The Hopes & Fears of All the Years
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I pulled in to a gas station recently and my son made the comment that THIS IS GOING TO TAKE FOREVER! It’s hard to wait when you’re a kid.
As a kid, I remember my mom telling my brothers and I to wait in the car while she ran into a store to return an item. And so, we waited, and waited, and waited!
Then we saw an ambulance pull up in front of the store and load someone in the back that looked a lot like my mom!
This was scary but my mom was fine. She has epilepsy and had a seizure while in the store.
This was not the plan. The plan was for her to return her item and come right back.
As adults, things don’t always go according to our plan.
Growing up as a Red Sox fan in the 80’s & 90’s, hope was all we had. Going without World Series title since 1918…there was always NEXT YEAR!
And in government, politicians are always full of promises.
Last week the president issued an executive order designed to make government more efficient, more streamlined, more user friendly.
Many of us hear this and say to ourselves, I’LL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT! Why are we so skeptical? It’s because politicians have made so many promises that have not come to fruition that they almost don’t mean anything to us any more.
And if your hope rests in government, then you wait and hope that the next election cycle will bring real change.
God has made certain promises to His people. But as followers of Jesus it’s easy to look around at our circumstances and wonder to ourselves, WHAT ON EARTH IS GOD DOING?!
Killer tornadoes just weeks before Christmas!
A new NY mask mandate.
A COVID virus that just won’t go away!
A cancer diagnosis!
A sharply polarized and divided society.
WHAT ON EARTH IS GOD DOING?!
We’re in the gospel of Matthew this morning - looking at the genealogy of Jesus.
Matthew is going to answer this question by stepping back and looking at how God has painted on the canvas of over 2,000 years of history.
My hope this morning is for your to know that if you are one of God’s children, He paints on the smaller canvas of your life in similar ways.
So, go ahead and grab your bibles and turn with me to Matthew 1:1-17. Please stand with me if you are able out of respect for the Word of God and follow along with me as I read.
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
PRAY
If your head is spinning after this morning’s passage and you’re wondering what on earth does this have to do with Christmas, It’s understandable — hang in there.
Matthew is cramming 42 generations — almost 2,000 years of history in to 16 verses!
I want to help you see how a first century Jew would have understood this and then to highlight the message of hope that is for all of us!
My 3 points this morning are...
The Hopes
The Fears
The Plan of God
The Hopes
The Hopes
Remember with me back to Genesis 3, when God promised ultimate defeat would come to satan at the heel of the offspring of Eve.
This meant that with each new baby boy born in Eve’s line, there was degree of hope associated with him…could this be the one!?
God made a promise of land and blessing to the nations that would come through Abraham’s offspring.
So, as you look at the genealogy here, with every new name, was the hope of could this be the one!?
Later God made a promise to king David, that someone from his family would sit on the throne of an unending kingdom.
Again, with each new baby, could this be the one?!
So, as you look over this list of names, I want you to see a long history of promise and hope, and waiting.
If you belong to Jesus, you have been given promises on the other side of Christmas that you hope for too.
Jesus promised that he would return to earth and punish wickedness and reward the righteous.
He promised to usher in his forever kingdom in it’s fullness!
He promised that we would be with him forever!
He promised us new glorified bodies that would never know sickness or death!
And with each passing day, season, year, decade, we hope and wonder, could this be the day?!
The Fears
The Fears
Super Bowl 42 was a season of great promise for the New England Patriots. Undefeated and playing in the Super Bowl to cap off a perfect season.
With about a minute to go in the game, the Giants were down 14-10 and facing a 3rd and 5 from their own 44 yard line.
Eli Manning was being swarmed by the Patriots pass rush but somehow managed to escape and hurl the ball down field to David Tyree for a 32 yard completion. With Rodney Harrison all over him, Tyree somehow managed to catch the ball by pinning it to his helmet and maintaining possession even as he fell to the ground with Harrison on top of him!
Just a few plays later Plaxico Burress caught the game winning touchdown to break the hearts of Patriot nation!
Upon closer examination of this genealogy there are many stories of failure.
After Abraham, Jacob was a deceiver who swindled his brother out of his inheritance.
In verse 3 Juda fathers Perez & Zerah by Tamar in a story that’s not fit for going into detail with children in the room. You can read about it on your own in Genesis 38.
After God promises land and blessing through Abraham, they would eventually find themselves living as slaves in Egypt for 400 years!
You’d have to imagine that a couple hundred years into their slavery, some of God’s people had to have been asking themselves, WHAT ON EARTH IS GOD DOING?!
