Genesis 38:1-30: When Life Can't Get Any Messier

Introduction

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/20/1057698279/cash-spill-san-diego--california-freeway - A bad day at work. How do you recover? What a mess!

We’ve all made some choices that we feel like we can’t recover from. We’ve made a mess. We might not be able to clean up our mess, but God can.

If you find yourself in a mess this morning, this message is for you.

Maybe you’re not looking forward to Christmas this year because of the mess your life is in. The Christmas story is how God redeems us from our mess.

Gen. 38 - You probably don’t remember the last time you heard a message on Gen. 38. Quite probable you’ve never heard a message on this passage. Preachers don’t want to touch this passage because it is one of most sordid stories in the Bible. It is definitely a PG-13 story, and the content is stuff we don’t want to talk about in church.

Story is a reminder of brokenness. It’s a reminder that we have a tendency to make a mess out of life. Our own sinful choices have caused a lot of pain in our own lives and in the lives of others.

However, there’s a message for us in this passage… Especially for those of us who look at our lives and think that there’s nothing we can do to clean up the mess we’ve made out of life.

Two truths that will help you if you find your life in a mess.

Story:

At first glance, this story seems out of place, but it’s not. Gen. 37-50 is not just the story of Joseph, it’s the story of Jacob’s son, and Judah is the fourth born son of Leah. Judah will become prominent in the story of Jacob’s sons.

Opposites: Joseph is an example of integrity and faithfulness. Judah, at least in Gen. 38, is an example of faithlessness and utter sinfulness.

Judah leaves his family and marries a Canaanite woman. Abe made Eliezer swear that he would not find Isaac a wife from the Canaanites (Gen. 24:3). Isaac told Jacob not to take a wife from the Canaanites. (Gen. 28:1). Esau did this, and it brought much pain to Isaac and Rebekah. Judah follows in the footsteps of Esau. This is not going to go well.

Three sons by Shua, his Canaanite wife. His firstborn, Er, took a Canaanite wife, Tamar. Er was evil (vs. 7), so God put him to death! Tamar left a widow.

Custom of the day - if your husband died without giving you children, it was the job of the deceased husband’s brother to produce offspring to so that the dead husband would have an heir. Later known as levirate marriage.

Judah tells Onan to perform his duty as Er’s brother, but he doesn’t want to. He wants to sleep with Tamar, but he doesn’t want to father her children. (vs. 9-10) He did what was evil in God’s sight, so God put him to death.

One more brother, Shelah - Judah tells Tamar to wait until Shelah grows up. But, he never keeps his word to Tamar. Tamar had been mistreated by Onan, and now she’s mistreated by Judah.

Tamar wants a son - an heir for her deceased husband. She takes matters into her own hands. Judah’s wife dead. After Judah mourned her loss, he traveled to have his sheep sheared.

This was Tamar’s opportunity, and she does the unthinkable. She covered her face and she disguised herself as a prostitute. She knew Judah was an immoral man who would easily give in to his temptations.

Tamar stationed herself in place where she knew Judah would pass by. When Judah sees her, he falls for the trap. In exchange for her services, Judah promised to send her a young goat. But, Tamar wanted something from Judah as collateral to know that Judah would keep his word about the goat.

Judah leaves his ring, his cord, and his staff. After the deal is made, Judah slept with Tamar, and she became pregnant.

Judah’s father, Jacob, was a deceiver. Judah deceived his father into thinking that Joseph was dead. Now, this deceiver was deceived by his daughter-in-law.

Later, Judah sent his servant to deliver the goat and to get his stuff back. But, his servant couldn’t find her. There was no trace of a prostitute in the place where Tamar had been.

She got away with Judah’s valuable possessions that would identify him as an immoral man. Several months later, Judah finds out that Tamar had been acting like a prostitute and had gotten pregnant, but he didn’t make the connection that she was the prostitute that HE had slept with.

Judah orders that Tamar be burned to death for the sin HE had committed with her. She sends a message: “I am pregnant by the man who owns these items.”

In that moment - Judah recognized his guilt. vs. 26 - “She is more right than I.” Tamar wasn’t right. What she did was sinful and shameful, but Judah was the one who put her in a situation where she felt like she had to deceive. He never slept with her again.

Tamar gave birth to twins. Perez, who beat his brother out of the womb much like Jacob beat Esau out of the womb, and Zerah. Tamar got what she wanted: sons.

This is a tragic story of two people acting sinfully to get what they want, but in this tragic story God was at work accomplishing His purpose and bringing about change in both Judah and Tamar’s life. Two truths:

Your darkest sin is where the light of the grace of God often shines the brightest.

