Aug. 4, 2019 Genesis 32:22-32 “You Are Forgiven!”

02 Aug Aug. 4, 2019 Genesis 32:22-32 “You Are Forgiven!”

Aug. 4, 2019     Genesis 32:22-32       “You Are Forgiven!”

Sometimes I like to reminisce about how I got here.  I became a pastor at age 55 and then I had to go and take classes in Kansas City for 8 years. I remember going there one summer and I found out when I got there that I had to write 5 papers in 11 days, about 30 pages worth complete with footnotes and bibliography.  Of course I also had my regular daily readings and small assignments due.  Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but for a person who was 57 years old, this was a huge project.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love to learn but I don’t like to write papers.  The only way that I knew how to get through this was with the grace of God.  So it was time to pray and to seek God.  In this today’s Scripture reading we find Jacob in a battle with God.  Let’s take a closer look at this and see if it is time for Jacob to seek God also, and maybe it is time that we all seek God.

When I was a kid, I used to watch professional wrestling.  Maybe some of you here today are fans of the modern wrestling or Wrestlemania or the WWF or whatever they call it.  If you are then I’ve got some news for you.  It’s fake.  It was fake when I was young and it is fake now.  Anyway my brother and I watched it all the time and I thought it was legit.  When I was quite young my brother told me that there was a pill that they took to make them so big.  Otherwise, they were just regular sized people like the rest of us.  They would take a pill just before the match to make them big or small.  Later I found out that was fake also.  And the fans then would get just as caught up in it as they do now.  It wasn’t until I got to college that I found out what real wrestling was all about and there was nothing fake about that.

We are going to take a look at another wrestling match today that was also very real.  It is the one between Jacob and God.  But before we do that we need to see just how Jacob got into this position.  If we were going to introduce him like they do on TV, it would go something like this.  “In this corner dressed in black is Jake the Snake.”

Now Jacob was not a very nice man.  Even though he was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac, he could not be trusted with anything.  If you remember the story, Jacob and Esau were fighting in the womb.  Later Jacob talked Esau out of his birthright and even later he tricked Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau.  Esau was so angry with Jacob that he was going to kill him so Jacob had fled.

It is now 20 years later and Jacob is returning home to the land that Esau owns.  He doesn’t know if Esau is still mad or not.  So he brings as presents to Esau 220 goats, 220 sheep, 40 cows, 30 camels, 10 bulls and 30 donkeys.  He was going to try to buy his way back if possible.  Is this like what we do today or what?

How many of you have tried to do this or seen this done?  Have you ever been buttered up by a son or daughter so much that you know that something is wrong?  Or do you have a spouse that suddenly gets super nice and you know from past experience that something has happened?  We have all seen this and I would guess that sometime in our lives we have all done this.  In politics it is called a payoff.  Or it could be called a bribe.  But no matter what you call it, it is not the right thing to do.

But this is the way of our Jake the Snake.  Throughout his whole life Jacob had done things on the shady side of morality.  Legally they might have been ok but morally they were wrong.  We do this today as can be seen by gambling which is legal but morally wrong.  Abortion is also legal but morally wrong.  There are many other examples of this in today’s world.

So finally we come to today’s reading where Jacob sends everyone away and everything on ahead.  He was all alone.  This is an important point.  Many times we are afraid to be alone.  I know lots of people who have to have a TV on or a radio on so they can hear voices.  Now don’t get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with this.  But there do come times in life when we have to be alone or should be alone.  So we should practice this every day.  We need this time of solitude so that we can talk with God.

Now we have Jacob wrestling with a man all night.  He didn’t even know who it was.  Jacob had been gone 20 years and he had worked the herds during this time.  He had left when he was young and he was now a man and he could take care of himself in a fight.  Jacob was about to find out a very important lesson.  You cannot do it by yourself.  Let me repeat that.  You cannot do it by yourself!  Jacob had a life of trying to cheat everyone.  In return Esau had wanted to kill him and then his uncle Laban had tried to cheat him also.

He was really no different than the modern day con artist.  I remember growing up in the North Country where I heard of a man like this.  He spent his life trying to con people.  He would buy up land in this marginal area and then sell it to people from the southern states.  They would see the land and it looked really good so they bought it.  They would clear the land and farm it for a couple of years until the thin layer of topsoil was gone.  Somehow this guy had it set up so that when these new people left, he could get the land back again.  Some called this guy a shrewd business man but I think that he was just plain crooked.  And eventually things caught up with this guy too.

Anyway, Jacob wrestled the night away and he wasn’t winning but he wasn’t losing either.  I think that we can look in our newspapers and see this on just about any given day.  I’m thinking particularly about Hollywood stars.  They are portrayed as being on top of the world having just about anything that money can buy.  They are so rich that they can make up their own religion and pass it off as something genuine.  Here is my question.  If these folks are winning the wrestling match, they why do so many rely on alcohol and drugs?  Why are these and other problems so rampant in Hollywood?

If we look at our own lives, can we see some of these tendencies also?  How many of you try to put on the airs of being successful?  How many of you try to put on a smile no matter what in public, only to find yourselves back home in a sea of loneliness and sadness?  How many of you have been less than honest to others?  How many of you have been less than honest with God?  We have all been there.  We have all done exactly what Jacob was doing.  We have all wrestled with God.

