Every Hero Needs an Origin Story: The King's Bloodline
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted
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Worthy of Your Name
WELCOME
Call to worship
Welcome! (in-person/online)
In just a moment we’ll hear a reading from the text for today’s sermon in Matthew 1:1. Turn there now.
While you’re turning, 5 quick announcements:
1) A word about PBC. We are servants.
2) Sam’s announcement (student ministry updates)
3) Matthew Family Devotionals (blue flag)
4) Members Meeting tonight
Potluck at 5:30 PM in the fellowship hall
Bring a dish or two to share
Meeting in the chapel around 6 PM
Offering for Afghan relief [want to give today, mark “relief” on your check/envelope]
Pick up a packet before you leave today
5) Welcome Congresswoman Elaine Luria and her Peninsula Constituency Representative Caleb Smith
Her office was instrumental in helping us finalize our adoption process, so they reached out about visiting us after hearing our story.
The Apostle Paul says in Romans 13, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. . . . Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”
We just want to say thank you for not coming to tax us today
In all seriousness, we do thank you for serving in government and we commit to honor and pray for you
I’m sure Elaine would love to meet any of you that are willing after the service
Now look in your Bibles at Matthew 1:1. Our text begins, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham.”
What follows is a big long list of names, some which are notoriously difficult to pronounce.
Our brother in Christ, Andrew Peterson, has put this list of names to music.
Pay attention to the screens before our sister Linda comes to finish reading our passage and pray for us.
Video (“Matthew’s Begats”)
Scripture Reading (Matthew 1:17—Linda Butler)
Prayer of Praise (God is peace)
Awesome is the Lord Most High
O Worship the King
Prayer of Confession (Covetousness—Sterling Tollison)
Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me
NEW CITY CATECHISM #35
To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus
For my life is wholly bound to His
Oh how strange and divine, I can sing, "All is mine"
Yet not I, but through Christ in me
How do we hold onto this Jesus? How can we have faith like this? We’re not born with it, we don’t work for it, we receive it as a gift.
Ephesians 2:8—For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
Which is the gift, grace or faith? Yes.
We have faith because God gives us faith. That’s the focus of our catechism question for today.
Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through faith alone, where does this faith come from?
All the gifts we receive from Christ we receive through the Holy Spirit, including faith itself.
PASTORAL PRAYER
Thanksgiving—Church government
Jesus, you loved us to much to leave us like sheep without a shepherd
Thank you for telling us in Your Word who pastors—your under-shepherds—are supposed to be and what they’re supposed to do
Thank you that shepherding ministry is shared
Thank you for Pastor Mike, Pastor Mike, and Pastor John
Thank you that they help keep watch over my soul, even as they help me keep watch over the souls of this flock
Help all of us to be good shepherds...
not shepherding because we must, but because we are willing
not because of what we can get, but because of what we can give
not lording it over those entrusted to our care, but being examples to the flock
Prayer for PBC—Culture of discipleship
We exist to glorify Jesus by shepherding sinners from lost to leader
Thank you for all the ways that’s happening...
Discipleship Groups
Fellowship Groups
Sunday School classes
Pastoral residency program
Informal accountability groups
Book studies
Life-on-life conversations during tabletalk on Sunday nights
Even through what and how we pray on Sunday mornings
Help us not to let up. Help older men to teach younger, older women to teach younger, etc.!
Prayer for sister church—Nansemond River Baptist Church (Ryan Brice)
Bless their leaders
Bless their service today
Bring revival there!
Prayer for US—Congresswoman Elaine Luria
Thank you for her presence today
Thank you for establishing her as one of our governing authorities
Your Word says she and other government authorities are “God’s servants for our good.”
Help us to honor her in how we talk to her and about her, and in our faithfulness to pray for her
Help Christians to be different from our hyper-partisan culture
Thank you for her recent work to honor breastfeeding moms and state and local law enforcement
May she be a voice of compassion, reason, courage, wisdom and truth on Capitol Hill and across the state
Help her to lead in a way that honors the human dignity of all her constituents, from the womb to the tomb
Prayer for the world—Haiti
7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14
Over 60,000 homes destroyed
Another 76,000 damaged
Thousands homeless
Thousands injured
More than 2200 dead
UNICEF estimates more than half a million children were affected
Still haven’t recovered from an earthquake that killed nearly 200,000 people a decade ago
God we don’t understand. Help us to trust you!
Bring healing!
