SERMON NOTES: AN X-RATED SERMON
The Setup (Gen 38: 1 – 11)
- Why do we have genealogies in the Bible?
- Judah & his three sons: Er, Onan, Shelah
- What was Onan’s sin?
Act I: The Price (Gen 38:12 – 20)
- Price vs. Cost
- Signet ring = your driver’s license
Act II: The Cost (Gen 38:21 – 26)
- This woman is more righteous than I
Act III: The Gift (Gen 38:27 – 30, ___________________)
Title: An X-Rated Sermon
Text: Genesis 38, Matthew 1:3
MP: Sin costs you way more than its apparent price.
FCF: God works completely contrary to the sale mentality – his desire is to pay for your sin.
The Setup (Gen 38: 1 – 11)
- Why does the Bible have those genealogies?
o Dostoevsky “Every happy family …”
o Alcoholism / Abuse – Sins of the Father
- The Family Tree (Er, Onan, Shelah)
- Levirate Marriage (Deut 25:7)
- Getting the sex for free – it’s stealing – how I treat my wife sometimes…
Act I – The Price (Gen 38: 12 – 19)
- 14th Street / Winston Churchill / Price (v16)– How romantic!
- Price vs. Cost: SUV, cigarettes – The price you pay is a fraction of the cost
- Judah thinks a “kid” / ends up handing over his entire wallet
Act II – The Cost (Gen 38: 20 – 26)
- If you can’t trust a woman you met on the side of the road, who can you trust?
- Tamar pregnant / Judah thinks his problem is solved
- This woman is more righteous than I… A woman who played the prostitute, slept with her father-in-law, and ran off with his name…
- Makes me feel dirty – All our righteousness like filthy rags
- Some valuable lessons already: Sin is Rated X because … extortion
Act III – The Gift (Gen 38:27 – 30, Matt 1:1-3)
--------------------------------------
The highest of the high holy days on the American consumer calendar is now upon us. Its advent begins with Black Friday; it will culminate in the Christmas Eve rush to buy the perfect gift for every name on our list. And in this month we will follow the star, as it leads us from sale to sale, in the hope that we will somehow make “the deal” getting what we want for the lowest price possible. [If I break into Tom Lehrer’s Christmas Carol, you can stop me.]
The story I would like to expose you too this morning is definitely not the kind that would be made into a Christmas Movie – it’s even more jaded in some ways than the ultimate Christmas classic, A Christmas Story. Indeed, if it were to me made into a movie, it probably would be rated NC-17 for mature themes, a misnomer if I ever heard one.
This story is one of lies, sex, theft – even death. Its heroine is a prostitute, its villain a complex man literally of Biblical proportions. I’m not going to lie to you – there is a lot of sex in this story that would make a nun blush. But if you leave this morning thinking I told you a story about sex, I will have truly failed. No, if anything, you’ll be seeing a story of theft and exploitation – that our God, who calls himself the Father of the Fatherless and the protector of the widow and the orphan, would find to be a tear jerker and not a porn movie.
We are going to see that Sin is Rated X, not because of things like sex, but because Sin is an Extortionist. It is the opposite of the Christmas Sale – it fools you with the low price, but it costs you more than you will imagine. It exposes hidden motives that are ugly and revealing. It demands an exchange that makes buying a sub-prime mortgage look good. Of course sin is going to be rated X. But bear with me and you will see even this story has a suitable, Christmas happy ending.
Now, turn with me please to Genesis 38. I’m going to break it down for you into three acts –The Price, and the Cost, and the gift. I’m going to encourage you to be reading the text for yourself as I lead you through it. The story is a little long to read end to end. Price and cost are different things as we’re going to learn in a bit, but we need to start at the beginning. But, before we get into the lesson, we need to start with the setup.
The Setup
Now Genesis 38:1 – 11 is the setup – the Teaser before the commercial break, if you will. It starts with one of those stereotypical genealogies that gives the Bible a bad name as a boring book, right? So, why does the bible do that?
