Intro Story – swimming lessons.
When I was about six years old I took swimming lessons one summer
Remember, what it was like? I was scared – but it wasn’t so bad. We started by blowing bubbles, splashing in the pool, Dog paddle, pushing off from the side of the pool. The Instructor is always there lightly guiding you – that was great. Best thing is, your feet can always touch the bottom no matter what happened – you could stand up.
Then one day the instructor led us from the small pool, to the big pool.
We weren’t going to go in the big pool – whew! We were just going to watch older kids dive off the high dive.
What happened next, I could close my eyes right now, and relive it like it happened yesterday.
Another kid bumped me and I fell in. I was in the deep end. Came up for air and sank. There was no bottom. I panicked I went under came up, went under came up, over and over. Each time yelling for help.
And then I noticed, no one was looking at me – and I saw was too far out for them to help me. You know there is that moment when you realize your on your own and you have to make it alone. That’s a terrible thing.
Ever had times when you feel like that? Everything is stacked against you, you feel alone and separated from everything?
In our Scripture this morning Jacob is in a place like that. He has worked 20 years for his uncle who has tried to cheat him at every turn, in many ways, he feels like he is on his own – drowning in circumstances.
But, you know what happened that morning in the pool. Someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out – plunk – dropped me on solid ground – it was over. I wasn’t on my own after all. In fact I was about 2 feet from the edge.
What a crazy idea, this I’m on my own thing!
Jacob is not on his own at all. He has a commitment from God, to be there.Like we do when we commit our life to Jesus Christ, God will be there.Especially when we don’t see it.
Jacob has a lot of sin he is carrying with him. Like luggage. Bad decisions. Deception. Dishonesty. Trying to get God’s blessing, by ungodly means. Fact is, his sin has got him into a difficult situation.
Life is not fun. But he is about to leave that sin behind, and get another chance.
As God Moves Jacob Physically – He Moves Us Spiritually.
God takes you for who you are, which is great news – because who else would I be? I run into folks all the time who won’t turn to God because they are not ready yet. Usually what they mean is: there is something about me that is not good enough. If I can be a little better – then I’ll feel comfortable with God
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
God moves you to the place he wants you to be. Exactly where in that conversation did Jesus tell the criminal, “sorry, only good people can know God”? What this man does, in so many words, is do what we call
Committing his life to Jesus Christ.
You may hear some say, well that was a different dispensation. And it doesn’t apply to us today. Well baloney. We see this with Jacob. If you have been with us the past few weeks you have seen that Jacob is not a good man. In fact after years of knowing God, he still isn’t a good man.
Know any people like that? Yet God sticks by him.
Now here is where the danger is: God is full of grace – so generous, pouring blessing upon us. Some of us take that to mean – I good just the way I am, I won’t worry about sin. In fact in our churches today we have people who will try to justify their sin. They go to a church. They have given their life over to Christ and they see blessings from God in their life. So if I see blessings from God, everything in my life is ok.
Well here’s the news. So did Jacob. He saw blessings in his life and wanted to stay where he was – same place over 20 years.
God moves you to the place he wants you to be. Remember: God moves Jacob physically a he moves us spiritually. So in verse 3 he tells Jacob go back to the land of your fathers – go home. Jacob is ready. Oh is he ready. He calls a family meeting with his wives. He has been cheated.They feel like their father doesn’t care about them (uncle Laban)
15 Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us.
Jacob. We’re with you. Let’s move on.
Let me ask you this: If life was fair. If everything was going well, would they have left? You can bet your bottom dollar they would stay put. We can be fairly dense. God doesn’t want us to stay the same. And he will do whatever it takes, whatever it takes, to move you closer to him.
Do you have things driving you nuts in life? Maybe there is something there God wants you to pay attention to.
Jacob apparently was very, very dense.
20 years….
God Separates Us
Jacob can see the writing on the wall. Gen. 31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.
