Real Vision and the Persevering God

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Good morning, I'm Terry Kochi. I'm a member of Oikosin the Oaks and Women Reading Women.

A reading from the book of Genesis as printed in your liturgy.

Genesis 28, 1 through 5 and 10 through 22.

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him.

Then he commanded him,

Do not marry a Canaanite woman.

Go at once to Paddan Aram to the house of your mother's father Bethuel.

Take a wife for yourself there from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham,

so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.

Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way,

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven,

and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

There above it stood the Lord, and he said,

I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.

I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,

and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.

All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go,

and I will bring you back to this land.

I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.

He was afraid and said,

How awesome is this place?

This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head

and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.

He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying,

If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking

and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's household,

then the Lord will be my God, and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house.

And of all that you give me, I will give you a tenth.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God.

All right.

The pressure's on to preach not a long sermon, so here we go.

I think of all the characters in the Bible,

most modern people can relate pretty well to Jacob

because he has so many problems.

He's got some significant relational failures, spiritual struggles, character flaws.

He's really kind of made a mess of his life.

And if you were here last week, you'll remember that basically he conspired with his mother.

He deceived his old and blind father.

He stole the blessing from his brother who's now angry enough with him to want to murder him.

And basically we saw that Jacob is a scoundrel.

You know, he's a liar.

He's a cheater.

He's a blasphemer.

And he basically says his final goodbye to his parents.

He's never going to see them again.

And he's about 20 years old, right?

He's this troubled 20-year-old setting off in search of his place in life,

running away from his past sins, hoping he can have a fresh start.

And that's where this story picks up.

In Genesis 28 today, it says in verse 11 that

when he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set.

And taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

And that's strange because the custom of the ancient Near East is that you would find safe lodging in the home of a neighbor.

And this tells us that Jacob is so alienated, he's so alone, that he's forced to sleep under the stars.

The comfort of his parents' home has been replaced by these stones.

It's not just one stone that's like a pillow.

I think it's many stones that he's basically kind of gathered around his head like a little fortress to keep him safe.

And the security of the sun is replaced by the dangers of nighttime.

So what we sense is that he's exposed, right?

He's vulnerable.

And I'm imagining quite depressed as he thinks about the comfort and the security that he's left behind.

Certainly, if I were him, I would be quite frightened as I think about the long and perilous and uncertain journey

that lies ahead of me in the wilderness with no money and no friends.

And what in the world is he probably thinking at this moment?

He's thinking to himself, are the promises that my dad gave me really mine?

You know, this blessing that I stole from my brother, am I going to be blessed like Abraham was blessed and Isaac was blessed?

And if I'm truly to be the heir and the inheritor of the promised land and a promised people,

then why am I a single guy running away from the promised land?

He's in the dark.

He's all alone.

He's on the run.

Full of fear.

No confidence whatsoever.

And maybe you can relate to that today.

So Jacob, like many of us, we know what it's like to just have to force ourself to sleep at night when we can't sleep.

And so he forces himself to sleep with absolutely no expectation of what is going to happen that night.

And make sure you notice that Jacob's not seeking God.

He's not at all praying to God.

He's not asking God for mercy or for protection or for help or for guidance.

He just goes to sleep.

And what we see here is that God's grace initiates toward Jacob.

God's grace intervenes in Jacob's life.

That this God of heaven loves us too much to leave us to ourselves and in our sins.

Right?

He wants us and he wants a relationship with us so much that he goes out for us in the dark.

He searches for us until he finds us.

And the fact that God works with Jacob who's so unworthy and so undeserving with all of his conflicting desires and drives and struggles and failures,

the complete mess he's made of his life,

that's a sign of great hope that God actually works with people like me and people like you.

Of course, the Lord has to come to Jacob in a dream at night because during the day,

Jacob's defenses are up so high, God can't even break through.

But he waits until he's asleep at night and he comes and what we're going to see is that he turns this deeply flawed man into one who's highly favored.

Right?

This man who's terribly broken into someone who's wonderfully blessed.

And what I want to look at is the three kind of movements of the story.

The Lord of the stairway, the awesome presence of God, and the grateful response to grace.

The Lord of the stairway, the awesome presence of God, and the grateful response to grace.

If you look at verse 12, you'll see the Lord of the stairway.

And it says, he had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven.

And the angels of God were ascending and descending on it, and there above it stood the Lord.

Now, he sees three things in this dream.

First of all, he sees this giant stairway.

