Fear vs. Faith
Epic - The Story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 54:51
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Today, we come to the end of the story of Jacob, not because he dies, but because the focus shifts after this to the life of Joseph. Joseph is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, and I am excited to go through the life of Joseph starting the Sunday after Easter. We will finish up the book of Genesis with the death of Joseph.
Last September, I believe it was, we started our journey through the book of Genesis with chapter 1 and the creation account, and we will finish up the book with Genesis chapter 50 in the month of June.
Next week, we will break off from this series as we celebrate Easter and remember the death burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will encourage you to bring family and friends, especially those that do not know Jesus as their Savior. This will be an excellent opportunity to invite them to hear a clear Gospel presentation.
We have Easter invitations that we will be handing out, and we will be doing something a bit different. After the service today, the teens will be out in the lobby handing out packets of Easter invitations. Each packet contains 10 invitations. What I'd like to see happen is that every person take at least one packet and hand them out throughout the week. Take some to work, to the grocery store, to school, and to your neighborhood. I am guessing that most of us have at least ten houses around us (or more) that we can invite to church.
If you're nervous about talking to someone, just put it on their door.
This area around here has been canvassed a lot, and we want to reach out a little bit further. So instead of setting up a time to go and place invites around here, I am asking you to go to your neighborhoods, your workplaces, your schools, your friends outside of these walls and invite them to your church.
I hope y'all're as excited about Easter as I am. This Wednesday we will be stuffing eggs and making baskets for those families that we will be doing the egg drops for. So Wednesday there won't be any kids or teen classes, we will be focusing our efforts on praying for these 12 families and getting their baskets ready.
Alright, enough of announcements, lets get into the message this morning.
We have been looking a lot at family dynamics as we have studied through the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob. I hope it hasn't seemed bothersome or repetitive for you. I hope we are understanding that our primary ministry, every one of us, is our families.
Look, I am a pastor, but my primary ministry is to my wife and kids. If I fail at being a husband and father, then I will fail at being a church member and pastor.
We have people that teach kids ministries and Dusty and Ashley that teach the teens, but their primary ministry is to their own families. They are to live within their families as God would have them live, because if they fail at their responsibilities in the family, they will fail at discipling others.
You might be sitting there thinking, "Well, I don't have a ministry. I don't need to worry about it." You would be dead wrong. Ministry means service. You don't have to be a pastor or a teacher to be a minister. In fact, if you are a Christian, if you have Jesus as your personal savior, you are a minister. We are all called to serve those around us.
And teens and young adults who are not married yet or out of the house, you are a minister to your family too. The position that you hold in your family does not affect the fact that you are a minister to your family.
- If you are married, you have spousal responsibilities in the way you serve your wife or husband
- Parents, you are ministers to your children and your ministry is in leadership to them
- Children, you have responsibilities as sons and daughters and how you are to minister to your parents
- And if you have siblings, you are a minister, a servant, to them as well
all in the love of and for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Then, that will spill over into the church. That will in turn spill over into our community that we are looking to serve. But it all starts at home. It starts with how we interact with our families.
And this is the reason we have been looking so much at family interactions. It is something that is easy to put on the back burner, but it should be one of those things that is always at the forefront of our minds.
So with that, we enter into the message this morning.
We left off last week with an EPIC wrestling match. This thing was better and more significant than any WWE pay-per-view event there ever has been. This was more epic than any UFC fight or boxing match there ever has been.
This was a struggle between Jacob and God in the flesh. Jacob does not realize who he is fighting until the end. I believe that Jacob believes he is wrestling with an angel, but we do know what he was wrestling for.
What was Jacob wanting? What was the reason he wrestled this "angel" that turned out to be an incarnation of God? He wanted a blessing.
That's right. Jacob wanted a blessing from the Lord. Jacob had been blessed by God before as he ran from his angry brother. It turned out that even away from home, even though he dwelled in the home of a man that was even more manipulative an selfish than Jacob was, that God's blessings could not be stopped. God's blessing included material blessings, but the other thing that God had promised him as he ran from home was protection. Jacob was able to see that protection, not only on himself, but on his family and protection of everything being taken from him by his angry father-in-law, Laban.
