Lives of our Fathers

 

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This is the communion meditation for Legacy Christian Church, 5/28/2023

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History bears weight. Somebody important once said “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I don’t think history repeats, but I do think it often rhymes. History bears weight because you can learn a little about the path you travel, if you take a minute to look at where you came from. Jesus’ genealogy is a representation of the divine right of Jesus to certain titles He claimed.

Jesus’ family tree was not without noteability and notoriety. We all have these strange nuts on our family tree. One day I might tell you about mine. Today, we should consider Jesus’ people. Let’s examine the past to see a select portion of the fathers of the Savior. Abraham: Vs 2: Not always the most noble of character, he’s the father of the people. Right there in verse 3 Abraham’s great grandson: Judah, father of Perez and Zerah, by Tamar.

We go further down, then Matthew records Jesse, the father of David the King.

By naming Jesus as the Son of David, Matthew puts him in line for all sorts of prophecies made about the shoot of Jesse, Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Messiah. It’s always been interesting to me that in the next sentence, he becomes just David: “the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.” David sought God’s heart, but often found his own pleasure. He chased after the temporary and fleeting pleasure of the world.

And so on and so forth. The point of all this genealogy is in verse 17: “So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. “ 14-14-14. That’s not just a terrible lock combination, that’s a clue, Jesus is the authorized King of the Jews (prophecy not withstanding) by legal right, and more importantly, He is the one King promised from long ago. Jesus’ forefathers had a part to play in God’s plan, it didn’t matter who they were or what they had done to achieve their mark on their world. We also have a part to play, but our role is a little different. In the life applications adult Bible fellowship class on Sunday mornings we’ve been looking at Ephesians, and in that book we see and learn something important: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  (9)  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  (10)  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Eph 2:8-10 .

God’s got a plan for us too! Good works! If we see our past, we see that our faith comes from evil deeds. Our own story, is one of separation from God, and of opposition to our plan God created for us, until we met Jesus. In Him, we find the fulfilment of God’s purposes. Our sins are forgiven, and our future secured. We take this meal together to remember, just like Jesus said, that we’re in a new covenant. This morning, will you take His body with me, and remember that He is the propitiation for our sins? Will you take the cup and raise it to remember the new covenant written in this blood He shed for us. Hallelujah, Jesus had some interesting Kin, and now, I, and the rest of you too who’ve obeyed His Gospel, have been adopted into His family. Let’s pray.