Genesis 33-35

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start getting back into the book of Genesis right now going to Genesis chapter 33.

Genesis 33 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you've got your Bibles ready, go ahead and turn there to be ready for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to ask you to think about a very awkward time in your life, because probably all of us have these moments, that feeling where there is a pit in your stomach, and there is a text that you have to send, or there is a phone call that you have to make, or there is a meeting you're about to have, or there's an email that your finger is hovering over the send button, and you just don't want to click it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the scenario is you've done something wrong, you've messed up, and now you have to own up to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now you have to confront the mistake that you've made anybody been there before want to be brave raise your hand yet I've missed up

[SPEAKER_00]: I've had to deal with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That feeling that you get, that pit in your stomach, that times a thousand is what Jacob is dealing with today and our story.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is gonna be a little bit of a recap because we have to understand where we came from especially last week, what John taught about before we can understand what we're going to face this week, see for 20 years, Jacob has been living in a city in Haran far away from his family because he's been on the run from his brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: His brother Esau hates him, because he's a deceiver, because he tricked him, because he tricked his father, because he manipulated him, and so his brother was stewing over this, and he vowed, I will kill my brother Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for two decades now, that has been the soundtrack to Jacob's life.

[SPEAKER_00]: He fled on his own with nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'd have time to take anything with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He ran away.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now, after two decades on the run, hiding out from his brother, God has called him home.

[SPEAKER_00]: And on his way back home, there's a confrontation coming with his brother that he cannot ignore.

[SPEAKER_00]: He can't just swipe this away.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sends out some scouts, the scouts come back and they say, we have seen your brother Esau coming on this way and he's bringing 400 men with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't bring 400 men to a family reunion.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you?

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need an army for a brotherly hug.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not going to be a fun encounter.

[SPEAKER_00]: At least as far as Jacob is concerned.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he goes into crisis management mode.

[SPEAKER_00]: He splits up his family and his resources into two groups and sets him apart from each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if there's suddenly a tax by Easton, his men at least half of them will be able to escape.

[SPEAKER_00]: He starts sending these gifts one after another after another ahead of them to East saw hundreds of sheep and goats and camels and donkeys and cows to try to appease the wrath of the one who is coming toward him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is all an incredible setup.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is all an appointed encounter.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is going to do something incredible through this whole experience and here's the

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not just about the moment of confrontation.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're often about what leads up to that moment and the important stuff happened to the night before.

[SPEAKER_00]: The important stuff happened in the dark when Jacob sent his whole family across the Yobok River sent everything across him while he was the only one in the camp John talked about this last week God showed up and wrestled with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he had the struggle with God and a blessing from God and was given a new name.

[SPEAKER_00]: and a new limp.

[SPEAKER_00]: You remember the limp from last week?

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't forget the limp.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's probably the most important part of this setup.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob, the slightly younger son of the twins, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Came out right after holding the heel of his brother Esau.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's always been the crafty one, the clever one, the quick-witted one, the one who, at the first sign of trouble, he gets to run away.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God gives him this incredibly humbling limp.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now he can't run.

[SPEAKER_00]: He can't manipulate or deceive his way out of this thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He saw his coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got 400 men with him, and he is going to be forced to rely, not on his own quickness, but on God's presence in his life.

[SPEAKER_00]: He walks into the biggest confrontation of his life, physically broken, but a little bit more spiritually aligned after his encounter with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He can't run.

[SPEAKER_00]: He can't trick his way out of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: His swagger is replaced with a limp, the limp of surrender.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now the setup is complete.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now it's time for the showdown.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Genesis chapter 33 is where we're going to be.

Genesis 33 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: But before we go there, I want to remind you how far Jacob has had to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, he lived in a region called Patton Eram in a city called Haran, which was way up north with his uncle Laban.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was there for 20 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: He worked for seven years to Mary Rachel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then was given Leah instead of Rachel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then he worked for another seven years to Mary Rachel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then another six years to earn his own flocks.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so for 20 years, he has been out there hiding from Esau.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he finally makes his way south because God told him to make his way back home.