And this is different than Led Zeppelin's stairway to heaven.

Because in Hebrew, it says the stairway is resting on or it's placed to the earth.

And why does that matter?

Because it's about directional emphasis.

This is not a stairway to heaven.

Right?

It's not a stairway that's built by human beings so that they can go from earth up to heaven.

Like we saw Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel.

This is a, this is created not by humans, it's created by God.

And the purpose of the stairway is that so he can come from heaven down to earth.

Right?

The initiative is God's initiative.

The connection and the communication is due to the grace of God.

Only he can bring heaven to earth.

And what else does Jacob see in this dream?

And the second thing he sees in this dream is that angels are ascending and descending on the stairway.

And you've got to completely rid your mind of whatever image you have of angels.

Right?

From Hallmark cards and TV shows.

Angels are not chubby, naked babies with wings.

They are not soft, slim, comforting creatures that make you feel good.

In fact, every time you read in the Bible, what do the angels say to human beings?

They say, fear not.

Why?

Because they make you afraid.

These are ancient spiritual beings that dwell in the presence of the living God.

And they're these messengers of God, these warriors of God who are coming to bear the light of God

and the holiness of God and the power of God.

And what it says is these royal messengers who represent the sovereign king of heaven himself,

they're going up and down and back and forth and in and out from the throne room of God

in order to carry and to execute the decrees of the king in his world.

And so anytime angels are showing up, big stuff's happening.

Right?

God's kingdom is on the move.

And so Jacob sees a stairway.

He sees angels going up and down on that stairway.

And what else does he see?

The third thing he sees in verse 13, it says,

there above it or there above him stood the Lord, stood Yahweh himself.

Now if you're Jacob and you're a liar, you're a deceiver.

Right?

You've stolen your brother's blessing and God is right here.

Yahweh is right here standing over you.

What are you thinking?

You're thinking, uh-oh.

This can't be good.

This is not a happy dream.

This is a nightmare.

This is a vision of judgment.

What in the world is the Lord about to do to me?

Here is Yahweh in all of his majestic authority and he's standing over you.

Right?

The same Lord who in Genesis 18 verse 19 said,

Genesis 18:19

Abraham, you are to direct your children and your household to keep the way of the Lord

by doing what is right and what is just.

Has Jacob done what is right and what is just?

Has Jacob done what is right and what is just?

We said that the definition of wickedness is to disadvantage your community in order to advantage

yourself.

And Jacob has been anything but righteous and anything but just.

And he deserves to be punished by God.

But is that what happens here in this story?

Yahweh is standing over Jacob not to review his shameful past, not to condemn him, not to

give him the just judgment that he absolutely deserves.

No, he says, I'm here.

Yahweh says, I'm here as a God of grace to present to you, Jacob, an alternative future of a life centered

on me.

Now, if you're a mom or a dad, you know what it's like to go in in the dark late at night

and to go into your, over to your sleeping and dreaming child and to stand over them

and to maybe put your hand on their head, maybe kiss them on the cheek, maybe rub their back

in a posture of nearness, a posture of intimacy, a posture of tenderness.

And here is the Lord standing over Jacob and he whispers three things into the ear of his

sleeping and dreaming child.

And what does he say?

He says exactly what Jacob needs to hear in verse 13.

The Lord stood above him and said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the

God of Isaac.

I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west

and to the east, to the north and to the south.

And all the peoples on earth we bless through you and through your offspring.

I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land.

I will not leave you until I have done what I promised.

Jacob sees three things and he hears three things.

The first thing is that remember that Jacob's penniless.

Jacob has a stolen blessing and that's about all he's got.

He's running away from the promised land.

He's got no inheritance.

His future is as dark as the night sky.

And what does he hear?

He hears this.

I am Yahweh.

The God who made promises.

The God who kept covenant.

The God who gave the blessing of life to Abraham and to Isaac.

And I'm going to bless you too.

Jacob, you don't even have a wife right now.

But I'm going to give you abundant descendants and I'm going to bring you and your children

back to this good land that's flowing with milk and honey.

And through your fruitful and multiplying descendants, my salvation, my supernatural life is going to be on you.

And through you, it's going to go out to all the peoples of the earth.

Because they're blessed to be a blessing.

If we can pull up this slide.

I think we have a slide.

Maybe, maybe not.

It's the slide I show every week in the sermon series.

Where basically, the Lord is reiterating the promises that he's made to Abraham in Genesis 12.

To give him a people.

To give him a place.

