Contending with Grace

Well, it is always a pleasure to be here before you to preach the Word. I'm thankful that Brother Chris has faithfully preached the Lord week in and week out in my hearing for the better part of 10 years. And as part of that ministry coming on staff in 2012, then Nola Baptist Church, the Lord began to teach me what it means to preach the Word. For about five or six years, we had the privilege of preaching every Sunday in June at a nursing home. My Facebook feed this morning, I saw a photo that flashed back from five years ago.

My kids were little, the shepherd kids were little, and they were smiling out there in front of the nursing home five years ago, and it was a reminder to me of how blessed I am that I serve on staff with a man of God who preaches the Word faithfully. And if I've learned to preach effectively, it's simply been by listening to him every week, hearing him give me feedback.

And as always, every time I preach the Word, my desire is to not preach ahead of Brother Chris or simply preach behind him preaching things he's already said, but to step to the side and it's our expectation that every time we meet that the Lord would move us further as a church. And that's our expectation this morning. So again, if you open your copy of God's Word, Genesis chapter 32, verses one and two will be a transition for us. And I'll read this passage. Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's camp. So he called the name of that place, Mena'im.

Genesis chapter 32 serves as a turning point in the nation of Israel. You might even say that Genesis chapter 32 is the birth of Israel because in this chapter, the Lord wrestles with Jacob and changes his name to Israel. And at that point, his descendants, he has 11 children at the time. The youngest has not been born yet, but these 11 children would be known as Israelites. So it is quite a turning point and it is also a turning point in his own individual life, not just in terms of his identity, but in terms of his spiritual walk.

Genesis chapter 32 is also pivotal because the Lord himself reveals something very precious about himself to Jacob. And he does this through trial and through difficulty. This morning, I want us to see that we have four key areas of truth, four major truths. If you want to take notes and begin this down. The beginning of our verse, Jacob went on his way. I want you to see that he went the way of contention. He went the way throughout his life. He went the way of contention. He went the way of preparation. The third major truth, he went the way of reconciliation and he went the way of surrender.

So it's important that you understand the meaning of his name. The name Jacob itself means he grasps at the heel. Now it will be necessary for me to unpack lots of scripture. So I would challenge you to jot these scriptures down. I want to encourage you to go back and study them as this portion of text is filled with mystery, it's filled with wonder. As we read these verses, it causes our hearts just to be amazed. In fact, you may wonder how God could use a person who is so deceptive and so cunning. So we need to look at his name. Jacob walked the way of contention and that name, Jacob, tells us quite a bit.

So let's go back and again, if you can't turn, that's okay. But Genesis chapter 25 and verse 24, and I'll read this text. Genesis chapter 25 verse 24. When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. Verse 26. Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob. His Jacob, his name literally means wrestling. It literally means fighting. This word contention is oftentimes used throughout this text. Jacob's father, Isaac, argues over a well and they named the well Essek.

And Essek means content. And it's very similar to this idea of wrestling. The word Essek and synonyms in the Old Testament Hebrew are used when two individuals are fighting, when they are engaged in a contest, even a legal battle. If you were to go to court with your opponent to settle dispute, the word Essek would best describe this contentious state of affairs. In Psalms chapter 35, one, the Lord uses this word when he speaks to contending for an opponent. The psalmist says, Lord, contend with my enemies. The psalmist is begging God to fight for him because his enemies are too great for him.

And God himself uses this word contend in Genesis chapter six. Shortly before the flood, he says, my spirit will not contend or wrestle with man forever, for he is mortal. His days will be 120. Dear friends, since our rebellion in the garden, humanity has been wrestling with our Lord. To be more specific, from the time you were born, you have been wrestling with our Lord. If you take that phrase for a second and think about it, and think about how you fought when you were a kid with your siblings, when you disobeyed your parents, your sin nature is evidence of your contention. So we see Jacob the contender as one who grasps at the heels.

But I want us to see four areas of contention in his life. There was contention among his parents. Your own study, if you read Genesis chapter 32 verses 27 to 28. When the boys grew up, this is verse 27 of Genesis 32. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. While Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. In verse 28, Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. So right there we have contention. Each parent had a favorite child. Now it's never a good idea to have favorite children. In their culture, the oldest first born male was assumed to receive the pride of the clan and the estate.