Well, every sin has a set of circumstances behind it. To understand any sin, you have to understand the history behind it. Dostoevsky wrote, “Happy families are all happy alike, but miserable families are each miserable in their own unique way.” (Anna Karenina) Well, that’s true of sin. Truth be told, my chief aim in living a moral life is pretty simple – I like to avoid as many forms of misery as I can. I want to be as normal as possible, and yet in a world gone mad that can seem pretty odd indeed.
God understands that your sin isn’t borne out of some evil plan to take over the world. Your sin is painfully boring, because it is just like every other sin in the world – a reasonable reaction to living in a world where God is not always the first thought. It’s destructive to be sure; life would be so much easier if we always followed him; but sin is understandable to be sure.
We all know that some people are more prone to certain sin than others. If your mother was an alcoholic, you are lot more likely to do the same, if you start. If your dad abused you, you are more likely to do the same. I think you could summarize the entire book of Genesis by just accepting, as the Bible says, that God punishes the wicked to the third and fourth generation, but his mercies endure to the thousandth generation. Genesis follows one family – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and you see it plain.
Here we’ll follow Jacob’s boy Judah. Judah wasn’t the firstborn – he was fourth. He wasn’t even from his favorite wife Rachel – he was from the consolation wife, Leah. He was just Judah. Well, it says that Judah grew up, got married, and got a wife. He had three boys: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three boys are the action in the story. And, lest you think this is going to turn into ‘My Three Sons,’ let me warn you, this ain’t it. If you look at 38:7, you’ll see that Er seemed to have somehow got onto God’s hit list. We don’t know what he did, and frankly it doesn’t matter. He displeased the Lord, and pretty soon he was dead.
Now, in the next verse, you’re going to meet son #2 – Onan. God’s law in Section 5 / Subsection 25 Paragraph 7 Slash A (yes Deut 25:7 ) states that in those days, if your older brother died without kids, you’re supposed to make sure she gets some kids after all. Back before social security and the stock market, kids weren’t just an inheritance from the Lord, they were a retirement plan too, if you catch my meaning. So, God’s looking out for the widow here – he says, give her some kids.
So, Onan has the unenviable duty of being told he must have sex with his ex-brother’s wife, Tamar. Now, just by her name ‘Palm Tree,’ we get the idea that Tamar had to be pretty good looking. Onan seems to have taken on the sex part. But there’s a catch. You see, Onan understood that if Tamar actually got the kids, (a) he was done and (b) the kids wouldn’t be his. So, he makes a very adult calculation and decides to get what he wants without giving her what she deserves. He wants sex, she wants kids. He figures that if he literally pulls out at the right time, he gets what he wants without paying a cent.
And, if you wonder, the motives are clearly there in v9. It says: 9 But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother.
Onan’s sin here isn’t sex – it’s stealing. It’s really pretty boring. It’s like going to restaurant, eating the meal, and then running off before you pay the check. It works, until you get caught – or until you try to do it again.
I wonder sometimes about how I treat my wife. She does yeoman’s work in keeping my house in order, watching out for our kids, seeing to their health, their needs, their wants – and how do I treat her? I complain when I want more. It’s amazing our capacity to try to take what we want without giving back what we need. I’ve stopped asking God to give me what I deserve. I know better! In this case, God, who looks out for the victims, realizes the only way to protect Tamar is to stop Onan. I doubt it gave him any pleasure to kill, but it was his pleasure to protect Tamar. So, zap, and now we’re down to kid #3.
Now, at this point, if you’re Er and Onan’s dad – like Judah was – you’re probably beginning to wonder about this daughter-in-law of yours, aren’t you? Well, to be sure, when Judah decides that he needs to hold onto his last boy, you can at least understand. I’d argue that most sin is understandable, even if it isn’t right. That’s why circumstances are what they are – they are the backdrop, but they aren’t the story. Every sin is unique to circumstances, but dreadfully boring in the same way it robs us all of any real pleasure.
The Price (Act I – Gen 38:12 – 19)
As we move into the main act, read verses 12 – 19. In the text and you’ll see that Tamar has decided she is done waiting on Judah. You can’t blame her either. Every day that passes is another day deeper in debt. She is being robbed, and it’s her own father-in-law who keeps her there.
