The Coming Of The King
Matthew 1:1-17
OKAY MG – welcome to church!
Welcome to a gathering of people…
• Whose past is forgiven
• Whose future forever in heaven is secure, and
• Whose present is all about, pursuing Jesus and the life He created us to live!
YEAH – His church, no better place to be, AMEN?!
NOW – this morning we are kicking off a new message series “Matthew, The King And His Kingdom”
IT – is going to be a chapter by chapter, verse by verse study that will probably take up most of the year 2022.
Should be fun, challenging, life-changing, city on the hill impacting.
Prayer
OKAY – let’s do this, Matthew chapter one verse one
AND HEY - after this verse, we will only have 1,070 more verses to go.
NOW UNDERSTAND MGCC - as we dive into Matthew we need to keep in mind that whenever you are reading the Scriptures that one rule of thumb, that one rule of interpretation.
IS THAT – ideas or themes that are presented at the very beginning or the very end of a book of the bible or a biblical text have added weight or importance.
LIKE - how a writer begins… matters, is significant.
• Paul an apostle (okay, that’s a big deal I guess)
• Paul a slave of Christ Jesus (well okay, so that is an idea that he wants to get across).
AND SO – Matthew is going to do just that.
He is going to say something right up front that is very significant and important to him.
OKAY – so let’s jump into our text, Matthew 1:1-17…
AND SEE – what it is, that Matthew is trying drive home, what it is, that he is underlining and wants us to understand, and take home with us today.
This is the genealogy (The ancestor.com if you will)
of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
- Matthew 1:1
OKAY – here’s the deal…
Matthew in his opening salvo, Matthew as he (inspired by the Holy Spirit) begins writing his Gospel…
IS - telling us right out of the gate, ‘This’ is who Jesus is.
Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham
AND LISTEN– the word ‘Christ’ matters.
I MEAN - it’s not Jesus of Nazareth, where He was born
It’s Jesus Christ…
A word that comes from either the Greek or Latin Cristos. And I get that, Cristos (Christ)
NOW - in Hebrew they would take that same word and it would be Messiah. So you can say ‘Jesus Messiah.’
The Messiah… the promised one, whose name is Jesus.
AND - the English would be Jesus ‘the anointed one.’
QUESTION – who do you anoint? You anoint KINGS.
UNDERSTAND MGCC – in the very first verse of His Gospel Matthew wants us to know that Jesus in the Christ (the Messiah, the anointed one),
AND NEXT – Matthew says he is the son of who? of DAVID, AND WE - know who David was, he was “the KING.”
AND – Jesus the son of Abraham (the Father of the promise)
A promise that God made to Abraham 2000 years before the birth of Jesus… that Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the shore and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him.
AND THEN – beginning in verse 2 we have Matthew Genealogy… which I know we all enjoy reading, right?
NOW – before we read it… I want to point out a few things
• Matthew’s genealogy is broken down into 3 groups of 14… (Abraham – David) (David – Exile) (Exile – Jesus)
QUESTION – why 3 groups of 14?
OKAY – now, this is pretty cool, like, I did not know this until I began studying for this message.
Understand – the Jewish people and even Christians in the first century placed meaning on both names and numbers.
IN FACT – they even applied number values to names
The name David only has 3 letter in Hebrew (no vowels)
D – dalet (4)
V – vav (6)
D – dalet (4)
OKAY – here’s the deal… Matthew chooses to group Jesus’ genealogy into 3 groups of 14 to underscore and drive home the truth that Jesus is the Son of David… and the true heir to the Davidic throne. To underscore and drive home the truth that Jesus is King.
• NOW - another thing that Matthew’s Genealogy underscores is the faithfulness of God.
How God kept His promises, working through different people (the good, the bad and the ugly)
and ever changing circumstances (peace, war, famine, prosperity, conflict, occupation and exile)
FROM Abraham TO (Joseph, Mary and Jesus) 2000 years later.
UNDERSTAND MG – nothing can stop God’s plans and His purposes, AMEN?!
