Our Messes

It's great. What a wonderful morning. And we do give thanks to God and give him all the praise

and the glory for how he is at work in people's lives. Here's what I'd love you to do. I'd love

you to come to the book of Genesis. This is the very first book in the Bible. And we are

starting a new series this morning in this first book of the Bible, looking at this man

called Jacob. This is going to take us through the summer. And here's why this is exciting this

morning. It's exciting as we begin this because this story explains Delia's story.

As we get to know this man called Jacob. And this has been my prayer over this last number

of weeks as we've been thinking about this new summer series. My prayer is that it would

remind us of who the God of the Bible is and how he works, what he does, what he's in the

business of. Because what we fundamentally believe as Christians about the God of the

Bible is that he loves to speak hope into the most hopeless of situations. Now with that

in mind, let me tell you about my friend Trevor, right? He's one of my new best friends. He and

his wife Val, they live down in London. Trevor serves as the London director of the FIEC, the

Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, working to see churches planted all over our country

for the glory of Jesus. Alex and I met them, him and his wife, on a beach in Jersey. And we had lunch

with them. And he starts telling us about how he came to know Jesus. And a more messy and complicated

family situation you could not imagine. So his mum moves from Aberystwyth in Wales to the bustle and

grime of East End London. The year is 1918. Why that's significant is that she goes there to London

to try and make a living as a housemaid during the war. And she goes there at the age of 16.

So she leaves the little farming village where she's from. She moves to the East End of London.

And long story short, Trevor is the youngest of three. He has two older sisters.

And the three of them have three different biological fathers. His dad is now the stepdad of the family.

The family, one sister ends up in foster care when she was growing up. The other one

is at some point evacuated during the war. And so Trevor grows up in a home that is full of secrets,

that is packed with heartache, that's riddled with shame, and is full of mess. And a more complicated

family situation you could not imagine. But the one thing that Trevor loves in his life as a little

boy is he loves football. And he hears about the church down the roads who are running a summer

football camp. And quite frankly, if it's got the word football in it, he's there. And he goes,

and he hears about Jesus for the first time. And after a bit of time in the workplace,

he becomes a Christian. And God calls him after a little bit of time in the church to go to Bible

college. And after a while, he later becomes the pastor of the church when he first heard about

Jesus. And so over a burger and a chips, as we're thinking about his story, here's what he says.

He says, my life is testimony to the truth that God's grace is bigger and greater than our mess.

And that's the kind of God that we're dealing with as we come to the pages of the Bible. A God

whose grace is greater than our mess. And maybe this is where this is going to hit for many of us

today. You might be sitting here right now. And all you can think about is about mistakes that are

behind you. And all you're aware of right now is mess around you. And all you can think about and see

ahead of you are dead ends. And if truth be told, it feels like you are sinking in the bog.

And that line that you two sang way back in the day is so fixed in your mind. You've got

yourself stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it. It's often what shame and guilt feel like,

isn't it, in our lives. It feels like you're sitting on a bus and you're heading in the wrong

direction. And with every passing stop that goes by, it just gets easier to keep sitting. And it just

feels impossible to get up and press the button to stop.

And if that's you here this morning, you need this.

Let God, through his word, as we see this man, Jacob, and all the mess that surrounds his life.

I mean, the state of this family, as we travel with it over the weeks, this would be something

that today would leave Jerry McHale and Oprah scratching their heads thinking, how on earth do

we fix something like this? This is messy. But let this story about how God is at work in this family's

life, lead you to see what he has done for you, to save you from your mess, to lift us out of the

bog so that we can get off the bus and we can cross the road and we can get on the bus marked to grace,

which is heading in the other direction. This is what repentance means in the Bible,

to stop going your way, to turn and to start going God's way.

So here's what my thinking has been this week, as we turn to Genesis.

Why did Moses, the author here, why did, as he writes this, give us so many details?

Right? He could have saved himself a lot of time and just given us the biblical family tree,

could he not have? Genesis would have been a much shorter book if he had.

He wants us to see Jacob and his family, warts and all.

Yeah? And so we view this as the readers, not like we would watch a play. This is much more like

looking in a mirror. This is not for us to look back and laugh at their misfortune. No,

this is so we can see ourselves in their folly and see that Jesus is our only hope.

So we're going to read this together now in at verse 19 of chapter 25.

