Delayed Obedience

Hey everyone…Good morning, it is so good to be here this morning and talk about something that’s pretty important. Something we all do, even our young listeners that are still with us this morning have a tendency to do this from time to time, and of course when I say from time to time, I mean probably every single day. What am I talking about? Delayed obedience…you know, when mom or dad say to come here, and you say, “just a minute” or worse you pretend you didn’t hear them because you’re trying to finish your video game, or your playing outside, or your reading a book, or whatever it is that you’re doing that makes you not want to listen. Well…know what…mom and dad do the same thing to God, and that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. But, before we do that we want to send you guys out to your class where you have the opportunity to learn about God in a way that makes sense to you. Our teachers are such a blessing and it is always such an encouragement to see how God works together their classes so they will continue to learn and grow so they aren’t just hearing stories, but they are hearing how these stories actually connect with Scriptures and how these stories are meant to help them make better decisions in life as they grow in their own faith. We also want to welcome those of you joining us online, etc.

So, I said that we were going to talk about delayed obedience this morning. Now this is really interesting becuase growing up I learned that delayed obedience is really disobedience. I mean those were basically the same thing. As young parents we learned very early on that if our kids did not obey us immediately there could be awful consequences. Parents, you would be very wise to pay attention to this for a few minutes here, ok. When you play the, I will count the three game, you are teaching your kids that they do not have to obey you yet. You are teaching them that delayed obedience is actually ok. Why does that matter? Because when seconds matter, you don’t want them to wait. When they are running outside after a ball towards the street and there is a car on the street as well, and you yell for them to stop, you don’t want to have to count to three. Don’t teach your kids that delayed obedience is ok because then you will have to deal with the consequences of that disobedience. We are going to see a piece of that today. That’s not all we are going to see today. We are also going to see a failure of parenting today from a father that was not leading his family spiritually and decided to move into a neighborhood that was actively dangerous to their family. Not because that is what they could afford, but because that is what he wanted to do. You know I knew a guy years ago who moved his family down from Chicago into Lafayette to try and have a better opportunity for his family. Unfortunately he needed a 3 bedroom apartment and the only three bedroom that he could afford was in a super sketchy place. He would tell me about how he slept on the couch with a baseball bat so that if anyone made it in the apartment he would be able to protect his family. He didn’t want to be there and as soon as he could he got out of that place. That’s a different reason than Jacob had for being where he was. However, before we can really get there I want to remember where we have been…Specifically I want to remember what we have been learning through this series that has been taking us through Jacob’s life. 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.

Now, let’s remember where we are…like physically where we are.

Genesis 31:13 (ESV)

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’ ”

God commanded Jacob to return to Bethel…what did Jacob do?

Genesis 33:17–20 ESV

But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

OK, so I did not see a Bethel there, did you? There are two places named here, there is a place called Succoth, and a place called Shechem. Now, I didn’t make a big deal about these places last week because I wanted to point it out this week. You see, Succoth is the valley outside, it is more of the rural area. In this area Jacob built a home and built a barn for the animals. Then he continued on into the city of Shechem right in the middle of Canaan and he camped out right outside of the city limits, where he bought the land and built an alter to the Lord there. Now, we can for sure praise him for worshiping the Lord publically there in a pagan place. However, this is not where God told him to go…This is Jacob’s delayed obedience and we will see the terrible consequences to these choices that he has made. Jacob named this new alter, El-Elohe-Israel, which means, God, the God of Israel. This shows us that even though Jacob is still not living up to his new name, he is at least aware of who he is.

Let’s take a look at the

Carelessness:

Read this first verse with me and see what I mean here…

Genesis 34:1 ESV

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.

Dinah had never been to this place before. She had never been to the city like this before. Was she rebellious, or was just just naive to the ways of of the world in the city like this. You know the same is true for many people who leave their hometown for the first time and go to a large city for the first time. They never knew there were actually people that talked like that, or people that would behave like that, or that were this dishonest. This happens all the time. There’s a reason why people in large cities, all over the world target tourist because they don’t know the cultures of that environment and there is a good chance they can scam them. The question is, why was is so important for Dina to get to know the women of the land? Why didn’t her mother advise her against going out? Why didn’t they send someone with her on her sightseeing trip? Even more than that though…Why did her father bring her to that place to begin with? He had a job to do. He was told to return to Bethel, not to go to Succoth and then on to Shechem. Why was Jacob lingering in this pagan land and deliberately placing his family in danger? Why was he delaying his obedience to the Lord?

There is something I want you to pay attention to in this chapter. The name of the Lord is absent from this chapter. The wisdom of the Lord is also absent from this chapter. You see, when we attempt to do things in our own wisdom instead of the wisdom of the Lord, we put our loved ones at risk. Think about Abraham and what happened to his family in Egypt when he pretended his wife was not his wife, and again in Gerar. Think about Lot in Sodom. Think about Isaac in Gerar the same as his father. Fast forward to Samson when he faces down Philistia, or Peter in the high priest’s courtyard the night Jesus is arrested. You see, when we try to do things away from the wisdom of the Lord we will always fail and we will put our loved ones in danger in the process.

