Wrestling with God

Great. Good morning, everyone. That's good. It's been a hard week for me. A very sad night

last night. We're talking about being broken and blessed today, so I feel like a broken

man this morning. Let me just pray for us, actually, before we start. Father, we want

your word not to just go in our ears and out the other ear, but we want it to go in our

ears and down into our hearts and to change and transform our lives. So I pray that you

would do that this morning. Take my words. Lord, remove anything that's not from you,

but, Lord, bring your power into our hearts so that we would actually see you this morning.

Let us encounter you, I pray, through your word. In Jesus' name. Amen.

I don't know how many of you come from a dysfunctional family. In fact, I do. All of us come from

dysfunctional families. It doesn't matter how good your parents were, how amazing your siblings

were. There is something about family life that sin enters into it in different ways and causes

different levels of dysfunction. Sometimes brothers don't get on because of money. Sometimes parents

and children are distant because they never knew how to show affection. And we're going to look at a

story today which is very much about family dynamics. But the whole of the Bible story can be told in

this idea of a family relationship with God as the head of the family and us as his children

together, supposed to be living under his wise, loving, gracious counsel, provision, and rule.

And yet sin comes in and brings dysfunction. So Adam and Eve, they start fighting each other. They blame

each other. They start having a go at each other in different ways. And the cycle just kind of continues

throughout generation and generation and generation. And what happens is the Bible story shows we're like

the Thai boys who have an amazing story just this week. But we wander into caves of our own selfishness,

doing our own thing, and we get trapped in sin. And no matter how strong we think we are,

no matter how great a leader we think we are, we could have Abraham, we could have Jacob,

we could have David, we could have Solomon. It doesn't matter where you go through the whole story,

not one leader, not one person is able to swim out against the tide of God's anger and judgment at

our sin. And instead, the Old Testament story leaves us like those boys trapped in a cave,

scared and waiting for rescue to come. Who is going to rescue us? That is the question the whole of the

Old Testament is leading towards. And the New Testament comes with the answer and it says,

the diver who comes to carry us out is Christ. That's the one who's going to rescue us.

And so we're going through this series looking at Christ in the Old Testament because we want us

to see that the Bible is one big story. Some of us kind of, we camp out, we read the New Testament,

it's like the Old Testament seems like scary, angry God. New Testament seems like lovey-dovey God.

But actually, the whole of the Bible is actually saying, God, the Old Testament is providing signposts

to show you and to reveal you who this rescuer, who Christ truly is. And so that's what we're doing

in this series. And last week, we looked at Abraham and showed how Abraham prayed for a righteous

one to come, pointing us to see that only Jesus Christ was the only one who is righteous and who

could make us righteous. And so today, we're going to look at what I think is an amazing story in the

life of Jacob, who is Abraham's grandson. Okay? And what I'm going to do is I'm going to tell the story

and just walk us through it and give a bit of background to Jacob's life. And then I'm going to

go through just three points, which I think the story shows us. Okay? You with us?

Good. One person. That's great. Let's go. So Jacob's story. It's nighttime. And Jacob has just told

his family and everything he owns to go over a river ahead of him because his brother Esau is coming.

And Jacob stays on this bank of the river alone. It's pitch black. And running through his mind

are the events of his life. From the moment he was born, he's been fighting, competing, trying to get

ahead in life. In fact, when his mom gave birth, he was grabbing onto the heel of his older twin brother,

Esau. His father doted and loved Esau, the older brother, more than him. And he craved to be noticed by

his father. Jacob just wanted to hear his father say, I love you. But he never did. And like a streetwise

kid, he learned how to hustle and cheat his way through life to survive. To get ahead, he cheats his

brother Esau out of two things. Out of his birthright, that is the right of an older son to inherit all the

father's possessions. And he also cheats him out of his blessing, which is basically he dresses up,

pretends to be Esau, tricks his father, his blind father to bless him instead of Esau. And how do you

think Esau feels about this? He's not happy. In fact, he's so furious, he threatens, he wants to kill him.

And he even says, isn't, he's deceived me, this Jacob. Isn't he rightfully called Jacob? That's what he says.

Which actually means, the word Jacob means, he grabs the heel, he cheats, he deceives. That's what his name meant.

