Genesis 38

If you've ever looked around at the world, or looked around at your family, or looked

around or looked at your own life and thought, this is just a mess, this chapter is probably

even messier.

So here we go, Genesis 38.

It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain

Adulamite whose name was Hira.

There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua.

He took her and went into her.

And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Ur.

She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.

Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah.

Judah was in Kezid when she bore him.

And Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

But Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord.

And the Lord put him to death.

Then Judah said to Onan, go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law

to her and raise up offspring for your brother.

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his.

So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground so as

not to give offspring to his brother.

And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, remain a widow in your father's house till

Shelah, my son, grows up.

For he feared that he would die like his brothers.

So Tamar went and remained in her father's house.

In the course of time, the wife of Judah, she was daughter, died.

When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheep shearers.

He and his friend hired the Adolamite.

And when Tamar was told, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep, she

took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at

the entrance to Anaim, which is on the road to Timnah.

For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

He turned to her at the roadside and said, come, let me come into you.

For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, what will you give me that you may come into me?

He answered, I will send you a young goat from the flock.

And she said, if you give me a pledge until you send it.

He said, what pledge shall I give you?

She replied, your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.

So he gave them to her and went into her, and she conceived by him.

Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood.

When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adolamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her.

And he asked the men of the place, where is the cult prostitute who is at Anaim by the roadside?

And they said, no cult prostitute has been here.

So he returned to Judah and said, I haven't found her.

Also, the men of the place said, no cult prostitute has been here.

And Judah replied, let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at.

You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.

About three months later, Judah was told, Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral.

Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.

And Judah said, bring her out, and let her be burned.

As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law.

By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.

And she said, please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.

Then Judah identified them and said, she is more righteous than I,

since I did not give her to my son, Sheila, and he did not know her again.

When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb.

And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand,

saying, this one came out first.

But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out.

And she said, what a breach you have made for yourself.

Therefore, his name was called Perez.

Afterward, his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.

So last night, I was putting my kids to bed.

And as usual, a part of our usual routine, I read them a couple of stories.

A story that my son chose was from one of his favorite series, The Berenstain Bears.

Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister Bear, and in some cases, Honey Bear,

reside in a big tree house down a sunny dirt road in Bear Country.

In each book, they face some kind of conflict or challenge,

but by the end of the story, everything has been resolved,

and a moral or safety-related lesson has been clearly, maybe even too clearly, communicated.

According to Wikipedia, there are over 300 Berenstain Bears books,

including over 40 in a series with explicitly Christian themes.

This morning's Bible passage covers all kinds of things that are not found in any

of the Berenstain Bears books,

or most other children's bedtime stories.

Its content is much closer to a supermarket tabloid

that stares at you as you walk through the checkout line or a soap opera.

If this chapter were made into a movie, it would be R-rated.

Betrayal, deception, scandal, lots of sex, prostitution, death.

It's a hot mess.

If anything is clear from this passage,

it's clear that the Bible is not the product of the Victorian era.

It was not written by mismanners.

But you might ask, what is God doing in all this mess?

What in the world are we supposed to learn from such a crazy story?

Last week, we looked at the theme of shattered dreams.

How Joseph's dreams of greatness were shattered by the favoritism of his father

and the jealousy of his brothers.

At the end of the chapter, we saw Joseph sold into slavery

and taken down to Egypt.

At first glance, this chapter seems to be a detour from the story of Joseph.

Joseph isn't mentioned at all.

Neither is his father Jacob, nor the other brothers.

The focus shifts to Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar.

On the service, they do some pretty weird things.

But I hope that as we dig into some of the details,

and there are a lot of details,

but that you'll see what's motivating Judah and Tamar.

That you'll begin to relate to their characters and their stories.

And most of all, that you'll be drawn to the God

who is powerfully at work in each of them.

Now, the basic contrast between Judah and Tamar is this.

Judah was brought up in the family of God,

and he did everything he could to get out of it.

Tamar was brought up outside the family of God,

and she did everything she could to get in.

So this morning, we'll look first at what God does with Judah,

the insider who wanted out,

and then we'll look at what God does with Tamar,

the outsider who wanted in.

So first, Judah, the insider who wanted out.

Now, before we jump into this chapter,

let me set the stage from earlier in the book of Genesis

to paint the picture of how Judah got to where he is now.

Judah was a young man with a lot of potential.

He was born into the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And God had promised that that family,

Abraham's physical offspring,

would be the means of his promised blessing

for the whole world.