Use this tragedy to spotlight the mercy ministry done by Christians from Haiti and beyond (for your glory!!!)
Send laborers
Pray for the sermon
SERMON
Last week the trailer for the next Spider-Man adventure, Spider-Man: No Way Home was released and quickly broke the record for most global views in 24 hours. The trailer was viewed over 355 million times within 24 hours.
I won’t tell you how many of those views came from my devices, but it was more than one.
Within hours of the trailer’s release, dozens of videos about the trailer were released, breaking down the trailer, showing you the things you missed, showing you the “easter eggs,” etc.
I won’t tell you how many of those videos I watched either.
"Why are you talking about movie trailers?”
I’m going to be talking for the next 40-45 minutes about a list of names in Matthew 1.
Initially it may feel about as exciting as listening to someone read the Jerusalem phone book.
Young people, we used to have these books with names and phone numbers. You know what, just google it.
Our text in Matthew isn’t boring! It’s like a movie trailer, filled with easter eggs.
It’s a clue-filled preview of the type of king that Jesus will be.
Turn to Matthew 1:1
Why would Matthew, writing around AD 60, feel it’s necessary to include these detailed family tree?
"Why wouldn’t Matthew include a genealogy? Don’t biographers usually talk about where their subject comes from?”
The Gospels are not modern biographies
Biographies attempt to tell a comprehensive account of a person’s life story
That’s not the goal of Matthew or the other gospel writers. Each of the four gospel writers have certain emphases and perspectives, and they include and omit different details in order to make a point.
Like four camera angles at a football game. They’re all showing the same events, they’re all true and accurate, but each is telling its own story from a slightly different perspective.
This is a slight oversimplification, but...
John emphasizes the fact that Jesus is the Son of God
No genealogy
John 1:1—“In the beginning was the Word”
Mark emphasizes the fact that Jesus is the suffering servant
No genealogy because, of course, few people care where a servant comes from
Luke emphasizes the fact that Jesus is the son of man
Traces Jesus’ lineage through Mary all the way back to Adam
Matthew emphasizes the fact that Jesus is the King
Traces Jesus’ lineage through His adoptive dad, Joseph.
This would be Jesus‘ legal genealogy which is exactly what you need for a king
The genealogy in Matthew is a clue-filled preview of the type of king that Jesus will be.
We find a summary statement of all those clues in the opening verse...
Matthew 1:1—The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Five Major Clues in Matthew’s Genealogy:
1. Jesus is a NEW Kind of King
1. Jesus is a NEW Kind of King
Every four years in America, we’re subjected to campaign promises about a new kind of leader, one who will fix everything that the last guy messed up.
"Change We Can Believe In”
"Make America Great Again!"
"Restore The Soul of The Nation"
“Save America”
Matthew presents Jesus as a new kind of king, but he doesn’t begin by contrasting Jesus with the kings of Rome or the long-dead kings of Israel. He goes much further back.
Matthew 1:1—The book of the genealogy...
To see what that phrase has to do with Jesus being a new kind of king, we need a quick history lesson.
In Matthew’s day the Scriptures most people had access to would’ve been what’s called the Septuagint.
SHOW SEPTUAGINT IMAGE
The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek, which was the common written language of the day.
It got its name from the Latin word for “seventy,” since that’s likely the number of scholars that were involved in translating the OT into Greek.
We know Matthew studied the Septuagint because he often alludes to it or quotes it directly. Including in the first two words of his gospel.
Matthew 1:1—The book of the genealogy...
Two words in the original language
Biblos geneseos (“book of origins”)
That phrase was used only two times in Matthew’s Old Testament, both in the book of Genesis, which is itself a “Biblos geneseos,” a book of origins.
The first is in Genesis 2:4 and it refers to the origins of the heavens and the earth. The second is...
Genesis 5:1—This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
In Genesis, Adam appears on the scene as man in the likeness of God.
And he’s a kind of king.
He’s given a perfect kingdom to rule, yet he fails miserably.
In Matthew, Jesus appears on the scene as God in the likeness of man.
But He’s a new kind of king.
He’s given a fallen kingdom to restore, and He succeeds in ways no one could have imagined.
Paul highlights the contrast between Jesus and Adam...
Romans 5:18-19—Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
All of us fell when King Adam sinned (like the felled oak tree)
All who believe in King Jesus are raised to new life
Apply: The problem with all those campaign slogans is that they tempt us to live for too small a king and too small a kingdom. Jesus isn’t just better than the last guy. He’s better than the first guy too. And everybody in between.
