2 kings 2 thrones part 3

This week, we continued in the series, “Two Kings, Two Thrones.” In this series we’ve been looking at how the kingdoms of David and Saul are pictures of rule by grace and law.  In 1 Samuel 13, shortly after Saul was pronounced king, the Philistines are camping and preparing to attack Israel. The men are in fear and hide in caves and cisterns. Some even went back over the Jordan River –out of the land of Canaan.

 

Fear will cause us to run and hide. It will cause us to give up on the promises of God and go back to the wilderness.  Note that the Israelites hid in “easy” areas to hide and separated themselves, and hid in the “natural” areas they would go in. Some even went back over the Jordan out of the Promised Land.  So they forsook the promises of God to go back to the easier wilderness way of living without the giants to fight.

Samuel had told Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days for him to arrive. Then Samuel, the priest, would offer sacrifices. Saul, on the seventh day (but before it was over) gets impatient and thinks Samuel isn’t coming. The men are getting restless, and he decides to make the offerings himself. The offerings he sets out to do are the Burnt Offering an the Fellowship Offering. Both of these offerings had portions that are performed by the individual making the offering and a part done by the priest.

Saul completes the Burnt Offering, and Samuel arrives furious at Saul. The moment of his arrival is based on the mercy of God because if Saul had completed the Fellowship Offering, he would have brought curse and banishment on himself as well as all the men who participated. The Fellowship Offering as laid out on Leviticus 7 states that anyone who is not ceremonially purified cannot touch the meat from the offering. If he does, he is to be cut off from the people – meaning cursed and banished.  Samuel stops Saul from making a grave mistake. When he questions Saul, we find that Saul was very focused on himself and his feelings. He says “I saw” the enemy approaching, “you did not come” (though the seventh days was not yet over), “I thought”, “I  had not done” and “I felt compelled.”  He acted on the fear he and his people had.

We have probably acted like Saul before. We get impatient waiting on God because we want the answer NOW.  God will come through when it is needed and when He promised. What Saul, in his fear and impatience, does is what law does – makes it about works. Saul believed the work of doing the offerings would deliver him from the Philistines.  A major point here is that Saul was doing something that was not his to do. It was the work of the priest. Jesus is our high priest. He made all the sacrifices for us. We do not need to do works to obtain God’s favor in our situations.  Samuel rebukes Saul for not obeying the command of the Lord. He was not saying commands (plural). This was not about adherence to the Law. It was about not obeying the command to wait seven days for Samuel to come and complete the offerings. It was because he went into works instead of trust.

In the rebuke, Samuel states that because of this Saul will not rule forever. His kingdom will end, and he will be replaced by one “after God’s own heart.” We know that to be David. David was actually called a man after God’s own heart. It was not because he fully obeyed the law either. David was an adulterer and murderer. He had committed numerous offenses that were punishable by death under the law. He never suffered those consequences because, as a picture of grace, he understood what law does not. He knew to always run TO God when he sinned. Law makes you run away from Him when you sin. It condemns you and drives you away from God. Grace compels you to run to Him for forgiveness and overcoming power.  This rebuke emphasizes the fact that God’s eternal kingdom is not built on law and works.

 

In 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, Paul defines this difference in rule by law and rule by grace. He begins by stating that we are only sufficient in Christ. Many have said that we cannot be successful in life without reliance on Christ. The world around us says otherwise. There are MANY who are quite sufficient in this world – successful and more than able to support themselves and their families – who never acknowledge God. This is not the sufficiency that Paul is talking about. When we look at the context of this passage we find he is talking about sufficiency in righteousness. No one is righteous apart from Christ.

He continues by stating that we’ve been made sufficient ministers of the New Covenant. We could never be sufficient ministers of the Old Covenant because it required perfection that we cannot attain. In Christ, we are qualified ministers (or workers in) of this New Covenant.  He points out that the law kills and that the spirit (by grace) brings life. Many have said that when Paul talks about the passing away of the law, he is only referring to the ceremonial requirements and the sacrifices. Obviously, we cannot all go to Jerusalem to a temple that no longer exists and make our offerings required by the law, yet, it is said by some that we must still keep the 10 commandments if we are to be accepted by God.

If we go to the very next verse, he says that the law that killed was written on stone tablets. The ONLY part of the law that was written on stone tablets was the 10 commandments! I didn’t say it; Paul did! Now, no one is saying the 10 commandments are bad and should be ignored, but defining righteousness by even just those rules is death! You will always fail and fall short.