And within this family, his name stood out.

Judah, which means praise.

His mother praised God at his birth,

and his name called him to live a life in praise of God.

Judah also had natural leadership gifts.

When he spoke, his brothers listened.

And they did what he said.

And yet, while Judah had a lot of potential,

he received little attention from his parents,

especially from his dad.

You see, Judah's dad, Jacob,

had 12 sons by four different women.

Judah was child number four.

Imagine growing up in that family.

His dad had been tricked into marrying his mom.

And his dad really loved a different woman,

Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.

So Jacob always deprioritized Judah's mother, Leah,

and her sons.

He paid them little attention.

He gave them little affection.

Judah grew up in a home where mom was constantly trying

and never succeeding to win dad's affection.

And dad was lavishing his love on another woman

and a different set of kids.

Not surprisingly, Judah and his brothers

began to feel resentful.

And their resentment continued to build up

against their dad's favoritism and neglect.

And they expressed their favoritism, Judah and his brothers,

in different ways.

We learn from chapter 35, verse 22,

that Judah's oldest brother, Reuben,

slept with his dad's mistress.

In a failed attempt to seize the reins of leadership

in the family.

For brothers two and three, Simeon and Levi,

their anger and resentment turned into violent rage.

When their sister Dinah was violated,

they not only punished the guy who did it,

they massacred his whole town.

Chapter 34 of Genesis.

Judah took out his resentment in a more calculated way.

He took the initiative to sell Joseph into slavery,

to get rid of his younger brother for good.

You see, Rachel, his dad's favorite wife,

had already died.

And perhaps Judah hoped that with Joseph gone,

maybe his dad would finally pay attention

to him and his brothers.

Maybe something would change in their family for the good,

but it didn't.

They came home.

Joseph's gone.

Jacob was heartbroken.

And he refused to be comforted.

He found no comfort,

no joy from any of his other kids.

And so finally Judah was fed up.

He was fed up with his distant dad,

who poured all his affection

into his other wife and his other kids.

He was fed up with all the family drama

and dysfunction.

And so he left home,

an angry young man in his 20s,

determined to make a fresh start.

That's where we get in verse 1.

It happened at that time

that Judah went down from his brothers

and turned aside to a certain Adolamite,

whose name was Hira.

Judah's response to his dysfunctional family

was to run away as far as he could.

On the one hand, it's very understandable

when you think about all that he grew up with.

But the problem with Judah's response

is that it wasn't just Judah's family

that was dysfunctional.

Judah himself was also dysfunctional.

And while you can run away

from a dysfunctional family,

you can't run away

from your own dysfunctional heart.

So after running away

from his dysfunctional family,

Judah ends up reproducing a family

that is just as dysfunctional.

He actually ends up acting

just like his dad,

whom he resented and hated.

We see that just like his dad,

Judah was selfish

and distant from his wife.

Notice the verbs in verse 2.

Judah saw the daughter

of a certain Canaanite.

He took her and went into her.

The language is meant to remind us

of Eve in the Garden of Eden.

She saw the forbidden fruit.

She took it and she ate it.

Judah wasn't full of tender affection

or steadfast love.

He was simply grabbing

whatever was available

to satisfy his own lustful impulse.

He wanted sex and he wanted kids.

So we got married.

It's a bad way to start a marriage.

And over time,

Judah didn't grow any closer

to his wife and his kids.

And if anything,

he became even more distant.

When his first son, Ur, was born,

Judah named him.

When his second and third sons were born,

his wife named them.

When his third son was born,

he was apparently out of town.

Verse 5 seems to indicate

he was in Hezib.

Ironically, the word Hezib

sounds like the word for lying

in Hebrew.

We could translate it.

Judah was living in the city of lies.

And then in verse 12,

when Judah's wife died,

he got over it quite quickly.

The next phrase,

verse 12,

after it says the wife of Judah died,

it said when Judah was comforted,

he went up to Timnah

to his sheep shearers

with his friend,

Hyrod the Adolamite.

Modern equivalent,

he went to Myrtle Beach

over spring break.

And he wasn't going

with Campus Crusade for Christ

to do a mission project.

Judah was selfish

and distant from his wife,

just like his dad had been.

And also, just like his dad,

Judah failed to train his sons

in the way of righteousness.

Verse 7,

Ur, Judah's firstborn,

was wicked in the sight of the Lord,

and the Lord put him to death.

