October 24th, 2010 Sermon

Oct 24, 2010 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.

Genesis 32:22-32 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon.
WRESTLE WITH GOD
I. Throw self reliance out of the ring.
II. Grab hold of God’s promises.
In the name of Jesus, dear fellow wrestlers with God,
Just before my brother’s confirmation back in 1972, my mom and dad installed new carpeting in the living room of the house we grew up in. It was blue and white and gold and the fibers were long and soft. My mom had a rake to keep the nap up. We appreciated that because that carpet made the perfect wrestling mat. The edge of the couch had a nice flat arm rest that worked really well for jumping off the top rope of the ring until one day when my mom saw us. After that the living room wrestling stopped for the most part. Today in God’s Word we see a wrestling match- an amazing wrestling match between the Almighty One who gives blessings and puny little Jacob. It’s a wrestling match that in a way still goes on for you and me as we wrestle with God in prayer. Wrestle with God! I. Throw reliance on self out of the ring. II. Grab hold on God’s promises.
They called him the “heel grabber.” That’s what Jacob means. They called him that because when he was born he was grabbing the heel on his twin brother. That name also fit Jacob’s personality well. He was one of those guys who was always looking to step on the back of someone’s sandal to trip them up and get a leg up on someone else. Normally, we think being self reliant is a good thing when it involves working hard and not looking for others for a hand out, but self reliance gets us into trouble when it comes to our relationship with our Savior God.
God had made it clear that Jacob would be the one who would carry the promise of the Savior by saying, “The older will serve the younger.” But instead of leaving that in God’s hands, Jacob looked to trip up his brother. He convinced his brother Esau to see his birthright to him for a bowl of soup. Isaac didn’t want to hear what the Lord said about Esau serving Jacob and so he stubbornly prepared to give Esau the blessing when he thought he was going to die. But remember that Jacob could not keep his fingers out of God’s business. At his mother’s urging and with her help Jacob tricked Isaac into blessing him by wearing his brother’s coat and by putting goat’s hair on his arms so that Isaac who was almost blind would think that it was hairy Esau. When Esau found out he was very angry, so angry that Jacob’s mom thought it best for him to leave town in a big hurry and go to live with her brother, Laban. Uncle Laban was even a bigger heel grabber than Jacob. When Jacob worked for him, Laban cheated him over and over. Laban even pulled the “old wedding night daughter switch a roo” on Jacob. Again Jacob didn’t just leave things in God’s hands to work out, but instead married both of Laban’s daughters. Then with further sinful meddling in God’s business, Jacob had children by the handmaidens of Rachel and Leah.
Still, out of pure grace, God blessed Jacob. Now it was time for head back home. It was a little like Brett Farve coming back to Lambeau Field. No one knew what was going to happen-how he would be received. When Jacob sent a message to Esau that he was on his way home, the message came back that Esau was on his way to meet him with 400 men. The Bible tells us that Jacob was “in great fear and distress.” We can still see a little bit of that scheming Jacob. He sends a gauntlet of gifts for Esau to pass through. He divided his entourage into 2 camps, figuring that if Esau attacked one group the other could still get away. “That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.” Finally he thinks everything is all set and in a safe place over the river. Now maybe he can get a little sleep. But no, he gets into all night wrestling match. “So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. “
At first I suppose Jacob wondered who this man was who was wrestling with him. Had Esau or one of his men snuck around behind their camp attacked him? No, it became clear as the man talked that this was not a man Jacob was wrestling with. “Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." So this was God himself, throwing Jacob’s self reliance out of the ring.
“When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.” Just like a father might “play wrestle” with a son, so God came to Jacob in the weak human form of a man. Jacob wrestled him to a draw. But Jacob would carry with him a reminder that God had let him win the wrestling match. “The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon.”
Jacob was not the old man leaning on his staff we see later on in Genesis but he wasn’t a young man either. He is old enough to have eleven boys. So wrestling probably didn’t come quite so easy for him anymore just like running up and down the basketball floor doesn’t come so easy for me. It might seem sort of strange to see God letting this middle aged Jacob wrestle with him. God didn’t come as the king of kings. It is sort of like how the Champion of Champions came into the world as a helpless little baby in Bethlehem. He let people grab his hands and nail them to a cross. He did that to win the greatest victory for us.
We’ve seen God keep his promises. Yet so often we worry about whether or not the Lord is going to keep on keeping His promises? How often don’t we stick our sinful noses into the business of our holy and perfect God who only wants the best for us and end up making things worse like Jacob? How often aren’t the words of the hymn true of us? “Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.” Still in His grace the Lord forgives us. Jesus paid the penalty for all of our doubts and gave us his perfect record of trust. Now let’s grab hold of His promises.
“Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." There’s a change in Jacob. He realizes that his quick thinking and scheming are not the source of his blessings. He again puts into words what he had been praying the night before as he divided the camps. “I am unworthy of all of the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.” God was the source of all of his blessings. God was the one to cling to in times of trouble.
“The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.”
Are there problems you are wrestling with now? Is there guilt from sins committed that you are wrestling with? Are they family problems in your family? Is there a brother your afraid to meet up with? Are financial problems looming on the horizon? Instead of wrestling with the problem, wrestle with God in prayer. Let God wrestle with the problem. Grab hold on God’s promises. In Jacob’s case, God had already worked out the problem. Yes Esau was on His way but God had worked on his heart. When Esau saw Jacob, he didn’t throw a sleeper hold on him. Instead he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. All those gifts Jacob thought it was such a great idea to send, Esau graciously declined and said “I already have plenty my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.” God has promised that “he will not leave you or forsake you.” Does that mean we’ll never have any struggles. No on this side of heaven there will be struggles. But God will help us, God will bless us. For Jacob there would still be troubles too. Not long after this, Jacob lost his dear Rachel in childbirth. Only the Lord’s kindness and faithfulness carried Jacob through that great sorrow. Later on Jacob’s boys would bring him the news that his dear son, Joseph, had been mauled to death by a wild-animal (when in actuality-Joseph’s jealous brothers had sold him to slave traders). How Jacob wept when that news was brought to him. Yet his Lord carried him through those days too. The Lord kept Jacob and his family alive during a terrible famine so that one day a Savior could be born in Bethlehem, live, die, and rise again for Israel’s sins, for our sins, and the sins of the whole world. Even at 147 years old there would be times for Jacob wrestle with God in prayer. Finally, this kind and faithful God carried his child, Jacob, to heaven.
Like Jacob, let’s wrestle with God in prayer. Let’s throw sinful self reliance out of the ring. Let’s cling to God’s promises. Amen.