Greg Laurie - A (Messed Up) Family Christmas (11/26/2017)
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Pastor Greg Laurie preaches "A Messed Up Family Christmas" from Matthew 1 and Luke 1, exploring Jesus' genealogy filled with flawed, sinful people like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and others. He shows God's grace redeems broken family lines and gives second chances, reminding us Jesus came to save sinners and heal messed-up families during the Christmas season.
Introduction: Starting Over in Matthew for Christmas
Well, we are going to go to the Gospel of Matthew right now. Go to Matthew 1. Now I know some of you are thinking, wait a second. I thought we were done with Matthew. Here is the thing. I love teaching it so much I am starting over again. Now the truth is we began Matthew in chapter 5 with the Sermon on the Mount and went to the end. So we actually didn't get to the first few chapters and that is the Christmas story. So I thought we would go and do what we might describe as a prequel instead of a sequel. So we will get the beginning story and a story of great importance to us now in the Christmas season.
I want you to also turn to Luke chapter 1. I got a new Bible. I have three ribbons on it. So I am very excited about all the opportunities of marking Scriptures now. So if you have ribbons in your Bible Mark Matthew 1 and Luke chapter 1. And the title of my message is, A Messed Up Family Christmas.
Family Reunions and Holiday Stress
Well Christmas is obviously coming. And that means that many of us are going to be home for the holidays. And that also means trouble for one simple reason. Because we are going to be reunited with family members. Now I don't mean your immediate family so much. So this may qualify as well. But I am talking more about the extended family. You know, people you haven't seen for a while. Members of your family you never knew you had. Members of your family you wished you did not have. You know, that obnoxious uncle. That strange aunt. That bizarre cousin. And of course grandpa is getting crazier every year.
And then there are the challenges of divorce that are so commonplace today. Maybe your parents have divorced and you are expected of course to go visit both of them. So you go and visit mom and her new husband and dad and his live in girlfriend. Or however that works out. Then you have all these new siblings that have been added to your family that are from the other marriages of the people that your parent married and all the complications of family.
And then maybe you yourself. I have a family that is unraveled. Maybe you have recently divorced. And then you have visiting family. And it can bring a lot of stress to Christmas. And it can actually take all of the fun out of the holiday.
Experts actually say that this is one of the hardest and most stressful times of the year for many people. Dr. Ian Cook, director of the UCLA Depression Research Program, said of the Christmas season, quote, Some people have unreasonable expectations. They expect the holidays to be happy. But if the in-laws are sniping at you about your home, your food, and your lifestyle, and your two-year-old has already broken his new toys and is wailing, happiness can be a tall order.
Black Friday Chaos and Family Realities
And now we start the holidays off with a strange event that we call Black Friday. And it seems every year people are getting crazier. I mean some of the things I read about this Black Friday. How about the woman that went into the store and had some video games she wanted to buy. And so to keep everyone else at bay she sprayed them with pepper spray. Did you hear about her? It is a true story. Sad thing is it was my wife. But let me explain. It was a really good video game and no it wasn't my wife.
But here is a tragic and true story. A Black Friday shopper collapsed while shopping at a Target store in West Virginia. His name was Walter Vance. He had a heart condition. And as he lay dying on the floor shoppers ignored him and even walked over his body as they continued to shop. He was taken to a hospital. And there he died. One of his relatives said, Where is the Good Samaritan side of people? Black Friday.
And now that is behind us. Hopefully things will get better. But I just read about a woman in Connecticut who used a holiday decoration to slash another woman while fleeing from a craft vendor who accused her of shoplifting. Stabbed by a Christmas ornament. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
You know, what is going on? And then I read a story, I think it was from last year, about a woman from Rock Springs, Wyoming who got upset with her husband who opened his Christmas present before Christmas so she stabbed him with a knife. Merry Christmas, honey. I love you. Do not open that.
So you think you have family troubles? Listen, we all have them. A quick poll. How many of you have a perfect family? Raise your hand. You have a perfect family? You do? Get out. Sir, you are in denial. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. Do you understand what I am saying to you?