[SPEAKER_00]: that journey south was a long one.

[SPEAKER_00]: It included that confrontation with Laban.

[SPEAKER_00]: It included the wrestling match with God that we've already covered.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now, they stand on the southern side of the Yobok River preparing for the most intense counter and counter of his life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where we will pick up the story.

[SPEAKER_00]: Chapter 33, verse one, here's what it says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Jacob looked up and saw E.S.

[SPEAKER_00]: saw coming with his 400 men.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he divided the children among Leah Rachel and his two servant wives.

[SPEAKER_00]: He put the servant wives and their children at the front.

[SPEAKER_00]: Leah and her children next and Rachel and Joseph last.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now why did he do this?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was not because he was going for husband or father of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was the order of his love.

[SPEAKER_00]: Serving wives in their children first, Lee and her children next, Rachel and Joseph, who he loves the most last.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not going to try to defend his actions here.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this was the normal way things worked in that time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned a few weeks ago how there was a hierarchy in the families and when there were multiple wives, there was a primary wife, and there were secondary and tertiary wives sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the kids in the wives would be at those different levels.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then verse 3, Jacob went on ahead.

[SPEAKER_00]: As he approached his brother, he bowed to the ground seven times before him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you picture that scene?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you picture his picture in your mind?

[SPEAKER_00]: And as you're picturing this, you need to understand Jacob's in his 90s at this point.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's walking with a limp.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he takes a few steps toward ESA, they see each other, but he's a long ways off, and he bows all the way to the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's alone, vulnerable by himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: The families are all behind him, and they're in the order that he set them up, and but he's walking out in front of them, and he bows all the way to the ground, and then he gets up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he takes a few more difficult steps with his limp, and then he bows all the way to the ground again.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he gets up, and he does that five more times.

[SPEAKER_00]: that he has a changed man.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God has done a work in his life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every limping bow is an indicator of surrender and servanthood.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like John mentioned last week, all of us have some kind of limp in our life, something that we look back on and say, wow, that still hurts me today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I still live with reminders of that difficult struggle that I went through.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now here's the thing, I want to remind you of this, you get to choose whether you treat your limp like a shameful reminder or a trophy of God's grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: You get to choose whether that limp is a shameful reminder that haunts you,

[SPEAKER_00]: or a trophy of God's grace in your life that shows that God did something in you, worked in you to bring about character and change and faith and growth, that wouldn't have happened without the struggle, that wouldn't have happened without the injury, that wouldn't be there without the limp.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's an important reminder.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob's grown up a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: He spent 20 years with his uncle, Aurelative who, by the way, cheated him and manipulated him just as much as Jacob did with his brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he kind of got a taste of his own medicine.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he walks forward alone and vulnerable and limping and hoping and praying, how will his brother Esa respond?

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what Esa does, first for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Esa ran to meet him and embraced him.

[SPEAKER_00]: through his arms around his neck and kissed him, and they both wet, so Esau was not the man he once was either.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even with the awful things they've said and done to each other, they're so glad to see each other again after two decades and they embrace, and they get along finally, to mazing the things what Jacob did to Esau,

[SPEAKER_00]: and now they can hug and embrace and cry.

[SPEAKER_00]: And isn't it tragic?

[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes we hold on to bitterness and grudges against other people for far less than what Jacob and Esau had for years or even decades.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes it takes a tragedy or it takes many, many years for us to be able to look back with some perspective and see how insignificant that disagreement really was.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you think of some of those things in your past, some of the things you held against your siblings, against your parents, against people who you used to call friends, who did something or said something or didn't do something or didn't say something.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now there's this disagreement that you just hold on to between you and this rift.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wouldn't it be nice to just have this embrace and say, you know what, the past is the past?

[SPEAKER_00]: We can live in harmony with each other now.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what Jacob and Esau get to experience here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Esau, after he's finished, hugging his brother and they're together again, relationship, restore, he looks at all the family members behind him and he says,

[SPEAKER_00]: And these women and children go, who are these people with you?

