Jesus’ Resume

New Christmas is Christianity's most important feature is that it is actual history, which is absolutely amazing when you consider some of the messy random chaotic stuff that is in this genealogy ask yourself this many times. Why all these names matter, pastor and author JD Greer answers that question today on Senate light as we dive into a new series called upside down Christmas after JD aptly titled this message, Jesus's resume might think that it is odd that delete all his gospel with what feels like a snoozer writer writing something.

This is also been engaged at the beginning of draws people in Matthew we dissolve the genealogy snoozer, but there is a reason that he does that in this genealogy.

Listen to this and this genealogy is everything you need to know about Christianity in this genealogy is everything you need to know about Christianity. All the essentials are in their as I studied this these past few weeks I have learned so incredibly much diving in the commentaries listening to other pastors teach on this. If you're interested in sources for what I want to say they're all on the transcript that I post on my blog each week. I realize that the amount of things that Mattie was trying to teach you do this very simple list of 42 names is remarkable. I'm going to by sheer act of self-discipline limit myself to only five observations by but there are many more that are in there and these are what you have to know about Christianity, the person I borrowed from Tim Keller number one. The gospel is not good advice but gospel is good news first thing you learn from the genealogies of the gospel is not good advice is good news.

You see, most stories are fairytales start out with Once upon a time or somewhere in a galaxy far far away or something like that. But Matthew does not start out his story that way. Matthew starts out with the genealogy, which is a way of saying what I'm going to tell you about actually happened in time and space.

She Christianity's most important feature is that it is actual history because the court lesson of Christianity is not a set of principles that Jesus taught to us, the core of Christianity is something that Jesus would do for us. Most religions you see when you peel back the layers are built on teachings and principles that really would be true whether the religious founder of the liver, not the religious founder was merely the mouthpiece for those teachings.

For example the principles of Buddhism do not depend on Buddha being an actual person those principles. Buddhists believe are eternal and they are timeless. They undergird the universe and Buddha was merely the mouthpiece for those eternal principles. Think same thing is true for Islam. Islam is a pattern for how a law wants us to live. Mohammed was merely the prophet. He was the mouthpiece for that teaching now Muslims of course will tell you that Mohammed was an actual person, but the principles of the teachings of Islam. Do not depend on him being an actual person does that make sense that is not true for Christianity.

Christianity depends on a set of events that actually took place and time in history because the core of Christianity is not what Jesus taught us to do the core. Christianity is what Jesus would do for us, which means that if these things did not actually happen that all of it is useless. Scholars point out that the Gospels and by that I mean the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that contain the record of Jesus's life. The Gospels are basically just prologues to the death of Christ. The central element in each gospel is the death of Christ. The gospel skim over 33 years of Jesus life and skim through three years of his teaching, and they focus on one week in which Jesus would go to a cross and bear the penalty for our sins diner place and rise again.

Now the Gospels, of course, do contain a lot of things of Jesus taught, but the focus of the Gospels is not on what Jesus taught. The focus of the Gospels is on what Jesus did.

That's why I say the gospel is not primarily good advice. The gospel is good news for the word gospel literally means the word gospel we get from the Greek word you and Kelly on accommodation to words you mean good you many good and Kelly on meeting the message.

It was an announcement of a good message.

Imagine that you were living in ancient Greece and word came that an invading army was coming into the day into your country and they were beginning to take over in the Army general that was in charge of fending off his army realize that he was shorthanded and that that the enemy way over numbered him what outnumbered him. And so, so he sends out a message throughout the countryside to say I need help I need every able-bodied man to come to my aid because we're going to be overrun, it will have more soldiers. That message would not be a gospel. That message would be a request for help.

