When the Expected Happens in an Unexpected Way

Today on Summit life with JD Greer sought of spiritual maturity in your life is when you begin to recognize that everything that God does in world politics are the details of your life in pursuit of the great commission with Jesus of the center.

What if you begin to evaluate when God reshapes your allotted times and the boundaries of your dwelling place that he's doing it so that other people can see God back to another week. I've got my pastor JD Greer.

As always, I'm your host Molly vitamins noticed in recent years is that there's been a growing interest in family history. Multiple companies have popped up that will trace your family line through a DNA sample and for some people the results may be exciting learning about historical figures or even royalty in their lines for others. The findings may be a little less glamorous. Well today were looking at Jesus's family history and what it reveals about God's overarching plan. JD preached a sermon in 2016.

Shortly before the presidential election. So if you know any reference that don't understand why he titled today's message when the affected happened in an unexpected way. Let's join them right by what love you take it out and open it to the gospel of Matthew. The first adjustment jumper one Matthew chapter 1 is where we're going to begin into the New Testament and begin and what you will probably think of as an unusual place to begin there because Jesus came just like you promised he would draw him yet still the disciples missed him because his coming was so unusual, so unexpected that they didn't recognize him even when he fulfilled all the symbols and performed all the miracles which is why I believe the manner in which Matthew opens up the New Testament is so important because Matthew in a sense is going to give you Jesus's resume. I thought you should read Matthew one Jesus is resumes to show you why Jesus came.

The way that he did show you why Jesus is uniquely qualified to be our Savior and why he came in a way that was so confusing. Most of us plow right over Matthew's introduction we skim read it without realizing the significance of what he's doing to me actually read it here for us.

Matthew chapter 1 verse one the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham is the father of Isaac and Isaac with the father Jacob. Jacob was a father of Judah and his brothers and Judah was about of resins are about a more present father's rot is on the father ram, ram about a minute admitted I was… Don't bother of salmon swim upstream against God's enemies.

Verse five and Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab and Boaz was a father voted by Ruth know that the father Jesse and judge of the father David King was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah Solomon, the father readable and readable father, Bob, Jean, I was on the front of a 70s up.

Father just got jobs from father Joe Rominger on fathers. I father Jotham Jotham about of Ahaz and his father Hezekiah Hezekiah Nevada Vanessa Vanessa von Amos fungicide inside about object and I and his brothers at the time the deportation to Babylon after the deportation of Babylon judge and I was father still feel so guilty. Father is revocable durables of other Bobby got in our beautiful father of Eli, like in the father of his orders were the fathers is out of the father like even if you Nevada value to millions of other values are always on the father Madonna Madonna father Jacob. Jacob father Joseph the husband of Mary and Jesus was born. It was called Christ, so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations from David to the deportation of Babylon, 14 generations from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ 14 generations.

A man may man I let's close in prayer, not just to be honest, how many of you sold out during that reading of the sacred text. Be totally honest with your hand out and said I got did not call yourself serious Christians committed Christians know this very unusual and I know that very few of you stay with me and probably would not point of this passage is your favorite and most meaningful passage of Scripture.

But I read it because this genealogy is the key to understanding who Jesus really was and why he had to come in the confusing way that he did notice verse one that Matthew was going to call his whole gospel book of the genealogy.

In other words, all the rest of the gospel of Matthew is an explanation of what he introduces in the first 17 verses then he points out BMB organization pattern and that's important to. He says there are three sets of 14 generations, now 14 is 27 and seven is the biblical number of completion or perfection, it's pretty obvious by the way that you left some generations out and how we put these together. That was a very commonly accepted practice in those days so is not dried up for the wool over your eyes.

But he presents it in this way, according to B's three sets of 14 to show that God has superimposed his perfection, he has superimposed his perfect 14 if you will, onto world history shaping it entirely and perfectly around Jesus history. As I've heard it said before is his story, which is number one. Matthew is trying to show you that know it often does not seem so Jesus is the center of history when Matthew wrote this, and when the people that he wrote it to first read it.

None of the major actors in world history were paying any attention to Jesus. Jesus was born to an obscure family and a small backwater Middle Eastern country. Nobody in Rome or Athens or when the action really was, was taken any notice of these things.

And when Jesus died, very few people outside of Israel had even heard Jesus's name yet.

