The Son of God became a Man to enable Men to Become the Sons of God...

Hey GCT:  I hope that you have been able to spend some time in the Gospel of Luke this week reading the exciting list of Jesus' genealogy  That really is some intense reading (3:23-38).  But pause and take a second to look who is in the family tree of Jesus on HIs mother Mary’s side.  Most of this list of 77 names are men representing families whose names do not appear anywhere in Scripture.  We really know nothing about them except that they have suffered the consequences of sin which is death.  They are no longer living.  Luke wants everybody to understand that this list really is a big line of sinners in the family tree of Jesus.  They are people just like us.  They had joys and sorrows, celebrations and sufferings, ambitions and calamities.  Some of the ones we do know about were idolaters, liars, cheaters, thieves, fornicators, adulterers, murderers and more.  But look whose name is at the very deepest root of the family tree in Luke 3:38.
 
Jesus’ earthly genealogy goes all the way back to God.  There is no other genealogy in Scripture that does that.  This is crucial to understand and believe to delight in your salvation.  Let this bring great delight.  Adam resembled God.  He was God’s son but tragically his relationship was broken with the Father because of sin and then sin corrupted the entire family tree… until Jesus came, the One who would redeem the entire tree.  

This is the heart and soul of salvation accomplished for us!  Jesus cannot save us from sin and death and hell if He Himself cannot conquer them in His humanity.  The first Adam failed to live a righteous and holy life in obedience to God resulting in the death of every human following him.  But, the second Adam, aka Jesus, succeeded to live a sinless life and then offered us His perfect life in righteousness to be credited to our account rescuing us from death… more delight.  Jesus, in His humanity in the power of the Holy Spirit rescued us from the curse of Adam… Mega Delight.  Let Jesus’ dysfunctional family tree remind you that He broke the perpetual chain of sinful dysfunction by conquering the devil, sin and death once and for all so that we can become sons of God redeemed.

Church, because of this you have the ability today, through the power of the Holy Spirit to win battles with sin.  You can know absolutely that you will never taste spiritual death - separation from God.  You can absolutely know that you will spend an eternity in heaven with your heavenly Father.  All of these are yours because Jesus won the battle of sin as a man.  Delight!

I look forward to worshipping with you Sunday and enjoying the Lord’s supper together - Steve

PS - Don't forget that we will be enjoying a Potluck on Sunday - bring your favorite dish.

Luke 3:38  ...the son of Adam, the son of God.