Join us as Pastor Ryan preaches from Luke 3!

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Transcript

Introduction

SLIDE 1: Jesus’ Dad

If you have a bible with you, flip open to Luke chapter 3, verse 23.

I’m calling today’s message, “Jesus’ Dad.” Who is Jesus’ dad?

Luke 3:23,

SLIDE 2: Luke 3:23 ESV

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

(Luke 3:23 ESV)

Related to All

Jesus’ genealogy or his family tree that’s recorded in the book of Luke goes all the way back to the first man, Adam – it shows us that Jesus was related to all of humanity.

Actually, Luke goes even earlier than that, verse 38,

SLIDE 3: Luke 3:38 ESV

the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

(Luke 3:38 ESV)

God created Adam and so, in that sense, since we’ve all descended from Adam, we’re all sons of God. Jesus is part of this family tree.

Then Adam – Jesus is related to all of humanity.

We’re going backwards through Luke because it’s listed in reverse order.

Next, in verse 36, Noah, of course. To whom we’re all related.

Then this family tree starts to narrow in on Jesus’ more specific family.

Verse 34, Abraham – Jesus is the result of the promise to Abraham which requires that he be a descendant of Abraham.

Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) – Jesus is an Israelite.

Verse 33, Judah – Jesus is Jewish of the Tribe of Judah (as prophesied or promised in Genesis 49:10.)

Verse 31, King David – Jesus is a descendant of Kind David. (As promised in 2 Samuel 7:11-16.)

This is where the genealogy recorded in the book of Luke diverges from that recorded in the book of Matthew.

The genealogy or family tree that Matthew records from here (starting in Matthew 1:6) follows the line of kings that follow David. After King David is his son King Solomon. This line (of kings in Matthew) seems to record the ancestors of Joseph (Jesus’ dad).

The genealogy recorded in Luke seems to give us the line of Mary (Jesus’ mum). Here in verse 31, this line tells us that Nathan (rather than King Solomon) is the great great ancestor of Mary.

King David had lots of wives and concubines and therefore many sons and daughters. Both King Solomon and his brother Nathan are sons of King David’s wife Bathsheba.

After verse 31, we have all the ancestors from Nathan until Mary.

And it finishes (or starts 😉 with verse 23,

SLIDE 4: Luke 3:23 ESV

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

(Luke 3:23 ESV)

We might say, “Joseph, the son-in-law of Heli…”

Note These Three Things

Note a few things here:

Jesus blood line (or biological or DNA) is the line recorded here in Luke. This is the ancestors of Mary (Jesus’ mum). But, note that it’s the biological line through the dads. That’s what we have here in Luke: Jesus’ biological line through the dads all the way to Mary.

But, back up for a minute: If you think about Eve (the first women), she would have given birth to a daughter who would have given birth to a daughter who would have given birth to a daughter… and on and on until Mary’s mum gave birth to Mary. Then Mary gave birth to Jesus.

So, there’s this line of women all the way from Eve to Mary. It’s interesting that we’re not given that biological line. We’re only given the biological line through the dads.

In Matthew we have Jesus “legal” line all the way down to Joseph. But Joseph isn’t the Jesus’ biological dad. Right? Because Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born.

SLIDE 5: Luke 1:30-35

Luke 1:30-33

“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus [from the Hebrew name “Joshua” which means “God saves”]. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David [we see from the Book of Matthew that Jesus is the rightful heir to the throne of Kind David through his dad Joseph], and he [Jesus] will reign over the house of Jacob [who we see in this line in the Book of Luke] forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.””

(Luke 1:30–33 ESV)

Continuing in verse 34,

“And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

(Luke 1:34–35 ESV)

Virgin Birth

So, this whole virgin birth thing. What’s that all about? Well it was a fulfillment of prophesy,

SLIDE 6: Isaiah 7:14

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

(Isaiah 7:14 ESV)

So, if Jesus really was the Messiah, then… we had to have this Virgin Birth. Because that’s what was prophesied.

But, it’s not like Jesus had to jump through a bunch of hoops to prove He was the Messiah. That’s not how it works.

No, the prophesies were fulfilled in Jesus because He is the Messiah.

Rather than, Jesus fulfilled the prophesies to prove He was the Messiah.

Following? We use these prophesies to confirm that Jesus is the one. But, they’re more than just arbitrary signs.

“Ok, then why did we need the virgin birth?”

Son of God

One reason: Jesus is the Son of God.

