1. "Genealogies, make no mistake, are political documents. Nations are built on families, such as the 59 families in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1642. And those family stories in turn tell the histories of our nations. Genealogies determine who's who and who deserves what."

2. "So do you want to know who Jesus is? Well then you have to know something about Abraham and David. Indeed, understanding who Jesus is requires you to understand the national history of Israel. So a quick takeaway lesson for us is how well do you, friend, know the Old Testament? If you really know Jesus and want to love Jesus and want to follow Jesus, then you want to know who Jesus is. And that means you want to know the Old Testament."

3. "Family and nation provide by God's design the building blocks of creation itself. This is how we live. Get these things wrong and your family and your nation will eventually crumble."

4. "The New Testament is where the Old Testament genealogies go to die because Jesus will build a family and a nation through regeneration, not through procreation."

5. "Meanwhile, those born to two Christian parents are not Christian, because you only become a Christian through repentance and faith or conversion. Nor do you live in a Christian nation because the only Christian nation in the Bible, according to the Apostle Peter, is the holy nation, which is the church."

6. "And friends, this is why Christianity only makes sense if you have reached the end of yourself. A new beginning appeals only to the person who has reached the end of him or herself and has found the old self wanting."

7. "You've discovered that you cannot get control of your sin, your addiction, your pattern of ruining relationships, your loneliness, your depression, your weakness, your guilt and shame, your despair in yourself, and perhaps your despair with the world around you. And it's into all this brokenness and hurt and death and addiction and guilt. Through that, a new Adam steps a light, stepping into a pervasive darkness, bringing forgiveness and healing. Shoots of green in a charred wasteland, volcanic ash."

8. "It starts with a boring old genealogy; there's no fancy stage sets, there's an anonymous stable cow trough, no team of dancers. Instead, there's Herod and the Pharisees and the religious leaders pursuing his life. The star of the show isn't made to look beautiful, but an object of ridicule and shame. The show doesn't end with standing ovations and encores, but death on a cross."

9. "Becoming a Christian, in other words, is not about just becoming a new I, it's about becoming a new we. The new you, Christian, includes a new we. Conversion is corporate. You're part of a family now."

10. "Friends, that's Christianity. That's the good news of the Gospel. All that Christ has won becomes ours, the national treasure and inheritance of Israel. And then we're united in him. It's all ours. That's some pretty good news."

Observation Questions

1. Read Matthew 1:1. What three titles or descriptions does Matthew use for Jesus, and which two Old Testament figures does he immediately connect Jesus to?
2. Looking at Matthew 1:2–6a, which major Old Testament figures are mentioned from Abraham to David, and which women are specifically named in this section?
3. In Matthew 1:6b–11, how does Matthew describe David, and what repeated phrase marks the end of this section in verse 11?
4. In Matthew 1:12–16, how does the pattern of “X the father of Y” continue, and what is different about the way Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are described in verse 16?
5. Compare the three main time markers in verse 17. What are the three periods Matthew highlights, and how many generations does he say are in each?
6. Across Matthew 1:2–16, what repeated words or phrases stand out to you, and what overall pattern do you see in the way the genealogy is structured?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it theologically significant that Matthew introduces Jesus in 1:1 as “the son of David, the son of Abraham,” and how does this connect to God’s covenant promises in the Old Testament?
2. What might Matthew be teaching by including morally complicated figures and Gentile women like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah” in Jesus’ genealogy (1:3–6)?
3. Why do you think Matthew emphasizes “the deportation to Babylon” in verse 11 and again in verse 17, and how does that event function as a turning point in Israel’s story that prepares for Christ’s coming?
4. How does this genealogy, as the first words of the New Testament, act like a “recap” of the Old Testament and support the sermon’s claim that “all the promises of God find their Yes in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20)?
5. In light of the sermon’s point that this is effectively the Bible’s last genealogy, how does Matthew 1 help us understand the shift from belonging to God’s people by physical descent to belonging by new birth and faith (cf. Revelation 20:12; Matthew 3:9; 12:50)?