As that passage in 2 Corinthians 3 goes on, Paul describes how the law puts a veil on your heart that separates you from God. Grace takes that veil away. When Moses came down of Mount Sinai, he had a veil over his face to conceal the glow that came on him from being in God’s presence (not face to face, but his back to him, mind you). They thought people might be freaked out by his glow. There was also concern that, as that glow faded, people might think that meant God’s presence was lifting as well.

In this New Covenant, since sin cannot separate us from God, we can always be in His presence. The glow of His glory does not fade but instead is ever increasing. Our life should reflect the glory of God’s presence in ever increasing ways, but that will not happen when we allow law to replace the veil and turn us away from God.

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

2 kings 2 thrones part 2

This week, we continued the “Two Kings, Two Thrones” series examining the contrasts between Kings Saul and David in the Old Testament and what the related symbolism means to us.  Remember that God did not want Israel to have a king.  He does pick Saul to be the first king, but only because the people asked for it.  It was not His will to have them ruled by anyone but Him. He had always ruled His people and provided for His people, but the Israelites seemed to forget how good they had it. They were concerned with being just like all the other nations around them who had kings.

 

In this second part, we looked at the anointing of Saul as Israel’s first king. The person whom God chooses for this important role is Saul, Son of Kish.  He is from the smallest of the Israelite tribes.  We find in 1 Samuel 9:1-2 that he is from a wealthy and influential family in the tribe of Dan (the Amplified Bible specifically points out these traits). We are also told that Saul was tall (the Bible says he was a head taller, but one definition says greater than others from the shoulders up which could also indicate a certain heart attitude) and handsome.  He is exactly the type of person man would choose for a king.  Most political scientists agree that people are psychologically drawn to a candidate that is noticeably taller and more handsome than their opponent (assuming the candidate is male, of course).

 

There is an interesting thing we find when we read the next few verses about Saul’s background that I think illustrate a little bit of God’s sense of humor. Remember that the whole reason Israel has a king is that the people were stubborn and demand a king. When we first meet Saul, he is chasing after his father’s missing donkeys. God’s people were being stubborn “donkeys,” so He sends them someone who herds donkeys to lead them!

Now, the main premise of this series is that Saul is a picture of the law and that David is a picture of grace. This first appearance of Saul fits the narrative. He is out trying to save his father’s donkeys but is not successful. God ends up saving them himself.  Some of God’s children are “donkeys.” They are stubborn and will not follow Him as their good shepherd. The law was sent, but it was not successful in delivering those donkeys. Law does not change the hardened heart; that requires grace.

In the story, God speaks to the prophet Samuel about the man who will come to see him the following day. He tells Samuel that this man is the one to be anointed king. When Saul arrives in search of information from Samuel on finding the donkeys, Saul tells him of God’s plans for him. In this meeting, Samuel has the cooks prepare a special piece of meat for Saul. Something that gets lost in this part of the story unless you look at the original Hebrew is that the piece of meat he has prepared for Saul is that which is usually reserved for the priest.  I believe this is symbolic of a part of the authority of God being passed to man, by man’s request.

Saul then leaves and follows some specific instructions from Samuel. He meets up with some prophets. When he does, he begins to prophesy as they do. People who know him see this happen and are confounded. We are told that the Spirit came upon Saul.  I know, with Saul being a picture of the law, it may seem like we are beating up on him. We should not forget that God is choosing him. He is anointed by God for a specific purpose, and stepping into that anointing brings a change to his life. We are actually told that he became a different man after the Spirit came upon him.

We are actually told what Saul’s purpose is – that is to deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Philistines. His call is very specific. He is not going to be the redeemer of God’s people. That was not the purpose of Saul, and it was not the purpose of the law. Notice that Saul’s response, like many people when God calls them, is that he wonders whether God got the right person.  Just like Moses and Gideon, he was sure that he was not the best choice for the position.

The Philistines were an enemy of Israel that was dwelling in the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. They were to be driven out, but instead persisted and persecuted the Israelites. As I teach frequently, the Promised Land is our heart after we are born again. We are to take that territory and drive out the enemies in our hearts in order to experience the peace and rest of God and to enjoy the fruit of the land (a heart in communion with God).