Now here is the reality. We all have dysfunctional families. How many of you come from a dysfunctional family? Get them up. You all do. Just deal with it. Use another word if you prefer. Messed up. All of our families in one way, shape, or form are messed up. But I figure, well let's just try to put the fun in dysfunction. You know, let's make the best we can of it.
Our families are not like the Cleavers. How many of you know who the Cleavers are? Raise your hand. Okay. That is sad. We are all very old. How many of you do not know who the Cleavers are? Raise your hand. Okay. That is interesting. That was a sitcom a long time ago. It was Theodore Mathers as the Beaver. And it was called Leave It to Beaver. Anyway. They were sort of like the perfect television family. You know. I think in reality more of us have families that resemble the Simpsons. Or the Ozzy Osbourne family. Or maybe for some modern family. Certainly we don't have a perfect family. Every family has its problems.
The Genealogy of Jesus: A Messed-Up Family Tree
You know a lot of people today are researching their family tree. They want to know more about their roots and their origins. And one is especially excited if you can determine that you are related to a famous historical figure. Maybe there is some royal blood in your family. And then if you make a discovery about some notorious criminal you would probably want to keep that quiet. If you discovered for instance you were a distant descendant of John Wilkes Booth. I don't know if you would proclaim that as loudly as if you were a descendant of say George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.
So we all have some unsavory characters in our family. And we probably would like to keep that sort of quiet. I mean if you did a little research on your family tree would you be excited to say, hey I just found out I have two hookers and a murderer in my family tree. You say, well Greg what are you talking about? This is Sunday morning at church. I know. I am talking about a family tree. In fact specifically when I say two hookers and a murderer I am talking about the family tree of Jesus Christ.
This was a really messed up family. You think your family is disturbed. The family tree of Christ is unbelievable. As we look at the ancestors that were connected to the Savior of the world it is mind boggling. And what it says to us if nothing else is God gives second chances and extends mercy.
Maybe today you would wonder if God would ever give a second chance to someone like you. You wonder if God would ever use someone like you. But think of the seriously flawed people that God used throughout the pages of Scripture. I mean let's just go down the list. Noah, he got drunk. Jacob was a liar. Gideon was afraid. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah was too young. David had an affair. Moses was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal at one point. Jonah, he ran from God. Peter denied Christ. The Samaritan woman was divorced more than once. Timothy had an ulcer. John the Baptist ate bugs. And Lazarus was dead. So what is your excuse? You don't think God could use someone like you?
A lot of times when we read the Christmas story we cut to the chase. And by that I mean we want to go immediately to the angelic announcement to Mary or the story of the wise men. And we skip over the genealogy. But the genealogy of Jesus is important because it sets the stage for the greatest story ever told.
So let's read the genealogy of Christ from Matthew chapter 1. Starting in verse 1. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The son of David. The son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob. Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez begot Hezron. Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab. Amminadab begot Nation. Nation begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab. Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. That would be Bathsheba. Solomon begot Rehoboam. Rehoboam begot Abijah. Abijah begot Asa. Now drop down to verse 15. Eliud begot Eleazar. Eleazar begot Mathan. Mathan begot Jacob. Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now that is the genealogy of Jesus.
Why Include Women and Sinners in the Genealogy?
Genealogies were very important to the Jewish people. In many ways they were like a resume. And these days your family, your pedigree, your clan, who you were connected to was your resume. And as we do today they did then. People would play around with their resumes. In other words they would maybe change the facts of their family tree if there were some people in there they did not want others to know about.
For instance we know that Herod the Great changed his genealogy. He edited it because he did not like what was in it. And people do this with their resumes all the time today. You know when you are applying for employment and you submit your resume you want it to be as positive as it possibly could be. But studies have shown that most people's resumes are full of misrepresentations. 71 percent increase the tenure of their previous job. 64 percent exaggerate their accomplishments. 60 percent overstate the size of the department they manage. And 53 percent cite partial degrees as full. And 48 percent inflates salary history.
