Jacob's Midnight Match

Well that was fun huh…I bet you were not expecting that this morning…I was gonna show the intro to an actual match, but Beth said that wasn’t a good idea, and you know…sometimes guys it’s good to listen to our conscience of our wives, right :)

So…Good morning everyone, it is so good to be here on Father’s Day and talk about wrestling something that dad’s get in trouble for all the time…right? Well, right now we get to send out the kiddos to their class where you have the opportunity to learn about God in a way that makes sense to you. Then, remember, you gotta pay attention real good so that you can come find me after service and tell me something you learned today. Then of course we also want to welcome those of you joining us online, etc.

You know as a kid I used to love wrestling. I would sit up on Saturday night after the news and I would watch WWF wrestling with, then that turned into WWE…It was so much fun growing up with Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, Macho Man, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Ultimate Warrior…man those were the guys. I don’t know if you guys grew up on all that out here, but I do know that pro wrestling in the 80’s was the golden era for a reason…They even had a cartoon on Saturday mornings where they would pit the “good guys” against the “bad guys” it was a great time to be a kid, I’ll tell ya. When wrestling was “real”…at least until you you learned that it wasn’t real…kind of like Santa and the tooth fairy ya know, kind of when you learn your world is falling apart… Such a bummer when that day came…last week and I found out it was all staged. Well, at least there is some wrestling that is real. High school wrestling is real, college wrestling is real, olympic wrestling is real…backyard wrestling is definitely real and I have the memories of someone jumping off the junk refrigerator in the backyard on top of me and us rolling down the hill to prove it…Im not sure how there are no scars from those days, but I’m sure some of you have your own scars…maybe they’re physical, maybe they’re mental :). Then of course there is another wrestling match that was very much real and that is the match we are going to talk about today. Today we are going to talk about when Jacob wrestled with God…and guys, let me just tell you…be prepared to leave here changed if you will admit to your own wrestling with God.

So, let’s talk about it, but first remember what we have said through this series so far…the thing that Jacob has been learning throughout his adult life, and frankly will be a major realization in his heart today even though these words will not be said. In the life of the trusting Christian, there are no accidents, only appointments. Thats right, in other words, in the life of the Christian, God is in control and you can trust that what is going on in your life is being overseen by the Father for your good. It may not feel good in the moment, there have been plenty of things that have not felt good in my life, but they have been for my good as God was shaping me into the person that I am today, and God is still shaping me into the person that I am going to be when I will one day have the pleasure of meeting him in glory.

We are going to be in Genesis 32 today, we are going to finish that chapter, so you can go ahead and make your way to that part of your Bible. We are going to start off looking at a small portion where Jacob will try to appease his brothers anger, or at least what Jacob is perceiving as his brothers anger. It it is important because it shows where Jacob’s heart is at this moment, so take a look at this with me real quick.

Genesis 32:13–21 ESV

So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’ ” He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Did you see how Jacob attempts to appease Esau over and over again. Remember just last week we discussed how Jacob had prayed to God and the words that Jacob prayed were such strong and faithful words, but I said his actions were actions of little faith. These are those actions I was talking about. These are the actions of a

Faithless Jacob

I mean, imagine, Jacob has just had this vision with God’s literal angelic armies standing right there with him. He literally has the armies of Heaven right there ready to have his back in case anything happens. However, he immediately goes back to his own strength and wisdom of dealing with things his own way. He has split his camps, and now he is trying to buy his brothers forgiveness instead of resting in God’s protection. A while back I said something to the effect that faith is living without scheming. If that is true, then Jacob is definitely not showing any kind of faith is he?

Let’s be fair though. Before we get to excited about judging Jacob for so quickly forgetting the vision of this angelic army and this prayer that he just finished praying, don’t we need to be honest about our own hearts? How often have you finished praying that God would work in a situation or show you what to do and then as soon as you said “amen” you immediately began devising your own schemes to deal with whatever situation you were in the middle of? We read in James that faith without works is dead, and that is true. However, Jacob’s gift to Esau wasn’t a work of faith, it was a work of self. Jacob was seeking to fix an issue, without trusting the Lord. That is called sin.

Of course that faithless sin led directly to Jacob’s midnight match that very night. Let’s keep reading.

Genesis 32:22–32 ESV

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Jacob is setting the scene here, although he does not know what he is setting. From Jacob’s perspective he is simply giving some space between his family and himself, hopefully to potentially draw some sympathy from Esau if he should reach the camp through the night, maybe Jacob simply needed some truly quiet time where he would be alone with his thoughts to try and understand how he has gotten to this place in his life and attempt to make some decisions. Anyone who has ever been on the precipice of major life decisions, or major life changes can understand this desire to simply take some moment of calm before the storms that are inevitably coming. However, that is not what happened. This is where…

Jacob Wrestles with God

Now Jacob was left alone, and when we’re alone and at the end of our resources which Jacob clearly was, then God can come to us and do something in us and for us. This will prove to be a very difficult night for Jacob, and a night where he will wrestle with everything he has, a night that I expect many of us here have experienced to some degree. Jacob wrestled physically, but you and I wrestle spiritually. I can tell you about many nights of wrestling with God where I wrestled and ignored the outcome for a long time…until there was finally a time when I was no longer able to ignore the outcome in my own life.

