Wrestling with God (Genesis 32) | Jeff Rojas

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you for joining us.

To learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting, follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website, celebrationorl.

Good morning.

Pastor Keith told me you guys are more vocal.

Before we begin, I want to reciprocate the uh the gratitude and just show honor to Pastors Keith and Pastor Megan.

Um they came into our lives as a church when we needed it.

They came into my life personally when I needed it.

And I'm eternally grateful for you, your leadership, your friendship, and just saying yes.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I also want to show some love to the celebration staff and team.

Show them some love.

We're able to meet on Sundays and throughout the week to serve because of these people.

And so here's a plug, if you have not heard enough, for Teams.

And this is this is this is my personal plug.

They didn't ask me to do this.

I have built great friendships by serving alongside people in this room.

And so I encourage you, find your people, find your team, find a way to serve the kingdom beyond yourself.

Because there is no shortage of opportunity.

And like the old saying goes, the greatest ability is availability.

So why don't you come and be a part of that?

If we haven't met yet, my name is Jeff Rojas.

Um, or thanks to the World Cup in Holland, I see some of you smiling already.

As my kids would say, My name is Jeff.

Um but we've been, my wife and I have been a part of Celebration Orlando since the early days.

We were here when there was just interest meetings, and uh the people from Jacksonville were coming down, and my car almost got towed because I didn't know you couldn't park in downtown Orlando because its rules are different and stuff.

And my wife was like seven months pregnant, and I tried to pull that cart on the tow truck guy, and he wasn't buying it until she got there.

And I'm like, you know.

But we've been apart since the beginning, and it's been so amazing to see this church community grow and the impact it's had on the city of Orlando.

And I've seen multiple iterations and seasons, and maybe I'm a little biased, but this one's my favorite.

Uh not my favorite building.

Also, a plug.

We're looking for a building, so let's find that.

But it's been amazing to see what God has done in this city and for me and my family to be able to participate in that.

Uh, we moved here from Jacksonville back in 2012, and I would have never imagined Orlando would be home, but it is.

And so I am grateful to be here.

I am grateful for all of you in this room that make Celebration Church Orlando what it is.

It would not be the same without you.

And so I encourage you to continue to participate in the kingdom work that we're doing here.

Um, as I mentioned, my wife and I we moved here back in 2012.

This year, we will celebrate 20 years of a marriage.

Definitely easier for me than her, so I want to show her some love.

Outside of salvation, you're the greatest part of my story.

And I'm so grateful for you.

Too early.

In addition to marriage, we also have two kids.

We have a nine-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, and they keep us busy as you can imagine with the uh school sports and the constant what's for dinner, all those things.

Um but we're just we're like I said, we're excited and grateful for this community.

So we're gonna dive into the word.

You guys ready?

Yeah.

All right, so this morning I want to talk about the moment God changes a person's identity.

This morning we're gonna talk about a guy named dramatic pause.

Look at your neighbor and say, What's your name?

Okay, that was selfless.

I uh I was just trying to throw my sermon name out there.

You guys played along, so thank you.

Today we're gonna, the sermon title is What's Your Name?

But we're gonna talk about a guy named Jacob.

So if you have your Bible, I'd encourage you to jump into Genesis chapter 32.

Genesis 32 · chapter mention

It's near the beginning of the word.

If you do not have a Bible, there's a connect hint on your way out.

I encourage you grab one.

This book will change your life.

If you don't have your Bible with you, the words will be on the screen behind me, but we're gonna read in Genesis 32, starting in verse 22.

During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River with them.

After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn began to break.

When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob's hip and wrenched it out of its socket.

Then the man said, Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.

But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

What is your name?

the man asked.

He replied, Jacob.

Your name will no longer be Jacob, the man told him.

From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.

Please tell me your name, Jacob said.

Why do you want to know my name?

The man replied.

Then he blessed Jacob there.

Jacob named the place Pineel, which means face of God.

For he said, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.

The sun was rising as Jacob left Pineel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.

Will you join me in prayer?

God, thank you for this morning.

Thank you for this opportunity to dive into your word.

I pray that it would continue to challenge and transform us from the inside out, and that we will leave this place different than the way we came in.

That we would leave this place knowing that you have called us to better things.

It's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

I wonder how many of us have walked into church this morning trying to fix something.

