If you think
your family has problems, consider the marriage mayhem created when 76-year-old
Bill Baker of London recently wed Edna Harvey. She happened to be his
granddaughter's husband's mother. That's where the confusion began, according
to Baker's granddaughter, Lynn.
"My mother-in-law is now my
step-grandmother. My grandfather is now my stepfather-in-law. My mom is my
sister-in-law and my brother is my nephew. But even crazier is that I'm now
married to my uncle and my own children are my cousins." (sermonillustrations.com)
A typical
relationship is hard enough, isn’t it? Your spouse, kids, in-laws, parents.
They’re all crazy people. I heard a lady say the other day that she once gave
her husband the silent treatment for an entire week, at the end of which he
declared, “Hey, we’re getting along pretty great lately,
aren’t we?”
Why can’t
everybody be perfect just like us, right? Or maybe we should all just go live
as hermits. Do you ever wish that after dealing with people sometimes? Dealing
with people and having relationships with people is hard to do. Some people are
better at it than others but I think almost everybody struggles with it
sometimes.
The command
that we are to “love our neighbor” is repeated lots of times throughout the
Bible (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 19:19, 22:39; Mark 12:31; Galatians 5:14; James
2:8). Along with the admonition to love God completely, this command was also
repeated in three of the four Gospel accounts. The importance of loving God and
loving others as much as we love ourselves is apparently very important. It is
also very important to get the order correct…God first; everything else
follows.
The apostle
Paul said that we can be sure we are treating others the way God would have us
treat them if we simply followed this commandment, “For
the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You
shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up
in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”” (Romans
13:9 ESV). (https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/what-does-the-bible-say-about-relationships-is-one-more-important-than-another/)
But we all
love our neighbors, right? I bet almost everybody here would say that they have
love for their neighbor. Thankfully, it doesn’t say that we have to like them
but we are supposed to love them and I bet most of us do that. Hopefully, we at
least don’t act like we hate them. Or at least we aren’t going to admit it here
at church.
But do we
really love our neighbors and what is the definition of “love”? Is it the
opposite of hate or is there something else? I am reminded of a story I have
told here before but it is so powerful that I need to remind us all of what I
heard Penn Jillette say. Mr. Jillette is a famous magician you may have seen on
TV. He and his partner Teller play in Vegas and other places and they are
incredible to watch. They are very good at what they do. If you like magic
shows, look them up. They are the best.
But Mr.
Jillette is an avowed atheist. He’s not agnostic. He is a militant atheist. That
doesn’t make him a bad person. He just “knows” there is no God as strongly as
most of us know that God is real. I heard him talking one time about a man who
came to see one of their shows and came up to meet them afterward. He was very
complimentary of the show and then gave Jillette a little Gideons Bible.
Jillette said, "It was really wonderful!" "I believe he knew
that I was an atheist, but he was not defensive and he looked me right in the
eyes," Jillette continued. "…And he was truly complimentary. It
didn't seem like empty flattery." "I've always said that I don’t
respect people who don't proselytize (witness)," he added. "I don't
respect that at all. If you believe that there's a Heaven and Hell and people
could be going to Hell, or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think
that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially
awkward… Uh, how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?"
He then
followed that up with a specific. "How
much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible
and not tell them that?"
Wow! That is
so well-said. Unfortunately, that man didn’t change Jillette’s life like he
wanted to but he was obedient to what God commanded all of us to do. “As you go, make
disciples.” (Matthew 28:19) As
you go to the magic show, as you go to the grocery store, as you go to the library
or the cleaners or the soccer practice with the littles, go and make disciples.
We are going
through a sermon series on the different approaches to telling others about
that everlasting life, as Jillette said. We have seen the direct approach by Peter, the intellectual
approach by Paul and the testimonial
approach by the blind man. All of these are good approaches to use if that
is your personality and if you are using the gifts that God gave you and could
be used for people in several different circumstances whether you knew them or
not.
But today we
are going to look at the relational
approach. Those other approaches so far are fine for telling complete
strangers if that works for you but the relational approach is for the long
game; the long term approach that requires you knowing someone well enough that
you have earned the right to speak truth to them and our inspiration for this
approach is the Gospel writer Matthew. Did you know that in Matthew’s book that
bears his name that he never says a word? Isn’t that interesting? He never
quotes himself or throws in his two cents. His whole book is just constantly
pointing to Jesus. That’s something we can learn from right there. “Don’t look
at me. Look at Jesus.”
I want to
read just two short verses that most people probably read right over but we can
see something important and inspirational in these verses if we look close
enough. Turn to Matthew 9 and let’s
read verses 9-11. Matthew was a tax
collector and most of you know that back in those days, tax collectors were
usually dishonest and took advantage of anybody they could so most people
absolutely hated them. But when Matthew met Jesus, I want you to see how
Matthew’s life was changed…and how it wasn’t changed.
Matthew 9:9-11 9As Jesus went
on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth.
"Follow me," he told him,
and Matthew got up and followed him. 10While Jesus was having dinner at
Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his
disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why
does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
That Jesus
must have had some kind of magnetic personality, don’t you think? He spoke two
words and Matthew left his job. No two weeks’ notice. No phone call to his boss
to explain. Jesus said “follow” and he followed and he never went back.
Matthew’s life was changed forever. Not only did he quit his job that day but
he made a decision that would change how he lived and how he died. This was no
half-hearted decision. He knew that even if he wanted to, he could never go
back and yet, he never asked a question. He never paused. He didn’t have to
think about it or ask Siri. “Follow me.” Boom! Done. His life changed in so
many ways in that instant.