• Now one more thing about Matthew’s Genealogy is that it also underscores the nature of the Kingdom that King Jesus is establishing… as we see both women and gentiles being included.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Tamar is the first of 5 women mentioned which was very uncommon to have in a genealogy…
Now Tamar’s story is interesting – bottom line there were men in her life who were not treating her right in regards to her having children… which led to her have an incestuous relationship with her father in-law Judah.
Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
OKAY - Rahab is a foreigner, a gentile. Lived in Jericho.
And what was her occupation in Jericho?
But listen, God comes into that broken place in her life and lifts her up, redeems her and gives her a new beginning.
And that is just who are God is, AMEN?!
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Boaz is an awesome dude who no doubt learned to do the right thing (by Ruth) from his mother who knew what it was like to be on the outside.
Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
David
NOW - of the names mentioned in this second group 14 were Kings of Judah. Most were bad and some were good.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of ASA,
ASA the father of JEHOSHAPHAT,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of UZZIAH,
A really good King reigned for 50+ years. Isaiah 6 “In the year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord seated on the throne high and exalted.”
NOW – I get it, we can really worked up about who is ‘seated on the throne’ so to speak in our country...
UZZIAH the father of JOTHAM,
JOTHAM the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of HEZEKIAH,
HEZEKIAH the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of JOSIAH,
A Rock Star… became King at age 8… When he was 16 along with the prophet Jeremiah brought about a great revival in the land)
and JOSIAH the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
After the exile to Babylon:
Now these are not names or people that we know all that much about. They were no kings.
But hey, you do not need to wear a title to be used by God,
AMEN?!
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, (she al T L)
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
UNDERSTAND MG – Matthew (guided by the Holy Spirit) before he says anything else wants us to know who Jesus is.
The Christ, The Messiah, The anointed One, The Son of David
THE KING!
AND LISTEN - the way you view Jesus matters.
BECAUSE - it shapes both how you think about and respond to Him.
GET IT?
NOW – I get that Jesus is a lot of things.
AND - I am grateful that He is a lot of things. AMEN?!
YOU KNOW - this time of year, the Christmas Season, Jesus gets a lot more attention than He does throughout the rest of the year. I MEAN – there are even shows about Jesus on the discovery channel. Where they bring on scholars, some conservative and some not. And these scholars pick some attribute of Jesus, and they just run with it and say,
“this is who Jesus is”
Who is Jesus? He is a great teacher.
LIKE - have you read His teaching.
• I appreciate His teaching ability
• I love some of the things He said
• He taught us to be nice, fair, the golden rule.
I MEAN – isn’t that good teaching? And the answer is yes.
BUT – is that all Jesus really is to you? a great teacher?
QUESTION – then what happens when you take Jesus the teacher and you leave Him in the classroom… then you miss Jesus.
UNDERSTAND - Matthew is not wanting you to be impressed by His teaching ability. Even though Matthew more than any other Gospel writer records for us extensive teachings of Jesus.
OR – people run with the idea of Jesus as the compassionate one. Yeah that is who Jesus is.
NOW – compassionate the thing to be these days.
Like you can be anything today, you can be a liar… but you can’t be not compassionate.
You have to be compassionate. It’s the number one rule in our culture today.
You have to show empathy, which by the way is a beautiful thing, it’s a wonderful thing.
SO WHEN - we preach we want people to see how compassionate He is.
AND UNDERSTAND - Jesus was and is full of compassion…
BUT LISTEN - here’s the deal when we move Jesus into this ‘Compassionate Neighborhood’ and pretty much just keep Him there…
THEN - we are still designing a Jesus that more meets our needs. THEN - really stands for the fullness of who He is.
AND SO – what Matthew wants you to know right out of the gate is not that Jesus is compassionate, which He is, and Matthew will describe that… OR THAT - He is a great teacher which Matthew will also describe.
YES – Jesus is all of those things and more…
BUT LISTEN – if we were to ask Matthew to describe Jesus in one word, I am convinced that it would be KING.
AND MGCC – we have lost that (Jesus is the KING) in many respects. IN FACT – I’m not sure we want a KING.
INSTEAD - we want a friend, we want a buddy, we want a shoulder… BUT LISTEN – God knows what we need more than we do, AND GOD KNOWS THAT - we need a KING,
SO - He gave us Jesus.