Maybe it's a relationship, a habit, a failure, a version of ourselves we just don't like.

You see, we find ourselves simply trying to be good enough for God.

Trying to earn what only God's grace can give us.

And maybe without even realizing it, we start to believe this lie that if I just become good enough, God will accept me.

Or better yet, we start to say, God, if you would just change my circumstances or those people, then it would all be okay.

But Scripture has a way of challenging those assumptions.

Oftentimes in Scripture, we read that God begins to change the person before the circumstance.

In his book, Rest and War, Ben Stewart writes this much of what will define our lives is not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us.

And I think Jacob would agree.

You see, this story is so much more than just the man wrestling with God.

It's about God preparing a man to meet his future, his destiny, his true identity.

By the time we meet Jacob in these scriptures in chapter 32, he's been running for about 20 years.

See, he's manipulated, deceived, accumulated wealth, started a family, and now he's headed home.

The only problem is home includes Esau.

Now this is the brother he cheated and deceived, the brother who vowed to kill him.

So how did we get here?

How did we get to a place where he's terrified to meet his own brother?

Well, Jacob's story begins before he's ever born.

We read in Genesis that God tells Jacob's mother that there is a two nations inside of her womb.

And upon that, there's this struggle between these twin brothers who become Esau and Jacob.

They're literally fighting inside the womb.

So Esau is born first, and Jacob, not to be, you know, dismayed, grabs his brother's heel during birth, and that's where he gets his name.

The name Jacob literally is translated to heel grabber.

But here's the tricky thing.

Jacob then started to become an expression which meant more than heel grabber.

It started to mean deceiver or one who gets ahead by pulling other people down.

Now here's the fun part about names.

Back in those times, you were recognized by your name not just as what they called you, but who you were.

So as Pastor Vinny shared a few weeks ago, Abraham meant father of many.

Now, could you imagine your name is Jacob?

And you're meeting new people, and the only thing they have to gauge you by is the meaning or expression that your name has become, which is a deceiver.

It's almost as if his entire identity is established from birth, and it's not good.

So as the brothers continue to grow older, Jacob living up to his name, he begins to manipulate his way through life.

He manipulates his older brother into giving him his birthright for a bowl of soup.

Now we don't fully understand birthrights in today's time, but that was everything back then.

The birthright meant inheritance, it meant leadership, it meant your family blessing.

And since Jacob was a mama's boy, his mom then helped him trick his dad, who was dying and going blind, into stealing his older brother's blessing from him.

Another thing, like birthrights, blessings meant more back then.

The blessing defined who he was.

It was his inheritance, not just physically, but who he was to other people.

He was to become the guy, the man.

So for those of us keeping receipts on Jacob, let's talk about what he's done.

He's stolen the birthright from Esau, he's stolen the blessing from his dad, and he's destroyed the relationship with his father.

Spoiler alert, Jacob's brother Esau is not happy.

He's furious.

And he vows to kill Jacob.

So what would you do?

The same thing Jacob did.

He ran for his life.

He left home with nothing.

He found himself at his uncle's house.

Great news, right?

He found family.

The only problem is Jacob's uncle, also a deceiver.

A better deceiver.

And now Jacob spends the next 20 years of his life being manipulated by his uncle, who tricks him into marrying the wrong daughter, just to get free labor, and then convinces him that if he wants to marry Rachel, the one he loves, he's got to continue to work for free, all in an effort for success.

It's safe to say Jacob's life is a mess.

And maybe you've been there.

For the first time in his life, the deceiver is being deceived.

And he's on the other end of deception.

The manipulator's being manipulated.

And if you step back, you start to recognize something in Jacob's life: a pattern of sorts.

He's always grasping at something.

At birth, he grabs his brother's heel.

He then grabs the birthright.

He then grabs the blessing.

He grabs wealth from his uncle Laban.

His whole life has been defined by taking hold of what he thought he needed for success.

But despite all of Jacob's flaws, God blesses him.

His family grows, his wealth increases, his flocks multiply.

But the tricky thing here is Jacob never earned it.

The only way Jacob was able to experience that is because God was faithful to his covenant.

See, he was faithful then and he continues to be faithful now.

But there's still one thing left that Jacob has to do.

And God asks him, it's time to go home.

Sounds wonderful, right?