But I want
you to see just how Matthew’s life didn’t change. Look at verse 10 again. “While Jesus
was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and
ate with him and his disciples.” Now, when it says, “tax collectors and
sinners”, this is not the country club where some sophisticated businessmen plot
some white-collar misdemeanors. Tax collectors were not respectable people to
the Jewish society. They were considered traitors to their country and their
religion and no upstanding Jew would dare be seen with them. So, that leaves
some serious sinners. We are talking about the dregs of society. These are not
the pretty people. This is a rough crowd. Matthew obviously had not yet read
that commandment that says, “Thou shalt
not hangeth out with sinful folks.”
Look at
this. Matthew’s life has changed…but his friends have not. Now, first let me
tell you what I am NOT saying. Let me explain what I am NOT encouraging. If you
got saved and you are coming out of an addictive lifestyle, you need to never
see any of those so-called friends ever again. If there are people in your life
that helped you get high or partied with you or drank with you to the point of
addiction, those folks are on their own as far as you are concerned.
I met a guy
in jail not too long ago that got saved, got off drugs and became a youth
minister in a local church. He was clean for a long time and finally felt
confident that he could go witness to his old partying buddies. He found them
and one thing, as it always does, led to another and…well…I met him in jail. It
happens all the time and it will happen to you. Let somebody else witness to
those people.
But what
Matthew did was invite Jesus to meet his friends because he wanted his friends
to meet Jesus. He had a relationship with these people and he wanted them to
have a relationship with Jesus. It didn’t matter to Matthew what kind of
sinners these people were because he knew it didn’t matter to Jesus what kind
of sinners these people were. Really bad, nasty, ugly sinful people need Jesus
just as much as people who sin in “pretty” ways and “acceptable” ways.
Do you
believe that Jesus doesn’t care what kind of sins you commit? What’s the limit
on the number of sins Jesus will forgive? I need to know because if there’s a
number, I’m pretty sure I’m passed it. How bad of a person do you have to be
for Jesus not to forgive you? I need to know because He has forgiven me of some
really ugly stuff.
Now, when
the Pharisees asked the disciples the question in verse 11, “Why does your
teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" this was a rhetorical
question. They didn’t want an answer. They were pointing out the fact that no Jew
in good standing with the law and the temple and with the ways of polite
religion would be seen with such trash. They were unclean people and were making
the disciples and Jesus unclean.
And that is
just what religion is good for. It is good for pointing out flaws in people.
It’s good for listing rules and for giving laws that can’t be followed. Matthew
didn’t introduce his friends to religion and we shouldn’t either. Matthew
introduced his friends to Jesus and we should too. Matthew didn’t introduce
them to Jesus so they would become better people, able to hob-nob with the
uppity-ups. He introduced them to Jesus so they would have life!
This past
Thursday I went with some of my family to the Victory Temple Ministries
luncheon in Fort Worth. They have this lunch on the first Thursday of every
month and everyone is welcome. I didn’t know what to expect but what I found
was a place that is made for drug addicts and alcoholics who truly want to turn
their lives around.
Since 1992,
over 15,000 men and women have gone through their 6-month program to kick their
addictions. It is a free program but it is not easy. You wouldn’t expect
anything to be easy to break the chains of addiction. At this lunch there was a
powerful time of worship and praise with testimonies of several men and women
who got up and spoke about what their lives had been like before they met
Jesus, how they came to know Jesus and then what their lives had been like
since they met Jesus.
The Victory
Home gives them a safe place to come to, feeds them, trains them and then sends
them out as disciples. It is all relationship-based. I said it is a program but
the pastor of the home got up and spoke and said that it’s not really just a
program. They don’t bring addicts to a program. They don’t bring addicts to a
home. They bring addicts to Jesus and watch Him change their lives.
They start a
relationship with men and women that most of society has given up on. They prove
to these people that they care about them, love them, show them that they have
worth and value to them, to God and the ministry and they build trust with them
and when they are ready and God has dealt with their hardened hearts then Jesus
comes in and changes them forever. It is grace and love and forgiveness and hope
lived out over and over again and God gets all the glory. It’s not easy. It
sometimes takes a long time. It is costly in terms of time, talent and money. It
always is and it will be for you. But how bad do you have to hate somebody not
to tell them about the Good News of Jesus Christ that is going to change their
lives forever?
Who is God
calling you to start a relationship with? Is it your neighbor, your co-worker, your
friend from before you were saved? Maybe God is leading you to just invite them
over for dinner or to watch a ballgame. How hard is that? You’re going to be
watching the game anyway. Why not invite that lost friend over so you can start
investing in their life for eternity? You don’t have to hammer them with
scripture when they show up. Just enjoy your time together and when the time is
right, then invite them to Jesus. That’s the relational approach. If you have a
relationship with Jesus and you have a personality like Matthew had and you have
the gifts that God gave you, maybe you should try it.
If you don’t
have a relationship with Jesus, I want to invite you to right now. I’m not
inviting you to religion. I’m not even inviting you to be a member of our
church. I’m inviting you right now to a relationship with God through His Son
Jesus. When you accept Him and truly believe in Him as Lord and Savior, then He
will forgive your sins and change your life forever. Why not do that right now
as the music plays?
Victory
Temple Ministries www.victorytempleministries.com
Men’s Home
2526 Columbus Ave.
Ft Worth 76164
817.626.1819
Women’s Home
2517 Loving Ave.
Ft Worth 76164
817.378.0921
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