Genesis 32: Jacob

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0:00 The rest of us, we are going to talk about Jacob. It's in Genesis chapter 32, the story about Jacob I want to look at. There's several stories about Jacob. We're in this like a couple of weeks where we're looking at kind of the story of the church in the scripture. And we looked a couple of weeks ago where Jesus is asking the disciples, who do people say that I am? And then the disciples say, some say one of the prophets, some say John the Baptist. Then Jesus says to his closest friends in a moment of vulnerability,

0:35 who do you guys say that I am? And Peter is like answers for all the disciples and says, you are the Christ the Son of God. And Jesus is like, this is a miracle that you could understand and know this. I'm going to start my church with you guys. This called out group of people. I'm going to start my church right here with this miracle that happened where Peter could believe. We know later Peter didn't believe, right? He's like believing some and not believing other times. But that little flickering faith is all Jesus needed to see. There's a miracle that the light of faith turned on for a moment for Peter.

1:07 That's enough. I can build my church. And so we're looking now at what is he trying to do with the church? It's a miracle that the church has made it this far. We talked about that two weeks ago as well from indulgences to moral failures today. All of the ways the church has squandered, the flickering light of faith has gone on and off, and yet the church endures. We still gather. It's a miracle that the church endures. So what is God trying to do with the church? And last week we looked at Abram that God all the way at the very beginning says,

1:42 I'm going to tie my reputation to this person. And then Abram, you'll go around in the world. And if you bless people, they'll be blessed. And if they bless you, they'll be blessed. And if you curse people, they'll be cursed. And if they curse you, they'll be cursed. But I want someone I want a representative, almost like a proxy going around in the world. You think after Adam and Eve mess it up, he'd be done with proxies and do it himself. But he does it. He's doing it through Abram. And so Abram starts this nation slowly and a little bit at time.

2:13 God renames him, Abraham. Then he has Isaac by miracle, right? And then he's delivered on Sinai. And then Isaac has Jacob and Esau, right? And Jacob is like a problem from the beginning, right? He's clinging on to Esau's heel. He doesn't want Esau to make it out first. Right? He wants that blessing as a baby. He wants to be the firstborn. That's what we're to understand. And he goes through all sorts of things. Like he does trick Esau out of the birthright.

2:46 Like I told the kids with that story about the food. And then later when he's not talking about the inheritance, we're talking about a blessing from Isaac. Now it's kind of a funny story because it feels like Isaac has this blessing that Jacob tricks Esau out of. You remember the story where Isaac's old enough where he can't really see? You can hear and smell. He says he thinks he's talking. Well, he is talking to Esau. He's like Esau, you're a good hunter, man.

3:16 Go get me some food, make me a good meal. And then when you come back and feed me the meal I like, then I'll give you my blessing. Rebecca, the mother overhears it. She likes Jacob better than Esau. She's like, Jacob, man, go get some fatted goats. I'll make the meal he likes. You dress up. He won't know the difference. Put some hair on your arms. Put some stinky on you. Go in there. And that's what he does, right? And then Isaac is like, oh, wow, you smell like the fields. The food is great. You're my son Esau. Let me give you the blessing.

3:47 And he gives him this beautiful blessing about like live with the do of heaven that you'll be blessed and walk around with the blessing of God. And right after Jacob leaves the room, Esau comes in and they realize what happened. What's happened? And Esau is like, but dude, just give me a blessing. Do you only have one in you? And it's like Isaac's like, well, I can give you a blessing, but I can't give you the same one that I gave Isaac. And I gave Isaac a pretty good blessing.

4:18 And if you read it, this is how it goes. It gives Esau a much smaller blessing, right? It's like, Isaac's going to live off the do of heaven. He's going to have all the things. You won't live off that. That literally says you won't live off the do of heaven. You'll serve your younger brother. This is the blessing Isaac gives him. And there's something unique about this time that God, it's before Christ, before Pentecost, before this spirit has been set out on everyone, these, this family, Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob carry the proxy of God in the world.

4:53 And so the blessing of Isaac is significant and meaningful and unretractable. It goes with the will of God. The will of God is tied now to Jacob. Jacob, nevertheless, he's got the will of God, but he's smaller. And he knows Esau would whoop him. And so Esau, Esau comes out of the me with his dad and Jacob takes off, carrying the blessing of God, staff, and clothes on his back. And that's it.