And as we do this, here's a little challenge for you.

Verse 19, chapter 25.

Here's the challenge. See how many mistakes you can spot.

Right?

See how much mess is in this picture. See if you can count them on your fingers.

It's like a game show, isn't it, as we read it through.

See how many mistakes you can spot.

Here's the story.

This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac and Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca,

daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless.

The Lord answered his prayer and his wife Rebecca became pregnant.

Verse 22.

The babies jostled each other within her and she said,

why is this happening to me?

So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her,

two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within you will be separated.

One people will be stronger than the other and the older will serve the younger.

When the time came for her to give birth, they were twin boys in her womb.

The first to come out was red and his whole body was like a hairy garment.

So they named him Esau.

After this, his brother came out with his hand grasping Esau's heel.

So he was named Jacob.

Isaac was 60 years old when Rebecca gave birth to them.

The boys grew up and Esau became a skillful hunter,

a man of the open country,

while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.

Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau.

But Rebecca loved Jacob.

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew,

Esau came in from the open country famished.

He said to Jacob,

quick, let me have some of that red stew.

I'm famished.

That is why he was also called Edom.

Jacob replied,

first,

sell me your birthright.

Look, I'm about to die.

Esau said,

what good is the birthright to me?

But Jacob said,

swear to me first.

So he swore an oath to him,

selling his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.

He ate and drank and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

And this is God's word to us this morning.

Now, if we were to channel our inner teacher

and mark the mistakes on this,

I think you would have one or two blue ticks

and you would have a whole lot of red.

Yeah?

But here's the big thing I think Moses is saying to this generation

as it comes to them and as it comes to us today,

even these mistakes,

even these wrongdoings

will not stop the grace of God.

So here's three of them today.

We'll rattle through these.

But here's three things I want us to know

won't stop the grace of God.

Here's the first one that won't stop it.

Life being full of questions.

So the question facing Isaac and Rebecca is,

why can't we have a child?

And I get that for many of us here today,

that is a pain that either we will know

or we know others will know.

That sense of sadness and disappointment,

the kind I've heard Christopher Ashe,

who's a former pastor down in Oxford,

describe it as like grieving without an object.

And I get that it's hard watching others rejoice

in the birth of babies.

And we'd love to walk and talk with you in that

and pray for you in that

as we seek to be a church that walks with one another

through the ups and the downs of life.

But the added pain for Isaac and Rebecca

is the fact that God had promised Isaac's father,

Abraham, that through their family line

would come one who was both the serpent crusher

of Genesis 3, who was going to defeat evil in the world,

and he was going to be the one who would bring blessing

to the nations.

And so they're looking at this thinking,

where is that child that God has promised us?

Has God failed at generation two of that promise?

And so this is really painful for them in this moment.

Do you not love that the Bible doesn't shy away

from that kind of pain

and those kind of questions?

So glad for that.

It's almost God's invitation to say to us,

you can come to me with these things.

Here's what I think we can learn from Isaac and Rebecca.

Where do they go with their pain and their questions?

They do not go away from God,

but they go to God in prayer.

Because the salvation story of the Bible

is that God does his best work

when human beings are all out of options.

And Isaac would know that his parents,

Abraham and Sarah,

they couldn't have a child either.

They went through the exact same thing.

Isaac is the miracle child in Genesis.

They know that they have a God big enough

to deal with their pain.

They know that they have a God with a track record

of coming through on his promises.

They know that they have a God who loves them enough

and invites them to come to him with their questions

and not to run away from him in the pain.

You know, I remember hearing a man called Paul Mallard

speak a number of years ago down south

and he was talking about how he and his wife, Edry,

how they process everything

when she was diagnosed

with a neurological degenerative disease.

And he writes about it in his book called

Invest Your Suffering.

And I just want to read you this one quote

and the whole quote's on the screen.

I just want you to read the last bit to you.

Here's what he writes.

And this is a book well worth checking out

if that's a question in your mind.

He says,

But one thing I've never doubted

is that in the darkest circumstances,

we were only ever in the hands of God.

that has been the ultimate source of comfort and hope.

And that's what we see here, isn't it?

In these times when we're up against it,

in these times where we feel stretched,

let's pray and help one another

and pray that our faith would be like an elastic band

that would bring us back into God and the gospel.

is God draws us to himself.

