11/30/08 - Advent 1 - Matthew 1:1-17

GRACE PREVAILS
- Using sinners
- Choosing sinners

I can almost guarantee that you have never heard a sermon preached on the portion of Scripture we have in front of us today. Because not only is it different from the three Scripture lessons that we read for today’s service, it is not found in any of the weekly readings for any of the Sunday in the church year. And not only have you probably never heard a sermon on these verses before, but I’m sure that many of you oftentimes quickly skip over this part of the Bible whenever you’re reading God’s Word at home. The text is Matthew 1:1-17 and it is printed for you on the insert inside your bulletins. And if you would scan over this part of Scripture you’re first reaction might be: “What’s the big deal about these verses? It’s just a bunch of names. It’s just a genealogy of Jesus’ forefathers. So what? There are a lot of different parts of Scripture that are more interesting than this is.” But it’s more than just a bunch of names. And it’s more than just a genealogy of Jesus’ line. And I would even go as far to say that this is one of the more interesting sections of all of Scripture. Because the first 17 verses of the New Testament don’t just show us where Jesus came from, they are also a beautiful and historical demonstration that God’s grace prevails.
In your bulletin inserts, I’ve underlined some names in bold print, and I’ve highlighted others. The underlined names are to demonstrate how God’s grace has prevailed by using sinners and the highlighted names are to demonstrate how God’s grace has prevailed by choosing sinners. And I want to start with those names that have been underlined - beginning at the top with Abraham.
Abraham was a man of faith - no doubt about that. He was a valiant Christian and the patriarch of patriarchs. And he was also a sinner. God promised him that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. But his wife Sarah was both old and barren. And one day so Sarah told him that he should sleep with her maidservant, Hagar, so that he could produce a male offspring. Abraham unfortunately agreed. He slept with the servant Hagar and a boy named Ishmael was born. Of course, this was not God-pleasing nor was it according to God’s plan. And so the Lord told Abraham, “You will have a son with your wife Sarah. And he will be the one through whom I will bless all nations.” And shortly thereafter, Isaac was born to Sarah and he was the one to carry on the line of the Savior. Abraham most definitely sinned - he tried to circumvent God’s original plan by taking things into his own hands, but God used him anyway and his grace prevailed.
His son Isaac wasn’t the picture-perfect model of a Christian either. Years later, even though God told him directly that his younger son, Jacob, was to receive the all-important family blessing instead of his older son, Esau, Isaac decided to ignore God’s directive. And he was fully intent on blessing his son Esau until Jacob tricked him into giving him the blessing because Isaac had become blind in his old age. So despite Isaac’s intentions, God used him anyway to continue the line of the Savior through the man God had decided on and grace once again prevailed.
Jacob, other than deceiving his own father, took two different wives and slept with two different maidservants, producing sons from all four women. And on top of that disregard for God’s word on marriage, he loved a couple of his sons more than the others and visibly treated them better. But God used Jacob anyway, not by steering the line of Christ through one of the sons Jacob loved the most, but through his fourth eldest son, Judah. God’s grace prevailed - regardless of whom Jacob preferred.
And this is where it gets interesting. This is where we see the Lord’s grace prevailing in the worst of sins and through the worst of sinners. Judah had a son whom the Lord struck dead shortly after he got married. Judah then gave his daughter in law to his next son to take as his wife - as was the custom and law of the Lord of the time. But his second son also died because he was wicked in the Lord’s sight. Fearing that his third son would die if he gave the girl to him as a wife, Judah decided to let his daughter-in-law live as a widow for the remainder of her days although that was clearly against God’s law. His daughter-in-law, Tamar, underlined in verse three of Matthew 1, decided to dress up like a prostitute and stand out where her father-in-law, Judah, was working. Judah fell into that temptation and slept with Tamar without knowing who she was because she kept a veil over her face. Twin boys were the result of that incestuous relationship, and one of them, Perez, is mentioned for us in our text as one of the forefather’s of Christ himself.
Along those same lines, a couple verses further down the mother of Boaz is mentioned. Here name was Rahab. The same Rahab who was a Canaanite prostitute during the time of Joshua and the Israelites in the Promised Land. And a couple verses after that, David is on this list - who happened to have a son named Solomon with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. Judah & Tamar. Rahab the prostitute. And David & Bathsheba. All sinners against the 6th Commandment. All involved in very public scandals. And all ancestors of Jesus Christ the Lord. God’s grace prevailed to bring Christ into this world.
Of course, everyone on this list was a sinner. I simply mention a few of these people and a few of their stories to point out how God’s grace prevails by using sinners. His grace is that powerful that he could use awful sinners to carry out his good will. His grace is that loving that he would bother using such awful sinners to carry out something so spectacular as the birth of Christ. And so it should go without saying that God’s grace prevails by using sinners not only back then, but God’s grace prevails by using sinners to carry out his will today.
