Tag: Abraham

A Shield and Reward

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Immerse, Immerse: Beginnings

This is week 2 of Immerse Beginnings, and Sunday will be our second week of our sermon series As He Promised. We are focusing in on the many ways our God keeps his promises to his people. Even when the people are not faithful, God remains faithful to his promises!

Sunday we will be looking at God’s covenant with Abram. To fully understand this covenant promise we need to look across several chapters of Genesis. Let’s start with Genesis 12:1.

     The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

Genesis 12:1 NIV

It’s not uncommon in today’s world to move away from family. My family lives hundreds of miles from family. This is not unusual in our culture. This would be nearly unheard of, however, in the ancient world. A male was identified in the ancient world as a member of his father’s household, and would assume all property and responsibilities at the time of his father’s death. To leave your country, your people and your father’s household is to give up all rights to Abram’s inheritance.

This still might not resonate with us since we’re so far removed from this culture. Allow me to try to modernize this calling a bit. Suppose God called you to walk away from all your bank accounts, your job, your retirement, your social security, your cell phone and email accounts, and move to a foreign land under an assumed name. You have no safety net of any kind and no way to contact anyone you know. You have very little means of making money because you have left all your assets behind. Now you are startinging to get a grasp of what God is calling Abram to do. And Abram actually does this! He gives up everything and goes where God (who up until now may have been unknown to Abram) calls him to go. And now look at the beginning words of Genesis 15.

“Do not be afraid, Abram. 
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”

Genesis 15:1 NIV

Abram gave up his protection (family clan living in close proximity), and gave up his inheritance. God’s promise to Abram is that God would be Abram’s protection (shield) and inheritance (very great reward). Abram didn’t give up everything to follow God. He followed God and gained everything.

Just like Adam and Eve didn’t have to concern themselves with self care in the Garden, God has promised to take care of, and provide for Abram if he would answer God’s call in faith. And even when Abram deviated from God’s plan, God remained faithful and fulfilled the covenant with Abram, As He Promised.

(Sermon text for 9/20: Genesis 12-15, Heb. 11 – Immerse Reading – Genesis 30:25-50:26)

Who is Jesus?

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Gospel of Luke, Uncategorized

This week our reading comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapters 2 & 3. Since I covered the majority of Luke 2 & 3 in a sermon on June 3rd (If you’re reading this on the computer, click here to listen to it) I will focus on the genealogy of Jesus as recorded by Luke. A great cause of debate amongst skeptics of the Bible, as well as biblical scholars, has been the seeming discrepancies between the genealogy of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 1, and that of Luke recorded at the end of chapter 3.

To fully understand the differences in these two, we have to know a little about the significance of genealogies. It was extremely important in the Jewish culture to be able to prove your lineage, your tribe, your family. Some of this revolved around the priestly lineage (see Ezra 2:61–3; Nehemiah 7:63–5 for priests who lost their jobs because of this). It was also important because the culture of the middle east was (and still is) a collectivist clan society. First century Jews celebrated familial bonds. You knew who your family was because this was your identity. That being said, a literal generation by generation genealogy was not required. Neither Matthew, nor Luke (nor Genesis for that matter) give us direct father to son genealogies. They all include gaps in order to save space, as well as to highlight names that original readers may recognize (the phrase “son of” simply indicates they descended from that person; see Mt. 1:8 compared to 1 Chron. 3:11-12,  2 Kings 14:21-22, and 2 Chron. 26:1-2 to see clearly that Matthew skips generations.) Much more can be said, but we must move on.

Let’s address the similarities and differences. For the most part the genealogies are identical from Abraham to David. The differences you find are due largely to alternate forms of the same name or skips in generations. Matthew’s Gospel is written to a Jewish audience, so Matthew simply begins at Abraham, the father of the Jewish people and ends with Jesus. Luke is writing to a largely Gentile audience, and he wants to show that Jesus is the savior of all people, and related to all people through Adam, so Luke starts with Jesus, and ends with Adam.

It is also believed that some of the differences could be related to which earthly parent the genealogy traces its lineage. Matthew includes some women in his genealogy, which Luke does not. Arguments can be made both ways, but common belief is Matthew traces Jesus’ lineage through Joseph (Mt. 1:16) while Luke traces through Mary (without actually mentioning her name) by indicating that Joseph was not really related to Jesus, and (so it is thought) instead begins with Mary’s father Heli (Lk. 3:23).

There are other opinions out there to explain the differences, but the fact remains both Matthew and Luke present their own unique evidence of the earthly lineage of Jesus. Both Matthew’s audience and Luke’s audience could have done their own research to see if these genealogies held up, and apparently they did. Matthew proves that Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel descended from Abraham through David. Luke proves that Jesus is the Savior of all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, by descending from Adam through Abraham and David, and now all the way to us since God has made believers in Jesus his children (Galatians 3:26-29; Romans 8:14) – Matt