And you know usually when you are applying for a job it is because you don't have a job or you want to get out of your old job. And sometimes people when they submit a resume will not mention that they were fired from their last job and fired from the one before that and before that. We leave those things out because it doesn't put us in the best life.
So here is the genealogy of Jesus. If ever a genealogy could have been edited it is this one. But not only does the Bible not edit it it puts it on display. It puts it at the forefront of the story.
Here is some interesting thing about the genealogy of Jesus. It includes women. Five women are mentioned. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and of course Mary. A number of these women were immoral. Why is that significant? Because genealogies did not include women at this time. But yet in this genealogy many are included. Why? So we could see that God can work despite the mistakes that people make.
In fact if nothing else this genealogy is a key part of the Christmas story reminding us that Jesus came to heal broken lives and restore shattered hopes. Let's remember why Jesus came. Not to give us a day to go shopping. He came to save us from our sins. The Bible says you will call His name Emmanuel for He will save us from our sins.
So this story doesn't begin with the words, once upon a time. Because it is not a fairy tale. It begins instead with something very technical. A genealogy. Why? Because it is a true story. And first you need to know the facts. The author, in this case Matthew, is telling us who Jesus is and he is grounding it in real history.
So again this is an announcement of great significance. It is about God's solution for sin. We are told over in Galatians 4, when the time was just right God sent forth His Son born of a woman made under the law to redeem those that are under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Jesus came to put broken lives back together. He said in Luke 4, For the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim Liberty to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at Liberty those that are oppressed.
Two Genealogies: Through Joseph and Mary
Now Matthew emphasizes the fact that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies concerning Messiah. Now here is something I want to point out to you. We have two genealogies of Christ. One in Matthew, the other in Luke. Clearly they are different. And some have pointed out, well that is a contradiction. You see they are not the same. Well they are not a contradiction. They are complementary. And the explanation is very simple. Matthew has the genealogy of Christ coming through Joseph. Luke has the genealogy of Christ coming through Mary.
But both were important. I want you to notice in Matthew's genealogy verse 16, Joseph is not identified as the father of Jesus, but as the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. Scripture is clear that Joseph was not the father of Jesus. God was. But because Jesus had no human father, he couldn't be a descendant of David except through his mother. But the legal right to rule always came through the father's side. Thus we have two necessary genealogies connecting Christ to David.
And here it is. Let's consider some of the characters in the family tree of the Savior of the world. David is the best one to start with. Verse 1, the son of David, Abraham. David was the greatest king in the history of Israel. He was uniquely identified as the man after God's own heart. The sweet psalmist of Israel he was called. Plucked from obscurity by God. Anointed by the prophet Samuel to ascend to the throne and take the place of the wicked king Saul. And David was a fantastic king. The best Israel ever had. And he ruled over the people and they loved him. Not only was he a great musician and poet, but he also was a courageous warrior. David was a whole package. And he ruled well for a time. And then he fell into sin.
In fact his greatest victory and his greatest defeat can be summed up in two names. David and Goliath. And David and what? There it is. David and Goliath. When the young Shepherd boy brought down the nine foot six inch wall of muscle known as Goliath and chopped off his head and David at Bathsheba he took the wife of another named Uriah, committed adultery with her and ultimately tried to cover it up and had Uriah effectively murdered. Yet despite this sin God included him in the Messianic line. That is because David repented. And he was not only a part of the Messiah's lineage. He was really the most important member of it. In fact Gabriel said to Mary in Luke 1:32, speaking of Christ, He will be called Great, the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give them the throne of His Father David. And throughout his ministry Jesus was referred to as the Son of David.
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba in the Line
That brings us to the first woman, Tamar in verse 3. Tamar along with Ruth and Rahab would not even be allowed in the temple. They were outsiders. Gentiles. Sinners. Tamar engaged in prostitution soliciting her own father-in-law, Genesis 38 tells us. She was far from a godly woman. Yet amazingly she is in the Messianic line.