See, Isaac, verse 20, what is he doing?

He prayed to the Lord for his wife.

And even after she becomes pregnant,

Rebecca, do you see how she does the same?

Verse 22, she inquires of the Lord.

So even when life is full of questions,

this won't stop his grace.

And the other thing,

the second thing that won't stop it

is when families feel full of tensions.

Right?

Rebecca here, do you see how she gets the news

that she's having twins?

And not long after that has sunk in,

the Lord tells her, verse 20,

that these two boys are going to represent two nations

who are going to have two different attitudes to God.

And Esau comes out all red.

Love that.

Jacob comes out clinging to his heel.

Now you add those details together

and you begin to see that there's something going on here

with the birth of these two boys.

Now, two things I want us to notice here in the text.

Firstly, notice the description of the boys.

Do you see verse 27?

Esau's a hunter.

While Jacob was a quiet man living in tents.

Now, I take it Moses is showing us that there

to explain the verse that's come before.

So we're in no doubt who is the physically stronger,

who's the weaker.

But I take it as well,

he just wants it to show us

that these boys couldn't be any more different.

And yet, they're both boys.

I think it's so important for us to see

how the Bible views that.

Because we live in a culture where today

we'd be tempted to ask questions

as we look at their character, wouldn't we?

So Esau, when we see him, he's a man's man.

He's like Jack Grealish in Bear Grylls,

kind of rolled into one.

Classic lad.

Classic lad behavior.

But Jacob?

Not so sure.

And this is where we want to be very clear

and loving that we want to go baby in bathwater

as we seek to lovingly dialogue

and live distinctly in our culture right now.

The bathwater is that we want to rightly question

the helpfulness of cultural gender stereotypes.

And we want to repent of the times

that we've got that wrong as a church.

Right?

Not all boys need to love sport and wear blue.

Not all girls need to love Barbies and wear pink.

But the baby is just because

your character, you like or dislike certain things,

doesn't make you any less or any more

of a man or a woman by God's good design.

And so in love and desiring to foster

the kind of community where we can walk

with one another through these things

and can create a safe place for us to share honestly

our experiences and our struggles,

let me just say that our genders are both

wonderfully God-designed and assigned to us.

And that is why Moses here, we've got to see,

he makes no comment on that.

Right?

And if that's the defense, if you like,

that we have as Christian believers,

the Bible also gives us an offense.

To be a man, I'm just picking men

because we're dealing with boys here,

to be a man according to the Bible

is to be like Christ.

Christ.

And when you start defining it like that,

all of a sudden the words to describe

our characters should be words like

gentle and humble and sacrificial

and loving and serving

because it's into Christ's image

that we're being made.

Okay?

Talking about guys,

it's the same for our dear sisters as well.

Okay?

Guys have to get used to being the bride of Christ

so you can deal with the fact

that you're being made into Christ's image.

Okay?

That's what it is.

I've got a friend, Class.

I went around to see them recently.

Class was telling me about how he's going through

so many pairs of jeans as a parent.

Do you know why?

Because he spends all his time

on his knees.

Changing nappies.

Wiping away tears.

Sweeping up shreddies off the floor.

Tons of holes in his jeans.

Just taking that position of just serving his family.

Guys, I take it that we should be people

in life who've got tons of holes in our jeans.

Yeah?

As we seek after the Lord,

desire more of his character in our lives.

It's into his image that God is making us.

See the parents' behavior here too.

How they don't cover themselves in glory.

You know, watching Isaac and Rebecca here

made me think of that joke

that they always make on airplanes

at the safety demonstration.

Parents, fit your own masks first

before turning to fit that of your child.

If you've got more than one child,

you have to pick your favorite.

And we would be in no doubt here

as to who is Isaac and Rebecca's favorite child,

would we?

We'd be in no doubt as to that.

Isaac, Moses tells us,

Isaac loves, do you see it?

Isaac loves Esau.

Rebecca loved Jacob.

How that must have messed

with the minds of these boys

as they grew up.

Not to mention the tension

that it must have brought

on their marriage.

I told you this family was a mess.

We're only 10 verses in.

Again, Moses makes no comment

except to hold this up as a mirror

and say how unwise,

how foolish to pick your favorite.

And that's true.

