Matthew 1

Introduction:

I am starting a series of inductive Bible study posts. I hope to publish one per day, Monday through Saturday. I hope you get as much out of reading them as I do out of writing them. 

Scripture:

Matthew 1

Observation:

vv1-17: Jesus' genealogy

vv18-25: Joseph's betrothal and marriage to Mary

v18: Mary betrothed to Joseph, found to be pregnant

v19: Because of his righteousness (ESV justice), Joseph wants to divorce her quietly

v20: Angel of the Lord visits Joseph in a dream. Tells Joseph that Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit and not to be afraid to take her as his wife.

v21: Son to be named Jesus. He will save people from their sins

vv22, 23: Fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14

vv24, 25: Joseph marries Mary in obedience to the Lord, but does not consummate their union until after Jesus is born

Interpretation:

Jesus is descended in direct line from Abraham through King David to Joseph, his adoptive father. There were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile, and 14 from the exile to Joseph. Notable women are included in Jesus' genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba (not by name). With the exception of Ruth, all of these women we notable for their sin: Tamar committed adultery with Judah, Rahab was a prostitute, and Bathsheba committed adultery with David. All of them had endured significant difficulties: Ruth was widowed and destitute until she was redeemed by Boaz.

The focus in Matthew seems to be Jesus' lineage  through His earthly father, probably because Matthew was writing this gospel primarily to the Jews of first century Palestine. Even in Jesus' parents generation, the focus is on Joseph as a just man obeying God rather than on His mother who is his only blood relative; Mary's encounter with Gabriel is absent, but Joseph's encounter with the angel is present. In keeping with the other women named in Jesus' genealogy, Mary is undergoing a significant difficulty--her pregnancy out of wedlock. 

It is notable that, even before his dream, Joseph wants to treat Mary with kindness because of his righteousness, not to punish her to the extent allowable under the Law. In his dream, Joseph is told by an angel that Mary has not sinned, but instead she is with child by the Holy Spirit. Further, that this child will be the promised Messiah who would be born to a virgin.  He would be God with us (Immanuel) and would save His people from their sins (Jesus). Incredibly, Joseph believes all of this and  obeys the Lord. He takes Mary as his wife, in spite of what other people will inevitably think (Mark 6:3). 

Application:

The Lord is less concerned with our past than He is with our future. He knows all of the sin and trouble in our lives, and in spite of that, he wants to include us in His great plan. This is not to say that He doesn't care about sin--Rahab, presumably, did not go on being a prostitute. Bathsheba did not continue to commit adultery. His desire is for us to repent (turn away from) our sins and to move on with Him. 

To be righteous does not simply mean to follow a set of rules. Just as God's kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), our repentance should lead us to be kind to sinners. 

Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah. He is the living God become man, literally Immanuel. He came to live a perfect life and to save His people from sin through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead! 

When the Word of the Lord comes to us, we should all believe and obey as Joseph did, regardless of what anyone else may say or do.

Knowing God's Will

As a youth minister, sometimes young people sometimes ask me how they can know what God's will is for their lives. Usually, the tone of the question is quite agonized, which is not very surprising--people don't usually ask this question when their lives are quiet and comfortable, and they know just what they ought to be doing. They ask this question when they're having trouble coping with their parents, or when they have just broken up with their girlfriends, or when they are trying to figure out what they should do with their lives, or when they know what they should do but are struggling with being able to do it.

As difficult as the question is for the one asking it, however, it is one of my favorite things to be asked.  When a kid comes to me with this question, he* is usually struggling with some issue, but he is responding to the issue in the right way: by seeking the Lord and trying to do His will. To me, this says good things about his priorities, character, and relationship with God.

I usually try to encourage kids to do the following:

1. Keep praying about it. When you want to do God's will, you are in agreement with Him. He will help you to do it. Sometimes, however He likes to make is wait before he tells us because the waiting forces us to rely on him. 
2. Do what you know while you wait for Him to tell you the rest. The Scriptures tell us 90% of what God wants you to do: to treat other people with kindness, to be honest, to tell other people about Him, etc. You should not neglect the 90% while you wait on Him for the other 10%. 
3. Dig into the Scriptures. They tell you what the 90% is and they make you able to know you are hearing Him when He gives you the other 10%. It is in the Scriptures that He tells us what He is like. By spending time reading the Bible what kinds of things He approves of and what kinds of things he doesn't.
4. Talk and pray with an adult whom you respect. Pick someone whom you know and whose walk with the Lord you respect. If your parents are walking with the Lord, they are ideal. If not, a pastor, youth worker or some other adult  at your church with whom you have a relationship would be a good choice

Come to think of it, this isn't such bad advice for me...

* Or her. I find constructs like "he/she," "his or her," etc. to be tiresome, and my wife would hunt me down and kill me if I were to publish something using the plural third-person pronoun, "they," with a singular verb. I will, therefore, use the standard English generic third-person pronoun, "he," in spite of the pronoun's unpopularity and of the fact that it is identical to the masculine, singular third-person pronoun. I'm sorry if I offend (but perhaps not as sorry as you think I should be if you are one who is offended).

Relaunch

I started this blog several years ago, and I never really went anywhere with it. I've been thinking and praying about it a fair bit recently, and I've decided to give it another go. I'm not sure exactly where this will go.  I have several interests that I think will come into play here (in no particular order):

• Theology
• Philosophy
• Youth Ministry
• Software Development
• Family Life

I may end up splitting this up into multiple blogs so that, assuming anyone ever reads this, those of you who are interested in the crazy things my sister and I did as kids won't be bothered by technical discussions of programming languages and those of you interested in how to write effective unit tests won't be bothered by discussions of the nature of the Trinity. For now, however the topics discussed in this blog will be as jumbled together here as they are in my own muddled head. If you read this, I hope you enjoy.