Sermon: Family Tree

The following is the full text of the sermon I gave at the Presbyterian Church this morning. I brought along my voice recorder but forgot to take it out and turn it on. All of the kids that would normally be in church were away from town at a swim meet, so the only children at church this morning were ours. So I elected to skip the children's story, which essentially made the same point as the sermon. With all the children and some of the accompanying family members with them, the gathering this morning was relatively small. But it was a warm fellowship and we were warmly welcomed.

Texts: Genesis 5:1-2; John 1:11-13

When you think about and picture genealogies and the Bible, what comes to mind? Boring…, monotonous…, irrelevant…, useless…, waste of space…?

When you are reading in the Bible and come across a genealogy, what do you do? Do you know what I do? I usually skip over it. It isn't very interesting… To me, anyway.

But they're in the Bible. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia lists 41 such lists in the Bible. So it seems that they must have some significance.

Most of us are interested in knowing about our ancestry; but other than the few individuals that are truly fascinated with genealogy, most of us don't think too much about it most of the time. On the other hand, it seems that the Hebrews placed quite a bit of importance and value on it. So we wonder, why?

It is first important to recognize that the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, were not written primarily for us. In fact, I imagine that if we could interview the authors today, they would express quite an astonishment that their writings had survived for millennia. This is the first clue in discovering the significance of genealogies in the Bible. They were recorded by family for family.

If, while rummaging through the attic or basement of a relative, you found a copy of your family tree going back a dozen or more generations, wouldn't you be at least a little interested and excited? Wouldn't you want to know from where you came? Doesn't knowing your ancestry give you some sense of identity and belonging? Wouldn't it give you a sense of a place in history?

I think that for the Hebrews, reading and hearing the genealogies gave them a sense of identity, of belonging, and of history. Maybe as the family patriarch recited one of these lists, a great-grandson or great-granddaughter would recognize some of these names and think to himself or herself, "That's a part of me."

The genealogies, served a couple of more practical purposes, however. What value do you place on a real estate title deed, or an automobile title? What value do you place on an employment offer or contract? What value do you place on a legal will? For the Hebrews, the genealogies were all this.

Where they owned property, how much of it they owned was determined by ancestry. You might recall that as the Israelites went into Canaan to possess the land, both Moses and Joshua gave each of the tribes allotments of land. And then in turn, each of the tribes would give each heads of family a portion of the tribe's land, and so on.

The land passed from father to son, all through history. Inheritance didn't happen quite like we experience it today where each child gets a fraction of the parent's property. Rather, the land belonged to the family and stayed with the family. That's why a son asking a father for a portion of his inheritance, like the prodigal son of Luke 15, was unthinkable to the Hebrews.

For the Hebrews then, the land and the people were inseparable. That may explain why they disregarded so many of the prophets that told them to surrender and go into exile. Their tie to their land, it seems, was stronger than their loyalty to their God. Their genealogy was their real estate title and their legal will.

For the Levites, their genealogy was not title, but an employment contract. You might recall that the tribe of Levi was not given any land allotments in Canaan. What they were given were specific jobs in service to God. These jobs were hereditary, passed from father to son. And you might recall that only Aaron's descendants were permitted to be priests. All other Levites could serve in the sanctuary, and later, the Temple, but never as priests. Later on, King David made further job specializations and assigned certain Levitical families to each. Their genealogies determined what job they held.

Upon the Jews' return from their Babylonian exile, the genealogical records were once again important. For the Levites it determined once more who could serve as priests and who would serve in the other worship functions. In fact, some Levites who could not provide sufficient evidence of their ancestry were barred altogether from serving.

Those of the tribe of Judah would once again serve as the leaders and administrators of the people. For the Hebrews, family and property were at the center of their lives. Everything revolved around those two things. Their family tree provided evidence of family belonging and property possession.

This background is all well and nice, and perhaps even a little bit interesting, but what does it have to do with any of us? Most of us, I'm pretty sure, aren't obsessed with family trees, genealogies, and ancestry.

If you're asked, "Who are you?" how would you respond?

Many of us probably would respond with our names -- "I'm Mark."