Then we have Rahab. She too was guilty of prostitution. But unlike Tamar she did it for a profession. She was not Jewish. She was a Gentile, an inhabitant of Jerusalem, excuse me, Jericho. And you remember she hid those two Israeli spies that went in to check out this new promised land. And then when Joshua and the gang came in they spared Rahab. But not only was her life spared because she hid the Jewish spies, but she was included in the Messianic line as the wife of Salmon, the mother of the godly Boaz who became David's great grandfather.
Then we have Ruth. And like Tamar and Rahab she too was a Gentile. She married one of the two sons born to a woman named Naomi. And those two sons were named Malan and Chilion. And their names meant Sickly and Piney. And both of them died. Well maybe their name was a clue. Why would you marry a guy named Sickly? I mean usually they named children because of the way things appeared. For instance we all know that Esau means Harry. And the reason he got the name Harry is because he was Harry. Oh look this kid is Harry. Let's call him Harry. There it is. And so clearly these were unhealthy looking boys. They both died.
And so now all of a sudden here is Ruth who has lost her husband. And Naomi says well look I don't have any more boys for you Ruth. Just go on now. And we are done I guess. And Ruth loved Naomi. And she says no I want to go where you go. Your God will be my God and your people will be my people. So she followed Naomi. And ultimately met a man named Boaz who fell in love with her and married her. And she entered into the Messianic line.
Now here is an interesting thing about Ruth. She was a Moabite. We say we ask so what. Do you know where Moabites came from? When Lot left Sodom and Gomorrah he had sexual relations with his daughter. Incest. The product of that union was a child named Moab who produced a tribe called the Moabites who became the avowed enemies of Israel. And yet despite this wicked thing out of the Moabites comes Ruth who enters into the Messianic line of the Savior of the world. Israel.
And then there is Bathsheba. It is interesting that she is referred to as the wife of Uriah. Why not just put her name in there instead of saying she was the wife of Uriah? Because God is drawing our attention to Uriah. He was a good man. In fact he was one of David's best friends. When David was fleeing from Saul who did not want him to rule as king a group of men left everything to follow David. They gave up their safety. They gave up their homes. They were known as David's mighty men. And among those individuals was a guy named Uriah.
Fast forward a little bit later. David is the king. He sees Uriah's gorgeous wife Bathsheba bathing herself appropriately. Bathsheba. And called her up to his chambers. Had sexual relations with her. She becomes pregnant. Instead of confessing his sin he brings Uriah back from the battle front hoping that he will be with his wife. And they will think that it is their child. They did not have a paternity test back in those days. And Uriah would not be with his wife. And so David thought, I will forget it. I will just get rid of him. And he had Uriah killed effectively. And then married Bathsheba. So much sin. And yet God intervenes.
You say, Greg, why are you telling us all of this stuff? I am telling you this stuff to point this out. Even if you have made a mess out of your life God can intervene. You say, oh that was a mistake. That child should have never been born. Listen. I was conceived out of wedlock. I was not planned by anyone. But I was planned by God. And God brought good out of bad. You see. So God can bring change in a family even if it has gone the wrong way for a long time.
Mary and Joseph: Humble and Faithful
And that brings us to Mary the mother of Jesus in verse 16. Now in contrast to these other women Mary was a virtuous and morally pure woman. And she was of course chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Her story is not one of immorality forgiven but of a woman living in obscurity discovered. Mary was a peasant girl living in a godless city known as Nazareth. It was a nowhere town in a nowhere place in the middle of nowhere. It was a place that you passed through. Like Barstow. Are you from Barstow ma'am? So sorry. I love Barstow. How many of you are from Barstow? See that is my point. Except her. I don't know. But anyway. You know this is not a place that people stayed in. In fact it was a place that Roman soldiers would go through and they would take advantage of the young women in that town. So it was actually a city known for immorality. Just as we have cities that have sort of a wicked reputation like Las Vegas or Pedaly. I am joking. But you know but the idea is that yeah you know people know them for immorality. That is Nazareth.