Now if he had had defeated the invading army and just you know put them down handily. Then he would send out a message that he had one and that piece now reined in the land that message that announcement of victory would be called a gospel and the messenger brought the gospel would have been called in grief and anger. Lots and anger, loss or an angel. Now when Jesus was born who showed up angels and what did they announce God needs help know they announced peace on earth, salvation for men. They didn't show up saying the great teacher is here. Listen to him. They showed up saying the Savior has been born. Receive him. You see, what we will weave the world what humanity needed was not just one more religious teacher we had listen to the previous ones right. While we listen to anyone not taking 1/7 grader whose failing his multiplication tables and shoving them into a college calculus class and begin a higher level teaching is is what he needs us now.

He needs CS Lewis in this way, there has been no lack of good advice for the last 4000 years a bit more would not of made a difference.

We never have followed the advice of the great teachers why would we be likely to begin now, why would we be more likely to follow Christ than any of the others because he is the best moral teacher that makes it even less likely that we shall follow him. If we cannot take the elementary lessons. Is it likely that we are going to take the most advanced ones.

If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice. And Christianity is really of no importance at all. It's just like every other religion.

We needed a different kind of salvation we needed a new kind of Savior and God became that for us by entering into history and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves now. Those who believe that and receive it will be forever changed but do not change, primarily because of what Jesus taught.

The change because of what Jesus did listen to this. The most important thing about the gospel is that it must be believed and received like a gift which means you are not a Christian. If you merely emulate the moral teachings of Jesus.

We miss it again. You are not a Christian. If you merely emulate the moral teachings of Jesus.

Even if you do that really well even if you do that much better than everybody around you because the core of Christianity is not a set of teachings to be followed before Christianity is a gift to be received. The Gospels, not primarily goodbyes. The gospel is good news. Second, this genealogy shows you number two but Jesus is the center of history is the center of history. Matthew takes what the world would have considered to be an insignificant family line and he organizes all of human history around it. Here's why that's important at this point in world history.

It certainly did not seem like Jesus was the focal point Israel was a small backwater Middle Eastern country that was under the rule somebody else.

Nobody in Rome.

Nobody in the halls of power. Nobody was paying attention to this family line, but God. You see I made a promise to Abraham to bring salvation to the world.

Jesus and bring the whole world into subjection to Jesus at this point in history you got these really powerful nations and people that seem like they are directing everything but what Matthew shows you in this genealogy is that God is the one who is guiding at all according to his plans for this Messiah that nobody's thinking about showing you that the powers of the world are an illusion. I don't give you a quick example that when the details that most people know about the birth of Christ is that is that she would also sent out a decree that all the world to be taxed and that Mary and Joseph had to go to their hometown, Bethlehem, where we had to pay your tax and that's when Jesus was born right. We know that detail, but Lou the gospel writer tells you that God's purpose in having them go to Bethlehem the following is God's purpose was. He had made a promise to the prophet Micah several hundred years before the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. So God moved Rome to tax everybody so that he could get married and Joseph to Bethlehem. Now here's my question. Why did God go to all that trouble just to move this to people right coming from and could God not have appeared in a dream to Joe's about him and go to Bethlehem right you don't all other kinds MEE.

Joseph, other times brings building things. Why think God tax the whole world. It was to show you something. It was to demonstrate to you that God moves powerful nations around like chess pieces bring it to God bring to pass his purposes in Jesus detox the whole world being tied to the whole world to move to people 90 miles trying to show you the most significant events in world history are quite often not about what you think about that God is actually the actor behind all the actors arranging things for his purposes, he has for an insignificant family line. And that is the purposes of the Messiah. Here's what I should be encouraging to you. It doesn't look now but Jesus is at the center of history doesn't CNN is not here this morning and then I hear this, we can paying attention to what we do. There there watching what they think are the most important powers in the world there watching the markets there watching the White House there watching world politics. But these things are like an insignificant drop in the bucket.

The center of history is what God is doing in the kingdom of Jesus. The accomplishing of his purpose, to take salvation to every nation on earth to bring the world into subjection to him and he moves around the most powerful nations will to accomplish those purposes.

