HOW TO WRESTLE GOD AND WIN
Genesis 32:22-32
S: God’s blessing
Th: Prayer: A Passion for His Presence
Pr: WE WIN WITH GOD BY LOSING.
?: How?
KW: Needs
TS: We will discover in Genesis 32 three needs that we have in order to win in our losing battle with God.
Inductive
The _____ need we have is a…
I. RUINATION
II. RELATIONSHIP
III. REMINDER
RMBC 06 January 02 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. Have you ever entered into a struggle that you knew you could not win?
ILL personal
When I was in high school in Genesee county, I was on the wrestling team…
And I was back. I had been away a longtime. There was great tension in the air. The band was playing. The crowd was already full of excitement. Entering into the gymnasium were two powerhouses of the area’s high school wrestling teams: Byron-Bergen and Attica—both in first in their respective leagues. And I was on one of those teams (Byron-Bergen), wrestling first in the lowest weight class, 98.
It was the end of the season. I had been out for two months with a back injury that was still bothering me. But I wanted to go the finals, and I needed the tune up. I already had sewn up the number one seed in the sectionals, but I needed the work. I was nervous. Would my back hold? I didn’t feel strong. I was out of shape. But I was hoping that I would be clever enough to survive and win in unfriendly territory.
The whistle blew to bring the two of us out to the mat. I shook hands with the fellow I was about to wrestle and as I looked at him, I wondered how he fit all that muscle into 98 pounds. But that didn’t worry me. I had beaten some real muscular guys before. I was worried about my back. The whistle blew and the match began. I was tentative. Then our first clash. He grabbed my wrist. All of sudden, I froze. I said to myself, “Oh-oh!” No one had ever grabbed me with such strength before. But I was going to do the best I could, no matter how strong this guy was.
For five minutes, I held the guy off with every trick I knew, but during the third period with a minute to go, I found myself looking at the wonders of the steel structure that held up the roof, and then, a resounding slap on the mat. It was over. It was the first and only match that I lost by being pinned.
You know, as soon as the match began, I knew I was not going to win.
It’s not that I gave up.
I was a realist.
I was not in shape to win.
I was just hoping to finish the match against a superior opponent.
Speaking of struggle, I wonder if any of you have ever struggled with prayer?
If you have, join the club.
2. This year, our emphasis is on the subject of prayer.
Our theme is “Prayer: A Passion for His Presence.”
And our theme verse is the prayer of Jabez that is found in I Chronicles 4:10.
This year, it is my desire that we, as a church family, would be renewed in terms of our relationship with God, and, as a result, appreciate anew this great gift God has given us in prayer.
3. When we come to the story of Jacob in Genesis 32, some have viewed the story as an example of a heroic struggle about persisting in prayer.
I want to confess to you that I believe this story has nothing to do with persistence in prayer, even though I have heard many sermons interpret it that way.
This is not a story of extracting from God what one wants.
This is not about working an answer out of God.
This is not about wearing God out until He says “yes.”
But there is a lesson for us that will ultimately apply to prayer as we get to the end of our study (no looking ahead!).
You know…
4. Because he (Jacob) has struggled all his life, we will see in our study that Jacob (he) has certain needs.
Interestingly, Jacob was a twin that was born clutching his older brother’s heal.
Because of that, he was literally named, “one who grabs the heal,” Jacob.
And he lived up to the name.
Up to our story today, he had been grabbing at things all his life.
I like how one person put it…
“Jacob was the kind of person that could enter a revolving door behind you and come out ahead of you.”
As we come to the context of today’s text, we find that…
5. Context: Jacob is worried about a meeting with his brother, Esau (22-23).
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.
Jacob has been gone for a long time and he is clearly worried about his homecoming.
You see, many years previous, after Jacob stole the blessing from Esau, his mother Rebekah was going to send for him after Esau calmed down.
Interestingly, there is no recording she ever sent word that it was safe to come home.
But Jacob is coming home anyway and he has word that Esau knows of his coming.
And at the stream called Jabbok (which means pouring out or emptying), he empties himself of all his possessions and relationships to the other side.
He is alone.
He has done all that he can think to do, even pray.