Matthew shows you that despite what it looks like on the surface, God is guiding all of history. According to his perfect plan in perfect 14 squid Jesus Christ right in the center and what that means for Matthew in his day and what it means for us in our day is that despite what it looks like on the surface, the powers of the world. Those who think they control everything are really an illusion. In those days it seemed like Ron was in charge, but Matthew says no. This is the center. This is what is happening in fact everything that Rome is doing feeds back into this story. Jesus is the center give you one quick example of that.

One of the details that most people know about the birth of Jesus is that Mary and Joseph. Jesus is our earthly parents had to travel to Bethlehem when Mary was great with child because Caesar Augustus at the side of the world should be taxed and everybody needed to go to their hometown to be counted where they could pay the tax and so Mary and Joseph are from Bethlehem and they travel to Bethlehem but the gospel writer explains that God's purpose in that was because Mike, I have made a prophecy Micah 52 that the Messiah was going to be born in Bethlehem and that needed to be fulfilled. So think about that for just a minute God taxed the whole world to move to people 90 miles so that you and I would have further proof that God was behind the birth of Jesus. It looks like on the surface that Rome or Washington or New York City or Hollywood is in charge. But that's just an illusion. The book of Proverbs explains the king's hand is like a river in the hand of the Lord. Many turns in whatever way he chooses, and the way he chooses to turn it is in pursuit of the great commission Jesus at the center.

Y'all stop freaking out about this election.

I realize you know we go to terrible candidates out there to choose from one to phone you want the wire and I don't even know which one is which.

If the end of the Republic.

Yes, elections are important, but God is not dependent on Washington to fulfill his purposes.

He weaves all of this back into his perfect 14 so that the end Jesus rains and Jesus comes a sign of Christian maturity is when you begin to understand that in everything God does everything. Whether were talking about major movements in world politics or were talking about the particular details of your life. This is what he is pursuing. When I was overseas. One of our missionaries said hypothesis profound. He said the great task for our generation is whether they will recognize God's hand in the refugee crisis has the rearranging of the nations. For the purposes of the great commission. That's the big test many quoted acts 1727 God determines the allotted periods and the boundaries of the dwelling places of the nations on earth.

Why was he doing. He wants them to be able to seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Now let me be clear, this is not a political statement about what our government should do about refugees. I'm not saying although our immigration system and let everybody in what I am saying is, can we as the people of God recognize the hand of God and what is happening and know what we are supposed to do regardless of how the situation got there in the first place.

One of the things we did overseas was we worked with on Syrian refugees or the Syrian refugees that are teams work with over there who would come to faith in Christ made the statement and I thought it was so beautiful and moving that I wrote it down word for word. Listen to this is that I think God I thank God for the war in Syria and the many terrible things that happened in my life because God use them to bring me to a saving knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Maybe we couldn't get to him in Syria. Maybe we were unable to been able to serve God brought him out to a place where we could get to him. Will we recognize in this moment, what we are supposed to do because we recognize that what God does in world history. He does for the purposes of the great commission a genocide of spiritual maturity in your life is when you begin to recognize that everything that God does in world politics of the details of your life are in pursuit of the great commission with Jesus at the center. What if you begin to evaluate when God reshapes your allotted times in the boundaries of your dwelling place that he's doing it so that other people can see God made you get assigned to a job you didn't want sure you can be unhappy about it, but you can still look for God wants for you in that job. Or maybe your house didn't sell because God still has purposes for you where you are. Maybe the pain gives you the ability to relate to others going in that same situation so that you can share Jesus with them in a more meaningful way. A sign of spiritual maturity is when you begin to say about all things.

Why did God give me this. For the purposes of the great commission for the purposes of Jesus, the blessings in your life. Maybe you're at a place in your life or you can retire early and maybe God gave you the ability retire early. Not so you could travel around the world played golf in different countries, not just that that's fine, but maybe he freed up that that the best chapter of your life which is when you're the most mature and most unfettered so that you could use the gifts that God is giving you strategically on mission for the great commission somewhere. Maybe I made you wealthy, maybe major, fabulously wealthy, and maybe the wealth that he gave you was not just so that you can enjoy the blessings that come from wealth, although he doesn't begrudge you that all maybe he gave you that is a stewardship because he was putting resources in your hands. Just this time so that you could be a blessing to peoples around the world so that they can begin to see God. What if you begin to look at everything like Jesus and the great commission were at the center, a sign of spiritual maturity.

