Are You a Jacob or an Israel?

[00:00:00] Well, as you heard in the reading and already in our message with the children, Jacob wrestled with God. [00:00:08] It's like God showed up to Jacob and said, let's see what you got, Jacob. [00:00:16] Well, there's a backstory here, right? Which we would expect. [00:00:22] See, Jacob was the guy who spent his life getting out of tight spots. And no sooner would he get out of one than that seems like he got himself into another one. [00:00:35] I mean, listen to this. [00:00:37] Vita suckered his mom, tricked his dad, swindled his brother Esau out of his birthright and stole the family inheritance. [00:00:48] And because of all that, he had to become a fugitive. He ran because his brother had put him on a hit list. [00:00:59] Then, after 20 years, God says, okay, Jacob, you got to go back home. [00:01:11] He had to go back home to his brother, who had threatened to kill him, back to his father, who he had cheated and lied to. [00:01:21] And the next day in our story, he has to go and face his brother, who has wrongly. [00:01:34] Who he has wronged so grievously. [00:01:39] And it makes him worried. [00:01:42] I mean, really worried. [00:01:45] Because he wants to know, in his mind, is Esau going to receive me or is Esau going to kill me? [00:01:55] Now, he has good reason to worry. [00:01:58] What we understand again from the whole picture is that his brother was coming toward him with a force of some 400 men. [00:02:06] And while the scripture doesn't say it, you can only imagine that Jacob could be looking out over the dusty plains and seeing the flash of swords and of spears and of shields and a great cloud of dust rising. Because 400 men marching through the desert area could look pretty formidable. [00:02:28] So Jacob, he organizes presents. Presents of livestock. [00:02:36] He sort of sends out livestock in little sectors and servants in little sectors. And last of all, he sends on ahead his wife and his children. [00:02:51] And they're on their way. [00:02:53] And here's what's going on. If Esau decides to attack, then Jacob once again is one step ahead. Because, remember, Jacob is a schemer, and he plans through all of this to outsmart his brother. [00:03:10] And now Jacob, he's the only one left behind. [00:03:14] And we've caught up to our story. It's nighttime, and Jacob, in the dark, is assaulted. [00:03:25] Who is this stranger that's jumped him in the middle of the night? [00:03:30] Maybe it's a robber or who. Maybe it's his brother who has sworn to kill him. And so this wrestling match ensues. [00:03:42] And it's back and forth, and it's blow for blow and it's headlock for headlock and poke in the eye for A poke in the eye and bloody nose for bloody nose. And then the man he's wrestling with dislocates his hip. And Jacob realizes this man is no robber. [00:04:10] He's looking at the face of God. [00:04:18] It gets to be near dawn and both of these guys are out of breath. They're exhausted, and they both speak. Let me go, says the man. [00:04:30] Bless me first, says Jacob. [00:04:34] See, he's always scheming. He's always looking for an angle, even when he's in the worst of situations. [00:04:40] And then again the stranger asks him, he says, well, what's your name? [00:04:44] And Jacob answers, my name's Jacob. [00:04:48] Well, says the man, you are no longer called Jacob now you are called Israel because you have struggled with God and prevailed. [00:05:04] Jacob got a new name. [00:05:06] Jacob got a new identity through this assault of God. [00:05:12] And this Jacob, who we have known as a trickster and as a grabber and worst of all, as a heel. [00:05:20] Now he's called Israel, which means strives with God. [00:05:26] And with that new name, well, he becomes a new person, kind of a new man. Jacob forever changed. [00:05:37] And when the daylight comes, God is gone. [00:05:44] And Jacob also is gone. [00:05:50] Because now only Israel remains. [00:05:56] Israel walking with a permanent limp that night, Jacob, the man who was always so sure of himself, always ready to cheat someone, cheat his own brother, cheat his father, cheat his father in law, the schemer, the liar, the deceiver. He became a changed man. And his new name, Israel is proof. And he no longer needs to rely upon himself. [00:06:21] In fact, he can't. Jacob has become Israel, the trickster has become faithful. The strives with man has become strives with God. [00:06:35] And he's got a limp in his hopalong to help him remember this new life of his. So when I was studying all of this, I had to ask, why didn't God just destroy him? [00:06:50] Why did he let Jacob win? [00:07:01] Love. [00:07:04] Love. [00:07:06] Oh, and purpose too. By the way, Jacob, despite all of his coarseness, his lying, his cheating, his stealing, Jacob is part of God's plan, you know, God's plan of salvation for his people. [00:07:26] His people then and his people now. [00:07:33] I would dare say that, well, more than one of us has brawled all night with the Lord. [00:07:41] You know, you come to the end of yourself. [00:07:46] Some say it's wit's end corner. [00:07:49] Some say I've come to the end of my rope. [00:07:52] You've tried everything you put all your energy into it doesn't matter whatever it is, and you've lost heart. Like when our foundations are shaken or the future looks bleak and Uncertain. And it's easy to lose confidence and it's easy to lose courage. And it's easy to resign yourself to the thought that this is just the way things are and they're