“The Begatitudes”
Matthew 1:1-17
Introduction: Many of us need to hear a message of hope this morning. Some in our church community are pretty discouraged right now. There’s a grayness that’s overshadowing our lives, and the season we’re in often makes it worse, not better.
ß Some are facing financial pressures that they just can’t seem to get out from underneath, and the season makes it worse not better.
ß Some are facing pressures at work or at school, and the season makes it worse not better.
ß Some are saddened by the loss of someone they loved, or a strained relationship with someone they love, and the season makes it worse not better.
We need hope. In the middle of our discouragement and despair, Matthew comes to us with a message of hope.
[READ 1:1-6a] You’re probably thinking, “Is this for real? This is going to be the text we look at today?” Yes, yes it is.
[READ 1:6b-11] You’re probably thinking, “If we left now, we could still make an 11:00 service at some other church.” Hang in there!
[READ 12-17] Matthew begins his Gospel with a message of hope. But where is it? This is the last place we’d expect to discover a message of hope. The genealogies in the Bible don’t make much sense to us. They seem to be boring, meaningless lists of ancestors and descendants—just interminable lists of monotonous names.
But Matthew has crafted this genealogy very carefully so that we can receive a message of hope. And that message can be illustrated by a beloved old TV show from years ago, a cherished holiday classic … THE A-TEAM!
Some of you remember The A-Team, don’t you? I’m not talking about the movie with Liam Neeson, I’m talking about Tuesdays at 8 on NBC, from 1983 to 1987, The A-Team—Mad Murdock, Face, B.A. Barracus, and Col. Hannibal Smith—would mete out truth & justice in the American way, with lots of cars and guns. It was a show that you could watch with no sound and still understand everything that was going on. A show you could set your watch by—30 minutes in, the A-Team would be stymied by the villains. At 40 minutes, the A-Team would go about setting a trap for the villains that always involved shots of assembling some large vehicle (like a tank) using stuff they conveniently had lying around, and accompanied by trap-setting montage music. At 50 minutes, the trap would be sprung, and a high-speed car chase would ensue with blazing machine guns, car crashes & explosions, in which not one single character ever got killed. And the A-Team would always emerge victorious, enabling George Peppard to breezily exclaim, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
What Matthew wants us to see from this genealogy, and the message of hope for us as we head toward Christmas, is that GOD’S PLAN ALWAYS COMES TOGETHER. Let’s look at this list a little more closely:
I. GOD ALWAYS HAS A PLAN, AND GOD’S PLAN ALWAYS COMES TOGETHER.
A. The genealogy from Abraham to David shows that God plan includes mercy (2-6a).
1. Matthew is making the case for his Jewish readers that Jesus is the Messiah. They would need Jesus’ credentials in order to believe.
a. “Descendant of Abraham” = Jewish, part of God’s promise
b. “Descendant of David” = royal lineage & role as King.
2. Four women are included in this genealogy: Tamar (3), Rahab (5), Ruth (5), and Bathsheba (6).
a. Tamar seduced her father-in-law Judah into an incestuous relationship
b. Rahab aided Hebrew spies and joined the Israelites, but she was a pagan prostitute
c. Ruth was from Moab, a Gentile
d. Bathsheba entered into the messianic line because of an adulterous affair with David.
B. The genealogy from David to the Babylonian captivity shows that God plans despite sin (6b-11).
1. At the onset of the Babylonian exile when the monarchy was destroyed and what was left of the nation was transported to Babylon in 587 BC.
2. From that time on, no heir of David sat on his throne. But now, Matthew was arguing, a descendant of David, Jesus the Messiah, had come to take the royal reins in hand once more.
C. The genealogy from the Babylonian captivity to Christ shows that God’s plan always comes together (12-17).
1. Christ was not only a Son of David, but the Son of God: he is listed as the descendant not of Joseph, but of Mary.
2. Consider the history summed up in this genealogy… It is marked by gross sin, blatant idolatry, captivity in Egypt, captivity in Babylon, a succession of flawed kings, and hostile enemies, yet God’s plan is carried out to completion. It is as if God is saying, “The famine in Egypt couldn’t starve My plan. 400 years of slavery in Egypt and another 70 in Babylonian captivity couldn’t shackle My plan. Murder, corruption, and idolatry could not stop My plan! My plan always comes together.”