Not really.

Because who's at home?

Esau.

The very brother who wants him dead.

So what does Jacob do?

Well, he sends messengers ahead.

Let's find out what I'm what's here, what I'm here for.

And so he sends these messengers ahead, and the messengers return, and they have terrifying news.

Esau is coming, and with him, 400 men.

That's a lot of receipts.

Jacob assumes the worst.

Tomorrow he's gonna die.

And that's where we pick up Genesis 32.

See, this backstory makes this wrestling match so much more powerful.

Jacob isn't just afraid of Esau, he's carrying 20 years of guilt, 20 years of shame, 20 years of unresolved sin, 20 years of pretending he can outrun his past.

But before Jacob meets Esau, God meets Jacob.

Our first point this morning is this God meets us before we have it all together.

In Genesis 32, verse 22, we read, During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons, and they crossed the Jabbok River.

Genesis 32:22

After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break.

You see, Jacob's not on a spiritual retreat.

He's terrified.

He's running for his life still.

Tomorrow he's gonna face Esau, the brother he deceived, the one who wants him dead.

Twenty years have passed, but guilt and vengeance, they've got a long memory.

And Jacob is wrestling with this.

Have you ever found yourself in that situation, having not seen someone in a very long time?

Maybe it's a family member, maybe it's a friend, maybe it's an enemy.

But you start to tell yourself these stories of what that experience is gonna be like.

And that's where Jacob was.

And he found himself in this spot where he believed his greatest problem was down the road with 400 men.

But here's something heaven knew.

Jacob's greatest battle was not waiting ahead, it was waiting inside.

And here's what I've learned in life.

We all have an Esau.

Maybe it's regret, addiction, anger, fear, shame, unforgiveness, pride.

We all have that one thing that we're just scared to face.

Jacob spent all night preparing to meet with Esau.

But God spent all night preparing Jacob for his future.

Point two is this God wants honesty more than performance.

So let's jump back to the scripture.

In Genesis 32, 25, we read this.

Then the man said, Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.

But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

What is your name?

The man asked.

He replied, Jacob.

What is your name?

This question is often overlooked in this story.

God asked, What is your name?

He wasn't asking, What do people call you?

He was asking, who do you believe you are?

This question was not for information.

It was for confession.

The name Jacob had grown to meant deceiver, manipulator.

And for the first time in his life, he had to simply admit who he was.

No excuses, no blaming, no pretending, just an honest admission of who he is.

If God were to ask us the same question and we were to be honest, how would we answer that?

Failure?

Angry?

Not enough?

Forgotten?

Unworthy?

The problem is some of us have believed and heard these identities so long, these labels, that they we start to live like that's who we are.

And that's not our identity.

See, if we're careful, we read this story and we picture Jacob as just this stubborn guy who's just grabbing at everything, and when he's fighting the angel or God, he's like, Ah, I'm taking what's mine.

But that's not what we understand the story to be at all if we read what Hosea writes about the encounter.

See, hundreds of years later, the prophet Hosea gives us another detail to this story that we often miss, and that's in Hosea 12:4.

Hosea 12:4

Hosea writes, Yes, Jacob wrestled with the angel and won.

He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.

Did you guys catch that?

Jacob wasn't just wrestling, he was weeping.

He wasn't just trying to overpower God.

He had simply run out of places to run.

That, my friends, is not a weakness.

That's surrender.

We often find ourselves wanting that same transformation, but without honesty.

Freedom without confession.

Healing without vulnerability, and blessing without surrender.

But let me remind you of Jesus' words in John 8 32.

He said, You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Truth begins when we stop pretending.

God cannot transform the people we're pretending to be.

So staying in Genesis 32, verse 28, we read this Your name will no longer be Jacob, the man told him.

Genesis 32:28

From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.

We read that God says, You'll no longer be Jacob.

But why?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

God never defines us by who other people say we are.

He defines us by his purpose for us.

Notice some things here.

The outlook on Esau has not changed.

Tomorrow has not changed.

The circumstances have not changed.

But Jacob, Jacob's changed.

Oftentimes identity changes before circumstances.

But let's be clear about something here.

Jacob was not spiritually perfect.

If you continue to read in Genesis, he had a lot of growing into his identity to do.

But one thing remained he never again had to wonder whose he was.

