Getting The Best Series

GETTING THE BEST

Matthew 9:9-13

S: Celebrate Jesus

Th: The love of God

Pr: JESUS LIKED PEOPLE AND DREW OUT THE BEST IN THEM.

?: How did he do it?

KW: Needs

TS: We will find in Matthew 9:9-13 four needs that Jesus met in order to draw out the best in people.

The ____ need that Jesus saw was a…

I. BEWILDERED PEOPLE NEEDING A LEADER

II. LONELY PEOPLE NEEDING A FRIEND

III. UNHEALTHY PEOPLE NEEDING A DOCTOR

IV. FALLEN PEOPLE NEEDING MERCY

RMBC 2/6/00 AM

INTRODUCTION:

Let’s face it…

1. We like it when someone goes out of his/her way to be our friend.

ILL Notebook: Friendship (boy & girl)

When the Leinbaughs arrived in their new home in Kentucky, their seven-year-old son Jason decided to explore the neighborhood. He was back within the hour proclaiming that he had made some new friends. “Good. Are they boys or girls?” his mother asked. “One is a boy and one is a girl,” he replied. “That’s great,” she said. “How old are they?” “Mom,” Jason replied, almost shocked, “that would be rude to ask.” She was puzzled by his response. About an hour later, he was back. “Mom!” Jason shouted through the screen door. “I found out how old my new friends are. The girl is 65 and the boy is 70.”

Well, Jason found two friends that went out of their way to be his friend.

And they prove they could be trusted, for they even give out their age.

Well, we realize this…when someone does go out of his or her way to be our friend, we are going to trust him or her.

2. Friends will be trusted.

This principle will be observed today as we see Jesus in action again today…

TRANSITION:

1. We have entered our third week of our 50-Day Adventure called “Celebrate Jesus: Discover What Makes Him Attractive to So Many People!”

Today is Day 15 of the 50 days.

I say this in case you have lost track of where you are to be in your journal.

2. We are in a discovery process, determining what kind of person Jesus was.

Last week, we discovered that Jesus wasn’t afraid to talk to anybody.

He was even willing to talk to a woman of Samaritan ethnicity in the middle of day.

This was unheard of.

This broke the social mores of the day.

Today’s drama is a creative and humorous look at a preceding story of today’s text.

It is the story of the two demon-possessed men whose demons Jesus sent into a herd of pigs.

The story comes, interestingly, from the perspective of the pigs.

ILL Drama: “In a Pig’s Eye”

People all over Palestine had to be wondering what kind of person this Jesus was.

He was so different…so unique.

He seemed to care about people nobody else cared about.

He would even talk to people that were out of control.

But, let’s admit it.

We are a bit more cautious.

We don’t just talk to anybody.

We don’t just get involved in any person’s life.

We are much more selective.

Jesus’ view of people seems to be much different than ours.

3. Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t have to like them; I just have to love them”?

I have.

I am not so sure Jesus would have agreed.

For instance, can you imagine if we said that about our future spouse?

“I don’t like him very much, but I do love him.”

“I don’t like her very much, but I do love her.”

How different Jesus was!

Jesus loved people—and liked people—and this was obvious to all that knew Him.

He didn’t just tolerate people.

He liked them.

He enjoyed them and saw value and beauty in them.

4. JESUS LIKED PEOPLE AND DREW OUT THE BEST IN THEM.

But how did he do it?

Well…

5. We will find in Matthew 9:9-13 four needs that Jesus met in order to draw out the best in people.

(9) As 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. (10) While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. (11) When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?" (12) On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (13) But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

6. Matthew was one of the most unliked and despised people in the land.

On the social scale, tax collectors were on the bottom.