3. At his news conference the morning after the beginning of the 2003 attacks on Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was asked by a reporter "about the apparent failure to follow the war plan." Rumsfeld replied dryly, "I don’t believe you have the war plan."
We often approach God with a question like the reporter’s—why doesn’t he follow the plan we expect? As God told Job, and countless others since then, "I don’t believe you have the plan."
4. APP: Jesus is a King of Divine promise, ordered and preserved by God for the right to rule His Kingdom. When your life seems out of control, God is always in control and wants to manifest the rule of Christ in your life to bring you hope, faith, and peace.
>>You can know that to be true, because
II. GOD’S PLAN INCLUDES FLAWED, SINFUL PEOPLE, YET GOD’S PLAN ALWAYS COMES TOGETHER.
A. We’ve already talked about the women—look at the men:
1. Abraham more than once lied like Pinocchio.
2. Jacob conned his father, his brother, his father-in-law—he was slicker than a Vegas card shark.
3. Judah committed incest; he was a hypocrite and adulterer.
4. David was an adulterer and a murderer.
5. Manasseh was a wicked king who sacrificed his own son to Baal.
B. APPLICATION: Why did God use these people?
1. He knew we’d be worriers, and He wants us to know he’s in total control. The proof is in the last name on the list: Jesus, the Christ.
2. He wants us to know that if He can include those people in His plan, He can include us.
III. GOD’S PLAN INCLUDES YOU ... AND GOD’S PLAN ALWAYS COMES TOGETHER.
A. Did you know that I am a Christ follower because of a Hindu university student in Madras, India?
1. Sam Kamaleson writes: “I came from a long line of Christians in India -- six generations. But over those six generations, the vitality of my family’s faith wore off. Only the form of Christianity remained. By the time I entered the University of Madras as a student, my faith was a burden. I practiced the form of Christianity, but the form had no vitality.
My roommate at the university was a Hindu. One day, however, he came back to our room totally transformed. I watched him for the next 10 days. He never announced, "I’m a Christian." He just kept quiet. But I saw a difference, so I asked him, "You’ve changed. What’s the reason?"
He grinned ear to ear and said, "It must be Jesus."
That’s the first time someone showed me that life can change. He showed me that the Jesus of history is a present-day reality, and I could have an encounter with him -- with palpable, measurable results. So he led me to the Lord, and suddenly the form of my Christianity came to life.”
2. Sam Kamaleson became an evangelist with World Vision, who came to Florence SC in 1977 to speak at a Methodist Church. My father heard him speak and came to Christ that night. My father later led me to Christ. So God used a Hindu university student in India in my spiritual lineage!
B. APPLICATION: Who’s in your spiritual lineage?
1. Who led you to Christ, and who led that person to Christ?
2. Whose lineage might you be part of?
3. You are part of God’s plan, and God’s plan always comes together. That’s a message of hope, if we can keep it in mind ...
CONCLUSION: A few years ago, we were moving from one house to another. We kept our aging beagle, Jackson, fenced in the backyard during the move so he wouldn’t be underfoot. Then when the movers were done at our old house, we closed Jackson inside the house and went to unload at our new house. After a couple hours of unloading and unpacking, my wife went back to get Jackson and bring him over. When she pulled up in the driveway of our old now-empty house, she heard the most pitiful crying coming from inside. She ran into the front hall to find Jackson, lying down, moaning a terrible howl of despair. He didn’t know where we had gone, or what was going on--oh, we had left him many times before to go out, but we had never taken all our furniture with us! She reached down & picked him up, and let him lick her face while she told him: "Jackson, we’ve had this planned all along! We’ve got a great new house, and you’re really gonna like it there. C’mon, I’ve got supper ready for you." Poor Jackson didn’t know the plan--but he sure was happy when the plan came together.
Remember:
You are part of God’s plan, and God’s plan always comes together.
Our church is part of God’s plan, and God’s plan always comes together.
Christmas was part of God’s plan, and God’s plan always comes together.