God defined that.

Comes over time.

God is focused on our identity.

The Holy Spirit does that powerful work of transformation based on who God calls us to be.

God did not erase Jacob's past or personality, he redeemed it.

As Jacob, he was self-reliant.

As Israel, he was God reliant.

As Jacob, he was grasping for blessings.

As Israel, he was clinging to God.

As Jacob, he was defined by fear.

As Israel defined by faith.

And as Jacob, he sought identity through achievement.

But as Israel, he received identity from God.

The name Jacob described as history, but the name Israel declared his destiny.

To this point, let's talk briefly about a guy most of us have heard about.

His name is Simon.

He's in the Bible.

Some of you don't know who Simon became Peter, so you've probably heard of Peter.

Yeah, that guy, Peter, he's like, when Jesus was arrested, he took a sword and cut off the ear.

Jesus would say something, and Peter would like contradict it right away.

He told Jesus, I'll never, never deny you.

And then like a rooster crowed, and he's like, I don't know that guy.

That Peter, right?

Here's the amazing thing is Jacob's story is not unique.

If we read the story of Peter, we see that Jesus renamed Simon Peter in Matthew 16, 17 through 18.

It says this.

Jesus replied, You are blessed, Simon, son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.

You did not learn this from any human being.

Now I say to you that you are Peter, which means rock, and upon this rock I will build my church.

In all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

You see, long before Peter acted like it, Jesus recognized and knew his identity.

Jesus calls out who Peter will become, not who he was.

And friends, that's not specific to Peter or Jacob.

We read in Romans 3 that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.

Every single one of us needs grace.

We can't earn salvation.

Grace speaks identity before performance.

If we could fix ourselves, why did Jesus have to come and die?

The gospel is not change, then come.

The gospel is come and I'll change you.

Thank God it's a gospel of failure and transformation.

My final point is this wrestling or clinging to God changes the way we walk.

Back in Genesis 32, 31, we read this the sun was rising as Jacob left Pineel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.

Do you guys catch that?

The sun was rising.

Now, up to this point, it's been a story of darkness.

It's been nighttime.

But now we see a sunrise.

Isn't that beautiful imagery?

You see, Jacob expected to see Esau, but instead he saw God face to face.

So much so that he names the place after that.

He names it Penniel, which means face of God.

Think about that.

Jacob thought tomorrow's story was about Esau.

But in reality, tomorrow's story, today's story, yesterday's story, it's all about God.

He arrived expecting confrontation, but he left having experienced true communion with the Creator.

Not only did he see God, he walked away differently.

Jacob walks away blessed, he walks away renamed, but he also walks away limping.

While most of us would tend to celebrate this blessing in the story and the renaming of Jacob and oh his destiny.

I actually think the limp is part of the story that we miss.

It may be the greatest part of the story because it reminded Jacob, I didn't become Israel because I was strong.

I became Israel because God is faithful.

Transformation is not perfection.

Transformation is dependence.

The Christian life is not becoming less dependent on God the more spiritually mature you get.

It's becoming more dependent on Him every day.

In Romans 12, Paul encourages us to present our lives as a living and holy sacrifice to God.

Surrender is not just a one-time decision, it's an ongoing one, ongoing decision.

But here's the problem with Romans 12:1 when we read a living sacrifice.

Romans 12:1

If you're a living sacrifice, you can crawl off the altar at any time.

And that's where we catch ourselves.

So every day we must come to Him again and again and again.

Because the goal's not perfection, the goal is dependence.

The goal is change from the inside out.

Because when you truly cling to God, it changes the way we walk.

Now, while preparing this message, I came across a poem that I just kept going.

Instagram story, rabbit hole I went down.

But this poem was super specific to Jacob's walk in life.

And as I read Genesis 32, I just it just kept resonating with me.

So I'd like to read it to you guys this morning.

It's called Wrestling Matches by poet Kate Lab.

She writes, God and I have wrestled, each match has a cost.

I ask him to change his plans to give back what I lost.

In this meeting face to face with a violent kind of grace, I am humbled by the cross.

Though I have wrestled with man and won, my God is undefeated.

After losing, bruised, and wounded, crippled, I find freedom.

Freedom through dependence, for I was created to need him.

I still ask God my questions, I give to him my doubts.