Now this morning there are three encounters that we will see as a result of Jacob’s midnight match. First of all we see that

Jacob met The Lord

British author Walter Savage Landor called solitude “the audience-chamber of God,”and he was right. When we are alone, we can’t get away into the minds of other people. We can’t escape into other worlds, eventually…we always land right back into our own mind and we come face to face with ourselves, which is of course, where we have to live. Now, twenty years before this event Jacob had met the Lord when he as alone at Bethel. Now, in his time of need, God has returned to him.

Here is what I find really interesting and really helpful. God meets us where he finds us, to take us where he wants us. For example, Abraham was a pilgrim and God came as a traveler. To Joshua, who was a general, God came as a soldier. To Jacob, who spent most of his life wrestling with people, Esau, Isaac, Laban, even his wives…God came as a wrestler.

I love this…you see, at Bethel, God had promised to bless Jacob and from a material perspective that has already happened. Jacob was very wealthy. The thing is…God’s blessing is so much more than material…sure God can give you that, but there is no promise that most people will receive a financial blessing, although for Jacob God did promise financial blessing. There is also the matter of godly character and spiritual influence…During that “dark night” Jacob discovered that he’d spent his whole life fighting God and resisting his will and that the only way to victory was through true and total surrender…WOW! Let’s just sit on that for a second and let that marinate in your soul. The only way to victory is through true and total surrender. I know for a fact that there is a large portion of people in this room right now that are struggling with the total aspect of that phrase right there. You want the victory…you just don’t like the total part…like you don’t want to totally surrender. You will say you do, but then as soon as you walk out of this building you will forget that world total and go right back to the way you have always done it before…do you know what that’s called? Pride…and that a sin. I wanna just encourage you this morning to just give up that word total and do what you already know you need to do. Listen, for some of you right now, and Im just gonna say this now, maybe that means you need to admit your need for a savior and give up your life to the Lord and then follow him in baptism. For others…maybe you have given your life to the Lord, but your still living like you’re in charge and you need to get out of the drivers seat and actually trust the Lord. Remember Faith is living without scheming…so stop spiritually scheming to try and get your way.

Author A.W. Tozer said, “The Lord cannot fully bless a man until He has first conquered him.” God conquered Jacob by weakening him, allowing the fullness of blessing

We’re not done yet though so don’t get to excited…we still have to see the second encounter as a result of Jacob’s midnight match. We see that

Jacob met himself

Jacob wanted the Lord’s blessing on his life, a commendable desire for sure. However, before we can be like the Lord, we have to face ourselves and admit who we are in ourselves. In other words, before I can move towards Christliness, I must admit my own pridefulness and sinfulness, a process that is not easy. That’s why the Lord asked Jacob, “What’s your name?”. You see, as far as the Genesis account goes, the last time Jacob was asked that question, he told a lie. His father asked, “Who are you, my son? and Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn.”

Clearly the Lord didn’t ask this question in order to learn who Jacob was as if he didn’t know who Jacob was. He absolutely knew Jacob as a schemer and a deceiver. “What is your name?”meant, “Are you going to keep living up to your name as your brother acknowledged all those years ago? Are you going to continue living a life of deceiving yourself and others, or will you admit what you are and let me change you?”You see, in Scripture, whenever there is a new name given, that signifies a new beginning, a shift in everything that has happened before and in what God is doing in that persons life moving forward. This is Jacob’s opportunity to make a fresh start in life…something that every single one of us in this room has also experienced…although we didn’t get a new name, we did become a new creation.

For Jacob however, he did get a new name. Jacob’s name became Israel. This is from the Hebrew word meaning “to contend”. We see here that God has given this name because he had striven or contended with both God and man and had prevailed. Jacob, or Israel, had lost the battle with God, but won a far greater victory. Like Paul who would later learn about strength that comes only through weakness, Jacob, now Israel, has become strong only when he became weak.

The interesting thing about Jacob is that while he was at home he served himself and created problems. For 20 years, Jacob served Laban and created more problems, however, now he will serve God and finally become part of the answer that he has been searching for. It’s a new day for the man Israel. He has a new name, a new walk, really a limp, and a new relationship with the Lord. A relationship that will allow him to face and fight any problem head on as long as he leans on the Lord and not on himself. His first test is about to come with this new relationship…what do you think is going to happen? Let’s take a look at when

Jacob met Esau

Actually, you’ll have to wait till next week for that one…However, as you leave out of here this week I want you to think about what you have done over your life and over your relationship with the Lord. Have you leaned on your weakness allowing the Lord to work, or have you tried to be the strong one that can handle everything without the Lord. i want you to leave with this passage in your mind..

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Let’s pray: pray that God’s power would be perfected in our weakness and we would welcome our weakness to allow his strength in our lives.