God's Word for Me Today
Saturday, December 15, 2001
Unwrapping a Christ-Centered Christmas!
A note about online study
Introduction to God's Word for Me Today
A Christmas List OR THE Christmas List
Today we start a new week of studies in our series: Unwrapping a Christ-Centered Christmas. Our subject for the coming week will be: “A Christmas List OR THE Christmas List.” What that means is instead of focusing on a list of things that we want, or that we’re going to buy for others, instead of focusing on a list of things to do before Christmas, we’re going to focus on “THE List,” which is the genealogy of Jesus. Some folks are interested in genealogies and some aren’t, but the reality is that Jesus was descended from folks a lot like us. Some were great and some were despicable. Some were famous and some were unknown. Only a handful of women are mentioned in the list and each one has some unusual characteristic associated with her.
On Tuesday through Friday we are actually going to investigate the lives of one of those women: Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite. That means she was a foreigner. Her commitment to her mother-in-law, Naomi, who was a Jewess was so amazing that it caught the attention of a man named Boaz. Boaz eventually married Ruth. Boaz and Ruth are the Great (to the 28th power) Grandparents of Jesus! This study of the life of Ruth in the week preceding Christmas will help us see how loyalty to one’s family—even one’s adopted family, can result in great blessing for everyone involved. Since Christmas is a time for love and family as well as for remembering Jesus’ birth, my prayer is that the story of Ruth will inspire all of us to a deeper love for and commitment to those closest to us: our families, both our biological families and our church family. May the richest blessings of Jesus be upon us as we move nearer and nearer to celebrating His birth, and unwrapping a Christ-Centered Christmas!
My Prayer Today
Gracious God, our Heavenly Father, as we start a week of focusing on Jesus’ earthly ancestors, I thank You for those in my family tree who have known You as their Savior and Lord, and have passed that heritage on to me. I also thank You for other men and women of faith, who have shown me your love and grace in so many ways. I thank You especially this day for all those who have died to this life and gone on to their eternal reward in Your presence. Thank You for providing folks in every generation whose love for You is so great that they can only share it with those who come after them. May I be filled and empowered with Your Holy Spirit to be such a person today, and every day of my life. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
God's Word for Me Today: Matthew 1:1-17
1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of King David and of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (his mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (his mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (his mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah). 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asaph. 8 Asaph was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amos. Amos was the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon). 12 After the Babylonian exile: Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Akim. Akim was the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah. 17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to King David, and fourteen from David's time to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.
Questions for Reflection
Who is your most famous relative?
What is one of the most unusual things about your family of origin?
Questions for Exploration
(See tomorrow’s reading!)
Questions for Understanding
(See tomorrow’s reading!)
Questions for Application
Take a moment and offer thanks and praise to God for specific people in your biological family and in your church family who have been instrumental in your knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Why Focus on This List!
Why spend a week focusing on Jesus’ ancestors, especially just a week before Christmas? Well, because most of us may be spending a little more time than necessary focusing on some other lists right now—lists of things we want, lists of things others want, lists of things we HAVE to do before we can celebrate Jesus birth. (The list could go on and on, couldn’t it?) This week we’re going to spend some time focusing on Jesus’ family tree, because we need to see that even in His ancestry Jesus is like us in every way. While it’s true that Jesus had some kings in His background, he also had prostitutes, foreigners, liars, cheaters, murderers…..”Wait a minute!” My family background is better than that! And perhaps it is. The point is this: Jesus was a perfect human being, the only one who ever lived, but his human ancestors weren’t. Jesus was born into the human family, a family which except for Him was caught in the trap of sin and death. He would one day experience death, so that we could be removed from that trap of sin, but that’s part of the Easter story, not the Christmas story. Christmas focuses on Jesus’ birth, and before we’re born we have to have ancestors. Indeed, whether our ancestors are famous, infamous, or unknown, they are literally the reason that we’re here. Without them we would not exist. As we look at Jesus’ ancestors we see a long list of folks just like us. How comforting that is, because it shows us that Jesus’ perfection came from the divine half of his ancestry and that it is from there that we, too, have the hope of living as “more than conquerors” in this world than can often leave us feeling conquered. May these lists of ancestors show us that it isn’t who has come before us, or who will go after us that matters most, but that Jesus is at the center of our family tree, bringing life and salvation to all who will receive it in His name!
To view the studies for other days, visit the God's Word for Me Today calendar.