Application Questions

1. Since Matthew assumes we know the stories behind the names in this genealogy, what concrete step could you take in the next month to grow in your knowledge of the Old Testament so that you can know Jesus better?
2. Where are you tempted to rest on your family background, church upbringing, or national identity instead of personal repentance and faith in Christ, and what would it look like this week to turn from that false security?
3. The sermon emphasized that becoming a Christian means joining a new family and nation. How might your involvement in your local church (attendance, relationships, membership, service) need to change to reflect that your identity is now part of a “we” and not just an individual “I”?
4. Think about your workplace, neighborhood, or school: how could seeing yourself first as a citizen of Christ’s “holy nation” shape the way you handle conversations about politics, culture, or national issues this week?
5. In what area of your life do you feel most at “the end of yourself” right now, and how can you practically look to Jesus as the new Adam and the beginning of a new creation there (for example, through prayer, confession, seeking help from other believers)?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 12:1–3 — God’s covenant promise to Abraham that all the families of the earth will be blessed through him, which Matthew’s genealogy shows being fulfilled in Christ.
2. 2 Samuel 7:8–16 — God’s promise to David of an everlasting throne and a royal son, illuminating why Matthew calls Jesus “the son of David.”
3. Matthew 3:1–12 — John the Baptist warns Israel not to trust in physical descent from Abraham, but to repent, echoing the sermon’s point about regeneration rather than genealogy.
4. 1 Peter 2:4–12 — Peter describes believers as a “chosen race” and “holy nation,” reinforcing the idea of the church as God’s new people and family.
5. Revelation 20:11–15 — The final judgment and the Book of Life show the ultimate “genealogy” that matters: those whose names are written because they are united to Christ by faith.

Sermon Main Topics

Genealogies, Nations, and the Birth of a New Creation

Know Your Bible Better Through Christ’s Genealogy

Know Jesus Better as the Fulfillment of Scripture

Know Yourself Better as Part of God’s New Family

The Inheritance of Christ’s Eternal Kingdom

---

Detailed Sermon Outline

- Genealogies determine inheritance, land rights, and cultural identity.  
- Contests over family and national identity trace back to Genesis.

---

---

---

---

Well, as Marshall said, the staff are all away, which means the bullpen is empty. So Mark thought he'd go get some fresh young talent from the minors.

I know with Bobby and Mark, you guys don't get a lot of sports analogies. That's a baseball reference.

I did, I saw Bobby, I walked and I saw Bobby. I'm like, why aren't you preaching? He's like, I'm not staff. I'm like, okay. So grateful to be here for SBC Sunday with you, or as I like to call it, JV Sunday.

I do bring you greetings from Cheverly Baptist Church. Thank you, Kevin, wherever you went for praying for us. You guys, every time I run into one of you, you say, How's the pastoral search going? We have a number of candidates, but the elders there, including myself, are kind of persnickety. And so no news to report right now, but a number of good candidates, and we're praying about them and working through them, so continue to pray.

Continue to pray for us. We're very grateful for that. I know you do care. My wife and four daughters are also doing well. For the 20% of you who might remember them, I have my lovely 15-year-old daughter, Madeline, here with us this morning.

And also, here's one good piece of news. My oldest, Emma, graduated a couple of weeks ago from high school, and she got baptized. Yay! Right?

So much rejoicing in our house over that.

Thank you for the honor of being with you this morning. I want to start, though, going way back to 1616. I figure all the years I sat here and how many historical introductions did I begin with? I thought I would treat you to one of the same. 1616, when George Slauson was born to Richard and Ann Slauson in the village of Southwark in Surrey, England.

In 1636, around the age of 20, he and his brother Thomas boarded the ship Jonas and emigrated to the American colonies. And George began his life with his brother in Lynn, Massachusetts, but soon moved to Sandwich, Massachusetts, and eventually to Stamford, Connecticut, which had increased to a population of about 59 families in 1642. Well, over the next few decades, George would purchase land, raise a family, serve as an officer in the church, serve as a representative in the General Assembly, and generally play an active role in civic affairs. For instance, he helped negotiate land treaties with Native Americans, first in 1640, then 1645, and finally in 1667, which was signed by Tapahans and Pennehequim for the Native Americans and George Slauson and several others for the whites. One early history entitled the First Puritan Settlers states Slauson was a firm Puritan and a good man, and was also favorably noticed by Cotton Mather.

Some of you would know that name. SlaUson was also a Congregationalist. Now SlaUson died in February 17th, 1694, leaving behind a wife and several children. And among those he left behind was John SlaUson, who was born in 1641. And John, in turn, begat Jonathan SlaUson in 1670, who begat David SlaUson in 1713, who begat another David SlaUson in 1735, who fought in the Revolution and who begat Moses Slauson in 1780, who begat William Nelson Slauson in 1822, who begat William Gabriel Slauson in 1845, who as a 59 year old begat William Loyal Slauson in 1904, who begat Loyal Nelson Slauson in 1644, as well as Barbara Jean Slauson Slauson in 1948, who in 1973 begat me, and three years later, Philip.

