Portraits of Faith, Week 5 - Inclusion
Matthew 1:1-6 (NIV)
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Discussion Questions
AJ Jacobs began with 80,000 relatives and ended with 190 million — and concluded that almost anyone could be family if you go back far enough. How does that idea land for you, and where do you find it easiest and hardest to apply?
Most of us skim past biblical genealogies. But Matthew clearly shaped his deliberately — including outsider women in a patriarchal culture, arranging names in symbolic patterns. What does it tell you about the Bible that even a list of names can carry this much meaning?
Rahab was a Canaanite sex worker who lied to soldiers, hid spies, and made a deal for her family's survival. She ends up in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews. What does her inclusion there challenge in the way you think about who God can use and how?
The sermon suggested that Rahab's inclusion in Boaz's family legacy shaped how he saw Ruth — not as a worthless foreigner but as someone of dignity and worth. How have the stories of inclusion or exclusion in your own family history shaped the way you see people who are different from you?
Ruth's famous words — "where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay" — were spoken to a grieving mother-in-law in a foreign land with no guarantee of a good outcome. When have you made a commitment like that — to stay with someone into an uncertain future — and what did it cost you?
Pastor Dave listed several dimensions of inclusion that can feel uncomfortable, painful, or costly — differences in race, culture, gender expression, politics, neurodivergence, socioeconomic class. Which of those feels most challenging to you personally, and what do you think sits underneath that?
The sermon noted that there's also a cost to exclusion — missed relationships, missed stories, missed redemption. Can you think of a time when a wall you had up kept you from something beautiful? What brought the wall down?
The message offered three gifts of inclusion: people seeing themselves in the church, new mission fields opening up, and diversity reflecting God's beauty. Which of those three resonates most with you — and which one do you think your church or community most needs to lean into right now?
Jesus said "as you welcomed the stranger, so you welcomed me." If you took that literally this week — treating every unfamiliar or uncomfortable person as a potential encounter with Christ — what would you do differently?
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