WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.879 We study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel, and we do have some extra copies. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:08.160 If you need one to follow along today, just raise your hand up real high. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:09.199 Somebody will give you one. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:20.399 There's also up on the screen the name of the network here in the building and the password if you would prefer to find a Bible online and follow along that way. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:28.079 You know, they aren't here, but I just got to give a shout out to the Hughsmans to uh yesterday, I think it was, right? 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:31.120 They usually sit like right here, second or third row. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:42.399 But uh we can tell them we erupted in applause to announce their 68th wedding anniversary. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:50.079 Yeah. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:01:07.200 So some of you young people that are on the Facebook, I'm not on Facebook, so go on there and and uh find them, or Matt Husman, his uh their son that comes here as well, and make sure you let him know we uh give him a big big shout out. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:12.959 So today we are in uh Genesis, and uh this study is called In the Beginning. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:21.920 That's where the book begins, and it is a book of beginnings, and it begins to help us with some of those big questions that we've asked since the beginning. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:23.040 Where did everything come from? 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:24.959 Why is there something rather than nothing? 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.120 Why is there this something rather than some other something? 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:31.760 Um, what does it mean to be a human person? 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.159 Big question in our day and time right now. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.879 What does it really mean to be human? 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:44.719 And um, what has gone wrong with the world and is there a way for it to be set right? 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.840 And Genesis really does such a great job helping us begin to answer some of these questions. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.879 We're in chapter 33, if you want to turn there in your Bibles. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:02:01.359 And this, if you if you're not familiar, this is uh all the way to the left in your Bibles, first of 66 books in the library of ancient literature. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:04.959 And uh, we're in the storyline of the man called Jacob. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:08.240 His name has been turned uh changed by God to Israel. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:30.159 He'll be referred to by both names throughout, and even we find in the Psalms and a couple of other places that he sort of stands as a fountainhead of not only the line of the twelve tribes, because these his children are the namesake of the tribes of Israel, but uh also he sort of uh stands for the people of God in the Old Testament. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:35.439 Jacob is often referred to as our Israel's they're sort of interchangeable. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:52.960 So when we get here in chapter 33, what's happened is uh God has called uh uh Jacob who left his hometown because he and his brother got into all these kind of scraps, and and Jacob, uh kind of a thief and a uh uh sort of heel grabber. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:55.360 His name means heel grabber, he's a deceiver. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:03.280 Uh he's he's manipulated things with his brother to where he got the birthright away from his brother, and he got the family blessing away from his brother. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:10.719 And his brother then uh in turn wanted to react to him and literally try, you know, thinking about murder, and we read about that. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:24.159 And mama comes to Jacob, and Jacob's kind of her favorite, and mama says, Get out of here, go to my homeland, and stay up there till the fury of your brother is is in some way abated, and then you can come back. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:32.159 So he's gone, and he's been gone though for 20 years up there in the homeland of his mother. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:50.960 He has found uh family and work, and God has been really taking the initiative and breaking into his life in a lot of ways, and we've seen the arc and curve of somebody that comes to a realization of the real God who's really there, and just a long, slow sort of process. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:04:19.439 There are other people we read about in the Bible that's like a really sharp turn, like you know, we talk about the Damascus Road experience for the uh Saul who became Paul in the New Testament, very much, you know, and and with this Jacob guy, though, it just seems to be one of, and I don't know how where where you're at, I don't know what you believe, I don't know what you think or believe about God, but I encourage you, as we read through and study through books of the Bible like this, to take note of at least four things. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:32.399 How God reveals himself, two, what God shows us through his word about human human persons and our our vulnerability, our tendencies, the things we need to know and learn about ourselves. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:37.120 And then three, what what what exactly is the gospel? 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:39.839 How's it sort of foreshadowed in some way? 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:45.360 And then fourthly, what is the faith response that God is calling for from this passage? 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:48.639 And we'll we'll get we try to do that with every passage we teach. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:58.639 It's not always 100% real clear to us how to answer those questions, but in this particular one here, this is a classic story of reconciliation. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:10.800 Um and these two brothers, last time they saw each other, one of them had murder on his mind, the other one had been stealing and thieving and manipulating, and it just was not good. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:17.360 And so it's been 20 years as we pull up on this story here, and uh what's gonna happen. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:19.519 All right, verse 1, chapter 33. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:23.360 Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, Esau was coming. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:36.319 So here's Jacob traveling along with his wife and his 11 sons and his one daughter that we've read about, and flocks and herds, and all that big en masse, big, slow-moving entourage. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:41.839 And in the distance he sees Esau coming, and he has 400 men with him. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:43.519 That sounds kind of foreboding. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.240 I mean, that sounds like, what do you mean, where's his cattle? 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.079 Where's his women and children? 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:49.920 Well, why has he got 400? 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:51.199 Why is that pointed out? 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:55.839 What's his response going to be to the approach of Jacob who wants to come back home? 00:05:56.079 --> 00:06:00.399 Well, he uh Jacob divides the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:06.399 He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:15.519 And uh so it sounds kind of like he's doing, you know, women and children first as the approaching army that might be out to slaughter them. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:18.560 You know, the reaction looks threatening, all that sort of thing. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.920 And and my mom and my mom and I talk about these passages all the time. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:28.480 I talk about my mom, she's 89, she watches every uh every Sunday from everybody wave to her up here on the camera. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:32.240 And she's watching, but anyway, she's real honest about all this stuff. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:36.319 She goes, What's with Jacob putting the women and the children out front there? 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:42.319 You know, she's like she's a little incensed at the whole thing, and she kind of wants Jacob to get his just desserts in this whole thing. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.480 And I'm like, that was like like last chat last week we were talking about this. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.000 And I said, Mom, just hold on. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:56.399 Chapter 33 is coming, and and just hold on, chapter verse four is coming, and it kind of helps to explain what happens, what ends up happening. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:59.360 I know it looks like he's coward. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:07.519 It looks like he's throwing the women and children under the bus, and it's not really him being being chivalrous in some way. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:08.639 No, verse four. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:14.480 Then um, excuse me, verse three, he passed, uh, but he himself passed on ahead of them. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:15.680 This is Jacob, right? 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:22.000 He passed on ahead of verse three, and he bowed down to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:22.560 Oh. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:31.040 So he organizes everybody and he sticks them out front, but then he passes through himself. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.680 And what do they see happening? 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:44.480 What does each of them see happening to this one, Jacob, who probably they know to have been the scoundrel that he has been. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:46.079 A lot of them. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:52.879 Those that worked for him, that helped him with the herds and the flocks who've come along, some of his family members. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:08:03.199 Um he's like a, you know, he's like a shrewd deal-making, manipulative who always cared about me, myself, and I. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:10.399 And uh a lot of us know people like that, and some of us are people like that at different times in our lives. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:19.360 But in this moment, in verse 3, he passes a head in front of them and he bows seven times. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:32.480 And as I did my studies, some of the some of the brightest scholars of Old Testament literature said this is often the kind of response that someone would make to an approaching king. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.879 Deference, respect, humility. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:45.039 This doesn't sound like the kind of thing where somebody's you know got it figured in their head that they've been at odds with the other person and they want to keep the fight going. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:49.039 No, it sounds like somebody who's showing respect and honor. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:56.399 Esau ran to meet him, and I kind of half expected it to say he drew his sword and cut his head off. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:59.039 But he because that's what he had in mind last time. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:00.720 That's not what it says here. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:01.919 Interesting. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:05.679 Esau ran to meet him, and he's got 400 men with him. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.480 And they're probably armed to the teeth. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:17.519 Esau ran to meet him and he embraced him and he fell on his neck, and he kissed him. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:19.279 Wow, that's beautiful. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:21.039 And they wept. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.879 Really quite moving and uh pretty amazing when you think about it. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:27.679 What did they say? 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:30.159 How did it how did the weeping begin? 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:35.200 Was it was it at first as he's running toward, as Esau's running toward Jacob? 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:38.559 Was Jacob thinking, oh no, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die? 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:44.879 And what happened when he fell on him and embraced him and kissed him? 00:09:46.080 --> 00:10:04.399 And I'm I'm the guy that's reading the New Testament, and I read through the New Testament back into the Old Testament, and I think of the story Jesus told of the prodigal son and the prodigal father, who ran out to meet his prodigal son and fell on him and kissed him and embraced him and welcomed him home. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:10.240 And the older brother, sadly, wouldn't even come into the celebration. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:16.159 He wanted, like my mom, he wanted he wanted him to get his just desserts. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:17.600 He's the one that went away. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.320 He shouldn't be welcomed back to the family, you know. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:28.720 It's so hard to be thinking about the younger brother and respond to the younger brother without becoming the older brother, isn't it? 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:34.320 But here, he, Esau, embraced him. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:36.159 He fell on his neck and he kissed him and he wept. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:38.000 I wonder what they talked about first. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:39.919 I mean, we get a little bit of this. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:58.639 Um, but as they start to weep and feel the tears wet on each other's shoulder and and begin to their chests begin to heave a little bit and they begin to sob a little, and you know, fluids are flowing out of their mouths and their their nose and everything like that. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:02.960 As Jacob say to Esau, it's been 20 years, brother. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:04.480 How's Dad? 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:06.240 How's Isaac? 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:08.639 It's been 20 years, brother. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:09.759 How's mom? 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:11.600 How is she? 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:16.799 And did Esau say, I'm so sorry to tell you, mom's gone. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:19.039 She's not with us anymore. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:20.320 Dad's okay. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.799 But he's getting really old, and of course he was, we know that story, right? 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.600 But what what kind of interchange did they have? 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:30.639 You know, I mean, that must have been such a beautiful moment. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:35.679 Well, Esau lifts up his eyes and saw the women and children and said, Who are these with you? 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:44.879 So Jacob says to Esau, and I love this answer, the children whom God has graciously given your servant. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:53.120 Jacob's gonna mention the grace of God in his life, at work in his life a couple times here in this chapter. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.000 It's awesome. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:55.440 It's beautiful. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:57.440 Would you do that too? 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:00.720 Would I do that too? 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:07.120 Would we be more verbal about the grace of God at work in our lives? 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:23.679 Just like Jacob and Esau, just like Abraham and Isaac before them, each one of these people has had to be ingloriously extricated from some mischief that caused them consequences they didn't like. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:29.440 So too for me, so too for you. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:33.360 What about the grace of God at work in your life? 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:44.399 Does that flow freely from your lips when you're talking to others and explaining some of what happens in your life or what happens with your family or what happens in your business? 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:44.799 Whatever. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:46.720 How has God been gracious to you? 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:48.480 Let's testify, people. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:50.879 Um here he does just that. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:54.720 He says, uh, these are the children whom God has graciously given you service. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:57.360 Verse 6, then the maids came near with their children, they bowed down. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:00.799 Leah likewise came near with her children, they bowed down. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.000 Afterward, Joseph came near with Rachel and they bowed down. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:12.720 Verse 7 is telling us this thing about reconciliation, forgiveness, humility, all of that, is contagious. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:25.200 What happened in this world of incivility and rancor and acrimony that's turned up to on one to ten, it's turned up to 12 right now. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:26.879 What would happen? 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:33.120 How could we spread the good infection of that kind of approach? 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:36.799 Really interesting. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:37.759 Verse 8. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.159 So he says, What do you mean by all this company? 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:41.919 This is Esau, which I have met. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:43.360 In other words, why are they all here? 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.240 He said, To find favor in the sight of my Lord. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:54.000 Jacob says that, calls him my Lord, not my brother who I hate, not my brother who I've stolen everything from, not my enemy, but my Lord. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:56.080 Respect again. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:59.039 And Esau's reply is, I have plenty. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:01.519 The word for plenty there is Rob R-A-B. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:03.120 I'm not a Hebrew scholar. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.399 I'm just smart enough to know how to use the dictionary online. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:16.240 And sometimes it's really interesting because there's going to be another word translated in English plenty down here in another verse or two, and it's not the same Hebrew word. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:19.440 But right here, it's Esau saying, I've got plenty. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.080 My brother, let what you have be your own. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:29.600 In other words, you don't need to give me all this stuff because the servants had gone ahead and promised all these gifts and all that sort of thing. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:32.000 And he's basically saying, You don't need to give me anything. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:32.799 I've got plenty. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:33.519 Verse 10. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:42.879 Jacob said, No, please, if now I've found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:45.039 In other words, I want I want to see you. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:47.600 And I want to see God in you. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:49.519 I want to see the life of God in you. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.480 I don't want to see you as God wants me to see you again. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:54.639 Man, can I learn to do that? 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:55.600 Yeah. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:58.799 And you have received me favorably. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:06.399 That's a shocker to Jacob, who last time, again, last time they knew each other, Esau wanted to kill him. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.799 Please take my gift, verse 11. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:11.759 The word gift there could also be translated blessing. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:16.159 Interesting, because that's what Jacob stole from Esau. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:22.639 Please take my blessing, which has been brought to you. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:25.120 And you can underline this next phrase. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.679 Because God has dealt graciously, there it is again, with me. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:34.720 And because I have, and here it is the second time, in English anyway, plenty. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:36.720 This time it's a different Hebrew word. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:38.480 It's K-O-L, call. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:43.039 And it means not just plenty, actually, it would be better translated, all. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:45.519 I have everything I need. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:51.679 God has been gracious to me, and I have everything I need. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:55.440 There's something to rest in. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:00.960 There's a soul actually at rest in God's provision. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:02.399 No matter what he's got. 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:09.759 And right now, remember, he's literally, he ran away from his first home because of his own misdeeds. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:14.720 And then he has left Laban and all that sort of thing because God's told him to go return back home. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.679 And he doesn't know what the outcome is going to be. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.120 He's just walking in obedience at this point, you know? 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:24.720 And he is a soul, he's got a soul at rest though. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:24.960 Why? 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:28.480 Because he has everything he needs, because God has been gracious to him. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:44.080 Now, every single one of us could probably figure out a way to articulate how, in some way, God has been gracious to us, but to actually rest in it, to actually say, God is sovereign, and he has, because he's been gracious to me, I have everything I need in him. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:45.440 That's beautiful. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:45.840 Yeah. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.120 Esau said, let's take our journey and go, and I will go before you. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:50.080 Verse 13. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:57.440 But he said to him, My Lord knows that the children are frail, the flocks and the herds which are nursing are a care or responsibility to me. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.279 And if they are driven hard, one day, all the flocks will die. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:06.160 And remember, this is a 450 to 500 mile journey. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:15.119 Uh, not on an airplane, not on a train, not on a bus, not in a car, not in cars, air conditioned with, you know, all kinds of great digital entertainment. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:16.480 It's none of that. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:26.880 This is like worn-out sandals, dusty roads, smelly animals, and and worn-out clothes, and no bathroom, no truck stops for bathrooms or anything. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:27.440 Nothing. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:27.920 Okay? 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:29.680 And so they're tired. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.960 And he says, I we can't keep up with you and your 400 men. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.079 I mean, that's not gonna happen. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:40.480 And there may even be a little bit yet of a little hesitancy, a little, he's not sure. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:41.440 It's quite possible. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:42.160 Very human. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:43.440 Both of these people are. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:45.519 And we need to leave room for that. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.960 But he's he is saying, I can't really keep up anyway. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:59.920 Please let my Lord pass on before his servant, verse 14, and I'll proceed at my leisure according to the pace of the cattle that are before me, and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my Lord at Seir. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:04.960 Now, Seir is uh, I don't have the map here today, but uh think about Israel. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:06.400 We've talked about this before. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:16.079 He's he's probably in the northern third of uh, but east of it, uh, of what would be Israel at this time, near the southern part of the Sea of Galilee. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:22.640 Uh Seir would be down toward the Dead Sea, and the Jordan River runs between them, you know, north and south like this, right? 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:36.319 And so Esau is going to end up, just because I've read the rest of the book, he's gonna end up staying in the area of Mount Seir, and it's gonna become where the Edomites flow from his descendants, basically. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:45.759 But for right now, what we're being told is that Esau wants Jacob to go with him to Seir, and yet Jacob has been told by God to go to Bethel. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:52.720 Okay, so the house of God, that's where God wants Jacob to go, but he's not even gonna go there. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.519 We'll see that in this particular chapter. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:59.599 And so Esau says to him, please let me leave you with some of the people who are with me. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:02.559 Let me let some of my soldiers hang out with you. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:04.720 But he said, What need is there, Jacob did? 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:06.880 Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.839 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:22.880 Jacob journeyed to Suckoth and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock, therefore the place is named Suckoth, which means sheds or booths, that sort of thing. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:35.200 Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram, and that's where he was at when he ran away from his homeland. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:40.079 He ran up to Padan Aram where uh he met Laban and Leah and Rachel. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:42.240 And he camped before the city. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:51.680 He bought the piece of land which he had pitched, uh, where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100 pieces of money. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:54.799 Just note the live body detail in that last verse. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:56.079 Okay, that's one of those things. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:58.880 I know sometimes you'll dial out going, who's Hamor? 00:19:58.960 --> 00:19:59.680 What's Shechem? 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:00.240 I don't know. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.240 Just notice that it's live body detail. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:06.720 The idea there is to remind us that we're reading history. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:10.480 We're not just reading fairy tales or you know, some kind of myth or whatever. 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:11.920 This is live body detail. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:18.799 You can cross-check other resources and find these places and some of these names from time to time. 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:21.440 And it's really awesome that our Bible would be that way. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:30.960 He erected there an altar and called it El Elohe Israel, which is uh God, the God of Israel. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:32.559 That's beautiful. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:35.599 That's his name now, Israel. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:39.119 And he has now built his first altar. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:42.400 We knew that Abraham was someone who built altars. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:45.200 We knew even that Isaac built an altar. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:48.880 But now here's Jacob building his first altar. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:54.480 Again, his curve is so long in his faith and the way he's coming to faith. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:21:04.240 But it's really interesting, and now I think his realization of who God is is uh is really becoming a little bit more clear as theology developing a little. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:09.759 And remember, we didn't we haven't even gotten to Moses and the Ten Commandments or any of that stuff now. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:16.480 So these people are, it's a long, slow curve, and God is being so faithful to reveal himself to these folks. 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:20.960 What a great chapter, what a great story of reconciliation, if you will. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:25.680 Um I think that the terms forgiveness and reconciliation sometimes get conflated. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:37.839 Uh, they're two beautiful words, uh, but but I think that there's a slight difference in the meaning, and I think maybe sometimes uh it is it becomes more clear to us when we think about how it's used. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.440 I think that forgiveness is something that you can do unilaterally. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:43.680 It takes one person to forgive. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:47.680 I think reconciliation actually takes more than one person. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:58.400 And sometimes you may make an effort at reconciliation with someone, and it will involve forgiveness, but the other person may not be interested in reconciliation. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:21:59.359 Why? 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.400 Know. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:06.160 I think sometimes our pride gets in the way, sometimes we're stubborn, sometimes we're hurt, sometimes we're afraid. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:17.279 But we don't venture out into the turf or the area that we need to go to to actually have reconciled relationships. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:41.680 And so this is an interesting chapter because to me, if if I think of people, all the people's stories that I hear as a pastor, if I think of all the things, even in my own life, as I think of some of the broken, you know, along the way, some of the bumpy rides and relationships and stuff like that, if I if I try to think about all that, none of my none of my story and none of the stories I've heard have actually included a brother who is out to kill you. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:53.839 And none of the stories that I know, I know, I know some of them that have been uh liars and and and some of them have taken things and all that sort of thing. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:56.480 Um but but not like this. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:22.319 And so these stories are preserved for us in a way, and so are the stories in the New Testament, where we see relationships go south, uh, where we see some bickering between Christians like Paul and the Apostle Peter in Antioch, Syrian Antioch, or when we see when we see Paul and Barnabas separate and go different ways because they one of them wants to bring John Mark and the other one doesn't. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:24.400 And there's a disagreement there. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:29.759 What ends up happening is, glory to God, two missionary teams get sent out ultimately. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:35.119 God can transform even our stubborn resistance to reconciliation. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:41.519 But this is a fascinating story to me, and I think there's some things that we can mine from it. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.200 First of all, I think we see that sin separates us from God and from one another. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:50.559 I know that that's fairly obvious, but everybody doesn't quite acknowledge that sin exists in this world. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:56.480 And in our sort of postmodern world, there's a lot of, which we may be post-postmodern, I'm sorry. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:58.240 I'll put 10 posts there. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:23:59.599 That's the kind of world we live in. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:01.200 We're post-everything, all right? 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:04.160 So post toasties, we're post-everything. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:20.240 And um, and and so what we're what we're what what the confusion that we've now gotten to is that we think we are in charge of reality itself, including the you know, defining of our own selves. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.640 And you can see the confusion, you can see it out there, it's not hard to see. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:48.799 Um you can even see it in your own self, in your own mind, in your own soul, as those kinds of that kind of confusion and those kinds of thoughts flood into our souls and minds and begin to influence us and shape us as we consider what does it mean to be a human person, or we consider what does it mean to be married, or we consider what does it mean to be any number of things in this world in which we live. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:55.279 And so it's really important that we understand that sin actually separates us from God and from one another. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:59.680 And I probably should have put up there, I'm sorry, but let's call this extended point one, okay? 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:04.960 Sin separates us from God and from one another, comma, and from our true selves. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:17.519 Because the person that God really wants me to be as his son is to be a person who rests in his love and flourishes uh in my relationships with others. 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:17.920 Why? 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:22.559 Because I rest in his love and forgiveness and grace in my life, just like Jacob here. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:24.799 God's been gracious to me. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:28.000 Now I can turn and do the same for others. 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:29.839 We say it in this prayer, don't we? 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:36.640 You may or may not know it, but every time we say this prayer, you say a one, there's one conditional clause that you say. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:40.640 You say, God, forgive me in the same way I forgive others. 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:43.839 And if you ever stop and think about that, you might go, Don't. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:53.440 I actually want God to forgive me way better than I forgive others. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:56.319 And you probably do too. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:02.160 And you probably take offense if people don't forgive you when you've offended them. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:19.759 And the problem with us is that pride, which is at the root of all my sin, pride keeps separating me from God, understanding that truth right there, and separates me from others, my pride does, and it separates me even from my own true self. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.640 Pride is at the root of all my sin. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:25.519 Pride is at the root of all of your sin. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:26.799 And it is a separator. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:31.920 And yeah, the church has done a really good job of articulating what our sins, what do they look like? 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.759 And you know, you have to answer that question. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:38.240 Who is it in this culture that in the post-everything world that defines what is sin? 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:42.720 Because the minute you say something is sin, somebody else will go, Who are you to tell me what sin is? 00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:43.519 Right? 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:49.599 And for years and centuries, the church has been articulating, here's what the Bible teaches us. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:51.440 This is what God says. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:59.200 Uh these are the kinds of things that are categorized as sin that will break our relationship with God, with others, and even with ourselves. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:04.160 Things like pride and vainglory, greed and covetousness, lusts of all kinds. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.319 And it's not just sexual lust, folks. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:08.319 There are lusts of all kinds. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:10.400 But yes, there is sexual lust. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:16.559 Envy, gluttony, drunkenness, wrath, anger, sloth. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:20.319 Do you see yourself on the screen? 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:25.599 Because you see me on the screen, whether you know it or not. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:26.559 I'm up there. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:31.200 And I would suggest, humbly, as your pastor, you are up there too. 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:36.079 You dress up really nice on Sunday, you look good, I like your smiles. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:40.079 We're all usually pretty polite to each other, but we're all up there. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:43.200 And some of us are up there in that last category. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:44.319 That's a hard one. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.240 That last one is tough. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:55.200 In the world in which we live, it's the race to be first to know, and the first one to read it and tweet it. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:03.839 And we get so proud of the fact that we're right, or that's so proud of the fact that we posted first, or whatever it is. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:10.720 And and then if it's got gossip in it, it's what a delectable delight it is to our pride. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:14.720 It's just so wonderful, savory in every way. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:29.759 And there we fall into that division, that dividing asunder of people, and we ful we jump into the river of rancor and the and and and we find ourselves being choked out by the kudzu of our culture, which is outrage. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:32.799 Don't let that happen to you. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:36.559 None of that we've got to set aside all of that stuff up there. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:42.799 And the problem, as Alan Jones says, is we live in an age where everything is permitted, but nothing is forgiven. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:46.160 Look at what a catch 22 we're in. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:47.680 We're trapped. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:50.640 Everything is right because nothing is wrong. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:53.039 And yet you're wrong. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:55.759 Because you disagree with me. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:02.240 The other day I posted a little, I am, I confess I am on Twitter a little bit. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:09.599 Um and I said something like, I said something like warning, you know, it's like a children's warning or whatever. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:23.839 I often read and quote people I don't agree with, you know, because it's just so usually if you post something, people don't agree with you, it's like jump, quick, kill, destroy, you know. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:26.880 And yet here we have with Jacob and Esau. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:32.720 This one that comes and bows seven times. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:44.000 And this one that comes humbly and really is intent on obeying God, working toward forgiveness and reconciliation. 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:48.880 When he used to be, how do I manipulate this? 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:51.920 How do I take best advantage of this other person? 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:55.519 How do I possibly get everything I can out of this? 00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:59.119 And it's just an interesting contrast, isn't it? 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:00.480 The world in which we live. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:07.039 Some people are more ready to reconcile than we realize, and that's really wonderful, isn't it? 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:14.240 Um God loves reconciliation, but because of sin and pride, not everybody else does. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:24.319 Do you have a relationship that could use some forgiveness or some reconciliation of some sort? 00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:41.359 I've actually been told stories by people that come to our church of over 20 years of somebody extending an olive branch, somebody making a move toward reconciliation, and the other person saying something a couple different things. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:46.079 Like one one would say something like, I didn't even know, I wasn't offended at all. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:48.160 I don't, what are you, what are you talking about? 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:52.559 We we need you, I don't, you don't, I yeah, and they just didn't even know. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:58.319 But the one person thought this was this huge, mountainous conflict that was going on, right? 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:00.079 The other person didn't even know. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:12.160 And the other kinds of stories I've heard before are those kinds where somebody offers the first move and the other person just breaks down and cries and weeps profoundly. 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:14.960 I've just been waiting for you to say so. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:17.920 I've just been, I just have felt so bad myself. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:19.599 And so I'm sorry too. 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:25.839 And just like Jacob and Esau, they fall on each other and weep together. 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:41.920 And the weeping turns from this kind of mourning that turns into this hopeful morning that turns into this beautiful glory and this reconciled relationship because of the way God has been at work in their lives. 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:46.079 Joyce Baldwin has a really good commentary on the book of Genesis. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:53.759 All the bitter enmity that had separated these two men for 20 years was swept away by the forgiving love that flooded their beings. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:32:09.279 Barriers of resentment, hatred, and fear fell in a moment and permitted the joy of renewed friendships, introductions to the family, and exchange of the news. 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:22.000 Thirdly, and finally, there is a gospel-shaped reconciliation. 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:23.680 And it looks like something. 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:25.519 It's got characteristics. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:39.680 It's foreshadowed here in Genesis chapter 33, uh, found more completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who comes, who's the one that all of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's story points forward to. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:44.559 See, this is God's record of redemption history, this Bible that we have. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:33:02.480 And throughout the Old Testament, we find it point pointing forward to and finding its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus, who also comes into a dark world that had been its enemy and offers the olive branch of peace with God. 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:04.880 Wow. 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:16.640 And he lays down his life for the sins of the world, mine included, yours included, and essentially pays the full price for us to be completely reconciled with God. 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:18.480 And that is that is amazing grace. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:20.720 That's more much more comprehensive. 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:34.640 And so there is a gospel-shaped reconciliation, and we see it foreshadowed here in the humility of Jacob, bowing seven times, in the humility of Jesus, condescending to take the infinite God of the universe. 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:36.000 No, beyond the universe. 00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:37.039 He created the universe. 00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:41.519 The infinite God condescending to become one of us. 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:47.759 A couple decades ago, there was that song that asked the question, what if God were one of us? 00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:51.200 And the answer of the New Testament is, He was. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:58.720 And it's a good thing to say what if, because watch it just blow you away as you read the story. 00:33:59.119 --> 00:33:59.920 What if? 00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:03.200 Here's what if, reconciliation with God. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:24.000 Here's what if reconciliation between you and others as Jesus begins to work in your life and transform and change you and give you not only a model for how to forgive and how to reconcile, but to actually his life inside of you, the Holy Spirit, empowering us to do that. 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:32.079 Because on my own, I gotta tell you, I'm not naturally inclined toward reconciliation out on I-65. 00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:40.400 I'm not natural, if you do me wrong, I'm not naturally inclined to just go, oh, it's really okay. 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:41.920 Just keep on abusing me. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:42.800 I love that. 00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:45.679 No, I'm not inclined toward that sort of thing. 00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:46.559 I love justice. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:47.599 Do you love justice? 00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:48.320 Yes. 00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:49.760 Do you hate injustice? 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:50.079 Yes. 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:51.440 Do you hate to suffer injustice? 00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:52.639