1t would stop at nothing so long as
it was being gratified.
The most lucrative business in
Palestine was taX-farming. The
collect revenues from its subsidiary
and conquered territorial possess
ions. These agents could not do all
the work, so they farn.ed the taxes
out. One man would take one dis
trict and another another district
He would be allowed to collect from
the people 'as much as the traffic
would stand" to use the language
- ~ I, ~
to the highest official say 500, 200
for his district, and could extract
S150.000 from the people, he could
pocket the difference. Thus. with
the power of the government be-
hind them, and a hardened con-
science within them. these tax
farmers had unlimited opportunities
to get rich; and they did.
Bat with this they lost all the
respect of the Jewish people, and
incurred theif Utmost contempt and
bitter enmity. A publican was an
outcast, a renegade, a traitor TO his
country and his people. and high
way robber without the danger to
his life. His very presence was a
constant reminder to them of their
bondage to the Eoman yoke.
Lewis love 'of money had brought
him to this point. He loved money
more than anything else. He count
ed all things but loss in order that
he might gain money. He read the
proverb of the wise man thus:
with all thy getting. get money"
And the money was coming in
nicely.
Levi wasn't satisfied. He won
dered if he hadn't made a mistake.
He was coming to the conclusion
that money wasn't everything. 1t
might be important, but it wasn't
all-important. For, while he had
been getting money, he had been
losing other things-the respect of
his people, the sense of being right,
an easy conscience. Yes, there is
an indefinable something that money
can not buy-and it is worth more
than all the money in the world
Levi lived in Capernaum. and col
lected money from the people of that
city and district. He, therefore, had
certainly heard of the wonderful
Teacher who was making such an
impression in Capernaum and, what
particularly interested him was, that
this wonderful Teacher had shown
real and genuine interest in pub
licans - why, He actually treated
them as though they were real folks
with real feelings.
1t probably never occurred to Levi
that he would ever have any rela-
tons with Him, but he was surely
glad to know that there was at least
one man who would smile at the
publicanS and pass civil word with
them instead of frowning on them
and treating Them with such con-
tempt and bitter enmity. Levi was
strangely drawn to this Man.
One day this Man passed by Lewis
office as Levi was taking in the
money. He looked at him real hard
and then said to him, Follow Me"
In less time than it takes to tell it
Levi had made a lot of mental calcu-
lations. He reckoned that to follow
Jesus meant to give up his business,
which was a bad one, TO give up the
desire of his life to be rich, to give
UP the hopes and aims of a life
time. But he also reckoned that
with it he would have an easy con-
science and the respect of his people.
Then just to be in the company of
this Man who had said and done
such wonderful things was worth
something. 1t has taken some time
to tell this, but in moment all Of
this had flashed through Lewis
mind, he had made his decision: "he
forsook all, rose up, and followed
Him."
Yes. that is the record by Luke,
and the order is correct. Before he
rose up. he had given up everything
that he had counted worth while be-
fore. He left it all; then he rose up,
and followed. Had he not done this,
he might have risen up and left the
money and his office, but still held
on to the old job while he was fol-
lowing; and it would have been a
mighty unhappy following. But in
stead, he turned his back completely
on everything that was past before
he ever moved a muscle. You see
II is the turning of the inner life
that counts; then the outer life will
be easy.
His Feast
The very first thing he did was
to give dinner party. You see he
had family and q fine home in Ca
pernaum, and now that he had be-
gun to follow Jesus he wanted these
to be used for Him. Then Levi had
some TRENDS - oh, yes, Il publican
had friends; but they were also pub
licans and sinners! Outcasts like
himself; men hated by their own
people. and refused even the com.
mon courtesies by folks TOO good to
associate with them.
Levi had often thought Of the diff
ference in the way. that Jesus had
treated publicans and sinners. so e
wanted them to know Jesus, and
wanted them also to know that he
had quit the old game and was 60
ing straight from now on ,
NO one who has ever heard S. d.
Gordon tell, in his own way, how
3 Levi asked Aaron Cohen" and Sol
ONION Meyers" and others to come
down to my house next Thursday
evening to have dinner with my
Friend Jesus" can have failed to be