If you've ever looked around at the world, or looked around at your family, or looked
around or looked at your own life and thought, this is just a mess, this chapter is probably
even messier.
So here we go, Genesis 38.
It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain
Adulamite whose name was Hira.
There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua.
He took her and went into her.
And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Ur.
She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.
Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah.
Judah was in Kezid when she bore him.
And Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
But Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord.
And the Lord put him to death.
Then Judah said to Onan, go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law
to her and raise up offspring for your brother.
But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his.
So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground so as
not to give offspring to his brother.
And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.
Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, remain a widow in your father's house till
Shelah, my son, grows up.
For he feared that he would die like his brothers.
So Tamar went and remained in her father's house.
In the course of time, the wife of Judah, she was daughter, died.
When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheep shearers.
He and his friend hired the Adolamite.
And when Tamar was told, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep, she
took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at
the entrance to Anaim, which is on the road to Timnah.
For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
He turned to her at the roadside and said, come, let me come into you.
For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.
She said, what will you give me that you may come into me?
He answered, I will send you a young goat from the flock.
And she said, if you give me a pledge until you send it.
He said, what pledge shall I give you?
She replied, your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.
So he gave them to her and went into her, and she conceived by him.
Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood.
When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adolamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her.
And he asked the men of the place, where is the cult prostitute who is at Anaim by the roadside?
And they said, no cult prostitute has been here.
So he returned to Judah and said, I haven't found her.
Also, the men of the place said, no cult prostitute has been here.
And Judah replied, let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at.
You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.
About three months later, Judah was told, Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral.
Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.
And Judah said, bring her out, and let her be burned.
As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law.
By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.
And she said, please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.
Then Judah identified them and said, she is more righteous than I,
since I did not give her to my son, Sheila, and he did not know her again.
When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb.
And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand,
saying, this one came out first.
But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out.
And she said, what a breach you have made for yourself.
Therefore, his name was called Perez.
Afterward, his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
So last night, I was putting my kids to bed.
And as usual, a part of our usual routine, I read them a couple of stories.
A story that my son chose was from one of his favorite series, The Berenstain Bears.
Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister Bear, and in some cases, Honey Bear,
reside in a big tree house down a sunny dirt road in Bear Country.
In each book, they face some kind of conflict or challenge,
but by the end of the story, everything has been resolved,
and a moral or safety-related lesson has been clearly, maybe even too clearly, communicated.
According to Wikipedia, there are over 300 Berenstain Bears books,
including over 40 in a series with explicitly Christian themes.
This morning's Bible passage covers all kinds of things that are not found in any
of the Berenstain Bears books,
or most other children's bedtime stories.
Its content is much closer to a supermarket tabloid
that stares at you as you walk through the checkout line or a soap opera.
If this chapter were made into a movie, it would be R-rated.
Betrayal, deception, scandal, lots of sex, prostitution, death.
It's a hot mess.
If anything is clear from this passage,
it's clear that the Bible is not the product of the Victorian era.
It was not written by mismanners.
But you might ask, what is God doing in all this mess?
What in the world are we supposed to learn from such a crazy story?
Last week, we looked at the theme of shattered dreams.
How Joseph's dreams of greatness were shattered by the favoritism of his father
and the jealousy of his brothers.
At the end of the chapter, we saw Joseph sold into slavery
and taken down to Egypt.
At first glance, this chapter seems to be a detour from the story of Joseph.
Joseph isn't mentioned at all.
Neither is his father Jacob, nor the other brothers.
The focus shifts to Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar.
On the service, they do some pretty weird things.
But I hope that as we dig into some of the details,
and there are a lot of details,
but that you'll see what's motivating Judah and Tamar.
That you'll begin to relate to their characters and their stories.
And most of all, that you'll be drawn to the God
who is powerfully at work in each of them.
Now, the basic contrast between Judah and Tamar is this.
Judah was brought up in the family of God,
and he did everything he could to get out of it.
Tamar was brought up outside the family of God,
and she did everything she could to get in.
So this morning, we'll look first at what God does with Judah,
the insider who wanted out,
and then we'll look at what God does with Tamar,
the outsider who wanted in.
So first, Judah, the insider who wanted out.
Now, before we jump into this chapter,
let me set the stage from earlier in the book of Genesis
to paint the picture of how Judah got to where he is now.
Judah was a young man with a lot of potential.
