Matthew 1:1-17 Genealogy To Gospel: Why Jesus’ Family Tree Matters

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One that originally I never thought I would preach.

And now I like to preach it every few years because it blesses me.

And I hope that it will bless you.

And in many ways, the reason why I think it will bless you is because it's not something typical that you would consider to bless you.

Before we get to the reading, I want to point out something though.

What a good first century genealogy would look like, okay?

There would be an emphasis on two things.

Two.

All right.

Number one, awesome men.

Great men.

That is where our emphasis would be.

And the second thing, absolutely no women.

Okay?

Um, but for some reason, uh, in this genealogy that we're gonna read today, there are a bunch of messed up dudes.

And there's a bunch of really great women in this genealogy.

So I'm going to need your help.

And some of our Bible scholars or people who know the difference between a man's name and a woman's name, I'm gonna need your help.

Okay.

So uh when you hear a woman's name in the genealogy today, uh, I want you to say, like the Fonzi or something.

I want you to go, hey, can you do that?

Can I hear you now say, hey, hey, yeah, and if you want, you could do the thumbs up at the same time.

I so it's up to you how cheesy you want to be.

So we're gonna be in Matthew 1, 1 through 17.

And guys, do not, do not sleep on this text.

It's a really good one.

Um, and it may not seem like it at first, but it's a really good one.

All right, so are you there with me, Matthew 1?

Uh does anyone have a Bible that is bound today?

Ooh, love to see those beautiful, beautiful Bibles.

Um, and those of you with the Bible on your phone and ESPN at the same time, I know what you're up to.

Matthew 1, here we go.

This is God's word.

An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham fathered Isaac.

Isaac fathered Jacob.

Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers.

Judah fathered Perez and Zera by Tamar.

Hey, good job, guys.

Perez fathered Hezron.

Hezron fathered Aram.

Aram fathered Aminedab.

Aminedab fathered Nasan.

You stop with my translations, okay?

Nashan fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab.

Hey, Boaz uh fathered Obed by Ruth.

Hey, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered King David.

King David fathered Solomon by Uriah's wife.

Hey, come on, that's a woman, wife.

Solomon fathered Rahoboam, Rahboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa, Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehosaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah, Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah, Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah, and Josiah fathered Jekonh and his brothers at the same time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon, Jakoniah fathered Shelatiel, Shelatiel fathered Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel fathered Ebiuid.

You know, I practice this at home, and then I'm like, you guys are looking at me.

Ebuid fathered Elichim, Elichim fathered Azor, Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eluid, Eluid fathered Ela Eliazar, Eliazar fathered Mathan, Mathan fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Hey, who gave birth to Jesus, who was called the Christ.

So all the generations, from Abraham to David, were fourteen generations, and from David until the exile of Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the exile to Babylon until Christ, fourteen generations.

Like this text, you guys, this text gives me goosebumps.

And I hope that if it doesn't, yet for you, one day it will.

Would you pray with me?

Father, we do thank you for this Christmas season.

To see the way you pursued us all the way into dark corners like Nazareth and Mount Hope.

You are the God of kings and the God of the oppressed.

You offer salvation to all who would humble themselves.

And God, we know that our Lord is suffering.

So often it feels like winter but never Christmas.

We ask you to redeem the suffering in this world, to draw people to your light and show them your kindness and freedom from sin.

And I know you offer freedom from the heavy weights that are being held right now by some in this room.

Father, I ask that you soften their hearts to your gospel and give them true freedom.

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you.

We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

Alright.

So when I first started reading the Bible, there were texts that I wanted to skip over.

You know, sometimes we talk about flyover states.

Don't be mad at me.

Um we have sometimes flyover texts where you just think, I could just skip this.

I don't need to.

I don't need to read this.

Um the thing is, is that you're missing out.

My mentors told me that those spots in the Bible were there for God's glory and my blessing.

And I I figured either I was stupid or my mentors were.

And I already knew I was.

So the longer I've known God, the more I get this.

There are texts in the Bible that you don't want to read that you need to read because they are there for God's glory and your blessing, friends.