King Line despite curse

A second reason,

I love this! Friends these are examples of God redeeming the most broken situations. Follow closely for a second here: Jesus is to reign on the throne of King David (that’s another prophesy). Which means, he has to be born into the royal family (we see that He is through Joseph’s family tree as recorded in the Book of Matthew). But, the problem: there had been some nasty guys in this line of kings. As a result, some kings are blotted from those recorded in Matthew. Another, Jeconiah[1] continues this tradition of being a bad king, in his case, God has finally had enough. He pronounces this curse in Jeremiah 22:30:

SLIDE 7: Jeremiah 22:30

“Thus says the LORD: “Write this man [Jeconiah] down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.””

(Jeremiah 22:30 ESV)

In short, none of King Jeconiah’s offspring (the word there is the word used for biological ancestors)… none will ever sit on the throne of King David again.

Shortly after this is proclaimed, the tribe of Judah is taken captive by Babylon in 597BC (so, this all takes place about 600 years before Jesus. King Jeconiah is the last king before the exile to Babylon.

But there’s a problem. See, the royal line goes through King Jeconiah. If the Messiah (that is, if King Jesus) is going to reign on the throne of King David then He has to be an ancestor of King Jeconiah.

But, according to the curse… He can’t be.

Oh man, this is one of those situations where it seems evil has won. These kings were so bad that God finally said He’s had enough. But, then how’s he going to raise up a king for the throne!?

Well, you know how this story ends:

Joseph (Jesus’ dad) is in this line of kings. Joseph’s Son (Jesus) is therefore rightful heir to the throne. But what about the blood curse?

Cue the virgin birth! Joseph has a son, but he’s not a biological (or blood or DNA) son and, therefore, the curse doesn’t apply to Jesus!

Whoa! I hope I didn’t lose you there. I think that’s pretty awesome.

Joseph is the Real Dad

But that’s not all. Here’s something interesting: I love this too! This is super significant.

Virgin birth ∴ Jesus isn’t affected by the blood curse (He can rule on the throne of David).

But, Joseph is considered Jesus’ dad, otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have the right genealogy to be King.

Following? Even though Jesus isn’t the bio-dad, he is the dad.

Here’s how Russell Moore puts it in his book, Adopted for Life,

“…if Joseph is not ‘really’ the father of Jesus, you and I are going to hell.”[2]

Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ biological father, but he would have been the one Jesus first called, “Abba!” This was the dad that raised him.

When we read of Jesus quoting scripture, it would likely have been from His father, Joseph, that he first heard these verses.

It seems Jesus trained and worked as a carpenter under his father (Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55).

Jesus identity as the Christ (the Messiah) is tied to His identity as a descendant of King David – the legitimate heir to David’s throne.

Adoption

One Unhyphenated Dad

I like to say, “We all might have lots of mums or dads in our lives: step-mum, legal-mum, foster-mum, adoptive-mum, real-mum, your-mum, like-a mum-to-me, birth-mum, mother-in-law… but there’s only one mum that’s not hyphenated. Who is mum? Or who is dad?”

Maybe that’s not always true… But think about it in your life: Do you have more than one mum? Is there one mum that is just “mum”? Or dad? Do you have more than one dad? Is there one dad that’s just dad?

The Bible has examples of this too, think of Jesus as a son, all these different hyphenated-son roles

• Son of Man
• My Son in whom I am well pleased
• Son of Joseph
• Son of Mary
• Son of God

When we talk about God the Father, we will sometimes refer to Him as our hyphenated Heavenly Father.

Jesus’ Hyphenated Dads

So, Jesus had two dads: Joseph and His Heavenly Father.

Bring It All Together

Ok, let’s bring some of this together.

Father: Sin -> God

All of us here were born into sin. We’re all born prone to do the wrong thing. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin entered into the world.

SLIDE 8: Ephesians 2

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—”

(Ephesians 2:1–2 ESV)

Sons & daughters of disobedience.

When we become Christians, we’re born again with a New Father. When we turn to Jesus, we’re adopted into His family. No longer is our inheritance death. Now our inheritance is life! God is our Heavenly Father!

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

(Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV)

Unlike us, Jesus wasn’t born into sin.

We were.

Friends, if you’re born again, if you’re a disciple of Jesus, then sin is no longer your father. You have a new Heavenly Father. You don’t have to follow the path of sin any longer. Flee from that, that isn’t you!

Father: Earthly -> Heavenly

But then, each of us also has an Earthly Father. Maybe he was good, maybe bad, maybe he’s passed away, maybe you don’t know him, maybe he’s here today…

Our Earthly Father is like a shadow of our Heavenly Father.

If you had a bad father. There certainly, there comes a time when it seems the evil is too great to redeem any shadow of your Heavenly Father – like those that were removed from Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew: their presence would do nothing to help us know Jesus.