He was born into the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And God had promised that that family,
Abraham's physical offspring,
would be the means of his promised blessing
for the whole world.
And within this family, his name stood out.
Judah, which means praise.
His mother praised God at his birth,
and his name called him to live a life in praise of God.
Judah also had natural leadership gifts.
When he spoke, his brothers listened.
And they did what he said.
And yet, while Judah had a lot of potential,
he received little attention from his parents,
especially from his dad.
You see, Judah's dad, Jacob,
had 12 sons by four different women.
Judah was child number four.
Imagine growing up in that family.
His dad had been tricked into marrying his mom.
And his dad really loved a different woman,
Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
So Jacob always deprioritized Judah's mother, Leah,
and her sons.
He paid them little attention.
He gave them little affection.
Judah grew up in a home where mom was constantly trying
and never succeeding to win dad's affection.
And dad was lavishing his love on another woman
and a different set of kids.
Not surprisingly, Judah and his brothers
began to feel resentful.
And their resentment continued to build up
against their dad's favoritism and neglect.
And they expressed their favoritism, Judah and his brothers,
in different ways.
We learn from chapter 35, verse 22,
that Judah's oldest brother, Reuben,
slept with his dad's mistress.
In a failed attempt to seize the reins of leadership
in the family.
For brothers two and three, Simeon and Levi,
their anger and resentment turned into violent rage.
When their sister Dinah was violated,
they not only punished the guy who did it,
they massacred his whole town.
Chapter 34 of Genesis.
Judah took out his resentment in a more calculated way.
He took the initiative to sell Joseph into slavery,
to get rid of his younger brother for good.
You see, Rachel, his dad's favorite wife,
had already died.
And perhaps Judah hoped that with Joseph gone,
maybe his dad would finally pay attention
to him and his brothers.
Maybe something would change in their family for the good,
but it didn't.
They came home.
Joseph's gone.
Jacob was heartbroken.
And he refused to be comforted.
He found no comfort,
no joy from any of his other kids.
And so finally Judah was fed up.
He was fed up with his distant dad,
who poured all his affection
into his other wife and his other kids.
He was fed up with all the family drama
and dysfunction.
And so he left home,
an angry young man in his 20s,
determined to make a fresh start.
That's where we get in verse 1.
It happened at that time
that Judah went down from his brothers
and turned aside to a certain Adolamite,
whose name was Hira.
Judah's response to his dysfunctional family
was to run away as far as he could.
On the one hand, it's very understandable
when you think about all that he grew up with.
But the problem with Judah's response
is that it wasn't just Judah's family
that was dysfunctional.
Judah himself was also dysfunctional.
And while you can run away
from a dysfunctional family,
you can't run away
from your own dysfunctional heart.
So after running away
from his dysfunctional family,
Judah ends up reproducing a family
that is just as dysfunctional.
He actually ends up acting
just like his dad,
whom he resented and hated.
We see that just like his dad,
Judah was selfish
and distant from his wife.
Notice the verbs in verse 2.
Judah saw the daughter
of a certain Canaanite.
He took her and went into her.
The language is meant to remind us
of Eve in the Garden of Eden.
She saw the forbidden fruit.
She took it and she ate it.
Judah wasn't full of tender affection
or steadfast love.
He was simply grabbing
whatever was available
to satisfy his own lustful impulse.
He wanted sex and he wanted kids.
So we got married.
It's a bad way to start a marriage.
And over time,
Judah didn't grow any closer
to his wife and his kids.
And if anything,
he became even more distant.
When his first son, Ur, was born,
Judah named him.
When his second and third sons were born,
his wife named them.
When his third son was born,
he was apparently out of town.
Verse 5 seems to indicate
he was in Hezib.
Ironically, the word Hezib
sounds like the word for lying
in Hebrew.
We could translate it.
Judah was living in the city of lies.
And then in verse 12,
when Judah's wife died,
he got over it quite quickly.
The next phrase,
verse 12,
after it says the wife of Judah died,
it said when Judah was comforted,
he went up to Timnah
to his sheep shearers
with his friend,
Hyrod the Adolamite.
Modern equivalent,
he went to Myrtle Beach
over spring break.
And he wasn't going
with Campus Crusade for Christ
to do a mission project.
Judah was selfish
and distant from his wife,
just like his dad had been.
And also, just like his dad,
Judah failed to train his sons
in the way of righteousness.
Verse 7,
Ur, Judah's firstborn,
was wicked in the sight of the Lord,
and the Lord put him to death.
