Greg Laurie - A Twisted Family Tree

Watch
Audio
Donate
Become Partner

TOPICS: Christmas

Quick poll, how many of you have finished your Christmas shopping? Raise your hand, you're all done, you're done, you're done. How many of you have not started your Christmas shopping? Why is it always men? Oh, there's a lady there. Okay, surprising. Yeah, okay, well, it's getting close. How many of you are gonna travel for Christmas? You're gonna go somewhere? May God have mercy on you. No, not really, but it's challenging, traveling right now. How many of you will be home for Christmas? Raise your hand up. That's the majority of you. Well, if you're gonna be home, you might be having family over. How many of you are getting together with family for Christmas? Okay, do you have weird families too? Guess what? Everybody comes from a weird family and probably is a part of a weird family.

You say, "Well, I come from a dysfunctional family". Yeah, well, we all do, okay? I came from one and I'm the head of one now, so welcome to the club. That's the way it is. And you might be surprised to know that Jesus Christ had a pretty messed up family tree. There were some rogues in the gallery, if you will. Some prostitutes, a liar or two, a cheat, an adulterer, and even a murderer. Yeah, you heard me right. The family tree of Jesus was decorated with notable sinners. And so he knows about relatives that might embarrass you, right? You're not the only one there.

And so here we look at this amazing genealogy here in Matthew chapter 1 that traces the roots of Jesus Christ and I'll tell you why this is important in a moment so go to Matthew 1 and I'm starting in verse 1, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David," underline that, the Son of David, "the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar," another important name, Tamar, "Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Elvis, Elvis", I just wanted to see if you're listening. Okay, there's no Elvis. I inserted that. "Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab," I'd underline that. "Boaz begot Obed by Ruth," another important name, "Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon, who had been the wife of Uriah".

Interesting, she's identified as the wife of Uriah. We'll come back to that. That would be Bathsheba. "And Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, Abijah begot Asa". Now drop down to verse 15, "Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called the Christ". This is important. There are some pretty surprising names in the family tree of the Messiah. Jewish genealogies did not generally include women. For instance, in Luke's genealogy of Jesus there are no females, but Matthew includes five. Who are they? Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and of course, Mary. Some of these women were known for their immorality, specifically Tamar and Rahab. And yet, they made it into the most exclusive genealogy in all of human history, reminding us of this simple fact, Jesus's story is not about helping perfect people, but saving lost people. He too had a pretty messed-up family tree.

And then this genealogy which is a key part of the Christmas story, we have God in his mercy doing for sinners what they can't do for themselves, reminding us that Jesus came to heal broken lives and restore shattered hopes. That's why he came. To save his people from their sins. He didn't come for perfect people, he came for flawed people. He came for sinful people, he came for people just like you and just like me. Remember the message, "You will call his name Emmanuel for he will save his people from their sins".

So let's look at the first character and, really, the most notable, David. Matthew 1:1, he's the Son of David. Now, David is best known by two other names, David and Goliath, and David and Bathsheba. Now, Goliath was his greatest victory, there in the battlefield, Bathsheba his worst defeat in the bedroom. And then he, after committing adultery with her, tried to cover it up and eventually had her husband, Uriah, who's mentioned in this genealogy, sent to death. So, David suffered for his sin. He had to face the consequences of his behavior seen reflected in his own children. But yet, he becomes the most important part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Where did Mary and Bethlehem go when there was a taxation required? They went where? Where was Jesus born? Three of you knew. C'mon, people. Yes, Bethlehem.

Why Bethlehem? Because both Mary and Joseph were connected through their genealogy to David so they went to the boyhood home of their descendant and that's where the Lord was born. And Christ began his public ministry, he was identified as a Son of David. Luke 1:32 says, "He'll be great. He'll be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David". When blind Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was coming, he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me". So why bring this up? Because this man, David, who blew it, who made a mess of his life had it all redeemed and he was entered into this amazing genealogy. And God can redeem you, and God can redeem your name, and as I've said before, God can bring a message out of your mess if you turn it over to him.

So we have David who is redeemed in this story, and Bathsheba as well. It's worth noting she's not even identified by name, but simply as the wife of Uriah, reminding us of the horrible story. Yes, David was wicked in preying upon her, but she also bore responsibility in this act of adultery, but yet she was brought into this amazing genealogy. So I bring this up because I'm talking to somebody who's made a mess of their life. And you say, "It's over for me. There's no future for me. There's no hope for me. I've done this thing and nothing good can ever come out of it," but yet God says in scripture he can bring beauty out of ashes, right? He can bring good despite the bad. So you have to turn that over to the Lord. And then that brings us to Mary, the mother of Jesus, mentioned in verse 16.

In contrast to some of these other women in the story who are known for their promiscuity, Mary was known for her virtue, and surely she was a very godly young woman. And this is not an insignificant thing because Mary lived in Nazareth. Now, we don't understand what Nazareth was known for. Certain cities have certain features they're known for. We call Paris the City of Lights, we call Jerusalem the City of Gold. We call New York the City that Never Sleeps. We call Las Vegas... what do we call it? Wow, you seem to know a lot about that city. If there was a description of Nazareth, it would have been Sin City. Nazareth was this little place that was a stopover from one place when you're on the way to another. So more than one young woman found herself pregnant outside of wedlock because Roman soldiers would come through Nazareth. That is why when Jesus called Nathanael and Christ was identified as Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth," right?