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jacob replied, these are the children, God has graciously given to me your servant.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then all the wives and the children they came forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: They bowed down before E.S.A.

[SPEAKER_00]: They all knew the gravity of this situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: They all knew how worry Jacob was, how anxious he was, how he thought there was a chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of them were gonna be dead that day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now they're so relieved and they come forward and just like Jacob did, they bow before E.S.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.AAAAAAAAAAAA

[SPEAKER_00]: and then Jacob and Esau have this back and forth.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I won't go into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's standard, middle Eastern, hospitality.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob's presented all these gifts to Esau and Esau says, I'm a wealthy man, I don't need it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jacob says, no, please take it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Esau says, no, I don't need it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jacob says, no, please take it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And finally, Esau says, okay, I'll take it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's just kind of how those things go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hundreds of goats and sheep and rams and camels, cows and donkeys, and after they have this exchange and they talk a little bit, it's time to get moving, they can't stay here forever on the southern bank of the Yobok River, they've got to get moving, and E.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S.S

[SPEAKER_00]: And the flocks and herds have their young too.

[SPEAKER_00]: If they are driven too hard, even for one day, all the animals could die.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please, my Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead of your servant.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will follow slowly at a pace that is comfortable for the livestock and the children.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will meet you at say here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will meet you at say here.

[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like all the family relationships are good now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody's back together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody's on the same page.

[SPEAKER_00]: but things aren't always as they seem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 15, Esau says, all right, but at least let me assign some of my men to guide and protect you and Jacob responded, that's not necessary.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's enough that you've received me warmly, my Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Esau turned around and started back to say here that same day, Jacob, on the other hand, traveled on to Sukkot.

[SPEAKER_00]: What did he do?

[SPEAKER_00]: He told his brother that he would meet him at say here,

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, no, no, no, don't bother leaving any men here.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're good.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll follow you slowly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't expect us for a little while.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he went the other way.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can see where say here is it's down south quite a ways from the Yobok River where they had their first encounter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob's bowed seven times.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's offered many gifts to show that he was a changed man, but he wasn't completely changed, was he?

[SPEAKER_00]: He was still the deceiver.

[SPEAKER_00]: His name is Jacob, which technically is pronounced Yoko.

[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds like the word for heal, which is why they gave him that name.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is often how names would go.

[SPEAKER_00]: You name a kid, something that sounds like something related to their birth, or something you want them to become.

[SPEAKER_00]: A character attribute you want them to have.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the word for heal and Hebrew is OK.

[SPEAKER_00]: and al-Qaiv is very similar to Yaqov, and so that's what they name him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then Isa after Jacob tricks his father and deceives his father.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isa goes, well, his name really is appropriate, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because he's a deceiver, and the word for deceiv is al-Qaiv.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's named Yaqov, because it sounds like al-Qaiv, the heel, but Isa says, what a fitting name, because it also sounds like al-Qaiv, which means deceiver, liar.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll be honest with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I get to this part in the story.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm pretty disappointed with Jacob at this point.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I really thought he was beyond this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really thought he had grown at this point.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has the struggle with God and God has given him a new name and says, you're not Jacob anymore, your Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk about that more in a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this is just another example of the flaws and failures of the people that we look back to as founders of faith in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's chosen people who do he did incredible things within yet they were not perfect people.

[SPEAKER_00]: They had flaws and mistakes and failures just like us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it reminds us that all of us mess up, that all of us need the forgiveness of God, that all of us need a Savior, that even these incredible people Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, all of these people, they still need it, God, none of them could attain salvation perfection on their own.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were flawed human beings just like you and me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Jacob, instead of going south to say here, he goes to Sukkot, to the West, away from Isa, and after he's at Sukkot, he then goes even further to the West, to Shekam, and there he builds an altar to worship God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what happens at Shekam is pretty rough.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's in chapter 34.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can read the whole thing if you want to.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to summarize it for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to try to do it somewhat delicately, but I also want you to understand what's going on in this story.