When we skip out on a boring or confusing text in the Bible, we miss out.

We miss out.

Every time you read the Bible, it's good to ask God, What do you have to teach me through this, God?

What do you have to teach me through this?

And friends, let me tell you, there is so much we can learn in the Bible.

Um, we sometimes read it uh because we feel like we have to, though, don't we?

Is there anybody in the room who can give an amen?

Just be honest.

Anybody?

Okay, so we got like two people that don't lie in this church.

Friends, it's there for a reason, though.

Every time you read your Bible, it's good to ask God what He wants to teach you.

We sometimes read it though because we feel like we have to.

We read the Bible out of guilt.

But friends, the Bible is food, it is food for your soul.

As a pastor, I often have people apologize to me.

Pastor, I'm so sorry I missed church.

And I'm so sorry that I haven't been reading my Bible.

And I'm always like, You don't gotta apologize to me for that.

It's food.

You need it to live.

Guys, if you miss your Wheaties in the morning, you don't come up to me and say, I'm so sorry I didn't have breakfast this morning.

Now, sometimes if you like yell at people a lot, maybe then you might say, I'm sorry because I didn't have breakfast.

But nobody apologizes to me because you didn't eat lunch.

You don't apologize to me.

It's there for you, it's there for your nourishment.

You don't need to apologize to me.

You just need to realize how good it is for you.

We need God's word.

Even a text like this one will bless you if you let it, friends.

It shows us how God uses very messed up people to accomplish his work.

I talk to so many messed up people on the block and in this church, and many of you think you aren't good enough.

Guess what?

You're not, neither am I.

That's the joy of the gospel.

But you come from a family of murderers and saints.

I have an ancestor who supposedly, and this is the story of my family, somehow like caused two trains to crash into each other, and then he fled the scene.

Like, that's not even a hit and run.

That's like next level something else.

That's my heritage.

Um, they made a movie about my great-great uncle uh because he was a terrible mobster who killed people in Rockford, Illinois.

Like, that's my history.

Um, I have multiple family members who cheated on their spouses.

That's my family.

Just about every single adult in my entire extended family has been divorced.

Almost every single one that I know of.

It's my heritage.

I shouldn't be good enough, friends.

And here's the thing: I'm just not.

But God's grace is good enough, He bridges the gap.

Some of you feel unworthy because of your legal status, or because you're stuck in addiction, or because you still belong to the neighborhood set.

Yeah, you don't feel worthy.

Some of you just feel unworthy because you shout at your kids.

And I've heard your concerns, friends.

If only, if you only knew the things that I'd done, Pastor.

And it's like, number one, like you're not that good at secrets, so I do.

But the other thing is the Bible doesn't say this.

It doesn't say, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that almost everyone who believes in him should not die but have eternal life.

It doesn't say that.

It doesn't say everyone except for Joe who did that thing, right?

For God so loved everyone but Joe.

It doesn't say that, does it?

And we got a couple Joes in here.

I probably should have picked something else.

But whenever people repent and they give their lives to Jesus, we welcome people into the family of God.

You hear me say, all are welcome, but secretly you know that I'm not talking about you.

And friends, that's just not in the Bible.

That's not the way it works.

And one of the things that's so great about this text in front of you is that it's full of these kinds of people.

You might sound like the prophet who said to God, Isaiah, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have now seen the king of the Lord of armies.

You might feel unworthy.

And the good news is, yes, you are unworthy.

You come from broken people like I do.

You've done terrible things.

You're too terrible a person, you think.

But friends, if you surrender your life to Jesus, your sin is not more powerful than God's grace.

And when you give your life to God, mercy triumphs over that judgment.

And yes, your family is severely messed up, and so is mine, and so is me.

And so was the family of Jesus, though.

That's what's cool.

But our God is a redeemer and he loves to work in that mess.

This is why we look at a simple list of names in the Bible and go, Wow, God did that with them?

With them that's the beauty of our our our gospel that we we get to talk about today.

Jesus is fully God and fully man, but often we emphasize the God part and we skip the man part.