But I think the challenge here,

particularly to parents,

is not just don't pick your favorite,

but that's true,

is what is going on in your heart

as a parent

that these guys even got to that place.

Yeah, what are they projecting

onto their kids?

Something of their own aspirations?

We don't know it.

But how do you end up

as a parent in this place?

That's the question I think

that we're meant to ask here.

Yeah, I love that,

that the Bible doesn't just deal

with the surface things.

The Bible, God calls us

to examine our hearts

for hidden motives.

What's going on in our hearts?

So parents,

what do we long for

for our kids?

Yeah?

If we had to make a list

of the things

that we want to be true

for them in the future

as they grow up,

what is number one

on that list?

If you were to ask them

this morning,

what is it that most excites mum?

What is it that brings

greatest joy to dad?

What would they say?

And I think this is where

I have been so encouraged

by Delia's story.

And I think this is what connects

the story of the life

of our dear friend Lynn

that we heard yesterday

and connects what Delia said

about her mum.

That there was no doubt

in our minds

what was the most important thing

in their lives

as they lived it out

in front of their kids.

Delia's story

is how God answered

that prayer

of the greatest desire

of her mum.

And can I just say,

if you want to think

about this a bit more,

here's a book giveaway

this morning.

Five of these books

written by a guy

called Kevin DeYoung.

I don't know why

they've got different covers,

they just do.

Same book.

It's just called

Amaze Them With God.

And it's his summons

as a parent of,

I think they've got

eight or nine kids,

to live out

an infectious affection

for Jesus

in front of your children.

If you want one of these,

we've got five of them,

just come and take it

after the service.

It's only 60 or so pages,

you'll get through it

in an afternoon.

But a brilliant summons

to parents

to live out a love

for Jesus

in front of our kids.

You see,

when families

are full of tensions,

Moses is saying,

still this won't stop

God's grace.

And thirdly,

when people make

foolish decisions,

this won't stop

God's grace.

This rivalry,

you see,

it develops

between these boys.

We get this scene.

Esau comes in

exhausted from the field.

He's clearly

a felt needs

kind of guy.

He's famished.

All he can think about

is his stomach.

And how timely

that Jacob's in the kitchen

having been cooking

up a stew.

But Jacob has been

cooking up more than that

in his mind.

Do you see that?

He's been cooking up

a plan.

You see,

there's folly

in Esau

doing anything

to get a quick feed,

even if it means

selling his birthright

as the firstborn son.

The privileges,

the greater share,

the responsibility

that goes with that.

But equally,

there's envy

a play

in Jacob's heart.

And again,

the invitation

is from our father

to say,

do you see this

in your heart?

Do you see envy?

Do you see jealousy?

Do you struggle

when others

get good news?

Do you rejoice

when others

get good news?

Do you struggle

to empathize

when others

get bad news?

What is going on

in our hearts today

as a church family?

And you have to say

when Jacob makes

his play here

and says,

sell me your birthright,

you've got to ask

where on earth

did that come from?

Right?

I don't think

we're meant to read this

and think that Jacob

is the opportunist

par excellence.

Just saw a chance

and went for it.

I think we're meant

to understand

that this has been

brewing in his heart

for years.

Years.

Just waiting

for that opportunity

to pounce

because if he can't

beat his brother

by bronze,

he can beat him

with brains.

Red pen

all over this.

Right?

And Esau

is all too willing

to take the hook,

take the bait

when Jacob plays it

in front of him.

Right?

The New Testament

is it picks up on this

in Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

We talk about how

Esau despised

his birthright.

In other words,

it meant nothing to him.

It's like a used bus ticket

just out the window

that goes.

It meant nothing to him

being the firstborn.

Take it once,

nothing to do with God.

Not really cared

for anything other

than his felt needs.

And here's,

I think,

the challenge

as we look at this guy.

In this moment,

his wants

trump

God's word.

God's word.

His desire

to fulfill

his pleasures

trumps

God's

promises.

And so,

you've got

two different brothers

with two different

longings

manifesting themselves

in two different ways

and yet you see

how we've got

exactly the same

heart problem.

And there is mess

everywhere in this family

and it is only

going to get

messier.

Do you identify

with that this morning?

So hard,

isn't it,

as we think about

the,

oh man,

the mistakes

that we have made

in the past,

all of us,

the words that we've said

that we can't take back,

the attitudes

that were going on

in our hearts

that we thought

were okay,

now we look back

and we shudder.

