The Family Tree of Grace

For the month of December in the mornings, we're going to look at the opening chapters of the Gospel of Matthew.

It's on page 965 in the Church Bible.

And what we'll see today is a grace-filled family tree.

Matthew chapter 1 at verse 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac, the father of Jacob.

Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers.

Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.

Perez, the father of Hezron. Hezron, the father of Ram.

Ram, the father of Amminadab. Amminadab, the father of Nashon.

Nashon, the father of Salmon. Salmon, the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.

Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.

Obed, the father of Jesse. And Jesse, the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife.

Solomon, the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam, the father of Abijah.

Abijah, the father of Asa. Asa, the father of Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat, the father of Jehoram. Jehoram, the father of Uzziah.

Uzziah, the father of Jotham. Jotham, the father of Ahaz.

Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah, the father of Manasseh.

Manasseh, the father of Ammon. Ammon, the father of Josiah.

And Josiah, the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel.

Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel, the father of Abiud. Abiud, the father of Eliakim.

Eliakim, the father of Azor. Azor, the father of Zadok.

Zadok, the father of Achim. Achim, the father of Eliud.

Eliud, the father of Eleazar. Eleazar, the father of Mathan.

Mathan, the father of Jacob. And Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Thus, there were fourteen generations in all, from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

Amen.

One of the things that we're going to think about is, why does Matthew choose to start his story of the coming of Jesus with a family tree?

Many moons ago, I studied library and information science in Aberdeen, and I had a professor there who, as his party piece,

I remember one afternoon, he cleared the desk, and he rolled out a piece of paper, a huge piece of paper, on which he proceeded to map out, from memory, his family tree dating back four hundred years.

So he would tell us about who was married where, and it sounded like he'd been there. He knew that kind of level of detail.

He could tell us who were the great and the good, who were the sort of notable people.

And he also told us, he was one of those guys where even when his family had sort of dubious characters, skeletons in the closet, they were really interesting.

They were pretty cool. You know, it's like, my great-great-grandpa was a pirate. It was that kind of a family tree.

But what he was doing, as well as teaching us how to research, he was, in a sense, saying, this is who I am.

This is where I fit within this family, within this people.

Why does Matthew begin with Jesus' family tree?

Because Matthew is saying to us, this is where Jesus fits in the story of God's dealing with the world and with his people.

This is who Jesus is. This isn't just a family tree. This is also Jesus' CV.

Here is why he is qualified to be the Christ, to be the chosen King and Saviour.

So Matthew gives us, right at the beginning, this family tree to help people then and now to understand Jesus as a source of hope.

To see how the longings of Israel, indeed the longings of the world, are fulfilled in the coming of Jesus.

And so what we're going to see is that his family tree, the one that Matthew gives us here, makes powerful statements about Jesus' identity and about Jesus' place.

At first, and at a very basic level, it will remind us Jesus is a historical figure.

He lived in a certain place and at a certain time.

The story doesn't begin once upon a time, like our fairy tales or like our myths.

This story connects us with history and with the story of the nation of Israel.

We are also going to see that Jesus comes to fulfill God's promises.

We see that attention is drawn to Abraham and to David.

And we're going to see why that's significant when we think about what it means that Jesus is God's Christ, God's anointed King.

And we're also going to see that Jesus' family history is marked by God's grace.

Because like every family tree, as we begin to trace it, I don't know if you know yours, but at some point we will find skeletons in the closet.

We will find dysfunction and breakdown.

But in Jesus' family tree, that dysfunction is not hidden.

Rather, it's highlighted in order to show God's love and mercy to the world.

So as we were reading that, you may have been thinking, this is really not my thing.

I'm not a family tree person.

I hope that whether you're that person or not, we'll be able to see that Jesus' family tree is actually a cause for worship for all of us this morning.

So the first thing I want us to focus on is the fathers of Jesus and the promises of God.

I want us to focus on the two characters that are focused on in the family tree.

Verse 1, a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

And then that first chart of the 14 generations begins with Abraham there in verse 2.

Then in verse 6, the next 14 begin with David.

So this family tree is on the one hand connecting to what God has already been doing.

It reminds us as readers of God calling Abraham, of God giving him a family, that family who would become the nation of Israel.

And part of that was God then giving David and the kings to rule for him.

And that history is traced to the exile, the darkest days in the nation's history,

and then back to the coming of Jesus the Christ.

But let's ask ourselves the question, why highlight Abraham?

In Genesis 12, we first meet Abraham in Genesis 11, but in Genesis 12 we discover that God calls Abraham out of false worship

in order to become one of God's people, and he makes great promises to Abraham.

He makes a covenant.