And so I think we insult the Lord quite a bit by the way we sometimes think about his grace. Has this ever crossed your mind? “I am so sinful. I am so hopeless. There are so many more qualified and more experienced and more Christian people than I am. I don’t see how God can use me for anything good.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty! His grace prevails even by using the worst of sinners. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace ever start depending on how good you are?
Or maybe this has gone through your mind once or twice: “There is no hope for that person. He is so anti-religion. He is so blatantly sinful and against everything that Christ is and Christ has done. I would highly doubt God’s grace will ever enter his heart.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty. His grace prevails even in the worst of sinners. Think of the apostle Paul. He was the biggest ant-Christian there was before he traveled on that road to Damascus. And yet God’s grace prevailed and Paul was turned into the best missionary of Christianity there ever was. Think of Naaman from Old Testament times. Not only was he a foreign general who attacked the Israelites, he even took back some Israelite children to serve his household. And yet God’s grace prevailed. Naaman was brought to faith in the Lord and he returned to his country a believer. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace ever depend on how receptive a person originally was to his Word?
How many times has this gone through your mind, as it has mine: “I kind of want to pray for this, but it’s so ridiculous, it’s so beyond the realm of possibility that it’s probably never going to happen anyway. So I guess I’ll tone down my prayer a bit and be a little more realistic.” What an insult that is to the Lord! He is the Lord Almighty! His grace prevails through the prayers of the worst of sinners. Since when did the effectiveness of God’s grace depend on the way things are normally done, the laws of nature, or human reason? God’s grace prevails. If it is his will, if things are to be accomplished that are according this plan, his grace will prevail. And he will use sinners - the worst of sinners - to carry it out. And it’s an insult to our Lord when we imply that sins or sinners might be able to stand in his way.
They certainly didn’t stand in his way throughout the history of Christ’s ancestors. In fact, in Matthew chapter one we see that God not only used sinners, he chose sinners. That’s what the highlighted names are for. And you’ll notice that the first highlighted name is someone we’ve already mentioned: Rahab. God didn’t just use her so that grace prevailed, he chose her when he had no reason to. Because she was not only a prostitute, she wasn’t even an Israelite. She lived in the city of Jericho when the walls came crashing down. By God’s grace her life was spared even though 1) all people in the land of Canaan were originally supposed to be destroyed, 2) all prostitutes in Israel were supposed to be put to death, and 3) the Israelites were not supposed to inter-marry with foreign nations. Rahab lived however, married an Israelite man, and God chose her to carry on the line of the Savior.
Her son was Boaz. Boaz you should remember from the book of Ruth. He was Ruth’s husband. But Ruth wasn’t an Israelite either. She was a Moabite. She was from a nation that was a constant thorn in the Israelite’s flesh. But God chose this foreigner, whose husband was the son of a former prostitute, to be the ancestors of Christ.
At the bottom of the first big paragraph you see Manasseh is highlighted. He was a king of Judah who did some wicked thing while he was on the throne. He built altars to Baal and Asherah. He worshiped the stars, he set up false gods in the Lord’s own temple, he sacrificed his own son in the fire and he was involved with sorcery and divination. He led the Israelites into more sin than the nations that were there before him. But God’s grace prevailed. He chose this king, this sinner, and brought Manasseh to faith. Manasseh repented, got rid of the altars to the false gods he had made, and turned the Israelites back to the Lord. And, of course, he was chosen to carry on the line of Christ.
The last two names we’ll look at today are near the end of our lesson. Joseph and his wife Mary. Sinners, without question. Joseph, just a carpenter. Mary, no one special other than she was from the line of David as well. But God chose them. He picked them to be the parents of the Lord Almighty. He chose them to bring Jesus up in the training and instruction of the Lord. He gave them the responsibility of raising their own Savior. They were not qualified. They were certainly not deserving of this honor. But God’s grace prevailed by choosing these two sinners so that Jesus would come into this world.
You certainly are not qualified to be a Christian. You certainly aren’t deserving of that honor. And neither am I. We are sinners. The worst of sinners. And yet here we sit as Christians nevertheless. Because God’s grace has prevailed. He has chosen you specifically as his child before he ever created the world. He came to this earth so his grace would prevail. He died so his grace would prevail. He lives so his grace prevails. He sent his Holy Spirit to work in your heart through his Word and sacraments so that you would be brought to faith in him. Because God’s grace prevails despite sin, despite the devil, despite death, and despite sinners themselves. And God’s grace will prevail until the end of time when we will all experience God’s grace in its absolute fullness in the glories of heaven.
The next time you read through the book of Matthew, don’t scan so quickly over these first 17 verses. You don’t have to spend too much time on them, but at least notice some of the names. At least remember their stories. And notice how God’s grace prevailed by using those sinners and by choosing those sinners. And know that he does the same for you. He has chosen you to be saved. And he will use you to spread that message of salvation to the world. What an honor. What an honor to be a recipient of God’s unending grace. What an honor to be used to share that with others.
Yes, we are sinners. There’s no arguing that. But we are sinners who are saved. Because we are saved by God’s grace. And his grace prevails.
Amen.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ… to him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 5:10,11