Now, 20 years after running from the land of Canaan, Jacob is returning. The last thing he heard his brother say was, "I'm going to kill you." And now as he returns, he is getting ready to meet his brother Esau that is coming to him with 400 hundred men.
Jacob has split his camp in two, so that if Esau attacks on group, the other can escape alive. He has sent messengers and droves of cattle to try to appease Esau. He has declared himself a servant of Esau, even though he is the possessor of the birthright. He has sent his family over a river to keep them further off from the rest of the camp. Jacob is scared.
Then, he sees what he thinks is an angel or someone with the authority to give a blessing from God. The last time he received a blessing from the Lord, Jacob was blessed physically and was protected. I imagine Jacob is seeking a blessing so that protection from the Lord will continue to follow him as he approaches an angry brother that is coming with a company of 400 men. As night falls, he wrestles with this person and will not give up. They wrestle all night and the stranger strikes a blow to the inside of Jacob's thigh, dislocating it from the hip. Soundly beaten, Jacob still refuses to let go.
Because of his perseverance in the pursuit of something good, God gives him a blessing. We do not the details of the blessing, but we do know that at that time, God changes Jacob's name.
What does Jacob mean? Heel-catcher, supplanter, deceiver, trickster. And that is exactly what Jacob was. He was a deceiver and a trickster.
But God changes his name to Israel. The meaning of the word Israel is disputed, but it very well could mean one who strives with God, one who has power with God, or one who is controlled by God. Either way, God gives him this new name and a title of prince. Jacob then realizes that the person he has been wrestling with all night is none other than God Himself, and worships God there, not for the blessing, not for the new name or title, but because he has had the privilege of standing face to face with God. And as the morning sun dawns, Jacob leaves that wrestling match with a new name, a new identity, a new title, and a new limp.
This is where we pick up this morning.
Genesis 33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
I want you to notice chapter 32:1-2 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Jacob is on his way back to Canaan, nervous about the fact that he will be encountering his brother Esau, but lifts his eyes and notices that he is not alone. He is being accompanied by a host, an army of God's angels. This encourages him. But we saw last week how he had quickly lost sight of the fact that God was with him once he hears that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men.
Jacob now has not only seen the army of the Lord, but the face of God Himself. He's had a conversation with God. His whole life has been re-branded, and Jacob has the opportunity of a fresh start with strength and confidence and faith in the Lord.
But look at 33:1-2 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.
Jacob starts scheming again. He is walking away, or rather, limping away, from the place he just met and talked with God. But he treats that event like a distant memory. The pain in his hip and thigh, even the limp is not enough to remind him that he just had a blessing from God.
And Jacob fails. The prince with God stopped reigning and started scheming once again. His camp is split behind the river. But now he lines up his wives and their children in order of least-loved to most-loved. So that if something bad goes down, at least Rachel will have time to escape with her son Joseph.
In a couple of weeks we will get into the life of Joseph, and you will notice that he is hated by all his older brothers. Can you see why now? Jacob had placed them all as a buffer (remember the "speed bumps" we talked about last week?) so that Joseph would have the best chance at survival should Esau attack.
Jacob has set up his family, and now makes his way forward to meet Esau.
Genesis 33:3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
Fear is a strong persuader. It is born of uncertainty and itself promotes even more widespread uncertainty. Faith and fear are enemies. One of the two will always win out. A few days ago, Ella was looking through a Ripley's Believe It Or Not book with Mia. There are a few creepy images in that book, and after having seen a man that had needles all stuck in his face, she started to become afraid.
She did not read the caption under the picture. She was scared of what had happened to the man.
When she finally settled down enough to talk, I asked her what she thought had happened. She thought that someone had attacked the man somehow and stuck dozens of needles in his face. This conjured up images of someone possibly doing that to her, and she became scared.
When I got on to her sister for letting her look at that book in the first place, I began to explain that the man in question had stuck the needles into his own face. He had not suffered at the hands of attackers, and she would not be attacked and have needles stuck in her face. After explaining this, she calmed down. Why? 2 reasons that go hand-in-hand.