After an awkward silence we might continue with what we do -- "I'm a pastor…"

And if it looked like the questioner still wanted a different answer, we might respond with where we live -- "I live in Alaska, Southeast, specifically. In Petersburg, on Wrangell Avenue…"

And assuming this was something we had to answer, maybe if something important depended on giving the proper answer, we might talk about our family: children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, etc. in an effort to establish and prove our identities.

Come to think of it, our responses may not be too far from Hebrew thought: Property, job, family… Are these our determinants of our identity, value, and worth? If so, maybe the genealogies in the Bible may have more to teach us than we first thought.

Did you know, or ever pause to realize, that the genealogies in the Bible end with Jesus? Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are the last such lists in the Bible. Matthew begins with Abraham and ends with Jesus. Luke begins with Jesus and ends with God.

In some important ways, I think the ancient Hebrews and Jews were quite a lot like us today. Like us, they were searching for their identity.

Some, like the Pharisees, sought to gain favor with God by being meticulous in obeying the law. They thought that by doing and being right in all things, their value in God's eyes would increase. The priests of Jesus' time sought to maintain their position and power as priests, because that, they thought, determined their value and worth. What they did and how people perceived them, how much power and wealth they had, they thought determined their identities.

Then there were the more common and ordinary folk. The merchants, the fishermen, the ordinary laborers. They didn't think they were that valued, but at least they weren't tax collectors or the Romans.

It really wasn't that different from today -- everybody was basing their value and worth by comparing against someone they thought was worth less.

Jesus came and shattered that notion and flattened out the family tree.

The apostle John, in the prologue section of his gospel account writes about Jesus as follows:

John 1:11-13 (ESV)

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

When it comes to your true identity, your true value, your true worth physical ancestry doesn't make one bit of a difference. Physical ancestry and family ties, property and wealth, the jobs and roles a person has often determine what the world values in him or her, but God does not see things that way.

All who believe in Jesus are given the right to become children of God. Through Jesus, the family tree is flattened to just two levels: God, and everyone else.

It doesn't matter who you are, who your family is, what you have or don't have, what roles you play in this world, You can be a child of God, and everyone around you are brothers and sisters.

Our God isn't someone distant and far away, but very close and personal. We don't have to search back a dozen generations for Him. We don't have to wish that someone great from our past is alive and listening. Our God is with us. He is alive. And He hears and He answers.

When John, the Apostle, writes about becoming children of God, he doesn't mean simple adoption. The Apostle Paul, in his writings, uses the adoption metaphor, but John does not. John writes here about a miraculous transformation in which believers become natural children of God. John writes about this in more detail in the discussion of Jesus with Nicodemus in chapter 3. What John is describing here is the journey of recreation.

Earlier we heard read from Genesis 5:1 the following:

"This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God."

And Luke 3:38 reads:

38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Humans were originally created as children of God. John tells us that Jesus came to restore that relationship between God and us.

Later in his gospel, John gives an account (in chapter 8), where some of the Jews thought they had a special "in" with God because they were descended from Abraham. Jesus tells them that their physical descent means nothing. It's what is in the heart that determines whether a person is a child of God or not.

Implicit in becoming a child of God is that we no longer have to do anything to prove our identity or value or worth. Our identity is that we are sons and daughters of God himself. Our value and worth are infinite because God's love for us is infinite. There is nothing God won't do for us to be with him forever.

All it takes is a simple, "Yes," from our hearts to his invitation.

The next time someone asks you who you are, how about responding with, "I'm God's child." Or how about a more cryptic, "I'm Abba's child." It's just a thought.

But don't you think that would raise a few eyebrows, at least? Maybe even create an opportunity to share the love of your Father God that you've experienced.

Here's one way of understanding and explaining this gospel of Jesus Christ:

For God so loves you and me, he gave an ultimate demonstration of his infinite love in Jesus, so that when He gives his invitation for us to become his children and live forever, we'll want to say, "Yes Lord, I accept. Make me your child today."

I believe this is the message that God wants us to share with the people in this world, the people around you -- those friends and family that may still be keeping God at a distance.