not going to get any better anytime soon. And it can happen even toward God, right? [00:08:28] We worry, we doubt, we wonder, what is God doing with all the time that he isn't helping me? [00:08:42] Well, it's not always, of course. I mean, there are good times in our lives, absolutely everything going good. See, the lesson today is not just for when we lose heart. It's also so that both in good times and bad times, we live by faith in a God who loves to give, a God who loves to care, a God who loves to have mercy upon us so that even when that giving and caring and mercy are not evident, that faith will be the bedrock of our lives and nothing else. [00:09:18] Faith. [00:09:21] It's like that widow in the parable. [00:09:24] She's a nameless nobody, okay? [00:09:27] And what little she had, somebody ripped that off. So she goes to the judge and she's petitioning for justice and she won't give up. And she doesn't lose heart, for her faith is alive inside of her. And she wrestles with the judge and she pounds on his door and she screams in his ear until she gets what she has come for. She will not let go because faith does not let go. And this is Jesus point. He says it if an unethical judge finally grants the plea of a persistent widow, how much more will God answer? Those who call? [00:10:05] So pray, do not lose heart. [00:10:16] We'd all be really happy if the story just stops right there. But you know, there's another question coming. [00:10:23] You know the question, right? [00:10:26] Jesus asks it. [00:10:29] He says, when the Son of Man comes, will he find such faith on earth? [00:10:40] That's a good question. [00:10:42] When Jesus comes again, what will he be looking for? [00:10:46] Faith. [00:10:48] Faith that looks to him, faith that relies upon him, faith that cries out to him. Faith that clings to, hangs on to the word of God. [00:10:58] Not our own opinions of life, not our own opinions of God's job, not our own opinions of our future, not our own opinions of whatever. [00:11:13] Again, if the Son of Man came today, would he find such faith on earth? [00:11:20] Plenty of folks about, as St. Paul wrote to Timothy, who have itching ears. You know, they accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and turn away from listening to the truth and they wander off in all manner of myths. [00:11:36] Well, there are plenty of people too. Maybe your friends or neighbors or your co workers who are down on their knees every night, crying out to God, just like this widow did. [00:11:53] Still, the question, if the Son of Man came today, would he find such faith on earth? [00:12:01] And that question, I think today is better directed not at those people who are out there, but directed at me ourselves. [00:12:16] So how is it with you? [00:12:20] Faith or unfaith gratitude or thanklessness, Joyous receiving of God's gifts or grudging discontent, humility or pride? [00:12:40] In short, are you a Jacob or an Israel? [00:12:46] Or like the widow in the parable, who wouldn't give up? [00:12:51] Does that describe you? [00:12:57] See, that judge in the story, he didn't want to be bothered. He didn't want to be troubled. [00:13:03] But the one who is our judge is so troubled for you that he goes to the cross at Calvary for you, and there he gives his judgment for your sins were judged on the cross, where Jesus wrestled not with Satan, but but with God himself. It was God who sent Jesus to the cross so his word of forgiveness could be spoken to you. And you are mercied, and you are forgiven, and you are raised, you are blessed. [00:13:36] And when Jesus comes, when we stand before God, we're going to see how tenderly he has brought us through dark times, even when things went wrong and our lives seemed widowed and worthless. [00:13:54] And we'll see how generously he provided for us so that we didn't even know the danger that we were in that was surrounding us when it happened. And we will see how our Father, seemingly not to care, was simply doing his part of wanting our good and readying us for his larger gifts, his largest gifts of life and salvation. [00:14:25] So, yeah, God delays. [00:14:30] He patiently and lovingly puts up with us, wrestling with our doubts and our fears with him. [00:14:38] And he likes a good wrestle, by the way, if we can trust scriptures. [00:14:43] But he wrestles with you so you can win. [00:14:49] For he is not an uncaring judge, but he's the one who loves you more than you know, preparing you for bigger and better things, the bigger and better things that he wants to give you. Scouring out the sin, scouring away the wrong expectations. [00:15:08] Like with Jacob, which, by the way, was no small wrestling match. It went on all night and it left Jacob with a lame hip and blessed. [00:15:29] Well, the lesson started this morning. Jesus told them this parable so that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. [00:15:40] Don't you see? We pray to a God who is not far away and who may not hear and who may not care and who may not act, you know, like a judge who doesn't want to be bothered. [00:15:54] We pray not to that God, but to a God who hung on a cross for you and has promised to hear and promised to give every good blessing. [00:16:10] So what? [00:16:12] So cry out to the Lord, Wrestle with him in good times, in bad times, grab onto him, don't let go. Beat on his door, get in his ears. Because when we do, we know we have come face to face with God. [00:16:32] And we will be blessed. [00:16:35] Amen. [00:16:37] Amen.