Sermon Notes

December 1, 2024

Christmas With the Family: Josiah

Matthew 1:1-17 & 2 Kings 22:8-20

Matthew 1:1-17 (ESV)
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

There is so much in this opening part of Matthew that he is showing us about our faith, as Christians, and about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Christianity is rooted in actual history. Our faith is not about a set of principles that Jesus taught us to live by. It is about what Jesus Christ did for us through His death and resurrection!

One reason Matthew starts his book this way is that these verses of Scripture trace the lineage of Christ back to King David and connect Jesus with all the messianic prophecies we see throughout the Old Testament. Matthew is writing primarily to Jews and showing that the King of the Jews descended from Abraham. When we trace the lineage of Jesus back to King David, or Abraham, it is another piece of proof that Jesus is who He said He was – the promised Messiah, God in the flesh. This is a legal proof that Jesus is qualified to be the Messiah, heir to David’s throne, and is tied to all the corresponding OT prophecies for the promised Messiah.

Jesus is the center of history. All the Old Testament points forward to Jesus Christ’s saving work through the cross and His resurrection while all the New Testament flows out from this and back to Jesus’ saving work. This genealogy takes everything the world would consider to be of little importance, as far as family lines go, and centers all of history around it.

Another thing to see in Matthew’s communication of the lineage is that it is comprised of regular men, women, adulterers, prostitutes, heroes, and Gentiles. God has always been at work through the good and the bad for His purposes. God’s plan of redemption involved weak and sinful men and women. Despite that, His plans and purpose went on uninterrupted! If Jesus isn’t ashamed to be related to His family, He won’t be ashamed of us.

Matthew’s lineage of Christ’s family is written in a way that we can see our own reflection in it. It brings the significance of the past into the significance of your present and the security of your future. No list of names is more significant than the opening page of the New Testament book of Matthew. Matthew is connecting the claims of Jesus Christ to real people, to a real family, and to a real Messiah with a real claim to a real throne and a real kingdom. If you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you are also part of this family!

We all have significance in the family of Christ.

Reading about the family of Christ here in Matthew, there are several names that we know nothing about. We only have their name. How many other millions of people throughout history have contributed to God’s plan and work through Christ that we will never know this side of heaven? This genealogy reminds us that the same God who guided the unstoppable process of the coming of Christ is guiding the unstoppable progress of the church. He is guiding the life of every single believer. Future generations may know nothing of us, but Christ is using us, also, to share the gospel now and continue His work! We are part of His unstoppable plan! Our sermon series this month is called, “Christmas With the Family”. For the month of December, we will focus on specific family members from the family of Christ, to make some observations and application for our lives today.

It is interesting that there is no guarantee from one generation to the next, from father to son, that strong faith will be passed down. In verse 9, Hezekiah was mentioned. He’s a godly king who cleansed the temple of idols and tore down the high places for idol worship (2 Chronicles 20). Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, is described as one of the most wicked kings in the history of the nation. He undoes everything his father had corrected, worshiping and chasing after idols again. He later repents and turns back to God (2 Chronicles 33). That doesn’t change the trajectory of future generations, though. Amon, listed in verse 10, ignores his father’s repentance and spends his short two-year reign chasing idols. Then Josiah comes on the scene. He turns out to be one of the nation’s most godly reformers in their history.

Salvation and faithfulness to God is not inherited. We cannot take on whether our children believe and are faithful. We must be faithful to proclaiming and living by the Word to show them the way they should go. Ultimately, each of us is responsible for our own sin.

In 2 Kings 22, Josiah is only 8 years old when he ascends the throne, but he removes all idol worship from the land, begins to renovate the Temple, rediscovers the Book of the Law, and leads the nation back to God. At the age of 16 he began seeking the LORD, the God of his ancestor David (2 Chron 34). By 20, he began cleansing the land of idol worship and the priests who perpetuated it (2 Chron 34). Now, at the age of 26, he has commissioned the repairing and restoration of the Temple (2 King 22).