There is an unseen story behind the story. History is his story. But you can see that word if this story many of the Israelites were this point discouraged because they look around and see how God was filling his promises, but rooms in charge Heritage arts many of you look around and are discouraged. You see unbelief growing secularism taking over corrupting our institutions destroying our nation, but do not be deceived. It did not look back. Then like I was accomplishing his purposes but he was back he was doing his greatest work. My wife and I did not watch 24 when it first came out because my wife and I relate the doctors on everything and so when it first came out. We did not watch it about 95 people so awesome it was. We started watching the town got around to it was on season five or six so we went back got the DVDs for season one and just begin to watch them through. It made for several long weekends was we watch TV for 24 hours straight, but I remember him several times if you remember that series several times are in a series. Jack gets in a pretty bad way. Remember, this effect several times. Sometimes he actually died in the series, you know, I am at you if I my memory recalls writers of the end of season three that Jack actually died under my wife and I sit in the living room watching this on TV and John just died and I was like it was a season for right here and jots pictures on the front of the box. Micah something I know not in the pictures on the box. Jesus is pictures on both sides of the Bible and what that tells you is that yes there are times and it looks like things are not turning out like you think it's going to turn out but you know is pictures on the other side of that is so you know this is where is going to go the same thing is true. By the way in your personal life you may be discouraged because it may look like you are subject to forces that you can control the God you see has an infallible purpose in your life. God's infallible purpose is to reveal Jesus to you and to glorify himself in you and everything in your life has ultimately been about that he is bringing forth the Messiah. He is bringing forth the Messiah in you and you can interpret all of these things that what you like. They were under the power and the direction of others as being superimposed by God to accomplish his purpose in your life.

Which brings me to number three God is working in all things good and bad for his purposes. God is working in all things good and bad for his purposes you see on verse 17, the author organizes the progression from Abraham to David, and then from David to the exile and then from the exile to Jesus in the three sets of 14, not 14 is is is to to what seven cents) orally I guess 14 is to set the seven and seven in the Bible is a very important number. It's the biblical number of completion or perfection. Now, if you will compare Matthew's genealogy to some of the records of the Old Testament, you'll see that Matthew actually stepped several generations. That was a commonly accepted practice in reporting Jewish genealogies Matthew lesson chooses to organize this genealogy in three sections of 14 to show watch that God has superimposed his seal of perfection on history, which is absolutely amazing when you consider some of the messy random chaotic stuff that is in this genealogy we see in verse three she does. Judah was a father Perez and Serra by Taymor reversible what he include Taymor's name. There you never included a woman's name in a in a Jewish genealogies that you they did, they they never put where is it what you put your name in there because he's trying to call to your mind, the story that is behind those names you know that story another way, your story. If you have a child in here that is 12 years old or under, this might be a really good time to take them to the kids ministry or at least run into the bathroom for just a minute because this next part might be slightly PG-13 R8 Genesis 38 Taymor was the wife of one of Judah's three sons after they were newly married. Her husband died before they had a chance to have kids. In those days. Jewish law said that if your brother died before he had a chance to have children then you as his brother were to marry his wife and to bring kids to your brother, through her so Judy Judy sons brother Dunning Onan on Onan Mary's Taymor but he does begrudgingly, because everybody every evidently they Taymor was skating like her, and he certainly was not on our kids to her because you get your expensive Internet.

So like if you like, and so so Onan whenever he and Taymor came together.

He didn't quite on, shall we say, seal the deal with her on the KJV puts it very delicately. He spilled it on the ground so that he would not give seed to his brother, well gobbled, pretty ticked off at this so he kills Onan right now. Judah has two sons that he's only got three answer Judah is like this woman is is I think been the cause of the depth to my suction. I did not, so she's like me to marry her and and so he's making up excuses for Taymor's why she can't Miriam all you know we got like units. I got too much stuff on the counter right, not on any money to go away so he stalls and he saw eventually Taymor figures out that Judah is never to let her marry the third son.