For previously, he prayed…
“O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
Jacob was finally realizing that it was time to not depend on himself alone.
He needed help.
He was in anguish.
He was unsure of what Esau was going to do.
And here we pick up today’s text (under…)…
OUR STUDY:
I. RUINATION (24-25)
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.
1. God answers prayer (with a wrestling match).
Have you ever noticed that God does not always answer our prayers in the way we expect?
This wrestling match is God answering Jacob’s prayer.
At first, we do not know who this unnamed man is.
It could be anybody, perhaps a local bandit, an advance scout for Esau, or perhaps even Esau himself.
But the text reveals it to us soon enough that we have what theologians call a theophany, that is, God revealing himself in human form.
And as the author Moses tells this story, he wants us to feel unsettled with the thought that God can be our adversary, fighting against us.
But we find that Jacob is up for the fight, for…
2. Jacob demonstrates tenacity when confronted with aggression.
He accepts the fight and doesn’t give up.
Jacob meets him blow for blow and move for move.
So during this unexpected sweaty night, he doesn’t give in.
He never had before, and he was not about to now.
You know, we are supposed to be uncomfortable with the story.
The idea of hand-to-hand combat with God…
The idea that the all-powerful God is unable to sway the battle…
It makes us squirm a bit.
Jacob is showing tenacity.
He is stubborn all right—unyielding and self-sufficient.
But…
3. Jacob’s takedown is broken down.
Perhaps Jacob thought he was getting the upper hand.
Perhaps he thought that his persistence was wearing his opponent down.
But the match takes a drastic turn.
With one touch he is done.
He receives a dislocated hip.
And Jacob is in pain!
He has suffered a career ending injury.
And Jacob discovers an important fact about this match and his life.
He is not in control and he never has been.
This is the end of his wrestling career that began in the womb.
He has met his match and it is God who has graciously come down to his own level and given him the fight for his life.
He is in great pain.
He cannot move.
But God is answering his prayer.
He is not letting him face the past alone.
God is with him as he faces Esau.
II. RELATIONSHIP (26-29)
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.
1. Jacob asked for his most basic need—a blessing.
Now we all know whom his opponent has been the whole time.
He realizes that he has been wrestling God Himself, but he is no longer fighting.
Instead, he is holding on for dear life.
For God has brought him to the place where all the fight is gone.
Have you ever had to hold your child because they were emotionally out of control?
You had to grab them and hold them, and not let them go until the fight was out of them?
This reminds me a bit of what God has done to Jacob.
There is no fight left, but it is Jacob that is holding on to God.
And though it is requested that Jacob let go, he could not.
He had to cling to the one who had started the fight.
If he let go, he would fall to the ground, unable to move.
He had to hold on.
Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
These were the words God had waited forty years to hear!
God did want to go this extreme, but Jacob had left him little choice.
God had desired to give him the blessing, but Jacob had contrived for it, instead of getting it from God Himself.
But Jacob was right in desiring God’s blessing for being blessed by God is no trivial matter.
In the Old Testament culture, there was nothing that was more important than securing the blessing of God.
It was crucial.
For life without God’s blessing was a nightmare.
Nothing else really mattered but having God’s favor on your life and family.
You see, when you think of blessing, you need to think grace.
For, this, in essence is what it is all about.
It is obtaining favor from God, undeserved and unmerited favor.
Blessing and grace go together.
And for Jacob…
2. The blessing comes with a change of name and ownership.
Interestingly, God asks for a name.
But God does not ask for his own sake.
He knows what his name is.
But he asks for Jacob’s sake.
This was very significant, for the giving of a name was self-disclosure.
Not only did your name identify you, but it spoke of who you were.
It described you.
So Jacob was forced to admit who He was.
He confesses he is Jacob—the grabber.
And note this next part.
Jacob asks for his opponent’s name.
Instead of an answer, he got a new name and a new identity.
Now Jacob was more than the one who grabbed the heel.
He was more than a deceiver.
He was now “Israel.”
He was now God’s fighter.
Israel has faced God and been gripped by God.
He has prevailed by losing, and is now blessed and renamed.
