You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.
If you have Bibles, you'll open them to Luke as we continue our study.
Will came in to my office weeks ago and asked me if I wanted to preach on this text.
And I think the reason he asked is that he didn't want to pronounce all these names.
Well, I'm not going to either.
Because, one, I don't want this just to be a time where you're impressed with my pronunciation.
But also, you wouldn't know if I'm butchering them or not.
So, what we're going to do, I'm going to read down through verse 23.
And then skip down to verse 34.
And take up reading there.
So, here now, God's inspired word of truth.
Now, when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized.
And was praying, the heavens were opened.
And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven.
You are my beloved son.
With you, I am well pleased.
And Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age.
And now skip on down to verse 34.
Where it says,
The son of Eber, the son of Canaan, the son of Arphakad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalel.
The son of Canaan, the son of Enoch, the son of Enoch, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Let me pray for us as we approach this study.
Father, even in these places of Scripture where we think, you know, we just kind of skip over them.
There's nothing here.
Yet, you've given them to us for our benefit, our profit.
But there is so much here.
Father, would you, in the power of your Spirit, work through the foolishness of this man and speak to us in a way only your Spirit can.
Come and lead us not just to a knowledge of truth, but cause this truth to be planted deep within our souls.
That we might be transformed more and more into that likeness of our Savior, our Lord Jesus.
We pray in His name.
Amen.
You know, there is a lot of interest today in genealogies.
I mean, it's fascinating stuff.
There's been a program on public TV called Finding Your Roots.
Have any of y'all ever seen that?
I mean, this is great.
They take these well-known people, and this guy goes back and searches history all through their family tree,
even to doing genetic testing at the end, and telling them, you know, where all these fascinating places where they've come from.
And it really is a fascinating thing.
Even one of my kids has been very interested in our own family tree, you know, through these years.
And I want to put up a picture here for you.
Oh, no, not that one.
I guess we don't have it.
Anyway, what I was going to show you is I have a picture of my family that was taken back at the end of the 19th century.
Back in the late 1800s.
And, you know, of my great-grandfather, my great-grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather.
And I wish you could see it, but, I mean, it's of interest to me because what that picture tells me is that this is where I came from.
And I think the whole interest that we have in genealogies is that we want to know who we are.
And those genealogies tell us, you know, this is where we came from.
These are our roots.
This is how we have been shaped by all of this.
In fact, I was walking through when my mother was in the hospital a couple years ago having surgery.
And I was caring for her.
I walked down the hall and overheard a conversation in another guest's room.
And there was this old guy talking to, it was a patient, talking to one of the young girls who was caring for him.
And the conversation was going on.
And finally, he just stopped and asked her this question.
He says, who's your daddy?
And what he wanted to know was, her daddy, if he knew who her daddy was, that was going to tell him all kinds of things about her.
Whether she could be trusted or so forth.
So in some ways, when we come to these genealogies in scripture, we also look at them in a similar way.
We can't read these.
And typically, the genealogies, we have two in the New Testament.
We have others in the Old Testament, but we have two in the New Testament.
The beginning of Matthew and here in Luke.
And a lot of times, we just skip over these parts.
But these genealogies tell us something.
And the authors are trying to give us something special.
Something in particular through these genealogies.
We can't read them like we would normally read them.
You know, when I would go look at this picture, I could say, all right, that's my grandfather.
And then his father.
And you see the direct line.
Well, the writers in the Bible don't give us genealogies that way.
They are intentional in what they want to communicate through these genealogies.
Therefore, they're very selective in who they put in there.
And so one of the things you'll discover, if you compare Matthew and Luke,
there's two different sets of names.
Especially in between David and Jesus.
Now, we can't explain why those are different.
I can't tell you more than that.
But we know that the differences in our questions simply come because we don't have enough information.
But these writers are giving us a message.
And Luke is giving us a very specific message.
And one of the ways that Luke differs from his use of genealogy from Matthew is,
Matthew begins with Abraham and moves upward to Jesus in a very methodical, very thematic way.
There's three sets of names.
And he is trying to connect the Messiah, Jesus, as that Messiah who would come from Abraham.
But Luke doesn't do that.
Luke starts with Jesus and goes backwards.
And he doesn't stop when he gets to Abraham.
He goes all the way back to Adam.
And so what is Luke telling us here?
Luke is giving us a picture of Jesus' very first day of ministry.
He has come out of this preparation period, 30 years of growing and maturing.
And today Jesus comes and enters public ministry.
And to do that, Luke is now giving us this genealogy.
Because that genealogy is telling us so much of who this Jesus is.
And also what he has come to do for us.
So as we look at this, there's three things that I'm going to want us to see.
First, this is all about identity.
All of it is about Jesus' identity.
And therefore, it's also about our identity.
So the first thing we see is how Jesus identifies with us.
