A New Beginning!

Matthew 1:1-6 1 Wednesday in Advent November 28, 2012 Pastor Thomas Kock
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If only I could start over! How often havent we thought that! So often it would be nice to simply be able to begin again, wouldnt it? Of all the people in the history of the world who might have wanted to start over, Im guessing that Adam and Eve would have been at the top of the list! Can you imagine how much they must have wanted to hit the rewind button! I can only imagine! Can you imagine how often they must have thought to themselves, If only wed been faithful to God! But they werent. They sinned. And they set in place a pattern which would curse humanity, that we over and over again are unfaithful. Look at the list of names in front of you. Its true that some of them we know next-to-nothing about, just their names. But of the ones we know, think about it. Abraham was unfaithful to Sarah; Isaac lied about Rebecca, saying that she was his sister. (Yep, like father like son.) Jacob of course made a complete mess out of his family, marrying two women who were sisters, then having children by two more women besides. Judah gave birth to Perez and Terah because hed had sexual relations with Tamar, his daughter-in-law, thinking that she was a shrine prostitute. (And by the way, Tamar bears some responsibility for that sinful situation, too.) Wow! We see unfaithfulness after unfaithfulness after unfaithfulness! And just who are the people who are named here? They are the ancestors of our Savior! They are the ancestors of Jesus! In fact, some of them are listed in the heroes of faith segment of the Bible! But of course, as we look at them, we see ourselves oh-too-clearly. We see our own unfaithfulnesses. As we see Abraham failing to trust Gods promises and instead lying about Sarah, saying that shes his sister, unfortunately we see our own failures to trust Gods promises, see our own attempts to do it our own way. As we see Judah being sucked into the culture of the sinful world, thinking that by going to a shrine prostitute he can assure that his flocks and crops will be fruitful, we see our own failure to stand up to the temptations of the world, how we find ourselves being sucked into the culture of this world. Were just as sinfully unfaithful as they were. How much we need a new beginning! Well, the word which is translated genealogy is Greek word, Genesis. It literally means, beginnings. Why might God have chosen to use that word right here at the beginning of this book? Perhaps because God is wanting to let us know that Jesus is a new start. Hes a new beginning. And, Hes a beginning which will have a happy ending! For where Adam and Eve and the rest of us humans would fail, Jesus would prevail! Jesus would accomplish what they failed to do He would be absolutely faithful to God His Father, absolutely faithful to us human beings, absolutely faithful in keeping His promises, absolutely faithful in listening to and following the Word of God. Because of His faithfulness, His life would end up with a happy ending. Yes, He went to the cross to die for sins, but then He rose from the dead and now He rules the world! And in wonderful grace, God gives that new beginning to you! The credit for Jesus perfect life is now credited to your account. In the eyes of God you look perfect and holy, like God is perfect and holy. Hes given you a new beginning. And because He has, your life will have the most happy ending of all, for it will end eating from the tree of life in the kingdom of heaven! Amen.