AND MGCC THAT’S - what Christmas is ultimately about.
It is about the coming (not of simply a great teacher or a compassionate one) but of the KING.
NOW – what I would like to do as we kick off this series, “Matthew, The King and His Kingdom,” is to look at this emphasis (Jesus is KING) that we see not only in Matthew’s genealogy, but also throughout His Gospel.
AND SO – what I want us to consider this morning are some of the characteristics, some of the implications of Jesus being the KING as seen in the Matthew’s Gospel.
AND LISTEN – as Matthew describes Jesus to us, he wants us to worship Him, to bow down to Him. He wants us to respond with bended knee and obedient hearts to His Greatness and Kingship.
NOW – the first thing that we see about KINGS as describe in Matthew is a word that we really struggle with today.
BECAUSE… WE - love the rebel, WE - love to push against the grain, WE - love to be on the outside, WE - love to go against the flow…. BUT – we will see in Matthew is that…
Jesus As King HAS…
The Authority To Speak
TO - everybody
TO - the religious establishment.
TO - those who are downcast.
YES - Jesus is the one who speaks differently than everyone else.
AGAIN – the concept of authority is something that we all struggle with. YOU SEE - it is not just small children who say, “You’re not the boss of me.”
QUESTION – who is the boss of you?
IS – anybody the boss of you?
LIKE – who speaks into your life and directs you attitudes and behaviors… and you listen to them.
NOW – I’m not asking who do you resent or who do you begrudgingly obey. BUT – who do you listen to…
“Okay, I’ll do that. I was thinking about it differently, but I hear what you are saying, and I am going to go with that.”
QUESTION - is there anybody that if they speak, you listen and respond accordingly?
OR – is your prevailing attitude, more like – “who are you to tell me what to do?”
UNDERSTAND MGCC – there really is something broken in us when we do not allow ‘anyone’ to speak into our life.
OKAY – like I would listen to my boss… but let me tell you if he did this or told me to do that, I am out there.
So, you are still the authority.
I’m going to stay in this marriage as long as
I’m going to… as long as.
SERIOUSLY – I want you to think about this, who is the final authority on your life….
“I don’t… I’m not…think it’s… ME”
LIKE – I’m going to do what I want to do when I want to do it… YEAH – that is just kind of how it works in my life.
MG Jesus As King HAS…
The Authority To Speak
IN FACT – Matthew in the Sermon On The Mount says that this is how Jesus spoke to the crowds.
“You have heard it said, but I say to you”
“Like, you have heard this, about adultery and about murder, but I say to you do not lust, do not become angry…”
AND YEAH – all of the sudden Jesus is not playing by the same rules as everyone else.
NOW – we like to call ourselves followers of Jesus.
BUT – let me ask you, if you are His follower… like,
• Where is He leading you?
• Where is He changing you?
• Where is Jesus refining your behaviors and attitudes?
• Where is Jesus speaking into your life and you are seeing a response of change?
Umm, nowhere? Yeah, not anywhere that I can think of.
But le me tell you when I agree with Jesus, we are totally on the same page.
QUESTION – when was the last time you and Jesus had a really good argument?
LIKE WHEN – was the last time Jesus was telling you to do something, to act in a certain way. I MEAN – He was really calling you out… AND – you found yourself in a sharp disagreement with Him… “Jesus, you’re not the boss of me”
AND LISTEN MGCC – here’s my concern..
If I never disagree with Jesus.
If I never wrestle with what He is saying
If me and Jesus are always on the same page.
It means that, Jesus and… it means that in a very real way, that I am Jesus…, right?
YEAH - I have been there and done that with everything that Jesus taught.
YOU KNOW MGCC – I really think that this is one of the reasons why we don’t spend more time in His word.
LIKE – I don’t need one more suggestion.
I MEAN – seriously does anyone else need more suggestions about how you should…
• Spend your time, Spend your money
• Spend your retirement
• Treat other people, do relationships
• Live your life
YEAH – would anyone like another suggestion?
Especially one that requires us to do something that we do not really want to do.
BUT UNDERSTAND B/S – there is something very powerful, beautiful, life-giving and life-sustaining about recognizing that Jesus is KING and that He has the authority to speak into our lives.
