Who Is It That Matters?

Everybody, Nobody, and Anything
Who Is It That Matters?

I. Introduction

A. to God!

1. By nature, human beings are creatures.

B. It’s versus .

C. When it comes to , who is “”? And, who is “”?

D. “ .”

E. Matthew 9:9 (NLT) As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

1. In the first century, a person devoted to God would never to a tax collector!

2. “ and tax collectors”

3. Tax collectors were so despised that even the “sinners” would be if they were lumped together with “tax collectors”!

4. Matthew was just from the Kingdom of God!

5. Matthew was thinking, “If I could just get my friends together with , I know Jesus would take it from there.”

F. Matthew 9:10 (NLT) Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.

1. You never know who is just away.

G. Matthew 9:11-13 (NLT) ¹¹But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” ¹²When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” ¹³Then he added, “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.”

1. “I came because God doesn’t divide up the human race into us and them! My Father wants everybody to be ‘.’ My Father loves more than you could ever imagine.”

H. Luke 15:1-2 (NLT) ¹Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. ²This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

1. When someone is far from God—when they’ve lost their way to God—God wants us to pull out all the to go after them!

I. is welcome !

J. We have a “ ” here every single weekend!

K. There’s no “us” and “them”! There’s just and His friends, and the people Jesus to be His friends!

1. If you don’t have any friends who are far from God, like Matthew had, you might want to check out your .

2. “God, give me a heart.”

L. Nothing transforms your experience at as much as when you bring a friend, or a loved one, who needs to meet !

M. When we gather together on the weekends, will you look at everything through the lens of “ here”?

II. Conclusion