"A Break and A Blessing: Part II" - Genesis 32:24-32
Pastor A. L. Torrence,
Cross of Life Lutheran Church
Last week, we learned that God had wrestled with brother Jacob all night long until the breaking of day. We learned that god had struggle with Jacob until a breaking had occurred in his life. It was a breaking of his will, a breaking of his pride, and a breaking of his selfishness. It wasn’t until Jacob was broken that he became blessed. And, I yet believe that until we are broken, we will not become truly blessed. Until the spirit of the living God has fallen fresh on us, breaking us, melting us, molding us, and filling us – we will not have truly experienced the showers of blessing from God. Until we have said, “Have thine own way Lord, Have thine own way, thou art the potter, I am the clay, mold me and make me, after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.” Until we have given up our own will for God’s will for our lives – we will continue experiencing a mediocre existence.
We must be broken. Oh we can come to Jesus as we are, but when he enters our hearts we become new creations, old things are passed away and behold all things – all things – all things –have become new. The old stuff has been broken away and the new stuff has been graphed into our lives. There is just no doubt about it – we must be broken. We must allow God to have his way in our lives. Like Abraham who endured the brokenness of sacrificing his son, Isaac, we to must be willing to sacrifice. Like the Hebrew children, who endured God breaking them while the wilderness, we too must allow God to shape us while undergoing the challenges of our community. Like the disciples who had to break away from homes and families and follow Jesus, we too must learn to trust that if we follow Christ, he will not only give us our daily bread but he will supply our every need. We must be broken.
We must present our bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God with is our spiritual worship. We must come as a sacrifice, which according to David, the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart – we must be broken. Only then can our high priest present us faultless before the presence of God. Only then can we worship god in truth and in spirit. We must be broken.
And I am convinced that the reason many of us are hindered in worship and in our service for God is due to the fact that we have not allowed God break us. The reason many of us are still climbing the rough side of the mountain rather than saying to the mountain – move – and it moving - is because we have not been broken. There are just some things in us God wants to break away but we are struggling against him to hold on to. God wants to break down our social barriers but we are still holding on to our prejudices and stereotypes. He wants to tear down our political walls, but we are still grasping onto our personal agendas. He wants to break through our financial boundaries, but we are still clutching onto our wallets and pocket books. God wants to break us be we are like Paul -kicking against the pricks –struggling against God’s will- rather than striving in God’s will. And we must realize that until we end the struggle against God, then can we begin to strive with him. Then, we can begin to see his blessings in our lives. God wants to take us to a new level but we must be willing to break.
Think about it! How can God bless us with more members when we won’t talk and socialize with the ones with have? Why would God give more ministries to perform when we don’t faithfully support the ones we have? Why should God show up in our worship services when we can’t get on time to meet him? How can God give us more financial blessings when he can trust us to tithe with what we already have? That would be like giving a bank robber not only the cash out of the safe but the combination to the safe so that He could come back that steal again. Until we are willing to be broken, we will not and cannot receive the real blessings of God.
You see many of us are making the mistake that Jacob made in his life. We are associating that which we have acquired through scrimping and scrapping, lying and cheating, conning and scheming with the promised blessings from God. When we think of counting our blessings. We count the family that’s dysfunctional, the car that sometimes don’t work, the house with the balloon mortgage we can’t pay, and the job we can’t stand. For us, blessings tend to be weighed in our wealth, power, and influence. And the little we have, we are struggling so hard to keep regardless of how it may be holding us back from achieving our potential. Instead of holding to God’s unchanging hand, we are holding on to our talents, our time, and our tithes. But until like Jacob you put your relationship with god first before your family, friends, and possessions you will not be blessed.
Look at the text, Jacob sent all he had away so that he could be alone with God. He sought first the kingdom of God and all those things he had sent away were added to him later. You must be let go of those things you treasure in order to get closer to God. Jacob learned that his real blessings were not his family, fame, or fortune. No his blessing came when God touched him and blessed him. He learned that he was blessed because of the Love God had for him. In spite of the all the wrong, Jacob done to others and to his self, Jacob discovered that God still loved him. God still loved this deceitful, lying thief.
And we have to realize that the real blessing from God is not just in our relatives, wealth, and recognitions. No, our blessings are knowing that God loves us and that love is manifested in his purpose for our lives, his plan for us to fulfill that purpose, and his promise that it will be done. We are blessed because God has a purpose, a plan, and a promise for us. This is what Paul talks the scripture talks about when it says “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated.” As long as you are trying to do things your way, according to your plan, and depending on your ability – you will be outside the will of God. And anyone or anything, outside of God’s will is in a place of sin and God hates sin. However, when you have accepted his purpose and plan and trust his promises for you – you are with his realm of love. You are truly allowing God to bless you.