He commits himself to Abraham and he says,

I will give you a family, I will make your name great,

and I will give you the land known as the promised land.

And he said to Abraham,

So one of the reasons Matthew highlights Abraham is so that we are clued into the fact that Jesus comes to be that promised seed.

He is the one through whom all the nations of the world, all peoples, can know God's blessing and God's goodness.

But the question is how?

How does that goodness come to us through Jesus?

Well, let's continue thinking about the story of Abraham.

In Genesis 15, you can read about it later,

There's this moment where Abraham is getting older and he still doesn't have any family,

and he's saying to God,

You promised me family and I don't have any,

and God recommits himself to giving him a great family, making him a great nation.

And to prove his commitment, he enters into this covenant ceremony.

And in this ceremony, Abraham is told to take some animals and to slaughter them,

to cut them in half and to make a path.

So there's an animal, half an animal all the way up one side and half on the other side, making that path.

Because in Abraham's day, when two kings wanted to make a binding agreement,

this is something that they might do.

They would walk through it, having made their agreement,

they would walk through these cut-up animals as if to say,

If I break my word to you, let what happened to the animals happen to me.

If I break this covenant, may death come.

Back to Genesis 15, Abraham in a vision sees God as a flaming torch

and God alone walking through the pieces of the cut-up animal.

Here is God saying,

I am absolutely committed to my covenant promise to bless the world.

And if this covenant is broken,

may what happened to those animals happen to me.

Now what does this have to do with our story?

What does this have to do with the story of Jesus?

Well, the Bible tells us that God made us in His image, in His likeness,

so that we might worship Him,

so that we might live in covenant relationship with Him,

where we would obey Him joyfully,

where we would love Him truly.

But for us as people, we have all broken covenant with God

by our lack of love,

by our false worship,

by our sin,

and by our rebellion.

And when we think in covenant terms,

and when we think of Genesis 15,

therefore, because we are covenant lawbreakers,

we should face the penalty for breaking that law.

We deserve God's judgment.

We deserve to face death.

But God in His goodness sends Jesus as an act of love and mercy.

What does Jesus do for us?

He comes as the perfect Son of God,

who lives in perfect obedience to God's law,

but then on the cross,

He dies for covenant lawbreaking.

He takes our sin on His shoulders,

and He faces that penalty.

His body is torn.

That He takes the penalty

so that we might once again

live at peace with God.

We might be forgiven by God

and enjoy life with Him.

Jesus coming,

and coming to die on the cross,

is our way back to God.

That's God's blessing for the world.

That's how Jesus fulfills that promise to Abraham.

That for anybody who understands,

I'm a sinner before God,

and I cannot make myself good enough for a holy God,

we see Jesus as good news.

Because we are invited to trust in Jesus

as our Son of God,

as our Savior,

the one who in love took our sin

to give us eternal life.

so that through Him,

we can know true love and peace and joy

that comes from God.

So the fathers of Jesus,

Abraham here reminds us of the promises of God.

But he's not the only one who's highlighted.

We're also told about David.

David stands at the head of the second

of the 14 generations.

David was the father of Solomon,

we're told in verse 6.

So why highlight David?

Well, David was the great king.

He was God's chosen king,

described in the Bible as a man after God's own heart.

And he too received a covenant promise from God.

So in 2 Samuel 7,

there's a moment where David

wants to build a temple for God,

and God says,

no one of your son, Solomon,

he'll build the temple.

But God says,

I'll make a name for you, David.

And he promises that one of David's family

would rule and reign as king,

not for a while,

but forever.

Not just of some people,

but over all people.

David is promised the universal eternal king

would come from his family.

Now, when we get to our family tree here,

and as we think about the history of Israel,

history suggested this promise was under threat.

Because bear in mind that the exile had happened,

so there were no longer kings of Israel

sitting on the throne.

Owing to their disobedience,

owing to the fact that they kept walking away from God

and choosing to worship idols,

they had been sent out of the promised land,

they had been defeated and taken prisoner,

and even now,

they are ruled by Rome.

So the line of kings had ended,

and so there's this source of tension,

will it ever come back?

Will there ever be a king in the line of David on the throne?

And here is Matthew's message.

This eternal king has come,

because Jesus has come.

And he has come to rule perfectly for God.

You can read the history of the kings of Israel,

and you discover that in many ways,

they all failed to perfectly reflect God's rule,

but Jesus won't.

And so he is the answer to the darkness and the fear.

He is the answer to hope beyond despair,

and that ties in with the title that Jesus is given.

Jesus is the Christ.

He is God's anointed one,

just as the kings of Israel were anointed with oil

to show that they were chosen by God

and were given authority by God.