[SPEAKER_00]: The son of the ruler of Shekam, whose name is actually Shekam, forces himself on the daughter of Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: Her name is Dina, but we would call her Dina today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then that son decides he wants to marry her.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he and his father go to Jacob and her brothers, full brothers, Simian and Levi and half brothers, the rest of them, and Jacob to say, hey, we want this boy to be able to marry this daughter, and you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: We should have lots of that going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we should have your daughters and our husbands get married and we'll provide great husbands for them and we could kind of integrate as people and we'll be better together.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're willing to give you lots of money to make this happen because we think this will be really good for both of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it will force us to live at peace with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the sons of Jacob here, that suggestion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they say, okay, we're all right with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: On one condition.

[SPEAKER_00]: This covenant from our ancestor Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that covenant says that if you're part of our family, if you're gonna be a part of this covenant community, you have the males all have to be circumcised.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so in order for your men to marry our women and for us to really kind of become like one people, we need all of your guys and check them, every one of them has to be circumcised.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the leader and his son go back to their people and they talk to them and they explain the deals, the terms of this deal, and for some reason the guys aren't on board.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not all keen on the idea of every one of them getting circumcised as adults, but the leader and his son say to the people, hey look, if we will go through with this thing, I get it, I get it, you don't want to do it, I don't blame you, but if we will go through this thing, all of their wealth will be ours.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they were going to deceive and manipulate Jacob and his sons to get all of their wealth.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they agreed to it, and they all did it.

[SPEAKER_00]: the same day, probably should have staged it out a little bit if we're being honest.

[SPEAKER_00]: But while they were still in the aftermath of that procedure, Simeon and Levi come into the town when all of the men are out of commission and they kill all the men out of revenge for what happened to their sister, Dina.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the other brothers, the half-brothers show up in the town.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't know what similarly they were doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: They showed up, they find out that all the men have died, and then they just ransacked the place.

[SPEAKER_00]: They take everything of value.

[SPEAKER_00]: They looted all, they take it back to their tents and to their people, and they even take the women and the children back as servants.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was unbelievable what they did to the people of Shekham.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jacob didn't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob found out after the fact,

[SPEAKER_00]: When he found out, what do you think his reaction was?

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think Jacob did?

[SPEAKER_00]: Was he disgusted with his sons for murdering innocent people?

[SPEAKER_00]: The tears closed and put on sackcloth and ashes to mourn the loss of life and the treachery committed by his own family members?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at verse 30.

[SPEAKER_00]: Afterward, Jacob said to Simian and Levi, the two guys that did the killing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've made me stink among all the people of this land, among all the Canaanites and the Parasites.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are so few that they will join forces and crush us and I will be ruined.

[SPEAKER_00]: And my entire household will be wiped out.

[SPEAKER_00]: You get what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't say, how could you do this to speakable thing?

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't rebuke them for killing innocent people and stealing all of their stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said four things in this statement.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, you have ruined me.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have tarnished my reputation.

[SPEAKER_00]: You made me stink.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have threatened my safety.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to crush us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you have likely destroyed my legacy.

[SPEAKER_00]: My entire household is going to be wiped out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, based on these last few stories about Jacob,

[SPEAKER_00]: what he did with his brother, Issa, and deceiving him.

[SPEAKER_00]: What his family did to the people of Shekam, his response to the horrible treatment that his family inflicted on an entire town because of the sin admittedly of one individual.

[SPEAKER_00]: How would you describe Jacob's character?

[SPEAKER_00]: How would you just, what are the attributes of this man that we look back on and go, wow?

[SPEAKER_00]: He is Israel, the founder of the God's nation,

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I would describe him as deceptive, as self-centered, selfish, prideful, fearful, anxious.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob is not exactly a role model, and now he's hit rock bottom, because now he believes that all of the people around him are going to gather together and crush him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what we need to understand about rock bottom, because we hit this too.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we are at rock bottom,

[SPEAKER_00]: Often, we help to put us there.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you hit rock bottom, usually if you're really being honest about it, there's often something we did to help contribute to why we are there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob was not a great example to his kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was not a great role model.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was not a great father.