You are blessed because God has given you a purpose. In God’s eyes, you are somebody. You are not just someone’s wife or someone husband. You are not a social security number or a corporate employee. No you are somebody. And you will not discover the real you until you allow God to ask you the question he asked Jacob, “What is your name? Who are you?” Jacob thought his purpose was to live a life of deception because of how others viewed him. Yet, God looked at him at saw someone trying to have a closer connection with the lord. God saw something in Jacob that others could not see. He saw Jacob’s potential and God him a purpose. It was like the sculptor who ventured unto someone’s backyard and found an ugly stone. When he asked the owner could he take it – the owner says yes and that he was only about to throw it out. Year’s later that same owner ran into that sculptor in an art gallery. When he asked the artist what became of the ugly stone, he was surprised that that stone was shaped into a masterpiece worth thousands of dollars. When the world dump and rejects you, God will walk by and pick you up. He looks deep with us and sees a person of great potential. He looked at Adam and Eve and saw a world worth saving. He looked at Abraham and Sarah and saw a nation. He looked at Moses, a murderer and saw a deliverer; he looked at a little shepherd boy and saw a great king. God looks at his people and sees what others cannot. That is what god has done for us. He saw our potential and he gave us a purpose. He sees something in us that others cannot see. You see others may see a small struggling congregation with some broken pews, poor quality music, and pastor who can’t preach. Others may see us as Lutherans or a mission or mixed up confused church folk. But God sees us, as those who were not his people being called his people. God sees our potential and he has given us a purpose. That purpose is to be a part of the body of Christ – a warm, accepting congregation – as God disciples growing toward God’s standards while ministering to the needs of the saved and the unsaved, through the teaching of God’s word. That’s our purpose.
We are blessed, not only because we have a God given purpose for our existence, but also because God has a plan for our lives. God had a plan for Jacob. Jacob thought he was sailing his own course but God revealed to him that all that was done in Jacob’s life was part of the plan. That’s which you have been through, are going through, and will go through is a part of God’s plan. It’s all working for your good. (Tell someone- it’s all-good.) Why is it good, beloved? Because, we are the children of God now and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he (Christ) appears we shall be like him as he is. That’s the plan for our lives – to be like Christ in whatever form God chooses us to be. That form may reveal itself as teachers, mentors, and parents ministering to the needs of children. It maybe coaching and prepping teenagers for college entrance exams. It may be mentoring young teenage parents. It may be sending more missionary funds to the Sudan, Madagascar, or the Caribbean. It could be turning our Safe Haven 2001 program into an aftercare program. Whatever ministries God would have us to do will a manifestation of Christ in our midst. But God is in charge of the plan and it will happen because God is a promise-keeper.
You see, promises are problematic for a lot of us. We don’t do too well with promises and we don’t put too much stock in promises. We have promised so much and been promised to so much and have seen those promises broken so many times that we don’t put much value in promises. The broken promises in our lives are not only promises that other people have made to us; sometimes they are promises that we have made to ourselves. We promised to pay our car note on time. We promised to support our church and pay our tithes. We promised to serve him until we die. We promised to pay visa, MasterCard, and American Express on time. We promised so many things; I won’t tell a soul. No one has to know…Girl let me tell you.
We promised some of us to always love and never be untrue. We promised, “Lord if you’ll just help me this one time. I promise I won’t do it any more. Some of us have promised to love, honor, cherish. And obey until death do us part, and we have promised that two or three times.
Promises don’t’ mean that much. We don’t put that much stock in promises because we have seen them broken. But when Jacob receives the Lord’s blessing, he received a promised. And the lord’s promises are not like our promises. You see, when the Lord makes a promise, he does not come short of his word. There is no gap between what he says and what he will do.
He promised a wonderful Counselor, and he kept that promise. He promised a Might God, and he kept that promised. He promised an everlasting father, and he kept that promise. He promised a prince of peace and he kept that promise. He promised that “ if you would destroy this temple, I’ll raise it up in three days” and he kept that promise. He promised, “ If I be lifted up from the earth, I’ll draw all men, women, boys, and girls unto me. Did he not draw you? He kept that promise. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. He promised that weeping may endure for a night but joy is certain to come in the morning. He promised to be a doctor in the sick room, a lawyer in the courtroom, an intercessor in the prayer room. He promised to be a mother for the motherless and a father for the fatherless. And whatever he promised he has already done.
