The Long Journey

Announcements:

“The Reason Tour” This friday. Purchase tickets online, kids 7 and under are free.

Christmas Eve Service invitation cards at the back or at the welcome center.

Christmas Star Project during the 11 am hour. Families with kids aged 3-6th grade. Jodi Tjelta will come up at the end of the service to give more instructions.

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “i’m new” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out, we would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Today we will be beginning our series called “The Weary World Rejoices” for the Christmas season. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 807.

TRANS: Pray

Opener:

When I was a teenager, my mom, brother and sister would make the yearly trek up to Watertown South Dakota to go to Midwest Bible camp for their family camp. I always enjoyed that camp. There was almost nothing to do, but we made it fun and memorable each year.

At the end of camp each year, on our way out of town, my family would stop at the Terry Redlin center. If you don’t know who he is, he is a famous artist who specializes in outdoor scenery, nature, and capturing the American spirit. Part of what makes his paintings so beautiful is his use of light. Many of his artwork are moments depicted at dawn or dusk, or at night with houselights on. Light flooding from the inside.

I’ve never considered myself an art connoisseur, in fact this week I had to google what the word “connoisseur” even means. Yet I always enjoyed going to the museum. Something about the way he captured beauty and emotion drew me in.

One such painting depicted a reunion of family for Christmas. A friend or family member, or a son back from war. These painting were always as the sun was going down, and the only light was coming from inside the house. There is something emotional about the end of the long journey home. The light that comes from inside the house grips us and moves us because we want to get there. It’s hope. It’s safety. It’s belonging.

TRANS: This leads to our first point of our time together.

The journey home.

Just as a light in the window helps us see the end of the journey, God’s promises were hope to his people in the midst of weariness.

God’s people, for thousands of years, were waiting - waiting for the promised messiah. Sometimes all they had was that dim candlelight in the far distance to keep them going, but they knew eventually God’s plan would completely unfold.

In our series this Christmas season, we will be focusing on how God’s people held on to hope. They grew tired as the centuries passed, yet they never gave up.

Today we will begin the way Matthew begins his gospel, by taking a look back on the journey. We see in Matthew chapter 1 that Matthew begins with a Genealogy. This is usually the part that you skip over because it’s just a list of names. Boring. Let’s get to the good stuff. But this genealogy serves a great purpose.

Listen to what Craig Keener said about what purpose genealogies served:

Genealogies reminded Jewish people of God’s sovereignty in arranging marriages and providing offspring.11 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014), 47.

Jewish people took great care in tracking lineages for the sake of understanding their family tree, but it also served that greater purpose of seeing how God had been working in their families through the generations.

TRANS: As we walk through the highlights of the genealogy of Jesus this morning, let’s keep God’s sovereignty in the front of our minds.

Three Main Acts

Today we are going to follow the three main acts set up by Matthew. Matthew splits his genealogy into three sections of 14 generations. Why 14?

Some scholars have suggested that this is a literal genealogy, that there were really exactly 14 generations between each main act. But upon further analysis, there are names omitted from these lists of 14. This is not meant to be a precise chronological family tree. Rather, Matthew had something more important in mind.

Each Gospel has a different emphasis of who Jesus is. John focuses on Jesus as the son of God, Luke emphasizes Jesus’ humanity, Mark emphasizes Jesus as the suffering servant, and Matthew wants his primarily Jewish audience to know that Jesus is king.

How does Matthew communicate that Jesus is King here? He is using a system recognized by the Jews for assigning numerical values to certain words based on the corresponding letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This technique is invisible to us because we are reading an english translation, and we don’t assign numerical values to english letters unless we’re in an escape room. Yet that is what is going on here. Listen to what David Platt said,

When you add up the numerical values of the Hebrew consonants in David’s name, you get a total of 14 (Blomberg, Matthew, 53). In addition, David’s name is the fourteenth in Matthew’s list (Blomberg, 53)! Clearly, Matthew intended to connect Jesus to King David.11 David Platt, Exalting Jesus in Matthew, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2013), 6.

