The Beginning of Christmas

Scripture reading for this morning comes from the book of Matthew, chapter one.

If you can turn there with me in your Bibles.

Matthew chapter one.

We're going to read verses one through seventeen, but before we do that, let me pray for us.

Father, we we once again come before you.

We ask for your blessing on the reading and the teaching of your word.

We pray that you would pour out your spirit upon us and that you would be glorified in your midst, in our midst.

And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Matthew chapter 1, verses 1 through 17.

Matthew 1:1–17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez, and Zarah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nashan, and Nashan the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David, the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the rife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rahoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Sheeltiel, and Sheeltiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiad, and Abid the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Ahim, and Ahim the father of Eliad, and Eliad the father of Eliezer, and Eliazar the father of Mathon, and Mathon the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

What's your story?

That's a good question to ask, isn't it?

When you want to get to know somebody.

What's your story?

The problem is, we often think that life is about our story.

We think that life is about me.

It's about my choices, my will, my desires, my happiness.

I think Facebook sort of plays into this, doesn't it?

Because you get this idea that life is about me writing my own story and letting everybody else know about it.

And if life is about me writing my own story, then I'm the hero, right?

I'm at center stage.

And normally the story takes one of two turns.

Either because I'm at center stage, the story is about my pleasure, and then everybody else is there as sort of a supporting role to make me happy.

Or because I'm the hero, the story is about my mighty deeds.

Life is about what I can do, what I can accomplish.

It's about my work.

And then everybody else is there in the supporting role of either helping me with my work or noticing it and giving me praise because I'm so great.

Either way, the problem is I get trapped.

I get trapped in my own little world, my own little story, and I use the people around me as extras.

And I get angry or depressed when you don't play your part in my drama.

You see, my story really isn't big enough to live by.

If I try to live out the story of me, I'll always feel like, well, I'm the star of the show, and since I'm the star, things should go my way.

I should win.

I should be happy.

But of course, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I'm not.

You see, my story ends up becoming this lie that strangles me with this unrealistic and unmet expectation.

Because my world revolves around me.

This uh I had a glaring instance of this in my own life a week or so ago when I uh I called Deborah and I told her I was coming home for lunch, and I started to leave uh to head home.

I realized I needed to stop somewhere, and uh I as I'm driving to this other place on the way home, I'm telling myself, right, well, Deborah's not gonna start lunch, right?

Without me, she's gonna wait.

Well, Deborah's at home thinking that I'm on my way, and she got lunch ready and she set it all out.

And when I didn't come, she and the boys ate lunch, of course.

And by the time I got home, the boys were done, the table was cleared, and my lunch was sitting there cold.

And man, I was I was furious.

I was mad, right?

Uh because in my story, everything always goes my way, but this didn't, and it was a little thing.

But in my story, people wait for me to eat.

Right?

What about in your story?

Right?

Um, you know, we tell ourselves life is going to go our way, and when it doesn't, we get upset about that.

We're surprised when everybody else doesn't have us at the center of their story the way that we do.

Well, Matthew wants to give us a bigger story to live by.

He wants to give us a story with room in it, so to speak.

A story where you're not the star and you're not on center stage, but a story full of drama and joy and hope.

A story that starts with Christmas.

Really, a story that starts with a genealogy.

Now, some of you, when we read the scripture reading just a moment ago, your eyes glazed over.

Because we're reading a list of names.

And there was a time when I thought, you know, I do my daily Bible reading and I just thought, can I just skip this part?

Right?

Can't I just, you know, sort of zoom to the to the good parts?

It's just a list of names.

I mean, what's it doing here?

What's the point?

Is this really spiritually edifying for my soul?

And yet at the beginning of the birth narrative of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, what do we find?

Really, opening, the very opening of Matthew's Gospel itself.

How does Matthew start us off?

When we turn the page from the Old Testament to the New Testament, what is the first thing that God gives us?

He gives us a genealogy.

This is the beginning of the story, a list of names.

So, what's it doing here?

Well, genealogies oftentimes act sort of like a bridge between two land masses, right?

Matthew wants to stitch the story he's about to tell together with everything that came before it.

He's trying to root the present in the past.

He's setting the stage, so to speak, for his readers by reminding us of the prequel.

