The Gift of Provision

Series Introduction

Play Oh Come All You Unfaithful

That song is probably my favorite Christmas song, I have never heard a song that captures the spirit of Christmas better than this one

We come to Christ burdened, we come to Christ weary, we come to Christ with nothing to offer

He’s the Lamb who was given Slain for our pardon His promise is peace For those who believe

So come, though you have nothing Come, He is the offering Come, see what your God has done

The words of the song resonated with me weeks ago as I was beginning to plan the series God laid on my heart to do leading up to Christmas, it is a series that is going to look at five women that were gifted in different ways, but with each one we will see they were burdened in some way, but yet the grace of God is seen in each of their stories

And this is not a random journey through the Bible picking five random women, the women are going to be Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary.

Do you know what all five of these share? Each one is found in Matthew 1 in the genealogy of Jesus.

Women are not usually listed in genealogies, but these five were because of their special role in bringing Jesus to the world

Sermon Introduction

Context

Read Ruth 4:7-12.

We are starting with Ruth to lay the context of what should have occured in Tamar’s life

The OT way of caring for the widow was her marrying the deceased husbands nearest relative. So that a heir could be provided for the deceased and this also ensured the widow would be taken care of and not abandoned

This occured in the life of Ruth but not so smoothly in the life of Tamar

We come across her story in Genesis 38.

Genesis 38 Summary

In this chapter we see Judah is not the best influence, he starts off by marrying a Canaanite woman (which was frowned on for being religiously unevenly yoked)

And this negative influence becomes very apparent in the life of his kids

He finds Tamar to be the wife of his son Er

Er dies because of wickedness

Well then at Judah’s command his son Onan takes Tamar as his wife to fulfill his duty

Onan listens to his father publicly but then acts such a way in private that Tamar would not have a heir by him

God punishes the wickedness and kills him

Judah still had one more son, Shua. And tells Tamar she can marry him when he comes of age

Judah does not stay true to his word and Tamar realizes this

So after Judah’s wife dies, Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and has Judah come into her

She gets pregnant and Judah wants her killed for her sin until she produces parts of his garments that he had left with her. Then he does not have her killed.

Then to her twins are born, one of which is Perez we just read of in Ruth 4.

The Unfaithfulness of Man

Judah’s Sin

Judah had a responsibility to be a provider and he failed miserably

How did he fail?

He failed to provide a godly foundation for his children

We know at least two of the three sons grew up to be wicked

and that all started in the home Judah had married into a culture known for being godless

What Judah provided was not a path that led to life but a path that led to death and destruction

He failed to care / abandoned for the widow

And really to make things worse he seems to use her as a scapegoat because after son #2 dies he sends her off to her fathers house to “wait”

When the reality she was not the one to blame, the one to blame was the man in the mirror

The principles found in Matthew 22:37-39 have always been the principles God has operated on and Judah failed to operate on them

Tamar’s Sin

Now Tamar was not completely innocent in the whole situation either

Making your father in law think your a prostitute so you can get pregnant is not exactly a saintly deed

Just like with Judah, I believe there is two failures we can point out:

Discontentment

Tamar was provided for, she was able to go back to her fathers house, where she was provided for

But that was not where she was “suppose to be”

She was suppose to be with a man and with child

Deceit

She choose to be deceitful and manipulate her father in law to get what she wanted instead of using the season of waiting to seek for God

The Faithfulness of God

So we have pointed out all the flaws in the story, so now lets talk about the one faithful one in the story, God.

How was he faithful in Judah’s life?

How Tamar should have trusted in God more?

Faithfulness in Relation to Judah

Genesis 38:27 ESV

When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb.

Judah had lost two sons, and now was given two more

Judah had behaved in no way that he deserved two more sons, he had failed to give the first two the foundation they needed and it cost them dearly

But God did not hold his past against him

Judah let us not forget a chapter earlier was also the one who suggested to sell Joseph into slavery.

In fact this fall in 38 marks a turning point in Judah’s life, he would behave much different in the rest of Genesis as a leader among his brothers

Application #1: God provides restoration in the presence of repentance.

People hurt us and people abandon us in life, Judah was one of the folks up to this point

Judah had abandoned Tamar and again let us remember he had abandoned also Joseph

God’s actions and character though is not determined by that of others in our life

Was Joseph abandoned in Egypt? No

Was Tamar abandoned on the streets? No

Despite being abandoned by Judah, God would work in both of their life's to provide

Genesis 50:20 ESV

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Application #2: God’s provision is not dependent on the actions of man.

Faithfulness in Relation to Tamar

Life rarely goes as planned, Tamar’s life was definitely not going as planned

Despite though the tumultuous nature of life God offers opportunity for our character and relationship to him to grow in those circumstances

Romans 5:3–5 ESV

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Tamar’s life though shows she did not use the storm as a time of growth, as she deceives her father to get what she was entitled

Go back to Joseph for a moment, He did cease the opportunity to grow and God used him greatly in the storm and as he came out of the storm

Application #3: God’s provides oppurtunities for growth and strength in the storm that we have to choose or waste.

Tamar in her deceitfulness acted just as the world (Judah) had treated her, with deceitfulness

If Tamar had waited and sought after God the principle we see in Romans 12:21 would have been present in her life

Romans 12:21 ESV

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Instead of bitterness and manipulation she would have offered grace and forgiveness

Maybe healing would have came in the family, and she could have married Shelah

Application #4: God’s provision is graciously given.

Outro

Judah or Tamar neither behaved in a manner where they deserved God’s gift to give birth to Perez and his birth

This is not the story of character you would expect to hear about the one where the title Lion of the tribe of Judah

Revelation 5:5 ESV

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

What a reminder though this story is a reminder of our need for a savior.

We have all been like Judah and in this life failed to provide the example we needed to at some point

We have all been like Tamar and taken matters into our own hands and stained our witness in some way

Thank God even though we fail to provide and provide the witness we ought to, He never fails in his provision

This morning he is reminding believers to trust in him again to accomplish his purposes and then some of you are being called to trust in his provision for the first time this morning

Come and let us all walk behind the Lion of Judah as he leads the way and ferociously defends us as we proclaim the Gospel.