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The Gospel Truth
When Mark wrote his gospel, he started with a crazy character named John the Baptist preaching loud and turning heads. Luke began his gospel with a tantalizing promise to tell us the exact truth and then dove right with angels and miracles. John the apostle introduced his gospel with the most beautiful poem ever written. These guys, it seems, really knew how to begin a gospel. But Matthew starts his gospel this way - with a long, long, genealogical record. Read Matthew 1:1- 17. Now admit it. You would rather read John 3:16. Well, Matthew 1:1-17 says the same thing, only with more characters and maybe a little more color. God loves you no matter who you are No two names would attract more attention to the Jewish ear than these: Abraham and David. Matthew, writing primarily to Jews, might have known what he was doing with this introduction after all. Abraham was somebody. David was somebody. Abraham is the great patriarch of the Old Testament, and the first name Matthew mentions in the chronological genealogy of Jesus. God loved Abra-ham very much, chose him to be the father of his Old Covenant people, and made him the forerunner of the messiah, Jesus Christ. Abraham was somebody. David was the king of Israel. His leadership and that of his son, Solomon brought God's people to the apex of their earthly glory, something the coming messiah was supposed to restore. Yes, David was somebody. But know this ... God did not love them because they were somebodies. God loved them when they were nobodies. When God loved Abraham, he was a pagan named Abram, a grown, married man still living with his parents and following their pagan gods. When God loved David, he was the seventh son of an obscure man in an obscure part of Israel consigned to the obscure job of a shepherd. Abraham and David were nobodies when God came to them, loved them, saved them and changed their lives forever. Let the record show that God loves you no matter who you are. You don't have to be a VIP to have a very important place in God's kingdom and Christ's church. All you have to do is believe that God loves you and believe in God's son so that you can become one of God's people. And by the way, all of God's people are somebody very important to God. God loves you no matter where you've been If you had lived under Abraham's leadership or David's reign, it would not have been difficult to find God's love flowing down to you, too. But history is not as gracious to everyone. While some generations thrived under the influence of men like Abraham and David, other people of faith had to fight to survive under the corrupt kingdoms of men like Rehoboam, Manasseh and Amon. Rehoboam caused the nation of Israel to split in two, with most of the people being taken away from the grace of God forever. Manasseh was the wicked son of good King Hezekiah who persecuted the prophets of God and put princes like Isaiah to death. Amon was Manasseh's son who took evil and idolatry a step further than even his father. If you had been living in those times under those men, you might have been tempted to ask a question posed by popular author Phillip Yancey, "Disappointment with God." Some of you have been in bad homes growing up, bad marriages as an adult, bad jobs with bad friends. Matthew's genealogy is a reflection of real life and real life can be real bad sometimes. But consider the thesis of the Yancey book I just mentioned. For those whom God loves and those who love God, everything is part of God's redemptive plan. In other words, God loves you no matter where you've been or what you've been through. He loves you no matter what people have done to you or what people have said about you. If you believe in Jesus there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can separate you from God's love. God loves you no matter what you've done Please consider one more thing reflected in this genealogy. Not only does God love you no matter who you are, and no matter where you've been, God loves you no matter what you've done. Let the record show the lives of four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Tamar was a prostitute, or actually became a prostitute out of desperation. Rahab was a harlot, even called by the name "Rahab the Harlot." Ruth was a pagan, a worshiper of false Midianite gods before she crossed the threshold and met her redeemer on the threshing floor. Bathsheba was an adulteress, with the help of David, of course, whose infidelity led indirectly to her own husband's murder. Matthew freely and graciously speaks of all of them to put on display the free grace of God. So what have you done? A sin of desperation, like Tamar? A sin of immorality, like Rahab? A sin of ignorance, like Ruth? A sin of temptation, like Bathsheba? I promise you it is not bad enough to place you beyond the bounds of God's love, God's mercy, God's grace and God's gift of salvation through Jesus the messiah.
Isn't this gift of gracious, forgiving love what Christmas is all about? Isn't it what the gospel is all about? It is about "Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin." In spite of who you are, in spite of where you've been, in spite of what you've done, God loves you.
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