Though he does not give the reasons, he answers with himself.

And I am healed by wounds, not prosperity or health.

In good and sovereign hands, suffering becomes a gift.

He knocks my pride out of his socket with a precious pain of the hill.

My God is so kind and gracious that he blesses with a lemon.

I think Jacob would have said amen.

Jacob walked into the night trying to save his life.

He walked away having found it.

He didn't leave stronger, he left dependent.

He didn't leave undefeated, he left surrendered.

He did not leave without scars, he left with a limp.

And somehow that limp is evidence of God's blessing.

The blessing was not the injury or the limp.

The blessing was a dependence that that injury produced.

The last thing we read in Genesis 32 is not that Jacob won.

We read that he limped away.

Every step home reminded him that I'm not the man I used to be.

Not because he became stronger, because he finally stopped pretending.

And thousands of years later, another man would wrestle in a garden.

See, Jacob wrestled because of his own sin.

But Jesus wrestled because of ours.

Jesus would pray, Not my will, but yours be done.

And unlike Jacob, Jesus didn't walk away limping, he walked willingly to the cross.

While Jacob held on to God until he received his blessing, Jesus held on to God's will until he became the blessing.

He took our sin, he carried our shame, and he bore our punishment.

He died so that we could experience true transformation.

Maybe you've spent years like me doing what Jacob did, grasping for approval, success, control, security, acceptance.

But those things can never give what God's grace can.

Today the invitation is simple.

It's not to keep grasping for God's blessings, it's to simply cling to God Himself.

To stop grasping and start clinging, to come honestly, to come wounded, to come afraid, to come as you are.

At the beginning, we started with the question, what's your name?

But more important than that question is who God says you are.

And he has so much more for you than the labels that you've picked up along the way.

This morning we're gonna go into a time of reflection as the band plays.

And while oftentimes we come into church and we hear a message like this and we think, oh, I know God, I don't, you know, it's a cute message.

Thanks.

A lot of us that have walked with God through the years have picked up labels that He never, He never assigned to us.

And friends, there is an identity that He has for us that is so much greater than any label any person could ever put on you.

But it's not until we come to Him without pretending, with no pretense and no decision, no desire for blessing.

It's not until then that we can start to see the face of God.

Because His hand is great.

Man, I've lived a lot of my life resting in the palm of God and His grace that I did not deserve.

But it was not until I stopped pretending.

And I looked him in the eyes face to face that I experienced God's face.

And my goodness, the hand is great, but the face of God is different.

And maybe that's you this morning.

We have room for both.

So as we examine our heart, if you are in this room and you have never experienced God before, you've never asked Jesus to come into your heart, I encourage you to make that decision.

We will say a prayer.

We have a team outside at the tent that would love to walk through that journey with you.

It is one of it is the greatest decision you can ever make in life.

And maybe you're in that second group like me.

And it's time to just put the labels down.

It's time to embrace the identity that God has for you.

I encourage you in this time of reflection to lay those labels at the feet of Jesus, at the foot of the cross, and look, God, face to face and experience a relationship like you never have before.

Will you join me in prayer?

God, I thank you for your word that challenges and changes us from the inside out.

God, I thank you for true transformation.

God, for those of my friends in this room that have never experienced a relationship with you, I pray that you would be with them this morning.

God, I pray that they would just be begin to experience you in a real way.

If that's you this morning, we're gonna just say a simple prayer.

It truly is as elementary as A, B, and C.

Admit you're a sinner.

Believe that Jesus died and rose again for your sins, and then just confess him as your Lord and Savior.

And your life will never be the same.

So if that's you in this room, you can repeat this out louder in your heart.

Dear Jesus, I thank you for today.

I thank you for dying and giving your life for my sins.

I confess I'm a sinner and I welcome you into my life.

I confess you as my Lord and Savior.

Amen.

For the rest of us in this room, God, I pray that you would continue to just encourage us to lay those labels down at the foot of the cross.

God, that we would truly be changed and transformed by looking you in the eyes and stop pretending and start to truly share our lives with you.

God, I pray that you would change us, God, and that this week would be different, Father, that we would continue to experience you in a real way, and that you would help our relationships not just with you, but with others, to go deeper because of this.

God, we thank you for your word and all that you've done for us.

It's in your name that we pray.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at Celebration ORL or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.