And yet before us is a living, breathing Christmas tree in front of me right now, full of sinners and saints, little bit of both.

Guys, this is good news.

Jesus came from a real family, an amazing family, an amazing, screwed up, crazy family with serious issues.

And so today I'm gonna give you two, I know only two friends, two important names for Jesus.

First, I want to start with the more positive side.

Uh Jesus came from some incredible people.

So our first important name for Jesus is Son of God, Prince of Peace.

Son of God, Prince of Peace.

In Matthew 3.17, it said a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

That is the voice of the Father.

Isaiah 9 6 says this for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, everlasting God, uh mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So here we see Jesus, Son of God, it's he's got some kingship in his history.

He's got some awesome people in his history.

Jesus is us otherworldly, he is God in the flesh.

Hebrews 1 and John 1 also call him God.

There are many texts in the scripture that call Jesus God explicitly.

If you ever talk to a Jehovah's Witness who wants you to think that Jesus is not God, take them to Hebrews 1 and you can refute that instantly.

And if not, take them to John 1, where you will see that they've actually changed their Bible quite recently.

But guys, Jesus was the king we are waiting for, who comes from a long line.

He's descended from the Father, but he's descendant of great kings born to do great things.

That rhymes.

Now we call Jesus son of David, okay?

Son of David.

Why David?

Well, it's good that you ask that because God made a promise to David.

2 Samuel 7, God revealed his plan for the offspring of David when he said, Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me.

Your throne will be established forever.

God is not using hyperbole here.

He's saying, You will always have a son who sits on the throne.

David, being the great king with some serious, serious issues, was the only place where Jesus could come from.

Why?

Because God said it.

Because God said that he would sit on David's throne forever.

Isaiah 11, a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse.

Guess David's dad is Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Then in Matthew 12, 23, when Jesus heals a man, all the crowds are astounded and they say, Could this be the son of David?

See, words matter here, names matter, uh, his ancestry matters because this is what was promised.

Here in the passage, Matthew emphatically says, Yes, Jesus is the son of David.

In our text, we see Jesus is a descendant of the great fathers of our faith.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

When I was a new believer, or not even a believer yet, and I was reading that, I was like, cool, okay.

I got like three, I got like an Isaac and a Jacob in my class.

Like, who are these guys?

But the more you read the Bible, the more you understand his lineage and the joy of looking back to these amazing dudes, you'll see that Jesus comes from a pedigree.

A pedigree.

So um, you also have King Josiah and Hezekiah.

These were the guys who championed the religious reform in the temple.

Uh Matthew 1 shows Jesus' great origins.

Jesus comes from a royal background, and that matters.

It matters because God said it.

If you want to trust someone at their word, though, you need to know they can back it up, right?

Like Jesus came from the only family tree that could save us.

Why?

Because it was prophesied.

Why?

Because Jesus was planned to do this.

God planned it this way.

Jesus comes from a royal background.

He had the credentialed, he had the resume, he had the pedigree.

Now, in many countries, if you would like to be king, you had to prove it.

You had to prove that you are of the royal bloodline.

In the United States, you have to prove you were born in the United States to be a president, right?

A while back it was rumored that Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to become president, but he was born in Austria.

So those awesome imitations that we would have had on Saturday Night Live went away.

But in a relatively young country like Zambia, they have a rule that all Zambian presidential candidates have to be able to trace their lineage to generations through Zambia.

Jesus needed to prove he was king to fulfill prophecy, and we had to see it through many, many, many, many generations.

And you know what?

He can back it up.

So after hearing Jesus speak in John 7, uh 40, some people started to ask the question: Is this the guy?

Is this the dude we've been waiting for?

Is this the one called the consolation of Israel?

Is this the one we should set our hope on?

The one called Messiah?

That was their question.

See, when the crowd heard his words, they said, This truly is the prophet.

Others said, This is the Messiah.

But some said, surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?

Remember that?

That was like backwoods, right?

Doesn't the scripture say the Messiah comes from David's offspring and from the town of Bethlehem where David lived?