Notice also, Matthew wants us to see Jesus as a real, historical character...
One Bible teacher tells the following story:
“During a preaching mission in India in 1969, I learned of a young Hindu man who came to Christ by reading the first chapter of Matthew. When asked what there was about the genealogy which led to his conversion, he stated that for the first time he had found a religion which is actually rooted in history in contrast to the mythology of Hinduism and Buddhism. Matthew roots his Gospel in history, beginning with the lineage of the King.” [4]
The genealogy in Matthew hints that Jesus is a new kind of king. Matthew also hints that...
2. Jesus is a GRACIOUS King
2. Jesus is a GRACIOUS King
Hands down, The Emperor’s New Groove is one of the best Disney films of all time. It tells the story of a narcissistic king named Kuzco who plans to celebrate his birthday by destroying a local village in order to build an extravagant summer home complete with a swimming pool. Kuzco doesn’t care who he hurts in the process, as long as he gets what he wants in the end.
Sadly, Kuzco’s story isn’t that far-fetched. History is filled with stories of kings and rulers who lived for what they could squeeze out of others.
Jesus was a different kind of king. In fact, Matthew hints at that in the next words of his gospel...
Matthew 1:1—The book of the genealogy of Jesus...
“Yeshua” or “Joshua,” meaning “Yahweh saves”
In Matthew 1:21, the Lord tells Joseph in a dream that he should call Mary’s baby “Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
This isn’t merely evident in Jesus’ name, it’s also evident in His family tree. Jesus comes from a long line of sinners that needed saving
Look at some of the names in Jesus’ family tree...
Abraham lied about his wife, slept with a servant girl, then kicked her and their baby out of his house and left them to die in the wilderness
Jacob was a chronic liar, a polygamist, and his family was a nightmare
Judah had twins after sleeping with his daughter-in-law who was disguised as a prostitute
David stole Uriah’s wife, impregnated her, then killed her husband
Solomon had a harem that would make Hugh Hefner look like a nun in comparison
Rehoboam was a fool whose pride divided an entire nation
Manasseh was an idol worshipper who sacrificed his own children to his false gods
We could go on, but you get the point. Jesus family tree includes some pretty bad people.
Patrick Schreiner—“The family from which Jesus comes reveals the family for which He comes.” [2]
Jesus came from some pretty bad people because that’s the only type of people there are. Jesus came from some pretty bad people because He came for some pretty bad people.
This truth must have been pretty special to Matthew, the human author of this book...
Matthew 9:9-13—As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he rose and followed Him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when He heard it, He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Apply: if you’re not a sinner, you don’t need this Jesus. The problem is, you know you are. We all do! Even if we disagree on what sin is, we all know we’ve fallen short of something.
The genealogy in Matthew hints that Jesus is a gracious king. Matthew also hints that...
3. Jesus is the LONG-AWAITED King
3. Jesus is the LONG-AWAITED King
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States. This was a victory some had hoped and prayed for a long time. After over 200 years filled with suffering and waiting, the United States of America finally had a black man in its highest office.
The Jewish people also knew what it was like to wait for a king...
Thousands and thousands of years before Jesus walked on earth, God first made a promise about this One who would come...
Genesis 3:15—I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
The rest of the Old testament is pointing to this Promised One they called the Messiah...
Genesis 12:3—He would come from Abraham’s family and would bless all the nations on earth.
Genesis 49:10—He would come from the tribe of Judah
2 Samuel 7:12—He would be a descendent of David
Isaiah 7:14—He would be born of a virgin
Micah 5:2—He would be born in Bethlehem
Deuteronomy 18:15—He would be a “prophet like Moses” and we better listen to what He has to say
Zechariah 9:9-10—He would celebrated as He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey
Psalm 22:16-18—His enemies would pierce his hands and his feet and cast lots for his clothing
Isaiah 53:5—He would be pierced for our transgression and crushed for our iniquities
Zechariah 12:10—people would look on the one they pierced and find cleaning from their sin
Isaiah 53:9—He would die among the wicked but be buried with the rich.
Psalm 16:10—He would be resurrected from the grave, for God would not allow His Holy One to suffer decay
Those are just a handful out of hundreds of references to this long-awaited king.
And Matthew tells us who He is...
Matthew 1:1—The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ...
“Christ” isn’t Jesus’ last name, it’s a title.