Also that one more time is when you begin to view everything in your life. Every blessing every teardrop, every holiday is according to God's perfect 14 and how it can be used to help the great commission.

The mission of Jesus which brings me to point number two. Matthew shows us that God is working even in the chaos in the junk of your life. This genealogy is unusual because typically genealogies only listed out the father's name. That's the way they Record.

Matthew fills this genealogy with the names of women as well as C includes all these little what seem like superfluous details that are just sort of you that are for example verse three Judah was the father of Faraz and Sarah by Taymor nine genealogy only Perez's name is essential right. The reason that he mentioned Sarah and Taymor is because he wants you to think about that story. So here's a question.

Do you know the story on that goes with Judah resins are about a mark.

The story is found in Genesis 38 is a man named you Don Judah has three sons, one of his sons, his oldest son was married to Groening Taymor but his oldest son Judah's oldest son dies please Taymor's widow come before they can have children.

And so, in those days they built above the law was that if your brother died and his wife didn't have children that you were supposed to take his wife into your house and you were supposed to give her check him children through her and that's what you would continue the family line so Onan who is the second brother doesn't want Ida's vanilla doesn't like tomorrow – will get her something we just refuses to have kids with her. So God gets mad and kills it. So now because Missy come Taymor's risk of the third son right, but Judah God the dad is like okay this girl Taymor limited to amounts on the number of dead concert think is really bad luck, so I don't want you to my third son Sophie stall's and like you and I'll give everybody what Taymor gets really ticked off about this because she figures out and I'm never going to get married, and there you have kids and so she take matters in romance, so she goes to the place one night were Judah likes to go to the bar and waits till you know he gets a little tipsy. She's dressed like a prostitute she got on her tight jeans and a clear heels and after he gets to see she gets in Cronk and then seduces him to sleep with her even realize it's his daughter law because you know you so Cronk so they sleep together and she gets pregnant with Perez and Sarah okay so three months go by. She starts to show that she's pregnant.

So Judah says my daughter lost pregnant jobs got pregnant out of wedlock that gnaws at his babies. Of course she's gotta be stone so they drag this girl out to stone her in right-of-way stone or she reaches inside of her pocketbooks is weight. I've got the belt of the man whose babies they are and she pulls out you dispel now. Talk about an awkward movement right as you like. You feel better about your family yet.

This is some messed up stuff I'm talking met yet caught.

Here's what Matthew trying to show you. God arranges even all of this messed up dysfunctional stuff into his perfect 14 and I shared that because there's a lot you the got some messed up dysfunctional families of your writing, but there are some of you back in your history like always owes them home. I came out of let me be clear, I am not saying that God was pleased with the pain that came into your life. He was brokenhearted by that pain is a perfect father and and and and I get angry when somebody hurts one of my kids. God is angry with somebody hurts one of his what you should see is that God has one overriding purpose in your life and God stamps his perfect 14 on even the chaotic mess of your life will often compare life here to a tapestry tapestry is a rod that looks like a beautiful design not one strand is out of place, flip it over on the back. It looks like this chaotic mess of worldly bees threads are going home life often feels like were in this chaotic mass for these random things are happening what's gonna happen.

Matthew shows you an eternity is conflict set over all the sudden you see it's a perfect picture would not one molecule not one strand without a place, Charles Spurgeon nonuse to the 19th-century century British pastor used to describe it like this, he would say it's a life for us is like walking into the back of the theater where the there's a three-hour stage play going on catching about two minutes of that play and then walking out and say it it make any sense because you know just did nothing. It's happened to make sense.

He supported an exact three-hour stage play just got two minutes, I'm 43 years old. That means that my adult life is what 2025 years I made it my adult life, and that the nano second and a five hour movie. Of course there are a lot of things in feel random and chaotic. What Matthew was showing you is. It felt random and chaotic to them until I get were in the middle of the bloodline of the Messiah, but God took all of this he took all this chaotic mass and he arranged it into his perfect 14 not one generation not one strand without a place here's third thing you shows you number three is the gospel is for the outsider, the gospel for the outsider is another thing that you notice about this genealogy is how many people are listed who have very embarrassing stories. The kind of of people you don't want others to know were in your family, many of you asked me why my family spells our last name Greer in the creative way that we do if you don't know it's GR EEA arch three valve people always point that out to me like I'd never noticed that all you got an extra thankful for that out of never knowing that it would not have been 43 years, but they don't want to spell it over so I was always said that the extra vowel was a sign of Scottish royalty.