And we'll explain this more. So it was not uncommon for the oldest son to be the favorite child. So when Rebecca holds her son as her favorite, this is contention. You could think of it as arguments waiting to happen. We see contention among the parents. We'll also see contention with his brother. Now we'll have to spend some more time here because the conflict between Esau and Jacob and this contention is front and center in our message today. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 25 and verse 1. "Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebecca, his wife, conceived.

The children struggled together within her. Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel." I want you to see that the conflict between these brothers happened constantly in the womb. It is as if they were fighting with each other constantly and they never stopped. And that background is critical for us to see the contention. Now as eldest son, Esau was entitled to his family's birthright. The birthright was the guaranteed leadership of the clan. So after the father passed, the firstborn son would assume responsibility of all of the goods. He had a double portion of inheritance. He also had a position of honor.

So all of his father's business dealings with other individuals in the region would automatically be conferred to Esau. This was a position of great esteem and honor and every son would have loved to be the firstborn. However Esau will come into conflict because of this birthright. He comes in from the field. He's a hunter as we mentioned. He's no doubt hunting game of significant size. This would have carried him far away from his home. He could have been gone for days or weeks, possibly months. We really don't know but we do know that he comes in completely famished. He asks Jacob for some of his stew. Jacob was a homebody of sorts.

Jacob agreed on the condition that Esau would sell his birthright. I want us to look at Esau's contribution to this sibling rivalry and we'll also look at Jacob. He also contributed something to it. Esau's first contribution is taking the bargain. Genesis 25 verse 29. Once when Jacob was cooking stew Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted and Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of the red stew." Now this red stew would forever mark Esau. It is where Esau would become known. In fact his children get the name Edom which means red. So because he eats of this stew and bargains his children would forever be marked and known as Edomites.

Verse 31. "Jacob, sell me your birthright now." Esau said, "I am about to die. Of what use is a birthright to me?" And Jacob said, "Swear to me now." So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Quite literally Esau deplored his position of honor. He hated it. He disrespected it. Now we have no knowledge of how Esau interacted with this deal but he remembered it because he references it later on in the text. He always remembered it.

But quite honestly we are left to assume that he had no intention of following through with this vow. At his father's deathbed his father tells him, "It's time for me to give you a blessing." And Esau agrees to go hunt to find wild game and when he comes in we'll see that he made no mention of the fact that he forfeited this birthright. Last Sunday Brother Chris preaching through the Sermon on the Mount talked about the importance of truth telling and oath keeping. What we have with Esau striking a vow with Jacob is arguably the most foolish vow in scripture. He literally gives away his prized possession. You might think of it in this manner.

Long term blessing in exchange for short term satisfaction. And I want to challenge you here with something. If we do not sufficiently value the invaluable blessings that we've been given we will pay dearly. Let me say that again. If you do not sufficiently value the invaluable blessings that we've been given we will pay dearly. But Esau is not the only one who contributed to this contention. Jacob had his fair share. Because Esau forfeited his birthright he's no longer entitled to the rights and privileges of the first born. However this would have to be wrestled out of Esau's hand because Esau had no intention of laying this down.

Yes he struck a vow but it shows he had no regard for his word. He had no regard for his birthright. He had no regard for that which was precious. He certainly wasn't going to honor this vow. But in this era we think of a will probation. If you've ever lost a loved one you understand that estates are settled through will and a will is probated. And what that means is quite simply a probated will is the legal way of proving that the deceased assets were owned rightly. He wasn't in debt. He didn't owe anything. All debts were canceled or resolved. And so these legal assets are then conferred to the deceased's descendants through probation.

In this era that we're studying there is no lawyer. There is no will probation. The will is transferred through the blessing. So although Esau had forfeited his blessing right he forfeited it all. He still could have received it unless his father was the one to say no son you forfeited this blessing. And Isaac has no intention of honoring this either. So the blessing was really important because the blessing was the way in which the assets were transferred. And we can see that through gross deception. In fact this plan of deception very elaborate. I'm going to ask you to go back and study this but Rebecca hatches the plan.

