Duty and service through disability (4)

Genesis 32: 24-32

24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Pray:

There is so much that can be said in this short passage. Let me first point out that during this struggle that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Please note that God did not change his name to Jew or anything of the sort. God changed his name to Israel. Which means that Israel is or was a person. And of course, we know that his descendants took on his name’s sake. At one point we know that in the Old Testament the country itself was named Israel. But Israel itself was a people not a territory.

If I decided tomorrow that I would move to Palestine Arkansas I would not become a Palestinian in the middle eastern sense of the word. In fact, if I moved to the real Palestine, I would still not be a Palestinian.

Next, I would like you to note that Jacob wrestled with God. Jacob was alone and bringing his fears and concerns to God.

There are times in our very own lives when we wrestle with God in prayer. When the spirit of God helps with our infirmities and we can barely find the words to utter them, and those pains are more than we can express with mere words. Then we are in that moment wrestling with God in prayer.

No matter how discouraged or heartbroken we are we KNOW that God hears our prayers. We know that we will prevail against all of Gods enemies through the power of prayer.

Here the bible describes Jacob’s prayer as wrestling. An intense prayer, one of action, it is a prayer in which Jacob will not take no for an answer.

This speaks to the faith of Jacob. His faith in God was so strong that he would not take no for an answer. His faith in God was so strong that he knew his petition was righteous.

And listen to me church. Those who seek to do Gods will. Those who seek to serve God must take the very same approach to prayer. We know from reading the scripture in James 5:16

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

And that is exactly the sort of prayer that Jacob is making. He is praying fervently to the point the bible refers to it as wrestling.

He wrestled with that Angel or Jesus depending on your point of view here. Until the Angel left him with a mark. A mark to show his valor a mark to show his courage and bravery. The mark of a Prince that left him with a permanent limp.

Jacob renamed the place Peniel or the face of God. Because it was there that he saw the face of God. Some people today regard this passage as proof of a third eye or a pineal gland. They say that Jacob was wrestling with God within his third eye. I do not know if this is true or not.

In Hosea 12:4 we read.

4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;

Jacob’s injury was very much like the apostle Paul’s infirmity of the flesh. It served as a reminder to him that no matter what revelation God granted him, he should never be lifted above God.

I got to thinking about that injury. About how wrestling with the Lord left Jacob with a limp. And it reminded me of many of our church members.

First, I thought of something sister Zena said to me one morning. For those who do not know this. I walk up to sister Zena every Sunday morning and ask her. Will you be singing for us today sister?

And one Sunday morning she said this to me. I’m having a tough day with my lupus. But I’m not going to let the devil stop me from singing. That stuck with me.

And I think about brother Don and sister Donna. Limping around with their canes in hand. They are faithful to church. Here for everything the church does. They may have a limp. But that limp doesn’t have them.

And I think of brother Roger. Who has hearing loss. He could easily just sit at home and give up. But the man has spent years wrestling with God in prayer and has been left with the scars of service.

I thought about old Porkchop. That is brother Danny to most people. He wrestles with the infirmities of time but if he can help it, will NOT miss church. And is ALWAYS there for his pastor. If I need someone to talk too. I can call the man any time and he is there for me.

And I have no doubt that every member of Westside has some type of disability to show for their years of service to God. Some type of infirmity or scar from having served God so many years. Some of those scars might be on their hearts as they have no doubt been hurt and disappointed by the behavior of those who they loved dearly time and time again.

But listen to me please. They have those battle scars. But those battle scars do not have them. They have that pain, but that pain doesn’t have them. They have that limp, but that limp doesn’t have them. Like Jacob they will continue to wrestle and withstand until the day that God calls them home. Why?

Because the good people of Westside Baptist Church are true Christians.

These are Christians who have not only read the words of Solomon, but they have lived them.

In Ecclesiastes 12 we read:

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

You see if you are one of our many Facebook followers. You might get the impression that brother Tim is up there every Sunday encouraging his people.

But you would be wrong. It is the people here at Westside Baptist church who give me courage.

Every single time sister Zena gets up here and sings her praises to Jesus. My heart skips a beat. Yes, she is blessed with a beautiful voice. And at the age of 71 she is an inspiration to me. But knowing that she battles lupus and gets up here anyway encourages me.

And the same thing for Don and Donna. Watching them limping into church on their canes. Knowing that brother Don will stand up sometimes for an hour to teach Sunday school inspires me to be courageous.