Oh man,

where would we be

if it weren't

for the grace of God?

But maybe that is you

precisely today.

All you can think about

is mistakes behind you.

All you're aware of

is mess around you.

All you're aware of

is dead ends

ahead of you.

But we need to understand

that the hope

for messy people

is not what's going on

on the ground.

This throws us

to think about

what's going on above.

What is God up to

in our mess?

If we believe

that he is bigger,

if his grace

is bigger than our mess,

then what is he up to?

Our only hope

is the God

who is in control

and who loves us

and who is above.

You see,

here's my friend Trevor

again as we begin

to wind this up.

Trevor's 70 now.

Trevor's writing

his story down

so that he can pass it

on to future generations.

And he sent me

a copy this week.

And he says,

looking back

on his life

and what life

has taught him

about God,

he says this.

He says,

I've come to understand

life like a tapestry.

You look at a tapestry

from underneath

and all you can see

is loose threads.

All you can see

is frays.

All you can see

is knots.

You can't see

any discernible pattern.

You can't understand

the logic.

But that same tapestry

viewed from above,

that picture's

wonderful.

And I think

this is what's going to,

and if all we do

with this series

over the summer

is get bogged down

in the character details,

and they are important,

we're going to miss

the whole purpose

of this book.

Because the whole point

is how God

is bringing

to pass

his promise

to bring forth

a saviour

from the line

of his people,

despite all the reasons

that should have

put him off.

This is the story

about God's

relentless grace

getting to people

like us

who desperately need it,

of God's

unrelenting mercy,

of his unfailing

purposes,

in blessing

the world

with Jesus.

Because years later,

the Bible

is going to introduce

us to another

firstborn son.

From the line

of Jacob,

born into

our mess,

a man who

wouldn't despise

his responsibilities,

a man who

would step

up to the

plate,

and a man

who would do

what Esau

didn't do,

and what you

and I

in and of

ourselves

can't do,

and that's put,

and love the fact

that God's word

trumps

our wants.

And he would

come and do

what Jacob

couldn't do,

and what you

and I

can't do

in and of

ourselves,

and have

that pure

heart of

worship to

his God.

Jesus took

responsibility for

my mess,

and your

mess.

As he died

for us on the

cross, he paid

the price for

our sin.

He's paid for

all of it.

He has paid

for all of it.

He has washed

us clean, and

because he's

done that,

he offers to

redeem us

out of our

mess and the

consequences that

our sin

deserves.

Standing above

all of this,

and really this is

what the developing

story here is all

about, is God's

delightful

determination,

and his

relentless mercy,

and in his

loving desire

to get

us

Jesus.

And I love

the words of

John Newton,

and with this

we close.

John Newton,

former slave

trader, worked

on the

ships, turned

minister, who

penned that

words of that

first song that

we sang called

Amazing Grace,

and he sits

down at the

end of his

life, and

what has life

taught him,

and he says

this,

although my

memory's

fading, I

remember two

things very

clearly, that

I am a

great sinner,

and Christ

is a great

savior.

And that's

what this

morning is

about, dear

friends.

It's about

who he is

today, and

his love for

us, and

his commitment

to us, and

like we said

at the start,

who he is, he

is the great

shepherd, and

the great

overseer of

our souls.

Let's pray,

will we?

And so

Father, we

thank you so

much this

morning, dear

God, for

who you are.

Thank you for

Jesus that he

stepped into

our mess.

He didn't

shout from

above, he

didn't tell us

to work harder,

no, he

entered our

world, and

he took

responsibility

for our

failures.

And as he

stands, having

defeated them

on the cross, and

as he stands in

that place of

victory, thank

you that we

have life in

him.

And so,

Father, at the

end of this

morning, we

would want to

just give you

all the praise

and the glory.

Lord, would

your spirit be

at work in

our lives?

Maybe we've

never thought

about this

stuff before.

May you

prompt us to

think about the

things of

Jesus.

Father, for

those who are

struggling, may

this word come

as a great

source of

comfort.

And Father, for

those of us who

need challenged,

Lord, may this

spur us on to

live our lives

to the praise of

his name.

And we pray

these things in

his worthy name.

Amen.

Amen.