This is the first time

in all of Scripture

that God singled out an individual

as incurably wicked

and killed him.

Judah's second son,

Onan, was no better.

Then Judah said to Onan,

go into your brother's wife

and perform the duty

of a brother-in-law to her

and raise up offspring

for your brother.

You might say,

what in the world

is that about?

Well, in many traditional

clan-based societies,

if a married man died

with no kids,

his brother

or the nearest unmarried

male relative

was obligated

to marry the widow.

Now, there were two basic reasons

for this ancient custom.

Number one,

it was an act of honor

to the deceased brother.

The first son born

would be counted as

the son of the dead brother

so that the dead brother's

genealogical line

would continue

instead of being cut off.

And his inheritance

would stay within the family

instead of passing

to outsiders.

So first,

it was a way to honor

the dead brother.

And second,

it was a way to provide

security for the widow

who was otherwise

defenseless

and had

few or no options

in the ancient world.

Now, what Onan did

in verse 9

is that he took on

the appearance

of honoring his brother

and providing

for Tamar,

but in reality,

he wasn't doing either.

He was happy

to have sex

with Tamar

and to appear

to do

his family duty,

but he didn't want

the responsibility

of raising a child

who would carry on

his brother's name

and not his.

You see,

the problem with Onan

was this.

The appearance

of righteousness

and faithfulness

and loyalty

masked the reality

of selfishness

and greed

and deception.

It was the same problem

with Ananias and Sapphira

in the book of Acts

in the New Testament.

We might call it

hypocrisy.

And hypocrisy

makes God

rightfully angry

more than almost

anything else.

And it wasn't just

Onan,

who only cared

about his appearance,

Judah,

was the exact same way.

It wasn't an accident

that Judah's sons

were wicked.

Judah seems to have

the same tendencies.

Verse 20,

Judah sends his friend

to pay the prostitute

that he had used

because he didn't want

to do it himself.

He got his friend

to do his dirty work.

And when his friend

didn't find her,

Judah's concern was

people will laugh at us.

He was concerned

only about

his appearance,

his reputation.

See, Judah failed

to train his sons

in the way of righteousness

because he was

not righteous himself.

And the family

that he had created

was just as dysfunctional

as the one

he had run away from.

But Judah was

totally blind.

He saw his problems

and he blamed

everyone else.

Verse 23,

he even blamed

his friend,

his buddy Hira,

who he seems to like

hanging out with.

He says,

you see,

I sent this young goat

and you didn't find her.

But even more than Hira,

he blamed Tamar.

Verse 11,

Judah said to Tamar,

remain a widow

in your father's house

till Shelah my son

grows up,

for he feared

that he would die

like his brothers.

He implied

that later on,

when Shelah grew up,

Tamar could marry him.

But if you look

in verse 14,

it says he didn't

keep his word.

He probably

never intended to.

Judah wanted

to get rid of Tamar

because in his own mind

he had concluded

that she

was the problem.

Why did my two sons die?

It was her fault.

It's always her fault.

It's certainly not

my fault

and it's certainly

not my kid's fault.

It's the classic mentality

of an abuser.

Always blaming

someone else.

Or maybe we should say

instead it's the classic

mentality of a sinner.

Ever since Adam

blamed Eve

and Eve blamed the snake.

You see,

Judah was willfully blind.

Refusing to acknowledge

his own selfishness,

his own impulsiveness,

his own foolishness.

He was trapped

in his pride

and in his fear.

This is what the Bible

calls sin.

It's at the root

of every dysfunctional family

and every dysfunctional

human being.

It may not manifest itself

in prostitution

or spousal abuse,

but it carries on

the blame shifting,

responsibility evading,

self-justifying,

fear-driven,

God-avoiding pattern

that started all the way back

with Adam and Eve.

And the Bible says

all of us

have participated

in this pattern.

And until our sin

is acknowledged

and repented of

and not simply

excused

and justified,

it's a downward spiral

with no end in sight.

You see,

almost this whole chapter

is a downward spiral

for Judah.

He ran away

from God's chosen family

when they were at their worst.

He created his own family

that was just as dysfunctional

as what he'd ran away from.

His family was on the brink

of total destruction.

He slept with a prostitute,

left his IDs with her

and couldn't find her

to get him back.

But what we also see

in this chapter

is that through all this mess,

God was pursuing Judah.

God was pursuing Judah

all the way down,

his downward spiral,

in order to humble him

and eventually

to restore him.