See, the story of Jesus didn't drop out of the sky, but it has a history.

And Matthew is connecting the story of Jesus to the history of God's dealings with his people.

He's telling us who Jesus is by reminding us of all that God had done to prepare the way for Jesus' coming.

This genealogy, it's like a roadmap, right, winding its way through the Old Testament, pointing the way to Christ.

Matthew's giving us just a glimpse of God's big picture plan as it worked out in history through all the sin and the mess and made its way forward to Jesus.

And by this, Matthew is telling us something about Jesus himself.

He's telling us that Jesus is the climax of God's story.

Jesus is the fulfillment of God's plan.

Everything that came before was leading up to this point.

And as we look at this genealogy, really, there are three things that we learn about Jesus as the fulfillment.

We see that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham.

We see that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promises to David, and we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promises to save his people from their sins.

See, Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham, is the climax of God's story, the one who fulfills God's promises.

Well, there are a couple things we notice right away as you look at this genealogy, as we look at the beginning of this story.

One of the things we notice is that it goes back a long time.

I mean, it goes back all the way to Abraham.

Abraham was about 2,000 years before Matthew, about 4,000 years before us.

And so we see that this story, it's not a fluke, right?

But it's something that God has been working on for generations.

Another thing we see is that Abraham and David are pretty key characters here.

I mean, they're mentioned before the genealogy in verse 1, they're mentioned in the middle of the genealogy in their respective parts, and then they're mentioned at the end of the genealogy in verse 17.

Abraham and David play a key role in the story that Matthew's telling right here.

And the question we want to ask first is why is Abraham so important?

Why is Abraham so important?

Why does Matthew point out that Jesus is the son of Abraham?

Well, many have pointed out that the book of Matthew is a very Jewish book, right?

Rather than going back to Adam in Jesus' genealogy as Luke does, Matthew simply goes back to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people.

And yet, what's the significance of that?

What is the significance of Abraham?

Well, Abraham is the one to whom the promises were given.

And one of those promises in particular stands out here that the promise that through the offspring of Abraham, the nations would be blessed.

Who is Jesus in this genealogy?

He's the offspring of Abraham, the son of Abraham.

See, here's the story that Matthew wants to tell.

Jesus is coming as the offspring of Abraham to bless the nations.

Not just the Jewish people, but all people.

And really, even in the genealogy itself, we see the inclusion of the nations right there.

You know, there are a number of women mentioned in Matthew's genealogy, you may have noticed.

And that was kind of unique in Matthew's day to include women.

But, you know, these women are also unique because of their ethnicity.

Tamar is the first woman mentioned.

She's likely not a Hebrew, but like Judah's first wife, probably a Canaanite.

Rahab is a Canaanite, Ruth is a Moabite woman.

The wife of Uriah, the Hittite, is likely a Hittite, but even if she's not, even if she were Jewish herself, she would have been considered a Hittite by the Jews because of her husband.

Matthew didn't need to include these women in his genealogy, but by including them there, we see the inclusion of the nations as a part of God's plan the whole time.

And of course, Matthew chapter 2, right?

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

Who are the first people who come to Jesus?

The very first people who come and recognize Jesus.

Well, they're Gentiles.

They're the wise men from the east who have come to honor Jesus.

And throughout Matthew, as you read through the Gospel of Matthew, we see Gentiles being blessed, a centurion, two demon-possessed men, a Canaanite woman and her daughter.

You see, Jesus has come as the son of Abraham to fulfill God's promises to Abraham to bless the nations through him.

Here's good news of great joy, as Luke puts it.

Jesus, the son of Abraham, has come to bless the nations.

You know, sometimes our story is sad or hopeless or depressing or just downright boring.

But here's a story worth being a part of.

You can't be the star of this story.

There's only one star.

But you can be a part of the nations who are blessed by Jesus, the son of Abraham.

You know, your story with you at the center, it will ultimately self-destruct.

But in God's story, he has promised to bless the nations through the offspring of Abraham.

And then he sent Jesus as the son of Abraham to fulfill that promise.

See, God's story is a story not of self-destruction, but a story of blessing through Jesus, the son of Abraham.

