Humble Beginnings Leading to Eternal Rewards

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Awesome in this Place (worship video w/ lyrics) - YouTube

Psalm 84 NIV

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. 8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. 9 Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one. 10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. 12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

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Isaiah 65:17–25 NIV

17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

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Humble Beginnings Lead to Eternal Rewards

Sermon Intro:

Humble Beginning

• The first electric light was so dim that a candle was needed to see its socket.

• One of the first steamboats took 32 hours to chug its way from New York to Albany, a distance of 150 miles.

• Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first airplane flight lasted only 12 seconds.

• And the first automobiles traveled 2 to 4 miles per hour and broke down often. Carriages would pass them with their passengers shouting, “Get a horse!”

Source unknown[1]

Each of these objects had humble beginnings that led to wonderful things. But none of them compare to the wonderful things that come to us through the humble birth of Jesus Christ.

Today is a good day to talk about beginnings. We face a new beginning every January 1. It is the beginning of a new year. New beginnings offer us new chances to do things differently. This is why so many make New Year resolutions.

When we take time to understand why Jesus was born, we find He offers us a new beginning. But unlike the resolutions that so often fail because we never had the discipline to do them in the first place, we find that the new beginning Jesus offers us is complete and perfect because it is founded in His perfect discipline. He was resolved to face death on a cross so that we could have a new life that would be perfected throughout eternity.

We are not starting at the beginning of this account. That would be found in Genesis 1. However, we are starting at the beginning of Jesus’ incarnation. Please stand for the reading of the Word.

Matthew 1:1–17 NIV

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. 17 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 Messiah.

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Humble Beginnings Leading to Eternal Rewards

Over the next few months, we are going to take a look at Jesus’ life through the gospel of Matthew. The best place to begin is at the beginning.

The gospel of Matthew was written by Jesus disciple Matthew. It is difficult to know exactly when it was penned but many believe it was somewhere between 50 - 110 A.D. Others narrow that down to around 70 A.D.

Matthew’s target audience was the Jews. He wrote from their perspective and giving evidence to Jesus fulfillment of all they believed about the coming Messiah. He was establishing his case that Jesus was the Messiah that was to come.

Matthew demonstrates not only how Jesus fit the scriptures of the coming Messiah, but he also demonstrates how Jesus came offering Himself to the nation of Israel and how they had rejected Him and the kingdom of God that He offered them.

Matthew’s gospel was coming at a very important time. It was probably just prior to, or during, or even just after the fall of Jerusalem. You need to remember that their culture was very different from ours. There was no separation of church and state. The Jews were God’s chosen people. The nation was based on the national religion, that being that God had called them apart to be His people.

The key leaders of this nation were their priests and during this time, the priests were also local political rulers in the Roman rule, though they had to be careful not to challenge Rome too much. As long as they submitted to Roman rule, they had a certain degree of freedom and power.

At the time of Matthew’s writing, this political arrangement was beginning to fall apart. There was lots of resistance and there were battles taking place between Jewish resistance and Rome. So, things were uncertain. There was little rest or peace during these years. The resurrection of Jesus Christ caused curiosity among the Jews and in these uncertain times, Matthew brings the truth of Jesus to the Jews to give hope. To help them to understand the truth of what Jesus truly came to offer.

Of course, to understand the truth, they had to understand that Jesus came to bridge the gap between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Jesus was not offering a new religion. Jesus was moving them from a religion of rules (Judaism), to a relationship with God Himself.

One author wrote, “Jesus, different from any other teacher in history, called attention to His person rather than His doctrine.” You see, our doctrine is found in who He is and the purpose of His coming. Christianity is the only religion (if you will), that is founded on a God who created us, loves us and wants a relationship with us. No other god worshipped on earth can even come close to our God of love. A God who considers us His children and not some subordinate.

So, with this background, let us jump into our subject matter today.

I. Humble Beginnings

Genealogies in the Bible are often considered boring. Many people skip over them when they read the Biblical accounts. However, they give very important information. They are especially important in scripture since the Biblical authors were able to preserve a key part of history that would have been lost otherwise.

In history, many cultures did not think it was important to go further than 3 generations. They were more concerned with the families reputation than they were details of ancestry. However, it was different for the Jew. God had given specific details about a coming Messiah that were tied to genealogy. These genealogies were preserved through scripture.

At one time, the records of everyone born were kept in the temple. However, when the temple was destroyed so were the records. If it had not been for the accounts from Moses, Matthew and Luke, this key clue to Jesus place as Messiah would have been lost, but God preserved His evidence throughout the ages through His servants.