If you're doing the math, that makes me 50 in September. In other words, George Slauson, who crossed the Atlantic on the ship Jonas in 1636 with his brother Thomas, is my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great Grandpa, on my mother's side. Okay, that is one half of my family tree, my genealogy. And there's interesting tidbits on the way, such as members fighting in the French-Indian War and the Revolutionary War and the Civil War on both sides. Speaking of my father's side of the family tree, the Leaman side, 67 Leamans would fight for the Union Army and 22 of them would fight for the Confederate Army.

What do you think that says about me? It's another conversation for another day. Well, in fact, it was only this last year that I learned that my own American family tree went all the way back to 1636. And I confess that when I heard that, my first thought was, well, that makes me about as American as it comes.

But as soon as I say it like that, Did you get the feeling that I kind of transitioned the conversation into a political register? I'm more American than them. And now what it sounds like just a little bit. Are you saying, Jonathan, you have a right to this land? Say, more of a right than people crossing the border from Central or South America?

Whose genealogies go back into Central American history. Genealogies, make no mistake, are political documents. Nations are built on families, such as the 59 families in Stamford, Connecticut in 1642. And those family stories, in turn, tell the histories of our nations. Genealogies determine who's who and who deserves what.

Do I deserve this inheritance? Do I own this land? And for that reason, family stories and national stories have been contested at least since Genesis 4. I deserve this house and land. And the Lehmans fighting for the North and the Lehmans fighting for the South were engaged in precisely such a contest, one that divided nation and family.

Indeed, the very idea of what it means to be American has always been contested. So if I can trace my family history back to George Slauson in 1636, what about Tappan and Penhallow with whom he signed treaties? How far back can they trace their American family history. Well, there's another whole can of worms. In fact, the Bible cares quite a bit about genealogies.

So turn in your Bibles to Matthew 1. If you're using the Pew Bible, that's on page 807. And this one right here where we find the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I don't recall a Christmas sermon ever talking about, starting with the genealogy. Usually when Christmas time comes around, you hear about the baby in the manger, and you hear about maybe Herod and so forth.

But how many Christmas sermons have you heard that actually begin with the genealogy? But that's where Matthew starts. And so every year as we come to this again and again, we should think about this. And throughout the year as right now, culminating in Christ.

So am I going to read this entire genealogy? I am. Matthew 1:1, down to verse 17.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. And Judah the father of Perez, and Zerah by Tamar. And Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Raab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abihud. I admit I never quite know how to say that one. When you're doing these, just say them confidently and people will believe you, all right? That's my tip.

Abiud, I think, the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud, I'm guessing on that one too, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born. Born. There's our Christmas sermon, right? Who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation of Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation of Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

I have three sets of lessons from the genealogy this morning. That means I've got A point with three sub points and a point with three sub points and a point with three sub points, all right? I trust you guys can follow. So three sets of lessons. We have Know youw Bible Better lessons and then we have Know Jesus Better lessons and then we have Know Ourselves Better lessons, all right?

We're starting with the Let's Know Our Bible Better lessons. Here's number one. The New Testament depends upon the Old Testament, right? Pretty straightforward. The New Testament depends on the Old Testament.

So you guys know what it's like to wait nine months for the new season of a show, but then you forget what was happening. And gratefully, the new season begins with a little recap. So you get something like last season on when calls the heart, Elizabeth Thatcher, the new school teacher in Coal Valley, was charmed by police constable Jack Fortin. And so you go on from the, oh, that's right. Okay, Elizabeth and Jack.

Season two depends upon season one. And the New Testament also right here begins with such a recap. Look at verse two. Reminds us of stories about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Uh, and then verse three, remember that, those outlandish stories about Judah sleeping with his daughter-in-law Tamar, ugh.

In verse 5, you have that sweet story about Ruth, who eventually leads to David. Old Testament reader looking at these names, remembering all of these. Of course, this is not whitewashed history. So we know David bore Solomon there in verse 6 through the stolen wife of Uriah. And on and on the recap goes, taking us through the Old Testament.

And of course, this recap is, as I say, a genealogy. And genealogies not only remind us of what happened, but tell us who somebody is. So do you want to know who Jesus is? Well, then you have to know something about Abraham and David. Indeed, Understanding who Jesus is requires you to understand the national history of Israel.