I'd say,

how do we see God

pursuing Judah?

Well, for one thing,

God put Judah

in situations

that made Judah

face up to what

he was running away from.

Judah ran away from home

because he was furious

with his dad.

And then,

God put Judah

in the exact same situation

as Judah's dad.

Judah lost his wife.

Just like Jacob

had lost Rachel.

Judah lost

not just one son,

but two.

And just like his dad,

Judah was left alone,

fearing for the safety

of his youngest son.

Well, that alone

didn't sink in quite yet,

so God went one step further.

Just before Judah ran away,

he and his brothers

had sold Joseph

Joseph into slavery.

And they had dipped

Joseph's robe in blood,

brought the robe to Jacob

and said,

this we have found.

Please identify

whose it is.

Well, if you look down

in verse 25,

Tamar used the exact same words.

By the man to whom

these belong,

I am pregnant.

Please identify

whose these are.

Tamar's words

not only revealed

Judah's hypocrisy

in condemning Tamar,

they brought him

face to face

with his hypocrisy

in deceiving his father

and selling off his brother

nearly 20 years ago.

And finally,

Judah breaks down.

Verse 26,

he identified them

and said,

she is more righteous

than I.

Verse 26

is the first time

in this whole chapter

that spans a period

of over 20 years

where Judah

stopped running away

and stopped blaming

everybody else

and finally

acknowledged his sin

and took responsibility

for it.

It's what the New Testament

calls repentance.

In the context

of the bigger story,

it's the turning point

of Judah's life.

Because after verse 26,

whenever Judah appears,

his character

is completely different.

Instead of selfishly,

fearfully running away

from his messed up family,

he exercises courageous

and self-sacrificial leadership

to put it back together.

We'll see it more

in the next several chapters.

But Judah becomes

a truly changed man.

Why is this story

in the Bible?

Because it's such

a clear picture

of God's amazing grace

to humble

and restore

even the worst

of sinners

in the craziest

of situations.

Maybe you can relate

to Judah

in coming from

a very dysfunctional family.

But if you're honest

with yourself,

you can see

that the problem

is not only

with your family members

whom you may have

left behind long ago.

The problem

is in your own heart too.

Maybe you have brought

anger,

unforgiveness,

selfish demands,

fearful accusations

into your adult life,

into your friendships,

into your marriage,

into your relationship

with your kids.

Maybe like Judah,

you have been

a selfish jerk.

You've left

other people

in the lurch

who are depending

on you for help.

You've made

all kinds of promises

to get people

off your back

and you haven't

followed through.

You've acted

out of selfish impulses

and blamed other people

for the results

of your own foolishness.

You have worked

hard to appear

kind

and loyal.

But in reality,

you have not been.

If any of those

statements

you recognize

to be true of you,

there is good news

for you today.

As we read

in 1 Timothy,

Christ Jesus

came into the world

to save sinners.

He came to save

selfish jerks.

He came to save

sex offenders.

He came to save

slave traitors.

He came to save

spouse abusers.

He came to save

self-righteous hypocrites.

Judah was all

of the above.

And the same God

who pursued Judah

to humble

and then restore

him is here today.

To humble

and then

restore

you.

By his amazing

and glorious grace.

You are not

too messed up

for God

to forgive

and heal

and restore you.

No matter how horrible

are the things

you have done,

no matter how

broken

is your past,

you are not

beyond the reach

of God's grace.

and neither

is

your craziest,

most offensive,

most selfish,

most bitter,

most immoral,

most hypocritical

neighbor.

the God of the Bible

delights in saving

the worst of sinners,

showing us

mercy,

displaying us

patience,

and transforming

us by his grace.

And if we have been

saved by that grace,

that should become

our delight

and our ambition

as well.

But also

do not be mistaken.

You will never

be truly

restored by God

unless you are

first humbled

by God.

The turning point

in Judah's life

was when he was

finally humbled,

when he faced up

to all his sin

that he had been

running away from

for 20 years,

for his whole life

even.

Maybe you've been

running away from God

and his people.

For months

or years.

Maybe you've been

living in denial

or blame

or avoidance.

And today God

is bringing you

face to face

with what you've

been running away from

and calling you

to acknowledge

like Judah

your unrighteousness.

James said

humble yourselves

before the Lord

and he will

lift you up.

Jesus said

blessed are the

poor in spirit.

Those who acknowledge

that they've got nothing.