This is the darkest moment of Judah’s life, but his life wouldn’t be defined by darkness after this event. In this dark moment of Judah’s life he was confronted with his sin. Judah he needed to see what a wretch he was.

The grace of God at work in Judah’s life - vs. 26 - Judah sees himself for who he is.

If you’ve made a mess of your life through your sinful choices, in God’s grace today, He is bringing you face to face with your sin. In God’s grace, He is exposing your sin. It’s painful, but you need to see it.

The light of God’s grace exposes:

What you’ve ignored - The God who loves you, intimacy with Him, growing in a vibrant relationship with Him. You’ve ignored what’s best

What you’ve done - Specific sin - you’ve lied, you’ve mistreated, you’ve walked away from people who love you to pursue your own desires.

Who you’ve hurt - A spouse, a child, a coworker - your sin never just affects you - it affects all of your relationships. No such thing as private sin. (So what? I’m only hurting myself. That’s a lie.)

Today: take responsibility! Like Judah, say “I did it!” Problem for so many - we don’t want to take responsibility so we never experience progress in our walk with the Lord.

The light of God’s grace reveals:

Who God is - Holy God who doesn’t take our sin lightly (death of 2 of Judah’s sons), but a forgiving God who will accomplish His plan. God is not done with Judah, and if you are breathing, God is not done with you.

Who God desires you to be - TRANSFORMATION in Judah’s life. Later in the story, Judah no longer running from family, but trying to restore his family. He pledge’s his life as a sacrifice in order to restore Jacob to Joseph. AND… the promised seed will come through the lineage of Judah - NOT JOSEPH - but this man who had done so much evil. Talk about grace!

For you, God desires to do a work of transformation as well. He desires so much more for you than a life stuck in rebellion.

In grace, God is exposing and revealing this morning. If your life is a mess, don’t think for a moment that God is done with you or has given up on you.

Two choices: Ignore His grace or embrace His grace.

Not ignoring the SEC championship game - too important - what’s more important than the voice of God?

Your deepest pain is where the mercy of God prevails.

Tamar - mistreated - by Onan and by Judah. She wanted justice. She wanted Judah and his sons to do right by her, but they didn’t. They mistreated and abused her, so she took matters in her own hands.

Some of you can relate to Tamar. You’ve been mistreated, and maybe you’ve been mistreated severely by someone you trusted - it’s painful.

In your pain, you’ve reacted sinfully. Tamar sinned in response to the pain and mistreatment caused by Judah and his sons. It wasn’t right. How many of us have reacted sinfully when we’ve been hurt? Gossip? Revenge? Said hurtful things?

Tamar is a pagan woman who doesn’t know that God wants to care for her. You know better.

A better way:

Don’t take matters into your own hands. You have a God who wants you to put your life in His hands. (Proverbs 3:7-8) Don’t be wise in your own eyes - Don’t do what you think is best. Do what you know God says is best.

Don’t repay evil for evil. (1 Peter 3:8-9) - What does it accomplish when you try to hurt the person/people who hurt you? Just leaves a bigger mess and more hurt all the way around. But, what might you accomplish for the sake of the Gospel when you bless instead of curse?

Do seek the Lord with expectation. It’s what no one does in this passage. Remember, your God is the God of all comforts. Your God is the God who is for the oppressed and brokenhearted. Your God is the God who heals. Your God is the God who is for you.

God works in the lives of Judah and Tamar in spite of their sinfulness. Aren’t you glad that God works in your life in spite of the mess you make of your life?

Mercy for Tamar - God doesn’t punish her. Instead, God uses her. There’s mercy and grace. Two sons: Perez = breakthrough - That’s what Tamar gets - a breakthrough.

Matthew 1:3 - Tamar and her two sons in the lineage of Jesus. Talk about grace! Tamar is blessed by God. She was mistreated by men, but the God of all creation didn’t mistreat her. He lifted her up and restored her name. Matthew 1 doesn’t refer to her as a mistreated, Canaanite prostitute. Instead, Matthew simply refers to her as a descendant of the Messiah - the promised one comes through the lineage of a gentile woman.

Whatever mess your life is in this morning, there is restoration for you. God has a new name for you - not victim or victimizer - but son or daughter. Not messed up sinner but beloved. Jesus came from a lineage of broken, messed up people to restore us by going to a cross to die the death we deserve and then to rise from the dead three days later to give us life. Today, turn to Him in faith.