Here’s is what it looks like is happening here. First mention of Laban’s sons – last chapter. Possibly Laban didn’t have sons before and made Jacob his heir. The custom in that part of the ancient world. Laban very old, Jacob is in his 80’s by now at least. How old is Laban? At first thrilled he has an heir now. Then he has sons. Inheritance would be split equally among sons. So the sons have an attitude – and so does Laban. They have done everything they cold to get the upper hand.
7 yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8 If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young.
You have to laugh – this guy was cheating Jacob from day one. How bad is his attitude now? He clearly has changed the deal they made over and over when it wasn’t working to his advantage. We saw this last week. It didn’t matter what Laban came against Jacob with God was with him and blessed him – God’s will, will be done..In your life as well.
So God needs to move Jacob on to have him grow, and that means separation. And we get separation anxiety happening.
God separates us from Sin.
We have sin in our lives and God wants us separated from that sin. Jacob’s sin has followed him. That’s sin’s nasty habit. Back home – he uses deception to get his way. At uncle Labin’s – he uses deception to get his way (saw last week). See what the sin in his life has done to him? He keeps trying to get God’s blessing by unholy means. He keeps staying put.
Now God is going to move him from his sin. Get him to a new place, where he will have a better chance. God does the same to us, If he doesn’t we end up doing the same thing over and over never getting any closer to God.
By separating us from our sin, that means separation from other things as well, that might mean things that are good. I can’t imagine everything was bad with Jacob. I’m sure he loved many things about his life. When God separates us from our sin. Addictions – many times we have to not associate with those people tied to the addiction anymore.
Many times as God works out sin, others things become causalities as well. Sin is all around nasty stuff. The results, hurt our lives. We like to imagine it doesn’t. We like to blame other things other people – but it is our sin.
God delivers Us
In the same way that God separates us from our sin he delivers us as well from sin. God is the one who will deliver you from your sin you will not – remember – we are not alone in this. God wants you to do well. He isn’t there to smack you down. Often he needs to separate us from sin for our own good.
To Where He desires us to be. Think of sin like a luggage that you have to carry with you. Airport – with a carry on, without a carry on. – move faster, easier. Many of us have a ton of stuff – and it is hard to move us.
Still, We Bring Luggage With Us
You know we carry a lot around with us, because of our own sin, and those who have sinned against us.
Do you carry around with you something that keeps coming back to you mind. An event, where someone hurt you? It could have been years ago. When you hear their name, or something reminds you of them. You can’t get this horrible event out of your mind. That’s sin, the luggage of sin, weighing you down
Jacob takes so much with him – like we do. He has God’s blessing, family, livestock, servants, great experiences. But he also carries the bad stuff
The gods.
His wife Rachel steals the household Gods from her father Laban. She places them in this camel box. A box of evil. Jacob has no idea. He has left so much junk behind – but still so much follows him. We will always have sin in or lives, only in the presence of God will we be completely free of sin. God is moving him to where he wants him to be, but still, some bad comes along for the ride.
Laban chases after them. The god’s are the sole reason. Don’t be fooled that he misses his daughters. These god’s, in this culture, symbolize the head of the family – the patriarch. Whoever has them is seen as the head of the family. Laban’s the head of the family, he wants them back.
For us these god’s symbolize sins power in or lives. Yes sin can give us power, over others and many things. We give up sin, we do give up power.But we don’t want our power to increase in our lives. No. We want God’s power to increase in our lives.
Why can’t we let go?
I think for many of us, what we want in life what we need in life. Isn’t stuff. Isn’t success. But to leave behind all this junk we have been carrying with us. Some of it is a result of or own sin. Some of it is a result of what people have done to us, over the years. Sometimes we hang on to these things like Rachel with the household Gods. By hanging on we somehow feel a little bit in control. Sometimes, like Jacob, we have no idea what we are hauling around with us. But it is there mixed in with the blessings. Like Jacob, we don’t understand the full blessings God has in mind for us.We see the best around us and think that is what God wants for me. Or we think, God has blessed me and this is what he wants for me
When what God wants is a closeness we really can’t comprehend.
Next week: wrestling with God over our lives.