This is the first time
in all of Scripture
that God singled out an individual
as incurably wicked
and killed him.
Judah's second son,
Onan, was no better.
Then Judah said to Onan,
go into your brother's wife
and perform the duty
of a brother-in-law to her
and raise up offspring
for your brother.
You might say,
what in the world
is that about?
Well, in many traditional
clan-based societies,
if a married man died
with no kids,
his brother
or the nearest unmarried
male relative
was obligated
to marry the widow.
Now, there were two basic reasons
for this ancient custom.
Number one,
it was an act of honor
to the deceased brother.
The first son born
would be counted as
the son of the dead brother
so that the dead brother's
genealogical line
would continue
instead of being cut off.
And his inheritance
would stay within the family
instead of passing
to outsiders.
So first,
it was a way to honor
the dead brother.
And second,
it was a way to provide
security for the widow
who was otherwise
defenseless
and had
few or no options
in the ancient world.
Now, what Onan did
in verse 9
is that he took on
the appearance
of honoring his brother
and providing
for Tamar,
but in reality,
he wasn't doing either.
He was happy
to have sex
with Tamar
and to appear
to do
his family duty,
but he didn't want
the responsibility
of raising a child
who would carry on
his brother's name
and not his.
You see,
the problem with Onan
was this.
The appearance
of righteousness
and faithfulness
and loyalty
masked the reality
of selfishness
and greed
and deception.
It was the same problem
with Ananias and Sapphira
in the book of Acts
in the New Testament.
We might call it
hypocrisy.
And hypocrisy
makes God
rightfully angry
more than almost
anything else.
And it wasn't just
Onan,
who only cared
about his appearance,
Judah,
was the exact same way.
It wasn't an accident
that Judah's sons
were wicked.
Judah seems to have
the same tendencies.
Verse 20,
Judah sends his friend
to pay the prostitute
that he had used
because he didn't want
to do it himself.
He got his friend
to do his dirty work.
And when his friend
didn't find her,
Judah's concern was
people will laugh at us.
He was concerned
only about
his appearance,
his reputation.
See, Judah failed
to train his sons
in the way of righteousness
because he was
not righteous himself.
And the family
that he had created
was just as dysfunctional
as the one
he had run away from.
But Judah was
totally blind.
He saw his problems
and he blamed
everyone else.
Verse 23,
he even blamed
his friend,
his buddy Hira,
who he seems to like
hanging out with.
He says,
you see,
I sent this young goat
and you didn't find her.
But even more than Hira,
he blamed Tamar.
Verse 11,
Judah said to Tamar,
remain a widow
in your father's house
till Shelah my son
grows up,
for he feared
that he would die
like his brothers.
He implied
that later on,
when Shelah grew up,
Tamar could marry him.
But if you look
in verse 14,
it says he didn't
keep his word.
He probably
never intended to.
Judah wanted
to get rid of Tamar
because in his own mind
he had concluded
that she
was the problem.
Why did my two sons die?
It was her fault.
It's always her fault.
It's certainly not
my fault
and it's certainly
not my kid's fault.
It's the classic mentality
of an abuser.
Always blaming
someone else.
Or maybe we should say
instead it's the classic
mentality of a sinner.
Ever since Adam
blamed Eve
and Eve blamed the snake.
You see,
Judah was willfully blind.
Refusing to acknowledge
his own selfishness,
his own impulsiveness,
his own foolishness.
He was trapped
in his pride
and in his fear.
This is what the Bible
calls sin.
It's at the root
of every dysfunctional family
and every dysfunctional
human being.
It may not manifest itself
in prostitution
or spousal abuse,
but it carries on
the blame shifting,
responsibility evading,
self-justifying,
fear-driven,
God-avoiding pattern
that started all the way back
with Adam and Eve.
And the Bible says
all of us
have participated
in this pattern.
And until our sin
is acknowledged
and repented of
and not simply
excused
and justified,
it's a downward spiral
with no end in sight.
You see,
almost this whole chapter
is a downward spiral
for Judah.
He ran away
from God's chosen family
when they were at their worst.
He created his own family
that was just as dysfunctional
as what he'd ran away from.
His family was on the brink
of total destruction.
He slept with a prostitute,
left his IDs with her
and couldn't find her
to get him back.
But what we also see
in this chapter
is that through all this mess,
God was pursuing Judah.
