October 10, 2021

Online Worship for Trinity Nineteen, Sunday October 10, 2021

Preacher:
Passage: Genesis 35:1-15
Service Type:

Sermon for Trinity Nineteen – Sunday October 10, 2021
Calvary/Marquette ● Soli Deo Gloria

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who comforts us in all our troubles, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Genesis 35:1–15 (NKJV)
Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.” 2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.

5 And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 7 And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.

8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth.

9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. 14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

In the Name of Jesus, the Christ,
Who is patient and longsuffering,
Dear Fellow Redeemed in His Blood –

It’s called: procrastination; but we call it putting things off until later. We all do it from time to time. Sometimes it happens because we are busy, and sometimes, we just forget. Eventually we remember. We know that the task needs to be done but because we don’t enjoy doing it or aren’t facing an immediate deadline...we put it off again, “I can do that later.”

It’s easy to put off things we don’t’ like – doing the taxes, cleaning the garage, doing the laundry and ironing. So, have you ever put off important tasks like talking to your children?

What about spiritual things, the things of God? Do you ever wonder why it’s can be so easy to put off spiritual things? Perhaps it’s because there isn’t a fixed deadline – the Day of Judgment isn’t on the calendar!

This morning we return to our survey of the book of Genesis. In the 35th Chapter we find Jacob 30 years after his dream of a ladder stretching from earth to heaven (Genesis 28). He’s been reconciled with Esau. He’s returned to the land of Canaan. He’s even bought land twice and built a house (Genesis 33:17, 18-20).

Jacob is wealthy and content, but he still hasn’t kept his promise to God. What promise? Let’s review. The morning after his ‘ladder dream’ Jacob looked at his rock pillow and made this promise to the LORD (Genesis 28:20-22):

“If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

30 years later Jacob lives in Canaan, in Shechem...just 20 miles down the road from Bethel. He lives a short distance from the rock pillow yet is promise to God remains unfulfilled.

The Word of God before us this morning illustrates Spiritual Procrastination. It can be brought on by a guilty conscience, it can be the result of fear; it is corrected by the restated blessing and promise of God.
May God the Holy Spirit help us to see the same weakness in ourselves and with his help seek its remedy in Christ. Amen.
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We’ve all heard the expression: “What goes around comes around.” This truism means that the things you do often come back around to happen to you.

If you take the time to read the chapters between Jacob’s dream and this chapter (Genesis 29-35) you will find that was surely true of Jacob. Let me briefly summarize.

 Jacob (and his mother Rebekah) manipulated his father (Isaac) to obtain the blessing that Isaac intended to give to Esau. As a result of this manipulation, Jacob had to run for his life from his brother.

Jacob started a new life with his uncle Laban. After Jacob worked for his uncle seven years for the hand of his daughter Rachel, he awakened the next morning to find that his uncle had given him his older daughter Leah instead of Rachel.

 Laban manipulated his manipulating nephew into working an additional seven years for Rachel. It wasn’t the last time Uncle Laban manipulated Jacob either. He did so on multiple occasions.

Finally, Jacob and his wives left when Laban was out of town. They fled with their things and Rachel even raided her father’s cupboards, stealing his household idols.

What goes around, comes around. Jacob manipulated his father Isaac and was himself manipulated by his Uncle Laban. Nevertheless, in the course of time Jacob returned to Canaan with his wives and possessions.

Then the LORD reminded Jacob about his promise:

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

Why did Jacob put off fulfilling his promise to God?

Did Jacob just forget? When Jacob came home the events of the past must have come flooding back. He had run away with nothing but the clothes on his back! He had to use a rock as his pillow. Still, the LORD had kept His promise to Jacob. He now had wives, children and flocks and herds. He owned land and houses.

Forget? No, Jacob didn’t forget. Jacob put off fulfilling his promise to God...perhaps because of a guilty conscience. The Scripture reveals to us that Jacob had let things slide in his own home. He hadn’t been faithful to the LORD. He had allowed idolatry to take place in his own home.

When the LORD told him to go to Bethel and do what he had promised, Jacob revealed his guilty conscience by first taking care of the spiritual lapses in his own home:

2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.

Where did these ‘foreign gods’ come from?

 Well, Rachel had stolen some of them from her father, Laban (Genesis 31:19). When Laban pursued them, looking for them, Rachel hid them. Jacob must have learned of her theft...but she was his favorite. He allowed the idols to remain.

 When Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi took vengeance upon the people near Shechem, they killed all the men of the region and took their possessions, wives and little ones. It seems likely that their ‘booty’ also included Canaanite gods, religious amulets and earrings. Once again, Jacob allowed these things to remain.

Jacob knew that these things did not please the LORD, that they amounted to unfaithfulness. But instead of doing what was right, Jacob put off playing his role as husband and father. Instead of seeking to please God; he tried to appease his wives, his sons and his servants.

