Luke 3:23-38  Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,  24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,  25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,  26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,  27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,  28 the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,  29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,  30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,  31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,  32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,  33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,  34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,  35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,  36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,  37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan,  38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Isn’t this an odd thing?  Here we have a genealogy of Jesus running backward through time from Jesus to God.  I suspect you do the same thing I do when I get to this point in reading Luke; I skip it.  Am I right?  The last time you were reading Luke you went “Jesus was about 30 years old…yada yada yada…Chapter 4.”  We Americans aren’t big on lineages.  Name your great grand father?

We find very little interesting in a list of names of people we don’t know.  As you listened to the genealogy how many names did you know?   If you were a pretty good scholar and you were still paying attention, you might have picked out David; maybe Boaz - Ruth’s husband; Judah of the 12 tribes and his daddy, Jacob also known as Israel, his father Isaac, and his dad Abraham.  You knew Noah, maybe Methuselah, the old guy, and Adam.  And that would have been pretty much it.  Of the 77 names on the list you would do well if you knew anything about 12 of them. 

So, why in the world did Luke choose to put that long list of names in his Gospel?  It certainly wasn’t for our benefit, we typically just skip it.  But you have to know he had a reason.  He didn’t just cut and paste it like I did for the PowerPoint.  He had to carefully research and choose the names he put on it and hand-copy each of them onto his parchment with a quill and ink.  Why go to the trouble if we are simply going to skip it?  To be honest I was going to skip this in my sermons on Luke.  After all what is there for us to see in a list of 77 names we mostly don’t know.  But, something stopped me and caused me to ask why Luke put them in there.  There had to be reason. Is there something we need to see? 
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Let’s dig around and see if we can discover the reason.

~The first thought to come to mind was the genealogy meant something to Luke’s original readers.  That’s pretty obvious.  We know that Jewish people of the time were big on genealogies and keeping track of their ancestors and who they were.  It was a big deal to be able to track your forefathers back to Abraham.  In chapter 3 John the Baptist warned them not to rely on the fact that they were children of Abraham.  But the letter is not really addressed to Jewish people.  It has a much more Roman flavor.  I don’t think the Jewish people were the primary audience.

~Well, did the Romans care about genealogies?  I suspect they did.  But that would still be a weird thing.  The Romans/gentiles would not have been impressed with a Jewish genealogy.  They might have simply skipped it like we do. 

~If we look back at Matthew’s similar genealogy we find lots of differences.  It sounds very much like a Jewish genealogy and it goes back to Abraham.  Or rather starts there in that it is not done backwards.  It goes through King David and all through the rest of the kings of Israel.  But Luke goes through a different son of David and skips all the kings.  Luke is not making Matthew’s point that Jesus is the king of the Jews, rather he is not king.  That certainly is a head scratcher.

~Notice it goes all the way back to Adam and ends up with God.  Jesus not only had a Jewish heritage he was a human.  And I think we are getting closer to Luke’s point.  Jesus, like you and me, was human.  He came to preach the Good News to all people, not simply Jews, but the whole race of Adam.

~Every name on the list was a real person.  Perhaps Luke is doing what we sometimes do.  How many of you have at least once looked up some of your genealogies?  Why?  It makes us feel more real.  It connects us to a family of people.  It makes us special. It places us in history.  Isn’t that cool?  You are in the line of your family.  Dr. Timon Stiddim came to America in the late 1700’s.  He was medical doctor.  Wow, I even have the same name of this great man who had the courage to come to America early on.  I am special. Every name on the list is a real person.   

~Here is another thought I had. That is beginning to get to why I believe Luke included this genealogy.  Go back and read the context. Luke’s list is connected to Jesus’ baptism. 

Luke 3:21-23  When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of…

As Jesus was baptized and then while praying, the Spirit came upon him and God said, “You are my Son…” and then Luke explains what this means by connecting the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam.  What does it say about Adam?  “the son of God.” 

What is Luke saying?  When Jesus was baptized and then filled with the Spirit he began to fulfill his destiny as the Son of God.  He is the son of God because he is a descendant of Adam, the son of God, and he stepped into that lineage when he was baptized.  Wow, and I just skipped all that before.  But Luke is making a tremendous theological statement.  In baptism, Jesus was filled with the Spirit and accepted his ministry as he stepped into his place in history as the Son of God! 
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But Luke is saying even more. He has a message for us as well. Jesus is our model. We too are children of God.  Wouldn’t it be cool if you could make a genealogy of yourself all the way back to Adam?  Timothy Donald Stidham son of Don Stidham son of Dewey Stidham son of some other Stidhams son of a bunch of Stidhams back through Timon Stiddem and a bunch of other Europeans back all the way through Noah to Adam Son of God.  Wow, that’s me I am in the line of history as a son of God.

