Matthew 1:7–17Scripture
Fitting enough today we move into Matthew chapter 1 verse 7-17 and we you can't be in this portion of Scripture and not see all of the men and fathers represented in this list and they had a role to play.
It is amazing that God uses broken men to accomplish his purposes.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 0:23
Now, that's encouraging and should be encouraging for you today on Father's Day because many of us when we reflect back on our lives, we tend to remember not just the good things we've done as a father, but the things we've done as a father that might have messed up our children.
And the reality is we're not perfect and we're normal human beings. Kids know that your parents are not perfect. You're like, "Tell me about it, brother. Tell me about it. Preach." But that doesn't mean that we're not valuable to God. And God is doing something in our lives. Not just through our good decisions, good choices, the good things that we do as a father, but he's also doing things through the broken parts in us and through the lives of our children.
Did you know that God is not limited to just your good things you do? He can also make good use of the bad things you accomplish and you do.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:23
And that's good news. That's good news. And so we see in this story that God is bringing something out of a line of men and fathers and his name is Christ.
Now I'm not going to read this portion of Scripture. You guys have been in it. I'll I'll I'll read a little bit of it.
Introduction
Here we go. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rahaboam, and Rayoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaf, and Asaf the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Jeram, and jerham the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz as 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 Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon that's key there and after the deportation to Babylon Jani Jeaniah was the father of I don't know that name Shiel something like Shel.
How would you pronounce that? ShelTl. Shelt. We'll just go with that. ShelTl. Where are we at? The And then the rest of these people. So, good night. Seriously, call somebody Rick for Pete's sake. You know what I mean? Yeah. All right. I wanted to get to this ex exor this exiled Babylon, this Babylon moment, exportation to Babylon. I want to talk about that.
So you have this you have this list of all of these fathers and these fathers represent something specific and then you get all the way down to the deportation to Babylon.
And I want to I want to talk about that today. I want that to mark kind of maybe not only the list of fathers that are represented here. Of course, you know, Matthew's doing a really good job understand of helping us understand this. So, this is kind of what's going on here. You have a list of kings of men.
These kings that one after the other came and some of them did some great things and some of them did some not so great things.
Actually all of them did some not some great things in their life and in their leadership. All right, you can relate to that today because as fathers just as leaders over your home, there are some great things you've done and some not so great things you've done as a leader of your home.
That's just the reality of life. And if you're if you're humble at all, you can celebrate the good things, but you can also be real about the bad choices. I was in the car the other day with Landon and we were revisiting some of the funny things that I have done, some of the good things I have done as a father.
And then the conversation transitioned quickly like 180 degrees to all the dumb things that I have done as a father. It wasn't like critical. It was comical. It was comical, really comical to him. I was in the car and I was kind of thinking to myself, I feel like a horrible, no good, very bad dad. And I chuckled with him and laughed.
But the reality is that we're not perfect, men. We're going to do some dumb stuff. And it's also important to recognize that in our stupidity, God is still accomplishing his will and purposes in and through the lives of your children.
That God is not limited to your stupidity. He can still minister to your kids through it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:40
Amen. In spite of you. Now, that's good news. So, we are encouraged then when we see a list of men and kings and God still accomplishing his purposes and his promise through a bunch of mess. That's good news. I'm encouraged by that.
I can also laugh at my stupidity because I know that God's not limited by it. I can reflect on it and understand that there are at the same time great things I've done, poor things I've done, great decisions I've made, poor decisions I have made.
There have been each of those moments. And the reality is our choices, whether we want to admit to this or not, lead us into seasons that are not so easy.
Men, you can lead your family into seasons of deportation. There are moments. Judgment isn't just in the time when you get to heaven and you are judged. Do you know that judgment and broken covenants and consequences come today? And although that as a leader of our home, we might lead our family into times of deportation, into times of suffering, into times of judgment, in times of conviction, into times of trouble.
As leaders of our home, know this that God's line is still being worked out in that moment, in that Babylonian moment.
God is still accomplishing his will and purposes in that time of trouble in spite of you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 7:21
That's good news. That's good news. At there's a duality to this because we have a responsibility to lead our home and let's let us not then let us be challenged to not then lead our home into these moments.
Let us be covenant men who walk in step with the Lord that we don't enter into these places. At the same time, if we lead our family into these places, know God is still accomplishing his purposes in spite of you. That's the good news. That we would be challenged and encouraged. That we would be challenged to lead better and be encouraged.