Now these things aren’t told us so that we condemn Jacob in our hearts. After all, what father or mother among us hasn’t also left sin unrebuked among our own children? The very things we point at in other children, we from time to time ignore and cover up in our own! How many times have we left things slide that were an affront to God because we didn’t want to ‘be the mean parent’?

Instead of playing the hypocrite, let us confess our sins to the LORD and seek His forgiveness!

It’s obvious that Jacob made mistakes. Jacob also confessed his faith in the LORD. It was ultimately the reason that He acted to remove the idols from his house and his people.

We shouldn’t ignore Jacob’s God worked faith and confession:

“...let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.”

Jacob was tardy in giving thanks because of a guilty conscience. When the LORD called upon him to keep his promise, Jacob did what he had put off, he called upon his household, including wives and servants to be rid of their idols, to hand over all religious amulets and earrings, to cleanse their hearts, hands and even clothing. He buried them under a Terebinth Tree.

Have you ever stayed away from the Lord, from worship for a time? Was it because of a guilty conscience? Was it because of sin? In staying away we separate ourselves from the one person who can remedy the situation, can cleanse our hearts, hands and minds.

God help us not to put off the things of God because of a guilty conscience. Instead, may the Spirit of God move us to confess our sins to God, and to anyone you have sinned against and seek forgiveness in Christ.

5 And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

There was another reason Jacob hadn’t pulled up stakes and moved to Bethel earlier. He was afraid.

Afraid? Why would Jacob be afraid? He was afraid because of the actions of his sons Simeon and Levi. When the son of a certain nobleman raped their sister, Dinah, they killed him and all the rest of the men in the area!

Simeon and Levi had sinned; but Jacob didn’t really correct them. It turns out Jacob was concerned about possible repercussions at the hands of the other Canaanites! Jacob’s fear is revealed in his words to his sons (Genesis 34:30):
“You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.”

Has fear ever stopped you from doing what is God pleasing? It’s stopped me. There have been times where I knew what I should say, but for fear of rejection I kept silent. How often have you been afraid to speak up or do what you know God expects of you? God forgive us for Jesus’ sake!

We are all weak, like Jacob, when we forget that God is with us and has promised to defend us from every evil and deliver us to His Heavenly Home.

6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 7 And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. 8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth.

Well, better late than never! Eventually, Jacob fulfilled his promise to God and guilt an altar in Bethel, a pillar to serve as a historical reminder, evidence of God’s grace.

I can’t help but wonder if Jacob expected to be rebuked by God for his tardiness. I wonder if Jacob’s conscience said to him, “Well, it’s about time.” We don’t know, because the Spirit of God hasn’t seen fit to reveal every thought and idea of his heart.

God does reveal, however, that when Jacob’s mother’s nurse Deborah died, he buried her remains under the Terebinth Tree at Bethel and called it Allon Bachuth, which means tree of weeping.

9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel.

The LORD God appeared to Jacob again. There was no wrestling match for blessings this time.
God began by making changes in Jacob’s life, first to his name. The boy who grew up ‘Jacob’ – ‘a heel-grabber, usurper and manipulator’ was given a new name, a reminder of what God promised to do for him. Israel means, “God prevails.’

Like Jacob, the names we make for ourselves by our actions are rarely godly. Yet, God forgives our sins and declares us His Children by faith in His Son.

Who are we to argue with God when He declares us His Children and heirs? Let’s try and remember who we are when we leave the house and go into the world! Let’s remember who we are when we speak and post on social media. We are children of God!

11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.

God promised that a nation of nations would come from his family, including kings. The greatest of all to arise from his family is Jesus of Nazareth the Christ, the Son of God. He has established a countless gathering of believers, a nation of believers, whose home is in the Promised Land of Heaven.

12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. 14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

 Jacob started on the run with nothing...and returned home blessed with great wealth.
 Jacob bought two plots of land. God gave him and his descendants the whole land, the Promised Land in its entirety.
 Jacob built an altar and pillar and dedicated it to God. God cleansed Jacob of sin, declared him Israel and dedicated him to be his own, promising even that the Savior of all would arise from him.

We were born with nothing...and have been blessed with priceless spiritual blessings in Christ. We are just like Jacob – blessed by God. All that we have we owe to Him. We have been thoughtless and thankless...yet God just keeps piling on the blessings. I’m not talking chiefly about family, friends, house and home either.
We have been adopted in to the family of God. Our sins stand forgiven. Through faith in Christ, eternal life is ours. There is nothing we have this side of heaven more valuable than the spiritual gifts of God. God help us that we not be caught up in spiritual procrastination.

God help us not to put off the upkeep of our faith in Christ.
God help us that we remain forever thankful.

Amen.

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