Message Notes:

There were two things that made tax collectors “most hated” during the days of Jesus:

•They collaborated with the hated Romans (viewed as traitorous).

•They punished their neighbors by adding large sums of money to the Roman tax (in order to supply their salaries).

Yet, in spite of having this kind of stigma attached to the tax collection profession, Jesus decided to make a tax collector one of His disciples — Matthew (Matt. 9:9).

Truly, all of Jesus’ disciples were ordinary, blue collar kinds of guys — not already-respected, influential and spiritually “qualified” kinds of people.

•Look at the fisherman disciples (4 or 5 of the 12), Simon the zealot, James and John (“Sons of Thunder”), and then again, Matthew the tax collector.

This was the “Way of Jesus.” He took people who:

•“felt like” outcasts & losers

•“unlikely” people

•And, welcomed them onto His team

•& transformed them into world changers

Look at the Advent passage for today (Matthew 1:1-6).

•We learn that Jesus is the central figure of the gospel message.

•We also learn that God can use and bless people who come from shameful and embarrassing pasts.

•We are not defined by and/or limited by our past mistakes nor by how messed up our family tree may be.

See 2 Corinthians 5:17

Discussion Questions:

Of all of the possible types of people Jesus “could have chosen” for His disciples, He ended up choosing some rather ordinary people — all of them being “Rabbi School Dropouts.”

•If this is true — how does this make you feel? How do you feel about your prospects as a servant/disciple of Jesus? Why should you believe that God could not use you to impact the world?

Byron tries to emphasize that Jesus’ family tree was far from perfect.

•Have there ever been times when you believed that your past and/or your family history held you back for God?