Just like knowing who I am requires knowing a little something about the history of the United States. So a quick takeaway lesson for us is how well do you, friend, know the Old Testament? If you really know Jesus, and want to love Jesus and want to follow Jesus, then you want to know who Jesus is. And that means you want to know the Old Testament. Here's a second, know your Bible better lesson.

Number two, the Bible's genealogies don't just tell us who someone's family is, but who the nation of Israel is, answering not just who is my great-grandpa, but who are my fellow citizens. Let me say that again. The Bible's genealogies don't just tell us who someone's family is, but who the nation of Israel is. Not just who is my great-grandpa, but who are my fellow citizens. I've already touched on this point some, but in the Bible, family trees and family histories are the stuff out of which national trees and national histories are made.

So in creation, God organized our lives into families. When we see that then in Genesis 10 and 11, as you guys have recently studied, that becomes the history then of nations. Human history, in other words, plays out on the landscape of families and nations. Or more to the point, Families and nations provide the organizing principles for our lives, as Matthew's own genealogy attests. Families and nations are therefore worth preserving.

And the culture wars of our day, which dominate social media, and Kevin briefly mentioned in his prayer, and so many of these topics contest precisely what a family is. And what a nation is. So whether the topic is LGBTQ or America's race problem or immigration or so much more, are these not all in some sense fights over what's a family? What's a nation? What qualifies as a family?

What qualifies as a citizen of a nation? Family and nation provide, by God's design, the building blocks of Creation itself. This is how we live. Get these things wrong and your family and your nation will eventually crumble. Indeed, a nation that undermines the family is a nation that will not long survive.

'Cause nations are built on families, which are built on marriage, which are built on men and women. And if you decimate that, you decimate the foundation of it all and how civilization works. Friends, that's why the culture wars are so hot. These are not random topics that people are fighting about. Now in so far as first century Israel was under Roman occupation, they too, too, struggled with national identity, dividing the zealots from the Jewish tax collectors, like Matthew, the one writing our gospel.

So notice where Matthew begins, with the claim that Jesus' genealogy is as Jewish or as Hebrew as it comes. He takes it all the way from David and then back to Abraham. That said, don't get too excited about Jesus' Jewish roots. Look at lesson three. Here's lesson three.

The New Testament is where the Old Testament genealogies go to die because Jesus will build a family and a nation through regeneration, not through procreation. The New Testament is where the Old Testament genealogies go to die because Jesus will build a family and a nation through regeneration, not through procreation. Now, if you've read through the Old Testament, you know that it's filled with genealogies like this one here at the beginning of Matthew's Gospels. If you look through Genesis or you look at the beginning of or at the end of Ruth or through Chronicles, and then you turn to page one of the New Testament. And if you've never read the New Testament before, you're reading and think, okay, so this is basically going to be like the Old Testament, right?

It's just kind of another list of who the people of Israel are and who the people of Israel are pointing to. But here's the thing: it's the last genealogy in the Bible. Yes, there's another one in Luke, but that one also points to Christ. So these together are the last genealogy in the Bible. Genealogies are done.

That's significant. That's a big deal.

The New Testament is where the Old Testament genealogies go to die. Why? Well, if you have your Bible open, flip a couple of pages to chapter 3.

Look at verse 9. Right after promising the kingdom of heaven, John the Baptist warns Israel's leaders not to take comfort in the fact, look there, we have Abraham as our father, say the Pharisees. And John responds by saying, Recognize that God is able from these stones to raise up children from Abraham.

In other words, people would become citizens of the kingdom of heaven, not by natural descent, but by supernatural descent.

Raising children from Abraham from these stones, that's supernatural. Flip a few more pages to chapter 12.

Chapter 12, and look at verse 50, and the people tell Jesus that His mother and brothers are looking for Him. And notice how Jesus responds. He then responds by defining a family, not biologically, but spiritually. He says, Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother. Interesting.

Make no mistake, a very Jewish Jesus shows up, but then he calls for a revolution. Honestly, he's almost like a presidential candidate who promises that once elected he's going to make non-citizens citizens and citizens non-citizens. How well would that campaign go? That's what he's saying in these texts. So if God's Old Testament nation and kingdom grew by procreation, by genealogies, his New Testament nation and kingdom would grow by regeneration, rebirth, supernatural birth.

All this is why the New Testament is where the Old Testament genealogies go to die. No longer would a man's seed or a soldier's sword build God's nation. God's nation would be built by God's Spirit. What matters is not physical descent, but repentance and faith. Christianity begins with conversion.