She devises a plan turns out, Judah has a weakness for prostitutes. So one night after Judah has kicked back a couple of cold ones and losses no sense of direction on she dresses like like a prostitute goes in and sleeps with Judah, her father-in-law, she gets pregnant with arrives and Serra three months after she gets pregnant, she starts showing and Judah outraged the fact that she's obviously been around drives around the city square and tells him to start and right before they start opens up or your purse or whatever it said I had the belt of the man babies. These are which abilities like well it's without Judah's belt, which is an awkward moment for Judah bundling you feeling better about your family yet you feel better by a pastor friend was about my city bought up dramatic Bible reading CD.

His kids to listen to as they were going to bed at night. I thought that was a great idea. He said that he said one morning my six-year-old comes down.

Is it daddy what is interest begins to spell out the details of the story and his wife and and he looked at each other. He was just or Fiserv. Where did you hear this time she's like for the five that you bought for us to listen to my semi-white glared at me and looked at me as I got to get no more Bible you're watching TV. From now on. And by the way, for those you parent you chose to not heed my warning to take your kids to the kids ministry.

Merry Christmas. Okay that's my gift. This is some messy chaotic random stuff that's in the Bible like the Bible tells like that you know the Scripture Jerry Springer show. Yet in all of this lesson. This was God's plan to bring the Messiah forward. God was working through all this messy chaotic stop bringing about a perfect plan. That's why the number 1427 is imposed on each of these sets.

He's working in your life to see even when he seems absent some of you have had some pretty messy dysfunction in your life and I'm not saying to you that God caused.

I'm not saying to you that God was okay with it. I'm not saying to you that God was not deeply grieved by and angered by the same way I would be angry to grieve. If anybody do anything to one of my children what I'm telling you is that God has one overriding purpose in your life and that is to accomplish Jesus purposes in and through you and he is working in all things he is working in the darkest parts of your personal genealogy to bring to pass his perfect purpose for you. He is superimposing his perfect 14 on the messy random chaotic details of your life. Romans 828 all things work together for good to them who love God are called according to his purpose.

Now most Christians know that verse. Do you know the verse after that verse like this one versus you really ought to know the verse after the verse Romans 829 says, for those that he called those he predestined he predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus what is God working all things in your life together for his work in them for the greatest player he's ever had a medicine bring for Jesus to bring for Jesus and you to make you love Jesus, to make you look like Jesus to make you glorify Jesus. That's his purpose for you all, only even if your resume has some holes in it. His plans are perfect and he can use you no matter with the first message from our new series, upside down Christmas you're listening to Jenny Greer and Summit life to listen to this message again or to browse through Pastor JD's blog. Visit us online@jennygreer.com, you know, one of our primary functions here at Senate life is producing these daily programs we let hearing response from you on how the messages impact you pastor Jenny, could you share one of those letters with a letter here that we just got this week from Alisa. It was such an encouragement to our entire team. All I wanted to share with you she says. She says I been listening to Pastor JD Greer's messages since 2013.

I don't live anywhere near the Carolinas, but sometimes I wish I did say Lisa, you are welcome anytime you were close by to just come by the summer church would love to see Jesus. Pastor JD's been incredibly influential in the wall of the Lord. I just wanted to say thank you. I'm so so thankful for easy access to countless podcast sermons books of messages God is use this ministry Summit life to growing the changing therefore change the people that I leave hate Summit life community that is a perfect example of why we do this, your gifts, your generosity enabled her to respond that way because is not just the teaching of the messages that blesses her at her been able to access and be able to hear it and engage it for free.

So thank you for your generosity. We want to equip followers of Christ like Alisa to become disciple making disciples and your generosity that impacted my Senate night you can email Jenny Greer.com again that requests JD Greer.com we put together another resource that we think you'll really enjoy. In fact, at the fan favorite each year. The Senate life 2021 day planner, Jenny often talks about having Winston and how we manage the resources including the resource of time in this day planner will help you do that during the great reminder to keep you in God's word asked for a copy of the Senate life 2021 day planner when you make an important hearing Jenny, 866-335-8633 520 or if it's easier online. JD Greer.com and Molly minutes inviting you to join us tomorrow and will continue looking at Jesus's genealogy field that's Friday on MetLife.

Jenny