When Saul is to be presented, he is found to be hiding.  Isn’t that like us too?  We are confident at first and then we are afraid of our purpose and what it might mean for us.  Once Saul is officially presented he immediately has “haters.” Two verses after he is officially made king he has detractors – those who question his right and ability to lead. Whenever you step into your purpose you will have haters. Don’t listen to them. Keep charging forward. Let them be accountable to God for what they’ve done with their lives, and you focus on making the most of yours!

Saul’s first acts are to instill fear into his people in order to get them to follow him.  Law condemns out of fear of punishment but never brings complete victory over the internal enemies.  While Saul’s purpose was to overcome these Promised Land trespassers, he was ultimately unsuccessful. This furthers the symbolism of his rulership representing the law. The law cannot bring victory in Canaan. Law does not succeed in the Promised Land. Moses, a picture of the law, could not enter into Canaan. Neither can law. 

What we see in Saul’s kingship is a back and forth of success and retreat against the Philistines, the same thing that we will experience if we try to use law to overcome the issues of the heart. We commit to “never do that again” and think we’ve won a victory only to have that same sin creep up again and again. So we buckle down with more law, but is it equally unsuccessful. We end up either becoming more and more legalistic in our approach to sin, or we end up giving up and allowing sin to win, allowing the Philistines to rob us of what is truly ours in Christ.

The only enemies Saul had true success against are those who dwelt east of the Jordan river, outside of Canaan. The first one is the Ammonites. Law can seem effective on the outside, but cannot change the heart. Saul could defeat outward enemies but struggled against inward ones. 

This helps us understand what the law is capable of, and where it falls short.  This is important for understanding the role of grace in our lives.

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Two Kings Two Thrones part 1

I began a new series this week called “Two Kings, Two Thrones.” In this series, we are examining the contrasts between Kings Saul and David. One was a picture of rule by the law and the other rule by grace.  In this first part, we looked at the similarities between the Israelites’ request for a king in I Samuel 8 and the agreement by them to receive the Law in Exodus 19.

In 1 Samuel 8, God’s people decided they wanted to have a physical king – in essence, to be like the kingdoms and peoples around them. Up to this point, they had been ruled directly by God. Samuel was the voice God used to speak to His people, but Samuel was aging and had sons who were corrupt and did not serve God.

We can make the same mistake of thinking that God’s ways seems backwards in relation to the world around us. The Israelites had the dreaded “grass is greener” syndrome. God assures Samuel that it is not him that the people are rejecting, but God. He tells Samuel to do as the people wish but first warn them of what the unintended consequences of their decision would be.

When Samuel describes for the people what a king will do to them, it is the exact description of what happens any time men rule men. God never intended for men to rule men. He wants us to be ruled by Him. When men rule men, corruption will always occur. One of the things he warns against is that a king will take a tenth of all your stuff. In other words, man will try to take what belongs to God.

One of the important things to gather when looking at this story is what God does NOT say. He never says this is His will. He allows the people to have what they asked for. The same is true for us. We may like to think that God just does whatever He wants in our lives and we have no choice. He does have a perfect will for us and He wants us to desire it and live in it, but we can choose our own ways and suffer the consequences.

We paralleled this story with the account of what happened right before the Law was given at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. God instructed Moses to tell the people that they had essentially made the decision not to trust Him in the same way their forefathers had (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and that He was going to send a law covenant that, if they fully obeyed, they would be blessed.

This type of covenant would never have been given to Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. They simply believed God and were seen as righteous. There were no rules or laws to declare them unrighteous by. Evidently, that same trust in God was not passed down to the descendants of Jacob. They had come to a place of no longer having that same belief in God. Their covenant was now going to be based on works, which is apparently just what they wanted.  When Moses relays God’s message to the Israelites they say “we will do whatever He requires.” The Hebrew word used here, asah, indicates a self-reliance. They were saying they would make their own way. If they did all God required, He would be obligated to bless them.

God was angry with them because they forgot all He had done for them in delivering them from 400 years of captivity, parting the Red Sea, and feeding them miraculously every day, to name a few. They thought God was mistreating them and by doing all He required, he would have to take better care of them (my paraphrase). Notice too that man had to agree to law before it was given. They found out quickly how impossible it was to do all it actually takes to be right before God. They weren’t able to fully obey (just as none of us can).

In both these stories, man makes the decision to do things in his own way, apart from God’s perfect plan, with dire consequences. In one instance, God’s physical kingship of His people was replaced with a natural king in order for His people to feel like they fit in with the world. In the other, His people chose laws written on stone over the direct voice of God.  God wants to rule your life. He wants a personal relationship with you. Will you allow Him or will you choose your own way?