That God will do what he does in spite of us. There is a power and there is a weight to fatherhood. Man of God, this day is more than just cards and ties. That you have to wear on Father's Day, although you would never wear it in public any other day, and applause and barbecues.
Father's Day is a reminder from heaven.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:35
You are more than a man in a home. You are a king at a gate, and you're called to guard that gate. Well, you are a priest at an altar and a prophet in your lineage. Consider the lineage of kings recorded in Matthew chapter 1.
The genealogy is far more than a list of names. It is a tapestry of fatherhood, of example, of legacy.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:01
There are 39 men named in this list. Most of them were fathers who passed down more than a name. They passed on their spirits. They passed on altars. They passed on, listen to me, patterns of behavior. Some righteous, some rebellious. And just as these ancient kings shaped their descendants, you too are writing a story and writing a line, a lineage, a behavior.
Rayoboam passed down pride. Manasseh passed down idolatry. Josiah passed down repentance.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:53
Wouldn't you want to pass that down? I'll take repentance, please. I'll take repentance.
The Holy Spirit is asking you today, what are you passing down?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:14
Men, I'll ask you today, what are you passing down to your family? It's a serious question, isn't it? It's a serious question.
Are you building a throne of faith or a house of fragments? Are you raising children in covenant or in confusion?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:29
This is an important question. It's point one, but I put on my notes plank one.
Point 1Father, you are writing a line
Not sure why. But point one, father, you are writing a line.
You're writing a line just like the kings of old. You're writing a line. You're telling a story with your life ultimately. And I'll say this for clarification. God is sovereign. I actually saw a video this week, a guy who learned a word, a theological word, and he went on a radio show and he was talking about the sovenity of God.
The sovenity. So they're like, "What is that? So what are you saying? Soity. So they get to the end and he gives the definition and he says that it's it they're like you mean sovereignty. It's like when you learn that new theological term and then use it in public and then use it and then it's like recorded for all time on radio, right?
It's like the worst thing ever. But God is sovereign and he is writing a line. He is developing a lineage but he involves you in the process men and you're a part of that story and every choice you make you are writing a line as well re it's important Rayoboam passed down pride Manasseh passed down idolatry josiah passed down repentance so the spirit is asking you this morning, what are you passing down?
Are you building a throne of faith? Is that what you're building?
And your choices today will echo in your children's future. Your spiritual temperature sets the climate of your house.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:36
You're not just raising kids. Check with me. You're raising kings and queens. And that's important.
Listen, you're not saved by your behavior, but your children are instructed by it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:03
You don't go to he to heaven because you're you're perfect. But every choice and attitude and utterance of your lips and the way that you deliver that utterance impacts their lives.
You are the living example and the closest image of their heavenly father that they will get in flesh.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:36
What reflection are you giving of their heavenly father? Track with me here. Got heavy, didn't it? Track with me. I had some private messages. But Sean, you know why people don't attend church on Father's Day? Because they get beat up. Yeah. Where I mean, sorry, poor babies. I'm sorry. You got yourself beat up. The Scripture is calling us to greatness, not to patheticness.
That's not even a word, but I just made it one. We don't need pathetic men, weak men that are apathetic and don't care. We need men who want to grow, be better men. And you know the instructional institution for that is the church.
This is not the place to come and for you to be flattered. This is the place to come and for us to be better.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 14:57
Instruction required. Now understand this.
When you're impatient with your child and you're quick to snap at them, you gave them an image of who their heavenly father is.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:08
Is that a true depiction of their heavenly father? Every utterance of your mouth matters. Okay. Now, me, I'm 47. And for some of you, I'm just a pup. For others of you, I'm ancient and going to turn into a pillar of dust any second. Just depends on what end of the spectrum you land on. But I've been around long enough just I feel like I have been around long enough to understand now that I have a 20 I don't know how old they are.
25 and 23. 24 and 22 year old. Now that I have a 24 and a 22 year old, I can reflect back on my life. Let me just track with you here and I can get glimpses of my fatherhood from a distance. Now, some of you have kids that are five, seven, eight years old. And it's hard for you to get a glimpse of your fatherhood because seasons in life, the further you get out and the more you can look back, the more you can examine your fatherhood because you're not in the midst of it, in the heat of it.
I'm still a father, but I get to see how I was a father 10 years ago. And let me tell you, I've learned some stuff. I've learned some stuff that oftent times our kids are treated like speed bumps on the way to our success.
