Messianic Credentials, Pt. 1 | Matthew 1:1-17

Scripture

• Matthew 1:1–17

About this sermon

How do you study something as massive as the gospel of Matthew? It is massive, not just in what it says, but by all it considers. The gospel of Matthew was written with a Jewish audience as its first target. It begins where the OT leaves off. It considers every section of the OT. How do you study something that is one part of a four-part witness? Matthew is one part of a four-fold witness. Each of the gospel accounts stands on its own, but they also stand together. They are meant to be read together. Not in a way that simply attempts to harmonize them. But in a way that by putting them together we receive the full picture that God intended to give us in His Word. God gave us four witnesses to the same person. Four witnesses to the same gift from heaven. Four witnesses to the birth, life, death, and the resurrection of Christ. Each one of the voices is inerrant. They are not at odds with one another. They compliment one another. They function together. HOW DO YOU APPROACH STUDYING THIS? I like what Andreas Köstenberger’s said regarding the question, “how do you study such a record?” He said, “You study it like you would eat an Elephant, one bite at a time.” We begin eating the elephant today. Today we introduce the book as we look at the genealogy that Matthew gave us. But I tell you in advance that for anything I say, there is much more that could be said. If I tried to say everything, I would not do a good job of saying anything. So, instead, I want to say some things that get us started. And I want to begin today with the man who wrote this account. His name was Matthew. Matthew (Levi) was a tax-collector before Jesus called him. ESV Matthew 9:9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. ESV Luke 5:27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow me." Matthew went from the life of an outcast among his own people (Jewish tax-collectors were viewed as traitors), to a life of acceptance with the only one who ultimately matters. He was accepted by the one who came to save His people. He went from what was almost certainly an irreligious life, to a new existence in which Jesus WAS his life. We know that Matthew wrote this book, but not because he tells us. He does not. We know he wrote this gospel account because of the unanimous testimony of the earliest church fathers. His name is attached to the earliest manuscripts of this account. This tax-collector transformed into a disciple, into an apostle, now gave his life to a new kind of wealth. He wrote an account of the one whom he found to be the pearl of great price — the treasure hidden in the field. And he begins with a genealogy. Why a genealogy? Why do you begin an account of the birth, the life, the passion, and the triumph, of Jesus of Nazareth, with a record of his family roots? And why do you emphasize, in his family tree, what Matthew emphasizes? What is Matthew doing with this genealogy? What is he intending to say? And who are the people uniquely prepared to recognize what he is doing with this genealogy? All the answers to those questions, in one way or another, have to do with the Jewish people. And all that he means to say through this genealogy speaks of the trustworthiness of God’s promises. This is a gospel account specially constructed to say to the Jewish people — “this is the one you have been waiting on.”