Yet in this godless place of the godly woman who remained morally pure and she was selected by God. Mary is the only person who ever lived who had Jesus in her womb and later in her heart.
Let's read what Luke says about her now. That is why I had you turn to Luke. So go over there if you would. Luke 1. We are going to come back to Matthew 1. We read in verse 26. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. Having come in the angel said to her, Rejoice highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.
And when she saw him she was troubled at a saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Mary was a woman of true humility. You know this statement of Gabriel when he says, Rejoice highly favored one. It has sometimes been translated, Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. In fact it is even a prayer for some. But that is not really an accurate translation. Because the way that is translated almost in our language of today sounds as though it were an homage to Mary or a prayer to Mary. Hail Mary full of grace. As though the grace emanated from her. Blessed are you among women. Wait a second. Really the better translation would be greetings Mary. Hail was simply a word that was used to say hello, greetings, how are you. Greetings Mary. You have had grace extended toward you. Grace did not emanate from Mary. Grace was extended to Mary. Mary was not born of immaculate conception. She is a sinner like the rest of us. However she was a woman who loved God and was chosen for this special purpose.
It shocked her. In fact the word that is used here to describe her reaction is she was troubled. A better translation would be agitated. Not angry but she didn't know what to do. I mean how would you react, girls, if you found out you were handpicked to carry God in your womb? It blew her mind. As they say in Australia she was gobsmacked. It is like what? What does this mean? What am I supposed to do?
Most scholars think that Mary was around 13 to 14 years old. She is just a kid still. And now she is going to be the mother of the Messiah. And she doesn't say something like, well it is about time someone noticed my godly lifestyle. And I always knew when I read Isaiah that I was going to be the virgin that would... She didn't say anything like that. She was shocked and surprised that God would use someone like her.
And later in her so called Magnificat, Mary's Psalm in Luke 1.46 she says, My soul rejoices in God my Savior. So she was amazed that God would choose her. But listen to this. Mary needed a Savior as much as anybody else. She is not a co-redemptor. We don't need to pray to her or through her. But we need to recognize she was chosen by God for this special mission.
I want to look at one other character in this line that is often overlooked. Let's go back to Matthew now. Chapter 1. Drop down to verse 16. The last person I want to look at is Joseph. In many ways Joseph is the unsung hero of the Christmas story. There are no songs about Joseph, are there? I mean maybe a couple. There is no, Joseph did you know? No. Nothing like that. Mary. Mary. She has songs everywhere. Joseph hardly has any.
But you have to really admire this guy because of what he did. Just as surely as God chose Mary to be the mother of the Messiah, He also chose Joseph. Listen to this. God the Father in heaven chose Joseph to be a stepfather for Jesus on earth. You see Jesus grew up like any other boy. He had his responsibilities. He had his chores. And Joseph was a good dad. Raising him in the carpenter shop. Jesus was known as the son of the carpenter. And presumably he was a carpenter himself. And Joseph showed him how to do, build a good table or frame a house or whatever it is they were building.
And the Bible tells us that Joseph was a just man. Hearing Mary was pregnant he was willing to put her away quietly and break the engagement. His heart was broken. He loved this girl. And she says, well I am pregnant but let me explain. I am the mother of the Messiah. And the angel appeared to me. Yeah right. Mary I love you but I am kind of not buying it. And I will tell you what. I am not going to expose you. I am not going to tell others. I am just going to quietly break off this engagement.
But the angel of the Lord comes to him in Matthew 1 20. And while he thought about these things an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take you. Marry your wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit and shall bring forth a son. And he will call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.