But, a shadow isn’t a reflection, it’s a flat shape that’s defined more by its environment than it is by its maker. Our Earthly Fathers are something like that: for most of us, even though our dads aren’t a perfect reflection of our Heavenly Father, they can still teach us about our Heavenly Father.

Jospeh in the adult years

The role of a father is to point his sons and daughter to God.

I wonder if this is why we don’t see Joseph in Jesus’ adult years. Once Jesus is an adult, Joseph is never mentioned in the Bible. If the role of a father is to point his child to his Heavenly Father. Joseph’s role is done. And so, symbolically or literally, Joseph’s role in Jesus story on earth is complete. He’s finished well.

Which is kindof cool. The Gospel accounts are all about Jesus. Usually Jesus is serving. But in the case of Joseph, his part in this story wasn’t to be served by Jesus. No, Joseph’s role was to point his Son to His Heavenly Father. And friends, he did it well – he succeeded!

This is of course, unique to Joseph and Jesus. God the Father did replace Joseph as the Real Father. We can look forward to the day when that will be true for our children, but it probably won’t be until they enter heaven.

Buddy’s Dad Prayer

Though I did have one friend. A year or two out of High School, one of my buddies and I went to visit another friend to hang out and pray. The friend we were visiting starting praying, “Dad, can you help us with this problem…” and then later, “Oh dad, we need you! Thank-you for all the blessings you’ve given us.” I don’t remember any of the exact prayer, but I do remember he was praying to dad.

The buddy I came with and I left. That buddy was a new Christian or maybe just checking our this Jesus stuff. On the way home, he says, “So, what was up with all that dad stuff?! Was buddy praying to his dad or something?”

He was… His Heavenly Father. For my friend, his Heavenly Father was becoming more and more just dad.

For most of us, our earthly father will be our “real dad” for all of our time on earth. But a day is coming friends, when we enter into eternity, when those of us who know Him, will cry out to our Heavenly Father, “Abba! Father!” No longer will He be our Heavenly Father, He’ll be our Real Father!

SLIDE 9: Matthew 6:9-10

Matthew 6, verse 9 and 10

“Our Father which art in Heaven…. Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be Done on earth as it is in heaven…”

In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray to our Heavenly Father, but His Kingdom is coming.

When that day comes, when Jesus’ Kingdom has fully arrived, we will only have one Father…

Summary

The point is this: there are two pictures here that point us to our Heavenly Father

The first is sin. We’re born into sin. This is the father we are born with. We turn from that and turn towards our Heavenly Father.

The second is our earthly father. In this case, we don’t turn from him; instead, he points us towards our Heavenly Father.

Conclusion

Alright, let’s finish up.

We’re preparing for Christmas. Preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth. The day that God came into the world as a little baby.

For a season while he was growing up, we can be sure that Jesus’ real dad was Joseph. Maybe He had other father figures in His life. As a baby. Then as a toddler. Joseph was His dad.

You might say, well, Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ “real dad.” Two responses:

1. First, If Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ real dad, then Jesus isn’t the King.
2. Second, None of our kids are our real kids. We are to point every child in our lives towards their Heavenly Father in the hopes that He will become their real dad.

So, Jesus grew. Maybe a day came when his dad, Joseph, taught Him that He also had a Heavenly Father. Now He has another hyphenated Father in His life, but still only one dad – Joseph.

Then as He grew, eventually, His Heavenly Father replaced Joseph as Dad.

Maybe it was at Jesus’ baptism,

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17b ESV)

Maybe it was while He was growing up. You remember in the temple? Mary and Joseph left, they though Jesus was with them. He wasn’t. When they went back to find Him,

“Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them. [Luke 2:48b-50 NIVUK]

That one’s hard for me. It feels like rejection. But, brothers and sisters, this is why we’re here: not to hold on tightly to kids, but to lead and release them to Jesus.

Are you fighting to be the real dad / the real mum / the real parent? Are you fighting against God? Has God claimed your child (maybe your baby, maybe your teenager, maybe your adult child). Has God claimed him or her as His son or daughter?

Mum, dad, let go. Your son / your daughter has a Heavenly Father that wants to be Dad.

Children (whether you’re 9 or 90). Are you still holding onto your earthly parents too tightly (whether literally or through an ideal image you’ve created of them)? Maybe your mum or your dad isn’t in your life anymore or maybe that relationship isn’t what you want it to be or maybe it is, but it’s getting in the way. Are you holding onto that too tightly? Trying to keep them as your real parents? When your Heavenly Father is whispering, “it’s time for me to become your Real Dad.”

Let’s Pray.

• Pray

[1] Jeconiah = Coniah = Jehoiachin. Coniah son of Jehoiakim Jer 22:24

[2] Moore. Adopted for Life. P67