Jesus life had a humble beginning, but the details are key to our faith. Today, I want us to take a close look at the important details we see in His genealogy as provided by Matthew and how it is key to our faith.

The first thing we see is that it is...

A. A Faith Rooted in History (Matthew 1:1)

Matthew is providing to his first century audience that Jesus is a true son of Israel from an honorable line of Israelites. This is so important, that he establishes this first before all else. Matthew knows that his Jewish audience will not listen to a thing he has to share until he can establish Jesus’ ancestral origins showing the ancestral ties to key people and promises God has made in history.

Now, Matthew does not name everyone in Jesus genealogy but he formats this list into a unique design of three sets of 14 generations. Numbers always have great meaning to God and to Israel. Seven is a symbol of completion or perfection. It is not fully understood what Matthew was doing but we know it would have had meaning to his first century audience. The three sets go like this:

14 Generations from Abraham to David

14 Generations from David to the Babylonian Exile

14 Generations from the Exile to Jesus Christ.

But there are other important things demonstrated in Jesus genealogy. The next thing we see is...

B. A Faith Expressing God’s Grace (Matthew 1:3, 5-6)

God’s grace is demonstrated from Genesis right through Revelation. Grace is God’s free and unmerited gift of favor toward people. Romans 5:8 tells us...

Romans 5:8 NIV

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

It is nothing we earned. We could do so if we wanted to yet God freely extends is favor to us. We see evidence of God’s grace throughout Jesus genealogy.

Except for Jesus Christ, there is no other person in that list who was perfect. They all had moral failures. Some of them, even though flawed, had a desire to serve God. Abraham and David are evidence of that. Others did not. Solomon’s son Rehoboam for one though there were others in that list of kings that had no real desire to serve God.

We also see God’s grace for ALL people demonstrated. One example of this is the women who were included in this genealogy list. Women were considered nothing more than property. They did not count in that culture. Yet, God included women in the genealogy of His Son. I say, God because even though these accounts were written by men, they were inspired by God. God wanted these women listed.

Here again we see evidence of God’s grace as these women had flaws as well. Two were known to have been prostituted themselves, Tamar and Rahab. Tamar was not technically a prostitute, but she sold herself as a prostitute to her father-in-law Judah when he did not fulfill his promise of supplying his youngest son as her husband.

Rahab was an inn keeper in Jericho. Often such women were prostitutes so it is believed she was one as well.

Bathsheba was a married woman who had an affair with King David, though it is difficult to know if she was in on this or not. However, no behavior ever gave evidence that David took her against her will though he may of initially seduced her.

Another interesting fact about these women is that most if not all were Gentiles. Inclusion of them in Jesus family tree demonstrates that God welcomes Gentiles as well as Jews. His grace is extended to all people. Jesus came to save all people and this is demonstrated in His lineage. It was a Jewish lineage, but it included Gentile foreigners.

The next thing we see that is important to our faith is that it is...

C. A Faith Recognizing Divine Providence (Matthew 1:2, 6, 16)

Right at the beginning, Matthew focuses in on 2 names.

Matthew 1:1 NIV

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

These two men are critical to the Messiah. Both had specific promises from God and were promised the Messiah would come from their lineage. Let us look first at Abraham.

Genesis 12:1–3 NIV

1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

In Genesis 12, 13, 15, and 17, God made and ratified covenants with Abraham. This was a blood covenant. This was an unconditional covenant. That means, nothing Abraham said or did would prevent these covenants from being fulfilled by God. There were 3 very clear promises from God to Abraham. First, Abraham would become a great nation that would be the people of God. Second, God promised them a land inheritance. And the third was that from one of his descendants all the earth would be blessed. This one who would bless the whole earth was the Messiah that would come.

Then we have David. David became a great king of Israel and Matthew demonstrates how he is a descendant of Abraham. Now you may think, well duh! All the Jews were descended from Abraham, however, that is not complete true and we will see in a moment. There were many foreigners who put their trust in God and joined the Jews. So, it was important to establish King David’s relationship to Abraham.

However, David had a promise from God as well that was important.

2 Samuel 7:16 NIV

16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”

This was reaffirmed to David in Psalm 89:1-4

Psalm 89:1–4 NIV

1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. 2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. 3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, 4 ‘I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.’ ”

We know this is fulfilled through Jesus Christ because of Isaiah’s prophecy.

Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Our faith in the Messiah are rooted in His fulfilling these promises of God to Abraham and David. So, Matthew had to show Jesus ancestry all the way back to both Abraham and David as the Messiah fulfilled these promises.

From the very beginning, God had a plan. It was first spoken of in Genesis 3:15.

Genesis 3:15 NIV

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Throughout Israel’s history, God gave more and more clues to the identity of the coming Messiah and this Messiah would be born and raised a Jew.

He provided His people with clues to see what He was going to do.

Isaiah 11:1–3 NIV

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

Isaiah 52:13–15 NIV

13 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Matthew’s genealogy demonstrates God’s providence being fulfilled.

And last, but certainly not least we see...

D. A Faith Which Focuses on Messiah (Matthew 1:1, 16)

Matthew’s opening and ending statements point to this exact point.

Matthew 1:1 NIV

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Matthew 1:16 NIV

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

In the Greek language that Matthew wrote his gospel in, this literally reads, “The book of the genesis of Jesus the Christ.” The word “Genesis” is the same as we have at the beginning of our Bible. This word draws us to the very beginning and Matthew was using this term wisely to do just that. With Jesus dawned a new age. It was the Messianic age and suggests a new creation story is underway in Jesus Christ. Isaiah spoke of this in Isaiah 65 read earlier. One day, during the Millennial kingdom we will witness what this new creation will be like. A world where peace and unity reign across all creation. We so often think of salvation in terms of our own personal salvation but it is a salvation for all the earth. Children will play near cobras. Lions will lay down with lambs. It will be a place of peace and unity across all people, animals, and places. We struggle to believe it because we have never witnessed it. But I believe we will witness it in the Millennial reign of Christ, before the new earth and heavens are created.

There are a lot of people concerned with climate control and saving the earth. However, what they do not understand is that has always been the plan but it will not come through the hands of man. It will be fulfilled by God once He has eliminated all the issues causing the problems in the first place. Men will never be able to fix these things because we are not God. We do not have the power to fix these things. When men do it there way, it seems for every one thing they fix they create 7 more problems.

When Messiah came that first time, He came not has a warrior like David was. People expected him to be like David and to have an earthly kingdom. This is where their greatest disconnect was with Jesus and His preaching. The kingdom He came to proclaim was a Godly kingdom. An eternal kingdom. The earthly kingdom established was never meant to be. God was always to be King. It was people that demanded earthly kings. These earthly kings, good and bad, all created problems because they were men.

When Jesus returns, He will be established as the forever King of the forever Kingdom. It will be a Kingdom that men can never mess up again.

Conclusion:

In writing his gospel, Matthew was calling the Jewish community to repent and commit themselves as followers of King Jesus. However, before they would even listen to him, he had to show Jesus lineage.

It is interesting that this is the one area of Jesus life that the Sadducees and the Pharisees never challenged. The first thing they would have done when Jesus began teaching and performing miracles was to check the temple records. The evidence was there for them to see. They may not have challenged it, but they did not advertise Jesus lineage either. So, Matthew presents it here. Some say that Matthew gives the lineage according to Joseph’s family and Luke is a list of Mary’s family. If this is correct, it shows that Jesus had a Davidic ancestry through both Joseph and Mary which made a strong case for Jesus as Messiah.

Thanks to Matthew and Luke’s faithfulness to record a part of history that many consider boring, the evidence of Jesus heritage is preserved for us all. Otherwise, they would have been lost when the temple fell.

We have come to the genesis of another year. However, it is not just another year. More and more prophecies are beginning to be fulfilled.

The morning that I was preparing to write this sermon, I heard a Jew from Israel say that he believes we are seeing the fulfillment of Jeremiah 3:16-17 at this time. These verses say...

Jeremiah 3:16–17 NIV

16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

I had equated this with the Millennial reign. However, as I have looked at it briefly, he could very well be correct that is this verse taking place. At a time when so many are looking ahead with concern, as a Christian, I am looking ahead with excitement to see what God is doing.

As we close this morning, I want us to all receive communion together as a family. However, when we are done with communion, I want you to take some time for personal prayer at the beginning of this New Year. We shortened the opening of this service to provide time for this, so please do not rush. In your notes are a list of things I want you to take time to pray over as we begin this new year of 2023.

Pray for God’s direction in your life in this coming year

Pray for God’s direction for your family (especially those who are not saved).

Pray for our church and God’s direction for us in all things

Pray for the unsaved in our community

Pray for our nation and our response to it in this coming year

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–29 NIV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.

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