A husband's wife helps deceive her own husband. A husband's wife works together with her favorite son to deceive. Now although God had met with Rebecca and told her that the younger would serve the older. God made no mention. In fact God did not sanction this. God would never sanction discord because God is sovereign. He uses our sin our shortcomings. He uses our failures to accomplish his will. You might be familiar with Joseph and Pharaoh. Joseph tells his brothers who sold him in the slavery what you meant for evil. God meant for good.

He saw is aware of this deception in Chapter 27 of Genesis in verse 36 and he says is he not rightly named Jacob for he has cheated me these two times. He's not really being honest there. He wasn't cheated the first time. He sold and forfeited his blessing the first time. He took away my birthright and behold now he is taking away my blessing. So we see contention between parents and these brothers. The third area of contention will not spend as long here. It was contention with his uncle Laban. If you fast forward to Genesis Chapter 29 you see that Jacob's life was threatened because of his confrontation with Esau.

Esau intended to kill him so Jacob leaves town. On his way out of town the Lord visits him. He sees angels descending and then he would spend 20 years in the house of his mother's brother his maternal uncle Laban and over the next 20 years he will come to find out that his mother and her brother are exactly alike. In fact they're both cut from the same deceptive cloth and we find that Laban tricks Jacob. He deceitfully agrees I will give you my younger daughter Rachel in exchange for seven years of service.

But on the night of his wedding we see that Jacob becomes intoxicated and Laban exchanges the wives and he gives them instead the older daughter Leah whom Jacob was not in love with. In fact scripture later says when Leah found that she was hated which just means she felt hated. She felt hated by her sister. She felt hated by her husband. And we see that Laban really sowed this seed of contention. The fourth area of contention in Jacob's life was that with his wife.

His two wives in Genesis chapter 29 which I've alluded to these sisters become bitter rivals they really begin competing with each other to see who can have more children for their husband. And quite honestly these family dynamics are a mess. This would be perhaps Genesis best example of a dysfunctional family. They're marked with contention competition discord and discouragement. Jacob not only walked away of contention but he walked the way of preparation. So as we look back to our primary text in Genesis chapter 32 Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them he said this is God's camp.

So he called the name of that place Mena'im. Now we had to go through this very complex web of contention. We had to look at this background to see the importance of this angelic visitation. Jacob is basically forced out of the house of Laban. God tells him to leave God tells him it's time. He has been avoiding this conflict with Esau for 20 years. Now think for a second of a conflict that you've had. Perhaps one of the hardest times in your life as it relates to a person. Now multiply this and extend it for 20 years. When I think of just one area of conflict if all you had was an estranged brother who wanted to kill you that would be enough.

If you had two wives who wanted to kill each other and sometimes on any given day could be mad at you. One of them becomes mad at Jacob because she doesn't have any children and they literally have an argument because she's barren. You look at your life if you know conflict and if you know the contention and the difficulty that we can face as humans as sinners you can understand how he was probably just exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, physically, he's anxious, he comes into the camp and we have this transitional chapter 32 what he says and what does scripture say? And the angels of God met him.

Now as I've alluded to there are two angelic visitations in his life. Both near a time of Esau and confrontation. When Esau wants to kill him he leaves his house there's an angelic visitation. You probably have erroneously heard this referred to as Jacob's ladder. Just so you know it was not Jacob's ladder it was God's ladder. Jacob's ladder kind of conjures up this idea that we could build a way to God. We could work our way to meet God and no man can work his way to God. God in grace extends the first angelic ministry. You could call it the angelic ladder or God's ladder.

So 20 years later he's on the road to this confrontation with his brother who hates his life and again he sees angels. So Jacob walks the way of preparation. I want you to see that God is preparing Jacob for Esau. It's clear this is why this is happening. But the second angelic visitation communicates something. It's saying Jacob, do you remember 20 years ago when you saw those angels your brother wanted to kill you. He didn't kill you. And after that time you went to Laban's house and Laban wanted to kill you. And sometimes your wives wanted to kill you. But I was with you the whole time and I'm with you now.