I MEAN - checkout how Jesus concludes His (“you have heard it said, but I say to you”) sermon on the mount…
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
Why? Because He as so insightful?
because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. – Matthew 7:24-29
MGCC – Christmas is about the coming of the King, the Christ, The son of David.
Who has the authority to speak, to everyone.
To me, to you…
Get It?
AND LISTEN – the second truth about Jesus as king, is so critical for us.
UNDERSTAND B/S – because we have for the most part lost this view of Jesus, as King…
NOW SURE – if someone were to ask us if Jesus is King we all would say, “Yes, Jesus is King.”
BUT LISTEN – most of us have never thought all that much about how Jesus being the KING should impact how we live out our lives.
SO – there is this disconnect between us knowing that Jesus is King in our heads and having him be king in our hearts and actions. AND MG – this disconnect often leads to INCREASE anxiety, fear and worry in our lives.
BECAUSE, BECAUSE… what we did was, we traded Jesus the KING for Jesus the buddy…
LIKE – Buddy the Elf… not as silly but just fun to be around.
I MEAN – if you need someone to listen to you, Jesus is a really good listener. He really listens well.
AND – what I really love about Jesus is that He listens so well and never talks back to me.
He is just exactly what I need. Someone to listen to me and agree with everything I think or say.
AND THAT MG – is who Jesus is for a lot of people.
BUT – it’s not Jesus.
AND LISTEN – here’s the deal… When you take that Jesus out into the world, and…
• The doctor says, “cancer” OR
• Your boss says, “you need to find a new job” OR
• Your spouse says, “I don’t love you anymore” OR
• Your world just seems to be going crazy and getting more and more away from you
Jesus ‘the buddy’ does not have the power or strength to provide any security, hope or help for you.
LISTEN - I think one of the reasons that the church, that so many Jesus followers are so anxious, so afraid, so discouraged and so defeated, is because – their Jesus is like this big.
UNDERSTAND B/S – what you and I need is not Jesus the buddy, but Jesus the King who has the power to rule.
Jesus As King HAS…
The Power To Rule
AND LISTEN – as we study Matthew’s Gospel this power to rule is something that Matthew clearly wants us to see…
For example we see Jesus’ power to rule on full display in Matthew chapters 8 and 9.
NOW – Jesus is done teaching and amazing the people with how He speaks as one who has authority and now He is walking around, and crowds are following Him.
OKAY – so in Matthew 8 the disciples are on a boat in the middle of a violent storm.
And Jesus is about to talk… and by the way weather I want you to listen to me,
NOW - We ask how the weather is.
Jesus says, what do you want the weather to be.
Do you see the difference.
IN Matthew 8 Jesus calms the storms and His guys freak out
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” – Matthew 8:27
Really think about that… ‘the power to rule’
Chapter 8 verse 31. Jesus is doing battle with these two demon possessed men… And in the middle of this encounter we read…
The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” – Matthew 8:31
IN OTHER WORDS - “Jesus we know that you can do whatever you want and that whatever you say and want to happen is going to happen. Therefore could you do this.”
And what Jesus wanted to happen did happen.
AS it always does…. The power to rule.
Matthew 9:6
I love this one. Because in the middle of this debate about who He is, Jesus steps in and assumes the authority of God. That’s how you know that He is more than just a teacher.
SO - there is this man in Matthew 9 and he has been paralyzed for a long time. AND - Jesus is like I know this man can’t walk BUT - more important than that his relationship with God is not right… SO - Jesus says I want you to know that your sins are forgiven.
And the religious leaders are like, ‘who is this guy, who says stuff like that… You don’t talk like that you don’t have the authority to forgive sins.
Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
ANSWER – it is easier to say that your sins are forgiven
Cause, how do you know, right?
But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” – Matthew 9:5,6
The power to RULE.
This is the Jesus, who is the KING
This is the Jesus, who we are celebrating on Christmas.
AND LASTLY – in Matthew 9…This man (a ruler) comes to Jesus and he kneels before Him. His daughter has just died.
And so says to Jesus, “if you would just put your hand on her, I know she will live.”
SO – Jesus goes with him back to his home.