[SPEAKER_00]: His flaws showed through pretty easily.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's in this position, this very dangerous position, because of the decisions that he made and the character that he has failed to teach his sons is he solely responsible, no, of course not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the other side has responsibility, as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, the whole point of them going through with this was to deceive and manipulate Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's wrong all the way around.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jacob has contributed to this situation that he finds himself in.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you don't see any acknowledgment of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't see him say, wow, I have failed you as a father.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you were willing to go through and do this terrible thing, you don't see that.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no ownership on his part.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the other thing about rock bottom.

[SPEAKER_00]: often God meets us there.

[SPEAKER_00]: This sometimes is where God shows up right when we need him at rock bottom, even though we may have been the cause of it, or we may have been a contributor to it, God meets us at rock bottom, and that's what Jacob needs, and that's exactly what he gets.

[SPEAKER_00]: The next verse we're going to look at is in chapter 35, verse 1, then God said to Jacob, get ready, and move to Bethel and settle there, build an altar there to the God who

[SPEAKER_00]: Right now Jacob thinks he's going to get crushed, but God shows up again.

[SPEAKER_00]: God shows up again, like he did when Jacob was running from Esan, Esan wanted to kill him because of stuff Jacob did that was wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Jacob was with Laban, God showed up when Laban was cheating him and God showed up there.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Jacob was heading south because God told him to and he's about to meet Esan, God showed up there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here he is again, God shows up when he's really hit rock bottom.

[SPEAKER_00]: When he's afraid that his sons have caused such treachery that the nations around them are gonna squat up and go to war and just crush him like a bug.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God's message is so simple, go to Bethel, and start fresh there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go to Bethel and build an altar to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God that showed up to you there, it's time to move back to this place where things really started.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're God gave him that first covenant promise, the same one that he gave to his father and his grandfather, go back to Bethel and build an

[SPEAKER_00]: This is actually the only time where God tells Jacob to build an altar and tells him where to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other times Jacob did it usually as a response to something that God did, so to remember what was done there, or he just went to a new place and he built an altar, kind of like how we would build a church and say this is the place where we're going to gather and worship God together.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here, God says you need to go build an altar at Bethel and Jacob response.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob finally gets it.

[SPEAKER_00]: and he gets his family together and he makes some changes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some changes that he should have made a long time ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to call this the Bethlehem reset.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to hit the reset button for him and for his family.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to get some things right.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to make some changes around here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we need that, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here's what he does, verse two.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Jacob told everyone in his household, get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has been with me wherever I have gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great trainier sheckham.

[SPEAKER_00]: As they set out, a terror from God spread over all the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob's family.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, they would have killed him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God forced them to stay back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz also called Bethel in Canaan.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob built an altar there and named the place El Bethel, which means God of Bethel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because God had appeared to him there when he was fleeing from his brother, Esau.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, when you've hit rock bottom and when you feel far from God and when you've messed up big and you're not sure how to keep going, what you need is a Bethel reset like what we just saw from Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to follow these steps.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we can apply all of these steps to our own lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are principles here, lessons here, that we can take and learn from.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we probably need to Bethel reset every year, every month.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to practice these steps on a regular basis.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me walk through them.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first one is that we need to take out the trash.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to take out the trash.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that Jacob has this invitation from God to go start fresh at Bethel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the first thing he does is say, all right, guys, let's get rid of all the idols, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: He knew about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He knew they were all practicing other faiths.

[SPEAKER_00]: He knew they were all worshiping pagan gods.

[SPEAKER_00]: He probably knew that probably his wife Rachel was doing it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, she stole the idols from her father on the way out, and she got to keep them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is where we finally see a resolution to that story.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no resolution in the previous story.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's got him hidden under the camel saddle and her dad comes in looking for him and she doesn't get up for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he never finds them.