And so the story continues. Jacob runs off for his life, goes to his uncle, sees a beautiful daughter there

called Rachel, wants to marry her. But he gets tricked into working for her for 14 years to get her.

But Jacob is smart. He's a smart guy. And what he basically does, he cheats his uncle out of his

best possessions, his cattle and sheep, and he runs away again. You know, in Hong Kong, we would think

Jacob, like Jacob would get serious street cred, because he knows how to get ahead. He gets respect,

because he can get wealth whichever way he wants to.

But with all the physical blessing he has, all the wealth, the women, beautiful wife, kids,

Jacob's missing something. He's had 20 years of a broken family.

Parents who haven't seen him, a brother who hates him and wants him dead.

And he sends a message to Esau saying, hey, let's forget about the past. Let's kind of, let's just kind of meet up again.

And then he hears, Esau is coming with 400 men. Does that sound like good news to you?

That's like saying, Esau's coming with four tanks and machine guns. And Jacob is terrified.

And so he goes into the only mode he knows, which is kind of this hustle mode, okay?

And he hopes to try and buy him off with providing lots of gifts for him.

So the time he comes, he's not going to be so angry, because he's so many gifts that he doesn't know what to do with them.

And for the first time in the story, Jacob prays.

And then he sends his family off ahead of him, knowing this could be his last night.

And that's where the story we read picks up.

He could lose everything he has cheated and hustled for all of his life, including his own life.

And then suddenly, out of the blue, he gets knocked to the ground, into the dust of the ground,

by a man who starts wrestling with him, like WWE style.

It's pitch black.

He can't see who this guy is.

Is it Esau?

Come to get revenge?

This guy's strong.

And they're wrestling on the ground.

But Jacob is also strong.

And they wrestle all night.

Have you ever seen two people wrestling, like two kids wrestling?

Like, after ten minutes, they're just exhausted.

Right?

Right?

So for the wrestle all night, just think how much determination, just think how much strength

you've got to have to do that.

And then it says this, 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.

Do you know how much force it takes to dislocate a hip?

Now, I'm not a doctor, but I looked up on Wikipedia, which is very reliable.

And it said, okay, I'm just quoting, it said, hip dislocations are typically due to a significant

trauma, such as a car collision or a fall from height.

But this man dislocates his hip with just a touch.

Do you see how powerful this man is?

How strong he is?

And it, but it's kind of weird.

Why does he wake all night wrestling with him?

He could have done that right at the beginning and saved a whole lot of time.

But he doesn't.

And actually, it gets even weirder, because then the guy who's got the advantage now says,

let me go, for the day is broken.

And you go, but I thought you were winning.

There's something going on in this story.

And then Jacob says, this is even weirder.

He goes, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

The guy has just smashed your hip.

He's just been wrestling.

That's agony.

You've just exhausted.

And the guy wants to let you go.

And you won't.

And instead, you're asking him to bless you.

Do you see there's something going on in this story?

Because somewhere in the wrestling, Jacob realizes he's not wrestling with an ordinary man.

He's wrestling with God himself.

Because this is God himself.

God is seeking to protect Jacob from seeing his face with the dawn coming.

Because you can die if you see God's face.

But Jacob is stripped of everything.

He's alone.

And he's desperate.

And he realizes God is the only place I can run to for blessing.

And he says, I'll not let you go unless you bless me.

I'm willing to be broken more.

I'm willing even to die to find the blessing that I've been looking all my life for.

Now, what is he asking for when he's asking for blessing?

You know, when we ask for blessing, we're asking for what we think will make us happy and fulfilled and live a flourishing life.

That's what we're asking for, right?

And Jacob had spent all his life looking for that blessing in his father's approval, in women, in wealth, in family, in intelligence, his own smarts.

But now he's at the end of himself.

And he's looking to the only true source of blessing, which is God himself.

And it's interesting, as the story goes on.

God doesn't say, okay, I'll bless you.

I'll make your life work great.

Promotion, new Lamborghini, kids all in the best universities.

He doesn't say that.

God asks him a question.

He says, what's your name?

And that's kind of nice after a whole night's wrestling to just kind of, hey, and by the way, what's your name?

But, you know, when God asks you a question, he's never asking for information.

What he's doing, he's exposing and revealing your heart.

Do you know, like, when God asks Adam in the Garden of Eden, where are you?