God was pursuing Judah
all the way down,
his downward spiral,
in order to humble him
and eventually
to restore him.
I'd say,
how do we see God
pursuing Judah?
Well, for one thing,
God put Judah
in situations
that made Judah
face up to what
he was running away from.
Judah ran away from home
because he was furious
with his dad.
And then,
God put Judah
in the exact same situation
as Judah's dad.
Judah lost his wife.
Just like Jacob
had lost Rachel.
Judah lost
not just one son,
but two.
And just like his dad,
Judah was left alone,
fearing for the safety
of his youngest son.
Well, that alone
didn't sink in quite yet,
so God went one step further.
Just before Judah ran away,
he and his brothers
had sold Joseph
Joseph into slavery.
And they had dipped
Joseph's robe in blood,
brought the robe to Jacob
and said,
this we have found.
Please identify
whose it is.
Well, if you look down
in verse 25,
Tamar used the exact same words.
By the man to whom
these belong,
I am pregnant.
Please identify
whose these are.
Tamar's words
not only revealed
Judah's hypocrisy
in condemning Tamar,
they brought him
face to face
with his hypocrisy
in deceiving his father
and selling off his brother
nearly 20 years ago.
And finally,
Judah breaks down.
Verse 26,
he identified them
and said,
she is more righteous
than I.
Verse 26
is the first time
in this whole chapter
that spans a period
of over 20 years
where Judah
stopped running away
and stopped blaming
everybody else
and finally
acknowledged his sin
and took responsibility
for it.
It's what the New Testament
calls repentance.
In the context
of the bigger story,
it's the turning point
of Judah's life.
Because after verse 26,
whenever Judah appears,
his character
is completely different.
Instead of selfishly,
fearfully running away
from his messed up family,
he exercises courageous
and self-sacrificial leadership
to put it back together.
We'll see it more
in the next several chapters.
But Judah becomes
a truly changed man.
Why is this story
in the Bible?
Because it's such
a clear picture
of God's amazing grace
to humble
and restore
even the worst
of sinners
in the craziest
of situations.
Maybe you can relate
to Judah
in coming from
a very dysfunctional family.
But if you're honest
with yourself,
you can see
that the problem
is not only
with your family members
whom you may have
left behind long ago.
The problem
is in your own heart too.
Maybe you have brought
anger,
unforgiveness,
selfish demands,
fearful accusations
into your adult life,
into your friendships,
into your marriage,
into your relationship
with your kids.
Maybe like Judah,
you have been
a selfish jerk.
You've left
other people
in the lurch
who are depending
on you for help.
You've made
all kinds of promises
to get people
off your back
and you haven't
followed through.
You've acted
out of selfish impulses
and blamed other people
for the results
of your own foolishness.
You have worked
hard to appear
kind
and loyal.
But in reality,
you have not been.
If any of those
statements
you recognize
to be true of you,
there is good news
for you today.
As we read
in 1 Timothy,
Christ Jesus
came into the world
to save sinners.
He came to save
selfish jerks.
He came to save
sex offenders.
He came to save
slave traitors.
He came to save
spouse abusers.
He came to save
self-righteous hypocrites.
Judah was all
of the above.
And the same God
who pursued Judah
to humble
and then restore
him is here today.
To humble
and then
restore
you.
By his amazing
and glorious grace.
You are not
too messed up
for God
to forgive
and heal
and restore you.
No matter how horrible
are the things
you have done,
no matter how
broken
is your past,
you are not
beyond the reach
of God's grace.
and neither
is
your craziest,
most offensive,
most selfish,
most bitter,
most immoral,
most hypocritical
neighbor.
the God of the Bible
delights in saving
the worst of sinners,
showing us
mercy,
displaying us
patience,
and transforming
us by his grace.
And if we have been
saved by that grace,
that should become
our delight
and our ambition
as well.
But also
do not be mistaken.
You will never
be truly
restored by God
unless you are
first humbled
by God.
The turning point
in Judah's life
was when he was
finally humbled,
when he faced up
to all his sin
that he had been
running away from
for 20 years,
for his whole life
even.
Maybe you've been
running away from God
and his people.
For months
or years.
Maybe you've been
living in denial
or blame
or avoidance.
And today God
is bringing you
face to face
with what you've
been running away from
and calling you
to acknowledge
like Judah
your unrighteousness.
James said
humble yourselves
before the Lord
and he will
lift you up.
Jesus said
blessed are the
poor in spirit.
