God’s promise of grace became reality in Jesus Christ.  Matthew sets out to accomplish in his gospel, the historical record to validate Jesus’ claim as King.  Who Jesus was and what He did is just as important as what He said.  There are 5 women in this genealogy.  It’s very uncommon to have women listed in a genealogy.  Matthew intentionally listed not one, but 5 women.  And it’s not necessarily their gender that garners the most attention – it’s their stories.  The genealogy teaches us that God’s promise of grace became reality in Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the only reason we can have grace and salvation.  The people in the genealogy teach us that God’s promise of grace becomes reality in actual people – and in us.

1) God’s grace became reality in the ordinary. (vs. 16)  It doesn’t matter how the world sees you when you are seen by God.  Satan loves to convince Christians they have nothing to offer.  God picked an unknown teenage girl as a means for the birth of a Messiah.  Mary was an ordinary girl put into an extraordinary situation.  God can use you to do something great today.  Because God’s grace becomes reality in the ordinary.

2) God’s grace became reality in the guilty. (vs. 3, 5a)  We see two women in the genealogy that can claim the same title: prostitute.  There’s no amount of guilt that can exceed God’s grace.  Christ’s genealogy comes THROUGH injustice and the guilty.  There’s nothing we can do to stop God’s grace victory over sin and guilt.  For those of you who may be struggling with guilt, Jesus was not ashamed to identify with the formerly guilty.

3) God’s grace became reality in the excluded. (vs. 6)  The addition of “Uriah’s wife” reminds us that even the hero king needed grace.  Bathsheba’s name was excluded from the genealogy, but she is still included in the family of God.  No matter who you are or what you’ve done, there’s always room in God’s family.  Maybe this Christmas season, you are finding yourself feeling excluded.  Be reminded that Christmas is about a King – a Messiah coming to include you into His family.  There’s always a place for you with God.

4) God’s grace became reality in the stranger. (vs. 5b)  Ruth risked everything, even her life to come as a stranger to Bethlehem in order to take care of her mother-in-law.  Then Ruth took a bold risk to win the heart of a man named Boaz.  And it paid off. Boaz married Ruth – a gracious act.  And because of the marriage, Ruth was put into the lineage of Jesus Christ.  Ruth went from foreigner and stranger to a known child of God.  God grafts all kinds of people into His family.  We all begin as outsiders.  

We all need God’s grace – we all need to be grafted into His family.  And it was through the birth of Christ that we have means to be grafted in His family.  “God’s present family is made up of people we wouldn’t choose, having experiences we wouldn’t want, and facing events that we didn’t plan.” – Alistair Begg. 

That’s God’s grace.  That’s God’s grace at Christmas – that we can be added to the family record!  The names that lead to Jesus were so that you can see your name listed from Jesus.

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