5:24 Isaac says, go over there, but don't marry a foreigner. And Rebecca says, go to my brother, but don't marry a foreigner, whatever you do, right? And where we are in Genesis chapter 32, verse 22, Jacob now is coming back. He's been gone, I think, 14 years, seven years for Leah, seven years for Rebecca. And he's got all kinds of wealth now. And he's going to come back and see Esau, Genesis chapter 32.

5:59 Let's start at verse 1. Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's angel. So he called the name of the place. I can't even say that word. Maha Na'im. Jacob names a lot of places. And Jacob then sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, in the country of Edom, instructing them, thus you shall say to Esau.

6:33 Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have men, donkeys, flocks, maidservants and female servants, male servants and female servants. I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight. He's afraid of Esau. Remember, Jacob left without anything. By the time Jacob and Esau, like Isaac was getting ready to die, he had a lot of stuff, man. He had herds, he had people, he had tents, he had like a whole system.

7:04 He was still pretty nomadic, but he had accumulated a lot of wealth. Jacob takes off without any of the wealth. So Esau stays. Esau manages everything. So Esau is a big shot by now, right? Fourteen years. And Jacob's coming back and he knows, last time he left, he was fleeing for his life. Esau was going to kill him, so he's afraid, so he sends the servants ahead. Now, verse, what is that? And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you and there are 400 men with him.

7:40 Terrifying. Esau is coming along with 400 men. I told you he was a big shot. That's a lot of people to take with you to meet one dude. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people who were with him. And the flocks and the herds and the camels into two camps. If thinking, if Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape. You see what he did? He divided everything he had in half and said,

8:11 if he's coming to take me out, maybe I can run, go grab my other half of my stuff and take off and go somewhere else. He's dividing the stuff in half. Jacob is a smart guy. Okay. Going on. And Jacob said, oh God, my father Abraham and God, my father Isaac. Oh Lord, who said to me, return to your country. Let's skip down. Please deliver me. Okay. Verse 13.

8:41 So he stayed the night there. Oh, here it is. Yeah. Verse 13. So he stayed there that night. And from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother Esau, 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 us and 20 ramps, 30 milking camels and their calves, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.

9:15 Then he handed over to his servants every and drove, then he handed over to his servants every drove by itself and he said to his servants, pass on ahead of me and put a space between each drove and he instructed them for when my brother Esau meets you and asked you to whom do you belong where are you going and who's are these ahead of you, then you shall say they belong to your brother, Jacob.

9:52 They are present sent to my Lord Esau and moreover, he is behind us. He likewise instructed the second and the third. Do you see what it's saying? Do you see? Hear those numbers of animals. He's taking a herd of sheep with a servant is going in front all these sheep and then he saw season. What's this? This is from our servant Jacob. He's coming behind and then a group of cows with the bulls. What's all this? It's for you. It's from our servant Jacob. He's behind. He's coming behind. Then all the camels come with camels. What's all this?

10:25 It's for you Esau. It's from Jacob. He's coming behind. He's going to overwhelm him with gifts before Jacob runs into him. Jacob is terrified, right? He recognizes Esau can wipe him out and he would rather not be wiped out. He recognizes Esau is powerful and he's paying homage to Esau's power and his capability in the moment. Verse 22.

10:58 That same night, he arose. So he sends these folks off and but he stays behind. So they're going out in front of him far enough that he's going to sleep one night. They're already moving. He's going to stay one night on the other side of the river. And he took his two wives and two female servants and his 11 children. Most of the heroes of the scripture have about one way in which we want to emulate them.

11:35 What's the name of the Lord? Probably not many more than that. Jacob like kind of swindled his uncle Laban. He definitely swindled his brother Esau. And what paused me there was he's got two wives and two female servants. This is not the way to live, right? Jacob is a mess in lots of ways and a patriarch and a pillar for the church.

12:15 Both. Because there's one thing he has here that we would do well to emulate. It's not his number of wives. Okay. And he crossed the forward of Jabbak. So he left his family on one side of the river and he crosses the river on his own. And he took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had.