And friends, that's why when you came to join this church, an elder would have asked you, what's the gospel? He doesn't say, who are your parents? He says, Tell me how you became a Christian. No matter who your parents were. Being united to God's people depends on being united to Christ through faith, period.

It doesn't matter who your parents are. And that's why this church is a Baptist church. You only baptize believers, not the children of of believers. For as much as we love our sweet fellowship with our Paedo-Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ. So now you're wondering, Jonathan, did you turn a sermon on a genealogy into a defense of believer's baptism?

That is exactly what I did. Precisely in the fact that the New Testament is where the Old Testament genealogies go to die. Right here. In this last genealogy of the Bible. All of them leading to, all of them pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you want to be numbered among God's covenant people? What counts? Nothing more than being united to Christ through faith. In fact, there is a New Testament genealogy later.

Revelation 20:12. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The New Testament genealogy depends upon whose ever name is found in the book of life, which includes only people who trust in Christ and follow after Him. So to any kids or teens sitting in the room this morning, it's important for you to understand whether or not your parents' names are in the book of life, whether your name is in the book of life is up to you. It's not automatic. Kids, you need to repent of your sin and put your trust in Christ and to do it even today so that you too can be joined to the genealogy of Christ. Friends, if you're here this morning and you're a non-Christian, you would not understand yourself to be a Christian.

Understand, this is what distinguishes Christianity, not from all other religions, but from many of them. Those born into a Muslim family in a Muslim nation are Muslim. Those born into a Hindu family in a Hindu nation are Hindu. Those born into a Jewish family in a Jewish nation are Jewish. Meanwhile, those born to two Christian parents are not Christian because you only become a Christian through repentance and faith or conversion.

Nor do you live in a Christian nation because the only Christian nation in the Bible, according to the Apostle Peter, is the Holy Nation, which is The church. So now, Jonathan, are you turning a genealogy sermon into a defense of, or against, Christian nationalism? Yes, I am.

Because the New Testament is where the Old Testament genealogies go to die. Don't you see?

Again, we are declared members of the Christian nation through repentance and faith and union to Christ through the new covenant of his blood. And I hope you see the even larger point right here. If the New Testament depends upon the Old Testament, as this genealogy teaches, and if this one last genealogy culminates in Jesus, then the larger lesson is that the whole Old Testament points to Jesus. Okay, that's our first set of lessons. That's the how do we know our Bible better lessons.

Let's go to a second set. Let's call these the know Jesus better lessons. Here's the first one. Jesus fulfills all the promises given to the people of Israel since Abraham. Jesus fulfills all the promises given to people of Israel since Abraham.

The Old Testament, I trust many, most of you know, is filled with such promises. So he promised Abraham, I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. A big promise is right here.

He fulfilled, God fulfilled all of those promises and Jesus Christ. He promised David, I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones of the earth. He fulfilled this promise in Christ.

Through Isaiah, He promised all Israel on their way to exile, But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

He fulfills this promise through Christ. And we can go on and on looking at all those Old Testament promises, friends, and we know that God fulfills all of them in Christ, which is why Paul can say to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 1, For all the promises of God find their yes in Christ.

And this fact should dramatically change the way you read your Bible. You have to read all of it through Jesus. The temptation, when you read the Old Testament often, is to think that somehow everything depends upon you. So, for instance, think about how so many prosperity gospel preachers will go back and preach something like Deuteronomy 28. If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of the ground, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds, and the young of their flock.

So what is the prosperity preacher? He says, well, if you obey, then your crops will grow, and your cows will give milk, and your bank accounts will be full if you obey, just as Deuteronomy 28 says. But is that how we should read Deuteronomy 28? No. What does Deuteronomy 28 teach?

It teaches that there is an inseparable connection between obedience and blessing. If you want blessing, you have to have obedience. And if you're not obedient, you won't be blessed. You will be cursed. Deuteronomy 28 teaches that.

It's ironclad. But then if you keep reading Deuteronomy 29 and Deuteronomy 30, you discover, oh my goodness, the people of Israel will not obey.

In fact, they will earn God's curse because they're disobedient. But then as we keep reading, we discover another son of Israel comes along who is perfectly obedient and who earns all of God's blessings. So what do we want now? Oh, we want to be united to the one who is perfectly obedient.

So that through Him we too can have all of God's blessings. No obedience, no blessing. Hold on to Christ. All blessing. Lesson two about no Jesus better.

Jesus is the new Adam. Jesus is the new Adam. Look at the very first. Go back to Matthew 1:1.