So, she is going to take matters into her own hands. Sheep-shearing time is coming, and Tamar has a good idea what daddy dearest does at a convention. She decides to dress up like a prostitute and get what she thinks she deserves. If she can’t get her support legitimately, she’ll get it however she can.
If you walk down on 14th Street in DC, you can probably hear conversations as romantic as the one in 38:16. Judah sees this woman and says, “How much?” Again, from a purely economic point of view, it’s sensible. But sin isn’t sensible precisely because it isn’t economic. The price doesn’t reflect the true cost.
The story is told of Winston Churchill who asked a woman if she would sleep with him for a million dollars. The woman responded that perhaps she might. So, he asked her, “What about for $10?” Insulted, she replied, “What do you think I am? Some kind of cheap whore?” Churchill responded, well, we have already established the profession, we are now merely discovering the price!”
See what it’s costing Tamar just to get what she’s rightfully owed? Here a perfectly respectable woman is being forced into prostitution because of a man who won’t live up to his obligation. All kinds of sin make us all pay.
Now, if you’re still having trouble distinguishing between price and cost, think about an SUV. You know that the price you pay at the dealer is only a portion of the total costs you’ll pay. Be it gas, repairs, or “carbon footprint,” the price and the cost aren’t the same think. You could also think about cigarettes or other drugs. The price you pay at the store is only a fraction of the total costs. The same is always true of sin. The price and the cost are different.
Judah sees this woman and wants sex. He asks the price – She answers, “A kid.” The goat kind, not the social security kind, but really she’s just continuing the transaction that she’s rightfully owed – the same transaction that Judah is now clearly welching on.
So, they’re going to do this deal, right? Judah says, price sounds good – hey, here’s my credit card. When, in 38:18, she asks for a pledge – she’s basically saying, give me some collateral. And, what he hands over is his cord, staff, and signet. In other words, he basically handed her his driver’s license and credit card – the things that represented his identity.
And then, as you see if you keep reading, she’s basically going to run off with his identity. Sin keeps being like that. You think you’re getting a good deal – but all the sudden, the costs go up. All the sudden, we’ve moved from talking about a goat to talking about your whole identity. But again, isn’t that what sin does? It’s extortion, really: Charging a higher price than you were ever led to believe.
The Cost
Now, Judah is not trying to be evil. We rarely are. He thinks of himself as an honest man; he pays his own debts; he tries to keep his own accounts clear. So, in Act II, he sends his friend to pay to the bill. In verses 20 – 26, you’ll see that Judah’s friend asks around how to find this woman.
Lo and behold, we find the mystery woman gone, along with his credit card, his driver’s license, and his birth certificate. People think they can anything get what they want for a price, but they are blind to the true costs. Sin is always going to promise you the moon, but someone has to pay for it. I can almost imagine Judah’s reaction when he hears the news: Gee, if you can’t trust a prostitute you picked up on the side of the road, who can you trust?
So, time passes, and one day they discover – Tamar is pregnant. Now, Judah is probably relieved. You see, if Tamar is pregnant, she’s been sleeping around. And, if she’s been sleeping around when technically she’s supposed to be held in reserve for his youngest son, well – she’s an adulterer. She can be put to death, he can look all righteous, and his problem is solved, right? Wrong.
So, the big day arrives, and Tamar is pulled out in front of everybody. Who did you sleep with? They all demand. Oh, the guy who’s cord and signet are these. “Care to take a look?” asks Tamar.
And now the moment of truth. Words you never thought you’d hear Archie Bunker say. “This woman is more righteous than I am,” he says. Imagine how hard that must have been for Abraham’s great-grandson to say. Imagine that for next 4000 years of history, the one time you actually meet Judah himself, this is what he says: – a woman who played a prostitute, slept with her father-in-law, and ran off with his very name is more righteous than he is. Talk about a bitter pill to swallow.
I guess if I take any consolation in this story, it’s that I can at least pretend that I’m better off than he is. I mean, I feel dirty just thinking about him. And yet the truth is we’ve all sinned like Judah did. Every sin we commit should make us feel this dirty. Even our righteousness is said to be filthy rags in God’s sight. Sometimes it’s easier to see our own truth in a story like this because there is no explaining it away. Sin costs us all.