12:48 Verse 24 and Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. I don't know how that happens like Jacob's all by himself. It's nighttime. This guy comes up and it's like let's just start wrestling. Like I don't know it's a little bit odd. But obviously there's this is relayed in the story. Jacob has several odd Jacob is the one who sleeps once and dedicates Bethal because he gets a vision of what they ended up calling Jacob's ladder where angels are moving down back and forth out of

13:18 heaven. Jacob has several odd occurrences, connections to God. And in this moment he has this weird connection where he's all by himself and this guy comes up and they wrestle to the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. And then he said, the guy said to Jacob. Let me go for the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

13:51 And he said to him, what's your name? And he said, Jacob. Then he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel. For you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked me, please tell me what is your name? But he said, why is it that you asked my name? And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Penny L saying, for I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been delivered. The sun rose up and he passed Penny L lingering because of his hip.

14:25 And therefore to this day people don't eat this part of the hip. This story is kind of famous. I'm curious if people have heard it before. Jacob wrestling with the guy at night until he gets a blessing. A couple of us. It's kind of famous. So I've thought about it. Lots. And it kind of keeps with Jacob's, at least the way I've thought about it before, it kind of keeps with Jacob's like almost haughty, almost prideful move.

14:59 Like almost a sense of entitlement. He's a younger brother. He's not as big or as athletic. He's always kind of seen, sometimes Jacob is called a trickster. Like he's always kind of a little bit sneaky and he just kind of gets what he wants. And he kind of moves his way around getting what he wants. There's a story where he tricks Laban out of all these sheep. It's a crazy story. It's a trickster thing. And so I've seen this story kind of as that always. Jacob does this thing where he's wrestling with God and then he knows that he's carrying

15:31 the blessing of God and so he's going to wrestle with him and not let him go until he gives him what he wants. And Jacob then gets what he wants. You know? I think I've been wrong most of the time that I've thought about that that way. I think there's a better way to think about it. Jacob is coming back with all this wealth, so much wealth that he can split it in half. And the half remaining take a portion of the half remaining and give it to his brother

16:04 Esau and not be worried. Right? He's got so much wealth and he's also very afraid that Esau holds all the cards. So he's going to take a portion of his wealth and get Esau to give him what he wants. He's trying very hard to control the situation. He tells the guys, march your camels in this, leave some space between all the droves. It'll be very dramatic, right? A drove of sheep, a drove of cows, a drove of camels, one at a time with some space in

16:36 between. And every time the servants, he tells them exactly what to say. Say exactly this, just like this. Each one of you. Jacob is working hard to control the situation, leveraging everything he's got, all his trickster skills, all his money and wealth to preserve a future for himself. He's working hard at it. And he's pretty sure he can get Esau to give him what he wants, just as he got Isaac to give him what he wants, Laban to give him what he wants. He got the wives he wants, he got the money he wants, he can control his situation.

17:09 And just before he's about to go find out, can he control everything again in the middle of the night all by himself, God comes to him. And something happened as he wrestled around with God where he realized that God said,

17:40 hey let me go man, we're done. Good work. Yeah? Jacob's been messing with this guy all night. He can't pin him down. He can't take from him what he wants. The guy has it says, let me go. By then Jacob realizes what's going on. And he says, I can't leave this until you give me a blessing.

18:11 Forget the rest of it. He's stripped himself of everything else. There's this moment of humility is not quite the right word. There's this moment of the end of his rope without other options. Knowing future is imminent and power and money all around.

18:49 And yet what matters to Jacob is that God would give him a blessing. How are you doing at controlling the circumstances of your life? Everything going the way you want? Getting what you want out of all the things?

19:25 When something you lose something, you know? Some things are going great. The things I can't figure out why this stuff keeps happening. I was thinking about Jacob wrestling, feeling inadequate, feeling concerned or maybe some anxiety or fear about the future, wrestling, wondering who's in control.