Of course, Jesus comes not only to fulfill God's promises to Abraham, but also to fulfill God's promises to David.

You know, many have pointed out that Matthew's genealogy, it's not only a Jewish genealogy, but it's also a royal genealogy.

You know, there's a difference between the genealogy here and in Luke.

And one explanation of that is where Luke records the physical descent of Jesus, possibly through Mary.

Matthew is recording the royal lineage of Jesus.

He's recording the line of kings from king to king to king.

And Matthew's genealogy then is emphasizing that Jesus has come as the son of David to be king.

And as the son of David, Jesus comes to fulfill God's promises to David of a king who will reign forever.

You may remember the promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7, when God said to David, When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

I will be to him a father, and he will be to me a son.

See, Jesus comes.

He comes as the Son of David, he comes as the Christ.

Matthew calls him Christ three times in these verses.

He's saying Jesus is the promised Messiah, the longed for and long-awaited son of David come to be king.

And of course, the Gentile wise men, again, are the first to notice this, aren't they?

They come to Jesus or they come into town and they say, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

See, Jesus comes as the king of the Jews, but as the king of the Jews, he comes to rule the nations.

And the Gentiles come and honor him.

You may remember God said once, ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

See, Jesus comes as the fulfillment of God's promise to David of a king who will sit on the throne of David forever and rule over the nations.

This is a story worth being a part of.

The story of a great king who has come.

And of course, one prominent role of a king is to rule, isn't it?

And Jesus does.

He wants obedience from his people.

And life does work better when we obey King Jesus.

You may remember, even in the Great Commission, we really see these two themes coming together.

The theme of blessing to the nations on the one hand, and the theme of obedience to Jesus on the other.

They're brought together in the Great Commission.

See, these aren't themes that Matthew just leaves here in Matthew chapter one, but as this master storyteller, he sort of weaves them throughout his book, and then they culminate in Matthew chapter 28, when Jesus says, All authority, kingly authority, in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

See, Jesus wants the nations to submit to his commands as the King of the Jews.

And yet, ruling is just one role of a king, isn't it?

Kings do more than just rule.

And in fact, there's another role of this king that is even more important to the story.

Matthew paints really a very different picture of Jesus as king.

As you read through the Gospel of Matthew, when people refer to Jesus as the Son of David, in Matthew's story, they say things like, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Or when Jesus heals the blind and the lame in the temple, the children cry, Hosanna to the Son of David.

Or when Jesus rode into the city, not conquering on a war horse, but humble and riding on a donkey, people cried out, Hosanna to the Son of David.

Why does Matthew represent the Son of David, the king of the Jews, like that?

Well, as the religious leader said to Herod very early on in Matthew chapter 2, the Christ is to be the shepherd of God's people.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

And Jesus is the one you may remember who, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

See, Jesus comes as the king to shepherd God's people, to care for their needs.

That's the kind of king that he is.

That may be an odd view of kingship, but we can actually take it even one step further.

When Israel asked for a king, you may remember way back in 1 Samuel chapter 8, when Israel asked for a king, they wanted a king who would judge them and fight their battles for them.

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

See, a true king fights on behalf of his people.

And like many good stories, this story is that of a brave knight who comes to fight on behalf of a helpless maiden.

See, Jesus, this is what Jesus came to do.

He came to do battle with sin on behalf of his helpless people.

That brings us to the last thing that we want to point out in Matthew's genealogy.

Jesus comes to fulfill God's promises to Abraham.

Jesus comes to fulfill God's promises to David, and Jesus comes to fulfill God's promises to save.

Jesus is not a sinner, right?

Jesus is perfect.

He is Emmanuel, God with us.

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary without sin.

But Jesus, the sinless one, was born into a line of sinners.

He was born into a family full of sinful people.

I mean, just look at this genealogy.

I mean, look at the very first person, Abraham.

Well, what was so bad about Abraham?

Well, Abraham, one instance, he lied about Sarah being his wife out of fear.

Or think about Isaac.

Isaac lied about Rebekah being his wife out of fear.

Or what about Jacob?

Well, Jacob gains his place in Jesus' line by deceit and trickery, lying to his father and stealing his brother's birthright and blessing.

Or Tamar.

