21st December 2025 - Trevor Saggers

Let us pray. Father, it's only days until what

we know it as Christmas Day. Thank you for the

Christ, the Messiah. Thank you for sending your

son. Please speak to us this morning and help

us to live in light of him. Amen. Friends, Matthew,

Mark, Luke and John. They are so different and

yet they are so much the same. When it comes

to differences, one thing that is different is

the family trees that Matthew and Luke include.

You could say that Mark and John are not into

family trees. That's right. Matthew and Luke

are. Mark and John aren't. Out of interest, who

here is into family trees? Come on, hands up.

Well, some of us love family trees and the details

they provide, but some of us are more like Mark

and John and not into them. I must admit that

I've never been that interested in family trees.

When people tell me how they are researching

the family tree, I usually tell them that I can

save them a lot of time. We all go back to Noah

and then we all go back to Adam. But that is

just me. Well, whether we are more like a Matthew

or a Mark or a Luke or a John, there is one family

tree that we need to be interested in. It is

Jesus' family tree. not have forgotten Matthew

and Luke to put it in the Bible if it was not

that important. God obviously thought it was

of great importance to have it recorded in the

Bible and twice. Once in Matthew chapter 1 and

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

once in Luke chapter 3. Now you'll see in your

Luke 3 · chapter mention

bulletin a printout of Matthew's family tree

and I've made some bits bold. Matthew has certainly

added those bits for a reason. Now we won't get

to look at all of them today, but we'll look

at some of them. Now Matthew has recorded for

us a family tree that goes all the way from Abraham

to Jesus. And that included a lot of very difficult

names. Well done, Paul. That is basically 2 ,000

years of history. and includes at least 42 generations.

This is mind -blowing stuff. Mind -blowing. Think

about it. In history classes, we were taught

that James Cook claimed Australia in 1770. That

is only 255 years ago. We're talking about 2

,000 years ago. We, if Australian born, have

enough trouble tracing things back to a possible

convict ancestry of 200 years. But here we're

talking about 2 ,000 years, 10 times that. Yes,

mind -blowing stuff. I don't even know my great

-great -grandparents' names. Here we have Jesus'

great times 38 grandfather's name. Abraham. Great,

great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

great, great. And if you want something more,

if you're really into family trees, have a look

at Luke chapter 3. He goes back another 2 ,000

Luke 3 · chapter mention

years or 4 ,000 years of generations in total.

Right back to Adam, Eve's husband. Very, very

mind -blowing stuff indeed. You could say that

the Bible is not just full of Jesus, it's also

full of historical data, much more than you and

I could ever, ever do. So let's have a look at

verse 1 from Matthew chapter 1. We are told in

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

the very first verse, this is the genealogy of

Jesus the Messiah. That is, God's chosen one,

anointed by him, the son of David, the son of

Abraham. I believe that this verse tells us exactly

what Matthew wants to show his readers. He wants

to show them that Jesus is the Messiah. that

Israel has been waiting on. Matthew is simply

saying, look, Jesus is the Messiah. Look, here

is also added proof, Jesus is the son of David.

Look, Jesus is also the son of Abraham. He is

the one God said he would send. That is, Jesus

is the descendant of the Lion of David some 1

,000 years ago and also the descendant of Abraham

some 2 ,000 years ago, just as God promised the

Messiah will be. Hence why we had read to us

Psalm 89. We're repeatedly told in the Old Testament

that God will send a Messiah or a branch, as

we're also told in Zechariah and Isaiah, who

is from the line of Abraham and the line of David.

That, no doubt, very much limits who it could

be. And that's my first point this morning. What's

so important about Jesus' family tree? It shows

us that Jesus is of the nation and family out

of which the Messiah was to come. God, in approximately

2000 BC, said to Abraham that the whole world

would be blessed through him. Not one of his

brothers or sisters, but through him. The Messiah.

God even made a covenant with him about that.

That is, he promised he would send him through

him. And so Israel waited and waited. They knew

that through their father, Abraham, God would

deliver great blessing to them. And if one reads

the rest of the scriptures, you find that Israel

was very proud that Abraham was their father.