And that's not what they are. They are your duty.
They are not the baggage that you carry on the way to your calling. They are your calling.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 17:05
Track with me here. They are your calling. Listen, I'm not getting on to you. I'm saying don't do what I did. Because the reality is when I reflect back on my life.
I look at planting churches and being involved in ministry and growing organizations and doing that, I look back and get glimpses of being so focused on that stuff.
And it's valuable and it matters. But sometimes my kids became a they were baggage on the way and in the midst of accomplishing those things. Track with me now. Was I a good father? Absolutely. Did I love my kids? Yes, I did. Did we hang out and do stuff? Of course we did. If I could do it again, would I change things?
Yes.
Because if we build the church and forsake our family, what have we accomplished?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:05
Yeah. And the reality is if I were to look back and I were to go back in time and redo that, I would make my kids more of a priority while still accomplishing the call that God because the call of building the church should not drown out the call of being a father.
Okay? If I'm up at the church working and my kids are running around the church fellowship and I'm trying to do something and they come up to me and say, "Daddy." And I'm like, "Stop bothering me." I've forsaken one call for another call. But God doesn't give a call that abandons it cause you to abandon another call.
And basically what I've done is I've I've given an image that a father does not have time for his children and the child is not a priority. So now what you've done is you've instructed by the tone of your mouth in the in an in the event of trying to serve the Lord, you've instructed your child that when they go to their heavenly father, he won't have time for them either.
And they are not important to him either just by the tone you use. Track with me, man. Track with me. I'm trying to insight. I'm trying to I'm trying to help you. When I reflect back on my life, I've changed some stuff. Now, I'm happy that my 24 year old and 22year-old are living in my house. Why? Because I have been able to look back and see some things I've done and I'm trying to fix that now.
I'm going now I realize that I'm like, you know, people told me this stuff too and I didn't listen and you're not going to listen to me either, but I'm going to try. But now I'm going, I have some time to do this better. And every moment I have, I'm investing in them.
You can't make up for what you did in the past, but you can change what you do now and into the future.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:14
And it's important, men. Men, every single man in here, there's a shift you should make in some part of your life.
There's a shift. You are writing a line. What line are you writing with the tone of your mouth, the attitude of your heart, and the way you instruct your children?
Point 2Don't let Babylon take your house
Number two, fathers, don't let Babylon take your house. Matthew 1:11, about the time they were carried about that time they were carried away into Babylon.
Listen, if you don't carry your children and your home close to your heart, something else will.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:05
And when we look out into the greater our world today, we see young people being carried off by all sorts of things.
Are you with me? It's crazy. Have you watched the news this week? It's crazy. We should ask the question, who's Babylon? And why are they being taken off by Babylon? Carried off by Babylon. What is going on here? And the reason, let me give you, let me give you four reasons. The reason Babylon happened is because the fathers failed.
That's a fact. That's a fact. That's why we have a list of fathers and we have a list of their failures because then we see them go to Babylon. So, let's be honest about it. The fathers failed because the kings compromised because the altars of the home were broken and because the men stopped standing at the gates.
I've seen men guard the gates of their work and forsake the gates of their home.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:29
Okay. Okay. I've seen men guard the gates of their hobby more closely than they guard the gates of their house.
I've seen men guard their me time more than they guard their marriage.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:51
Are you with me today? It's soulsearching time. You're like, "I ain't coming next Father's Day."
The enemy always waits for the fathers to fall asleep before he enters. Then he comes in and he claims the children.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:16
So what the question is, what happened in Babylon? See, God had warned his people through the prophets. And here's what he said to them through the prophets. Turn from your idols, return to my ways, and lead your homes in righteousness.
And that call comes to you today. I'll say it again. Turn from your idols, return to my ways, and lead your home in righteousness. But the people refused. They refused. They just simply refused.
And the kings grew corrupt. The priests grew cold, the fathers grew passive, and the nation crumbled from the inside out.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:00
So in 586 BC, judgment came from the Lord.
Babylon invaded Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed. The walls were torn down. The people were carried into exile. And so how long did it last? 70 years. 70 years of captivity in a foreign land. 70 years where sons grew up without the temple. 70 years where daughters were shaped by Babylonian culture instead of God's covenantual culture.