So Jacob was preparing God was preparing Jacob for Esau. But more importantly I want you to see that God is preparing Jacob for God. Shortly about midway through this chapter we're going to see a turning point and God comes to meet with Jacob. So the angelic visitation is as much to prepare him spiritually as it is to prepare him emotionally and to calm him down. The third major truth this morning, Jacob not only went the way of contention, he also went the way of preparation and he went the way of reconciliation. Genesis chapter 32 verse 3, "And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother in the land of Sier.

The country of Edom instructing them, 'Thus you shall say to my Lord Esau, 'Thus says your servant Jacob. I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants and female servants. I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor with you.'" If you have conflict it is really good to follow the path set before you by God and Jacob. Look at what he does here. I want you to see humility towards Esau. Jacob sends servants and says, "Lord Esau," that's a position of honor. He is submitting himself to his brother.

In essence he is saying, "You were the first born, I got the birthright, I got the blessing. You're still the first born." In fact he goes further and says, "I am your servant." In essence he is saying, "You know Esau what matters is you. My birthright doesn't matter. My stuff doesn't matter." When you have a conflict it is always good to go to the person and say, "This issue that is between us, that's not important." What's important to me is you. You see this modeled. We see words of reconciliation, thus says your servant. We see actions of reconciliation. He's offering him oxen, donkey and flocks.

Just so you know, an oxen, a donkey, a flock, camels. He later has camels. That would be the equivalent of very expensive cars. In fact there was no bank. You didn't store your money in your bank. You stored your money in your animals. He's saying, "I have wealth, it's yours." I stole from you, it's yours. I lied to you, this is yours. He's humbling himself. If you had a conflict in which it was hard to humble yourself and to say that your opponent is more important than what you were fighting over. But we not only see humility towards Esau, we see humility towards God.

If you go forward and if you read in verse 9, you'll see a completed work. Now immediately what happens? Esau responds very well to this, right? Well not so much. He takes 400 men, we presume on horseback. And they begin moving very rapidly in the direction of Jacob. Now this is important because 400 men is a detachment in the ancient civilization that would be a raiding party or an offensive military strike. It is very much an offensive move. Now think about this, let's go back to the conflict that you might be thinking about.

You go to the person and you say, "Hey, you know what's not important is this argument that we have, what's important is you." What if they get louder? You know what if you try to defuse a conflict and next thing you know they come at you with proverbial 400 men on horseback in the form of their words. Now sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. And in a conflict, inevitably, this is where I want us to see God's sovereignty. God is not absent in the midst of conflict. Sometimes God is right in the middle of it. Sometimes God was with you the last time you had an argument and he'll be with you the next time you had an argument.

And when the person's heat is its hottest and you get that feeling as if, "Lord, I can't even think straight, let alone make a point." God will allow that to humble us and that is the result here. For the sake of time, I won't read these verses but go back and read Genesis 32 verse 9 through 12. And I will read portions of it. His humility towards God is seen in four things. He rests in God's work. He says, "Oh God and my father Abraham and Isaac." The patriarchs. He's saying, "God, you did a work in my past." He rests in God's word, secondly. Because God told him to go back home.

He says, "Return to your country and your kindred that I may do you good." And he's saying, "God, I'm scared. My brother's coming at me with an army. But you are the God of my fathers. You manifested yourself to them. You manifested yourself to me." He also rests in God's worth. Look at what he says. "I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff I crossed to Jordan and now I have become two camps." He rests in God's work and his word and his worth and he rests in God's will. Genesis 32, 12.

"But you said, 'I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'" Sometimes when we have an intense conflict, we'll do us good to know that God is with us and God is right in the middle of the conflict and God has a will for the conflict. It is usually to humble us, correct us, and ultimately it is to drive us in relationship with him, which leads us to our last point. Jacob went the way of surrender. So here we have Jacob in Genesis 32, verse 22. Before I read this text, I do want to read 10 verses, but before I want you to look at the chapter heading.