- She trusted me
- I told her the truth
Faith and facts are the enemies of fear. Fear and uncertainty are the enemies of facts and faith.
Let's discuss the facts about Jacob and his situation.
- He is no longer who he once was. He is a prince with God and has power with God and with man.
- He is the ruler over Esau
- He possesses the birthright of his family, and therefore is in authority
- He has been blessed by God; specifically in the blessing given to Jacob was the promise of God's protection
- He has just experienced the protection by God from his father-in-law, Laban
- For the last 20 years, he has been experiencing physical blessings from the Lord
These are the facts about Jacob. But something has crept into Jacob's heart, and that something is fear. There is an excellent song that personifies fear; it is called Fear Is A Liar by Zach Williams. Part of the the chorus goes like this:
Fear, he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
This is exactly what has happened to Jacob. It was common, and still is, to bow in salutation as you greet someone in middle-eastern cultures. But Jacob took it a step further. He bowed seven times, a sign of complete subjection. He split his family and his camp up in fear. He negated all the facts that we just talked about, all because of fear.
But look what happens. Genesis 33:4-7 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. 5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. 6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.
Esau has no ill-will toward them. He is happy to see his brother and the family God has given him.
Genesis 33:8-16 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. 12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. 14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.
16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
Let's take note of somethings here. First, remember that Jacob was limping now. It was a physical weakness, but that limp signified the source of Jacob's new found strength. God had weakened Jacob and humbled him, so that Jacob would now rest completely on the Lord and not on his own. Instead of owning his limp and being strengthened by the Lord, however, Jacob resorts to bowing.
He bows himself, he bows his family and in the last 9 verses, refers to himself as "servant" and Esau as "my lord" 7 times!
Don't get me wrong, we should be humble. Jesus humbled Himself when He came to be born on this earth and lived a humble life and died a cruel death. But he was never stripped of His identity.
Fear will attempt to strip you of who you are in Christ, and that is exactly what it did to Jacob.
It should be abundantly clear to Jacob that Esau is not there to harm him. Esau's heart has changed. This was an excellent time to witness to Esau (who was not a God follower) about the Lord. Jacob tells Esau that it was so good to see Esau's face that was not angry. As good as seeing God's face! But He makes no mention that he has had face to face encounters with God. The only thing he says about God is that God has been gracious with him, and that is it. He says nothing about his blessings, his protection, how God has worked when others schemed against him. He doesn't mention how an army of God's angels has been accompanying him fro the last several days, and he doesn't tell Esau about how God has changed his name an his identity.
That is probably due to the fact that Jacob is not acting like Israel right now, he is acting like Jacob.
See, in verse 12, Esau invites Jacob to go to Mt. Seir (Esau's home) with him. Even though this meeting seems to be a reconciliation in Esau's mind, Jacob sees it just as a truce, kind of like his confrontation with Laban. Jacob has no intention of going to his brother's house in Mt. Seir, so he makes every excuse possible to not go, but does not tell his brother the truth. Here is Israel, a prince with God, acting like Jacob the deceiver again.
- I've got young kids that can't travel very fast - you go ahead and I'll catch up with you later
- I have too many flocks, if I take them on this journey, they'll all die. I'll take it slow and meet you there.
So Esau says, "Hey, I'll leave some of my men here to help you!" But Jacob responds, "Noooo, there's no need. I have plenty of servants. You go ahead, and we'll catch up."
So Esau leaves for his home. And Jacob doesn't follow.
Does anyone remember where Jacob was supposed to be going? Bethel.
But he doesn't go there yet. He proceeds to a place that he names Succoth. There he builds a house and some stables for his flocks and settles down there a while. He then moves to Shechem and purchases a piece of property. He is not in a hurry to obey God. Fear is what is moving him. He knows that when he goes to Bethel, he'll have to eventually go back to Hebron as well. Hebron is where his father is still living. Fear stops him in his tracts and uncertainty causes Jacob to delay his obedience.