And Roger and Danny like the rest of the good people here at Westside encourage me.

So, if you are watching this morning on Facebook and you think that I am the one doing the encouraging. You are wrong. This is a people who pray fervently. This is a people who have been through the wars of serving. This is a people who KNOW that everything done in life is done in vain. Unless it is something done for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we have a generation of preachers who have decided that it is much easier to tell the crowds something sweet and pretty. Rather than deal with the fall out that comes from telling the people the truth.

I am forced to wonder. How many preachers would lack the courage to tell such a group the entire counsel of the word of God.

How many preachers today have made the decision to compromise the truth of the word of God so as to not offend anyone.

How many Sunday school teachers, deacons and parishioners have given up on praying for their lost family members. How many church members no longer have any desire to share the love of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

Forgive me for bragging on my church family this morning. But here at Westside Baptist we have a group of people who understand what Solomon meant when he told us. This is the whole duty of man.

I believe that each and every one of them would say to you this morning. Sure, there are times when we do not feel like coming to church. But we understand it is our duty to be here.

I know that they would say, sure there might be times when it is difficult to give my tithe or there have been times when it was difficult to do so. But we gave it anyway because we knew it was our duty to do so.

I know that these people will tell you that there have been times when maybe they didn’t feel like teaching Sunday school. There may have been times when they will admit that they didn’t feel like showing up for a church event. Whether it be vacation bible school or the fall festival. But they understood it was their duty to serve God.

You see doing our duty to God means doing it despite how we feel. Our duty to God is a commitment we make to serve regardless of how we feel on that day.

There isn’t one among us who hasn’t known the heartache of being disappointed by the behavior of another church member. It is part of serving God. And sometimes those scars run deep. And many Christians have run and today stay home because of the one who hurt them. But not the people of Westside. They understand the whole duty of man is to serve God. And today we serve God through the local church.

You see Jacob wrestled with God until he was given an affliction. I wonder how many Christians today can say the same. I wonder how many Christians walk away at the first sign of discouragement. America has become a nation of weak minded people. We no longer know what it is like to fight for what we want. We no longer know what it is like to go before God trembling with heartache and praying for our children to get saved or to get into church.

We no longer look up to the Jacobs of the world. Today people would rather have false gods like Taylor swift or some sports ball player or some Hollywood actor. But not the good people of Westside Baptist Church. I assure you our God is Jesus. And our heroes are bible hero’s. We will have no other god before the one true God just as the bible commands us.

Christians have become weak and complacent. They do not care about their neighbors who are lost and going to hell. They do not care about their children being lost and going to hell. They do not care about how the church is attacked non-stop on television.

I do not watch sports ball. But it was brought to my attention that during the games there are these commercials preaching to everyone about how loving and kind and accepting Jesus is and that we should be the same way.

But folks Jesus wasn’t just loving and kind. He had no problem making a whip and chasing the Pharisees out of the Temple. He had no problem telling the rich man that he could not be saved because he loved money more than he loved God.

In fact, Jesus had no problem at all with telling the Jews that they were not his sheep, they were not of God and even went so far as to tell them that the devil was their father.

The electric toilet or television as they call it wants to tell you what to believe about Jesus. Well folks, I know exactly what to believe about Jesus and I get it from this book called the bible and not some demonic television commercial.

Jesus did NOT accept everyone. Those who rejected him were told that hell was in their future.

Did you know that you can read all the words of Jesus Christ in just two hours? And did you know during that two hours Jesus referred to hell as much as 3% of the time. When you throw in judgement and wrath it gets even higher.

I’m fed up with this teaching that Jesus does not judge or that God does not judge. He most certainly does, and he most definitely will.

That is why we understand that it is our duty to share the gospel of Christ.

It makes no difference whether or not you feel like sharing the gospel message of the love of Jesus Christ to others. The bible says it is your duty to do so. Isn’t that what Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 28:19?

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Jesus did not say go if you feel like it. Jesus did not say well if you have a disability just stay at home. No. This is a commandment. We are commanded to share the gospel. Jesus did not say well if you aren’t called to be an evangelist then this command doesn’t apply to you.

NO. This commandment applies to each and every Christian. We are to wrestle with God in prayer like Jacob did for the souls of our lost loved ones and our lost neighbors.

It is our WHOLE duty to share the love of Jesus Christ with others. That sums it up. And some of us share our gifts with the church.