Secondly, we're going to see how God the Father, really the Holy Trinity, comes and identifies and celebrates with Jesus.
And thirdly, we're going to see what the implications are for us of that.
Look at Luke 3, 21.
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
the question, we read this and the question comes up, and I've already been asked this question this morning,
why, if Jesus is righteous and pure, and baptism, as you heard last week, was a baptism for repentance of sin,
why does Jesus have to be baptized?
Well, you know, why baptism?
Why is this the very first thing that he does as he enters into his ministry?
Well, Jesus is not being baptized for his sake.
He's being baptized for our sake.
What he's doing, this act of baptism, is his way of saying, I'm with you.
Jesus is entering into this act.
He's getting, he's coming into this baptism to help us and identify with us right where we are.
He's not helping from a distance.
He's not just reaching down from some far place, but he has decided he has come to enter into all of the muck,
all of the mire, all of the filth, all of the pain, all of the hardness, all of the brokenness of this life.
And so, he does not just, again, help from a distance.
He enters into the worst of it.
That is why he comes and is baptized.
He takes upon himself this baptism of repentance.
Because that is what he has come to do.
He's chosen to enter into the very pit of our world.
He experiences it.
He lives it.
He tastes it.
He tastes the oppression, the struggle, and then he owns it.
It is his.
This is why the writer of Hebrews, the passage that we just read a few minutes ago,
towards the end there, he says,
He had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
And this is an incredible thing.
And I think we miss the significance of this.
The Holy One of Israel, the righteous one, the righteous God, identifies with us.
He comes from his holy throne to us, into the muck and mire where we live.
And he identifies with us.
He takes on that identity.
He makes it his own.
And he doesn't just say from a distance, you know, I know.
But he does tell us, I know.
I've been there.
I'm there with you.
And so in that, he can help.
But we don't have a Savior who calls us to something, someplace where he's never been.
He is a Savior who has gone before us.
He is a Savior who has tasted everything.
He is a Savior who has been tempted in everything, which we'll see more of next week.
But he's been there and identifies with us.
But also in addition,
and this is the critical part,
by identifying with us,
being baptized
to identify with us,
he's not only owning our fallen state,
but it also means
he's going to be treated
as if
he were us.
Jesus,
in effect,
in his baptism,
is becoming
sin.
He is becoming
the broken,
the fallen.
And because of that,
because he is taking it upon himself
fully,
all of the wrath,
all of the anger,
all of the judgment
that God would pour out
on us
as broken sinners,
it's now going to be poured out on him.
And this is telling us
where he's going.
This is telling us
where the ministry
is taking him.
It's taking him to a place
where he
is going to suffer
the penalties
that our sins deserve.
Because here he's taking them on himself.
Secondly,
something else we have here
in this text
is
we get this picture
of the Trinity.
You know,
we don't,
when we study the Scriptures,
the Trinity is one of those
doctrines that's never
explicitly
stated to us,
but we get illusions,
we get pictures of it
all through the Scriptures,
from the Old Testament
up through the New,
and this is one of the most clear
of those pictures.
Because here,
it is,
we're given
this window
to look into
this joyous,
passionate
relationship
that is enjoyed
between the Father,
the Spirit,
and the Son.
You know,
as Jesus
is being baptized,
he comes up
out of the water
and he's praying.
I mean,
he's talking
to the Father.
But here,
he comes up
and the heavens
open.
And from the heavens
descends
a dove,
the Holy Spirit
in a bodily form
of a dove
and alights
on him
and you hear
this voice
from heaven
declaring,
it says,
this is my Son
in whom
I'm well pleased.
And then,
there's only
really one other
place where we see
that the heavens
open and God
speaks like that
and that's
on the Mount
of Transfiguration.
but here,
we're given
this window
into this
glorious union,
this relationship
that exists
between the three.
Now,
let me take a second.
This,
when we talk
about the Trinity,
we're talking
about this,
one of these
huge theological
concepts.
And I think
sometimes we think
it's kind of obscure.
How does it
even affect us?
Yeah,
it's great
for theologians
to talk about,
but
this is,
I think,
at least for me
in these
last few years,
has become
one of the most
dear theological
doctrines
that there is.
One of the things
is that
when you talk
about God
being a God
of love,
that
demands
the existence
of the Trinity.
So let's think
about this.
When Islam
talks about God,
they do
talk about
God is
a God
of love,
but they also
talk about
God is just
one.
There is no
Trinity.
There is just
one who has
existed for
all time
throughout
eternity
as one.
Now,
how does
he know
how to
love?
He's never
had anyone
to love.
It's just
him.
And it's
interesting,
if you look
at the
depictions
that Islam
makes
of this
God,
they're
primarily
not a
God
of love.