Look at the very first words of our passage: the Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ. Now, if you have a Greek Bible, in Greek you will read Biblos Geneseos.

What does that sound like to people? Biblos, what does that sound like?

Anybody? Bible or even book. Okay, Biblos, Bible or book. Geneseos, what does that sound like? Genesis.

Yeah, that's precisely what it sounds like. Now, if you were to turn back to Genesis 2:4, you can if you want. Here's what we read in Genesis 2:4: these are the generations of. Now, this is a key phrase in the book of Genesis. It's used nine more times, and it gives structure to the book of Genesis.

Well, if you are reading the book of Genesis in Greek, do you know what these are the generations of is in Greek?

Any guesses? Biblos. Geneseos. Now, if you do a little Google search and say, why is Genesis named Genesis? Places like Encyclopedia Britannica will tell you, well, because the word English, Genesis in English means the beginning, and this is the book of beginnings.

That's actually not true. What's true is it's named Genesis because it's named after genealogies. These are the genealogies in the Greek. So what is Matthew then doing by cutting and pasting this phrase, Biblos Geneseos, from Genesis and pasting it right there at the beginning of his book, at the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew 1:1. He is saying that we here have a new Genesis, a new creation, a new Adam.

And friends, this is why Christianity only makes sense if you have reached the end of yourself. A new beginning appeals only to the person who has reached the end of him or herself and has found the old self wanting. You've discovered that you cannot get control of your sin, your addiction, your pattern of ruining relationships. Your loneliness, your depression, your weakness, your guilt and shame, your despair in yourself and perhaps your despair with the world around you.

And it's into all this brokenness and hearth and death and addiction and guilt that a new Adam steps, a light stepping into a pervasive darkness, bringing forgiveness and healing, shoots of green in a charred wasteland, volcanic ash.

Let me put it like this. Consider for a second the person who feels like or who wonders if life's even worth living.

They wonder if they should end it.

Christianity is for the person precisely at this point.

It offers A new big bang. A new creation. It says, Yes, darkness. A new universe here. A new Adam here for you, if you would reach out and hold on to Him.

Do you come to church this morning to focus on yourself?

Or to focus on Jesus Christ. All the Bible, the revealed Word of God, points to Him. It is about Him.

And if you're discouraged or despairing, where do you think you should place your attention? If not to him. That brings us to lesson three about Jesus. Jesus is God with us. And God has orchestrated all of history so that we might see the glory and the beauty of the sun.

Jesus is God with us. And God has orchestrated all of history so that we might see the glory and the beauty of his son. We see a hint of this, I think, in verse 17's use of the number 14. It says, 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to exile, 14 from the exile to Jesus. Now the number 14 itself represents the name of David, according to the Hebrew practice of Gematria.

More generations would have existed between Jesus and some of this triad here. But Matthew includes 14 to make his point. God has orchestrated all of history so that we might behold the glory of the Son, who is the center of all things, the beginning and the culmination of all things. This is why the universe, he is why the universe exists. Now, a few months ago, I watched some of Taylor Swift's eras.

Tour movie. It is intense. But I'm not going to say anything about that just to avoid the politics of my own family.

So let me pick my own, one of my own favorite artists, U2. Back in 2007, I went to a concert movie at the Natural History Museum of U2. Of the IMAX theater there. And I remember watching that and watching Bono center stage and thinking to myself, My goodness, this is a worship concert. People are there worshiping this figure who is center stage.

And these modern concert movies use video technologies and the stage lights and the costuming and the hordes of backup singers and dancers surrounding the star to say, Look at him, look at him, look at her.

And the heart's like, Yes, I want that. There's something about that larger than life, who in all of their beauty and power embodies our hopes, a kind of triumph over our pain and existential angst. Yet now consider what God does to draw our attention, contrary-wise, to Jesus. The concert doesn't begin with turning the stadium dark, dramatic music, waving spotlights. It starts with a boring old genealogy.

There's no fancy stage sets. There's an anonymous stable, a cow trough. No team of dancers, instead there's Herod and the Pharisees and the religious leaders pursuing his life. The star of the show isn't made to look beautiful, but an object of ridicule and shame. The show doesn't end with standing ovations and encores, but death on a cross.

Jesus would live a perfect life, die on the cross, pay the penalty of sinners like us, rise from the grave. The one on whom history converges dies for us, pays the penalty for us. Empties himself to make us fool if only we would repent and believe. Friends, we were made to worship. And to draw our hearts to worshiping the wrong things, the world and the devil uses the really obvious stuff to distract us like lights and glamour and beauty and power and riches and say, Look here.