But the rest of it applies as well.  When I am baptized I accept my place in history.  I begin to live up to my name.  I am filled with the Holy Spirit because I am fully a child of God.  Then I begin my ministry.  Our name is added to the genealogy of the children of God when we step up and are baptized.  Baptism places us in the linage of God. 
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Let’s explore all this a little further:

~ Last week we discussed repentance.  We discovered that repentance precedes revival.  John came to prepare the way of the Lord by preaching repentance.  He told everyone who came to him that the way to the get ready for the Messiah was to repent. He made the road straight and filled in all the canyons and built the bridges that paved the way to God.  Repentance is the highway to heaven. But the kind of repentance John preached was demonstrated.  It is like a tree which bears fruit.  Repentance is done.  Repentance is more than feeling sorry it is showing you have changed.  Repentance turns our hearts toward God and prepares us for revival.  There will be no revivals in our country or in our individual hearts unless there is profound repentance.

~Repentance paves the highway to heaven and baptism gets the motor running.  Baptism is saying, “I am yours.  I am your son.  I step into my heritage.  I accept my place in history.  My name means something.  I am a child of God.”  When we are baptized in Jesus Christ, God in heaven, says, “You are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” 

~That is why it is so cool that baptism publicly proclaims I am a child of God. What to God do when Jesus was baptized? 

Luke 3:22  And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

God made it public.  Baptism is an announcement saying, “I am God’s child!”  Occasionally, I get to introduce one of my kids.  “This is my son, Tracy, He is a firefighter.  I’m proud to make that announcement.  Here is Tony he is a basketball coach.  Here is Tera she is working on her PHD in theology.  Here is Tiffany she is a school teacher.”  How do I feel?  I am proud to make those announcements.  God is proud to announce that we are his offspring.  If there were nothing else to baptism but that, it would be enough; to know that you are pleasing God?  I want to make my Father proud.

~But there is much more.  Baptism opens us up to receive the Holy Spirit of God.  It was demonstrated by a dove for Jesus.  But it happens to us as well.  When we are baptized we open up our hearts for the Spirit to dwell.  Look at verse 1 of the next chapter.

Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert.

We will talk more next week about why the desert.  But let’s notice here that Spirit led Jesus.  When we open our hearts to the Spirit, he will lead us.  Wow! That’s amazing.  Because I have repented which paved the way highway and then I was baptized which pleased God and got the motor running.  Then the Spirit then begins to drive me to where he wants to go. Then my challenge for the rest of my life is to learn to empty and let him do the driving. 

You have seen the bumper sticker, God is my co-pilot.  Then there was the counter, If God is your co-pilot you need to move over.  When we are baptized we open our hearts to let the Spirit lead us.

~Baptism is also a commitment to ministry.  Look at the verses again.

Luke 3:22-23  And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son of…

Baptism is a surrender to be a servant of God. We, just like Jesus, are called to ministry.  There is no clergy-laity in the church.  Each of us, who have been baptized, have made a commitment to be a servant; to be a minister; to accept our place in the work of God.  There are no free rides.  “Well, I just want to come to church and enjoy the worship.”  No.  If you are baptized, you have a ministry.  You have a job.  You just need to step up and do it. 

That is why I am proud of Steve Cossey and Gary Secrest.  They are stepping up and accepting their ministry.  That is why I am proud of our Git R Done guys; they are doing something for God.  That is why I am proud of King’s Kids teachers; they are stepping up to their ministry.  That is why I am proud of each of you who step up and get your hands dirty doing your work for the Lord.  It comes with being baptized. 
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Fundamentally, let’s not forget the main point we are making this morning. Baptism adds us to the genealogy of God.  We step into being sons of God.    I want to cheat and skip out of Luke and read a little Paul, who makes the same point.

Galatians 3:26-29   You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.  

Each of us, whether Jew or not Jew that would be us, rich or poor, male or female have all become sons of God, descendants of Abraham when we in faith are baptized into Jesus Christ.  Isn’t that amazing?  Baptism places us in the genealogy of God.  Baptism accepts our place as Sons of God. And that is why Luke places these 77 names right between Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his ministry. 

So, what are we supposed to see this morning Lord?

Prayer: “Lord, I want to see my name in your genealogy.”