You Matter series: Part 2

They Matter

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

 

Last week we started our You Matter series with a message entitled just that, “You Matter”

 

Today, I would like to entitle this message: “They matter”.

 

 

Today, we are going to be talking about the individuals that we meet and come across every day.

• People
• The other 7 plus billion people on the planet.
• The ones next-door to us
• The ones we work with
• The ones we work for
• The ones we see in the grocery store or the shopping mall
• The ones we bump into every day at the gas station, the gym, and the restaurant.

 

Did you know that 27,000 of them drive past this church every day?

 

You probably bump into hundreds of them every day if you started counting them.

• They are everywhere.
• No matter where you go on this planet, you are going to run into somebody.
• Go on a vacation to get away from everyone and you know whom you are going to see there?
• People.

 

I went to Gatlinburg with my family one time to take a break and get away for a little while, and whom do we run into?

• Our old neighbors who went to the church we went to.

 

I went on a cruise in the Caribbean one time and coming out of the airport in Porto Rico, who do I see?

• My sister.

 

I’m in Kolkata India a few years ago…

• I’m the only white guy or American if you will out of tons of people.

 

• I think I’m safe…
• I’m sitting in the hotel restaurant.
• And some little Indian man who I never met in my life walks up to me and says, “I know who you are’!
• “You’re Jim Smith!”

 

• People are everywhere…
• You can’t get away from them.

 

You know…

• There’s an old saying…
• If you can’t beat em, join em.

 

You and I are a part of the Human Race and as hard as we might try to be the only person on the planet, it just isn’t going to work.

• I’ve tried this.

 

There are as of yesterday after noon 7,297,702 of them on this planet.

• Here in America, there’s one born every 8 seconds.
• One dies every 10 seconds
• An international migrant enters this country every 29 seconds
• That’s a net gain of 1 additional person here in the United States every 17 seconds.
• 323 million people now live in the United States
• That’s not much when you consider countries like China and India who each have around 1.3 billion people.

 

You can’t find a land mass any where on this planet where people aren’t there.

 

• People
• Other People

 

And we are commanded in the scriptures to reach them.

• And to disciple them.
• And to Love them.

 

 

If I said the 10 commandments, most all of us should know what I’m talking about – right?

 

The 10 Commandments

1  You shall have no other gods before Me. – God

2  You shall not make idols. – God

3  You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. God

4  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. – God

5  Honor your father and your mother. – Others

6  You shall not murder. – Others

7  You shall not commit adultery. – Others

8  You shall not steal. – Others

9  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. – Others

10  You shall not covet. – Others

 

The first 4 commandments have to do with your relationship with God.

But the next 6 commandments have to do with Them!

• It’s hard to lie about them
• And steal from them
• And covet what they have
• And murder them
• When you love them.
• This is why Jesus told us to love our neighbor as our self.

 

You won’t have any problem with 6 of the 10 commandments if you love others and value them enough to say “They Matter.”

 

Understand, people are not inanimate objects.

• They are not disposable.

 

We might think sometimes that because there are so many of them that we shouldn’t be all that concerned about them.

 

But understand something with me this morning, and we looked at it last week.

• Every single person on this planet matters to God.
  • Whether we notice them or not.
  • Whether we care about them or not.
  • Whether we want Him to or not.
  • They Matter to Him!

 

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

 

• They belong to, and they matter to Him.

 

Can you imagine the conversation that was going on in Heaven just before that little baby was born in Bethlehem?

 

• The angels are asking God, Why do you want to go down there?
• Why would you want to become flesh
• Don’t you know they are going to reject you?
• Don’t you know they are going to despise you?
• Don’t you know they are going to kill you?

 

God – “Yes, but I’m going down there anyway…”

Angels – “Why?”

God – “Because they matter!”

 

One day, Jesus and His disciples are walking along and He tells them, “ I must go to Samaria.”

• Why would you want to go there?
• Those people aren’t Jewish
• They don’t worship the way we worship
• No Jews ever go to Samaria, they walk miles out of the way to keep from going there.
• Why go to Samaria Jesus?
• “Because they matter!”
• There’s a little woman there with a lot of stuff going on in her life and she matters.