Now, if we ended the story right here, we would have learned some valuable lessons. We would have seen that sin may look reasonable, but in the end, it’s always a bad deal. No matter the circumstance, the real cost is rarely worth the price. Indeed, Sin itself gets rated X because it’s nothing more than extortion: an exchange that isn’t worth it.
The Gift (Genesis 38:27 – 30, Matt 1:1 – 3)
But guess what – the story doesn’t end here. I hope that at least once in this entire story you asked yourself – haven’t I heard that name, Judah, before? Oh, you have. You’ve heard of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah many times.
You’ll see the rest of this chapter says that Tamar has twins – Perez and Zerah. In and of itself, nothing spectacular – but turn with me to Matthew 1:1-3, if you will, and follow along with me as I read:
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.
The first woman in Jesus’ family tree to be named, and who is it, but Tamar? There are only five women named in all the generations of Jesus. They all have stories like this, and over this Advent season, we are going to take a look at them.
Now, you got to ask yourself this question. If Jesus is God himself, don’t you think he’d have some control over who would be in his family tree? Yes, you and I have no control over the families we are born into, but we’re not God. And yet, God himself was pleased to this skeleton in his very own closet. Why? You’d think he’d put some quality control on his own grandparents, don’t you think?
Well, if I were to operate logically, that’s how I’d do it. But that’s why I’m not God. You see, God himself was never about paying the price he should have paid, it was all about bearing the costs that needed to be paid. This little baby whose birth we celebrate was all about paying for our circumstances all along.
It pleased him to dwell with people such as these. It pleased him to dwell with people like you and me. It doesn’t please him to see his children act in this way at all – but he loves us in spite of it. It pleases him to care for all of his creation, and love it like a tender father, a loving mother.
He is the father to the fatherless, the protector of the widow and the orphan. It pleases him to reach out to all who are helpless. All who are in over their heads. All whose circumstances are beyond their control. In other words, to all of us.
I could try to complicate things and ‘explain’ my sin, but I’d rather just admit that it doesn’t make him happy. This morning, I don’t really want to suggest that I’m any smarter than a fifth grader, because after all, if we all have to enter the Kingdom as a little child.
It would give him joy to see us never behave badly towards each other, to rob and steal, to take and to strive, but he knows us and is willing to pay those costs for us anyway. Why anyone would want to add to that bill is beyond me. If you love him, sin would repulse you too. That’s what pleases him – a desire to be children he’d be proud of.
He knows your sin, and he understands its cost far better than even you do. He doesn’t trivialize it, he pays it all. That’s the simple gift that we celebrate here. Yes, sometimes we need to grow up and get real. And when we do, we’ll Jesus has already been there with us all along.
Would you pray with me?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MP: An adult understanding of sin with a child-like understanding of God’s forgiveness.
FCF:
A fifth grader would probably define sin like this: “Anything that displeases God.” And, if you asked him, “Why should you try to avoid it?” He might even answer, “Because it makes him sad or even mad.”
But as we grow up, we have to have more adult answers. We have to have a more adult view of things. What does this really cost me? How does it benefit me? How can I manipulate this situation so that I get what I want for a lower price? After all, sin is such a nebulous thing. If you can’t put it on a balance sheet, what good is it anyway? Maybe breaking the law is just the price of doing business. After all, things aren’t so right and wrong, black and white as they were when we were first learning our colors. Gray was one of the last colors we got.
And because of that, I think we tend to think that the Bible itself is only a book of black and white, a set of stories suitable for a fifth grader, but not for us. Well, if that’s your understanding of sin, God, and the Bible, this morning I have a story for you that I hope will blow you out of the water.
I’d pretty much guarantee they never taught you the story of Judah and Tamar in Sunday school. It is an adult story in every sense of the word. It could very easily be turned into what they call an ‘Adult Movie,’ although I think a better term for those would be movies for kids who need to grow up.
This story is also an Adult Story because it challenges all our grown-up notions about sin works. When we think we have God worked out in terms of those he zaps and those whom he loves, we think life becomes a lot less interesting.