20:04 I was told to come back here to Canaan, but this dude is coming at me with 400 men wondering who's in control and wrestling. And the guy says, okay, let me go. You can handle your own situation. And Jacob's like, forget it, man, I can't handle my own situation. Thinking about that and remember, I love this line where Jesus is like, given this crazy teaching to a group of people, most of them have left and he turns to his buddies, his

20:39 disciples, and he's like, hey, are you guys going to leave me to? And Peter again, that flickering light of faith, looks at Jesus and answers for all the disciples, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You may be good at stacking up wealth. You may be good at controlling the circumstances around you, understanding how to talk to people

21:13 to get the things that you need, negotiating the right contract to move these things forward. But it doesn't matter whether Esau's coming at you or you're sending camels out. In the end, the words of eternal life come from the God. I thought of another passage. It's in James. We don't go to James a lot. See if I can make sense of it for us here. In the first chapter of James, starting at verse 12, he says, blessed is the man who

21:54 remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

22:32 Then desire when it has conceived, give birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Pause here for a second. He's saying, hey, you're going to come up against hard situations. Esau and his 400 men are coming at you. And you've got all this money and feel like you can control the situation, and you may be tempted to try and work it out on your own. He's like, but don't be fooled. That's not God tempting you. That's your own flickering light of faith, faltering. Or that you can work the situation on your own.

23:05 And James says, when you do that, when you sin by trusting yourself instead of God for the future that you want, then slowly your temptations, your desires lead to sin, and sin will lead to death. I don't care how many camels you send him, eventually he's going to kill you. I don't care how many, how hard you work to navigate the situation. In the end, you don't have all the answers, the blessing of God. Then look at what James says.

23:35 Verse, I can't tell, but you'll believe me, it's there. Do not be deceived. My brothers, sisters, every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of his crown he will brought forth by us the word of truth, that we should be the kind of first fruits of his

24:06 creatures. Do not be deceived. Every good and perfect thing in your life is a gift from the God. Jacob went off with the clothes on his back and the staff in his hand and comes back with wealth enough to share. As he's wrestling with God, he realizes all his conniving couldn't manufacture that even if he wanted to, that all of it comes as a blessing from the God.

24:39 The same is true for us. This is so foundational that when he realizes it, when he's wrestling with the God and he's like, no, I can't let you go, I need your blessing. God actually in that moment changes his name. Right? And says your identity now is different. Jacob, no longer trickster, but the one who wrestles with God.

25:10 Israel, people debate whether it means wrestle with God or let God be God. Some were in there. But God is interested in having a kingdom of people who wrestle with him, who recognize from him comes the good and perfect gift.

25:42 From him comes the words of eternal life. We can trickster and hustle around all we want, but our plans fail when the big things matter. If we get the chance, when we get the moments, we look to the God like Jacob before us and ask for the blessing. Hey, good Lord. In this place, give me your blessing.

26:13 In this direction, in this future concern, in this present reality, in this broken relationship, in this faulty future, against this uncertain enemy, give me your blessing. God has in mind that he would have a called out group of people.

26:44 Not ones that are perfect. Jacob was a trickster and a liar. Not ones who have perfect faith. Peter believed and he didn't believe. He's interested in having a church of people in the world who in moments find themselves at their end and know from whom the words of life come. That's it.

27:18 The church still, we're going to go through this, but like this proxy position of Israel, is what Christ sets up the church on. So the question for us this morning is, do we, can we, will we like Jacob, ask God for the blessing to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Let me pray that we might. Hey Lord, thank you for this room of people and the lives that you've cultivated for them.

27:49 All the blessing, all the hardship, all the struggle, all the rest. We thank you for all of it this morning, Lord, and we ask that you would teach us like Jacob to look to you for the blessing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I was trying to think of how we could pray on this, Lord, to whom shall we go. And I realize we could do it together, pray on this, to whom shall we go. So I have these like areas where we might need a blessing from God.

28:23 I'm going to say them and then I'm going to say, Lord, to whom shall we go? And then you guys will respond, you have the words of eternal life. So after I say, Lord, to whom shall we go? You guys are going to say, you have the words of eternal life. Should we try it? Lord, to whom shall we go? Okay. So these are petitions, this is a prayer, we're praying this together, okay? Lord, we need love for those closest to us and grace to forgive, to whom shall we go?

28:55 Lord, we need meaningful work and money enough for our needs to whom shall we go? Lord, we need love for those far from us and for those in need around us, or to whom shall we go? Lord, we need faith that your justice will win the day and governments that are for

29:28 that, to whom shall we go? Lord we need rest from work and worry and fear. We need safe spaces to serve, to whom shall we go? Lord, we need you in large ways and small, to give us the faith we need for today and the week and the months to come.

29:58 Lord, to whom shall we go? In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's sing one more song together.