It's not because he couldn't find him.

It wasn't a game of hide and seek.

It's because when he asked, he wanted to open Adam's eyes to see the reality of his own sin and his own situation.

That's why God asks the question.

And when God asks Jacob, what's your name?

It's a very personal question.

Because in Hebrew thought, your name is your character.

It's who you really are.

And so what he's doing, he's exposing his heart.

And Jacob's reply is actually his confession.

He says, my name is Jacob.

What does Jacob mean?

It means he grabs the heel.

He cheats.

He'll do anything he can to get his own way in life.

You see what he's doing?

You know, I remember watching the confession of a New Zealand cricketer.

Now, Bernard's not here today.

But there was a guy who'd been caught match fixing, which is basically receiving money to lose matches.

And he posted a video after being caught of his confession.

And you can go and Google it.

It's an extraordinary confession.

This is how he started.

He started, my name is Lou Vincent, and I am a cheat.

That's how it starts.

Now, how many of us, if we tell a lie to our family member or a friend and we get exposed,

do we go, yeah, I'm sorry I lied.

It's because I'm a liar.

How many of you say that?

Don't we normally go, no, I'm sorry, I was only exaggerating.

No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean you to take it like that.

Isn't that what we do?

But what happens here is that is not biblical confession.

Jacob is actually confessing.

He's facing up to the painful reality of who he is and what his behavior shows him about him.

He says, my name's Jacob and I'm a cheat.

I'm dysfunctional, just like my father and my father and his father and his father, all the way back to Adam.

Just like you and me, all the way back, my father, his father, his father.

And biblical confession, when you encounter God, is not just saying sorry.

It's recognizing what your sin reveals about who you really are and owning it and saying, my name's Chris and I'm a liar.

Painful, to be honest.

And you will never encounter, truly encounter God until he exposes you with that question.

What's your name?

But do you see how God replies to that confession?

And I love this bit.

He doesn't say to Jacob's confession, finally, you've seen what I've been trying to tell you all along.

He doesn't say that.

He says, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.

For you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.

Now, do you see what he's just done?

He said, Jacob is who you were.

But because you've confessed and been real about who you are before me, that's no longer who you are.

I give you a new identity.

I give you a new name.

You are now Israel.

All you have been, all the dysfunction of your family, all of your own decisions which were so self-centered, all the ambition that you had for yourself, all the craving you had for love and blessing in your life,

no longer defines you, no longer binds you, no longer holds you.

You're a new person.

You're a new person.

You know, there's a guy called Chuck Colson, Charles Colson.

He was one of the most brilliant political strategists in the 1970s.

In fact, it was he who got the American president, President Nixon, elected.

And he had this reputation for being a dirty tricks artist.

He built lists of political opponents just to be able to discredit them and find ways to break them down.

But he got arrested for his involvement with the Watergate scandal, if any of you remember that or know what that is, which actually brought down the president.

And during this time where he was in such turmoil, where he had been exposed, he met God.

And at his trial, he acted against all the advice of everyone who he'd ever associated with.

And he pleaded guilty to the obstruction of justice.

And this is what he said.

He said, pleading guilty was a price I had to pay to complete the shedding of my old life and to be free to live the new.

Do you see what he's doing there?

He's owning up to his sin, whatever the cost.

But in that so doing, he is able to receive the new identity that God had for him.

That is what is going on with Jacob here.

In fact, Chuck Colson became one of the leading activists for prison reform.

Thousands became Christians through him.

But that was a defining moment for him.

And this is a defining moment for Jacob.

Confession and repentance leads to freedom.

And the story just continues.

Jacob asked God for his name.

He thought, well, you ask mine, I'll ask yours.

But he knows you can't dictate terms with God.

And God doesn't tell him his name.

But he blesses him.

And this was the first blessing Jacob had ever received in his life, which he didn't have to cheat for.

He didn't have to deceive.

He didn't have to try and manipulate to get what he wanted.

It was a pure gift of grace.

Because he had met with God.

And he calls the name of the place where he encounters God, Peniel.

Which means the face of God.

Or the presence of God.

And as the sun rises, Jacob has met with God.

And he crosses over the river to meet his family, Esau, with a new name.

But he's walking with a limp.

That's the story.

It's an incredible story.

I want to just draw out three things from this story.