[SPEAKER_00]: But she stole those pagan idols.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now we finally get the resolution to the story where Jacob says, all right, all right, all right, let's get rid of all the idols.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got to take out the trash.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are things in our lives that function as idols for us, even if they're not made of gold statues that we worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are things that we ascribe value and worth to above our relationship with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are things that actually lead us away from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Things that we in essence worship because worship comes from the idea of worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's what we think is worthy of our time, our attention, and our praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes in life we end up serving things above and beyond God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We serve our career, we serve relationships, we serve comfort, we serve control, we serve escape,

[SPEAKER_00]: We serve all sorts of things that we think in the moment will make us happy and we serve those over God in those function as idols for us, C.S.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lewis wrote, we are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are far too easily, please.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is Lewis saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: We are so quick to run after the pleasures of this world and give them priority in our life over our relationship with our heavenly Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't even understand the joy that it is to just walk with Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: To walk with God, to be close to Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first thing you need to do is look around in your life at those things that are idols for you, those things to take your attention away from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe you need to do something drastic to get rid of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, if your eye causes you to sin, you should cut it out and throw it away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that was a figure of speech.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what he means is you need to be willing to take drastic action to get rid of those things that cause you to sin that lead you away from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to take out the trash.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second thing Jacob says is purify yourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is not just about putting on fresh clothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not just saying, hey, you're kind of stinky.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to take a bath.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the idea of you need to get your whole self in line with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your inner desires, your heart, you need to be pure before Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to have the right mindset before Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what he's saying by this is, we are spiritually dirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are not clean before God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to get pure before God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They all have wrong desires inside and they've been acting on them.

[SPEAKER_00]: They all have wrong desires inside and they

[SPEAKER_00]: have been dwelling on them, and the Bethel Risa involves both removing those things that function as idols in our lives, but also examining the inside of us and realizing, wow, there are desires that I have, dreams that I have temptations that I have, dwellings of the heart that I have that go against the thing God wants for me, or come before God in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I need to look inward and I need to get pure.

[SPEAKER_00]: those things that I allow to sit in there and stew and dwell on, the bitterness toward other people that I've been holding onto.

[SPEAKER_00]: The impure thoughts that I've been holding onto that I go back to again and again, those things that are inside the temptations to sin that's not wrong to be tempted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was tempted and did not sin, but the temptation that we allow to stick around that we keep in our life.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we need to get pure from.

[SPEAKER_00]: Philippians four gives us this incredible list of what we're supposed to dwell on in our minds.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable and excellent and worthy of praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are the things that should fill our mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have to get pure.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have to take out the trash and then we need to build an altar.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number three is to build an altar.

[SPEAKER_00]: An altar is a place of worship, and it's a place of remembrance.

[SPEAKER_00]: God told Jacob to build this altar at Bethel, the place where God showed up to him and gave him that covenant promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And alters are kind of like the opposite of an idol.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of taking us away from God, they point us to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They center us on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, it's great.

[SPEAKER_00]: If there's something in your life that you can look at,

[SPEAKER_00]: as an altar, first thing in the morning so that you're just reminded to center your life around God that they no matter what activities are going on for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your work can be an act of worship for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you start the day with the right mindset, your school can be an act of worship for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your shopping can be an act of worship for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: No amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your shopping can be an act of worship for God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pause on that for a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: How can shopping be an act of worship for God?

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, let's say that you start your day and you've got some reminder in your life to center your thoughts and your heart on God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you're shopping, if you're thinking God, thank you so much for providing so that I can actually go buy these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for blessing me with gifts that I don't even deserve.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for giving good gifts to your children because maybe today I'm not even just shopping for food.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm shopping for something else.