The significance of this genealogy is to say something about Jesus. That he is king. But we find that each of the three acts of the genealogy points to that long journey home. With the arrival of Christ, God’s plan was fulfilled.

TRANS: Let’s go back and watch the story unfold.

Matthew 1:1–6 (ESV)

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

Why was it significant that Jesus came from the line of Abraham?

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 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.”

Abraham was chosen by God to be the father of a great nation. From his line would come the Israelites, those set apart to be God’s people. But at the time Abraham did not see how God would pull that off.

Abraham was old, and so was his wife Sarah. In fact, she was barren. So they prayed, and waited. But they got impatient.

So Sarah took matters into her own hands, thinking she had to scheme her way to make the promises of God happen. She brought her servant Hagar to Abraham.

Genesis 16:2 ESV

2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Well, this caused a lot of drama. Hagar got pregnant and Sarah became filled with anger toward her. So Sarah banished Hagar. Do you see what kind of mess we make when we try to take matters into our own hands?

But then we see God fulfill the promise in His timing, according to His purpose.

Genesis 17:16–17 ESV

16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Abraham’s response at God’s plan? He laughed at God. Can you see why he laughed? He was looking at the evidence in from of him: His wife was old and baron. How could she have a child? Yet God performs miracles. God is in the universe-generating business -- this is not an issue for Him.

So she got pregnant, and though there is a lot more to say about Abraham and his line, the point of Matthew’s genealogy is to show that Jesus fulfilled the covenant made to Abraham.

Abraham

Jesus fulfilled the promise for a great nation.

Abraham, and later the Israelites for that matter, thought Jesus would usher in a new kingdom focused only on them. But remember the promise made to Abraham: a number as great as the stars. God’s promise was always to eventually bring in the Gentiles. The call to be a part of God’s people is open to all who have faith in Christ. Jesus fulfilled the promise to Abraham.

Jesus fulfilled the promise for a great nation. And the story continues:

Matthew 1:6 (ESV)

6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

The second act in Matthew’s genealogy brings us to king David.

David was the second king of Israel. He was a shepherd, and was called to be king by the prophet Samuel. David was a man of great courage. His life was marked with patience as he waited for his time to become king.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Shepherd and Military Leader

Served at Saul’s court playing harp and caring for Saul’s military equipment (1 Sam 16:17–23)

4. Defeated Philistine champion Goliath (1 Sam 17)

5. Won respect from Jonathan and nation, but suspicion and jealousy from Saul (1 Sam 18:1–16)

6. Married Saul’s daughter (1 Sam 18:17)

7. Fled, gathered a private army, spared Saul (1 Sam 19–27)

8. Ruled Judah, then all Israel after Saul’s death (1 Sam 31:2–5)

Part of what made David’s kingdom so significant was the promise of God to establish David’s kingdom forever.

2 Samuel 7:13 ESV

13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

But David was an imperfect king. He made two great failures during the time he reigned over Israel:

1: Bathsheeba

2: The census

During David’s reign, he committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba. He even orchestrated her husband to be killed in combat and make it look like an accident. Later the son that would be born from Bathsheeba was solomon, the next name in Matthew’s genealogy.

But the other failure is lesser known. David is called by God to destroy an evil neighboring nation, as God was using King David’s army to enact justice upon them. But David became afraid, and he sent members of his council to number his army before going to battle.

This fear, this distrust that the Lord would bring promised victory, was a sin in the eyes of the Lord.

2 Samuel 24:10 ESV

10 But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

The people of Israel experienced the consequences of David’s sin.

See David was a great king, but he was imperfect. He was a shadow of the Real kingdom that would be established. Matthew was intentional to show that Jesus was the one to fulfill the kingdom of David.

David

Jesus fulfilled the promise for a true king.

The people of Israel longed for a good king, but all of their kings eventually failed them. Even David, the greatest king that existed over Israel, failed. There was a longing for the good king that would never fail them, the one who would bring peace and justice into the world.

Jesus is that king. Right now he sits on the throne in heaven, yet his kingdom has not been fully established.

There is one more act in Matthew’s genealogy. One that often gets missed.