First thing.

God wants you to wrestle with him.

God wants you to wrestle with him.

Okay.

Throughout the story of Jacob, Jacob actually has experiences of God.

He's actually a religious guy.

He even builds a little pillar to God saying, oh, this is a pillar to God.

God.

But he knows that there is this God.

And he calls this God in his prayer before this incident.

He calls him, you're the God of my father, Abraham.

And you're the God of my father, Isaac.

But he wasn't fully his God.

He didn't truly know him personally for himself.

For him, God was a bit like, do you know there's pest control?

Or, you know, you bring them in when you have cockroaches in your flat.

And then, you know, when life's not working for you, when you've got problems, you just bring in help.

And then when it's fine, you just forget about him.

That's what Jacob's God was for him.

And, you know, I've chatted with many students and many people actually over the years,

many of whom have even been brought up in Christian homes.

You've been in church for a long time.

You know the ritual.

You know the answer is always supposed to be Jesus,

even if the question is, what's the capital of France?

You know it.

And yet, when I talk to some of you,

you tell me honestly, if I'm really honest,

I'm wrestling whether

this is really true or not.

It seems distant to me.

I understand it here,

but there is something missing.

I can never truly say I've really encountered God.

That's some of us here this morning.

And some of us

have said to me in the past,

actually,

doing what my friends do,

doing what my peers do,

actually, if I'm really honest,

seems more attractive to me than Christianity.

If I'm really honest.

It's more attractive for me

just to chase my career,

have sex,

get drunk,

get a reputation,

get respect,

whatever it is that my peers are trying to do.

That seems more attractive

than really Jesus,

even though I know I'm supposed to love Jesus.

And do you know what?

Often,

our faith can be based

on somebody else's faith.

It can be based,

you know,

somebody once said,

come into church.

Driving into McDonald's

doesn't make you a burger.

Going into church

doesn't make you a Christian.

Because a Christian is defined

by having

the encounter with God.

And so what happens

if we haven't encountered God,

we actually start looking for blessing

in all other places,

even though we may be very religious.

And I want to challenge each one of us

are we like that?

Are we actually like Jacob

looking for blessing everywhere else?

Or are we coming to wrestle with God?

Do you know how you wrestle with God?

I had a friend

who really liked this girl.

He really liked her.

In fact,

he asked her out,

I think about 20 times.

Now,

he wasn't a kind of creepy guy.

So like,

let's add that,

otherwise he'll shoot me.

But,

and so every time she said,

no,

for one reason

or another reason

or another reason.

And most guys

would have gotten the hint

after the first time.

but not my friend.

And he pursued her

and pursued her

wisely,

not unwisely,

because he knew that he,

he saw all the other options

and he's like,

no,

I want her

because that is what I think

is right before God.

And after three or four years,

that's persistence,

right?

Yeah.

She finally said yes.

And you know,

actually now they're happily married

with kids.

Three kids,

I think.

But you see,

that is somebody

who is willing to wrestle

with a determination

because he knows

what is important to him.

Sometimes God

will wrestle with you

because he wants you to see,

are you really serious about me?

Or are you just fooling around with me?

And if you're a Christian,

I wonder

how many of us

actually wrestle with God

in that kind of determined way.

God,

I've got to have you.

I need you.

Because sometimes

we read the Bible

and we're like,

yeah,

I didn't get much out

of reading the Bible.

So we just kind of give up,

right?

Anyone do that?

Or sometimes we like,

we pray a prayer,

maybe we pray like

for a week,

two weeks,

and then God doesn't seem

to answer

and then we kind of give up,

well,

it didn't work.

Let me just go to something else.

But this passage

is shouting to us,

God wants you

not just to read the Bible,

not just to pray prayers,

but he wants you

to encounter him.

Did you get that?

He wants you

to encounter him.

How much do you want that?

How much do you want that?

How much of us

are willing to pray

when we read the Bible

or when we pray,

saying,

God,

unless you bless me,

unless you reveal yourself

to me,

unless you take the words

off of this page

and reveal yourself

to me,

I'm just going to find delight

and look for blessing

in all kinds of other ways

because I need to see

that you are the one

who satisfies.

I need you.

I wonder what would happen

in our church,

and I've been praying this

for myself

because I'm convicted,

but how much of us

would we change

the way we view God

if we actually started

wrestling with him,

not just kind of doing

a little thumb war with him.