And then after God delivers them from slavery bringing them through the parted Red Sea, you’re thinking this is it! But no! The people rebel and are punished by living in the desert for 40 years!
Then after finally entering the land comes the period of the Judges where Israel repeatedly forgets God and is given into the hands of their enemies.
Finally David takes the thrown after the miserable failure of Israel’s first king Saul. And God promises David that one of his descendents would sit on the thrown of an eternal kingdom!
But after David, the kings go from bad to worse with only a few bright spots.
His son Solomon’s heart would be led astray by his many wives to worship other gods.
Solomon’s son Rehoboam would lose 10 of the 12 tribes when the kingdom divided in civil war.
King Ahaz and Manasseh were so deplorable that they would sacrifice their own sons in worship of false gods!
Eventually things would get so bad that God gave them into the hands of the Babylonians who burned Jerusalem and its temple to the ground and carried God’s people into exile!
I can imagine an Israelite being led into Babylonian captivity with the smoke of a burning Jerusalem rising in the background, asking themself WHAT ON EARTH IS GOD DOING?!
Things were never the same after God’s people returned from exile. And eventually they would go 400 years without a single word from God through a prophet.
This genealogy is littered with stories of failure!
What’s your story? What failures have you experienced? Maybe you have been let down or disappointed by broken promises or hurt from others...
Maybe you had a father or mother who failed you.
Maybe you’ve failed your own kids.
Maybe your a failed spouse or live with one.
Maybe your career has never taken off and it’s been let downs after setbacks...
And you’re asking yourself, WHAT ON EARTH IS GOD DOING?
What God is Doing
What God is Doing
So, we’ve looked at this genealogy now through the lens of hopes and fears.
In this last point we’re going to look at this through one final lens and identify some principles of the God’s Plan to encourage you and give you hope in the midst of whatever circumstances you find yourself in.
First, notice that Matthew groups this genealogy into 3 groups of 14 generations. And he even emphasizes this by mentioning the number 14 3 times in verse 17.
We also know from other places in scripture that there were more than 42 generations in Jesus’ genealogy. So, Matthew has abbreviated this genealogy on purpose to send message. But what is it?
Numbers are fascinating in the bible and they were meaningful to God’s people.
Today when I think of the NBA and the number 33, I think of Larry Bird!
Or 23 and Michael Jordan! Or in the NFL, 12 brings to mind Tom Brady!
Or if you’re into movies, the number 007 means something.
Now to a Hebrew who loved numbers, 14 was significant because it was King David’s number!
In the Hebrew language, there is a numeric equivalent for each letter. And the numeric equivalent for the 3 consonants in David’s name D-V-D, is 4-6-4, which adds up to 14.
So, for Matthew’s original Hebrew audience, they would have likely heard David, David, David, as the background music playing behind this genealogy.
All to add further emphasis that Jesus is the long awaited Davidic King that God has promised!
Secondly, notice that this genealogy unlike the other one found in Luke’s gospel starts with Abraham and moves forward to Jesus not backwards.
I think this is significant to show us that all along,
Through the ups and the downs,
The victories and the failures,
The hopes and the fears,
That God’s plan was moving forward!
The message of this genealogy is that from beginning to end God knew exactly what he was doing!
Through centuries of slavery,
Through the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile
Through centuries of silence.
Through it all, God was directing history towards this moment!
Jesus is fulfillment of all of God’s promises!
The Apostle Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 1:20
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
Conclusion
So, at the very beginning of Matthew’s gospel, he highlights on the canvas of history a painting of God’s sovereignty.
God is faithful! And he’s no less faithful when he paints on the smaller canvases of our lives!
Sometimes in life we find ourselves confused by our circumstances BUT God never is!
Sometimes we feel lost in life BUT God always knows where he is going!
Sometimes we doubt God’s plan BUT God always knows what he’s doing!
Sometimes God may seem slow BUT he’s always moving at just the right speed and is never late and always on time!
So, take comfort in knowing that God is working all things for the good of those who love him...
And he is doing this in his perfect timing and unhindered by any circumstance!
Paul says it this way in his letter to the Galatians...
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
So, God sent Jesus at just the right time to redeem us from sin by dying on the cross in our place and rising again 3 days later! And he did this to adopt us into his family! And God will save completely all of his children!
The question for you today is are you one of his children?
To be one of his children you must be born again.
And all who are born again turn from their sin and come to Jesus, putting their faith in him alone to redeem them and adopt them.
Only when you are one of his children are all of God’s promises YES for you in Jesus! There’s no greater gift you can receive this Christmas season!
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Come to Jesus today to be redeemed, adopted, and given eternal life!
PRAY
BENEDICTION
Jude 24-25
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”