We All Belong - Even You, Even Me

Yes - Even You, Even Me

Let’s head to Matthew chapter 1 at the very beginning of the Gospels in the New Testament.

Sometimes, when we read throughout scripture, we find there are lengthy genealogies of “So and so begot so and so begot so and so, who was the mother of so and so, who begot so and so…” and on it goes. In my younger days I used to find these incredibly boring – just a long list of names, most of which I couldn’t pronounce half of the time. Yet, here we find the Gospel of Matthew opening up to the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. To spare the full length, let’s begin with verse 5 of chapter 1.

“Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.”

Skip ahead to verse 15: “Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and . . .

Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.”

Wow! If you trace back throughout this genealogy, you will find that David was in line as about the 25th Great Grandfather to the Messiah, Jesus Christ! You may be thinking, why is this important? To me, this speaks volumes of life and validation to us as believers today.

How many times have we held back from being used by God because we feel unworthy, not good enough, insufficient, inadequate, unsure of our specific calling, perhaps not “close enough” to Jesus? Or maybe we keep falling into the same repetitive sins and therefore we surmise that we aren’t fit to be used by God – we are too far gone and are not worthy of His grace, much less to be used as a vessel for His Kingdom.

Some say, “I do not believe in Jesus – I am good on my own.” I have to wonder for those, is it truly disbelief in Jesus, or is it disbelief in one’s own worth? Some will deny Christ because they feel unworthy, that their sins are too great, that they are not ever going to add up to God’s expectations of man. Yet a life without Jesus is an empty life. And even so, a life with Jesus whilst we still believe we are not enough, remains empty if we are not truly taking Him at His word and believing that we are enough because of Jesus.

Allow me to introduce you to David, Jesus' Great, great, great, great, great(x25/ish) Grandfather! Initially, we think wonderful things about him. He did in fact defeat Goliath whilst an army of strong soldiers, prepared with weapons and armor, stood by afraid and unwilling to confront the giant. Certainly, he was brave and courageous in this moment, and many of us would love to muster up that amount of courage just once to have the strength to overcome our giants. But if you follow the rest of David’s story, he was a sinner no different than the rest of us, no different in fact, from you and me. To put it bluntly, he had an affair with another man’s wife, and then, in efforts to cover his sin, he arranged to have her husband killed in battle (See II Samuel 11). As far as the Ten Commandments go and the false idea of “being good enough to earn your way to Heaven for your salvation,” he didn’t stand a chance with adultery and murder on his record. Thank God our way to Heaven and the security of our salvation is not ours to earn, but a gift from God through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Yet, God called him a man after His own heart. (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22)

I wonder how many of us continue to live as though we aren’t worthy, as though we have not been called, as though God perhaps didn’t really mean that He died for ALL sins – maybe we were the one exception that He really didn’t mean to account for? This is just what Satan wants you to believe – that you are nothing, that you are not worthy, that you will never be enough, that you will never overcome. It is his lies that weave into our minds, that over time we accept as truth, that keep us from living as all that God called us to be.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Romans 10:9-11 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Friends, if David was a man after God’s own heart and He was put in the direct line of the Messiah’s genealogy – that tells me He can use any of us, even me – even you, my friend.

In closing, I would like to leave a challenge for two audiences:

Audience One:

If you are a follower of Jesus, I leave you with this question, “What are you doing with Jesus?”

Consider these passages from God’s Word and read them out loud:

Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus gives the command, not request, “GO therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

Matthew 10:33 But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in Heaven.

II Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

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Audience Two:

If you have not committed your life to Jesus Christ, and you are on the fence of deciding for any reason at all,

I leave you with this question, “To you, who is Jesus Christ?”

Read these passages of God’s Word out loud:

Matthew 16:13-16 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

So I ask you: To you, who is Jesus Christ? I invite you to click here

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to join me in discussing who He is to you and I would love to get to know you and hear your story.

The Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 concludes with the beginning of the most beautiful story every told, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, THE Messiah enters the stage.

Matthew 1:20-23 An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

David could do no great a sin to remove him from the family of God, and neither can you. You belong in the family of God - yes, even you, even me.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

Thanks for joining me today! And that was just the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew! Will you join me for the next 25 days as we journey through the story of Jesus laid out in the book of Matthew? Easter is in 25 days from today (3/15/23)!Click here so you don't miss out! I am so excited to be on this journey together!

Be blessed my dear brothers and sisters.

Your beloved sister in Christ,

~Mandy

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