To give him this international blessing.

That's the first thing Jacob hears.

The second thing is that Jacob is family-less.

Jacob is friendless.

He's totally alone.

Right?

He's never going to see his parents again.

His brother wants to murder him.

He's a total mess of a single guy looking for a wife.

And what does he hear?

The Lord says to him,

I will be with you.

You have my faithful presence.

And the Lord is saying to Jacob,

on this journey,

even when you feel alone,

you're never alone.

Because I, the Lord of heaven and earth,

am with you.

And if you have me,

if you have my presence,

you lack nothing that you really need.

And the third thing that Jacob hears,

Jacob's not only penniless,

he's not only friendless,

but he's also defenseless.

He's running for his life into uncertainty.

He's out here in this howling wilderness.

He's completely vulnerable.

So vulnerable.

He's just pulling stones around his head

to give him a sense of protection and safety.

And what does he hear?

The Lord says,

I will watch over you wherever you go.

No.

It's the same thing God said to Abraham in Genesis 15.

I am your shield.

I will be your shield.

I'm going to watch over you.

I'm going to sovereignly protect you

so that no matter what unexpected turns

your life is bound to take,

every time I'm going to actively intervene

for your welfare.

I'm going to be standing with you

in all those places of threat

and danger to defend you.

And whoever deals lightly with you,

whoever dismisses or disparages you,

whoever holds you in contempt,

whoever tries to harm you,

I'm going to be right there with you

to protect you and defend you.

I'll watch over you.

He sees three things,

the stairway, the angels,

and the Lord himself.

And he hears three things,

this promise of a people and a place,

this promise of the presence,

this promise of protection.

And none of these things Jacob hears from God

are things that he gets

through his own human manipulation

and human deception

like we were talking about last week.

These are all just surprising gifts

of the grace of God

to a person who's completely unworthy

and totally undeserving,

who's not even seeking God,

not even expecting to get anything from God.

And God comes to him

and he doesn't blast him away with condemnation.

He blesses him with unconditional love.

How does that apply to us?

Well, if you're like Jacob

and you're here today

and you've done the worst possible things,

your life is falling apart,

you're in the dark,

you've hit the bottom,

you're on the run,

you're not even calling out to God,

you don't even care about your sins,

the Lord of the stairway,

this king whose kingdom is on the move,

he stands over you like a parent

with a sleeping child.

And he's not at the top of the stairway.

He's not saying,

come up here so I can talk to you

about your shameful past.

No, he's taken the initiative.

He's come down to you unsought

and unasked for

to offer you an alternative future

of mercy and grace.

Mercy is not getting what your sins deserve.

And grace is getting the forgiveness

and the blessing that you don't deserve.

God says to Jacob,

nothing is going to stop me

from blessing you.

And so you don't need to be afraid.

You can be totally confident.

And friends,

I hope we realize

that the Lord of the stairway,

the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

is offering the same thing to us as well.

So that's the Lord of the stairway.

I want to talk now

about the awesome presence of God.

Because you notice in verse 16,

it says,

when Jacob awoke from his dream,

he thought,

surely the Lord is in this place

and I was not aware of it.

And he was afraid.

And he said,

how awesome is this place.

This is none other than the house of God.

This is the gate of heaven.

To this point in the book of Genesis,

there's been nowhere near

this level of amazement.

And Jacob,

it says he's overwhelmed

with a sense of both fear and awe.

There's a book written in 1917

by a guy named Rudolph Otto.

And he wrote a book called

The Idea of the Holy.

He's trying to help

modern post-Enlightenment people

come to terms with the idea of the holy.

And what he says is,

he says,

when we experience the power

of natural phenomenon,

like if you're out at a volcano

and it begins to erupt,

or if you go into the path of totality

for a total solar eclipse,

you are going to experience

what Otto calls

a numinous mystery.

mystery.

And it's a mystery

that's tremendous

and terrifying

at the same time.

And you will feel overcome

with a sense of awe.

Right?

I watched some videos this week

of the 2024 total solar eclipse.

And in those videos,

when the moon moves over the sun

and the light of the sun

is blotted out

in the middle of the day,

people begin weeping.

And they begin crying out,

saying,

oh my,

oh my,

this is the most awesome,

incredible thing

I've ever seen.

And they're undone.

They can't help but cry out

because they're experiencing

something objective.

They're experiencing

something outside of themselves.

They're experiencing

something large,

something cosmic,

something powerful,

something beyond their control.