Because
a God
who has
existed
alone
for
eternity
would
really
not have
an idea,
have a clue.
what love
is.
But when we
come to the
God of the
Bible,
we have
something very
different.
That God
has existed
for all
time
in
relationship.
Father,
Spirit,
Son.
And it's a
joyous,
passionate
relationship,
and they've
lived in this
love relationship
for eternity.
And therefore,
when we hear
that God
is,
that God
loves,
we can know
it's true
because it's
part of his
essence.
That's part
of all
that he is.
That's part
of what he
has done
for eternity.
Love is
at his
core.
And so,
as we talk
about the
gospel,
that's,
we talk
about a
God of
love.
Because he
has loved
through all
of his
existence.
And so,
in this
scene,
what we're
given is
just a
picture,
a little
bit of a
glimpse of
the relationship
that these
three have.
And the
love and the
passion in
this love,
you see in
the statement
which is
proclaimed
from heaven
about the
Son.
And there
are three
things about
what God
says that
we need to
pay attention
to.
He says,
first,
he says,
this is my
son.
Not a
stranger,
not an
orphan,
but a
son.
I remember,
you know,
I have two
sons,
along with two
daughters,
but I remember,
you know,
when my
oldest son was
born,
and I held
him in my
hand for the
first time,
and I said,
this is my
son.
This is not
some stranger's
kid.
This is a
son who
bears my
name,
is going to
be in this
relationship with
me forever.
There's no
separation here.
There's no
divorce from
being a
son.
He's my
son.
And that
says something
that I
could say
about no
one else.
And so the
father is
declaring to
Jesus that
he is now
the son.
But he
goes beyond
that.
He said,
this is my
beloved
son.
There are
sons,
and then
there are
sons.
And some
of us have
grown up in
relationships maybe
where we
didn't feel
beloved by
our fathers.
You know,
maybe we had
fathers that
were distant,
maybe fathers
that were
difficult.
maybe we
are fathers
that are
distant and
difficult.
You know,
maybe we
weren't wanted.
Maybe
somehow as
sons we
disappointed
them somewhere.
But I know
that in my
growing up as
a son,
there was one
thing that I
wanted more
than anything
else in
life,
and I
wanted my
dad to
communicate to
me and to
say to me
in no
uncertain
terms that
I was not
just his
son,
but I
was beloved.
That I
was of the
highest value
to him.
And I
would have
given anything
to have
heard that.
In fact,
I was,
in a lot of
my years
growing up,
I was just
angry because
I didn't
sense that
from him.
But imagine
the joy
of hearing
your father
saying,
you are my
son,
but you
are my
beloved.
And this
is what the
father declares
of Jesus.
But he goes
even farther.
He said,
this is my
beloved
son
in whom
I am
well
pleased.
We might be
dearly beloved,
we might be
in love by our
fathers, but you
know, down
inside, I think
sometimes we
know we
have not been
the sons that
we should have
been.
I wasn't.
You know, I
know I was,
of all three
of our kids,
I'm sure that
I was the
most difficult
of the three.
I'm sure that
I gave my
dad a lot
of grief,
and I'm sure
that he was
disappointed and
probably ashamed
sometimes of the
decisions that I
made.
They, uh,
because, I mean,
I didn't work
well, I didn't,
you know, sometimes
I talked back
to him.
My choices of
clothing style,
and particularly
in those days,
my hairstyle,
was not so
conducive to
him going to
the country
club and being
proud of his
son.
And so, in
many ways,
I think maybe
we sense a
disappointment,
and especially,
you know, here
thinking of
our Heavenly
Father.
But this is
why hearing
these words
at the end
are so critical,
because I'm
not just a
son.
Jesus is not
just a son.
He is not
just the beloved
son, but he
is the son
that gives
his father
joy.
The father
is pleased
and declares
it to the
world.
son.
And so,
now we
see, and
the spirit
is there
as well,
and so this
is the
relationship
that all
three of
these members
of the
Trinity
have with
one another.
The father
declares that
the son is
the joy of
his heart,
and he
and the
spirit come
to identify
with him
how closely
they are
identified and
connected with
one another.
So now we
come to the
best part,
I think.
The third
way of
identification
has taken
place here
is that
we now
identify
with the
son
and the
father
and the
spirit,
because we
are in
Christ.
See, the
question you
have to ask
here, why
would God
proclaim
audibly,
why would
he descend
visibly and
bodily on
Jesus like
that at
that moment?
Was it for
Jesus'
sake?
I don't
think so.
I think it
was for
our sake.
If Jesus
has identified
himself so
intimately
with us,
he does
so that
we can
now
identify
with
him.
Jesus
in his
baptism
takes
our
sin,
owns
our
sin,
takes
all of
our
brokenness
and our
fallenness
upon
himself,
identifies
with us,
and then
agrees to
be treated
as if
he were
us.
but then
he does
so
so that
we
can now
be identified
with
him
in all
of the
glory,
all of
the joy,
all of
the love
and all
the pleasure
and we
can be
treated
as if
we were
him.
