WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:25.760 Anybody else remember your first day of high school? 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:26.640 Just me. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:27.120 Good. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:27.440 Okay. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:30.879 I'm glad we're we're all together today. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:41.200 Came from a very small Christian school, there's like 30 in my class, to a large high school, public high school. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:43.600 Knew no one, or at least that's what I thought. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:47.920 The very first day, afraid to go to the wrong class, you know. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:49.679 I did. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:53.280 And then had nowhere, no idea where to be. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:57.039 And so wherever my class ended up was in the very back of campus. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:58.240 It was lunchtime. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:01.439 I sat and ate lunch by myself, you know. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:06.239 It wasn't until the end of the week that I ran into someone I know, and they're like, Oh, I didn't know you'd go here. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:07.760 I'm like, I didn't know you'd go here. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:08.640 Where have you been? 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:09.920 I'm like, way back there. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.760 And they're like, nobody hangs out there. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:12.560 I know. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:16.159 Um come up, you know, towards the front of campus. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:17.920 I'm like, oh, that makes sense. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:26.560 And and so like I'm just searching, like so many of us are in those teenage high school years of like, where do I belong? 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.159 Where do I fit? 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:30.719 Uh, you know, where is my where's my place? 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.280 And and I'm a big basketball player. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:35.519 Basketball is my life, especially in high school. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:40.079 I'd spend so many hours in the front driveway practicing, getting ready. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:48.159 And in October, basketball tryouts began, and I was so excited because, okay, I I think this is my try. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:49.359 This is my place. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:55.519 And if you've never done uh a tryout, let me share a little bit how it goes at the high school level. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:05.760 Um, a coach wants to um, well, they want to try to test your commitment and get you off the team before you're even on the team. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:13.840 And so practices were from seven until nine at night, Monday through Friday, and they would run you so hard. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:24.719 Uh literally, I apologize for the graphicness, but in between liners, which is you're running up and down the court, uh, is you would go, I did this, a number of us, we just throw up outside. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:31.120 You go outside, you'd you'd leave it all out there, then you'd have to come back in and you'd do it all over again. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:38.479 Five nights in a row, you're doing drills, you're just hoping the coach sees you, you're kind of measuring up yourself against everyone else, right? 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:40.319 You're like, okay, I'm better than him. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:41.520 Ooh, that's good. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.599 You're trying to see where you're at. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:54.639 And at the very end, on the last practice, on the last tryout, the coach takes a paper and he puts it on the door and he walks away. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:00.879 And on that paper is a list of those who made it on the team. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:06.240 40, 50 guys at tryout, 12, maybe 15 make the team. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:13.120 And you can just only imagine a crowd rushes to that door to see is your name on the list? 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:14.639 Did you make it? 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:16.080 Do you belong? 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:18.319 Did you measure up? 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:22.719 And you'd see guys walk away dejected. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:27.439 And then you'd see guys walk away just, I made it! My name's there. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:30.639 And you know what's interesting? 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:36.879 That question, where do I truly belong, isn't just a high school question, is it? 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:38.879 It's a human question. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:43.120 We ask this question all the time and wrestle with it. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:45.199 Did I make the cut? 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.280 Am I good enough? 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:53.439 Maybe in the church context spiritually, does God really want me? 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.560 You know what's interesting is there are many people who are Christians. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:12.719 Who get, I get that Jesus loves me, but it almost the way I think about it is like, it's almost like he just puts up with me. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:19.439 Like I get that I'm kind of on the team, but maybe I'm just the water boy, you know. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.879 Like God just kind of puts up with me. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.120 Does God really want me? 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:32.160 Who actually belongs to the family of God? 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:38.000 Today we're continuing our series out of the Gospel of Matthew, the name. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:41.279 Last week we looked at the Son of Promise, Jesus. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:55.759 Matthew is helping us see who Jesus is, that he is the coming, long-awaited hope of the world, the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us, this wonderful counselor, this mighty God, this everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:03.199 Today we're gonna look at a part of the Bible that if you've ever opened it, if you ever read it, uh, this is the part you probably skip. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.600 This is the genealogy of Jesus. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:12.959 This is the list of names that you're like, why in the world did they include this? 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:20.639 Like, and when you think about Matthew, you're like, I could have come up with a better introduction, Matthew. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:23.040 We we covered verse one last week. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:29.199 This is the genealogy of Jesus, Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham, and then there's verse after verse. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:35.360 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:36.560 You're like, I get it. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:40.160 There's a lot of people that had babies and babies after them. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:41.600 Thank you very much. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:43.360 What's the point? 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:48.240 Here's the point. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:58.720 Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus to make an emphatic point about all who actually belong. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:16.160 The very heart of God, the very gospel of Jesus is actually being declared in this genealogy and in a world and a culture that said, if you didn't measure up, if you didn't meet certain standards, you do not belong. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.800 Matthew, from the outset of his gospel, is saying, I'll belong. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:24.720 And he does it right in the genealogy. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.800 He begins, or actually he concludes the genealogy this way. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:35.439 In Matthew chapter 1, verse 17, he says, Thus there were, uh let me, I can read it right there. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:48.800 So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations, from David to the deportation of Babylon were 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ were 14 generations. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:54.480 And so he kind of gives you the framing of how he broke down this genealogy. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:07:20.639 Abraham to David, the father of the nation of Israel to David, the great king, from David to Babylon, from the great king to this incredible descent into despair and darkness, to the exile, to the people of Israel being taken away to Babylon, then from Babylon to Jesus. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:26.319 And he's unpacking the genealogy or the generations of Jesus. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.040 And a few things I want you to note about genealogies. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:36.079 Ancient genealogies were always working to communicate multiple layers of communication and information. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:43.279 Ancient Hebrew genealogies was one about pedigree, like uh we want to know, is Jesus from the line of David? 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:45.120 Another about purity. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:51.439 Uh, is he of this pure ethnic line that was very important to the Jewish people in their day? 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.560 And then the other is the area of theology. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:58.720 Ancient genealogies were always making theological claims. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:05.920 In fact, Matthew uses this uh like uh uh device, he's saying there's 14 generations. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:11.439 Well, if you go back and study, you'll you'll notice there there's actually more than 14 generations. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:24.800 It was, I mean, this doesn't work in our day, but leaving out generations to create symbolic numbers on general uh gene genealogies, thank you very much, is a common Hebrew literary practice. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:26.240 He uses that 14. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:32.320 Uh the Hebrew language, the letters actually have numeric value. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:33.679 That's how you count. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:41.840 And so if you actually take David's name, then what David's name numerically adds up to is 14. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:51.360 And he's trying to, even in this, help us understand, woven throughout, that Jesus is the long-awaited king, the Messiah. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:06.240 Out of these three, Abraham to David, David to Babylon, Babylon to Jesus, what we're seeing is the gospel right up front through these opening names. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:16.320 And I want to give you just three hookholds of the way Matthew is weaving the gospel for all people, all of us to belong. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:24.159 He's gonna give us in the first framing four women and then two name changes and then a list of nobodies. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.000 And this is the gospel. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:30.639 Four women, two name changes, and a list of nobodies. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:32.320 Uh, let's begin with four women. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:39.440 The four women from Abraham to David, these are unconventional heroes in the patriarchal narrative. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:46.000 Uh, the four women he's gonna list out Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:59.519 These are four new matriarchs that he's gonna highlight where in genealogies you would only include women in the ancient day if it helped your pedigree or your purity. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.600 And what we find is all four of these women do not help. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.120 All four of them were foreigners, they were non-Israelites. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:10.639 They're outcasts from the Jewish people. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:15.440 And then there's scandal involving three out of the four. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:22.799 Uh, Matthew could have included four matriarchs, the four primary ones, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:36.399 But he instead he includes these four to unpack this gospel of grace, God's divine mercy, how he's actively working, and who belongs a part of the family line of God. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:38.639 Let's begin with Tamar. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:43.600 She was a Canaanite, and she was actually victimized by Judah. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:47.200 This is a story that is complex, it's weird. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:49.279 You can find it in Genesis 38. 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:57.279 I don't have time to even unpack the like cultural complexities, the marriage rites and customs of their day. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:08.720 Uh, but ultimately, uh, when it gets down to it, Tamar was one who actually lost two husbands, father-in-law deceived and treated her to shame. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:12.399 She was passed over, unfairly treated, neglected. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:20.799 Judah, who would be the one that was prophesied that the king would come through, actually is the villain in this story. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:26.000 And Tamar, the Canaanite, Judah will eventually say, You are more righteous than I. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:35.200 First, we see the divine mercy of God of highlighting Tamar, who had been overlooked, passed by, unfairly treated, neglected to shame. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:37.039 And then you see Rahab. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.600 Uh, she's a Jerichoite. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.360 Her profession, well, problematic. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:45.200 A prostitute. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:54.639 Uh, when the Israelites went into the uh, they're going into the promised land, the first city that they were to address was Jericho. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:56.000 The spies go into the land. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:12:01.759 Now, why the spies are hiding out in a prostitute's uh house, I don't know. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:03.840 Again, problematic. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:22.399 And yet she took them and hid them and uh gave them safe harbor, and as a result of her kindness and her faith, her her and her whole family were saved, and she is now in the line of David as one of the great great-grandmothers. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.960 Her past problematic, and she was morally compromised. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:32.879 We're seeing that, okay, this is a unique matriarchal uh four that we're seeing. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.039 Tamar, Rahab, and then Ruth. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:36.639 Ruth, a Moabite. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:44.639 A Moabite, uh, they were among the most uh alien and hated of people, the Moabites and the Israelites. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.120 They did not get along. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.759 Longstanding vitriol. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.080 She was a racial outcast. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:56.159 And you can pick up her story, and it's what's amazing is Ruth's entire story. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:16.240 One of the few who's has a book named after her in the uh ancient Hebrew scriptures is this Moabite woman who had unwavering loyalty, another story of tragic loss, lost her husband, followed her mother-in-law back into a country that did not want her. 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:27.039 And I just think as we begin to go through this, what you're seeing is Matthew is exposing all of the family secrets that you want to gloss over, ignore, and cover up. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.960 The things that we go, yeah, you know, let's let's let's not really bring that to light. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:40.799 And he's like, no, no, no, this is actually the beauty of the expansive nature of God's grace and mercy on display for all of us. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:47.039 And he closes with Bathsheba, a Hittite through marriage, and actually exploited by David. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.120 And the way he brings it up, listen to this. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:54.080 Notice how the way uh Matthew unpacks Bathsheba, because he doesn't even say Bathsheba's name. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:58.399 He says, And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:06.480 Like, I get that David is this great king, but but he also had great failure. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:10.000 Don't you love that about the Bible, though? 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:11.840 No, it's just me. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:12.399 Okay. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:25.279 It's not a list of perfect people who have everything perfectly laid out, and that if you don't live this perfect life and you have it, then you failed, you don't make the cut, you don't make the list. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:35.919 It's just painfully, painfully transparent, painfully authentic, painfully real and human. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:52.799 And unpacking the type of people that God desperately loves and came for and embraces and welcomes in his family tree. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:15:00.879 If you don't know the story of David and Bathsheba, you can listen to that great song Hallelujah to get some of that. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:11.360 David sees Bathsheba bathing, wants her, calls for her, sleeps with her, uses her, gets her pregnant. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:19.279 Then Uriah, who's not even an Israelite, but he's on the front lines of battle for Israel. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:22.799 Calls him back, tries to get her him to sleep with his wife. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:23.360 He won't. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.440 He's such a winsome man. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:35.279 He sleeps on the front porch of the palace because his troops are away and they are not at home, and he won't sleep with his in his own house because of them. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:44.080 David should have been with them, but he wasn't, and so then he devises a plan to send Uriah out and to be killed in battle. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.799 This is part of the family tree. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:02.399 Who does God include? 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:17.840 The outcast, the ostracized, the overlooked, the mistreated, the brokenhearted, those suffering deep loss, those who have had deep injustices done to them, and those who have done deep injustices. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.720 The outsider, the morally compromised. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:27.600 The gospel flings wide the door of belonging to every person on the planet. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:32.480 These four. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:43.519 They're pedigree. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.720 And Matthew from the outset. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.960 He says they're part of Jesus' family tree. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:16:59.279 They're part of the Messiah's family tree. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.360 They are on the list. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:03.919 Four women, divine mercy. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.640 And then we see two name changes. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:11.440 Before that, Martin Luther said this, the great reformer. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:15.839 He said, Oh, Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:19.200 In fact, he puts them in his family tree. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:25.039 Now, if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:26.799 Let me say that again. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:45.680 Now, if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise, to look down, to have some sort of spiritual elitism or snobbery or uh separatism, judgmentalism, criticism. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:55.440 So ought we to despise no one but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:59.039 Four women, Abraham and David. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:05.200 And if you thought that the list of names got worse, uh better, it doesn't, it gets worse. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:09.039 From David to Babylon. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:21.839 From David to Babylon, if if in the mind of um a Jewish person in the ancient days, especially, you would think from Abraham to David is this ascent. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:36.160 Like you're seeing God chose this family, this man out of all the other nations, and it grows to Israel and David the great king being, you know, one of the world's superpowers in that day. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:40.480 And then from that point, you see this incredible descent. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:50.079 It could be, as Jim Collins said it in How the Mighty Fall, the hubris of success, that we don't need God anymore because we've already gotten to the top. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:19:12.559 And if you read the lines of kings that uh are in the list here, most of them during this time, from David to Babylon, to the point when Israel and Judah were conquered by superpower nations, they were then subjugated, and the best and brightest were deported out of the country. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:19.599 From that time, that stretch of time that brought us all the way to Babylon, or is exile, they were put into exile. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:24.640 Is evil king after evil king and dark days. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:33.839 Here's what's incredible: in the midst of the dark days, in the midst of your worst days, we see two name changes. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:43.839 And these two name changes are fascinating because even some of your uh translations, they don't uh actually translate back to what the king's names were. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:56.079 But Matthew is making a deeply theological point here, and he changes two names, and the ancient Israelites they would have known their king's names, and so they would have seen exactly what he was doing. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:03.920 And he changes King Asa, and he changes his name uh from King Asa's and inserts the psalmist Asaph. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:16.000 Like, like when you experience the four women, the divine mercy, the belonging of the uh family of God, what Jesus is bringing is fundamentally spiritual renewal. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:26.720 Like, like the inserts of like whatever dark moment you are working and walking through, Jesus longs to bring spiritual renewal into your life. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:37.680 Asaf is uh with David, the other great psalmist and writer, and he wrote all about the renewal of what God would do, that God is my king from long ago. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.000 He'll bring salvation on earth. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:47.519 And then King Amon, he inserts the prophet Amos from spiritual renewal to social restoration. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:55.279 Notice Jesus comes to bring into your life spiritual renewal that will produce social restoration. 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:08.400 Amos was actually, he lived on the border, uh, and at this time in the history, Israel got divided into two kingdoms, the northern ten tribes, Israel, the southern two tribes, Judah. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:16.000 Amos is living right in the middle of these two kingdoms, and he's prophesying to the kingdom of Israel, the northern ten tribes. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:23.839 Now, they at this moment in time were externally successful, but they were spiritually bankrupt. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:42.880 They were affluent and they worshiped God with their lips and they sang the songs, they did all the religious things, and yet they exploited the poor, they mistreated the marginalized, they they would turn their brother and sister into debtors' slaves. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:46.480 And Amos is calling out this great injustice. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:56.559 He says, Away with the noise of your songs, I'll not listen to the music of your harps, but let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:02.559 That Jesus, when he He comes, he changes you. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:09.039 And as he changes you, you begin to be a change agent in the world that you live in. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:13.359 That you bring restoration and hope and life and peace. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:18.559 That word justice refers to concrete actions to correct injustices. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:25.759 That word righteous is a standard of right, equitable relationships between people, no matter their social differences. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:42.079 We see four women in the divine mercy of God poured out, all who belong to the family of God, and that Jesus has the power to change your name, to change your story, to change your direction, no matter how dark the hour is. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:49.039 When you experience the divine mercy of God, he gives you a new name, adopted into the family of God. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:54.079 Four women, two name changes, and then a list of nobodies. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:59.200 You kind of round it out, and at least you have notable kings. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:04.640 You understand what's going on with the kings, and then he concludes with a list of nobodies. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:06.720 Babylon to Jesus. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:18.960 It says, after the deportation of Babylon, Jakonaniah was the father of Sheiliah, and Sheilatia was the father of Zerubabel, and then Zerubel the father of people we don't know. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:28.720 Now Zerubabel, he's the one who came back from exile, led uh the restoration and rebuilding of the temple. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:39.119 And then there's name after name, and there certainly was uh scribes who took down the generations and were keeping track, but but these are these are nobodies. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:44.240 People we don't know, people you've never heard of. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:47.839 And isn't that just like God? 00:23:49.440 --> 00:24:12.880 That in all hope is lost when there's no king in sight, when what happened was if you take your Bible like mine and it says Matthew here, and you flip over one page, it says Malachi, this one little page it is represents 400 years of silence where there was no prophetic voice. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:18.000 It looked like the Son of Promise would never come. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:26.400 It was in that place, in a list of nobodies, that God showed up on the scene. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:34.240 When the people of God thought everything had fallen apart, God started to put everything back together again. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:37.359 Friends, let me just remind you. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:45.519 Because I don't know what the darkest, deepest days that you're walking through, but God is at work even when you can't see him. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:53.599 And even when it looks like all hope is lost, he is still working and his promises are true. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:00.640 And then God delights to use just ordinary nobodies. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:07.440 Ordinary nobodies like you and me to do extraordinary things. 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:15.359 I remember when I was um years ago, this was just starting out as a pastor, and I met some guy at a coffee shop and he had this line. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.559 It's now become more of a, you may know the line, you've heard it before. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:24.880 Uh, but this is about 20 years ago, and and he said this thing. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:36.799 He said, he said, you know, I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who can change and save anybody. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:38.799 I'm just a nobody. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:40.559 I mean, frankly, that's the reality. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:52.240 We're just a bunch of nobodies trying to tell everybody about the somebody who can change and save anybody. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:59.119 Because that's what happens with the four women when you with four women when you begin to experience the divine mercy of God. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.640 Oh my goodness, I don't I don't belong on the list. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:15.759 I didn't make the cut, I don't measure up, but you chose me, you accepted me, you brought me in, and then you changed my name, you gave me a new identity, you brought me in. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.920 I'm a part of the family of God, and now I can't shut up talking about you. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:23.759 And I just gotta tell everybody about you. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:29.440 You know, in high school, we do, we just want to belong. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:40.240 And for me to belong, I just tried to fit in and go along with what was going on, and I really, freshman, sophomore, junior year, I just walked away from Jesus. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.279 I did grow up in a home that loved Jesus. 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:49.599 I made a profession early on about him, and then I then I just kind of I just wanted to belong. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:51.119 I just wanted to fit. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:56.079 In fact, I remember one time uh someone came to church, saw me there, and said this. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:57.920 Now, granted, I was the pastor's kid. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.440 Okay, said this. 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:03.359 Oh, Ryan, I didn't know you're someone who'd go to church. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:09.680 Like, that's how radically different I live my life at high school as opposed to church. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:11.440 We live this dualistic life. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:15.599 The summer before my senior year, I had a Jesus moment. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:18.559 I encountered Jesus, he changed my life. 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:26.559 And you ever get around people, like the moment they come to know Jesus, the moment they realize I don't belong in the list, you walk me in, you change my life. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:29.519 They can't stop shutting up about Jesus. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:34.880 And I showed up my freshman year or my senior year, and we're in U.S. 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:38.400 Gov class, and I just couldn't help it. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:43.839 I'm not, I wasn't like cool or anything like that, but I'm sitting next to Preston Caffrey, the coolest kid in school. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:46.319 I mean, he was the coolest kid. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.519 But I he had so much charisma. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:51.680 Man, just envied that guy. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:53.599 He could sell snow to Eskimos. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:58.480 I mean, just and I remember turning to him, and U.S. 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:00.880 Gov, uh, our football coach was teaching it. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:02.640 He was droning on about some president. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:04.240 I don't know, wasn't listening. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:09.519 Um and I turned to Preston and I said, Has anybody told you about Jesus? 00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:10.880 Like a high school student. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:16.640 That's I didn't know what to do, but all I knew was Jesus changed my life, and I wanted somebody, I wanted them to know it. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.440 And I'm like, could anybody told you about Jesus? 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:20.720 He's like, No. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.559 I'm like, could I? 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:24.400 Sure. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:29.680 Like we're just sitting in class and teachers talking. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:35.839 And I just began to share how Jesus changed my life and tell him about Jesus at the end of class. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:38.319 He said, Hey, can we talk more? 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:41.119 And I was like, sure. 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:45.279 What about like, could I bring some friends over? 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:46.880 What do you mean, bring some friends over? 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:48.319 Yeah, can we talk at your house? 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:53.279 Can we meet at your house and maybe weekly and just talk about this Jesus thing? 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:56.000 Sure. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:08.319 Preston Caffrey, who I didn't know at the time, had lost his brother to leukema, leukemia earlier, going through the darkest days of his life. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:19.759 One silly high schooler that just had his life changed by Jesus, just shared Jesus in the most uncool, awkward way possible. 00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:32.000 And then Preston started a Bible study at my house with a bunch of his friends, and about 10 of them, plus Preston, came to know Jesus that year. 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:35.279 Just a nobody. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:40.000 Trying to tell everybody about the somebody. 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:42.880 I can save anybody. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:54.799 Like when you experience the radical acceptance and belonging of Jesus and his name change and identity change, you just can't help but share it. 00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:57.200 And that was Matthew's story, by the way. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:29:59.680 Matthew, who wrote this down. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:03.279 Let me share it with you because it's so phenomenal. 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:06.240 Matthew, later on, will tell how Jesus called him. 00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:07.599 Says and went on from there. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:14.480 He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth, and Jesus says to Matthew, follow me. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:18.559 Now we read this and we miss the weight and the gravity of this. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:21.759 Matthew, sitting at a tax collector's booth. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:27.119 He is ostracized from the community of the Jewish people from worship in the temple. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:30.960 He is an outcast. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:36.640 He didn't just make the cut, he's been cut off. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:41.039 And a rabbi, by the way, listen, listen, listen. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:46.480 A rabbi in their day wouldn't go and pick followers. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:49.839 Followers would come and try to make the cut for the rabbi. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:51.920 They would go through their own tryouts. 00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:57.599 And Jesus goes to Matthew, a tax collector, in the middle of what he's doing. 00:30:57.759 --> 00:30:59.680 He's literally taking taxes. 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:02.160 He's doing his job that everybody hates. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:04.559 And he says, follow me. 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:07.599 Notice he didn't say fix up your life. 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:10.720 He just said follow me, because if you follow me, your life will be forever changed. 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:12.559 All you have to do is start following me. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:14.079 Following me is it. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:15.119 That's it. 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:19.519 Not measure up, not work your way up, not somehow make yourself better. 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:21.359 Follow me, Matthew. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:28.720 You're welcome into the family of God, into my history and family tree. 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:32.960 And so Matthew had been invited and he got up and followed him. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.240 Now notice this. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:41.519 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:44.559 Sitting and eating was a sign of acceptance. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:50.559 Didn't mean you agreed with them, but you accept, you believe they belonged, you loved them. 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:58.640 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked the disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:01.039 They didn't make the cut. 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.799 On hearing this, Jesus said, It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:08.559 Go and learn what this means. 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:14.799 I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I've come to call the right, not to call the righteous, but the sinner. 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:22.720 Matthew, from the opening pages of the genealogies, the four women, the two name changes, and the list of nobodies gone. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:28.319 If I can belong, if Jesus can say to me, follow me. 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:35.680 If you knew how far down the put like the list I was, I didn't make the list, I was cut off from the list. 00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:38.000 If I can belong, you can belong. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:41.839 If I can belong, you can belong. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:46.079 JD Greer writes this. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:49.440 Says, Jesus didn't come for people who have it all together. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:50.880 He came for people with problems. 00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.759 He came for people whose lives were dysfunctional and messed up. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:56.480 He came for people who had driven their lives into dead end. 00:32:56.720 --> 00:32:59.599 He came for those who'd been mistreated, neglected, and abused. 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:06.400 He came for those who had gotten everything they wanted out of life and still found it didn't give them what they were looking for. 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:28.559 And somewhere along the way, even for those of us who are followers of Jesus, we somehow feel like we just have to measure up, make the cut, to not screw up. 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:33.599 As if God is just posting this list. 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:39.119 Were you a good boy or girl this year? 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:53.200 And somehow that determines your acceptance, your belonging, your position, your relationship with God. 00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:57.920 All who belong. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:00.000 You belong. 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:04.319 You know, there's this great line in AA. 00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:10.880 In AA, you know the 12 steps, and some of you know that not only do they have 12 steps, they have 12 traditions. 00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:14.639 It's how they function as a community. 00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:25.519 And I love this on the third tradition, they say the only requirement for AA membership is the desire to stop drinking. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:28.960 You want to belong in AA? 00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:34.320 It's not that you somehow stop drinking. 00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:39.119 It's not that you make it and you're a trophy of all the things. 00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:40.400 Certainly that's the goal. 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:46.800 But what we all recognize is we're all struggling, we're all striving, and we all have a deep longing. 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:50.400 And you want to belong, the only thing you need is a desire. 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:53.039 A desire to stop. 00:34:55.519 --> 00:35:02.480 You know what's fascinating is the only requirement to belong to the family of God is to receive Jesus' invitation. 00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:08.480 He didn't post a list, he looks at you and says, simply follow me. 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:12.079 It's just to respond to his invitation. 00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:22.000 And John, he says, yet to all who receive him, to those who believe on his name, he gave the right to be called children of God. 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:31.440 I think as we close, there's maybe three responses. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:40.719 The first response, I think, for a number of us is simply maybe a confession. 00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:47.679 It's the Pharisee in us. 00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:51.679 It's the judge in us. 00:35:55.519 --> 00:36:08.239 We get judgmental because we don't quite measure up, but we're looking around and feel bad, and we want to make ourselves feel better, and so we see people that are maybe doing things, quote, worse than us. 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:10.960 They don't match our box. 00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:15.920 And where we just simply confess, God, you know what, my heart. 00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:25.840 The expansive nature of your grace and love let no one despise, but may I lean in. 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:34.400 I think the second response is really to care. 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:45.280 Care for the people in our lives who have yet to experience the incredible grace and mercy of Jesus. 00:36:45.599 --> 00:37:02.719 That God, you would remind me or you would once for a fresh in this moment, make me realize your expansive yes in grace in my life that would move me, that I long for every single person to experience your grace and mercy. 00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:04.079 We've been praying for names. 00:37:04.159 --> 00:37:07.920 You've written it down on the cards over the last few weeks. 00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:16.960 Where you go, how can I care for my coworker, my neighbor, my friend, my family member, my college mate, my roommate. 00:37:18.559 --> 00:37:22.639 That I long, that I'm gonna pray for them, God, I want them to experience you. 00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:24.159 I don't know what they're walking through. 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:27.360 But could it be that if I just said, Do you want to know about Jesus? 00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:28.880 I'm not saying you have to do it that way. 00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:29.519 I don't know. 00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:36.159 I all I know is that like when we just begin to bring Jesus into the conversation, he changes things. 00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:41.519 His name's powerful, and only by his name can you be saved. 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:47.119 What if we actually believed that instead of just saying it? 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:52.800 What if we cared? 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:57.840 And our hearts broke to the point that we begin to share. 00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:08.079 I want to invite you just in some of that response, just symbolically, at some point in the service of people that God's brought to your mind. 00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:11.280 That you would just write it down. 00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:17.119 We have these bells on the front and the back, just as this act of Jesus, I'm gonna be praying. 00:38:17.199 --> 00:38:23.760 This is the person I wrote down in my card, and I and these bells are gonna be a part of our Christmas Eve service, and I'm praying for them for Christmas Eve. 00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:31.280 I'm praying for them for for every day because I don't know the journey that God has them on, but I desperately long for them to know you. 00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:35.119 Confess, care. 00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:40.559 And then maybe you're here, and the final response is to call. 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:45.840 All who call upon the name of the G of Jesus will be saved. 00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.519 Like you've never known the expansive nature of his grace. 00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:53.360 That he loves you. 00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:01.599 You are loved. 00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:13.440 He longs for you to be a part of the family of God, and to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, will be called a child of God, adopted into the family of Jesus. 00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:17.440 And if that's you, I just want to pray a prayer and invite you to pray with me. 00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:19.039 And would you all join me in prayer? 00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:25.199 And if you want to begin a relationship, step into a new life with Jesus, just pray simply after me. 00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:36.880 Jesus, I call upon your name. 00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:46.800 Asking that you would come into my life and make me new. 00:39:48.639 --> 00:40:00.400 I believe that you love me, that you want me, that you invite me in, that I belong in your family. 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:05.280 That you came and you forgive me. 00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:18.639 That you died on the cross to heal the broken parts of my life, the devastating things, and forgive the devastating things, Abdog. 00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:23.840 That you rose again that I might have a new life. 00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:28.719 Would you come into my life and make me new? 00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:31.360 In Jesus' name. 00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:32.400 Amen. 00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:35.760 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:40.400 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:40:40.559 --> 00:40:42.639 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:48.639 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.