No doubt because of this very promise. This makes

me think, Wendy, where's Wendy? Wendy, we should

sing Father Abraham. admit though that i don't

think many in the nation of israel fully realized

what god had said to abraham he said all people

will be blessed through him all people not just

the israeli people god was actually on about

something much bigger than many of them had perhaps

realized god also made a covenant a promise with

david now this is some 1 000 years later By now

I guess many of the Israeli people would have

thought, when on earth is God going to deliver

his promise to Abraham? Like now it's been extended

to David. And I think that's fair to say that

when David came along, some thought that David

himself was the Messiah. After all, Israel was

on the crest of a wave, you could say, when he

was king. But the answer from God was a clear,

No, he was not the Messiah. But God's Messiah

would come through his descendants. One needs

to remember an important point here. When Jesus

arrived, it had been around 1 ,000 years. That's

a long time. Since God reiterated pretty much

the very same things to David. And to add to

that, it was around 400 years since the last

Old Testament prophecy. Yes, God was pretty quiet

for a very long time before Jesus arrives on

the scene. And so the Jews should have been absolutely

hanging out by this point, let alone Jews who

are not Christians today. And so here he is now.

It's been a long time coming. Some would have

thought, But others might have questioned, is

he really the one promised by God to Abraham?

Is he really the one that God also promised to

David? Is he really the one that God had spoken

all about a very long time ago and reminded us

through the prophets? Well, enter Jesus' family

tree in Matthew. He certainly is, as far as Matthew

is concerned. And he goes to length to show that

such through his family tree. Not only is Jesus

a descendant of Abraham, he's also a descendant

of David, irrespective of how long it has been.

And that's why by the time of Jesus, some, many

referred to him, well, cried out to him, son

of David. That phrase is actually mentioned,

I looked it up, ten times in Matthew. Son of

David. Let's move on. What's so important about

Jesus' family tree? The second thing is, it shows

us that God's understanding of time is nothing

like ours. Can you imagine God saying to you

at the age of 25 what he basically said to Abraham

and to David? The Messiah will come through you.

The Messiah will be one of your descendants.

I promise you this. This is my covenant for you.

Covenant with you. And you get to 40 and still

nothing. You get to retiring age and still nothing.

You are in Regis Aged Care Facility or Botanica.

And still nothing. And then you die. So your

son thinks, God must be going to bring the Messiah

through me if it wasn't my dad. And so you get

to 40, 60, booper, and still nothing. And then

you die. So now it's your grandson's turn. He

thinks, maybe it's going to happen in my lifetime.

But then you start to think, maybe God has forgotten.

Well, add to this 40 odd generations. 2 ,000

years. And I'm thinking, God has certainly forgotten.

And then you remember Psalm 90. Well, you should.

Do you know Psalm 90? It's a psalm written by

that great leader of God's people, Moses. He

was sort of in the middle of that period between

Abraham and David, Moses. And Moses wrote the

psalm. It's in verse 4 that we need to look at.

How about we read it together? This verse is

referring to God. Together, a thousand years

in your sight are like a day that has just gone

by. or like a watch in the night. Therefore,

one could say that from God's point of view,

the time from Abraham to the arrival of the Messiah,

Jesus, was not 2 ,000 years. It was only like

two days or two watches in a night. One could

also say that from God's point of view, the death

and resurrection of Jesus, It was just the other

night. And so he's promised to return to judge

us in our response to Jesus, that is who he is,

the Messiah, God's son. And what he's done for

us, perfectly lived and awfully died but gloriously

rose to save us from the penalty of our sins,

was just the other day. But to say that is really

missing the point. The point is that God is not

bound by time like we are. Compare also 2 Peter

3 .8. You know what? I'm sometimes like God.