This is true absolutely of Jesus.

He is God's chosen king for us all.

Therefore, there is a summons to us.

God has sent Jesus his king.

And so we need to ask ourselves,

am I submitting to his good and loving rule?

And for us as a church,

there's also an opportunity,

there is a mission for us.

How can I be part of establishing

the kingdom rule of Jesus in my life

and where I am?

How can I be built up in my faith

so that my life is founded on Jesus

and his word and his salvation?

How can I share the good news of Jesus

with the people around me

and my friends and my family?

How can I be helping to build other Christians up

in their faith so that they will continue

walking with Jesus, the king,

and submitting to his rule?

So the fathers of Jesus that are highlighted here

speak to us of the promises of God.

Let's think now about the mothers of Jesus

that are mentioned and the grace of God

that we find in this section.

Before we do that,

let's talk about airbrushing for a couple of minutes.

Why is it that we, as people,

airbrush when we are about to post a photo,

perhaps to social media,

quite often people will like to do

a little bit of photoshopping,

a little bit of editing,

before that gets made public.

You will find that too,

when people are writing history or biographies,

they will sometimes airbrush history.

Now let's not focus on those failings

of a particular leader or a particular nation.

Let's concentrate on the great and the good moments.

Why do we, as individuals,

pretend that we have it all together,

that we have life figured out?

Why do we feel that urge to pretend

that our family is the perfect family sometimes?

We want to airbrush our flaws.

Now we maybe have different reasons for doing that.

Sometimes it's because we're proud.

Sometimes it's because we had that fear

or anxiety of being found out.

Sometimes it's because our self-image

and our feelings of self-worth

are not based on trusting in Jesus,

but this perception

that we are the ones that have got life all figured out.

Now, compare this with Jesus' family tree.

Compare this with what Matthew presents for us here.

Matthew goes out of his way

to reference time and again

elements of dysfunction.

He highlights in this family tree

those who are both sinners

and those who have been sinned against.

Matthew chooses to highlight

surprising figures

to highlight God's grace.

To show that being part of Jesus' family

isn't just for the great and the good.

It's not for people who've got their lives all sorted out.

It's for those whose lives are broken.

Those who are needy.

He's for us.

How does he do that?

It's largely done

actually through including women.

Did you notice?

Father, father, father, father, father.

But then occasionally

we hear about a mother.

That was very unusual

in Jesus' day.

Family trees were drawn

based on the male line.

But it's not just every woman

that's included.

Very particular women

are included in this family tree.

But before we get to the details

here is Matthew reminding us

that Jesus came

for those who perhaps society

undervalues.

those who might be forgotten.

Those who are undervalued.

Jesus came for.

God's love is not restricted.

God's love is open.

God's love is open to anyone

who will receive it.

But let's look at how

Matthew highlights grace for us

through the women

that he chooses to include.

Our first is in verse 3.

We're going to give a brief biography,

very brief biography

of these women.

Judah,

the father of Perez

and Zerah,

whose mother was Tamar.

What's her story?

Well, you can find it

in Genesis chapter 38.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

Tamar was married

to one man

who died.

His brother

was supposed to marry her

and continue the family.

But he is disobedient.

Judah,

her father-in-law,

promises to care for her

and to provide for her

but lets her down.

She's badly treated

with no prospect of family.

So what Tamar does

is she dresses up

as a prostitute

and she tricks

her father-in-law

to sleep with her

to begin a family.

So she has these twins.

That's her story.

The second woman

that's mentioned

is in verse 5.

Salmon,

the father of Boaz,

whose mother

was Rahab.

Now when we turn

to the book of Joshua

and Joshua chapter 2,

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

we find that Rahab

is an actual prostitute

living in Jericho,

one of the enemy cities

that Israel will defeat.

But Rahab

fears God,

honours God,

recognises

that God has given Israel

the promised land

and so she

joins

the people of God.

Our third woman

mentioned

is also

in verse 5.

Boaz,

the father of Obed,

whose mother

was Ruth.

Ruth gets

a book

in the Bible.

In the middle

of the darkness

of the time

of the judges,

Ruth stands out

as light.

Here is another foreigner.

She's from Moab,

a hated enemy

of Israel.

But she turns

to God.

She sees her

mother-in-law's

faith,

her faith

in God.

She trusts

in the God

of the Bible.

She moves

back to Israel

and she becomes

a model

in her community

of faith

and loyalty

and she becomes

part of

King David's

family line.

Then we have

a fourth woman

mentioned

or not mentioned

in verse 6.

Jesse,

the father of King David.

David was the

father of Solomon

whose mother

had been Uriah's

wife.