Now we know because we have his credentials in front of us, that's where he came from, isn't it?

But he lived in Galilee.

They were checking Jesus' credentials in real time.

This is why we have them in the book of Matthew.

For those who waited patiently for the Messiah to come from the family tree of the patriarchs and the matriarchs, a of our faith, we see that Jesus had the credentials.

This matters.

This matters.

Now, um, when I was a kid, uh my mom uh gave us a special surprise.

My mom, um, so we lived in a place called Gardena in Los Angeles, and she said, Hey, we're gonna go get a dog.

And I love dogs, oh my gosh.

And this was my favorite dog because she was my dog first before everyone else.

Um, so what we did is we drove to this neighborhood, it was probably about like 1989, um, and uh when we lived in Gardena, uh, this was a bit of a drive, but we needed to get to a place called Bel Air to get this dog.

I'm serious.

We went to Bel Air to get my dog.

Um, for those of you who remember the show, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, we basically showed up at a house that looked just like something like Uncle Phil's house.

Like, you know, like when you go to a house and there's columns, like that's different, right?

Like um we don't have that here.

Um actually we got that one house on the corner.

I got questions, but don't worry about it.

So uh we went to this beautiful Fresh Prince of Bel Air house, and that is where we got our standard poodle, Rosie.

Now, uh uh the her parents were there, and they had these like super fluffy cuts, you know.

And just I remember as a kid like not knowing any better, and I was like on the ground wrestling with these dogs, um, that are like human-sized, by the way.

Um, and what I didn't know is they were both national champion dogs.

And you probably shouldn't, you know, get on the ground and wrestle with national champion dogs, but she was a runt, and so they were trying to basically give her away.

She was the small dog.

Um, she came from a great pedigree, but she wasn't anything great to look at.

What I will tell you is we cut her hair that way like twice against my wishes, where she was like the big pom-pom, you know.

Um, but that dog was she was awesome.

She protected me.

Even if my mom came into my room in the middle of the night, she would start growling if she didn't know who it was.

Like she was my protector, and she had a pedigree.

She had a pedigree of great poodles that came before her.

National champion from dog show uh poodles.

Now, even though she was the runt, even though she was nothing to look at, that dog grew up and she became a large dog.

And to this day, I have never had a dog that I knew could open a doorknob without opposable thumbs.

I can still not figure that out.

But she was so smart she could get things off of things that were stacked on top of things.

And and the thing is, she backed up her pedigree because she was just made that way.

She was the runt, but she grew up to be loyal and brilliant.

She wasn't much to look at at first, but once she was nurtured, we saw the family tree of champions come out of her.

She grew up.

Into her namesake.

And of course, she was still just a hood dog in our house.

Like, that's all.

But like now, in the same way, guys, we get to live under Jesus' pedigree.

We can look at Jesus' pedigree and say, we belong to that family now.

You and I are sons and daughters of the king.

The Bible says that we are co-heirs with Christ.

It says that in a masculine form, too, which I always love because the men were the ones who received the inheritance, and it says that we, as in men and women, receive the inheritance of royalty through Jesus.

So this is the best news.

We belong to a better kingdom.

We belong to a great pedigree that we could never back up, because if you ever looked into the depths of the closets of our families, you would find some things.

Now the good news is that's Jesus' family tree as well.

And so we see that Jesus' lineage was great in that I just told you about some good things.

Like he descends from God, like that's kind of big.

He descends from kings, kind of big, right?

But even more important to me is that his lineage was Shady.

Okay?

You know, I don't do this often, but I just feel like I need you to look at a neighbor, oh, and just say, Shady.

Oh, so awkward, your pastor.

He's so awkward.

Um, but this is our second important name for Jesus.

It is son of man.

Son of man.

Some have called Jesus son of Adam or even son of sinners.

Uh another way to put that is human.

Person.

Jesus came from a royal background and a royally screwed up background, too.

He wouldn't be our perfect Savior without both, friends.

In Isaiah 53, we see the prophecy.

He grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground.

I love that out of dry ground, right?