And maybe we are serving a lot,

maybe we're doing

a hundred things for God,

but God is actually

after your heart

and saying,

will you come to me

and wrestle with me

until you see me,

until you realize

that I am the place

which can give you blessing

more than anything else.

God wants you

to wrestle with him.

Second thing,

God breaks us

to bless us.

God breaks us

to bless us.

This is challenging.

Jacob was strong.

Jacob was strong.

He was smart.

And it says,

as he wrestles,

it says,

the man realized

he could not prevail

over him

and so he touched his hip

and dislocated it.

Why does the man

touch his hip?

Why didn't he touch his nose

or his ear?

Why does he touch his hip?

Because the hip,

when you're wrestling,

is the base

of your strength

in wrestling.

You cut the hip,

man,

you've got no way

to hold yourself.

And I'm told

the hip is one

of the strongest parts

of the human body.

Because many of us

think that

what holds us back

from knowing God

is our weaknesses.

You know,

the times you fail,

the things you mess up in.

I don't think

that's true.

The thing that holds you

back from really

knowing God

is actually your strength.

It's your strengths.

Because that's what

we tend to rely on.

That's where we tend

to feel good

about ourselves.

That's where we base

our security

and our identity

on what we think

we can do.

You know,

and it's actually

that which often

ends up devastating

relationships.

You know,

you're smart.

You know how

to get ahead.

You're educated.

You're experienced.

You're talented.

You can speak well.

You've got money.

You're disciplined.

Whatever it is,

I don't know

what your strength is.

That was Jacob.

He had his strengths.

But you see

how afraid

Jacob gets

when Esau is coming.

When you're in a situation

when your client,

when your friend,

when your kids

and you don't know

how to handle it.

And if that's the base

of your strength,

you realize

it's actually

a very shaky foundation

when Esau starts

coming into your life.

And right there,

you know,

sometimes the most

gracious thing

God can do to us

is to dislocate

our hip,

is to break

our strengths,

to show us

that we need God

for everything in life.

You know,

I had another friend.

Let's call him Frank.

He was a top executive,

well known

for his expertise

in his field.

He was highly respected,

highly experienced,

highly driven.

He was a good guy.

And yet his marriage

was actually a mess.

But he flies into New York

for a meeting

with his boss.

He's only got a few minutes

to get his input

on a number of decisions.

So he starts off saying,

hey, listen,

I need a decision

on this and this and this.

And his boss cuts him off

and says,

thanks,

but I wanted to tell you

that we don't need

your post any longer.

His whole world

came crashing down.

He was broken.

Everything that he'd worked for,

his whole identity,

broken in one second.

his hip dislocated.

And at that moment,

as he processed it,

as he wrestled,

he realized he'd built

his whole sense of identity

and value on his work

because he was good at it.

But actually,

as God humbled him

and broke him

in the pain,

he found that actually

he had another place

he could run to,

which was an identity

in Christ,

which is actually

a much surer foundation,

that nothing is going

to else break you.

and what happened

in his life,

he actually,

as he was humbled

and broken,

he began to see

some of the things

he was doing

in his marriage

and he began to own up

to the sin in his own life

and just say,

man,

I've really just been

blinded by myself.

And there began

to be healing

that began to come

and God gave him

a new path in life

where he was actually

able to serve

many, many people

through his next career.

You see,

God wants to break you

to bless you.

Someone once said this,

God uses broken things.

It takes broken soil

to produce a crop,

broken clouds

to give rain,

broken seed

to give bread,

broken bread

to give strength.

It's the broken

alabaster box

that gives forth perfume.

Jacob,

after he is broken,

in the next chapter,

which we haven't read,

he goes to meet

with Esau,

humbled,

walking

with a limp,

the base of his strength,

broken.

But he's able

to face

his brother

regardless of how

his brother

is going to respond

to him

because he's been

in the presence of God,

because he now knows

that he's got acceptance

and approval

and the blessing

from God

that he'd been chasing

everywhere else for.

Now he didn't need

his brother for that.

He didn't need

his family for that.

He had a security.

And actually,

restoration

after 20 years

takes place.

It's a beautiful story.

Read the chapter afterwards.