So we know

from the story

of the Bible

that this is Bathsheba.

You can find

this story

in 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12.

Now you might

be asking

why is her name

not mentioned?

Is that

disrespect

on Bathsheba?

No, I think

the intention

is to show

that King David

had really

messed up.

The focus

is on the fact

that he has

committed adultery.

He's taken

another man's

wife.

He's slept

with her.

When she becomes

pregnant

he arranges

to have Uriah,

one of his

brave soldiers,

killed.

But Bathsheba

has a place

in the family

of Jesus.

And of course

the fifth woman

is in verse 16

and that's

Mary.

Jacob,

the father of Joseph,

the husband

of Mary

of whom was

born Jesus

who is called

Christ.

Mary,

the teenage

virgin

who is chosen

by God

to be the

mother of Jesus

the Christ

as a gift

of grace.

And we'll think

about her story

next week.

But what binds

all those

unusual surprising

stories together

it's God's

grace.

As Tim Keller

puts it,

there's a place

in the family

of God

according to

this family tree

and according

to the Bible

for those

who are outsiders

because of their

gender.

For those

who are outsiders

because of the

society or the

nation that they

come from.

Because of their

moral failure

and compromise.

There is grace

available

in Jesus.

Jesus.

So you might be

here today

and you're

thinking,

well,

I'm not

from a

Christian

country.

I'm not

from a

Christian

family.

Could God

love me?

And here

is Matthew

led by the

Spirit of God

to point us

to stories

that say,

yes,

of course,

here is

Rahab.

She's not

from the

people of God.

Here's Ruth.

She's from

a foreign

nation and

she knows

they know

God's grace.

Maybe we're

sitting here

full of guilt.

I've done

terrible things

in my past.

Could God

accept me

with the mess

that my life

has been?

Think about

the stories

that we've

just reflected

on.

Here is

Tamar

dressed up

as a prostitute

to commit

incest with

her father-in-law.

Here is the

story of David

and Bathsheba

and adultery

and murder

and there is

grace.

For them

I've been

sinned

against.

Does

Jesus

provide hope

that my

identity

can be

rooted in

something

other than

the way

people have

treated me?

Again,

Tamar,

Bathsheba

say yes

to us.

The grace

of God

is greater

than

our sin

and greater

than the sins

committed

against

us.

The family

of Jesus

today,

as it was

then,

is not

made up

of the

great and

the good.

The family

of God

is made

up of

those who

have

skeletons

in our

own

closets.

It's made

up of

people like

us who

are messed

up,

who are

broken,

who get

things wrong.

But there's

still hope

for us

because of

God's

grace.

Jesus'

family

is filled

with

tremendous

love and

hope because

it reminds

us that

we're not

the centre

of the

story.

Jesus is.

All of

this history

is moving

towards the

coming of

the Christ,

the one

who brings

forgiveness

and new

life and

promise from

God.

So this

family tree

gives us

really good

news if

we see

our spiritual

need, if

we see

Jesus coming

to fulfil

God's

loving rescue

plan, if

we see how

faith in

him brings

us into

this family

tree of

God.

So as we

enter into

Advent season,

here is an

invitation to

slow down

to stop

and to

reflect.

Because if

this is

true, then

it's something

that's too

important to

ignore and

it's something

that's too

important to

just rush

past in

the middle

of all the

other stuff

that we

do at

Christmas.

Don't let

that stuff

cause us

to miss

Jesus the

Christ and

to miss

the fact

that here

is a

family tree

that is

dominated

by grace.

I guess

in every

family tree

there are

qualities that

pass down

through the

generations,

whether that's

in terms of

physical appearance,

whether it's in

terms of our

temperament and

personality,

whether it's the

things that we

happen to be

good at.

what is it

that passes

down the

family line

of Jesus?

In Jesus'

family tree,

grace is

the cord

that runs

all the way

through.

It goes right

down to our

DNA, in fact,

as the people

of God.

And so that

has implications

for us as a

church as we

live together.

We should be

the most

graceful and

the most

gracious place

in the world.

We should be

an attractive

community of

goodness,

where the way

that we live

together makes

people stop and

think, what is it

about them that's

so different

in a good way?

It gives us

a mission

to share this

spirit of Christmas,

giving of

ourselves to

extend kindness,

to offer

friendship to

those who are

lonely, to

offer

reconciliation

where there

has been

breakdown, to

extend kindness

to outsiders

because that's

what Jesus

does for

us.

So, Jesus

is God's

Christ.

He is God's

way of

blessing the

world.

He is God's

eternal

king.

Will we

delight in

him, really

delight in

him, love

him, worship

him this

Christmas?