By the way when you come to a place in your life when you no longer enjoy praying. But you do it anyway then you are starting to grow as a Christian. The understanding of the word duty is very important to us as Christians. We have a duty to our Lord and Savior. We have a duty to the one who snatched us from the fiery pits of hell. We have a duty to the one who lifted us up out of the miry clay and set us upon the solid rock.

I think about someone who day after day clocks in at work. How tired they get of doing the same thing day after day. Going to the same place. Punching the same old-time clock. Doing the same job over and over.

How tired they get of doing the same thing day after day. Going to the same place. Punching the same old-time clock. Doing the same job over and over. No doubt they get burned out on that job. But they have an obligation to the family an obligation to their children. An obligation to their wives. So, they endure day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. Why?

Because it is their duty. And listen to me. It is OUR duty to serve God. How many Christians will find a church to go to that every single Sunday is nothing more than a concert. Nothing wrong with having a great song service. I love the old-time hymns as much as anyone. But if you aren’t going to a church where the man of God preaches and teaches the entire counsel of the word of God you have failed in your duty.

You are soothing your conscience and avoiding conviction by going to a building full of people who like you do not want to be reminded of their duty to serve.

Going to some mega-church where you can get lost in the crowd because you do not want to be asked to be an usher. Because you don’t want to be asked to invite people. A place where you can hide out and do nothing at all in the service for God because you are an immature Christian who refuses to do your duty.

Folks anyone can do that. A mature Christian understands that they are called to serve and have a duty to do so. And they find a church where they can teach. They find a church that needs help, and they jump in there and they help. We should be looking for churches where we can sing. Looking for churches where we can play the piano. Looking for churches that need soul winners for Jesus.

I have nothing against big churches. But I believe God has a problem with people who refuse to do their duty and who hide out in the big churches, so they don’t have to serve.

A good Christian is the one who is so tired of teaching Sunday school. But does it anyway. A good Christian is someone who is tired of coming every Sunday but they get up and go anyway. DUTY.

And a great church is one that understands the whole duty of man is to serve God. And one where the members pray so fervently as to be wrestling with God for their loved ones.

Think about how many people start coming to church. It’s new to them. They are so excited. They are shouting and carrying on. They are excited about the message. They are excited about the song service. They are excited to see their brothers and sisters in Christ.

When that excitement ends, they walk away. Often, they find some excuse. Oh, the preacher made me mad. Oh, I didn’t like what the Sunday school teacher said. Oh, so and so looked at me wrong. The truth is that people like that are simply immature Christians. They are carnal minded. They are serving for what they can get out of it. They are serving in order to get some feeling out of it. Once it becomes work, they are gone. Once it is no longer fun. They are gone. Why? Because they do not understand that serving God is a duty. It is a sacrifice. We make sacrifices for the one who gave us the ultimate sacrifice.

Serving God isn’t about a feeling. It is about an obligation a responsibility a duty.

We sing Glory to his name. Glory to his name. There to my soul was the blood applied. Glory to his name.

If you preached like this at most churches, they would form a pastor hiring committee and toss you out. But at Westside Baptist the people stand behind their pastor. At Westside Baptist the people believe the word of God. And I’ll tell you something else. At Westside Baptist church the members ALL invite people to church. This is a very mature group of Christians who love God and love his word.

Of course, nobody is more mature than pork chop. And by mature, I mean old. Visitors don’t know how to take us sometimes. We are a church that loves one another. We are a church of people who don’t take ourselves too seriously. What I mean is we like to have fun. We realize that the joy of the Lord is our strength. And believe me brother Danny is a walking miracle. And we all love him dearly.

Around Christmas we had some visitors ask. Is that his real name? No. And my real name is not hambone. We just like to have fun.

The bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength. We have no problem here with being joyful. I realize that there are Christians out there who would prefer that we behave ourselves and be serious all the time.

But here at Westside we believe that church should be fun. We believe that we should love one another. And folks that’s just how us men folks show love. We give each other a hard time. In a very Christian way.

So, as we get deeper and deeper into the new year. I want us to keep these two things in mind. One is to desire to pray like Jacob did. To be willing to wrestle with God to have your prayers answered. To pray fervently.

And second, I want us to all keep that word duty in mind. It is our duty to do everything we can to become like Christ. No, not the Christ the world wants you to be like, but the Christ that the bible wants you to be like.

Pray: