It's lovely to be with you. Great privilege to
be here at Oak Hill. I've been here for several
years, I've realised. It's lovely to be back
again and have a chance to open up this passage
from Matthew's Gospel. So prior to coming to
Wycliffe Hall, I was actually 11 years at a theological
college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The evangelical
college there for the Episcopal Church, now really
more the Anglican Church of North America. And
from time to time we'd go out. to other churches,
often support churches, and often would take
a student with us. And when we go to some of
the more southern states, particularly I'm thinking
now of places like South Carolina, we try to
take someone who came from that sort of area,
and it would be helpful that they could talk
about their experience at the college. But it's
also absolutely fascinating to me, particularly
in some of those more southern states, they wanted
to know the surname of the student. Because they
reckon if they knew the surname, they could kind
of see if they had a sort of family connection
and work out if they kind of knew them. And it
was quite a prominent thing. I realised a lot
of folk coming out of those sort of communities,
their family connections were really important
to them. So when we hear a whole genealogy being
read out, I think probably comes as a surprise
to most of us raised in cultures that aren't
as fascinated with family lines. I think to the
folks in South Carolina and elsewhere, no surprise
at all. But I should imagine even in our own
cultures here, we begin to notice who we are
and what we're doing. It's not unrelated to parents,
grandparents and going back through. I was quite
struck. I came across a little Christian tract
that my grandfather had written decades ago.
He died just after I was born. And so I was working
very hard, not very long ago. I don't know if
I've got it with me, but at the end we have.
Here we go. A little gospel tract I carry about.
My grandfather wrote a gospel tract? I've no
idea. But it's not unusual. You know, someone
in the medical profession? Well, maybe someone
in their family is from the medical profession,
or if you're a sports person or an actor, or
maybe you're in ministry. Turns out, oh, well,
you're not the first to be in ministry. We are
influenced by our families. So whilst it might
be to us a bit of a surprise to open such an
important piece of written work as a gospel to
do a whole list of a genealogy, no surprise.
to a Jewish audience, because it's a wonderful
way to introduce someone. You've got the family
background. You can see the lineage. You can
see where they've come from. And it's quite clear
that Matthew wants us to notice two particular
ancestors of Jesus, because clearly he thinks
by noticing those two names, you're going to
have an immediate introduction to who Jesus is.
And the whole structuring of it is also making
clear that this is an important announcement.
This is a sovereign work of God. He's been working
on for generations and generations. And we have
these three groups of 14 generations. And again,
mathematicians will spot don't exactly add up
to 14. And if you worry about that, please do
not worry about it. As Dick France points out,
it's more of a theological 14 than a statistical
one. I'm quite sure the person who wrote this
was well able to count up to 14. That's not the
point. It's not all about the numbers. But it's
saying there's a lovely sense of a pattern unfolding.
And now's the big moment. The Messiah has at
last arrived. And by giving his genealogy, we've
been given the backstory. But alongside that,
we've also got some rather surprise candidates
added in. Some of these, if you like, the irregularities.
You don't expect to see Tamar in here. And Rahab,
the prostitutes. And nor would you expect to
see someone famously brought into the Bible narrative
when she is committing adultery with King David,
Bathsheba. And what about Ruth the Moabitess?
Unlikely candidates. Everyone else in the list,
until they get to Mary, is a man. They're being
brought in deliberately to say, yes, these are
key figures in the ancestry of Jesus. And just
to kind of notice, I think maybe in theological
college life, We can often feel that, you know,
there are other people here who seem more worthy
to be here than I am. I certainly remember that
kind of feeling. And maybe you're not from a
sort of generations of ministers. Now it's my
moment. And maybe you're thinking, well, everyone
else seems to know the Bible better than I do.
And they've got this wonderful ministry experience.
And I can see they've got these great gifts.
What am I doing here? But God's called you in.
He's preparing you for something. And God delights
to keep on bringing people in. So don't in any
way discard yourself or put yourself out of what
God is doing. He delights to call us in. So I
want us to really look at this passage, particularly
focus around three key names, Abraham, David,
and of course, Jesus. Because this is the way
that the gospel starts and how we are introduced
to the central figure. So we begin by noticing
we have the introduction to Jesus. as the son
of Abraham, who of course came to bring the blessing
to the nations, as Jesus was just about to do.
And again, funnily enough, Tom Wright likes to
call it a drum roll, this sense of, and here
are the generations of, which again, not very
exciting language to English ears, but if you're
familiar with Genesis, time and again, a big
moment is introduced in Genesis 2, Genesis 5,
these are the generations of. It's like the opening
of a new chapter. Something significant is really
going on. Something is about to happen that you
really need to pay extra attention to. And so
it's all this begetting. You've got the Greek
word here, agenison, and it's talking about the
begetting, the generation of one generation after
another. And it's talking about how God has been,
over these years, faithfully preserving, protecting,
and bringing through his people this one particular
son. called Jesus. And I notice of course with
Abraham, obviously you can say, but one of the
things that is quite clearly prominent in the
life of Abraham is a man of unusually remarkable
obedient faith. When he's called out of his homeland,
where no doubt he was quite safe and secure and
kind of knew how things work, to go into a far
country that he will be told the name of after
he'd set off, that is quite a journey. Even just
setting off from England or London, heading out
to Pittsburgh, at least we knew where we were
going. It's a big enough challenge, even knowing
where you're going, having to dislocate, relocate.
It's a very big deal. But he was willing to do
it. He knew that God had told him, off he goes.
He gets sent off to a distant country. Well,
of course, we see that with the Son of God. He
comes to us, if you like, from a distant country
and a much more glorious one. And so we see that
wonderful faithfulness and of course the astonishing
story of him even offering up his son Isaac,
the one who he'd been waiting for, the one who
God had promised to give him and then having
to have the faith presumably to believe that
God could raise him from the dead. Extraordinary
faith. Now of course there are other ways we'll
see later where Abraham doesn't measure up to
Jesus in all sorts of ways but we notice he's
a man of obedient faith. But we also notice here's
a man through whom God was going to bring blessing
to the nation. So we come back to chapter 12
of Genesis. And right there we see that the Lord
said to Abraham, leave your country, your people,
your father's household and go to a land I will
show you. I will make you a great nation. I will
bless you. I will make your name great and you
will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. And
all peoples on earth will be blessed through
you. Quite an extraordinary promise. And of course,
some blessings did indeed come through Abraham.
But of course, what we're waiting for is the
great blessing still to become fulfilled in Jesus.
He's the one who's come to fulfill that covenant
promise. He's come to bless the nations. Yes,
the people of Israel, but not just the nation
of Israel. He's come to bring a blessing. To
the nations. As I said, of course, we've got
to notice there are all sorts of ways that Jesus
vastly exceeds, of course, Abraham. Abraham,
he has his failings. He passes his wife off as
his sister. Partial truth, but of course, significantly
deficient on the whole truth. There are all sorts
of other ways he fails. He doesn't just have
a child with Sarah. He has other children. What
is going on? He's not a paragon of virtue. But
he is a way of beginning to think. This is the
sort of ancestor that Jesus has. Someone who's
willing to obediently travel off and the person
who's willing to faithfully be used by God to
bring a blessing to the nations. And so from
the start, Matthew wants us to know that this
Jesus, he has a clear, solid Jewish ancestry.
His father is Abraham. So he comes to bring a
blessing to the nations. But what we also see
when we get a little bit further down to verse
6, Jesus is also... the son of david who amongst
many other things vanquishes his enemies that's
also a clear central part of what jesus has come
to do so here we go verse six and jesse the father
of king david david was the father of solomon
his mother had been uriah's wife and on we go
again back into this long list of great names
it's also noticeable he's the only one who actually
gets the title king Well, guess what? His son
Solomon was also king, but doesn't get mentioned.
He's the only one who really makes the grade
in a way worth recording for future posterity.
He is, if you like, the nearest thing to an ideal
king because he was willing to faithfully do
what God called him to do. And he was willing
to go out and fight the enemies of God and bring
the victories of God, thereby displaying the
glories of God. And so we see also picking up
that wonderful Old Testament lesson. If you go
back to Genesis 49, some of the ways in which
Jacob was blessing his son Judah, well, some
of that was being fulfilled in King David. There
was a sense in which he was able to really go
forward against the enemies of God and bring
that triumph. The scepter would be with him.
We see other prophecies fulfilled. Well, it's
beginning to be fulfilled. If you go back to
some of Balaam's prophecy back in... Numbers
24, that expectation of someone that God would
raise up to bring provision for his people. Well,
again, you see bits of that being fulfilled in
the life of David. As a wonderful summary towards
the end of his life to Samuel 8, all the different
nations he triumphed over. The peace that God
had brought. And it's not just for him, it's
for him and his mighty men. So again, heading
out into ministry, don't think it's all up to
you. You need a team around you. people who can
give you that shared wisdom and discernment.
So many times in the New Testament, it's presbyters
rather than a presbyter heading off into a leadership
role. So again, people around you. And so often
those sort of friendships that are key people
around you, maybe the sort of senior leadership
team or equivalent, produce some of the most
rich and vibrant relationships. I'm still in
touch with people I've served with in years gone
by. It's a wonderful sense that we're in this
together, the mighty men and women of God. being
called into his kingdom work without his help
we're in real trouble but we get a ringside seat
to see what the lord will do and that is a really
beautiful thing and of course one of the central
victories was david up against goliath before
he was the king and jr packer loves to pick up
this story and show how this kind of begins to
help us think towards things like substitutionary
atonement because when david arrives at the battlefield
his life is not in danger he's not a soldier
and yet he's willing to go and put his life on
the line against the giant Goliath presumably
because Saul wasn't willing to we already know
that Saul was the nearest thing that the Israelites
had to a giant he was head and shoulders above
the rest of them but he's sitting quietly in
his tent said oh you can borrow my armor you
go and fight him not the quality of kingship
we're really looking for didn't put David off
he goes out there and he brings Goliath down
He puts his life on the line, substituting himself
to bring salvation to that army. And indeed,
if you like, to prefigure the great work that
Jesus would do in his substitutionary atonement
for us. So we do see a wonderful way in which
King David is, if you like, prefiguring the great
victories that Jesus was about to unfold. Of
course, as Gospel of Matthew will later go on
to tell us. And again, we have to notice, yes,
he falls short. There were all sorts of ways
in which his great victories show taint of sin
and selfishness and shortcoming. Clearly he should
not have had an adulterous relationship with
Bathsheba. He should not have arranged the death
of her husband Uriah. On and on goes the list
of failings. But he was, we know, a man after
God's own heart who repented when he sinned.
And God was merciful and kind and forgave him.
And so we see how these things are again just
beginning to point us to who Jesus is going to
be. Who Jesus was and is. He comes not only to
be a son of Abraham, but also the son of David.
He's a royal family. You can imagine at this
point, this is sort of reading that someone like
King Herod would not have enjoyed very much.
Because King Herod, who was on the throne, half
Jewish, half Edomite. didn't enjoy hearing people's
ancestry because he couldn't have had a reading
like that. His ancestry did not go back to Abraham.
And he was so angry about that, he had all the
records destroyed. So no one was quite sure where
their ancestry went back to. It was quite clear
that God was doing something unique and powerful
in raising up his servant, Jesus. And then what
we, of course, have here is in Jesus, we have
the Son of God inaugurating God's kingdom. So
when you get to the end of this list, and Jacob,
the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, slight
chicane at that point, because Jesus is not the
son of Joseph. Already a little bit of a hint
that something strange is going on here. And
of course, one has to read on. And then if you
may have attended a Christian nativity stories
in the past, we'll know what's coming up next.
We see the whole story unfold, an amazing, miraculous
revelation that God is taking on human flesh
yes to be a son of Abraham yes to be a son of
David but most significantly to be the son of
God no matter how well you do as a son of Abraham
no matter how well you do as a son of David you're
not going to be able to fulfill the covenant
promises it has to be a divine as well as a human
deliverer and that's what we see unfolding in
the verses that come next we see this wonderful
sense of God having preserved his people through
the exile That's something you can't simply take
for granted. It's not like the nation went on
holiday for a little while to Babylon. Holiday
over, we all pack up and come home. A lot of
the folks never came home. When nations are sent
into exile, that's often the end of a nation.
What happened to the ten tribes north of Judah?
It's much more of a scattering effect. So the
very fact that God had graciously preserved his
people through all those generations of exile
was again a way in which we could say... God
was faithfully preserving his people and bringing
them back safe and well. He was so determined
to bring his blessing to the nations, so determined
to bring a vanquishing of the enemies, he was
watching over his folks throughout all these
things. And of course we notice that when Jesus
comes... not only to fulfill those promises of
blessing to the nations, but also to fulfill
the promise of the vanquishing of enemies. It's
not just the nations of Philistines and others.
It's actually to overcome the much bigger, greater,
more pernicious enemies of sin and death and
the devil. He comes to take them on so that his
kingdom can be inaugurated, so the spirit of
God can come back, the glory of the Lord can
be revealed, and his full purposes can be made
known. So that at last the blessings can indeed
come to the nations and peace be restored on
the earth and the new heavens and the new earth
and all that is to come. So we can see these
things neatly tucked away in this sort of wonderful
overture to the whole of the gospel that lies
ahead of us. But it's also a great reminder,
not only for the celebrations of Christmas that
we'll be engaged in these next days, but also
in the ministries that lie ahead. You can have
every confidence that this Jesus that you go
out to proclaim, not only is he the son of Abraham,
not only is he the son of David, he's also the
son of God. And that is the reason we have good
news, a blessing for the nations, an overcoming
of our enemies, and an inauguration of the kingdom
that one day will be revealed in all its glory.
And our joy is to live in the knowledge of these
things and to be equipped to go and proclaim
these things faithfully to all generations. Let's
bow our heads in prayer. My dear God, we do thank
you for your gospel writers who've helped us
to see who Jesus is. We thank you particularly
for the witness of Abraham and David, but most
of all for the life and work of Jesus and for
his presence amongst us now through the Spirit.
We pray that in this season of Advent and as
we prepare for Christmas, that the good news
of Jesus will be proclaimed in power in this
nation and around the world. that people would
hear and see and come to be followers of him.
I need to equip each one of us here present to
go and proclaim these glad tidings. And we pray
these things in Jesus' name. Amen.