Sermon Tone Analysis

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 1

Introduction

Matthew 1 starts off with a genealogy.

Now, genealogies tend not to be very popular preaching passages because, after all, long lists of “so-and-so begat so-and-so” can get a bit dry after a while.

But, if you slow down and ask yourself the right questions, these genealogies can reveal some crucial information.

For example, Scripture tells us in 2 Tim 3:16 that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” that means that even genealogies are “profitable for teaching...”

So the question, then is, what profit did the Holy Spirit intend for us gain when he designated Matthew 1 to be included in Scripture?

I think the answer comes when we realize that genealogies in Scripture are not just lists of names but are actually summaries to help us recall stories and important events.

They’re the Bible’s way of saying, “In the last episode, recall that...”

Now, imagine for a moment that you walk in during the middle of a movie.

You’re not sure what the movie is about—all you know is the title.

“Star Wars” An odd name for a movie—”What’s it about, I wonder?

Stars declaring war on each other?”

As you walk in, these funny looking fighter jets are shooting laser beams and there are references made to a “Death Star.”

Then, this large moon looking thing explodes and everyone screams for joy!

But you’re sitting there wondering, why is everyone so happy?

See, the climax isn’t so climactic if you don’t have the back-story.

That’s one of the reasons, I think, that many people just don’t get the excitement over Christmas.

They don’t have the back-story!

To fully appreciate the moment when the Death Star explodes, you really need to have seen the previous two movies.

You need to see the evil that Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine are inflicting upon the universe.

You need to watch the Death Star destroy entire planets.

When you do, it all makes sense, and you can enjoy the rush of joy in watching the Death Star and the evil Empire be blasted into oblivion.

That’s kind of what the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 does for us.

At first glimpse, it’s just a genealogy.

A list of names and who-begat-who.

But, it’s there for a reason.

It’s the synopsis of everything that preceded this moment.

Without it, we can’t really understand what John meant when he said:

and:

Or Paul’s words when he said:

So, I have a very simple goal for you this morning.

I want to open the Christmas story to you anew, so that you can experience the climax of God’s story of redemption, as God himself takes on human form as a baby.

I want you to see the joy, the awe, the glory of Christmas.

So, open your Bibles with me to the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 1.

Prayer for Illumination

The Genealogy reminds us our fallenness and need for a Savior.

At first glance, this genealogy looks like a “who’s who” of spiritual heroes.

Abraham and the Patriarchs

King David, whom Scripture describes as a man after God’s own heart

King Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived

Good King Josiah, who started a spiritual awakening and revival in Israel

But upon closer examination, we realize that it also contains many people of less-than-stellar character.

v. 3—“and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar” reminds us of the sordid story during which Judah fathers a child by his daughter in law (whom he mistakes for a prostitute)

v. 5—Rahab was formerly a prostitute

vv.

9-10 Ahaz and Manasseh were particularly evil kings.

Manasseh even participated in pagan child sacrifice rituals.

Worse still, even the heroes in this list are complex characters with some major character flaws and sordid scandals.

v. 2—Abraham and the Patriarchs practiced polygamy, in blatant contradiction to God’s design for marriage, and had too many other character flaws to mention.

v. 6 reminds us that King David, whom Scripture describes as a man after God’s own heart, committed adultery with the wife of one of his closest military commanders and then basically had the man murdered to cover up the affair and steal his wife.

(Also a polygamist.)

King Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived, had over 700 wives and concubines, and taxed the kingdom so heavily that a civil war erupted under his son’s rule (Rehoboam).

Good King Josiah, who started a spiritual awakening and revival in Israel, reminds us that Israel actually lost the Law for a long period of time.

He also died in battle because he didn’t listen to God.

This list of “heroes” seems to be designed to remind us that there is no human being capable of saving humanity or meeting our deepest need.

This list of people reminds us that even the best of God’s people are broken sinners who need a savior.

The people in this list seem to be increasingly immoral, depicting a downward spiral of immorality which goes from bad to worse.

This past week, I got to visit my seminary and reflect on the legacy that godly men left before me that made it possible for me to attend such a wonderful God-honoring institution.

Yet, at the same time, there’s a tension in my mind as I reflect on the painful fact that the four founders of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary were slave holders.

On the one hand, these men founded a wonderful institution that has been a force for good in the world for the past 150 years.

They authored powerful works of theology that are still used in seminaries today and proclaim the truth of Scripture boldly.

Yet, they were not without sin.

They had a glaring blind spot in the area of slavery, seeing no contradiction between enslaving men and the freedom that comes through Christ to men.

It’s truly baffling.

But you and I are no better.

Every Christian who has ever lived is a puzzling contradiction.

We profess to follow a God who knows all and has our good at heart, yet we question him when trouble strikes.

We profess that God is all we need and yet we covet more than what he gives us.

The sins of believers (and unbelievers) don’t cancel out the gift God gave us at Christmas; in fact, they remind us why that gift was necessary in the first place.

The genealogy reminds us that God has a plan for our redemption.

When humanity rebelled against God, God himself took the initiative to restore our broken relationship through covenants with his chosen people.

When someone wrongs you or offends you, whose responsibility is it to restore the relationship?

The offenders, of course.

Not only did God take the initiative in offering us a way to be forgiven, he paid the price to purchase that forgiveness himself and offers it as a free gift to any who would accept it.

The Old Testament focuses on Israel as God’s chosen people.

But all the way back in Genesis, God made it clear that his plan of redemption would be one day offered to all people, not just the Jews.

Genesis 17:4 (ESV)

4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

But as of the close of the Old Testament, this promise had not yet been fulfilled.

But Jesus’s ushered in a New Covenant, one that would be extended to include even Gentiles.

Throughout the stories alluded to in this genealogy, it becomes clear that only God himself can accomplish the salvation of his people.

Abraham didn’t receive the covenant and blessings by earning it, but simply by believing in God’s promise.

The strange covenant in Genesis 15:7-21 foreshadows a day when God himself would pay the price for our redemption.

God is establishing a covenant with Abraham in this passage.

God tells Abraham to gather up some animals, kill them, cut them in half and arrange the bloody dismembered animal pieces in two lines.

Then, a smoking pot and flaming torch pass between the pieces of the animals.

This bizarre display was actually based upon a familiar practice in Ancient near Eastern culture.

When two parties made a covenant, they would cut up some animals and then both parties would walk through between the pieces, symbolically saying “May what happened to these animals happen to me if I break this covenant.”

But, in Genesis 15, it’s only God who walks between the pieces, signaling that God is taking full responsibility for both sides of the covenant, and that he will pay the price if his people should break the covenant.

God reiterates this promise in Gen. 22 when he asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son.

God had promised to make a great nation out of Abraham, but at 90 years old, he still was childless.

Miraculously, God gives him a son, Isaac, when he was 99.

But some time later, God tested Abraham, saying: Gen 22:2 “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Now Abraham had to be a bit confused.

How could God fulfill his promise to make him into a mighty nation if he had to kill his only son before he even had grandchildren?

And what kind of God asks such a thing?

But Abraham trusted God and obeyed.

He gathered some firewood and a torch, grabbed a knife, and he and Isaac headed up a mountain to do a sacrifice.

At some point, Isaac realizes that they’re missing an important ingredient in the sacrifice—a lamb.