The Christmas GospelIs Your Tree Real or Artificial?Broken Bulbs

The Christmas story is not:
The Old Testament 2.0
Another religion is born
A new truth teller in town
Matthew knew that his audience was Jewish
They wanted to know did he come from the lineage of David? 
And every name in his ancestral list is testimony to the grace of God
 (Matthew 1:1-3)
comment on Tamar. Why did he bring her up? Nobody else’s mother is mentioned. And of all the mothers to bring up! Tamar’s story is so bizarre and twisted that if I read it to you and you didn’t know it was in the Bible, you’d say ‘that’s sick; that’s inappropriate to talk about.” As real and as relevant as I try to be in my preaching, I’ve never done a message on Tamar. Don’t plan to do a message on Tamar.
(Matthew `1:3b-5a)
comment on Rahab. Why are we talking about mothers again and why this one? For those of you who have spent some time reading the Bible, you’ll remember that Rahab had a nickname, right? And it wasn’t Rahab the happy homemaker was it? This is Rahab who wasn’t even Jewish for crying out loud. She was a Cannanite woman. The people that God told the Israelites to annihilate—wipe ‘em out. She shouldn’t have even been listed in anybody’s genealogy from a Jewish background. But Matthew again pauses and says, “you do remember Rahab don’t you?” “Yes we remember her. Can we move on please?” Tamar and Rahab are the kind of people you leave out of your family tree. You don’t even bring them up. Yet Matthew right out of the box in the story of Jesus goes out of his way to let everybody know up front these are the kind of people that God chose to have a part of the Messiah’s ancestry.
Then he goes on to really rub their nose in it. (Matthew 5b-6)
So Matthew would say, “see there, Jesus is related to King David. But Matthew couldn’t leave it alone. “David the father of Solomon who’s mother had been Uriah’s wife.” What? Let’s read that again. (Repeat.) It’s almost as if Matthew is saying “Well lookie here! The most celebrated king in Israel’s history fathered a child by another man’s wife and God chose that child to be in the lineage of Jesus, the son of God and the savior of the world. Of all of David’s children, God chose a woman he had no business being involved with in the first place to bear a son, Solomon, who is in the ancestral line of Jesus who is the Christ.
Matthew’s culture built platforms of personal righteousness so they could approach God.  
John MacArthur calls the genealogy a chronicle of God’s grace and says the genealogy are included in Scripture for that very reason. “Not only do they trace the royal line of Israel, but they also outline God’s dealings with his people. They reveal how God’s sovereign hand has ordered human events to fulfill his own purposes despite tremendous obstacles. Mankind’s worst sin, rebellion, and treachery have utterly failed to thwart the grace of God.” 
Christmas is a story of contrasts.
Building Platforms 
Receiving Gifts.
John 3:17 “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already…”
Are you willing to transfer your trust?
That’s the message of Christmas. That’s what makes the good news the good news. 
An artificial tree is platform building…but a real tree is receiving THE gift!

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