Like so there's some issues in the roots.

He didn't have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.

He was like someone people turned away from.

He was despised and we didn't value him.

The genealogy of Jesus matters because we can see how messed up it is.

We can know who Jesus descended from and how he had flesh and bones like every man.

He wasn't like the Fabio Jesus.

Uh I don't I was trying to think of like who's like somebody that's like the like long blonde hair, like good-looking dude now.

I who who would that be?

Oh, he's not the Aquaman Jesus.

I got you.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Uh yeah, he's not that Aquaman Jesus you see on the wall all the time, was he?

No, it said that he he had no appearance that we should desire him.

I mean, the Jesus that we tend to put up front, though, is the Jason Momoa like Aquaman Jesus, isn't it?

But the thing is, is that's not who he was.

That's not what he looked like.

He didn't look special, friends.

He had flesh and bones like us.

And it didn't say that he had white teeth or perfect hair.

It didn't.

We can also see the from the genealogy of Jesus that he was absolutely not white.

He's not fully anything either.

So a lot of people are like, oh yeah, he's ours.

No.

No, he's all of us.

He has relatives from multiple countries.

The black Hebrew Israelites who love Jesus being like the darkest of dark, like to put like things on my car.

They like to argue with people around me because they just no, no, no, Jesus was black.

Like dark black, right?

And and like for me, I'm like, okay, I don't care.

Like, now they won't tell me that.

They will actually call me an Edomite and they'll speak to a black man who's with me.

Um, but they won't speak to me about it because they need Jesus to be black.

I don't need Jesus to be anything, friends.

And I will also say there are some white folks that want Jesus to be white so badly that they're willing to twist the scripture in any way they can to make him sound white.

But based on Jesus' genealogy, nobody owns him.

He belongs to the whole world and he has the whole world in his blood.

You could sing that like the whole world in his, I'm not gonna do it.

But guys, it's important to trace the genealogy of Jesus because it shows you he was real.

He's traceable, he is not a figment of a writer's imagination, he is a real human being with breath, with blood, and guts.

And what I love is when Jesus showed compassion, the Bible would say he felt it in his guts.

Now, of the five women mentioned here, four would be considered of Hamadic descent, which means mostly they would have been dark-skinned.

Jesus has African blood in his veins.

He was not pure blood anything, and no matter what he looked like, he is a man descended from many people for all people.

Now, Dr.

Tony Evans, he says, It blessed me to know that Jesus had black in his blood because this destroys any perception of black inferiority once and for all.

In Christ, we find perfect man and sinless savior.

This knowledge frees blacks from an inferiority complex, and at the same time, it frees whites from the superiority myth.

In Christ, we all have our heritage.

And I'm like, why don't I just read you just like straight Tony Evans?

Because that was better than everything I just said right before.

But guys, not only is it amazing that Matthew shows us women in Jesus' family tree, but also mixed race people in Jesus' family tree.

We also see losers listed in Family Tree by name.

Those who are really awful people, those who were considered nobody in the culture at that time, are listed.

The women mentioned are not always even the most upstanding in his genealogy.

Have you not noticed?

Why not mention like Sarah or Deborah or Hannah or Leah or Rachel?

Probably because God wanted to show us something.

If I'm gonna tell you about my family, I'm gonna tell you the good things, okay?

Like I got a curtain right here, and I'm not gonna tell you a lot of things.

Like, I could tell you about my grandpa, and I'm like, dude, he was the first civil rights writer at the Los Angeles Times.

He was friends with Nat King Cole.

Um uh, what else did he do?

He did a lot of cool things.

He also cheated on my grandma.

I want I want to just like I don't want you to know about that.

I don't want you to know about it.

But the thing is, is that that is my history, is it not?

Brokenness is a part of my history, and I have brokenness too.

I'm gonna tell you the good things, not the junk we've done.

I want you to know about our accolades, not our lies, not our deceptions, not our sins.

But we got a lot of sins in our family.

I mentioned David was a great king, but he also had some issues too.

Why does it say Uriah's wife?