And finally, we have to be adults about this story in order to see that sin is both more nuanced and more straight-forward than we initially think. Real pleasure is what we all want – and God is not opposed. But sometimes you need to grow up about understanding pleasure.
I’m going to up front with you – a quick reading might lead you to think that this is just a story about illegal sex. If you leave with that impression, I will have failed miserably, because the bad sex in this story is the thing that was probably least displeasing to God all along. The sex in this story is going to be useful for examining sin, but trust me when I tell you it isn’t the focus.
This morning, I’m not going to read the story straight through, because, frankly, it’s a little long, and I want to be encouraging you to read it for yourself anyway. I’d like you to open your Bibles to Genesis 38 – and if you don’t have one, go ahead borrow one of these. While you’re turning there, I can tell you that this story takes place right in the middle of the story of Joseph. You remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Well, Jacob has 12 kids, and Joseph was one of them. You remember how his brothers – and specifically one brother named Judah sold him into slavery? Well, this is what happens next, but on the home front. Joseph’s gone, and we’re going to see what’s happening back in Israel.
The Price
As we move into Act I – the story of Judah and Tamar, we can see that sin may have different circumstances, but you still have the same old story.
Act III – Look with me at v24. Let’s see what Judah’s continuing sin cost him.
The Cost
But as we grow up, we think we need more adult things: An Adult understanding of circumstances that somehow make this sin perfectly reasonable; an adult understanding that you get what you pay for; an adult understanding that you get what you deserve.
In short, as we age, we assume that we have come to learn the difference between a kiddie movie and, let’s say, an “adult” one. But sometimes I wonder if our grown-up understanding is merely one that has imposed its own
For all of you who think that God is out there just to zap sinners, you’re probably thinking of little stories like this one. This isn’t typical. I can only think of one other person who got zapped, but we need to start somewhere, so we start there.
……..
Now, I know that a lot of people think that God’s job is just to zap people who are having fun – but do you see that even here, in the briefest of details, God is really just trying to protect people?
…
I’ll tell you – sin is like that. You always think you’re getting something for free, but it will cost you. Trust me.
…
Judah keeps holding on to his son. He isn’t evil – in fact, I’d argue he’s being a sensible dad. But sensible and right aren’t always the same thing. He thinks understands what it would cost to give up his boy. And that is about as displeasing to God as it gets. Odd in a way to think that not having sex could somehow be the sin, isn’t it?
Well, time passes, life continues, and finally one day Judah heads down to the local sheep-shearing convention. If you keep reading, you’ll see its really no different than as it is today.
…
It makes those stampedes you face at the mall look like the veritable Christmas spirit itself. But as gray as this story is, the lessons that it teaches us about how sin works and what it costs are really vital to what it means to grow up when it comes to sin.
…
Indeed, as a morality play it may elicit giggles, but if you think it through you can see clearly how displeasing it would be to any father to his children ripped off like this. It’s also a much more subtle, shade of gray story than your typical Flanders family might want. But then again, our supposed “real lives” are gray too. Sometimes it’s hard to see pure good and pure evil. But a story like this can help me see it in the more gray terms that perhaps I can handle.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
And, after the deal is done, this time it’s Tamar that runs off with the money. Any person looking at this from the outside would probably think: Sound’s fair enough. But we’re not done yet. Oh no, Judah’s still got some more paying to do.
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Advent Reading
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #250
“O Little Town of Bethlehem”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Hymn #_____
*Hymn #_____
*Hymn #_____
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow / Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise him above, ye heavenly host / Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*Scripture
Sermon
“An X-Rated Sermon”
Invitation Hymn #277
“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”
*Benediction
*Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ our Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
ADVENT READING
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken it.
[Light the candle of our burden] This morning we light a candle recognizing our own darkness. We light it for the child who breaks our burden, who sets the captive free.
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:2 – 7
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Linda Garrett – 12/16
Cantatas: Middleburg 12/16- 11am, Marhsall– 12/16, 12/22 6:30pm.
PRAYER LIST
Martha Puryear, Susan Schulz, Warren Lee, Brandi Rector & daughter, Irene Griffith, Cory Keely, David Witt, Larry Morrison, Mitten, Jeff Coleman, Zane, Bruce, Steve, Long Branch