When you find

that you don't need

your love

and acceptance,

you don't need

your security

from any of these

other things

that you're chasing for,

he was not defined

by his father's

lack of love

or his need

for approval.

It opens you up

to find healing

and blessing

and to be released

to love

and serve other people.

You know,

many of us here,

we are actually

nursing wounds

from our past,

from our parents,

from colleagues.

Maybe we wanted

someone to say,

I love you

and you never heard that.

Maybe

you've been offended

by what people

have said to you

and you've just

nursed that wound

in your heart.

And there's so much

tension that's come

into family relationships

through these things.

And maybe you've

just been working

really hard

to try and prove

yourself,

make up for all

those things

that you didn't feel

you got before

in the past.

But God wants

to come and wrestle

with you.

God wants to break you.

God wants to humble you

so that you realize

you are not defined

by anything in the past

that has happened to you.

You are not defined

by even your own sin

in the past.

You can come before him,

be broken of your strength

and find strength

in the God

of all creation.

There's no one

who knows God deeply

who doesn't walk

with a limp.

No one.

No one.

And so I've been

praying for myself,

God,

would you touch my hip?

Do you know

how scary

that prayer is?

But God,

do I want to know God

that much

that I'm willing

for him to dislocate

my hip?

I don't know

what your hip is.

What's your source

of strength?

What are you looking for?

Is it your friends?

Is it your grades?

Is it your health?

Is it your work?

Is it your appearance?

I don't know what it is.

You know.

But are you willing

to pray,

God,

would you break my hip

that I might know you

and your presence?

And encounter you.

You know,

I'm actually praying,

maybe this is a little scary,

but I'm praying

for some of you

in this congregation

that God would actually

break your hip.

Because some of us,

we're relying on

so many things

which is actually

wrapping us up

and God wants to

break us free from that.

And that's what will

bring healing

in our lives.

Some of us are actually

going through

you feel like

you're having

a train wreck

in your life

at the moment.

You feel like

your hip is

being broken

right now.

So what are you

praying for?

Are you praying,

God,

just get me

out of this situation?

Or will you pray,

I will not let you go

unless you bless me?

I want to know you

more through this situation.

Even if you keep me

in this place,

I want to know you.

It's challenging, right?

But this is how

we come to encounter God.

Because at the end

of chapter 33,

which we didn't read,

Jacob,

for the first time,

he erects an altar.

And he calls this altar

El Eloho Yahweh.

He calls him

not the God,

the God of Israel,

which means

this is my God.

He was my father's

God before.

He was my father's

father's God before,

but this now is my God.

He's my God

because I've met him,

I've wrestled with him,

I've been broken by him,

but he's restored me

and given me

a new identity,

and now I know him.

Do you want that?

Do you want that?

God wrestles,

wants us to wrestle with him.

God breaks us

to bless us.

Final thing.

God chooses

to be broken himself

to bless us.

God says,

your name

shall no longer

be called Jacob,

but Israel,

for you have striven

with God

and with men

and have prevailed.

I've often wondered,

why does God

himself

say

that Jacob

has prevailed

over him?

Prevailed means

to win,

to conquer,

to overcome.

Like,

isn't that weird?

And then I heard

someone talk

on the meaning

of the name

of Israel,

and it's made

up of two parts.

The first part

is Yashar,

and the second part

is El.

El means God,

and it's the subject

of the sentence,

which means he's the one

who's doing the action.

Yashar means

to strive

or to fight

or to struggle.

So actually

what Israel means

is God strives,

God fights,

God struggles.

That's what it means.

But then he says,

God fights

for you

have striven

with God

and have prevailed.

That's even weirder.

But this name

of Israel,

which would come

to characterize

as the whole people

of God

throughout the whole

of the Old Testament.

He's saying,

your name is God

fights because Jacob,

you fought with God,

but actually

the God of Jacob

is the one

who is willing

to be prevailed over

in order that

he might win.

He is the one

who is willing

to be defeated

in order that

he might bring victory.

That is what

the word means.

And you know,

throughout

whole of history,

all the other gods

of Babylonians,

Egyptians,

Greeks,

Romans,

even the gods

you see around,

how do they express

their power?

Through conquering,

through dominating,

through crushing people.

Just read history.

But this God

is different.

This God

wins victory

through being defeated,

through being prevailed on.