Those who acknowledge
that they've got nothing.
For theirs
is the kingdom
of heaven.
Brothers and sisters,
we will never become
great leaders
in our families.
We will never become
godly leaders
in God's church
unless we are
frequently brought
down to our knees
in confession of sin
and humble dependence
on God.
See what we learn
from Judah
is that God
humbles and restores
even the worst
of sinners.
The insider
in God's family
who did everything
he could to get out.
But this story
is not only about
God's work in Judah,
it's also about
God's work in Tamar.
The outsider
who did everything
she could to get in.
You see,
in many ways,
Tamar was the opposite
of Judah.
She was not born
into the family
of God's promise.
She was from a pagan
Canaanite background.
She was a spiritual
outsider
with no knowledge
of the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob,
with no access
to the promises
and blessing of God.
And her first contact
with God's chosen people
was with Judah
when he was at his worst,
when he had abandoned
his brothers,
run away from his dad,
and forsaken his place
in the family of God.
This would be like
growing up
in a Buddhist family,
having never heard
of Christianity,
and the first person
you meet
who has any connection
to the Christian church
is the disillusioned
atheist son
of a former pastor
who committed adultery
with his church secretary
and embezzled
half the church's savings.
Most likely,
you would think,
I don't want anything
to do with Christianity
if that is the kind
of life it produces.
And the more time
Tamar spent
with Judah's family,
the more she bore
the brunt
of their dysfunctionality.
Her father-in-law
was selfish
and distant
from his wife.
His sons,
her husbands,
were no better.
So wicked
that God personally
struck them down.
Tamar was used,
lied to,
left alone,
and grieving,
and defenseless,
and finally condemned
to die.
Humanly speaking,
Tamar had every reason
to run away
from Judah's family
just like Judah
had run away
from his dad.
Judah had already
sent Tamar back home.
Presumably,
she could have
just asked her dad
for permission
to marry a nice
Canaanite man.
But she didn't.
Somehow,
now in the process
of being connected
to Judah's
dysfunctional family,
Tamar had heard
about the God
who had made promises
to Judah's ancestors,
to Abraham
and Isaac
and Jacob.
She heard about
the God
who had promised
to Abraham,
I will surely
bless you.
I will surely
multiply your offspring
as the stars of heaven
and as the sand
on the seashore,
and in your offspring
shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 22, 17 and 18.
God had promised
that his plan
of redemption
for the world
would be carried out
through the physical
descendants
of Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob.
And though Tamar's
understanding of God
may have been limited
and imperfect,
she believed
the promise of God.
And because she believed,
she risked everything
she had
to belong to God's family
and to carry on
the family line
through which God
had promised
to bring his blessing
to the world.
Judah's family
was tottering
on the brink
of total extinction.
Judah's wife
had died.
Two of Judah's sons
were dead.
Judah showed
no intention
of ever letting her marry
his youngest son,
Shelah.
There seemed to be
no way forward.
Tamar was desperate,
alone,
and abandoned,
and so she took a risk.
She knew Judah
very well.
Her plan worked
without a hitch.
She even got
his signet,
cord,
and staff,
in other words,
his ID and credit cards.
Now what motivated
Tamar to do
what she did?
Was it revenge?
Wanting to give Judah
a taste of his own medicine?
You tricked me
by not letting me
marry your son,
so I'll trick you
and get you back.
Was it desperation?
Was she simply
obsessed with having
a child?
There would have been
probably easier ways.
Or was it faith?
Believing that God
had promised
to bless the world
through Abraham's
physical descendants
and risking it all
to be part of that family.
Her motives may have
been mixed,
but in verse 26,
Judah said,
she is more righteous
than I.
It could even be
translated more strongly.
She is righteous,
not I.
Tamar was righteous
because she refused
to go back
to her pagan
religious background.
She clung to God's promise
that a Savior would come
from the seed of Abraham.
Maybe you're here today
and you're not
a Christian believer.
Maybe you never expected
to hear a sermon
like this in church.
Let me challenge you,
Christianity is probably
not what you think it is.
The Bible is not primarily
a set of rules
or rituals
or principles
to help people be
nicer
and a little more
well-behaved.
The church is not
a club that exists
to help its members
feel better about ourselves.
The Christian message
is that Christ Jesus
came into the world
to save sinners,
of whom I am
the foremost.
In other words,
being a Christian means
acknowledging that
I am more flawed
and more sinful
than I ever dared
to imagine.