But remember, we can pick our decisions, but we cannot pick our consequences. Shechem turns out to be a bad place to for Jacob to raise his family. It is a place that is inhabited by those who do not know the Lord. Jacob should have been in Bethel, a place where he could be bringing his family closer to God, but here he is in Shechem among a godless and pagan people.
Genesis 33:18 - 34:2 18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. 19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.
34:1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
It is commendable that among those that did not worship God, Jacob built an altar. But an altar of worship to the Lord is no substitute for obeying God. Having a Bible in your pocket or a Jesus Loves You bumper sticker are not good luck charms. Members of the cartels in Mexico often pray to saints and have crosses and verses tattooed on their bodies. They will carry or wear medallions of Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of drug traffickers. As if as long as they light candles to their saints and carry a Bible or a crucifix with them as they traffic drugs of kill rival gang members they will be protected by God.
So Jacob sets up an altar to worship God but is living in disobedience to God. Not only that, he has placed his family in harms way by deliberately living in a place that disregards God.
Dinah decides to go hang out with the women of the town. A man named Shechem sees her and takes her and rapes her. When her brothers here about this, they are filled with grief for their sister and anger against the man that did this. Both of these responses are absolutely normal and right. But instead of declaring war immediately, they responded in way that was not right. They deceived the men of the city and and afterwards, slaughtered every man of that place. They looted the city and took the women and children captive. This was an evil thing to do, and it caused Jacob to fear even more.
Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
First thing to notice, if you read the whole chapter, you will find that Jacob does nothing. Jacob didn't do anything. He knew what had happened and did nothing. Dinah was his daughter, she had just been raped, and he has no response. So Dinah's brothers take it in hand to deal with the issue. But, like their father, they used deceit to exact the revenge they wished to see.
After all is said and done, Jacob is now worried about how he is perceived.
What was the promise that God made Abraham, then Isaac, and then Jacob? They would be blessed; God would multiply them and give them a land of their own; they would be a blessing to all other nations.
And now, Jacob realizes that his family has a terrible reputation among the Canaanites because of what his sons have done. Not only that, but he is scared of the surrounding people coming and destroying them for the atrocities headed up by his two sons.
And just like God met Jacob when he was the most fearful about meeting Esau, in the midst of his great fear now, God appears to Jacob again.
Genesis 35:1-4 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
God tells Jacob once again, "Go to back Bethel." And just like Abraham found he could go back to Bethel after he had abandoned God's plan, so Jacob wakes up to the realization that God is a God of second chances, and you can always go back to Bethel.
And now Jacob, finally living up to his new name, let's God call the next shot. The first thing that Jacob does as he starts to obey is that he gets rid of everything that will be a hindrance to his obedience. In VERSE 2, Jacob cleanses his household of any false gods. He takes them and buries them. He tells everyone to bath and put on a fresh set of clothes, and this is indicative of a fresh start for them.
They are starting their journey anew trusting only one God, the God that has been with them from the beginning.
And God is faithful. God had promised His protection and as they travelled, God made the nation fear Israel. Jacob was afraid that the nations would chase after him, but God did not allow it.
When he arrives in Bethel, he builds an altar. There, once again God restates the promise that he had given Abraham and Isaac. So Jacob pours out a drink offering and an oil offering, a symbol of a desire to being emptied of himself to be filled by God.
There, God once again tells Jacob, "You are Jacob, but not any more. From now on, you are Israel."
This chapter reads so much better than the last. Where Chapter 34 doesn't mention God once, the Lord is present all throughout Chapter 35 as Jacob seeks to follow and obey. He is rid of his fears and now is back in communion with the Lord.
This is not to say that everything is a bed of roses for Jacob. In this same chapter, Jacob suffers the loss of his wife Rachel, the loss of his father Isaac, and the rebellion of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn child. But there is something that is not mentioned here that has been a theme for the last 5 chapters: fear. Fear is replaced by God Almighty. Fear is replaced by faith.
Invitation: What fears are in your life today? What terrors assail you when you're alone and your thoughts are free to roam?