For theirs

is the kingdom

of heaven.

Brothers and sisters,

we will never become

great leaders

in our families.

We will never become

godly leaders

in God's church

unless we are

frequently brought

down to our knees

in confession of sin

and humble dependence

on God.

See what we learn

from Judah

is that God

humbles and restores

even the worst

of sinners.

The insider

in God's family

who did everything

he could to get out.

But this story

is not only about

God's work in Judah,

it's also about

God's work in Tamar.

The outsider

who did everything

she could to get in.

You see,

in many ways,

Tamar was the opposite

of Judah.

She was not born

into the family

of God's promise.

She was from a pagan

Canaanite background.

She was a spiritual

outsider

with no knowledge

of the God of Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob,

with no access

to the promises

and blessing of God.

And her first contact

with God's chosen people

was with Judah

when he was at his worst,

when he had abandoned

his brothers,

run away from his dad,

and forsaken his place

in the family of God.

This would be like

growing up

in a Buddhist family,

having never heard

of Christianity,

and the first person

you meet

who has any connection

to the Christian church

is the disillusioned

atheist son

of a former pastor

who committed adultery

with his church secretary

and embezzled

half the church's savings.

Most likely,

you would think,

I don't want anything

to do with Christianity

if that is the kind

of life it produces.

And the more time

Tamar spent

with Judah's family,

the more she bore

the brunt

of their dysfunctionality.

Her father-in-law

was selfish

and distant

from his wife.

His sons,

her husbands,

were no better.

So wicked

that God personally

struck them down.

Tamar was used,

lied to,

left alone,

and grieving,

and defenseless,

and finally condemned

to die.

Humanly speaking,

Tamar had every reason

to run away

from Judah's family

just like Judah

had run away

from his dad.

Judah had already

sent Tamar back home.

Presumably,

she could have

just asked her dad

for permission

to marry a nice

Canaanite man.

But she didn't.

Somehow,

now in the process

of being connected

to Judah's

dysfunctional family,

Tamar had heard

about the God

who had made promises

to Judah's ancestors,

to Abraham

and Isaac

and Jacob.

She heard about

the God

who had promised

to Abraham,

I will surely

bless you.

I will surely

multiply your offspring

as the stars of heaven

and as the sand

on the seashore,

and in your offspring

shall all the nations

of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 22, 17 and 18.

God had promised

that his plan

of redemption

for the world

would be carried out

through the physical

descendants

of Abraham,

Isaac,

and Jacob.

And though Tamar's

understanding of God

may have been limited

and imperfect,

she believed

the promise of God.

And because she believed,

she risked everything

she had

to belong to God's family

and to carry on

the family line

through which God

had promised

to bring his blessing

to the world.

Judah's family

was tottering

on the brink

of total extinction.

Judah's wife

had died.

Two of Judah's sons

were dead.

Judah showed

no intention

of ever letting her marry

his youngest son,

Shelah.

There seemed to be

no way forward.

Tamar was desperate,

alone,

and abandoned,

and so she took a risk.

She knew Judah

very well.

Her plan worked

without a hitch.

She even got

his signet,

cord,

and staff,

in other words,

his ID and credit cards.

Now what motivated

Tamar to do

what she did?

Was it revenge?

Wanting to give Judah

a taste of his own medicine?

You tricked me

by not letting me

marry your son,

so I'll trick you

and get you back.

Was it desperation?

Was she simply

obsessed with having

a child?

There would have been

probably easier ways.

Or was it faith?

Believing that God

had promised

to bless the world

through Abraham's

physical descendants

and risking it all

to be part of that family.

Her motives may have

been mixed,

but in verse 26,

Judah said,

she is more righteous

than I.

It could even be

translated more strongly.

She is righteous,

not I.

Tamar was righteous

because she refused

to go back

to her pagan

religious background.

She clung to God's promise

that a Savior would come

from the seed of Abraham.

Maybe you're here today

and you're not

a Christian believer.

Maybe you never expected

to hear a sermon

like this in church.

Let me challenge you,

Christianity is probably

not what you think it is.

The Bible is not primarily

a set of rules

or rituals

or principles

to help people be

nicer

and a little more

well-behaved.

The church is not

a club that exists

to help its members

feel better about ourselves.

The Christian message

is that Christ Jesus

came into the world

to save sinners,

of whom I am

the foremost.

In other words,

being a Christian means

acknowledging that

I am more flawed

and more sinful

than I ever dared

to imagine.