Tamar dressed up as a prostitute to seduce her father-in-law.

Or Rahab, who was a career prostitute, or David, who was an adulterer and a murderer, or Solomon who loved many foreign wives and was taken in by their foreign gods.

Or Rehoboam, Solomon's son, who lost half of Solomon's kingdom by his childish arrogance.

Or Ahaz, who burned his son as an offering.

Or Manasseh, who worshipped the host of heaven and built altars to them in Yahweh's temple.

He used fortune telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers.

And he too burned his son as an offering.

You see, Jesus belonged to a family of murderers and cheats and cowards and adulterers and liars and prostitutes and polygamists and idolaters and Occultists and baby killers.

It seems harsh.

But it's all right there in the family line of Jesus.

What's the point?

The point is, Jesus came for sinners.

Jesus came for sinful people like you and me.

He came for people whose lives are a mess.

He came to die for sin.

That's why he was given the name Jesus.

We're told, because he would save his people from their sins.

Yes, Jesus came to bring the blessing that God gave to Abraham.

Yes, Jesus came to rule.

But you want to see Jesus in his work of bringing blessing to the nations and reigning on our behalf?

Look at the cross.

You see, in the cross we see Jesus purchasing blessing for his children.

There at the cross we see the charge against Jesus proclaiming this is Jesus King of the Jews.

There we see Jesus reigning as king, conquering our enemies, defeating our enemies, putting Satan and sin and death under his feet.

As our king, he pays the penalty for our sin, that death would no longer have any claim on us.

And then he rises from the dead, right?

He rises victorious, having defeated our enemy, and he, in his resurrection, he receives blessing from the Father, that he might pour out blessing on us through the Holy Spirit.

That blessing is found in King Jesus, who defeats our enemies and reigns over us.

This is the story of Christmas.

This is the story of Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham, who comes to bless the nations, who comes to rule the nations, who comes to bring forgiveness to the nations.

This is King Jesus come to bless and forgive.

This is a story we can really live into.

This is a story big enough with room for all of us, not as stars with competing expectations, but as extras in the story of Jesus.

Of course, the question for us is okay, what's your part?

What part do you play in the story of King Jesus?

Well, there are a couple things that should be true of all of us.

One is we need to look to King Jesus.

We need to find our joy in King Jesus.

We need to worship King Jesus, the one who fulfills all the promises of God.

We need to bow our knee to King Jesus.

Right?

We need to strive to obey King Jesus because you love him.

You know, I heard somebody say recently that Jesus love language is obedience.

I thought that was really great, but then I realized Jesus said it first.

Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

You want to love him, strive to obey him.

Are you going to fail?

Of course you are.

You're sinful, you're going to fail.

But this isn't a story of you and your mighty deeds.

This is a story of mercy and of grace.

It's okay that you fall.

It's okay that you fail.

Jesus is patient with you.

He loves you.

This is a story of a merciful and gracious king.

And so you get back up and you say, Okay, Jesus, forgive me.

Help me, Jesus, to obey you.

Help me to love you more.

Help me to serve you as my king.

Rip out all the other lords of my heart.

Rip out all the other loves of my heart.

Rip out all the other rulers of my heart.

That I would live for you alone.

You, Jesus, are the center of God's story.

Let me play a part in your great drama.

This is the story that Matthew is telling us.

Here is the Jesus that Matthew is telling us about, that he's representing in this genealogy.

The story of Jesus who comes to fulfill God's plan.

The Jesus who comes to bring blessing to the nations as the son of Abraham.

The Jesus who comes to rule over the nations as the son of David.

The Jesus who comes to bring forgiveness to the nations, to you and to me.

Look to him.

Rejoice in him.

Rest in him.

Remember this story of Jesus.

Meditate on this story.

Think about it this Christmas.

This is what Christmas is about.

The Jesus who came to bless and to rule and to forgive.

Let's pray.

Our Lord Jesus, we want to worship you now.

We want to honor you as our King.

As the Christ, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, as Jesus, the one who would save his people from their sins.

And Father, we pray that you would let our hearts worship our hero.

Let our hearts revel in our King.

Let our hearts marvel at his work.

Let our hearts rejoice in the baby that was born to be king and bless the nations.

Amen.