Worship Preparation - December 17, 2023

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Read the sermon text: Matthew 1:1-17

Read the sermon summary: Geneologies were extremely important to the Jews. When God brought his people into the promised land, the land was divided up by tribes and clans. It was essential to know your genealogy so you could prove your claim to your portion of land, based upon your tribe and clan. In order to be a priest, you had to prove through your genealogy that you had the priestly bloodline. And to sit on the throne of David, you had to prove through your genealogy that you did indeed have the right to the throne. So Matthew begins his account of the Gospel not with the birth of Christ, but rather with the genealogy of Christ. And Matthew demonstrates through this genealogy that Jesus is the promised heir of King David, the One who will sit on the throne forever. But Matthew does more than just that. Matthew takes the genealogy all the way back to Abraham, demonstrating that Jesus is also the “Promised Seed” of Abraham, through which all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And finally, through this rich genealogy, Matthew demonstrates that Jesus “came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” One very strange characteristic of Matthew’s genealogy is the inclusion of women. And Matthew refers to no less than five women in this genealogy. What is the reputation of these women Matthew refers to? What might Matthew be demonstrating by including these women in this genealogy? And how would you describe the character of some of the men in this genealogy, men like Judah, Solomon, Manasseh, and Jeconiah? Matthew uses a kind of genealogical shorthand, skipping over several generations as opposed to presenting an exhaustive genealogy. This was not uncommon, but why not skip over someone like Manasseh, who “burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger” (2 Kings 21.6). We will see that our God is a God of grace and mercy, who came not to call the righteous, but sinners. .

Read the following song lyrics in relation to the sermon: 

O Come O Come Emmanuel (Veni Emmanuel)

O come O come Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Chorus

Rejoice rejoice Emmanuel

Shall come to thee O Israel

O come Thou Dayspring come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight

O come Thou Wisdom from on high

And order all things far and nigh

To us the path of knowledge show

And cause us in her ways to go

O come Desire of nations bind

All peoples in one heart and mind

Bid envy strife and quarrels cease

Fill the whole world with heaven's peace

CCLI Song # 31982

John Mason Neale | Thomas Helmore

Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain

For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com

CCLI License # 11078052