[SPEAKER_00]: There will be really nice to have, really fun to have.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I wouldn't even have this if it weren't for your blessing my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's an act of worship to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're not even just shopping for yourself, but you're aware of the needs of others around you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you're trying to bless other people as you're doing this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're helping out with other people and providing for them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm thinking of all of the people that contributed to the back-to-school fair that we had here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who went shopping and provided resources so that other kids who need them could have them to go to school and could do that in Jesus name and could be brought into the church to get those items and back-packs full of things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Shopping can be an act of worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: if it's done with the right mindset, with the right heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what reminds us to have that heart in our life will oftentimes it's some kind of an altar.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in our culture today, it is not common for us to set up stacks of rocks in our front yard to serve as that reminder to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are welcome to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to go home today and just set up a pile of rocks in your front yard, it would be a great gospel conversation starter.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't want to do that, I understand here are some other suggestions.

[SPEAKER_00]: What could be an altar in your life that reminds you of God's goodness and reminds you to worship Him?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but I need reminders.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm a very visual person.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need a visual reminder.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need something that's going to prompt me to go, ah, I need to remember to thank God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to remember to praise Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to remember to center my life around Him today.

[SPEAKER_00]: What are some examples?

[SPEAKER_00]: Journal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not everybody's a journaler, not everybody's good at that sort of a thing, but if you journal and you write down the things that God has done for you and that you have gratitude for and the prayer requests that you have in the answers to prayer, that could be a way every day or several times a week to center you on God, what he's done for you and bring you to worship him and praise him and pray to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: That could be an altar for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It could be a playlist.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a playlist that you have set up with all these songs that remind you of the goodness of God and all the things that he's done and lead you to pray for other people and to think about just the wonderful things that he has done in your life, that could be like an altar for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: For me, this year, the most effective altar in my life has been this thing right here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because every day I put this on and it's my reminder to stop and pause and thank God for what he's done in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: and to thank him for giving me salvation, and then to pray for other people to worship God, and to pray that he sends more people out to reach more people for Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: This has been the most effective altar that I have had all year, it's been great.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pastor Alistair Begg has some great thoughts on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, the principle of the Ebenezer is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now an Ebenezer is not exactly an altar, but it's like an altar.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a monument stone of remembrance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Very similar to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: A reminder of what God has done in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, the principle of the Ebenezer is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: We raise a stone of remembrance, not so we can live in the past, but so that the past can live in us, fortifying us for the future.

[SPEAKER_00]: Each stone says, up to this point, the Lord has helped me.

[SPEAKER_00]: It becomes a fixed point of reference in a shifting world, a testimony to God's unchanging faithfulness that gives us courage to face whatever comes next.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what's your altar?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is that visible, physical thing in your life that points you back to God every single day?

[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't have to be the same for everyone?

[SPEAKER_00]: but there needs to be something after you take out the trash and you purify yourself, there's gotta be something that reminds you to stay on the right track.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fourth part of the Bethlehem reset comes after Jacob moves back to Bethlehem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 9 says, now that Jacob had returned from Patonaram, got appeared to him again at Bethlehem, got blessed him saying, your name is Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you will not be called Jacob any longer.

[SPEAKER_00]: From now on, your name will be Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: So God renamed him Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, eagle-eyed students of God's word may recall that this is a repeat.

[SPEAKER_00]: This already happened not long before.

[SPEAKER_00]: The wrestling match that he has with God afterward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob wants him to bless me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bless him as many says, your name will no longer be Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: You will now be called Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is it happening again?

[SPEAKER_00]: because Jacob was not living up to his new name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob went about business as usual.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the very next morning he deceives his brother again.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then his family commits this horrible deed.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Jacob shows his self-centeredness and his selfishness about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's not living up to his new name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob, as we discussed, refers to the heel that he was grabbing when he was born, but it also is an illusion, eventually to his deception.

[SPEAKER_00]: Israel means something like, he struggles with God, or struggling with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: God gives him this new name on the way to me, Esa, but Jacob has not been living as one who wrestles with God every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love the fact that that's the name that he gives him, because sometimes that describes my relationship with God, does it describe yours?

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't it sometimes a struggling or wrestling?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's actually what God wants.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wants us to contend with Him on a daily basis.