And it overwhelms them

with a sense of awe.

And this is, I think,

part of the reason

why we spend our time

and our money

going to the mountains

and going to the oceans

and going to big forests

with giant trees.

It's why we go seeking

the sunrise,

the sunset,

because our hearts

long to be next to something

that's bigger

and more beautiful

than the self.

Right?

We love to sit

or stand next to something

and say,

you know,

I am small

and that is big.

And I am weak

but that is powerful.

And I am so flawed

but that is good

and that is beautiful.

And this happens

many, many times

throughout the Bible.

The prophet Isaiah

it says that he sees

a vision of the Lord

who's the king

and he's enthroned

on high

and he's exalted

and he hears

the angels

calling out

in the presence

of the Lord,

holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty.

The whole earth

is full of his glory.

And in that moment

the prophet

encounters this tremendous

and terrifying

numinous mystery

and he says,

woe to me

for I'm ruined

for I am unclean

and I live among

a people

who are unclean.

In the Gospels

it happens

in the New Testament

where in the Gospel

of Luke chapter 5

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Peter has this encounter

with Christ.

He experiences

the power

and the authority

of Jesus

and it says

that Peter fell

at his feet

and he said to Jesus

he said,

go away from me Lord

because I'm a sinful man.

That's exactly what

is happening

to Jacob right now.

He's shaken

and he's afraid

and he's amazed

because he's aware

that he's in the presence

of the absolute

and transcendent Lord

and he says,

how awesome

is this place?

And you see

what's happening

to Jacob

is here he is

in this middle

of nowhere place

that feels to him

it's dark

and it's stony

and it's hard

but his eyes

are opened

to something

beyond

his physical circumstances

his eyes are opened

to the metaphysical

and all of a sudden

this dark place

becomes filled

with light

and this stony place

becomes a sanctuary

and this hard place

becomes awesome

and wonderful.

How does that happen?

