Rediscovering Christmas Through The Genealogy Of Christ | Rediscovering Christmas, Part 1
December 3, 2023 / Crosstown Alliance ChurchRediscovering Christmas Through The Genealogy Of Christ | Rediscovering Christmas, Part 1
Matthew 1:1-18 (selected verses)
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,6 and Jesse the father of David the king.And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.17 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 theChrist fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way…
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
Christmas is more than just about a birth, it’s about a promise coming.
How does the genealogy of Jesus help us rediscover the meaning of Christmas?
1. Christmas is good news not merely a good story
Matthew 1:1
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew 1:18
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
“Once upon a time, a baby named Jesus was born…”
Luke 2:10
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The Gospel is good news not merely good advice
Advice is counsel about what you must do.
News is a report about what has already been done.
Advice puts the emphasis on you to act
News tells you someone else has acted.
Luke 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Christmas is the good news about a super generous gift that has been provided for you.
Christmas has massive implications for how you are to live but first and foremost it’s a message that you need to be saved.
The story of Christmas is NOT best told “once upon a time”
It’s best told when we share the history of God invading time.
2. God welcomes in those who were outside.
5 women
3 outsiders
Plenty of sin
Tamar—pregnant by father-in-law
Rahab—Canaanite prostitute
Uriah’s wife—A.K.A…
The Law of Moses excluded these people from the presence of God, yet they’re all publicly acknowledged as the ancestors of Jesus.
Those who were once excluded have now been included.
The genealogy of Jesus is a reminder that everyone needs grace…
The bad guys
The good guys
3. God may take his time but he always keeps his word.
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ…the son of Abraham.
Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Luke 1:54-55 (the end of Mary’s Magnificat)
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
Sometimes it seems like God’s timing is completely wrong, until it becomes clearer that His timing is completely right.
If you want to impose your time frame on Jesus, you’ll probably never feel loved by him.
God always keeps his promise “I have not always kept mine…”“Things can never be made right”
Matthew 1:2
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
What Jacob did was wrong yet God’s grace was able to make things right.
4. Christmas gives us the rest we all long for
Matthew 1:17
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.
7th day – rest for the people
7th year – rest for the land
7th period of 7 years – Year of Jubilee
Leviticus 25:8-11
“You shall count seven weeks [sabbaths] of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you;
Hebrews 11
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.3 For we who have believed enter that rest…
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,”saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has enteredGod’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
True rest only comes by faith in Jesus.