Guess what? Joseph could have walked away. He could have said, Lord this is fantastic but no one is going to buy it. You know when I am hanging out with my buddies downtown and I tell them how this came down they are going to say, Joseph you are dreaming. Your wife was unfaithful to you while you were engaged to her. And you are married to an immoral woman. He said, No I am going to stand by Mary. I know this is from God. I know Jesus is conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit. And do you know that Mary lived the rest of her life effectively wearing the Scarlet A? She was always thought of as an immoral woman. And the irony is she was this virtuous girl. But even the Pharisees said to Jesus on one occasion, Well at least we weren't born of fornication. Implying that, Hey at least we weren't conceived out of wedlock. And can you imagine someone insulting your mom like that? Jesus said, You know what? I am torturing you all right now. I am so ticked off. Don't be talking smack about my mom. Okay? He patiently endured it. As did Mary. As did Joseph. And loved that child and raised him.
Lessons from the Genealogy of Jesus
So what do we learn from this amazing story? We learn that God can take a mess and bring something good out of it. You know maybe you have a cycle in your family of divorce. And all the experts say if you come from a divorced family. the chances are far higher that you yourself will get a divorce. And sometimes people will use this as an excuse. Well it didn't work out with my wife and I. We were married like 72 days or whatever. And yeah it just isn't working. And besides my mom was divorced and her mom was divorced. And so I guess it was just meant for me to be divorced.
Well stop that kind of thinking. This pattern of sin can stop with you. Listen you all know my mom was married and divorced seven times. I think I have told you that before. And if anyone could have gotten divorced and divorced it is me. And I am thankful to God that in just about a month my wife and I are going to celebrate 38 years together. That is God's grace. And we have also gone through one of the worst things that can happen to a marriage and that is the loss of a child. Studies show that when a child dies chances are very high that the couple will break apart over it. And our marriage has gotten stronger through this because we have looked to the Lord and we have hung on to each other.
And I just want to say not, oh look at me aren't I great. Because I am not great. But I am telling you God is great. And He can intervene in a cycle of sin and change it. And He can do it for you. So don't use the dysfunction or the mistakes or the sins of your family to justify your bad actions today. You can make a change and you can turn it around.
What do we learn from the genealogy of Jesus? Number one, it is given to us so God's grace would be richly displayed. I mean look at the characters in this story. Look at their shortcomings. Now this is in no way to condone or celebrate sin. But it is to say that when you sin there is forgiveness. We should never use God's grace as an excuse to do wrong. Sometimes people say, well nothing happened when I did that. And maybe not only is God turning a blind eye. Maybe He even approves of what I am doing. No. Wake up. It is called grace man. Don't abuse it.
In fact the Apostle Paul says, shall we go on sinning that God's grace may be poured down the drain? He says, God forbid. How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it? So this is a reminder that there are consequences to sin. And coming back to David. Though he was forgiven and put on the Messianic line. This guy paid the price for his sin. And he saw his own wicked behavior repeated in his children. So there were still consequences and there still was cause and effect. Don't think you can get off the hook just because you ask God to forgive you. You may still face the repercussions.
But God can intervene. And then number two. We have this genealogy given so the focus would be on Jesus and not on His family. You know sometimes people have a hard time relating to Jesus. He is just, well He is so perfect. Well yeah of course He is God. No question about it. But they see Him as this one dimensional figure in stained glass blissfully unaware of them. Or He is a larger than life statue with a judgmental look staring them down.
But when we read of the genealogy or the family tree of Christ we realize, man this guy came in touch with the real world. He was sinless yet he loved sinners. He called himself the friend of sinners. And Scripture reminds us He was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. You know He knows what it is like to face these things.
And by the way if you have ever been laughed at by your family did you know Jesus' family laughed at Him too? Prior to His resurrection His brothers weren't buying the fact that He is the Messiah. Here is their mother Mary who had Jesus supernaturally conceived in her womb. No doubt she told her other children. And yes Mary had other children about this. And they came to Him on one occasion and tried to take Him away where He was speaking. Because the Scripture says they thought He had lost His mind. So His own family rejected Him prior to His death and resurrection from the dead.