  To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

grace foundation part 7

This week, we finished the “Grace Foundation” series in examining the significance of Jacob’s wrestling with God in Genesis 32. First, we looked at what happened that made this such a life-changing experience for Jacob, and then we looked at why God interacts with him in this way at this time.  Jacob had just sent his family and all his possessions over the river and found himself all alone. Isn’t that what we all need sometimes, especially when we are faced with a highly stressful situation like Jacob was at the time (meeting with his brother, Esau, whom he hadn’t seen in 20 years who wanted to kill him)? Sometimes, we need to get away from all we think we are and all we think we own and just get before God.

We’re told that Jacob wrestles with a man until daybreak. Later, Jacob indicates this “man” was God or at least God in the form of a man. As the sun is rising, the man sees that Jacob will not be overcome, but he strikes Jacob’s hip – injuring him. There is debate about whether the injury was temporary or permanent, but I believe the location of the injury is what is important. We’ll get to that in a few minutes.

I think we have all wrestled with God. Wrestling is not the same as fighting. We shouldn’t fight with God, but wrestling is more a picture of trying to get something away from God. Now, we know that we do not have to wrestle anything away from God. Jesus purchased everything for us, but, in our human soul, we do still tend to think we must wrestle. Let’s relate to that wrestling this way – that we are grabbing onto God’s promises and not letting go until we get what was promised. On this side of the cross, we are not making God give us anything because He already gave it. We ARE wrestling with our own unbelief and inability to receive. Jacob actually says he will not let go until he gets the blessing.  Jacob has spent his entire life pursuing and fighting to get the blessing. I believe it is in the wrestling match that he finally understands that it is the blessing of God alone that he really needs.

 The “man” then asks Jacob his name. Is it possible that God doesn’t know Jacob’s name? Of course not! Remember what the name Jacob means. It means he who deceives. In essence, God is asking Jacob to admit what he was – confess his sins, if you will. Then God changes Jacob’s name in much the same way he did with Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham. He changes Jacob’s name to Israel.

I try not to bore you all with my fascination with Hebrew, but this name change is very significant from a Hebrew standpoint. The actual Hebrew is more like Y’ishra-el. A little Hebrew lesson…. The first Hebrew letter in this name is yod. When yod is used as a prefix on a word it indicates third-person, masculine possessive – which is a fancy way of saying “his.”  Ishra means royalty, rulership, princeship, and el means God. Put together, Israel means His rule with God. God changes his name from “his way of deception” to “his rulership with God.” It speaks to the change of heart taking place inside Jacob. In fact, we find that the deception and the being deceived in Jacob’s life stopped after this encounter.

Let’s get back to the “whys” of this story. Why is it time for God to do this in Jacob’s life? In preparation for the potentially tense or even disastrous meeting with Esau, Jacob had sent forth an extravagant gift to his brother. God had not commanded him to do so. He made his own decision to do so.  I believe that, when we have a giving heart, we are in alignment with a giving God, and we place ourselves in a position to receive from God. I am not speaking of merely financial or tangible gifts. Just making a personal choice (apart from being commanded to do so) to be a giver will open us up to then be receivers of God’s blessing.

I also want to point out that Jacob’s heart was to bless his brother out of what he had been blessed with. This also reflects the heart of our God. We have previously made the point that Jacob is in some ways a picture of grace – or that he lived under the same grace of Abraham and Isaac. He was blessed not because he had earned it, but simply because God promised it. We have been blessed because of the promise made to us through the blood of Jesus apart from our works.

We have received grace from God apart from our works, and we need to extend to others out of the abundance of that blessing if we want to soften hearts. Law and condemnation did not help us be saved, so why do so many in the Body think that is how we should change the world? In order to have an abundance of grace to extend to the world, we must have that revelation of God’s grace ourselves. Maybe that is the problem. If we ourselves are still struggling to try and live by works, we don’t have grace to extend.

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Grace Foundation Part 6

This week, we continued the “Grace Foundation” series. We looked at how Jacob prepared to enter Canaan and be rejoined with Isaac and how it is a picture of how we, by grace, enter Canaan or the Promised Land.