And you know,

throughout the rest

of the Old Testament,

many kings

came and went.

In fact,

all of them

sought to dominate

and control.

Just read the story.

And then,

when it comes to Jesus,

Peter,

one of his disciples,

recognizes Jesus

as the Messiah.

That means

the king

who's coming.

And he's expecting

this guy

to be just like

all the other kings,

dominating

and striving

and overcoming

with power.

And do you know

what he says?

Jesus says,

sorry,

Peter says,

you're the Messiah.

And Jesus says to them,

you're right,

Peter,

but I'm a different

kind of Messiah.

I'm going to die.

And do you know

what Peter says?

He goes,

no way.

He says,

no way.

That ain't the way

it's written in the book.

And Jesus says,

actually,

yes it is.

Have you read

Genesis 32?

Because

the God of Jacob

is the God

who comes down

to the dust

of the earth

and wrestles

with sinful humanity.

Those of you

like you

and me

who compete

and in this competitive,

I mean,

Hong Kong's competitive

enough,

right?

And we're constantly

competing

and trying to get ahead

and trying to wrestle

and fight with each other.

But God comes down

to wrestle with us.

And then like Judas,

you know,

Judas was another hustler.

He came

and he was stealing money

from the disciples'

accounts

because he wanted

to get ahead.

But Jesus

knew that he was

going to betray him.

And do you know

what Jesus did?

He allowed him

to betray him.

He allowed himself

to be arrested.

He allowed himself

to be nailed

cruelly on a cross

for you

and for me

because

when he died,

he gained

the greatest victory.

When he was broken,

that was the sign

the blessing

was coming.

You see,

he could have hired

a thousand

legions of angels

to come

and rescue him.

He had power

to break

the strength

of the Romans

with a touch.

But he chose

not to

because of you

and me.

Some people say

the God of the Bible

is just like the God

of all other religions.

Let me tell you,

this God is not

like any other God.

The God

of the Old Testament

is the God

of the New Testament.

Jacob had a limp.

Jesus has nail prints.

Do you know

in the book of Revelation

there's this amazing bit

where you see

the picture of heaven

with the God

on the throne

of all of creation.

And do you know

what it says?

It says,

and I saw

a lamb,

Jesus,

who was

slain.

You saw

the nail prints.

Right at the moment

of glory

you see the moment

of brokenness

because this is our God.

God.

So let me finish.

A God

who has such power

to break

your strength,

your greatest strength

with a touch

is the God

who in Jesus Christ

wrestles with us.

Is the God

who right now

is calling you

and saying,

what's your name?

He's exposing you.

He's wanting to expose you

today for who you are.

He's the God

that if we encounter

him today,

we will come away

saying,

I have seen God

and my life

has been delivered.

He's a God

who will break us

to heal us,

who will wound us

to bless us,

who will bring us

a new identity

and a name.

You're not defined

by your past.

You're not defined

even by your parents.

You're defined

by who you are

in him.

So will you wrestle

with him today?

Will you wrestle?

Psalm 46 says this,

be still

and know

that I am God.

I will be exalted

among the nations.

I will be exalted

in the earth.

The Lord of hosts

is with us.

The God of Jacob

is our fortress.

You can rest

in Christ

right now.

Let me just pray

for us.

So I want you

just to,

right now,

we're going to take

communion in a minute,

but I want you

to think about

those questions.

Have I wrestled

with God?

Am I wrestling

with God?

Or do I just

treat him lightly?

Do I really

know this God?

Do I want

to know him?

How much

do I want

to know him?

Am I willing

to pray,

God,

would you even

break my hip?

Would you even

break my hip

that I might

truly know

your presence

and who you

really are?

Just take a minute

to reflect

on that.

Because in a minute,

we're going to

take communion

where we're going

to celebrate

the breaking

of our Savior.

If you're not

a believer,

I don't want you

to come up

to take the

communion elements,

but I want you

to just think

about that.

Have I encountered

God?

Or am I religious?

Or do I want

to encounter God?

This God

who is willing

to be broken

for you.

So just do

some business

with God

while we're

waiting.

I'll ask

the communion

stewards

to come up.

And when

you're ready,

you can come

up and take

the communion

elements.

But maybe

you just want

to spend time

repenting and

confessing before

him.