[SPEAKER_00]: We live in a broken and fallen world.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're gonna have struggles.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna wrestle with things.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to be in there with us, in the match with us, fighting with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we bring our concerns and frustrations before God has David did in the Psalms and we wrestle with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a lot better than being the one who grabbed the heel and the one who deceives.

[SPEAKER_00]: So God gives him this new name, and He has not been living up to His name.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about His identity, and God is saying, don't forget, you're not the little brother grab in the heal anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't forget, you're not the deceiver anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, I gave you a new name, and so you need to continue to wrestle with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever struggled with your identity?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about the most human struggle there is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now maybe you've never deceived your brother, manipulated him out of his birthright.

[SPEAKER_00]: but I'll bet there are some names that could stick to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there are some names like failure or anxious or unworthy or addict or disappointment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you just hear that word and it makes you twinge a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because, ooh, that is a part of my story.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is a part of my identity.

[SPEAKER_00]: But listen, if you've trusted in Jesus, he makes you into a new person.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those things might be a part of your story.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not supposed to be a part of your identity because God gives you new names.

[SPEAKER_00]: God calls you new things.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says you are a child of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says you are forgiven.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says you are beloved.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says you are his masterpiece.

[SPEAKER_00]: He calls you saints and just like Jacob, we have to be reminded on a regular basis of our new identity, of our new name so that we will live in them.

[SPEAKER_00]: To have the Bethlehem reset, you've got to take out the trash, the aisles in your life, you've got to purify yourself, you've got to have altars that point you back to got and you have to live in your new identity, we're going to call that number four, embrace your new name.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the most disrespectful things we can do to our savior is when we trust in him for salvation and then don't live like we're saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we trust in him for forgiveness and then we don't live like we're

[SPEAKER_00]: We go back to the slums and the mudpies instead of living in the reality and the joy that we have healing and forgiveness and freedom and Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: Does that mean every day feels amazing?

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: Does that mean we never hit rock bottom?

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that means we always remember that we have a God who loves us and a Savior who is promised to never leave us or forsake us and that we are children of God and we are forgiven and healed and beloved.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have this new identity so we need to live like it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob lived a life that was full of mistakes and full of regrets, but here in the last season of his life, God invites him to have this reset at Bethel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I would not be surprised if some of us here today need that reset as well, that reset in our life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to invite you right now to just close your eyes for a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bow your heads.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just you and your Heavenly Father talk to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, is there anything in my life that is an idle right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there anything that I need to take out the trash?

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to bury this thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to take drastic action to get this thing that has taken priority over you, over living for you out of my life?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there anything in my heart, my mind, that I need to purify?

[SPEAKER_00]: Anything I've allowed to just take up space and live rent free in my head temptations that I dwell on, desires that I need to surrender over to you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there anything in my life, God, that I need to look at as an altar of remembrance to you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there some thing or action or routine, some place that I need to remember to go pray to you every day, something that can serve as an altar to remind me to worship and thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God, how have I not been embracing the new identity that you have given me?

[SPEAKER_00]: How have I been living in fear and anxiety?

[SPEAKER_00]: And allowing those mistakes from my past to become the story of my life instead of a story of your grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: to make the limp, not that remembrance of shame, but a trophy of what you have done for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's all pray to our Heavenly Father right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, you've done such an incredible work in our life to make it possible for us to be saved, to be a part of your family, to be redeemed and forgiven, and to find healing and new life in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God, the reality is like Jacob, even after we get our new identity in our new name, we don't always live like it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we still have idols hanging around.

[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes we still have impurities that we've allowed to just continue in our hearts and our minds.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, please help us today to live out the Bethel reset.

[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to not let it get as far in our lives in our families as it did for Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us be serious about our relationship and our walk with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us commit to living for you every day to putting those alters in our life that will remind us to focus on you and to embrace our new identity in you to enjoy that, to have the joy that you have given us of being a part of your family, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you for everything you've done for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to live that out and share that with others.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's in Jesus' name, we pray.