We say God matters …..

When you look around, you begin to wonder if Jesus really matters. People seem to be doing find without him. It causes me to ask the question, “Has Jesus just become an old fashioned thought?” “Does Jesus just matter for the conservatives who are against abortions, against gay rights, against big government against this, and against that?” “Do we just throw his name around to prove our religious points?” ” Are the scriptures right that salvation can be found in no one else?”
When we were coming back from Jamaica, I got to sit next to a woman who was from Egypt. She was with some corporation from Egypt who was sending a couple special Olympic kids to America. She had just gotten married. She showed me her wedding pictures. We talked about her wedding. Then she asked what I did for a living. I hate it when people ask me that question. But she did. I told her I was pastor coming home from Jamaica. She asked what we did in Jamaica I told her we served a church in Jamaica. We financed a work project and we help lead their worship service. Our conversation took a dramatic shift about the Muslim faith. She explained to me that not all Muslims are hateful and mean. Just the ones you hear about are hateful and mean. She said that is all the media wants you to know. By our conversation , she and her new husband were devout Muslims. I began thinking, “does Jesus really matter to her?” She fell asleep before I got to ask the question.

I decided to look it up. I wanted to know if Jesus matters to Muslim.

Muslims acknowledge the impact of Jesus and recognize Him as a significant person within their own religious system.

The Quran describes Jesus in the following way (from Cold Case Christianity):

• Jesus was born of a virgin.

We believe that.

• Jesus was to be revered.

Jesus is held in high regard within the Muslim worldview.

We believe this too …

• Jesus was a prophet.

Islam affirms Jesus (known as “Isa” or “Eesa”) was one of God’s most important prophets. Muslims also acknowledge Jesus was sent specifically to the Children of Israel.

The christian Bible tells us that.

• Jesus was a wise teacher

While Muslims acknowledge Jesus was a wise teacher who had many disciples, they believe the teaching of Jesus was limited by the will of Allah. We believe that Jesus was limited to doing the will of God.  Muslims also believe Jesus’ disciples identified themselves as Muslims.

• Jesus was a miracle worker

We believe he was  miracle worker.

• Jesus ascended to heaven

Islam also acknowledges Jesus ascended into heaven in bodily form. While Muslims acknowledge the ascension, they either deny that Jesus was crucified or that He died on the cross. Most simply believe Jesus’ death was an illusion (and some even believe that Judas Iscariot was mistaken for Jesus on the cross).

• Jesus will come again

Islam acknowledges Jesus will return in the future (during the latter days). The Hadith (a collection of sayings from Muhammad) describes this Second Coming of Jesus. While Muslims acknowledge the Second Coming, they maintain Jesus will return as a Muslim (“Ummati”) and as a follower of Muhammad, returning to earth to revive Islam.

With such similarities – Does it even matter what you believe anymore? One thing I learned from my Muslim travel mate is that Jesus mattered to her. He matters to her enough to have a Christian friend. It might be in a different way …. But He still mattered to her.

This brought up a big question: Does Jesus even matter to Christians anymore?

People can live the Christian life without knowing Jesus. If the Christian life is just based on good behavior, being conservative, and serving others. You don’t need to know Jesus if that is what recognize as Christianity.

Does Jesus matter anymore period?

In Luke 5 we learn how much Jesus mattered to Matthew:

27 Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. 28 So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. 29 Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?[e]” 31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

Jesus mattered much to Matthew. After he met Jesus, he invited Jesus to his home as the guest of honor. Not only did he invite Jesus but he invited all of his tax collecting buddy’s and some of the other disciples of Jesus. Matthew believed and understood that Jesus mattered because people mattered to Jesus.

He did the most odd thing – he mixed Jesus followers with non-Jesus followers.  He didn’t invite them to a prayer meeting or bible study. He invited them to party and Jesus was the guest of honor.

The local congregation I pastor did this in the  summer of 2014 and 2015. We hosted a big Matthew party at our local water park. We rented the whole park and gave school supplies out. We invited Christians and non-Christians. We had Bible trivia all night long.

What I personally discovered on this night is that there are people who don’t know the simplest of stories from the Bible.  To give you an idea, I asked the question, “what did Jesus die on?” , none of the workers up front knew the answer.

These people who don’t know the Bible stories matter to Jesus. They have yet to discover that Jesus matters to them.

Those of us who follow Christ – does Jesus matter to you? • Is he just a nice guy who walked the earth and did some nice things. Is he just a prophet who walked the earth to warn people . Is he just a good teacher who was wise and just. Devout Muslims believe those things. I know – I met one. She believed in making a difference in the world just like me. She wanted peace in the world just like me. She wanted to good in the world just like me. God mattered to her so much she began telling me about Him and how our God’s are not different.
Does He matter to you?

• To let him change the way you think.
• To change the way you look at others.
• To tell others that you know Him.
• To not hide your light under bushel
• To not let your faith with Christ lose it saltiness?
• To spend time with Him every day to get to know Him?
• To spend time in prayer with him?
• To love your enemies
• To love those who persecute you
Is He becoming greater in your life and you becoming less?

Our behavior and actions towards others reveals how much He matters to us. If we can’t love our enemies and our neighbor, if we can’t love others who are different than us – we are in deep trouble. If we can’t do that then God matters very little to us because those are his two greatest commands.

We make time for things and people that matter to us. We make time for people who matter to us. We make time for things that matter to us.

If I am reading the scriptures correctly, God makes it pretty clear that He is to be the only One who matters:

Matthew 6:33 – Seek first the kingdom of God

John 3:30 – He must become greater, I must become less

Jeremiah 29:12 – if you seek me you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart.

Jesus meant so much to Matthew that he wanted his tax collecting friends to meet Jesus. I am sure he was hoping that Jesus would matter to them as much as Jesus mattered to him. I’m sure that is why he through the party.

Long before you born you were knit together in your mother’s womb. When he knit you together he put a longing and a desire inside of each one of us to know Him.  We are all created in the image of God.

Genesis 1:27 –  So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

He created every human being because they matter to Him. Not everyone has discovered that God matters to them.

My wife never mattered to me before I met her, built a relationship with her, and had children together. Before all that, I didn’t even know she existed. There was point in my life that God didn’t matter to me. I went to church. I did church things. I even read my Bible. Memorized verses. Prayed.  God still didn’t matter to me. I always knew I mattered to Him. Sunday school teachers, pastors, and Christian camp speakers taught me that. God didn’t start mattering to me until I was eighteen years old.

Before God mattered to us we had scales on our eyes keeping us from seeing how much God mattered. (Like Paul in Acts 9 and every other person before they met Christ.)

As I learned at our big outreach event:

• Not everyone knows that they are created in the image of God.
• Not everyone knows that they are loved by God.
• Not everyone knows that Jesus died on the cross for them.
• Not everyone knows about Daniel, Noah, and Mary (the mother Jesus).

Once they understand those things God will begin to matter to them. Once they understand how much God loves them then God will begin to matter to them. God will change their life. They will become infected with Jesus.  Once they are infected – they become contagious.

Once God matters to you – you become contagious.

If God matters to you then loving others will matter to you. If God matters to you then going the extra mile will matter to you. If God matters to you then taking up your cross daily matters to you. If God matters to you then letting others know that they matter to God – matters to you.  If God matters to you then you just don’t pray about something – you do something too!

How much does God matter to you?