But even in exile, the genealogy continued because God doesn't cancel his covenant.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:49
He redeems it in spite of you. That's good news. So do you feel the tension? God will do what he will do in spite of you. But God wants you to live righteous lives and understand that your calling is your children. It's both. Do you feel the tension? One does not excuse the other. We don't stand on this side and say, "Well, I'm a screw up.
God's going to do what he does, so I'm going to keep screwing up." No. We need He's calling us to a life of righteousness. The call is still there. He'll do what he does, but he wants you to be like him. That's that's the tension because
God doesn't cancel his covenant. He disciplines, but he doesn't disown.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:38
That's good news.
Babylon represents what happens when fatherly mantle is abandoned. The house is left unguarded. The culture reprograms the son. This is so what's happening today. The daughters forget they are royalty and they act accordingly. And the temple becomes a mausoleum.
But I came to declare to every man here today, God is calling fathers back to their mantle.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:17
In a small town, a farmer had a strong wooden fence on his property, protected his animals, and marked his land. But over time, he got busy. And like many of us do, he stopped checking the post. A storm came and fell and rains fell and over again in and out of season. And then one day a neighbor's wild dog got through one of the dilapitated slats that was not repaired by the father.
Great care went into building this fence to protect his land and his home and his livestock.
Great care and energy went into building it.
But it's one thing to start something and it's another to maintain it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:10
Track with me here. Are you with me today? It wasn't too long ago just inside the church, we went and walked around and began to view things with new eyes. Not the kind of eyes that you have when you've been somewhere for a little while and you don't notice the scuffs on the ground, the stains on the carpet and the and all of the silly things going on.
But the kind of eyes that goes when you come into a place for the first time and you begin to evaluate the type of people that are there but based on the way they care for the building. If you care for the building this way, that's how you'll care for me. Are you with me today?
And it is amazing that the longer we live in filth, the more we grow comfortable with it and we just let it remain.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:51
We don't even notice it anymore because we become busy with other things. It is amazing that one day you make a priority to protect your home and build a fence to do so and the next day that priority is abandoned. When you initiate to protect something, you have to continue to maintain that thing which you established to protect it.
Otherwise, the rains fall and the f fence becomes dilapidated and a neighbor dog breaks in and attacks the sheep and takes off and drags off the livestock.
And when asked how it happened, the farmer said this,
"It wasn't the storm that destroyed my flock. It was my neglect."
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:34
Oh, to have men like that in the church.
Oh, to have men like this.
That when a storm comes, you don't blame the storm, but you take ownership for neglecting the cause.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:56
Where have you stopped checking the fence, men? What gaps is the enemy slipping through in your home? What gaps is he slipping through in your home? Fathers, don't let Babylon take your house.
Point 3Christ can be born through your house
Number three, fathers, Christ can be born through your house. Now, we're not talking about the literal line, but we're talking about a spiritual birth in your house. The genealogy doesn't end in Babylon. It continues until it reaches Joseph. Joseph did not begget Jesus biologically, but he received the mantle of spiritual fatherhood through obedience. Track with me here. So Jesus wasn't birthed through him physically because it came from him physically, but he received a mantle of spiritual fatherhood through obedience.
Men, that's you. He protected Mary. He listened to God. He raised the son of God in a carpenter's house. Track with me. Not in some palace, but in some homely place. That should encourage us today. Fathers, hear this.
You don't have to be perfect. You don't need a palace. You don't need a title. You just need to say yes.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 30:42
That's it. And you may feel like you're in your own personal Babylon. Bound by failure, chained by shame, haunted by your father's by what your father never gave you.
But if you say yes to God's call, he will birth Christ through your house and your demeanor and your attitudes, your choices.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:11
Point 4Take back your mantle
Number four, Father, take back your mantle. Men of God, kings, fathers, hear me now.
The line of Christ is not built through perfection. It is built through men who repent, return, and rebuild.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:38
The spirit is saying, I am raising up fathers who restore the altars. There's work required. I'm raising up fathers who carry the presence of the Lord. I'm raising up fathers who protect the prophetic seed in the house.
I'm raising up fathers who break the Babylon in their bloodline.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:06
This Father's Day, don't just receive socks and ties and barbecue.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:14
Receive your mantle. Receive your kingdom assignment. Receive your call to stand as king and priest and father in your home. That's what your family needs. Because through your Yes, the king is coming again.
This is not just a message. This is a moment.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:48
And it's a moment for you to answer the call of fatherhood. A moment to reveal rebuild what was broken.
A moment to break the Babylon in your bloodline.
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