• Story of Felix of Thibiuca (North African bishop)
• 303 AD - Emperor Diocletian’s “edict against the Christians” [image: Diocletian]
• Felix beheaded in Carthage for refusing to hand over his copy of Matthew
His last words: “Lord God of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, I bend my neck as a sacrifice for you, who abides for ever.”
Why would Bishop Felix choose to die rather than hand over a copy of the gospel of Matthew? It’s just a book, right?
Well, as we’re going to see in this series, to our spiritual ancestors in the early Church, Matthew was far more than just a book. And we in the modern church have a lot to learn from how seriously took it.
That is what this series is all about. Welcome to the kickoff of “Follow Me.” [explain concept of series]
Part I - Spring 2025: Matthew 1, 3-10
Part II - Fall 2025: Matthew 11-20
Part III - December 2025: Matthew 2 (The Magi)
Part IV - Spring 2026: Matthew 21-28
Why Matthew?
• Most quoted, copied, read, and preached Christian book of the early Church
o This was clearly a deeply important text to our spiritual ancestors. One that was worth sacrificing their life to protect.
• When you study it, you can see why: Even more than the other gospels:
o Kingdom manifesto (what Jesus cares about in contrast to the powers of this world) – revolutionary
o Discipleship manual (how to model our lives on his) - instructional
o Story of fulfillment (how the story of Jesus fulfills God’s promises & how we can be a part of it) - invitational
Modern world - [time of selfishness, mindless consumerism, hatred & tribalism, etc.] - We need a book like Matthew…
As we will see, The gospel of Matthew still has the power to take our breath away, to challenge us in our faith, and to launch us into the mission of God.
Our spiritual ancestors (like Bishop Felix) gave their lives to ensure it would be passed down to us. Let’s take their sacrifice seriously, dig deep, and find out why.
[PRAY]
WORLD BEHIND THE TEXT
Authorship
• Gospel never mentions Matthew as the author
• But this is a very early tradition and no other tradition exists
• No reason to think it’s not Matthew the tax collector & disciple of Jesus
Date
• Late 1st Century
• Modifying and significantly adding to the Gospel of Mark (Earliest - Peter’s teachings)
Original readers
• Possibly Antioch [image: map]
• Simmering tension between Church & Synagogue
o Gentile inclusion
o Cultural divisions - Synagogue communities
o Powers of this world: Persecution and the Roman Destruction of Jerusalem - AD 70 [image: ad 70]
Shame
Blame
Vespasian replaced temple tax
Matthew writes to address these complicated dynamics.
FULFILLMENT
How does he do this? Through the theme of Fulfillment.
By showing how Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of God’s promises through the Old Testament. And by demonstrating that Jesus’ followers, the Church, are carrying on God’s mission to heal the world that began all the way in the book of Genesis.
The Old Testament in the Gospel of Matthew:
• 54 direct quotations
• 262+ allusions and verbal parallels
Just one example: God gives the law to Moses on Mount Sinai; Jesus teaches his law in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew wants his readers to understand
• Christ-followers (Jews AND Gentiles) are heirs of Israel’s heritage & story
• They have been rescued by Christ through a new Exodus
• They have been given a new covenant through the sacrifice of Jesus
In other words, Matthew’s message to his original readers is that: God is fulfilling his promise to heal the world through them. Just as he said he would.
This is why early Christians like Bishop Felix were willing to sacrifice their lives rather than turning over books like Matthew to be burned.
Because this isn’t just some collection of stories about Jesus. It’s an invitation to join him in the very mission of God and a guidebook to show the way how.
“Follow me,” Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew. And those words still apply to you and me.
VIDEO SETUP
So, let’s dive in. Matthew 1, Page _______
Matthew begins his gospel with something that might seem a bit boring. A genealogy. But as we’ll see, understanding your roots can help you understand who you are… [VIDEO]
PART II
It’s easy to think of genealogies as dry, boring lists of names, or facts about long-dead people. But they can carry so much more meaning and significance if we let them. Knowing our ancestors’ stories helps us understand our own.
That’s exactly what Matthew is doing with his genealogy of Jesus. Let’s read some of it.
Matthew 1:1-3
This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar)…”
I won’t read the whole thing, but it ends like this:
Matthew 1:16-17
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.
Again, it’s easy to skim right on by this chapter because it seems irrelevant to the larger story. But let’s take a look at a few details about this genealogy and see why it is actually incredibly relevant to the point Matthew is trying to make.
First two words: biblos geneseos - lit. “The book of Genesis of Jesus the Messiah” - direct tie in to the start of the Hebrew Bible
Luke’s genealogy of Jesus starts with Adam (he has his own reasons for that). But Matthew begins with Abraham. Why? Because Abraham is where God’s rescue mission of humanity begins. God chooses Abraham and his descendants to be his instrument for healing the world. Here’s what He tells Abraham in Genesis:
Genesis 12:2-3
I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
Again, Matthew’s main theme is fulfillment. He wants his readers to see that everything that has happened through Jesus is a fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.
All these gentiles flooding the church? That’s exactly what God told Abraham long ago. “All the families on earth will be blessed through you…” Matthew wants his readers to understand that all these Gentiles coming in is not a problem; it’s a promise!
• 3 sets of 14 names - lots of theories, three major turning points in the story of Israel:
o Possibility (Abraham to David)
o Failure (David to Exile)
o Expectation (Exile to Christ)
Bottom line, Matthew wants his readers to understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of that story. That’s why he starts with this genealogy.
THE WOMEN
Why does this matter to us, today? I mean, this passage doesn’t exactly contain great memory verses or Instagram quotes. “Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.” Amen, brother.
But it does tell us something important that undergirds the entire story of Jesus in Matthew: God keeps his promises.
Through the failures of God’s chosen people, through the exile and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians… God was still working. God keeps his promises.
Think about how this message would have resonated with Matthew’s original readers. Through their rejection by the synagogue communities, through church divisions over what to do with the Gentiles, through the terrifying destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, God is still working.
I know our world is very different from theirs, but this should be an encouragement to us as well.
We’re also facing the chaos of an uncertain world & divisions in the church of today. We’re also struggling against the powers of this world.
And yet the message is the same: Our God has not forgotten us. He is still working. And he keeps his promises.
Just look at how faithfully he worked to bring Jesus into our world!
THE WOMEN
Oh and one more thing. Throughout Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, he sprinkles in the names of four women. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. And this little detail tells a story all its own.
First, all four of these women were gentiles:
• Tamar - Canaanite
• Rahab - Canaanite
• Ruth - Moabite
• Bathsheba - Hittite
This is a hint by Matthew that Jesus is about to throw open the door of salvation way wider than just the Israelites themselves. Remember,
Genesis 12:3
“All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
That’s God’s promise. These women showing up in Jesus’ genealogy is a reminder that his mission includes healing for all.
So, these women were gentiles. But they were also all vulnerable or exploited in one way or another. Their stories are full of heartache and brokenness and pain.
This can only mean one thing. I called this book a “kingdom manifesto.” Well, right from the outset Matthew wants his readers to understand that the mission of Christ is not just for the rich and powerful. It’s for the broken, the marginalized, the forgotten of our world.
As we will see many, many times in this mega series through Matthew, in the kingdom of God it is the poor who are blessed, it is the last who are first… Jesus goes to the outcasts.
Here’s why that’s so encouraging. If that’s you - if you feel broken or marginalized - and you’re reading this gospel, then you need to know that these outcast ancestors of Jesus were a part of his story and he wants to be a part of yours.
That’s what this seemingly dry and boring genealogy is telling us. The vibrant truth that:
God keeps his promises and his promises are for you.
[conclude & PRAY]