We looked at Genesis 32. Jacob has set out to return to Canaan. Before he does, he chooses to meet with Esau, the brother from whom he’s been estranged from for 20 years after “robbing him” of his blessing. I say chooses to meet him because, when you view a map of where Jacob was traveling from and traveling to, along with where Esau lived, Jacob could have easily got home without interacting with Esau. He chooses to do so anyway.  This is illustrative of the choice we must make as well. Remember from previous parts in this series that Esau represented the lack of self-control and the placing of gratifying flesh above obedience to God. Esau is in the “grace” branch of Abraham’s family tree, but he forfeited the blessing that was rightfully his because of his decision to gratify the flesh.

If we are going to enter Canaan, or the promises of God, we must deal with that part of us. We must defeat the tendency for the flesh to get what it wants without regard for God’s ways, and ultimately His blessing. I am not just talking about egregious flesh sins like lust, sexual immorality, etc… The flesh gets its desires in much more subtle ways. Anywhere that we shrink back from God’s ways because the flesh is afraid or unwilling to change is also in this category of sin.

If we do not get the flesh’s desires under control, when we enter the Promised Land, we will be defeated and destroyed. How often do we hear stories about lottery winners who, just a short time after their windfall, are broken destroyed and worse off than before they won? If you are not prepared to live in the blessing lifestyle, the blessing will destroy you. You won’t truly experience the blessing. It is still yours, but it becomes a curse to you rather than goodness.

So, what does Jacob do? Well, after sending word to Esau that he was coming, Jacob gets word back that Esau is coming to meet him… along with 400 men! Jacob does what we naturally would do in this situation. He becomes worried and distressed. We men, with our design by God to be providers and protectors of our families, can allow fear and worry about our inability to do those things to drive us to make poor decisions.  You see, just before this happens, angels appeared to Jacob, in a way reminding him that God was with him, but Jacob still feared. This is not a knock on Jacob, but a reminder that, as humans, we can all easily do the same; and probably have done so many times.

Now, in the previous chapter, Jacob had an encounter with Laban (his uncle). In that situation, Jacob knew he was not in the wrong. Therefore, there was no fear in him. This time, he knows he was wrong. He has a guilty conscience regarding his past wrongs. 1 John 4:18 tells us that perfect love (Jesus) casts out fear and that fear comes from the fear of punishment. Hebrews 9:14 and 10:22 talk to us about how the blood of Jesus not only cleansed us of sin, but perhaps more importantly, of a guilty conscience. With a guilty conscience, we will continue to make fear-driven bad decisions instead of boldly approaching the throne of grace for direction and supply to overcome any situation.

After this, Jacob prays and reminds himself of the promises of God and what God had already done for him. This is what we should do when fear hits – remind ourselves of the goodness and greatness of God.  Jacob  then decides to put together a gift to appease Esau. The word, in Hebrew, used to describe this gift was the same word used elsewhere to mean atonement or covering. Jacob intended to pay for how he had wronged Esau. I did a little research and found that the estimated value of the gift was close to $100,000.  One of the gifts, the camels, was a sign of wealth and source of a great highly wanted delicacy (the milk these camels produced) in that time.

Jacob needed to make things right for what he had done before he could enter Canaan. There are two angles on this we need to see. First, when it comes to the things we’ve done that directly hurt someone, we ought to find ways to try and repay. The second is a bigger picture. There was a debt to be paid in order to enter Canaan. For us, Jesus paid that debt. We do not have to find a way to satisfy the debt for our wrongs. Jesus did that for us. Receive the gift of that payment, and confidently enter Canaan.

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

Grace Foundation Part 5

Last week, we continued the “Grace Foundation” series. In this 5^th part we looked at Jacob’s handling of Laban’s flocks and how God blessed him despite Laban’s cheating. We also looked at Jacob’s decision to return home to his family in Canaan. 

In Genesis 30, Jacob makes a deal with Laban to take, as his wages, all of the spotted, streaked and black sheep from the flock. Laban agrees, but then steals away all such sheep and has them hidden three days’ journey away.  In this story we can see some “types” and images. Jacob represents Jesus and grace. Laban represents law. Jacob had worked, fulfilling all of the requirements of Laban. Jesus did all of the work required by the law for us. 

 

Jacob’s wages had been cut ten times by Laban. If Laban represents law, we can make an association: There are TEN commandments. We also know that the wages of sin (that were defined by the law) is death. Jesus is the one who does all of the law’s work for us, enduring the wages for us.   