What does God do? He shows His power and beauty and glory and weakness, ugliness. He doesn't need all the glamour to get the job done. So He starts, as I said, with a boring old genealogy. This is His technology of choice.

And of course, genealogies depend on death. He begot him and he died, and he begot him and he died, and he begot him and he died. And so this genealogy, the Bible's last genealogy, sets us up for the lesson that Jesus would come and conquer and kill death.

Use death to kill death. And friends, this is where we will find new life, new creation, whole new Big Bang life only in the Lord Jesus Christ. That brings us to our third set of lessons, the Know Yourself Better lessons. Here's the first one of those. Number one, church, we are a new Genesis.

A new creation, a new family, a new nation. Church, we are a new Genesis. A new family, a new creation, a new nation. The old is past, the new has come, says Paul. And as I'm speaking to a congregation set in the Washington, D.C. area, it should be clear that our politics are different because our primary national identity is a heavenly identity.

And our citizenship in that heavenly nation should determine and shape what we do with our earthly citizenships. It should condition our political hopes and expectations. Now, I wouldn't say that being a Christian should cause you to adopt one particular policy towards the South American border and the problem of illegal crossings. I don't think any Christian can say, My immigration policy comes directly from heaven. I don't think the Bible tells us what position to hold on Israel and Palestine or Russia and Ukraine.

I do think how we think about nations and their borders and their peoples should be impacted by the fact that we no longer believe that any of these nations will ever offer eternal harbor and safety. And peace. The only perfect and lasting genealogy, the only perfect family and nation is the one that is born of heaven. Everything else is relativized. It's got to be clear to us.

No nation, not the United States, not any other, will finally succeed.

It's not going to happen. The entire Old Testament teaches us that story. Civilization might depend upon family and nations, as I said, but thanks to our sin, civilization will always limp along at best. Only the Son of God Himself can create a new civilization and a new nation. And where do you see that new civilization and nation?

We see it in our church gatherings. This is where it begins. And those realities conditions what we do and we don't do on Sunday and every day of the week. Our heavenly citizenship and genealogy should also impact how we view our work, for instance. So remember for a second that Adam was placed in the garden to work it and keep it.

So what do you do? Vocationally. Well, like our politics, our work remains subject to the curse. It faces the futility of life in this world. Therefore, our goals at work should be different now that we are a chosen race, a holy nation, borrowing again language from Peter.

Our new identity should impact how we go to work and what we're doing there. So when I worked at a magazine as an editor before being called into ministry, I found that I was losing interest in my editing work there at the magazine, and I honestly just didn't do as good a job as I should have done. Yet looking back, I think to myself, how much I wish I had done an A+ job. Why? Is that because I wanted a promotion?

No, I didn't want a promotion. I wanted out. But because I know that my work was a witness to my fellow colleagues who were non-Christians, and how much I wish my work would have testified to them of a heavenly citizenship instead of being something more lackluster as it was. In other words, being a Christian should have changed not so much the task of editing. It's not like sentences and sentence structures change, but why I was editing and what my purpose in editing was.

So, friend, again, where do you work? Why do you work? As a member of a chosen race, a holy nation, that should empower a member of this new genealogy that should impact your work. Here's a second Know Ourselves Better lesson. Christian, you are not just an I, but a we.

Because becoming a Christian means joining the genealogy by adoption. You are not just an Ah, new I, you are a new we. Because becoming a Christian means joining this genealogy by adoption. We have been adopted into Jesus' genealogy. The family tree has become our family tree.

So it's almost as if you can read through this and say things like, Ah, you remember old Uncle Jeconiah? He was a strange dude, right? Or Grandpa Hezekiah. He was doing so well, and then at the end, that's why Paul can refer to us as the new Israel. In Galatians 6, becoming a Christian, in other words, is not about just becoming a new I, it's about becoming a new we.

The new you, Christian, includes a new we. Conversion is corporate. You're part of a family now. Why do you come to church? Because it's good for you, sure, but even more than that, you come to church because that's who you are.

The family of God. These are my people. Come to dinner with my family. And therefore, very practically, friends, this is what Christians do. They join churches.

We do it by formally saying to a congregation, I'm submitting my discipleship to your oversight and discipline. And we do it functionally by getting to know one another, letting ourselves be known, and giving them a prominent place in our social Calendars, again, this is our family. Now, who are my mother and brother and sisters? Says Jesus. There it is.