Like “William the Conqueror” or “Alexander the Great.”
The word Christ literally means “anointed one,” and was the common Jewish title for the long-awaited Messiah
Although the Jewish people didn’t always understand this, when the prophets talked about the long-awaited Messiah, they were talking about God Himself...
Isaiah 9:6—For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The coming Messiah is none other than God Himself!
Peter understood this when Jesus asked Him who Peter thought He was...
Matthew 16:13-17—Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
That’s why when Matthew gets to Jesus’ name in the genealogy, he totally changes the format...
Up to that point it’s been “____so-and-so______ was the father of ___so-and-so_______”
Matthew 1:16—and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
Joseph isn’t called the father of Jesus, but “the husband of Mary”
The genealogy in Matthew hints that Jesus is the long-awaited king, He’s the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Apply: Who do you say this Jesus is?
C.S. Lewis—I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. [3]
The genealogy in Matthew also hints that...
4. Jesus is the FOREVER King
4. Jesus is the FOREVER King
Most of you know that I am a native of central Ohio and therefore a big fan of THE Ohio State Buckeyes. I’ve been privileged to watch the Buckeyes win two national championships in my lifetime, once in 2002 and once in 2014 (two more than Michigan has won during that time period).
When your team wins the national championship, you feel like the king of the sports world… at least for a few minutes.
Earlier this year, after watching the Buckeyes lose the national championship to Alabama, I watched as the commentators started talking about who would win next year.
In a way that’s a good picture of most kingdoms. In the great span of history, they don’t really last that long. Kings come and go.
Matthew wants us to know that the kingdom of Jesus is different.
Matthew 1:1—The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David...
Matthew refers to Jesus as the “son of David” almost 2x as much as the other gospels put together. He alludes to David even more.
Why? Because without question the greatest king in Israel’s history was David. He was a man after God’s own heart, and God’s people never saw the same levels of unity and faithfulness before or after David’s reign.
2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16—“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. . . . And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”
Three times we’re told that the Son of David will be a forever king. Matthew is telling us, Jesus is that forever king.
We also get two more glimpses of this at the end of the genealogy...
Matthew 1:17—So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
14 generations: Matthew isn’t telling us there’s only 14 generations, he’s just highlighting the number 14. Why? In Matthew’s day, many Jewish people practiced something called gematria. Each letter was assigned a number and you would add up the numbers in a word to get a word’s numeric value
Dad = D (4) + a (1) +d (4) = 9
David = 14
Matthew divides the story of Israel into four phases: (1) Abraham (2) David (3) exile (4) Jesus
What’s phase 5? There isn’t a phase 5! It’s Jesus until “the end of the age”
Apply: you’re going to live for a king and a kingdom. The only question is, how long will that king keep his crown? How long will his kingdom last?
Football
Work
Sex
Money
Fame
Power
The genealogy in Matthew hints that Jesus is the forever king. Finally...
5. Jesus is a GLOBAL King
5. Jesus is a GLOBAL King
Matthew 1:1—The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
On the one hand, Matthew is positioning Jesus as a part of Israel’s story
But remember God’s plan always was for Abraham to bring hope and blessing to all the nations.
Genesis 12:1-3—Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 22:18—“…and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed...”
As the son of Abraham, Matthew wants us to know that Jesus is the offspring through whom all the nations will be blessed.
Galatians 3:16—Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
Matthew hints at Jesus being a global king in the genealogy...
Four women mentioned in the genealogy...
3—Tamar
5—Rahab
5—Ruth
6—the wife of Uriah
What unites them? It seems that they may have all been Gentiles
Not sure, but Tamar was likely a Canaanite (Judah married a Canaanite, so it’s probable his sons did as well)
Rahab was a Canaanite from Jericho
Ruth was a Moabite
Bathsheba was married to a Hittite, and was probably a Hittite herself
Matthew 28:18b-20—“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
All nations!!!
Do we care about the suffering in Afghanistan, Haiti, and beyond? We should!
The genealogy in Matthew is a clue-filled preview of the type of king that Jesus will be.
He’s a new kind of king, a gracious king, the long-awaited king, the forever king, and a global king.
Seen a lot of movie trailers. Many of them were awesome, but the film didn’t live up to the hype.
Jesus does.
Movie trailers invite you to see more.
Lean in to Matthew’s Gospel!
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
BENEDICTION
2 John 3—“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.” Go in peace.