Because David impregnated a woman who was not his wife.

It was Uriah's wife.

So a way to keep Uriah's name going was by using Uriah's name and Uriah's wife.

I don't know quite why God did that, but also she was a Hittite, not pure blood.

In 2 Kings 21, we learn about Jesus' ancestor, King Manasseh.

And you know, it's like when you're reading that, you're like, Manasseh, okay, next.

But if you stop, you can see some amazing things about Jesus' lineage.

Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king.

All right, so if you put me in charge when we were 12 years old, man, I would have like spent all the money on pogs, maybe ladies, and alcohol, because uh that would be it.

That would be it.

So he came a king at 12, which was not smart, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was now let me just continue with you, okay?

Let me just read you what happened.

I cannot pronounce that many words in a day.

This is what it says about King Manasseh.

He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, re-established the altars for the God Baal.

He made an ashera, which is like a pillar to fertility, which is a bad thing, as King Ahab of Israel had done.

He also bowed in worship to the stars in the sky, and he served them.

He built altars in the Lord's temple where the Lord had said, Jerusalem is where I will put my name.

He built altars to the stars in the sky in both courtyards of the Lord's temple.

Um, he sacrificed his son in the fire.

We're not going to skip over that.

He practiced witchcraft and divination and consulted mediums and spiritualists.

He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord's sight, angering him.

Down in verse 16, it says, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to the other.

This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the Lord's sight.

So Jesus' ancestor spilled so much blood, killed his own dang kid in the fire as a sacrifice to a fake God.

This is Jesus' lineage.

Solmon was followed by a fathered by Boaz, by Rahab, A, who lived in Jericho.

Now, if you know, you know.

Um if you're new to the Bible, you may not have got to Rahab yet.

But Rahab lived in Jericho, she did some of the right things.

Um, she she protected some of God's people, but her her job was prostitute.

Jesus comes from a line of sinners.

Now I don't know if she wanted to be a prostitute, but we know that this still would have soiled anyone's name.

But no, no, no, not when you belong to Jesus.

Now, Michael Joseph Brown he says, Jesus descends not only from a distinguished bloodline full of kings and queens, but also from outsiders and persons of questionable character and practice.

Then Boaz married Ruth, hey, a Moabite.

A Moabite.

Do you know who the Moabites were?

They worshiped the god Chemosh.

Um, they were thought to be descendants of Lot.

Ooh, yikes.

Um Lot whose daughters might have got him drunk and slept with him in order to keep up the family bloodline.

Lot, who maybe set up in a terrible place called Sodom, and when freaking angels came to him and said, You need to get out of town, he's like, let's sleep on it.

Like, this is the dude, okay?

Um, this is the Moabites.

But Jesus came from a royal background, but also a royally screwed up background.

He wouldn't be perfect, uh he wouldn't be our perfect savior without both friends.

Now Ruth was not only a Moabite, but Ruth and Boaz were women.

Nope, that's wrong.

But sorry, forgive me.

Um, but Ruth and Rahab were women.

Now one author says this, poor Boaz.

Um in both Greek, Roman, and Jewish culture, a woman had no legal rights.

She would not inherit property or give testimony in a court of law.

She was completely under her husband's power.

She was seen as less of a person than a thing.

So why include them in Jesus' heritage, in his lineage?

Because Jesus came from a family just like your screwed-up family, and God wanted the world to know it.

Then you have Ahaz.

Ahaz also served the idol Baal and worshipped, uh, bowed and worshiped him.

He sacrificed his own kid in the fire again.

Um, and then he angered the Lord of Israel just as his father had done.

That's what the Bible says.

Guys, but here's the thing I've talked to so many of you guys.

I've talked to so many people in this community, not necessarily you guys, who have said that the Bible was created to give rich white men power.

Well, why did we include all these people?

If you're gonna craft a document to make yourself look good, would you include these people?

Wouldn't you erase the Africans?

Wouldn't you erase the Moabites?

Wouldn't you erase all these people?

But but the fact is, some people tried to in the South in the 1800s, didn't they?