Because

Jacob has a vision

of the presence

of the Lord

and he hears

the voice

of the living God

and he encounters

the truth

of God's

powerful promises

and when that happens

he doesn't feel

this kind of casual

flippant attitude

no he's overcome

with a sense

of reverent

fear

aware

he says

of how ignorant

he was

of how

small

and how weak

and how

unworthy

and how sinful

he is

and aware

at the same time

of how great

and how powerful

and how wise

and how holy

the Lord is

and I think

this is important

because some of us

feel like we're

in a dark place

we're in a stony

place

and we're in a hard

place

we're out

in the middle

of nowhere

and I want you

to be encouraged

that that's the place

where God likes

to work

it's the place

that God likes

to turn into Beth

El

the house of God

the gate

of heaven

it's the place

that he likes

to turn in

to an awesome

place

and it's not

so much

that Jacob's dream

takes him

out of the real

world

in some sort

of escapist

fantasy

but what happens

is that

he has this dream

and it reveals

to him

the real world

of God

the real world

of heaven

and it becomes

so much more

convincing to him

than this

little world

of fear

and guilt

and shame

and so he goes

from that world

and he begins

to live in this world

in a completely

different way

you tracking with me

this is why

on Sundays

we gather together

around the bonfire

the preached word

and sacraments

and it's why

in our midweek

community groups

we gather around

the campfire

of the shared word

and prayer

with each other

and it's why

in our daily time

with God

we gather around

the candlelight

of meditated

God's meditated word

because these

are the means

by which

God reveals

to us

the real world

of heaven

these are the means

by which

we come

face to face

with the awesome

reality

of the presence

of the living God

and this is how

God opens our eyes

it's how God

transforms

our hearts

and our lives

to be

the very house

of God

where the presence

of God

is dwelling

it's how he

transforms

this ordinary

gathering

of human beings

into the very

gate

of heaven

the awesome

presence of God

the God

who is with us

changes

absolutely

everything

when it comes

into our lives

and this is why

Jesus was

at such pains

to help people

experience it

and to understand it

if you

if you go

home later today

you can look this up

but in the gospel

of John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

opening chapter

of the gospel

of John

we see this

encounter between

Jesus and a guy

named Nathaniel

and Philip

another guy

he comes to Nathaniel

and he says

hey Nathaniel

we found

the Messiah

his name is Jesus

and he's from

Nazareth

and Nathaniel says

Nazareth

can anything

good come from

Nazareth

God does not

come down

in places

like Nazareth

and Philip

says well

come and see

and when

Jesus saw

Nathaniel

he said

here truly

is an Israelite

in whom

there is no

deceit

here's an honest

man

and Nathaniel

hears Jesus

say this about him

and he says

how do you know

me

how do you know

who I am

and Jesus

says to him

Nathaniel

I saw you

while you were

still under

the fig tree

before Philip

called you

and what's

crazy is

we have no

idea what

Nathaniel was

doing under

that fig tree

right

we don't know

if he was

was he praying

was he meditating

on scripture

was he reading

Genesis 28

we have no

we have no clue

but the moment

that Jesus

meets him

and knows

who he is

and not only

who he is

but what he's

doing

for Nathaniel

it just blows

all of his

questions

all of his

doubts

all of his

skepticism

completely away

and he says

to Jesus

he says

Rabbi

you are the

son of God

you are the

king of Israel

and Jesus

says Nathaniel

you're going to

see greater

things than that

he says

very truly

I tell you

you will see

heaven open

and the angels

of God

ascending

and descending

on the

son of man

what in the

world

why is

Jesus

having a

bible study

about

Genesis 28

with Nathaniel

because

what Jesus

wants to say

is that

I'm the

Lord of the

stairway

I am God

come to you

in the flesh

speaking with

you right

now

right here

I'm the

link

between

heaven

and earth

right

you want to

know where

the house

of God

is

where the

awesome

presence

of God

is

he's right

here

looking at

you

he knows

you

you want to

know what

the access

point is

between

God the

father

and human

beings

it's me

Jesus

says

see the

gospel is

not about

us going

up the

stairway

to God

right

the gospel

is about

God the

son coming

down the

stairway

to us

and the

gospel works

in the

complete

opposite

direction

of how

all the

other major

world religions

work

because this

is a

stairway

not to

heaven

it's a

stairway

from heaven

it's a

stairway

of grace

it's not

that any

of us

have to go

climb the

steps up

to God

we don't

have to

do the

ten

commandments

of

Judaism

we don't

have to

do the

five

pillars

of

Islam

we don't

have to

do the

eightfold

path

of

Buddhism

we don't

have to

do all

the steps

and all

the

requirements

of whatever

that religion

says would

make you

acceptable

to God

no

Jesus

says the

angels

of God

are ascending

and descending

not even

to the

son of

man

but on

the

son of

man

there's

not a

series of

steps

for you

to take

Jesus

says I

am the

steps

in fact

I've

fulfilled

all the

steps

I've

fulfilled

all the

requirements

I've

lived the

life that

you were

meant to

live

the life

of love

and I

died the

death

I took

the penalty

that you

were meant

to take

I've

done

all the

steps

everything

that was

needed

I've

done

absolutely

everything

for you

I've

not

come

to

show

you

the

stairway

to

God

or the

steps

to

God

I've

come

to

be

the

stairway

and to

do

the

steps

for

you

Jesus

says if

you want

to understand

me

if you

want to

know

what it's

like for

heaven to

be opened

before you

then you

got to see

heaven and

earth

intersecting

and overlapping

over me

over my

crucified

yet

resurrected

body

if you

want to

see the

royal

majestic

power

of the

kingdom

of God

moving up

and down

it's moving

up and down

over me

you see

Jacob is

lonely

Jacob's

isolated

Jacob is

an alienated

guy

because of

all of his

pride

because of

his lies

because of

his malice

and that's

what sin

does

it separates

us from

people

it separates

us from

God

and what

Jesus is

doing is

he's saying

look I've

come to

substitute

myself in

Jacob's

place

I've come

to get up

on that

place of

cosmic

alienation

cosmic

separation

and ultimate

loneliness

on the

cross

so that

someone like

Jacob who

is not

seeking God

doesn't expect

anything from

God doesn't

even want

God can

have any

hope in

this world

and Jesus

is saying

look if you

want to

experience the

awesome presence

of God

you've got to

come to

me

if you want

to see what

it looks like

when heaven

and earth

are open

to each

other

you've got

to come

follow me

very truly

I tell you

you will see

heaven open

and the angels

of God

ascending

and descending

on the

son of

man

all right

last thing

because we

got a

congregational

meeting

the

stairway

the

Lord of

the

stairway

the

awesome

presence

of

God

and

finally

the

grateful

response

to

grace

this

story

amazes

me

because

it's

about

a

man

running

away

from

home

who

runs

into

God

and

it's

about

a

man

who's

afraid

of

his

brother

who

then

becomes

afraid

of

God

and

it's

about

this

nowhere

place

that

!