Fear is uncertainty. Uncertainty of the future, uncertainty of our abilities to handle things, uncertainty of the trustworthiness of others. But we have a God that holds us in His hand. We have a God that knows all things. I like to call them the "big three" of the attributes of God: He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. Any tow of those without the other would limit God. But He is limitless. But then, on top of all that, He is also love.
God uses His omnipotence and omniscience and omnipresence for us with love.
Those are facts. Whatever fear you have can be fought by the fact that this is who God is.
Fear creates a prison, but the truth will make you free. Trust God enough to let Him lead you and you will have no reason to fear. Believe that what He says is true and act upon that truth. That is faith. Faith will quench those fiery darts of fear that Satan throws are way or that at times we conjure up ourselves.
For those that are not saved, that don't have Jesus as their savior, fear is not the only prison that you are in. The Bible says that sin is a prison and it is like chains bound to us. Nothing you can do can free you from sin or from the payment fro sin, eternal death and separation from God.
It takes someone who has never sinned to pay for sins, and it is a payment that must be made in blood. So God sent His Son Jesus to come to earth. He lived a sinless life, because He was God in the flesh. But he died on a cross and shed His blood for your sins and mine. He was buried and rose again on the third day. With His death he paid for our sins, and with His resurrection He conquered death and offers us eternal life.
But Jesus is well described as a gentleman. He will not force you to receive the free gift of salvation and freedom from sins, but He does offer it.
All it takes is to repent of your sins, understand that only Jesus can save you, and ask Him to save you from your sins. When one comes to Christ in this kind of faith, the Bible says that "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
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LIFE GROUP: Genesis 33-35
Looking back over the life of Jacob, in what ways was fear a constant plague for Jacob and what were the consequences?
- It started with the fear of not receiving the birthright that he was promised
- It shattered his relationship with his brother
- because of his decision led by fear, he had to run away and never saw his mother after that
- Fear caused Jacob to deceitfully leave Laban
- it shattered whatever relationship was there
- Fear caused anxiety on the trip back to Canaan
- It caused him to ignore his birthright possession and act like a beggar instead of a prince as he tried to appease Esau
- It led him to deceive Esau about going to Mt. Seir with him
- As far as we know, Jacob and Esau only ever saw each other again when Isaac passed away
- Being led by fear for so long played a role in him obeying his own reasoning and not immediately going to Bethel
- placed his family in a dangerous situation among godless people
If Jacob were to have lived by faith in these situations, what could have been different?
- Birthright - There never would have been a competition between Esau and Jacob for the birthright (at least from Jacob's side)
- Esau and Jacob could have grown up loving each other
- Jacob could have stayed at home instead of having to run away
- Jacob could have salvaged the relationship with his father-in-law
- Jacob could have had a peaceful, anxiety-free trip back to Canaan
- He could have acted with the dignity of a "prince with God" instead of grovelling at his brother's feet
- He could have salvaged the relationship between himself and Esau
- He could have been used by God to convert Esau to following God (at least he could have been a good witness to Esau)
- He could have possibly saved his daughter the violent experience (rape) that she went through had Jacob not stopped in Shechem
- Levi and Simeon would not have incurred a bad reputation for Jacob's family among the nations of Canaan for the way in which the exacted revenge upon the men of Shechem
When Jacob finally decided to obey God and go directly to Bethel, what was his first step? He had his household get rid of all false gods.
This was a statement that Jacob and those accompanying him were only going to trust in God.
Is there something that holds you back from fully trusting the Lord? This may be something that may not inherently be bad. Sometimes we trust friendships more than we trust God. Sometimes we fear what others think of us more than we trust God.
Does living by faith mean that nothing bad will happen to us anymore? No.
It means that we have someone to shoulder the burden with us, however.
A strong weapon against fear is worship born of faith. PSALM 56
In an hour of deep despair and doubt, David left Judah and fled to Gath, the Philistine city identified with the giant Goliath whom David had slain (1 Sam. 17). David was alone and didn’t get a very good reception. This psalm reveals that his life was in great danger, and history tells us that he had to pretend to be insane in order to escape (1 Sam. 21:10—22:1). Psalm 34 also came out of this experience in Gath.
Focus on 56:3-4, 9-12
