Levi's Genes

LEVI’S GENES MATT 1:1-18

SBS: I am not here to fill anyone’s shoes. I have small feet myself. I can buy my shoes at the children’s department as long as they are EEE. Basically I have the same size foot as Fred Flintstone.

I am here to do whatever it is that God has called me to do and to do it as long as the session asks me to do it. I am a professor. That is what I want to be when I grow up and that is what I will continue to be.

Pray with me and for me as I preach and you listen to God’s word through me

You can be excused if your heart was not all afflutter at the reading of today’s Scripture. It is one of those pieces of Scripture that seems at times to lead us to wonder why God put it in there.

Why Matthew? He is the first book of the NT; He is a wonderful gospel; he writes a great deal about forgiveness and redemption; he is a sinner who knows what it means to depend upon the grace of God.

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK. V 1 Jesus Christ is surrounded by three word pairs.

1. The word “Generation” is a word that can be translated Genesis. It reminds us of the first

book. This is a new beginning.

2. “Son of David”-Jesus is the rightful heir to the Davidic promises. The messiah has come.

This is what “Christ” means.

3. “Son of Abraham”-the Abrahamic promise is now to be fulfilled. In Jesus all the nations of

the earth will be blessed.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU COULD WRITE YOUR OWN FAMILY TREE?

There are a lot of people in the genealogy and we will not be able to speak about all of them or even most of them. I have chosen a group of people, a category that is unusual in genealogies of this time. That category is women.

JESUS GENEALOGY TEACHES US THAT NO ONE IS TOO BAD TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY OF GOD.

1. Ancient bibliographies typically began by rehearsing the noble lineage of their subjects.

2. This bibliography is different It includes women. 1:3; 5-6 note that the Scripture treats women much better than other works of this time:

1. V. 3 There is Tamar who dressed like a harlot: Jacob’s sons-Er, Onan, but not Shelah. Jacob falls for the disguise and promises a lamb, leaves his seal, cord, and staff. Gen. 38

2. V. 5a There is Rahab who was a harlot-Joshua 2-6; she is also mentioned in Heb. 11, James 2:25.

3. V. 5b There is Ruth who was a foreigner-Moabitess, Naomi her MiL. She meets Boaz

4. V. 6 There is Bathsheba whose name is not even mentioned-wife of Uriah.

5. There is Mary who has no husband, yet is pregnant-relative clause refers only to her.

The church is a hospital for people who are sick, not a country club for people who have it all together. Do we ever think that perhaps the reason that many churches are not reaching people is that we don’t really act like Jesus? Can’t we be different? Dan Kimball’s book They Like Jesus But Not The Church

G. K. Chesterton said, "God paints in many colors, but he never paints so gorgeously as when he paints in white."

Anthony Campolo was in Hawaii and having trouble sleeping so he spent time at an all night coffee shop. While there he met some “working girls.” One of them, named Agnes, mentioned that the next night was her birthday. Campolo wanted to throw a birthday party. He bought the stuff, the decorations the cake. When the girl walked in she was dumbfounded. She said that no one had ever thrown her a birthday party.

As the party was coming to an end the owner of the coffee shop asked Campolo what he did for a living. He told him that he was a preacher. The owner asked, “What kind of a church do you preach at?’ He said “one that throws parties for prostitutes.” The owner replied “There ain’t no church like that. I’d go to a church like that.”

U2 Song Acrobat:

And I’d join the movement If there was one I could believe in Yeah, I’d break bread and wine If there was a church I could receive in ‘Cause I need it now To take the Cup To fill it up / To drink it slow

Let us be that movement, let us be the ones who invite others in to hear what Matthew has to say to them. Let us be the ones who tell those who are broken, those who are hurting, those who need help, there is a place for you, there is a book for you. Jesus would not have been ashamed of you.