But our God has protected this Bible that we read today.

And so we know that we come from a heritage that is messed up.

What we come from also shows God's goodness and his forgiveness.

Jesus didn't hide his heritage, neither should we shrink away from ours.

We should be proud of where we came from, even if it's just to show what God redeemed us from.

So long as we don't celebrate sin, we should speak the same way about our past before we were forgiven.

It attests to the grace of God doing something great in our life.

Friends, next Sunday is Testimony Sunday, typically the lowest attended service uh of the year.

And uh some of it has to do with the time of year, but also uh some of y'all just don't want to share.

And I get that because sometimes you're still in the middle of your testimony.

You should share that too.

Uh I can't stand it when the pastor always gets up there and he's like, I used to have problems with this.

You know, I was like, man, just get off, like stop.

Like, we need to know that you're still suffering sometimes, and so it's okay for you to share where you've come from, where you are, and where God is taking you.

Let's come next week willing to share what God has brought us out of and what he has brought us into, his family, and where he's taking us.

Because Jesus came from a royal background and a royally screwed-up background, and he wouldn't be the right savior without both.

Not only that, but because Jesus comes from a poor family, I think it also makes him more relatable, doesn't it?

Like Mary made a sacrifice in a temple for Jesus, but it wasn't the lamb that was typical, it was doves.

God allowed doves for those of you who weren't rich enough to offer the lamb.

This is a beautiful thing to see Jesus' heritage.

Later in Jesus' ministry, um, he basically calls himself homeless.

He says, Foxes have dens, birds of the sky have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.

That's humbling and beautiful at the same time.

Where you come from says a lot about you, um, so much so that people might like put it in your name.

Like if you're uh the son of William, you'd be Williamson, right?

If you're Jack's son, you're Jack's son.

I mean, you get this, right?

Um, and these places too will say where we're from, but if you belong to Jesus, you are not your parents anymore.

You are not your sin anymore.

If you belong to Jesus, you are made new in Jesus.

You don't belong to that stuff anymore, okay?

You're not your family, you're not the lies behind you, you are not your sin.

You are a co-heir with Jesus.

You are royalty.

Jesus came from a royal background and a royally screwed-up background.

He wouldn't be the right savior without both.

So Christmas morning, about 2,000 years ago, a child was born in the stinkiest of places where animals ate and slept, kept warm, probably did their duty in the corner.

But it was not any child, was it?

This was the Savior of the world in a humble place, who loved you enough to be born in a humble place in a humble family with issues, born in a family of ill repute, so you might be saved.

He didn't stay in heaven where he was comfortable, probably always like 68 degrees, 70 degrees.

No.

He came to earth.

He willingly took on disease, famine, hunger, like struggles, gossip, abuse for you because he wanted to chase after you.

He is still chasing after some of you in this room because he loved you, and he knows that the things that you're trying to rest yourself upon won't stand.

Only Jesus will.

And this is the beauty of the gospel that Jesus left the perfection of earth, came a perfection of heaven, came to this earth, lived a perfect life for you and me.

Us broken, messed up people.

And then he sacrificed himself on the cross.

And then to show that he conquered our sin, to show that he conquered death, he rose again.

There was no other God who did that.

There was no one else who could do that.

It was only him.

It had to be him.

Now you get a chance to be a part of this.

For those of you who are sitting under unbearable burdens, it is amazing to me when I talk to you and you're like, I just can't do enough good things.

And I'm I'm trying to tell you, like, you're right.

You need Jesus.

I urge you to consider that Jesus' burden is light, and he does the lifting, guys.

Now we get to be a part of his family.

Is there anything that should stop you from accepting Jesus as Lord today and becoming a part of his forever family?

I ask that you would pray with us on the side if that's you.

And if you've given your life to Jesus and you don't know where to start, let us help.

Let us baptize you, let us take you through the scriptures.

Guys, Jesus came from a royal background and a royally screwed up background.

He wouldn't be the right savior without both.

We are Jesus' broken family.

We are Jesus' beautiful family.

We are Jesus' redeemed family.

Let's pray.