That's not true at all but it yes I guess I made it up, we had a girl that worked for church or worked under church used to work for one of those ancestry, places, and as she did to me after service one day and she set out as she said had I had a free hour work I did some research on your family name. I found some really interesting things would you like to do now and I said actually know how I wouldn't. She's a want to anyway. She says that she said such, I was able to trace your lineage is really clear how she says it goes by the first Greer to come here in your line was Shadrach Greer in 1735 Shadrach Greer was his name when he spell his last name GR EER. The way normal person would and that goes all the way down to about 1840. She said in 1840.

Inexplicably, it changes from EER to EEA are.

She said not talk to some of the people where I work that is always an indication that somebody is trying to run from the law, and so they wanted to keep her last name so they put an extra balance of the law couldn't track him.

He said the good news is you come from a lot of criminals.

So that's not the kind of thing that you typically are excited about people knowing about your family life can't hear what Matthew dies is he shows you that for women, all of whom have a shady past are going to be a part of Jesus's life and just in case you missed the fact that there are these chaotic stories he puts in details.

We'll think about. We will talk about Taymor, the seductive daughter-in-law. He sounds like a character from a made for HBO drama than she would a great Grammy of Jesus. Verse five get Rahab another prostitute. The second prostitute in Jesus is line a Gentile that God saves from Jericho got Ruth number one of her story of the Moabite homeless girl verse six to get David and the wife of Uriah. Why would he say wife of Uriah and not just give her name, her name is Bathsheba who does try make you think of a story she's not just Bathsheba. She was David's best friend's wife and David slept with her and had your eye killed to cover it up this morning to make sure you think about that as you read this resume. What is more striking about this is that in those days your genealogy function does your resume to back them like today.

Resumes were fudged to make sure you include the best parts and you omit the unflattering details near. They say there's an art to writing a resume where you brag without actually looking like a rag. Nobody nobody explained that to me when I wrote my first resume. My first resume from ministry job. I thought it was supposed to be an essay about how awesome I once it was 17 pages long. I kid you not use 70 by July listed everyplace ever spoken all the awesome things anyone had ever said about me, I got the job. Miraculously, and I'm still your pastor today is somewhere else, I got the jump house and the guy the supervisor after been there few months. He said man is Jan I'm alive to your resume made quite an impression is that we pass around. We laughed about it for several weeks and so but in those days they had let shape so you became a leader or when you are campaigning for the job you publish your resume to show how your bloodline qualified you for the position. Bobby and nothing but a string of of awesome, we had a great example.

By the way, from the time of Jesus. Herod was the king when Jesus was born publish this genealogy, but it was missing.

Anybody who was at all unimpressive or shady. So Matthew perhaps in response to Herod includes a bunch of people in Jesus's genealogy that would not help his case for BD and just in case you missed how shady they are a mix report for details and seal. Think about it, it's filled with moral failures and mesons the broken and the week. Those outside of the circles of power moral outsiders like Judah, David his lineage to Jesus includes an adulterous affair.

You think outsiders like a Gentile Rahab social outsiders like really all that is supposed to give you a very clear message Jesus came to include no matter what your past is no matter who you are again regular GU and his family and he is the Redeemer of God's way team to include you the message today from Pastor JD Greer and Summit light Sheriff you've been adopted into his family. We'd love to help you learn more send a message to request JD Greer.com no matter where you're at in your walk with God. We had a resource. We like to send you today to help dive deeper into the gospel is found in the Bible it is set at 66 cards that will help you as you read and make connections with the context of the original on each card includes an illustration representing the details about that that three teachers gleaned from the vent and where the points to Jesus and the good news of the gospel in reflection questions to help you apply the books message to your line. There simply called the books in the Bible, we'd love for you to have this resource as a reference for any time reading through they come in our way of saying thanks when you donate to support this ministry. When you become Summit light is funded by listeners like we are so grateful you're helping more people learn and grow through these guys for the books of the Bible card game. I think three 353-3520 if it's easier you can get in and request the book online GE Greer.com. If you rather mail your gift right to JD Greer ministry one 2293 Durham, NC 27709 and remember to include a note requesting the let me remind you that you are the best way to stay at the daily Pastor JD's latest plot to make sure you resource for series. It's quick and easy to sign JD Greer.com by Molly that events be sure to join us tomorrow and we continue this message. Finding genealogy clear learning how God is working all history of salvation Summit light