Matthew 1:11 (ESV)

11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

The deportation to Babylon.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Terminology

The “Babylonian exile” can refer to a number of separate events, though it usually refers to the deportation of most of Jerusalem to Babylon after the destruction of the Judahite capital (including the Jerusalem temple) in 587/6 BC (2 Kgs 25:2, 8–12).

2 Kings 25:2–7 ESV

2 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. 7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.

The Israelites were exiled because they started worshipping false gods.

God promised his people that eventually they would be delivered.

Jeremiah 29:11 references this.

But the Jews needed more than deliverance from political oppression, they needed deliverance from the oppression of sin and death that reigned over all people.

Exile

Jesus fulfilled the promise for a deliverer.

- Review Ephesians 1.

- We are under sin, in the marketplace of sin, and need a deliverer from what we deserve. Eternal separation from him, hell.

Application

Interpret each moment in light of God’s grand story.

Imagine you are standing up near a train track. Very close, and your eyes are fixed straight ahead of you as each train car goes by. Your perspective will be limited, only seeing what is immediate and not knowing the grand scope of things. God, though, stands back on top of a hill and sees the whole train. This thought experiment by C.S. Lewis encourages us to see things from God’s perspective.

During times of hopelessness, what does God see? Is this happening to you? Or happening for you?

Your marriage may be hanging on

Your health may be failing

Your finances taking a hit

Your family walking through tragedy or hardship

Your mental health unstable

Your fear swallowing you up

Your future filled with “what ifs”

Your past filled with guilt and shame

However you find yourself today, don’t confuse the moment for the story. The truth is, we don’t see the whole train. We don’t know how our life will ultimately unfold. But don’t see your life as isolated to your time on this earth, rather, see it as a part of God’s grand story. We know how God’s grand story ends. He makes all things new, he puts all of death, evil, the devil and his demons in hell forever.

TRANS: However this moment may feel, remember God’s sovereign hand through it all. He is the author of the story. Do you trust his writing? This leads us to our final application:

Cultivate hope by clinging to God’s promises.

Some of us in this room define hope as a feeling. We hope that we feel hope. And when we do not feel it, we feel hopeless. But this is not how scripture talks about hope.

What led the people of Israel to hang on, those individuals who kept going, was hope. Biblical hope. Confident expectation. Listen to the words of the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 6:17:

Hebrews 6:17–19 ESV

17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

God is unchanging, he can’t lie. When he promises something it *Will Happen*. This is, as this passage I just read says, a “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” Some of you in this room today need your soul anchored to the hope of God.

I say, “cultivate hope” because growth as a disciple of Jesus takes time. Practice reminding yourself of God’s care, his sovereignty, his unchanging nature and his promises. Ask God to help you believe his promises. Ask God to help you be anchored in hope. The Holy Spirit will form you so that hope becomes your default, rather than fear. And this hope will strengthen you when you are weary.

Landing

Matthew’s Genealogy sure has a lot more to it than meets the eye. What is God saying to you today? How is He inviting you to grow as his follower? How is he challenging you to put your hope in him today?

I want to give us a chance to respond by way of worship through communion and music. I would like to invite the ushers and band to come forward. We will pass the bread and the cup and respond to God today.

Communion

Christmas and communion are inseparably linked together. Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us, came not just to be a good role model, not just a great teacher, not as one who would foreshadow someone greater. No. He came for the forgiveness of sins. The Christmas season reminds us of the eternal hope produced by Christ at his coming. Finally, God’s rescue plan was in full effect. And Jesus would eventually make the way for forgiveness of sin and restored relationship with God by being the perfect sacrifice on our behalf.

Before he would do this work for us on the cross, he had one final meal with his disciples. It was at this time that Jesus instructed them to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice for them. So we too, in this season of remembering Jesus coming to earth, remember what he would eventually do for us.

Jesus said starting in Matthew 26:26

Matthew 26:26–28 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” (Let us take and remember his body, broken for us)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Let us drink and remember his blood shed for us)

Pray

Sing

Closing and Jodi Tjelta