But knowing

that in Jesus Christ

I am more loved

and accepted

than I ever dared

to hope.

That's the Christian

gospel,

the good news.

It's a message

of liberating

and transforming

grace.

Grace.

it's the promise

that attracted

Tamar.

Tamar was righteous

because she refused

to go back

to her pagan

religious past.

She was also righteous

because she was loyal

to the people of God

even when they were

at their worst.

Even when she had been

mistreated

and abandoned by them.

And maybe you can

identify with her.

Maybe you've had

terrible experiences

with Christians.

Maybe you've been

ignored

in the midst

of your grief.

Maybe you've been

made to feel

like an unwanted

outsider.

Maybe you've been

lied to,

put off,

and finally

left alone

by those who

initially said

they cared.

Maybe you've seen

abusive marriages,

messy divorces,

and unresolved

conflicts among

church people.

Maybe you've been

sexually abused

and treated

as damaged goods

by church members

or even by church

leaders.

Maybe you've been

blamed and condemned

for the failings

of others.

But for some reason

you're still here

today.

You're still listening

to the word of God.

You're still present

with the people of God.

And I want to say

to you,

my sisters and brothers

and friends

with deep wounds,

the Lord Jesus Christ

is here for you

today.

To heal you

of any bitterness

that may still

remain in your heart

and to honor you

for your faithful

perseverance

and your loyalty

to God's people

even when we have

fallen far short.

Tamar was righteous

because she refused

to go back

to her pagan past,

because she was loyal

to the people of God

even when they were

at their worst,

and finally

because she acted

boldly and decisively

to align herself

with God's promises

and God's family

in the face of a

seemingly impossible

situation.

Now obviously

the details of Tamar's

action are not

to be imitated.

But R.C. Sproul

says this,

Our role in

redemptive history

does not hinge on us

acting boldly

to raise up

physical offspring

for Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob.

However,

this has not

eliminated God's

call for us

to take daring

moves of faith.

Like Tamar,

we may be forced

to put our lives

or livelihood

on the line

in order to do

what is right

or to stand up

for Christ.

Have you stepped

out in faith

in a way that

has cost you?

Is Jesus calling

you to make

a bold move

for his sake

today?

What we see

at the conclusion

of this passage

in verses 27 to 30

is that God

honored Tamar,

the desperate

outsider who

risked it all

to get in on

God's promises

and be part

of God's family.

God honored her

by preserving her

through a treacherous

delivery,

one of the most

medically hazardous

presentations possible,

locked twins,

one of whom

was in a transverse

position.

You can ask

an OBGYN about it.

They'll immediately

do a C-section,

but they couldn't

back then.

Either the baby

or the mother

could have easily

died,

but God preserved

them.

They're a skilled

midwife.

They're a skilled

doctor.

God honored Tamar

with not just one

son but two.

And what we see

is a picture

of God's blessing,

God's life,

God's joy,

God's freedom

breaking through

and beginning

to redeem

this horribly

dysfunctional family.

He was honoring

this desperate,

abandoned,

abused woman

who wanted

above all else

to have a place

in the family

of God.

Tamar became

not just the mother

of two twin boys

but an ancestor

of King David

and King Jesus

himself.

Tamar is one

of four faithful

Gentile outsiders

included in the

family of God

and prominently

listed in the

genealogy of Jesus

in Matthew chapter

one.

No matter what

your background,

no matter how much

of an outsider

you might feel like,

no matter how badly

you've been treated

by Christians in the

past,

if you want in

on the promises

of God in Jesus

Christ,

there is a place

of honor for you

in the family

of God.

Because in Jesus

Christ,

the promise

that Tamar heard

and held onto

has been fulfilled.

in Jesus' death

and in his

resurrection,

the blessing of God

has broken through.

The dividing wall

has been broken down.

And all the world

can enter in.

Let us pray.

God, we thank you

for your amazing grace

in the midst

of such a mess.

We thank you

that you put this

story in your word

so that we might

know

that you came

into the world

to save

sinners

and to welcome

outsiders.

Lord, we pray

that you would

humble us,

that you would

show us

our sin.

For we all

are sinners.

We pray that you

would humble us

in order to restore us.

And we pray

that we would

cling to you

by faith

and trust

your promise

that in your

great mercy

you will

honor us

and include us

and never

leave us

and never

abandon us.

I pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

As the music team

comes up,

we're going to sing

a minute.