My chapter heading at the very top says, "Jacob wrestles with God." Now the chapter headings vary from translation to translation, from text to text. The chapter headings themselves are not the inspired and valuable word of God, the text is. You get a study Bible that isn't really robust theologically, the chapter headings will sometimes be off. But this one is good. Jacob wrestles with God and it's important to know when we can say that this man he's wrestling with is God because the text tells us. So let's read Genesis chapter 32, verse 22. And after this text, we will begin to conclude.

"The same night he arose and took his wives, his two female servants, his eleven children and crossed the ford of the javic. He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket. And Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled him. Then he said, let me go for the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, what is your name?

And he said, Jacob, and then he said, your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, please tell me your name. But he said, why is it you ask my name? For there he blessed him. But Jacob called the name of that place Peniel, saying, for I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been delivered. The sun rose up and as he passed, Penuel limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day, people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Now I myself grew up a fan of wrestling as a kid. Professional wrestling was really the coolest thing in the world. When I found out that my high school had a wrestling team, I showed up for practice and realized it's not the same thing. One thing I know about wrestling is that you can't really wrestle very well if you have a dislocated hip. All your power comes from your hip, comes from your legs. And as I read this text with that knowledge, I think you're going to wrestle with someone all night long and you have the ability to touch their hip socket and dislocate it. Why would you not do this at the very beginning of the match?

He wrestles all night and at the very end he just touches the hip and it is dislocated. And the answer to this is that this man was not wrestling to Jacob to overcome him physically. He was wrestling to seduce him spiritually. This man was none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. See as Christians we believe that Jesus Christ is eternal and that he existed before time with the Father. We worship the triune God, the eternal Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And we see several places in the scripture where Jesus shows up and he shows up to wrestle with Jacob and it is not because he wanted to see if he could best him in the match.

This is a spiritual wrestling. It has been likened to an all night wrestling in prayer. If you've ever had an impossible situation and you were sleepless and you were impressed to pray earnestly then you're like Jacob and you're wrestling with God in prayer. And I want you to see that this conflict was not an accident. In fact the conflict had to reach a fever pitch with Esau. He had to be completely alone. He had to be completely vacant of all strength. And when you have a conflict or an impossible situation the Lord will sometimes get you alone with Jesus and you will have to wrestle with Christ.

Now I want you to see that this is a grace gift. The title of the message this morning is wrestling with grace or contending with grace because it is only by God's grace that he would put up with us. And God sees things in your life that need to be corrected. And sometimes that conflict or that impossible situation is just what is necessary to get you vulnerable enough, to get you lonely enough, to get you empty enough to the place where you can sit before God and say God come into my life and dislocate anything that is out of my mind. God wrestles us not because he is trying to overcome us.

God is wrestling with us so that we will willingly yield the areas of our life that are a problem. Jesus was wrestling with Jacob's deception. He was wrestling with his contentious spirit. And when he changes his name what he is saying is you are no longer he who grasps at the heel but you are Israel, God's chosen nation. Do you realize the Messiah had to come through Israel? God is not just correcting Jacob, he is correcting an entire nation. In fact he does this to show that this grace gift is also available to you today. Perhaps there is something in your life as an impossible situation.

There is an impossibility that you are not capable of fixing. Could it be that God has specifically brought this to a fever pitch to get you alone, to get you quiet, to get you humble enough so that he might wrestle something out of your life. Today perhaps you do not have a relationship with the Lord and you are in opposition to him with your entire life. God said how long will I contend with man? And he also says in that same Genesis chapter 6 passage that the intentions of man's heart are evil all the time.

It could be that your thoughts and your actions and the hidden motivations of your heart are constantly wrestling with the Lord, constantly at odds with him. Would you come to Christ and yield to him today? If you don't have the ability to yield just realize that none of us do. That it is only by God's grace that he would subdue us. I love that line that Jared sang in the song earlier. He talks about God who breaks the bow and bend the spears. Because God can break any chariot and he can break any hard-hearted stubborn disposition within you or I. I'm going to ask you to bow with me in prayer.

That we would commit this time to him as a hymn of response, as a prayer of response.