Jacob had overcome.
But he had not overcome God.
He had overcome himself.
For this was the turning point in his life.
He now had a relationship with God.
God was no longer a mystery to him.
And now his struggles would be for God instead of against him.
He now would be God’s struggler.
He now would be God’s wrestler.
He now was for God.
III. REMINDER (30-32)
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.
1. To remind himself, Jacob named the site “God’s face.”
It would be Peniel—God’s face.
He had faced God and now this was a place of worship.
It would be a proper reminder.
But this was not the only reminder.
2. To be reminded, he walked with a limp.
He would be reminded, probably for a lifetime.
Every time he walked, he would limp and it would be a reminder that he had wrestled God and won.
He won, because he was changed.
For anytime we engage in a struggle with God, we are indeed changed.
So…
3. Jacob was now prepared to meet the world.
He had met God!
He had met the with-us God.
And now he could meet Esau, because he had the assurance that he was blessed.
God was with him.
APPLICATION:
So…
1. How do we win with God?
When we look at Jacob, we are confronted by a very competitive man.
By hook or by crook, Jacob desperately wanted to be a winner.
But ironically he only won when he lost.
And the same is true for us.
2. WE WIN WITH GOD BY LOSING.
The only way we prevail with God is to cling tenaciously to Him.
We prevail when we realize all our efforts are inadequate.
We win when we weep and seek His favor.
It is in this sense and in this sense alone that we prevail with God.
God is overcome and extends His blessing and grace to us when we realize we are in over our head.
And this answers why we struggle so much in life.
God allows calamity, tragedy, and danger so we can win.
God gives unemployment, bankruptcy and poverty so we can win.
God provides conflict, struggles, and fights so we can win.
God permits disease, cancer, and surgery so we can win.
I know that when you hear this, you feel uncomfortable.
It makes you uneasy.
But keep in mind the goal.
For we win when we are completely dependent on God and know His blessing and grace.
God will do what He needs to do to get us there.
So…
3. We win when we have a passion for His Presence.
When we realize that we can only be satisfied when God is in charge of our life, this is when God can really bless us and give us success in life.
I believe prayer is a gift.
It is, in essence, talking to God.
It is an act of dependence, a crying out in recognition that there is a power beyond us that can and will make a difference in our lives and in our world.
So, let me share with you some objectives I have for us as a church family.
4. Objectives for our 2002 theme:
The first is that…
4.1 We would pray every day.
Praying everyday demonstrates that we recognize that God is in control.
It is our very simple, but profound, declaration of dependence.
We are not creatures of independence, but dependence.
Second…
4.2 We would join for a corporate prayer gathering once a month.
As you may have noted already, we have changed our prayer meeting structure and gone from two official meetings to four in a week.
There is no doubt that when God’s people agree together in prayer, God responds.
This is why we must meet together.
So note our new times for gathering together in prayer and come as often as you can, and at least once a month.
The meeting times are:
Sunday at 8:45 am
Tuesday at 7:00 am
Wednesday at 7:00 pm
Saturday at 8:00 am
We begin this official schedule on Wednesday.
They will approximately last one-half an hour, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer.
Third,
4.3 We would participate in prayer events.
We also are looking for your participation in occasional prayer events.
These are times when we will approach prayer in different and more creative ways.
The next prayer event will be a “concert of prayer” held on January 27 during the evening service time.
Most of all, it is my desire that each of us…
4.4 We would develop a dependence and passion for God.
Listen to this radical statement.
I am not so much concerned about how many we have in a prayer gathering or at a prayer event as I am about the relationship each one of us has with God.
You see, this is what prayer is all about.
I am not talking about activity.
I am talking about relationship.
When each one of us has a passion for God, watch out.
This place will explode with God’s power making a difference everywhere we go.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Win by losing…realize the fight is not won by human strength and independence, it is won by those who humbly confess their weakness and acknowledge their dependence.
Win by losing…and pray—for prayer in its essence is talking to God, the recognition that we cannot do it alone, that we must have help to succeed.
Win by losing…and ask for God’s blessing, for that is the request He waits for; He waits for a people to desire what He longs to give—His favor.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