What is Jacob interested in? He wants all of the blemished sheep that were under the authority of Laban. Jesus wants all of the blemished sheep under the law. The reality is that all are blemished, but the law thought it produced some clean, pure sheep. Those that believe they are already clean by their works will not receive grace through Christ. Grace is not looking for those who think they are pure. It looks for those who know they are not, who acknowledge the need for the redeemer.  Where did Laban hide the blemished sheep? They were “three days’ journey away.” Jesus had to go on a three day journey to rescue those trapped by the law. What a great illustration!

We read about the methods Jacob used to get Laban’s sheep to produce more spotted or streaked sheep. He strips bark from certain types of wood and places them in the watering troughs that the sheep drink from and mate in front of. Apparently, what the sheep see when mating was supposed to affect the appearance of their offspring.   In chapter 31, he says the Lord gave him a vision in a dream, though we do not know at what point in the story he had that dream and all of the details of the vision. There is a lot of debate about this story. I came to a few  possible conclusions – but all of them lead us back to the same lesson to learn:

 1.       Jacob had been working in these fields as a shepherd for 20 years and could have adopted some of the superstitious beliefs of other shepherds in the area – thinking they were working. However, the dream may have come later where God reveals it was Him who was causing the sheep to produce as desired. God may have worked despite Jacob’s actions. This would be a sign of God’s grace and faithfulness to the promise to bless Jacob, not because of what he did or who he was but because He made the promise to Abraham.

2.       Jacob may have had that dream at the beginning of the process and might have been using the sticks as a diversion to anyone observing him.

3.       God may have revealed to Jacob in the dream to use the sticks to get this desired result. I read a paper written by a geneticist that said the amino acids present in the types of wood Jacob used, if mixed in their drinking water, could cause the desired “defects” in the sheep. But wouldn’t it require a lot more than a few sticks in the water to produce those results? You would think so, but God is a miracle-working God. He usually works through the obedient hands of man to produce His results. He may have multiplied the effectiveness of the sticks because Jacob obeyed His instructions.

 

There may be even other theories, but all of them seem to lead to the same point – that God found a way to bless Jacob simply because He made a promise and He is faithful to His promises.  That same promise is yours! Paul tells us that when we become children of God through the blood of Jesus, we are now children of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. The blessing is ours simply because we are in the right family – not because of our works.

Blessing alone does not ensure abundant life. As we have been finding out through these stories, we must follow God’s ways in order to experience the blessing we have been given. We must know that, by grace, the blessing IS OURS. Then we must allow that same grace to lead us to right living so that we do not forfeit the benefits of the blessing we’ve been given.  Even though Jacob was always living in blessing, his decisions and actions often caused much more pain and trouble than he should have had to deal with.

The second part of the story we want to look at in light of this typology is the stealing of Laban’s household idols. When Jacob packs up the family to head back to Canaan and his family, Rachel steals her father’s household idols. Jacob is unaware of this, so when Laban catches up to them and demands the return of his idols, Jacob swears no one in his camp has them and is willing to punish anyone who could have taken them.  Laban goes through the entire camp, finally getting to Rachel’s tent. She is concealing them in a bag that she is sitting on. She explains that she cannot stand up because she is having her monthly cleansing. Laban leaves empty-handed. Eventually Jacob learns that Rachel had taken them and has them destroyed.

This part of the story seemed odd to me. It has none of the normal “Old Testament” results that come from dealing with idols and false gods. No one died or was rebuked. First of all, this was before there was law.   A clearer picture was formed when I researched the meaning of these idols. In the region where Laban lived, the head of the household had such idols or gods. They were frequently passed on to the eldest son as a sign of birthright blessing. If a man had no sons, it was acceptable for him to present them to his eldest son-in-law – passing the birthright blessing to him.

Remember that Jacob has a reputation for “stealing birthright.” Laban might have thought he’d had the birthright that belonged to his sons stolen by Jacob. Also, remember the typology here. Laban represented law.  What is the birthright inheritance of law? It is death. Jacob has the birthright inheritance that comes by grace. Jesus, like Jacob, took the inheritance associated with the law and destroyed it!  What great pictures we see in these Old Testament stories when we can look at them through New Testament, grace glasses.

  To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

 

 

 

grace foundation part 4

This week, we continued the “Grace Foundation” series. In this part, we looked more at the significance of the Jacob and Esau branches of Abraham’s family tree.  The first branch in the tree had to do with Isaac and Ishmael. Paul says in Galatians 4 that Isaac represents grace and Ishmael represents law. Law always persecutes grace. Ishmael is a child of Abraham. When we receive Christ, we also become children of Abraham. We are in the family, but we choose which part of the family we are going to align ourselves with. We can choose to align with the Ishmael branch and, after receiving salvation by grace, try to live a Christian life governed by law. This branch of the family also will persecute those who choose to walk by grace.

