COMPLETED CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT… Outcasts Being Invited In
CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT…
Outcasts Being Invited In
December 17, 2023
1. Matthew’s gospel is unique because he starts with the GENEALOGY
Matthew 1:1-2 - A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, …
2. Matthew was writing specifically to a JEWISH audience and he is about to make the case that Jesus is in fact the Son of God, that he is the Messiah.
3. Matthew seems to emphasize the people that you would LEAVE OUT if you were writing a genealogy of the Son of God.
Matthew 1:3-7 - Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
4. Why all the distraction?
Matthew spent three years with Jesus. Matthew stood next to an empty tomb. Matthew saw Jesus die on a cross. Matthew heard Jesus teach. Matthew knew that all these shady characters with all their sin and all their embarrassing stories were the point of the story he was about to tell. He knew that sin was the issue and that Christmas, the birth of Jesus, addresses that issue.
5. Jesus didn’t just come for sinners. Jesus came from sinners, and that was alright, because that was the POINT of Him coming to earth.
6. Matthew knew he was from the SAME kind of background.
Matthew 9:1-2 - Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
7. The religious leaders, teachers of the law, scribes, and Pharisees who followed Jesus around everywhere were trying to figure out if he was who he CLAIMED to be.
Matthew 9:3-9 - At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” 4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins… .” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 And the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. …
8. There were two categories they would talk about: The TAX gatherers and the SINNER
9. The picture of righteousness and holiness, God in the flesh, makes eye contact with Matthew, who is collecting taxes from other Jewish people.
Matthew 9:9-10 - As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.
Matthew 9:11-12 - When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Matthew 9:13 - But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
10. If we could ask Jesus, “WHY did you come?
He would say, “I have not come to call the righteous or good people, I have come to call sinners.”
11. Matthew understood better than any other of the gospel writers that the story of Jesus and the story of Christmas is a story about God drawing NEAR to those who had PULLED away.
12. After watching Jesus for three years, Matthew discovered that from now on, he, a tax gatherer, a sinner, a man who had failed in every way and broken every law had the opportunity to approach God. This was not on the basis of what he had done, but on the basis of what Jesus had DONE for him.
Luke 2:12 - Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.