 

 

Some of us have written some people off.  But understand, God has not written them off.

• They may irritate you
• They may get on your nerves
• They may be hurting you
• You may even hate them, but as a Christian…

 

 

See, Jesus fed his Judas

• The one who was about to sell Him out.
• The one who was going to introduce the killing frenzy.
• Jesus sat next to him at His last supper

 

• Judas was not someone Jesus pushed aside.
• Judas was someone who Jesus said, “Sit next to me”.

 

So the Question is…

• Are you mature enough to sit with, and feed your Judas?

 

See, apparently, Judas mattered to Jesus.

 

Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

 

They Matter!

Who gets to decide who Matters?

• You?
• Me?
• Society?

 

Revelation 22:17 KJV And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.

 

The Spirit of God is saying to them – Come!

What are we saying to them?

What are we doing that is agreement with what the Spirit is saying and doing in people’s lives?

 

Matthew 18:18 (NLT) 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

 

• I’m not sure we realize the power of our prayers.
• I’m not sure we understand all that God wants to do with our witness.
• I wonder if we’ve claimed a soul for the Kingdom this week.
• I wonder if we’ve invited someone to come to church with us today.
• The King James puts it this way, “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven!”

 

To bind something, you have to claim it.

• You have to want it
• You have to go to work
• You have to make it happen
• You can’t ignore them
• You can’t walk past them
• You can’t turn away from them

 

• You’ve got to pray for them
• You’ve got to love them

 

 

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.

 

Where and who are they coming to?

• The Church!
• And if we don’t receive them and love them, who will.

 

See, They Matter!

• They Have Value!
• He has a purpose for their life.

 

 

John Maxwell –

“The first question a follower asks of leader is not “are you competent” or “are you going to help me”…

• The first word they ask when they look at a leader and decide to follow a leader is “do you care for me.”
• And the reason for that is because we don’t want to submit our lives to someone who might hurt or manipulate us in some way.
• So the question of “Care” is one that is significant in our life because it’s the first step to trust which is the first step to a relationship.”

 

And we can’t introduce them to Jesus unless we have a relationship with them.

 

Can I say this?

It takes more strength to forgive than it does to remain hostile and angry and bitter.

• Forgiveness is a big deal
• You’ve got to be a big person to do it.
• Little people can’t do it because their too small, too petty, too easily offended,
• Forgiveness is a big thing and you’ve got to be a big person in order to be able to do it.
• You’ve got to be able to see the big picture to forgive someone.
• You’ve got to be able to be willing to lose the battle to win the war.
• You’ve got to be willing to let go of the small stuff that really doesn’t matter all that much when you compare it to the blood of Jesus which is the bigger picture, in order to forgive someone.

 

How is it that we think God is able to forgive us, but He’s not able to forgive them?

• How is it that we think that His grace is able to forgive all of the craziness in our life,
• And somehow, His hands are tied when it comes to their craziness?

 

Hey, I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some stuff I need God’s forgiveness for.

• I’ve got some stuff, I’m not proud of.
• I’ve got some stuff that except for His grace… there’s no chance in this world that I’m going to make it to Heaven.
• I need His Grace.
• I need His forgiveness
• And I’m depending on it to help me get to where I’m going in Him.

 

But how is it that we sometimes depend on all of that, but think that it’s not available to “them”?

• We think we are the only one He died for.
• We think we are the only one that He suffered for.
• We think we are the only one that Calvary was all about.

 

But we need to listen to John 3:16… God so loved the World…!

 

They Matter!

 

• They matter to Jesus and they matter to us!

 

We can’t call ourselves Christians and not be concerned about the same things that Christ is concerned about.

• And we can’t call ourselves Christians and not be concerned about the 7 plus billion people that He is concerned about.

 

 

1 Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

 

• It’s not just about me today.
• It’s not just about you either.

 

We need to get stirred up in our hearts about “Them”, because They Matter!

 

• They matter to God and they need to matter to us!

 

• And they need to know that they matter to us.
• They need to know that we are concerned about them.
• They need to know that we care about them.

 

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