somehow

becomes

nothing

less

than

the

place

of

God

and

how

does

Jacob

respond

to that

well

in

verse

21

for the

first

time

in

Jacob's

life

he

says

the

Lord

is

my

God

right

God

he

says

the

Lord

is

my

God

he

has

a

personal

relationship

that's

real

and

dynamic

and

intimate

with

God

and

he

shows

that

not

just

in

what

he

believes

and

what

he

values

he

shows

that

in

how

he

lives

and

how

does

Jacob

then

live

well

it

says

in

verse

18

early

the

next

morning

Jacob

took

the

stone

he

placed

under

his

head

and

set

it

up

as

a

pillar

and

poured

oil

on

top

of

it

and

he

called

that

place

Bethel

though

the

city

used

to

be

called

Luz

then

Jacob

made

a vow

saying

if

God

or I

think

it's

better

since

God

will

be

with

me

and

will

watch

over

me

on

this

journey

faith

for

Jacob

is

so

much

more

than

inner

spiritual

feelings

faith

is

expressed

in

tangible

embodied

liturgical

acts

it

says

he's

pouring

oil

to

venerate

this

nowhere

place

as

a

holy

place

he's

doing

his

morning

prayers

he's

talking

seriously

with

God

he's

making

the

Lord

my

God

pledging

exclusive

allegiance

to God

promising

to God

that he's

going to

worship

him

in the

future

no

matter

what

and

here's

this

guy

who's

totally

empty

handed

and

he

begins

offering

sacrifices

to

God

and

promising

to

give

something

to

God

in

verse

22

he

says

of

all

that

you

give

me

I

will

give

you

10%

because

I

want

to

say

thank

you

for

your

presence

and

your

protection

and

your

provision

and

your

preservation

now

the

good

good

news

for

us

is

that

after

Jesus

sent

the

Holy

Spirit

his

apostles

dropped

this

principle

of

tithing

and

we

all

say

yes

but

the

bad

news

is

that

the

apostles

adopted

a

higher

spiritual

principle

that

goes

like

this

whoever

sows

sparingly

will

reap

sparingly

and

whoever

sows

generously

will

reap

generously

and

what

they

mean

by

that

the

apostles

mean

we

don't

want

to

lest

you

not

give

all

that

God

wants

you

to

give

the

way

that

we

know

God's

grace

is

operative

in

Jacob's

life

is

because

he's

responding

to that

grace

with

gratitude

and

he's

putting

his

faith

to

work

through

his

praying

and

through

his

giving

and

also

through

the

way

he's

talking

about

himself

in

his

own

story

he

begins

to

re-narrate

his

life

with

a new

plot

line

in

verse

20

he's

talking

about

his

journey

and

he

says

God

will

be

with

me

he'll

watch

over

me

on

this

journey

he'll

bring

me

back

in

safety

or

he'll

bring

me

back

that

word

is

shalom

to

my

father's

house

in

shalom

after

he

experienced

the

presence

of

God

and

the

supreme

display

of

God's

grace

in

his

life

Jacob

no

longer

sees

himself

as

an

exile

or

a

fugitive

who's

running

away

from

something

no

now

he

sees

himself

as

a

pilgrim

who's

on

a

journey

with

God

who's

running

towards

something

and

that's

what

happens

when

God

comes

into

your

life

the

way

you

narrate

your

life

is

completely

transformed

you

say

I'm

no

longer

a

solitary

guy

I'm

no

longer

a

solitary

gal

who's

just

wandering

by

myself

on

this

random

secular

!

touring

expedition

to see

as much

as I

can

see

before

I

die

no

you

say

I'm

a

person

who's

on

a

sacred

pilgrimage

with

God

and

I'm

making

my

way

to

the

city

of

God

I'm

making

my

way

to

the

shalom

of

God

and

therefore

from

now

on

I

consecrate

myself

I

commit

myself

to

my

trustworthy

God

who I

know

is

leading

me

on

this

holy

journey

to

test

me

and

to

refine

my

character

to

remold

me

and

transform

my

personality

because

ultimately

I

know

that

I'm

going

to

arrive

in

safety

I'm

going

to

arrive

in

shalom

at

that

place

where

God

has

destined

me

to

be

that's

what

a

grateful

response

to

grace

looks

like

so

let's

think

about

that

as

we

come

to

this

table

in

the

name

of

the

Father

Son

and

Holy

Spirit

Amen