Let’s keep going and look at the

Defilement:

let’s just keep on reading here…

Genesis 34:2–5 ESV

And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came.

Throughout this passage we will see this word defiled used three times to described Shechem’s wickedness towards Dinah. Now Shechem claims he did this due to loving her and wanting to have her for a wife. However, violently raping and confining a person in your home is an very strange way to declare your love. Defilement is the state of being impure, dishonored, or desecrated. To defile something is an act of great disrespect toward God or others.

Shechem’s actions and words bore witness to the fact that God’s people and the people of Canaan had very different standards of conduct. To the Jews, sexual activity that violated the law of God brought defilement to the victim and brought judgement to the guilty person, or group. In later years the Mosiac Law will show how penalties of sexual immorality will protect the victim of that sexual impropriety, even showing how some acts become a crime seeking to protect by teaching the wickedness of these actions.

Folks, we are in the end of “pride” month. A time when the culture we live in has decided to seek to make everyone else not allow allow, not allow approve of, not allow celebrate, but join in the sinful lifestyles they choose to live in. I have watched various religious groups go to pride events and speak with people on the streets and the level of depravity in the culture we live in is disheartening. I watched videos of people cursing at street preachers who were doing nothing but lovingly preaching the Gospel of the need to repent and believe. Something encouraging though is when I saw some of those at these events actually listen to those preachers and turn from their sin and walk away from these events after praying with these preachers to repent and seeking a new life for the Lord.

Now, Jacob was silent here…I don’t believe Jacob was silent becuase he didn’t care about his daughter however…No, I believe he was silent becuase Dinah’s brothers were out in the field taking care of the animals and he was on his own at the moment, so it was wise to wait. That leads us to the

Deception:

Let’s read

Genesis 34:6–24 (ESV)

And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

There is a trap set here. Shechem has a desire because he loves Dinah so much. Well, you know, I’m not sure how much he loved her versus how much he lusted after her…however, in their morals, according to their standards, maybe that was the same thing. Now, Jacob’s sons were told what had happened, they were both saddened for their sister and angry at the man that assaulted her. However, instead of riding into town and immediately declaring war, they were wise and calculating. The pretended to seek peace with their neighbors and even offered to do business together including intermarrying. There would only be one caveat to becoming one people. All of Shechem’s men would need to agree to be circumcised. The argument is that this would make them the same, they didn’t need to know that this one act would not make them Jewish as there were no covenants. What they needed was to weaken the men of the town so that they would exact the vengeance they would be looking for.

The Canaanites saw this as a great opportunity to slowly take over the riches of Jacob’s tribe. They saw the wealth and they saw the women and saw it was all desirable to have under their control, so they made a calculated decision to agree to a momentary pain for a greater and longer lasting reward. What they were unaware of is the deceit that was in the mouth of the sons of Jacob. They went away preparing themselves and the whole city for a slaughter, a slaughter that was coming due to the vengeance in the heart of these men. So…suspecting no danger, seeing the meekness and kindness of this tribe of nomads, the men of the city all submitted to the surgery.

Check out this

Vengeance:

Surgery is done…what happens next

Genesis 34:25–31 ESV

On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

All of the men in Shechem were in pain from surgery, a surgery they only had to have due to the lust of their prince. Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah’s full blooded brothers brought men from Jacob’s camp and attacked the city killing Hamor, Shechem, and all the males in the city. They looted and pillaged everything included the women and children. This was not a Godly act of righteousness..this was an evil act that these offended brothers took on for themselves. When Jacob would find out, what did he do? He was angry at them for taking that action and he was frightened at what might happen as a result. However, did you catch what he was afraid of? He was not afraid that God would discipline this evil…no he was afraid that the neighbors would hear about it and come retaliate.

Remember, no where in this chapter was the Lord sought after, no where was there wisdom sought, no where was there redemption sought, no where was their salvation sought. Had Jacob and his family been in Bethel where they belonged, this tragedy might not have occurred. Had Jacob not delayed his obedience his daughter would not have been defiled and his sons would not have been murderers.

Do you know what Jacob did next?

Genesis 35:1–3 ESV

God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

What about you? What is your delayed obedience costing you? What heartaches are you experiencing that you don’t need to experience if you would simply repent and obey? What joy would you experience again if you would simply do what you know you need to do? Listen, I know I’ve been talking about this alot lately and maybe that’s because there’s a bunch of people that aren’t doing it…in other words, maybe there are still some here at LRBC that are still fighting obeying because you just don’t want to give in to what you know God is telling you to do because it means giving up something you feel like you have a “right” to. You know…someone offended you, and they owe you, or they will never change but you still have to interact with them in a loving way, but you don’t want to. Maybe it’s that job promotion that you really want but you know will not be good for your family so you need to turn down…whatever it is…God has called you home to Bethel and you have been hanging out in Shechem and it’s really time to get on the move before your family is subjected to actions that you can’t take away from them. Don’t allow your relationships to hurt because you are delaying obedience to God this morning. Repent of your sin and get on the move back home to Bethel…

Let’s pray (pray God will make very clear what we are called to do as beleivers so that we can obey properly)