Let that
sink in a
little bit.
Let me ask
this question.
It's a
question that
I know
that some
of you guys
have heard
because we
talked about
the men's
retreat.
What does
God think
of you?
What does
God think
of you?
Now I
know most
of you have
been through
Sunday
school so
you know
the answer
is God
loves me.
Jesus
loves me.
This I
know.
For the
Bible tells
me so.
Okay.
God loves
you.
But does
he like
you?
When
your name
crosses his
mind,
what's the
expression on
his face?
Is he
grinning from
ear to
ear?
Or is he
just kind
of beating
his head?
When are
they going
to ever
straighten
up?
When are
they ever
going to
get with
the program?
How long
do I have
to wait?
You ever
feel like
you're just
one big
disappointment
to your
Heavenly
Father?
And you
wonder when
the day's
going to
come where
he's going
to say,
okay,
one more
time.
we've
hit a
limit
here.
One
more
time.
I
think
that's
common
because
we
sense
the
brokenness,
we sense
the sin,
we sense
the failure.
And it's
hard for
us to
think
otherwise.
But that's
why this
particular
passage is
so important.
Because
if we're
in Christ,
we know
the answer
to that
question.
God is
ecstatic
because he
says to
us,
you are
my son,
my daughter,
my beloved,
in whom
I am
well
pleased.
How
desperately
we need
to hear
that.
But it's
not just
here.
I want
you to
look at
one other
passage in
Zephaniah
3,
verse 17,
which I
love.
It says,
the Lord
your God
is in
your midst.
Notice,
he's in
your midst.
He's not
distant.
He's not
far off.
He's right
with you.
love.
He's not
with you.
And that
means he
must like
you because
he wants
to be
with you.
The Lord
your God
is in
your midst,
a mighty
one who
will save.
Now look
what he
says.
He will
rejoice
over you
with gladness.
He will
quiet you
with his
love.
And look
at this
last statement.
He will
exalt
over you
with loud
singing.
He will
exalt
over you
with loud
singing.
Almost
makes us
think God's
charismatic.
He's
ecstatic.
How can
God be
that ecstatic
over us
the way
we are?
Because
if we
believe
we are
in Christ
and what
Christ has
come to do
is to
identify with
us so
fully
that he
would come
to be
treated
as if
he were
us
so that
we
could be
treated
as if
we were
him.
So this
picture of
the Trinity
is glorious
because
Jesus
is taking
me right
into the
middle of
it.
his salvation
is so
great,
so full,
so complete
that I
now
enjoy
the love,
the passion,
the
celebration
of the
Trinity
itself.
I am
the
beloved
son
in whom
he is
well
pleased
all
because
what
Christ
has done
for me.
he has
taken
my sin
so fully
and he
paid the
price.
Now I
can know
his joy.
God
is that
good news?
It's
critical.
This
identity
is critical
for us
because
it affects
everything
and we'll
see more
next week
of how
that
works out.
God
is
to
the
Lord's
table
in many
ways
this is
what we
are doing.
We are
celebrating
the
identity
that we
have in
Christ.
we are
not coming
just to
eat a
little piece
of bread
but we're
coming
to identify
ourselves
with
Christ.
So as
we eat
of the
bread
we drink
of the
cup
we are
feeding
on Christ
and we
are
declaring
that I'm
in
Christ
and I
therefore
can enjoy
all the
benefits
of being
in
Christ.
But it's
also
important
then for
us to
give you
this
warning.
If you're
not in
Christ
or if
you're
living in
such a
state
maybe
unrepentance
or you're
living in
a state
of sin
that you
know
is that
I would
ask you
that as
others
come to
celebrate
if you
would remain
in your
seats
and pray
and ask
the spirit
to come
and bring
you to
that place
of repentance
of turning
to Christ
and owning
for yourself
his sacrifice
so that you
can experience
his great
joy.
Let me
pray for us.
Holy
Father
help us
understand
this new
identity.
Help us
understand
who we
are.
Help us
to comprehend
the depth
of salvation
that has been
granted to us.
Christ
himself
through his
broken body
has taken
all of our
sin.
He has
come and
owned
our place
in this
fallen world
and has
paid the
price.
But he
has so
purified us.
He has
made us
so righteous
that we
now are
the beloved.
We are
the joy
of our
heavenly
father.
And we
can know
all that
pleasure
and love
as the
son.
So as
we eat
and feed
on this
little morsel
of bread
and this
little cup
of juice
make it
a feast
of grace
and feed
our hearts
so there's
no more
hunger.
And we
come
give thanks
to you for
this in
Jesus name.
Amen.
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