 

Then, in the line of Isaac, there is another branch. This one is between Jacob and Esau. We discussed it at length last week. Esau represents the believer who does not live by law, but not by principle either. Esau’s branch represents those who do things their own way, satisfying the desires of the flesh, and never end up experiencing the kind of blessing that was rightfully theirs.

Esau was willing to give up the birthright he had as the first born for a cup of stew, just because he was “famished.” He willingly gave up what was rightfully his in order to satisfy the flesh. We can very easily do the same. You see, this is what sin, while under grace, can produce. Esau was in the line of Isaac. He could have been blessed (though God prophesied to Rebekah that Jacob was going to be the true heir), but He valued the satisfaction of a physical desire more than the better blessing that was available to him.

The Esau branch also hates the Jacob branch. They point at the Jacob (true grace) branch and say, “No fair. He got what is supposed to be mine.” I find that Ishmael/law believers often will eventually get fed up with trying to live by all the rules and requirements and give up – moving over to the Esau branch, but still persecuting grace.  There are many believers unwilling to walk by faith and live by God’s principles and precepts. In doing so, they never experience the blessing, but they never see that as the reason. They just think the system is unfair and that the grace people are cheaters (though Jacob WAS cheating at times).

What we have to see about Jacob, on the other hand, is that he was blessed regardless of his own mistakes. He was blessed because God promised to bless him – not because of his works. That did not mean that Jacob’s mistakes did not cause an unnecessary mess. He got where he did through deception, and he ended up being deceived. 

We looked at Genesis 27:41 and following.  After the bitter feud with his brother that ensued after “stealing” Esau’s blessing, his mother tells him to flee to stay with his uncle Laban.  Esau is holding a grudge and continues to. Jacob is commanded by his father not to marry a Canaanite (Hittite) woman.  Why this admonishment?  See Genesis 26:44, where Esau marries Canaanites, who became a “source of grief for Isaac and Rebekah.”  (Also note that Esau was 40 when he did this, so Esau and Jacob are not teenagers when all of this is happening.  Esau married Hittite women at 40, and the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness before entering the land of Canaan. 

Why Hittite/Canaanite women?  We looked at Genesis 9:20 and following.  Ham was the father of Canaan and saw his father’s nakedness and proceeded to tell his brothers.  The other two covered their father.  Noah cursed Canaan as a result.  Ham does not follow grace by revealing his father’s sin, but the other brothers cover him.  That is what love does—covers sins.  Remember Exodus 20:25, a commandment with a similar idea couched in it about covering nakedness.  What are the inhabitants of Canaan in your life?  It is our faults, things that are not a rightful inhabitant of our heart.  If we become intimate with them and accept them, like being married to someone, then we will not experience all God has for us.  It doesn’t mean to not associate with certain types of people, but it means a depth of acceptance of things in our lives that God would drive out and have us choose to say no to.

We then went to Genesis 29:1 and following.  Jacob, not the burly Esau, sees Rachel, and moves a stone that it usually took all the shepherd to move in order to water the sheep, and then breaks into tears.  When he gets to Laban’s house, he finds the woman of his dreams, Rachel. He agrees to work for his uncle for seven years to have Rachel, but he is tricked into marrying Rachel’s sister Leah instead. He ends up working another seven years to get the woman he loved.

At no point did God remove His blessing from Jacob. He would not go against His promise, but Jacob had a much harder time than was intended. Being a deceiver cost him 14 years of his life.  God still uses Jacob’s mess regardless to fulfill His promises. In fact, the two most important bloodlines for us as believers were established through Leah – Levi which was the priestly order, and Judah, the royal order that produced King David and Jesus (our king and priest).

Our mistakes do not cost us the blessing of God, because that blessing is not based on our works. Our obedience to God dictates the level to which we experience the blessing that is ours. Grace has made you right before God. It also is supposed to empower you to overcome sin and experience the fruits of the blessing you’ve been given.  The branch we choose to align with determines ultimately how much of God’s plan we will fulfill in our lives.  Let’s choose to maximize that by choosing grace, and then letting grace teach us to say no to ungodliness and unlock our true potential in Christ.  

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.