God’s Word holds greater value than anything.

2 Kings 22:8-10 (ESV)
And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

Judgment is coming to Judah, but it's delayed because of the leadership of King Josiah. Josiah leads the people into a time of reformation. God often uses unlikely people, in an unlikely time, to lead a time of reformation. In the introduction of Josiah at the beginning of this chapter (22:1-2), we see Josiah is known for doing "right in the LORD's sight." In 2 Chronicles 34, we are told of Josiah’s passion for God at a young age: "In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David" (2 Chr 34:3). It’s never too early to seek God! Josiah takes the initiative in providing spiritual leadership giving us a marvelous example of obedience to God and His Word. As they are repairing the temple, the Book of the Law is found. Then, after reading it, Shaphan reports it to Josiah (vv. 8, 10). Those of us who have the Word have a responsibility of getting it to people who don't have access to it.

God's Word got lost in God's temple, and no one seemed to care until Josiah was made aware of it. This is where we find ourselves today! How many churches do not stand on the Word of God? How many so-called Christians don’t even look at the Bible unless they happen to be in a church that uses it on the rare occasion they are even there? What about us? Have you put the Word away, or are you valuing it?

Josiah is commended because he "humbled [himself] before the LORD" (22:19), and he did so by humbling himself before God's Word because he believed God Himself spoke through His Word. We believe the same thing. If you haven’t read the Bible in its entirety yet, you are really denying your belief by your practice. May God give us a heart for His Word such that we can’t stop reading it and that we work to get it into the hands of as many people as possible.

Obedience to God’s Word changes everything.

2 Kings 22:11-20 (ESV)
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place. And they brought back word to the king.

In light of hearing the Word, the focus of Josiah shifted from repairing the temple to repairing their relationship with God. Josiah “tore his clothes” (v. 11) as a sign of humility and repentance (v. 19). Josiah’ heart was “penitent” in verse 11 (tender; responsive). We have a choice when it comes to responding to God’s Word. If we don’t do anything with what we have heard, we harden our hearts to God and the Word. As our heart grows hard, because of our lack of responding to God’s Word accordingly, we get numb to things and begin to pull away from God and His bride, the church. We must rightly respond to God’s Word every time we are exposed to it. Don't respond to the word with hardness of heart but with tenderness of heart.

Another aspect of humbly responding to God’s Word is being open to learn from the Word. Immediately Josiah seeks to know the meaning of "the words of this book" for him and the nation (vv. 12-13). Judgment will be delayed because of the responsiveness of Josiah. He will go to his grave in peace and will not see the coming judgment on the nation. Josiah is teachable. We read from prophets, apostles, and words of Jesus every week. Do you value that privilege? Are you teachable?

One last aspect of humbly responding to God’s Word is understanding that we are blessed when we honor God’s Word. God honored Josiah by granting him relief from judgement in his lifetime. God truly look with favor on those who honor His Word.

Every single person here is important to God. If you are not a believer, meaning if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, you need to know that God desires a relationship with you. All of us have been separated from God by our sin and can’t make things right with the one true perfect and holy God on our own. Because of God’s love for us, He sent His only son Jesus to provide the way back to Him and His presence through the death and resurrection of Jesus. An eternity is ahead of us all either with God forever in Heaven or without God forever in Hell.

Believers, you need to understand your importance in the family of God as well. We all have a role to play. You have a purpose, no matter how young or old you are. We see from Josiah that even at an early age, he began to make things right. He remained steadfast in his faith and acting on it until his death. Church, young and old, how can you act on your faith and serve through FBC Bloomfield to make Christ and His Word known? You matter and are needed!

Do you value God’s Word? Josiah only had the Book of the Law. We have so much more! What are you doing with it?

What changes need to be made in your life today considering what you have heard this morning?

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Sermon Notes

Christmas With the Family: Josiah

Matthew 1:1-17 & 2 Kings 22:8-20

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