More Like Him Than You Think

We need to be prepared to tell people about Jesus as we go about our lives…

Who is Jesus? Where did He come from? What did do? What did say? What was His character? What was His nature? And can we truly be like Him?

Can we really obtain the God given dreams, goals, and aspirations that we have? The answer is yes!!! Quit making excuses and start living the abundant life Christ came to give. You.

Excuses:

1) I was not born in the right…

i) Family, Economic Position, Political position, Race, Gender, … etc.

ii) Christ came to destroy all of those excuses, to destroy the works of the enemy that make you feel inadequate…

(a) Ill: sagu: u know me don’t you?

(i) When we get our minds on straight, we make up our minds and get focused on Him, we will be more than conquerors.

a. We don’t have any excuses…

i. As a child of God you now possess a divine birthright but even so…

ii. Even Jesus had some flaws or skeletons in his family tree…

TS. Lets take a look at the Humanity side of Jesus for a moment. Let’s look at his lineage.

2) Matthew and Luke wrote for different purposes; therefore, they present different family lineages for Jesus.

a) 4 different Gospels with 4 different Perspectives for 4 different purposes written to 4 different audiences.

(1) We need to be diligent about studying the things of God so we can speak the right word at the appropriate time.

(i) Gospels target and how Jesus is portrayed.

a. Matthew – Jews-Messiah

b. Mark-Romans (Unfamiliar with Jewish customs)-Servant

c. Luke-Gentiles-Savior of All

d. John – Infant Church – Jesus as the Son of God.

b) Matthew traces the bloodline of Joseph, Jesus’ legal father, while Luke traces the bloodline of Mary.

(1) Remember, Matthew’s purpose was to present Jesus as the Messiah and King of the Jews…

(a) So he started with Abraham, the father of the Jews, and then followed the official line of descent through King David to Jesus.

c) Luke’s writing to Gentiles emphasized that Jesus was fully human.

i) So Luke started with Jesus, tracing His bloodline through Mary, Jesus’ biological mother, back to King David, through Abraham (Luke 3:23-38), and finally to Adam.

(1) Tracing Christ’s lineage to Adam was important because he is the father of all people, not just the Jews.

(i) Luke demonstrates that Jesus came for all people, including the Gentiles.

d) Matthew and Luke show that Jesus had a double claim to the throne of David:

(1) a legal claim through Joseph and

(2) a natural or biological one through Mary.

(3) Christ is rightly called the Son of David.

e) Look more closely at Jesus’ imperfect lineage

(1) Matthew included four women—

(a) Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba

(i) It was extremely unusual to see any women listed in a Jewish genealogy…

1. But even from the beginning, in Christ, men and women are equal heirs of God’s grace.

(ii) Three of the women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew were Gentiles (foreigners).

a. The fourth, Bathsheba, was closely associated with Gentiles through her prior marriage to Uriah the Hittite.

(2) Being a Gentile was a sizable barrier to fellowship with God and His people.

(a) Tamar and Rahab were Canaanites,

(i) a people group that committed extreme evils, especially concerning religious practices and rites.

1. God punished the Canaanites for their evil when He allowed the Israelites returning from Egyptian slavery to conquer them and take their land.

(b) Ruth was from Moab,

(i) a nation that had refused to assist Israel on their journey through the wilderness and…

1. hired the sorcerer Balaam to curse Israel.

(ii) In punishment for this, God had declared that Moabites were to be excluded from the Lord’s assembly even down to the tenth generation.

1. Yet, God chose David, whose grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabite, to rule over His people.

(3) Matthew includes this Gentile woman, whose people were once God’s enemies, in the lineage of Christ.

(i) Jesus Christ came to demolish the barriers that inhibited Gentiles from being a part of the family of God.

(b) He took away all excuses

(i) What is your excuse? Neighbor got your lawnmower?

3) In life, people often exclude others for reasons such as ethnicity, education, or economic status.

a) Jesus is the door through that barrier.

i) Welcome is the great banner of the New Testament: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

ii) Three of the four women in Jesus’ genealogy are remembered for their sins.

(a) Tamar became an ancestor of Jesus through an act of prostitution with her own father-in-law, Judah (Genesis 38).