So now you understand the meaning of that statement. It's a city known for its sinfulness, but it was a place that you didn't go to. It's a place you went through. It was sort of the Barstow of the Bible. Does anyone go to Barstow? I think we stop, we get some gas, get something to eat, right? So you pass through. So I bring this up because in this place, a nowhere town, a nowhere place in the middle of nowhere, God handpicked the woman that would be the most privileged woman who ever lived. She was not a princess, she was not a woman of great wealth, but the Lord said, "This is going to be the woman who will bear the Messiah". She's the only person who ever lived or I should say, the only woman who ever lived that both bore Christ in her womb and later in her heart. An unknown girl living in an unknown place that brought about the most known event in human history.

Here's what happened when Gabriel came to her. Look at Luke chapter 1, verse 26, "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed," or engaged, "to a man whose name was Joseph, in the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!' And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was". She's thinking, "I've done nothing to merit this". "Hey, Mary, how's it going? God has chosen you". Do you think Mary sat around in the synagogue and when they read that passage that a virgin will conceive and bring forth the Son, that she thought, "That's me, for sure. I've always known I'm the girl God's gonna pick".

I seriously doubt that. Maybe she did, but I don't think so. If Mary had lived her life out, she would have found a nice Jewish boy, they would have gotten married, they would have raised a family, and we would have never known her name. But God went to this obscure place, effectively in the middle of nowhere, and handpicked this young woman to have this great privilege to bring forth the Messiah. Sometimes it said that Mary was born of immaculate conception. In other words, she did not sin. That's not what the Bible teaches. Mary was a godly girl, she was a virtuous woman, but she was a sinner like the rest of us. In fact, after it was announced to her that she would be the mother of the Messiah, she said in what's sometimes called the Magnificat, or Mary's Psalm, in Luke 1:46, "My soul exalts the Lord, And rejoices in God my Savior".

You see, Mary needed a Savior like everybody else. But I want to talk about one last character in the Christmas story and I think he's the unsung hero, and that would be Joseph. We talk about Mary, we forget all about Joseph. All the songs out there about Mary, I don't know many about Joseph. "Mary, did you know"? There's no "Joseph, did you know"? But think about this. Just as surely as God chose Mary to be the mother of the Messiah, God the Father handpicked this man named Joseph to be the father figure on earth for Jesus. He must have been a special guy. I think God said, "I want a man's man to raise my Son. I want a man that knows how to put his back to a task".

What was Joseph? He was a carpenter. He was a craftsman. He chopped down trees. He framed houses. He built furniture. He was a man that worked hard and he was the man that would be that father figure, if you will, for Jesus as he grew up. Now, we don't know what happened to Joseph because he disappears from the story. Mary was there throughout the ministry of Christ and was even present at the crucifixion, and even at the Day of Pentecost. But Joseph, most likely, died. But he was a heroic man because, think about what it would have been like to be him. So Mary comes in and says, "Honey, I know we're gonna get married soon and I've got some news for you. I'm pregnant". "Oh," you know, and what's he gonna think? "You're pregnant because you're involved with someone and the engagement's off and the marriage is off and..." She goes, "Wait, honey. It's from the Holy Spirit. I'm the fulfillment of the prophecy". "Yeah, right".

That's what he thought. But because he was a good man, he didn't wanna humiliate her. He was gonna just do this quietly and just move on. But what happens? An angel of the Lord comes to him in Matthew 1:20. "While he's thinking about these things," we read, "an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said, 'Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she'll bring forth a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.'" Joseph could have said, "I believe it all, but no thank you, because the guys down at the worksite are never gonna believe this. And I don't wanna deal with that humiliation".

Understand this. Joseph went through life being married to a promiscuous woman, which was the very opposite of the character of Mary. And even Mary herself went through life being thought of as an immoral woman. On one occasion, the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Well, at least we weren't born of fornication," which is another way of saying, "Hey, at least we weren't born out of wedlock like you". If we would have read, "And Jesus killed them all," it would have made sense. But you see, this is the reputation they had to live with. Joseph could have said, "No thank you, I don't wanna do this". But to his credit, he stood by Mary. So, really, the genealogy of Jesus Christ is a picture of grace, showing God extending grace to people and using unknown people. God chooses nobodies to become somebody, to tell the world, to tell everybody, about Jesus. I bring this up because, look, there'll never be another Joseph or Mary. Those positions are taken. And securely tied to your nativity sets, right?

That's a one-off deal. But there'll never be another you. God has a special plan for your life. God is preparing you and whatever you have gone through in life has been preparation for what is still ahead. God is preparing you for your life in this planet and in the life to come, so we either did it or he allowed it. And he can use you in a powerful way as well. You see, it really comes down to the Christmas story not being about God helping perfect people, but saving lost people, doing for sinners what they can't do for themselves. Every one of us can touch our world. We have a world we live in. We have a sphere of influence. We have a family. We have friends. We have neighbors. We have people that we work with or go to school with, people we engage. We can impact our world.