AND – Jesus says the girl is not dead, she is asleep
AND – they laugh at Him, because that is what you do when people says crazy things like – your sins are forgiven or get up and walk or command the waves and the winds to be still.
After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. – Matthew 9:25
Because that is what you do when Jesus is in the room and your dead, and He says to get up.
Lazarus come forth. And the dead live again.
Think about that. The power to rule.
QUESTION
IF JESUS – has the power to rule (over sickness, and demons, and storms, and death), AND
IF JESUS – has the authority to speak
THEN HOW – should we respond to Him in terms of our attitudes and obedience.
Jesus As King HAS…
The Desire To Include
UNDERSTAND MG – Jesus is not like any other king.
I MEAN - worldly kings and earthly rulers are always looking to include those who have power, influence and position.
People who can help them maintain and expand their power and rule.
NOT SO – with Jesus… INSTEAD - Jesus as King has the desire to include anyone and everyone in His Kingdom.
AGAIN – we saw this truth jump out so powerfully and clearly in Matthew’s Genealogy, as Matthew includes… both women and gentiles.
YES – Jesus the King has the desire to include anyone and everyone. AND LISTEN – throughout the Gospels we see this truth on full display as Jesus includes…
• Fishermen and tax collectors
• Lepers and outcasts
• Rulers and Pharisees
• Young and old
• Rich and poor
• Educated and uneducated
• Jew and Gentile
• Men and women
• Saint and sinner
AND LISTEN – I am sure that Matthew as an X Tax-collector had a huge smile on his face and in his heart as he penned the following encounter about the king who has a desire to include in Matthew chapter 9…
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. – Matthew 9:10-12
YES – Jesus eats with and includes in His kingdom sinners…
I am glad He does.
UNDERSTAND MG – what I am trying to say, what I hoping that everyone hears from Jesus the King is that
No matter who you are
No matter where you have been or what you have done
Jesus wants to include you in His Kingdom.
Jesus As King HAS…
The Right To Reward
UNDERSTAND – for those who has surrendered to King Jesus… one day He will reward you and take you home.
LISTEN – you do not need to fear His judgement when you are covered by His love. AMEN?!
YES – Jesus will judge but He won’t judge me because I’ve already judged and declared righteous in Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21
This is why there should be no fear in death or in the coming of Christ for His children.
Now if you are not covered by His love then you need to be very concerned.
BUT - Understand Jesus did not come like other religious leaders and increased burden (jump higher run faster) He came to lift the burden.
Follow Me. Trust in Me.
• Faithful older lady
• After hearing teaching on the coming of Christ
• Came up to Him, tears streaming done her face, “Do you think I’ll make it, do you think I’ll go to heaven.”
• He was thinking, “Man, if you don’t make it Mrs. Olive
• And he said that not because she was a ‘good person’ which is where my mind ran to when I first heard this
• Mrs. Olive I don’t know anyone who trust Jesus like you do.
• Mrs. Olive I just want to ask you this one question. “When you see Jesus are you going to start bragging about nice and kind you were and all you did for Him?”
Or you going to say “thank you Jesus, you are the one I follow, the one I love…”
• She said “Oh yes, with Tears still streaming down her face”
• Then he looked at her then I want you to know that Jesus is going to say to you well done good and faithful servant.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
By the way – the answer is nothing.
“Oh yeah, I got the promotion.”
“Oh yeah, I want a championship.”
What does it profit someone to can everything and loose their soul.
Listen – If you get everything, but you get Jesus wrong then you got everything wrong.
We are the fools of all fools if we do not know that Jesus the KING of all kings.
We need understand how critical this is.
How important this truth needs to become in our lives.
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. – Matthew 16:24-27
SO – let me ask you, what have you done?
UNDERSTAND B/S – the reward of forever in heaven really is based on what you have done.
NOW - I have been a Jesus follower for almost 42 years. A Pastor for 30 years.
And in all of those years you know what I have done that makes me confident that I will receive the reward of heaven?
On December 30, 1979 I surrendered to and trusted in Jesus and was baptized.
Christmas is about the coming of The King
And Jesus as King Has…
The authority to speak
The power to rule
The desire to include
The right to reward