For example, Sue's always telling me that I've

no concept of time. And just as I can annoy Sue,

so too... Does that annoy us? God is not bound

by time. And so when he says things we can think

he's so slow to deliver, we may even start to

think that he's forgotten to deliver. You can

write this down on your outline. Time may exercise

our patience, but time never weakens any of God's

promises. 2 ,000 years didn't weaken God's promise

of a Messiah. Jesus did come just as God promised

to Abraham and David. Likewise, a few thousand

years will not weaken God's promise that Jesus

will return to judge all people, including all

of us. At NHA, Northern Hope Anglican. God might

be beyond time, but his timing is perfect. We,

in this quick -fix, instant everything -or -else

society, don't like to wait for things. But this,

his first coming, and now his second coming,

might seem to us to be thousands of years. But

not to him. What's so important about Jesus'

family tree? The third and final reason today

is this. It shows us that God's plans are not

thwarted. That's a big word, isn't it? Thwarted.

It's a hard word to pronounce too. Thwarted by

our behaviour. And I mean good, indifferent or

simply, outrightly bad behaviour. At one level

it doesn't matter. God's plans will not be thwarted.

There's such a mix of people here in this family

tree and Matthew helps us with his little comments,

comments that I've put in bold. There are heroes

of faith in this family tree like Abraham, Isaac,

Ruth and David. There are some very ordinary

names. like Hezron, Ram, Nashon and Akim. Actually

for Akim, this is the only mention of his name

in the whole Bible. But there are some very shady

characters like Rahab and Tamar. There are some

very evil people like Manasseh and Abijah. And

if you're into family trees, You might have thought

there were some undesirables in yours. Well,

here we have, in this family tree, prostitution,

adultery, murder and incest. Yes, what a family

tree indeed. For example, what's behind verse

3 is incest. What's behind verse 6 is murder

and adultery. And did you notice something about

this verse? Bathsheba isn't even mentioned. But

David is mentioned and mentioned as king. Yes,

the king of Israel. It makes us realise that

Israel was sadly not that great of a nation.

He might have ridden on the crest of a wave as

their king, but he stacked it big time. And then

in verse 10, we read one of the evilest kings,

I think that's a word, evilest kings that Israel

had, Manasseh. He even sacrificed his sons. Can

you believe that? He sacrificed his sons to a

pagan god. 2 Chronicles 33. You can read all

about it. Yes, as we look down this list of names,

we see a lot of serious personal sin in the leaders

of Israel. We also see, thanks to Matthew, the

sins of the whole nation, with the very mention

of the exile to Babylon. And so we see the disobedience

of individuals as well as the disobedience of

the nation, Israel. Yet, God still keeps his

word, his promises. And aren't we glad? Like,

when I sometimes look at the state of some of

the churches today, Anglican churches included,

I'm so glad that God's plans will never be thwarted

by our behaviour. Like, when I look at some of

the church leaders today, Anglican church leaders

included. I'm so glad that God's plans will never

be thwarted by our behaviour. When I look at

how complacent and comfortable and lukewarm some

churches are today, Anglican churches included,

I'm so glad that God's plans will never be thwarted

by our behaviour. When I see how many self -confessing

Christians give church a miss because of the

slightest hiccup in their life, or a clash with

another engagement, I'm so glad that God's plans

will never be thwarted by our behaviour. When

I see how many self -confessing Christians so

preoccupied it seems with discouraging words

and comments rather than encouraging words and

comments, I'm so glad that God's plans will never

be thwarted by our behaviour. When I see what

happened in Bondi, I'm so glad that God's plans

will never be thwarted by our behaviour. And

friends, when I look at my own life, my familial

leadership as a husband, as a father, as a grandfather,

as well as my church leadership as your pastor

for one more week, My behaviour. God will achieve

his dream at the perfect time. He will finish

building the kingdom that his son, Jesus, the

branch, the Messiah, the Christ, his chosen one,

has started. It's a kingdom he promised to Abraham

and to David. It will be a kingdom of people

who love him. Will you be there? Will you be

in his kingdom? Will I be in his kingdom? It

all depends on our response, ongoing response,

to his Messiah. May we respond rightly on Christmas

Day, Thursday, this coming week. rather than

the importance of Jesus' family tree, we'll be

looking at something else that is very important,

Jesus' birth. And Brendan will lead us through

that. So see you all, God willing, on Christmas

Day 2025. Amen.