So let's wrap this message up, "A Twisted Family Tree". What did we learn in this message? If you're taking notes, here's number one. We learned that God's grace may be richly displayed. When you look at the stories of these four women and men on the list, you focus on the grace of God, not on their sin. God could have brought up their shortcomings, he could have brought up their sin. But he didn't. He just included them in this genealogy, showing God's kindness and grace extended. Now, think about this. Now Christ has been born in the manger at Bethlehem, who will the message be delivered to? Who will the angels tell first? How about Caesar in his palace in Rome? How about Herod, sitting on his throne in Jerusalem? How about the religious leaders?

No, the angels go and tell shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. Now because this story's so familiar, we don't get what that means. We don't understand how a shepherd was viewed at this time. Shepherds were looked down upon. Shepherds were not favored. A testimony of a shepherd was not even allowed in a court of law, so it would be like telemarketers were calling random people at night, "Oh, that's who God went to first"?

See, the point is God went to these outcasts and gave them the message before anybody else. Who else does this message go to? These wise men, as we call them, from the East who are into the study of astronomy and astrology, so we can describe them as pagan men who are looking to the stars for direction. God meets them on their own level, sends a star to bring them to the child Jesus that is now in a house, going out of his way to reach these people and announce this news. Jesus always went to the down and outer. Jesus always seemed to go to the unexpected person.

Now, he's putting his home team together. "Okay, here's the guys that are gonna change the world. I'm gonna start with fishermen. Yeah, let's get Peter, James, and John on the team. Okay, let's add a tax collector". "Wait, no, Lord, not him. He works for Rome. He's a turncoat. He's a traitor". "No, I want a tax collector. Hey, who's that guy? Simon the Zealot dedicated to the violent overthrow of Rome, let's bring him on the team too. By the way, Simon, you gotta get along with Matthew now". What a curious group of people Jesus put together that followed him. But that's what the genealogy of Christ tells us, God's grace is richly displayed. Number two, we have the genealogy of Christ so the focus would be on Jesus and not on his family. What is the number one excuse that people use as to why they don't want to come to church? "There are too many hypocrites in the church".

So, what are we gonna say? "Well, come to our church because there's no hypocrites". See, the problem is, if you find a hypocrite-free church, don't join it because you'll ruin it. So what I would say if you're a hypocrite, hey, c'mon, join us, there's always room for one more. No, look, I'm not excusing hypocrisy 'cause here's the problem. Sometimes, we do a really bad job of representing Christ. Number three, we have this genealogy that we might have hope for our future and the future of our family. Hope for our future and the future of our family. I doubt most of us have murderers and prostitutes in our family tree, but listen, Jesus can intervene in your story. Let me offer a word of caution. There's an expression you've probably heard, "An ounce of prevention is worth... or better than a ton of cure".

Let me ask you this question. What state is your family in right now? And let me direct my words to men for a moment. What state is your family in and what role are you playing in leading your family to Christ? You could take almost every social ill in America today and break it down, or connect it rather, trace it to the breakdown of the family, and specifically, the absence of fathers. You know, men are under attack today. A man tries to be a man, they're accused of having toxic masculinity. We need more men to stand up and be strong and be bold. But be tenderhearted.

See, being a man doesn't mean you have no emotion. Being a man doesn't mean that you're passive. Being a man doesn't mean that you're just pounding on the table all day long. You wanna know what a man looks like, look at Jesus Christ. He was a man's man. Man up, be a leader, be a godly man. You say, "Well, I failed". Okay, learn from your mistakes, make it right. Do you have a family member you need to apologize to? Do it today. "I'm sorry. I didn't do the best job I could have done. Forgive me. Can we start over again"? Try to be a godly leader and love your wife as Christ loves the church, so women are thinking, "Amen, Greg. We love this sermon". Ladies, you have a role too. Be a woman of God.

You know, sometimes women can't accept the fact that they're getting older and not realizing that you have so much to offer as an older, mature, godly woman. You have so much to say to younger women. They need your wisdom, they need to learn from your experience. They need to see a model of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. You can have such an impact. Don't be a cougar. Someone is saying, "Greg, you've offended everyone in the room today". What's left? You young people. Can't leave you out. You have so many choices, so many options, so many temptations, so many challenges. It's hard. I'll say this. You know, I know we often say, "Back in my day it was much worse".

Now I think you guys have the biggest challenges of any young generation I've ever seen, I really do. But you have the greatest opportunities. And you have the greatest God. You have the Lord who will be with you and give you the strength to make the right decisions, to find that right man or woman, or to live a single life, right before God, not crossing those lines sexually. Being the person God wants you to be. No matter what kind of a mess you've made, as I've said before, God can turn it into a message. He can turn your test into a testimony. He can redeem your story, he can redeem your family, and he can redeem your name. That's the message.