But knowing
that in Jesus Christ
I am more loved
and accepted
than I ever dared
to hope.
That's the Christian
gospel,
the good news.
It's a message
of liberating
and transforming
grace.
Grace.
it's the promise
that attracted
Tamar.
Tamar was righteous
because she refused
to go back
to her pagan
religious past.
She was also righteous
because she was loyal
to the people of God
even when they were
at their worst.
Even when she had been
mistreated
and abandoned by them.
And maybe you can
identify with her.
Maybe you've had
terrible experiences
with Christians.
Maybe you've been
ignored
in the midst
of your grief.
Maybe you've been
made to feel
like an unwanted
outsider.
Maybe you've been
lied to,
put off,
and finally
left alone
by those who
initially said
they cared.
Maybe you've seen
abusive marriages,
messy divorces,
and unresolved
conflicts among
church people.
Maybe you've been
sexually abused
and treated
as damaged goods
by church members
or even by church
leaders.
Maybe you've been
blamed and condemned
for the failings
of others.
But for some reason
you're still here
today.
You're still listening
to the word of God.
You're still present
with the people of God.
And I want to say
to you,
my sisters and brothers
and friends
with deep wounds,
the Lord Jesus Christ
is here for you
today.
To heal you
of any bitterness
that may still
remain in your heart
and to honor you
for your faithful
perseverance
and your loyalty
to God's people
even when we have
fallen far short.
Tamar was righteous
because she refused
to go back
to her pagan past,
because she was loyal
to the people of God
even when they were
at their worst,
and finally
because she acted
boldly and decisively
to align herself
with God's promises
and God's family
in the face of a
seemingly impossible
situation.
Now obviously
the details of Tamar's
action are not
to be imitated.
But R.C. Sproul
says this,
Our role in
redemptive history
does not hinge on us
acting boldly
to raise up
physical offspring
for Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
However,
this has not
eliminated God's
call for us
to take daring
moves of faith.
Like Tamar,
we may be forced
to put our lives
or livelihood
on the line
in order to do
what is right
or to stand up
for Christ.
Have you stepped
out in faith
in a way that
has cost you?
Is Jesus calling
you to make
a bold move
for his sake
today?
What we see
at the conclusion
of this passage
in verses 27 to 30
is that God
honored Tamar,
the desperate
outsider who
risked it all
to get in on
God's promises
and be part
of God's family.
God honored her
by preserving her
through a treacherous
delivery,
one of the most
medically hazardous
presentations possible,
locked twins,
one of whom
was in a transverse
position.
You can ask
an OBGYN about it.
They'll immediately
do a C-section,
but they couldn't
back then.
Either the baby
or the mother
could have easily
died,
but God preserved
them.
They're a skilled
midwife.
They're a skilled
doctor.
God honored Tamar
with not just one
son but two.
And what we see
is a picture
of God's blessing,
God's life,
God's joy,
God's freedom
breaking through
and beginning
to redeem
this horribly
dysfunctional family.
He was honoring
this desperate,
abandoned,
abused woman
who wanted
above all else
to have a place
in the family
of God.
Tamar became
not just the mother
of two twin boys
but an ancestor
of King David
and King Jesus
himself.
Tamar is one
of four faithful
Gentile outsiders
included in the
family of God
and prominently
listed in the
genealogy of Jesus
in Matthew chapter
one.
No matter what
your background,
no matter how much
of an outsider
you might feel like,
no matter how badly
you've been treated
by Christians in the
past,
if you want in
on the promises
of God in Jesus
Christ,
there is a place
of honor for you
in the family
of God.
Because in Jesus
Christ,
the promise
that Tamar heard
and held onto
has been fulfilled.
in Jesus' death
and in his
resurrection,
the blessing of God
has broken through.
The dividing wall
has been broken down.
And all the world
can enter in.
Let us pray.
God, we thank you
for your amazing grace
in the midst
of such a mess.
We thank you
that you put this
story in your word
so that we might
know
that you came
into the world
to save
sinners
and to welcome
outsiders.
Lord, we pray
that you would
humble us,
that you would
show us
our sin.
For we all
are sinners.
We pray that you
would humble us
in order to restore us.
And we pray
that we would
cling to you
by faith
and trust
your promise
that in your
great mercy
you will
honor us
and include us
and never
leave us
and never
abandon us.
I pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
As the music team
comes up,
we're going to sing
a minute.