Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning Ambassadors!

I’m grateful to be joining you from the pulpit this morning as we continue in our series, “Jesus’ Family Tree.”

Last week’s look back at Jesus as a Son of Abraham from Pastor JP helped us to set the tone for our time looking at the lineage of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My task this morning is to explore with you the connection of Christ to His ancestor, King David.

David is, (for many of us obviously), one of the key characters in the Old Testament story, and one of a very few people to have a personal covenant with God that would span eternity.

David wrote many of the Psalms, was a fierce warrior king, and began a new line of kings that did not last long, yet, as we shall see, will last forever in Jesus.

The legend of David in the Old Testament begins with his heritage, where we see in Matthew that he came from a long line of consequential people in the mosaic of the Old Covenant.

His renown grows as He is chosen by God and anointed by Samuel as the chosen King of Israel while Saul is still on the throne and he is still basically a boy.

After his anointing, David slays the giant Philistine Goliath in battle, further embarassing King Saul and beginning a period of turmoil in his eventual takeover of the throne.

When Saul is finally killed in battle and David is crowned King of Israel THEN his troubles really began.

He struggled with his leadership, the direction of his own legacy before God and Israel, and of course was famous for insane moments of sin, like the taking of Baath-sheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.

King David, as a story, is a picture of one who was “a man after God’s own heart” but was still desperately in need of a Savior, just like us.

So if you’re the kind of person that struggles with feeling like you need to earn God’s favor, you can see that the hope was here for David, even as part of the heritage of Jesus.

Let’s turn our attention to Jesus, the Reason for the Season!

Matthew 1 begins by providing for us the lineage, heritage, and story of the birth of Christ, some 4 centuries after the last prophecy of the Old Testament.

Let’s take a look starting in verse 18:

This infamous Advent/Christmas passage highlights for us the story of the birth of Christ.

Now, what is so important about this?

Why do we make such a fuss and celebrate for a month Jesus’ birth?

Why is the Christmas season so long and Easter, the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection, so short in comparison?

I think that leads us to our first observation about Jesus and His family tree in general:

Jesus’ birth highlights His humanity

Jesus is God.

But Jesus is also fully man.

Any denial of either of those truths removes us from orthodox belief.

But as we study the “family tree” we are highlighting specifically this important aspect of Jesus.

Jesus was born of a line of people who dealt with all the same problems, issues, and sins that we inherit in our lives.

Where Jesus obviously differs is that He was conceived as a man by the Holy Spirit in Mary, thereby Jesus didn’t suffer the same personal struggles while enduring the same personal consequences of the sin of those around Him.

Just the idea of being born is a beautiful picture that further points us to the beauty of His death.

Story of how seeing Jack born changed my life and taught me how to love more deeply and truly.

Let’s move on further into Jesus’ connection with David:

Jesus is speaking in the temple, trying to get everyone to realize that the Messiah was standing in front of them!

He does it by highlighting the idea that David himself looked ahead to his offspring and called Him Lord, in spite of being his ancestor.

They would have known that Jesus was of the lineage of David by both Mary and Joseph.

Why did this matter?

Jesus’ credibility could not be challenged, although the scribers and Pharisees did their absolute best!

While Jesus was born in humble conditions and under what seemed to be suspicious circumstances, the verifiable truths surrounding his heritage provided Him the with the validity needed in His present day.

Jesus’ birth in the line of David brings validity

1.

It shows His right to the throne as King of Israel

2. It shows His right to the throne as King of Creation

Jesus’ birth as Son of David reminds us of God’s Covenant kept and fulfilled