And let me tell you, brothers and sisters in Christ, that your wrestling match with God is no more a draw than that of Jacobs.  For the man Jacob was wrestling with was God.  And finally, God reached out and touched Jacob on the hip and dislocated it.  He didn’t pound on it, or slam it, God merely touched it.  And right away Jacob finds himself hanging on for dear life instead of wrestling to a draw.  He not only is hanging on for dear life, but he is also begging God for a blessing.

I have seen this scene play out so many times in my life.  I have seen people finally get sick and tired of the hangover they have every Sat. and Sun. morning.  Sometimes it is so bad that it is every morning.  I have seen people who can’t stand themselves anymore because of all the cheating they have done on their spouse.  I have seen people who have wallowed in so much sin that they just reach out and grab on to the ankle of God.

If this is where you are at today, I want you to ask Jesus to live in your heart.  Confess you sins and shortcomings.  Confess that you have been wrestling with God and ask God to live in your life.  Do this today because look what happens next to Jacob.

He realizes that God is all sufficient.  He begs for a blessing.  He begs for a new life.  And God grants it.  God grants it by giving him a new name.  His new name will be Israel meaning something to the effect of “the one who strives with God.”  The name Jacob had meant something like “deceiver.”  Jacob had wrestled a lifetime with God and didn’t know it.  Finally he was taken to a point where he was broken and beaten.  The only place he had to turn was to God.  If you want to deny all of this you can.  If you say that this is just a story from the Old Testament about the famous Jacob, be my guest.  But the beautiful, undeniable truth here is that you are Jacob.  This is a story about you.

This is also a story of the Good News of the Bible.  Some of you may say that this cannot be so because this is the Old Testament and Jesus have not been born yet.  But look closely.  Jacob spends his life in sin and misery.  After all he did have to flee from his home so he could survive because of his sin.  He had become so broken that he finally turned to God for help.  He grabbed the ankle of God.  He couldn’t do it alone so he came to God.  And God blessed him richly in return.  Wow!  What a loving God we have!

This is a story of being born again.  This is the same story that is found in the New Testament.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the Old Testament isn’t relevant.  It is just as relevant as the New Testament and this story demonstrates this.  God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit loves you with more love than you can even begin to comprehend.  God sent Jesus to die a terrible death for you.  God did all of these things that we read about in the Bible for you.  God loves you.

In a few minutes we will be taking communion.  I would ask that you take this time seriously and reflect on the areas where you wrestle with God.  Then ask God to bless you just like God blessed Jacob.

I would like to conclude today’s sermon with a little story I heard told by Mike Graves who was from the Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, where I went for 8 years.  He tells of a man named Mike going to Iowa for the wedding of his daughter. They had been at the rehearsal and all had gone well.  It was decided that everyone would go out for supper after.  Up here we would call it a Groom’s Dinner.  Anyway after the rehearsal the two dads decide that they would go on ahead to the restaurant and reserve a place for a party of 21.  It was a Friday night and they knew that all places would be very busy.

The restaurant they chose was an Amish diner that was supposed to have the best food in a three county area.  It was very famous and it was also very busy.

Art and Mike pull into the parking lot and it is full.  But they go on in because they are in no hurry anyway.  Mike makes his way into the packed restaurant.  He has to jostle his way up to the place where you tell them that your party is here.  Mike, who is an ordained minister, finally was going to tell the host a large Amish man with a big beard that they had a party of 21.  But just before he said anything he saw a sign behind the Amish man.  It read, “Do not register your party until all of your party is here.”

Mike quickly turned to Art.  “Do you see that sign?  The rest of us aren’t here yet.  They have to be close.  We can’t lie.  Why don’t you run out to the parking lot and see if they are here.”

So Art goes to the parking lot and back.  He reports to Mike that they aren’t in sight.  So Mike gets out his cell phone and calls his wife who is with the rest of the party.  Well it turns out that they have been delayed and they haven’t left the church yet but will be leaving in a couple of minutes.

Mike is thinking as he makes his way back to register.  He’s thinking, “This place is packed to the rafters.  Even if they aren’t here yet, they will be here long before they will ever be called to their table.  But on the other hand, you can’t lie to the Amish.  That is un-American.  You just can’t do that.  And anyway I’m a pastor so I shouldn’t lie.”

All these thoughts were running through his mind when the Amish man at the registry asked, “How many in your party?”  And Mike answered, “21.”  The unsmiling Amish host asked, “Is all your party here?”  It was crunch time for Mike as he answered, “Yes.”  The stern host said that it would be a couple of minutes.

Mike went back to Art thinking that there would be no way that they could have anything ready in less than half an hour.  The place was just too crowded.  But the Amish man didn’t lie and two minutes later he called for Mike’s party of 21.  Their jaws dropped.  Sheepishly, Mike and Art made their way back to the host station.  Mike said, “I guess I made a mistake.  All of our party isn’t here yet but they are on their way.”

The Amish man stared at Mike for a few seconds before saying, “Follow me.”  Mike and Art followed.  Mike was thinking again, “Where is he taking us?  Every table is full.  There is no room for anyone.  Is he taking us to the office to chew us out?  What is going on?”

They wound their way through the restaurant and every table was full.  Finally they opened a door in the very rear of the place.  They stepped into the room and found tables all set up with bread and water for a party of 21.  The host turned to Mike and Art and said, “Sit.  Eat and drink.  You are forgiven.”

Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.