Number three. This genealogy is given so we might have hope for our future and the future of our family. I doubt most of us have murderers and prostitutes in our family tree. Surely we have some adulterers and liars and cheats. No family would be complete without them. But listen. Jesus can intervene in your life and your family right now.
So let me ask you this. What is the state of your family? Man I want to just address you for a moment. Are you a spiritual leader in your home? In far too many Christian homes today the men are spiritually passive at best and they are resistant at worst. And by that I mean it is the wife that so often is the spiritual leader. She is the one that says, Honey, let's go to church. Honey, let's open up the Bible. Let's have prayer with the children. Oh, I don't know the football game. No, no. Come on. Let's... Man I just shudder to think what would happen to the church if all the women left. There would be eight guys standing around going, What do we do? Thank God for the women. And their heart for the Lord.
But men, it is time to rise up and be a leader in your home. And guess what? Your wife wants you to be that leader. And so be the one who sets the pace. Be the one that loves your wife as Christ loves the church.
But wives are not off the hook. You are told to submit unto your husband. That guy liked that. That was a little bit of a, almost a wicked laugh, wasn't it? He kind of went, he, he, he. He is probably doing this to his wife. I am coming back to men just because of this guy. Okay. You know what? Don't ever laugh like, no I am kidding. But women you are called to, or wives I should say really, you are called to submit unto your husband as unto the Lord. And the Bible says specifically, wives love your husbands.
Now let me ask you this. When is the last time you told your husband you loved him? Oh, you know, you always let him know about everything else, right? Are you going to take the trash out? When are you going to fix that? Why don't you do this more? Why don't you do that less? This really bothers me. That really bothers me. Yeah. How about telling him you appreciate him? How hard he works. How faithfully he provides. How he is there for you and for your children. Well he is not all that great of a leader. Well lie. No don't lie. Find what is good and affirm it. Instead of always focusing on what is bad. In far too many homes all the guy hears is everything that is wrong. He never hears a compliment. Never hears an affirmation. Guys need that too, believe it or not. You think guys don't? They do. Trust me. Let them know you love him.
And be the parents God has called you to be. You know, set an example in your home for your children. A godly example. They are watching you. Raise them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. You say, well Greg, my children are rebelling right now. Okay. That happens a lot. Alright. Just keep praying for them and keep loving them. And don't give up on them.
But here is the thing. Some of you might say, well you know I wish I would have heard this message like 20 years ago. Because I have not done any of these things. In fact I have done the opposite of these things. I have not loved my wife or my husband. Or we have gotten divorced. I have remarried. It is a mess. And my children are not talking with me. They don't even want to see me this Christmas. And the dog won't even look at me anymore. It is just all messed up.
Well you know what? That is why I called this message a messed up family Christmas. Because God specializes in cleaning up messes. God specializes in intervening in complete confusion and chaos. Jesus came to bring hope to hopeless situations.
So here is what we need to do. We need to admit our sin. And we need to turn to God and ask for His help. And maybe there are some of you that need to do that. You know we love in the Christmas story to think of Jesus as that sweet little baby in the manger. And so He was. But we don't want to move forward and realize the purpose He came for. Which was to die on a cross. And that was not an afterthought. That was not just something He happened to do. That was His primary purpose in coming to this earth. To die for the sin of the world. The baby became a man and went to a cross and died. And that is so we could be forgiven of our sin. And we all have sinned against God.
So I ask in closing, Have you asked Jesus, who was born, who lived, who died, who Rose again, to come into your life and forgive you of your sin? Maybe you committed your life to Him at one point, but you have turned away from Him. And you have abandoned Him. And you have made a bunch of really stupid decisions. And now you are facing the repercussions of them. And you are saying, No it is too late for me. No it is not too late. Did you read that family tree of Christ? Did you hear the story of David and Bathsheba and Tamar and Rahab and the rest of them? These are people that blew it big time. Probably far worse than you. God gave them a second chance. Won't He give you one? He will. But you must come and ask for it.