Those who do the will of God. There's the new genealogy that you have been united to. So, friend, if you want to grow as a Christian, if you want to grow in loving and following Jesus, then you need to get your mind around the fact that your identity includes a new family. Because being a part of that family is how you grow, right? Being a part of the body is how you grow and following after Jesus, who is the head of the body, the adopted elder brother in the family.

And to keep them at arm's length, to keep the family at arm's length, to just kind of be peripheral to the whole thing, you're not going to grow as a family member. I would just say you're not going to grow and knowing how to follow Jesus, because this is how Jesus does it, with His family, with His body. So if your temptation when this service ends is to quickly run out, I'd encourage you just to wait, talk to at least one person. Often I find that as I'm getting older, I'm more and more of an introvert. And so what I tell myself is, okay, one conversation.

I'm going to have one conversation at least. And eventually it becomes two or three or four, but start with one.

The end of the service today. Lesson number three. This is to the non-Christians, non-Christian. You can join God's genealogy today by trusting in Christ. You can join God's genealogy today by trusting in Christ.

So I wonder, speaking especially to those of you who don't understand yourself to be Christians, I wonder what you think of your family of origin. Do you have a good family? Do you have a bad family? Are they religious? Are they non-religious?

I wonder also what you think of your nation of origin. Is it America? Is it someplace else? A good nation, bad nation? What do you think of it?

Now, I told you that my own family tree at the beginning would indicate that I have deep roots in America and apparently I have ancestors who I said fought for slavery and those who fought against slavery, in other words, my own family history, my own national history is very mixed.

Yet none of this matters from the standpoint of entrance into the kingdom of God. Your family of origin, your nation of origin doesn't matter. What matters is whether or not you trust in Christ. And whether you're American or not, we hope that if you come to this assembly as a Christian, you'll quickly, soon discover, Ah, these are my people. This is my family.

This is my nation. I remember the first time I went abroad and spent some time with Christians. They spoke with a different accent, English accent. A little strange. But I was with Christians, and I'm like, somehow I'm connecting here.

I get these people. I understand these people. What was that? That was the new genealogy that we were all a part of.

Together through Christ. But before this happens, my non-Christian friends, you need to reach the end of your own resources. You need to recognize your need for a new birth, your need for a new creation. And you can have that today by repenting of your sins, turning to Christ, and saying, Forgive me. Pay the penalty that I can't pay.

I'll follow after you. If you have questions about this, talk to me. I'll be at the door. Talk to anybody, just about anybody else in this room. Finally, lesson four.

Here it is, last lesson. I've been very patient. Lesson four, Christian. All the family inheritance and the nation's treasures belong to you. All the family inheritance and the nation's treasures belong to you.

All the promises of God find their yes in Christ, as I said before. Yet if you belong to Christ, all that's his, all that he has won through his perfect obedience in life and death and resurrection are now yours. By imputation, by covenantal belonging. So picture yourself at an orphanage. One day, this immaculately dressed, handsome, kind-looking couple adopts you.

And the husband and wife, they drive you home. And their luxury car pulls into this big iron gate with family crest on it, and the gates open, and the security guard salutes, and you drive down this promenade with symmetrically lined trees and sculpted shrubbery. Then you drive up into this big driveway, and you look, and you see multiple garages and antique sports cars and sports cars, all sorts of fancy things. And you look over there and you see the pool and the tennis courts and you look over there and there's an orchard and a vineyard. And then this mansion.

And then this couple says, It's all yours. Head on inside. You walk in, orphan, you this orphan, you walk in, what do you find?

Brothers and sisters, waiting there to embrace and cheer you. Friends, that's Christianity. That's the good news of the gospel. All that Christ has won becomes ours. The national treasure and inheritance of Israel, all the promises of God in Christ, find their yes in Him, and then we're united in Him.

That's all ours. That's some pretty good news.

What are you living for? What treasures are you trying to build up?

The Holy Spirit is the down payment we've already received as Christians. We've begun to taste the goodness of all of these promises. And this is what Matthew's genealogy teaches us. It teaches us, it all points to Him, and it can all be ours through adoption, through covenantal union to Christ. Let's pray.

Father, we confess that too often we want the goods of creation, and yet Christianity offers us the Creator of creation who is surely better than His creation. So forgive us for desiring too little. Forgive us forsaking youg.

Thank youk, Lord God, for sending us yous Son, that we might have youe through Him, the Creator of creation who is better than His creation. We give youe thanks and praise in the Son's name, amen.