Blessing through Breaking
Notes
Transcript
Don’t read.
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Introduction
Introduction
What causes someone to be blessed by God?
Skills?
Speaking
Insight
Relationships
Resources?
Money
Stuff
Good works?
Jacob Comes to the Story Low
Jacob Comes to the Story Low
Despicable in character
Named after deceit
Exiled by his family
Has been impoverished
Deceived by his uncle
Robbed by his uncle
Afraid of his brother
Has given up massive amounts of wealth
He’s goin to get lower - cue slide
God Breaks
God Breaks
Jacob Is Broken by God
Jacob Is Broken by God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Jacob is already afraid and a man who attacks him with no cause given.
Feels like piling on
The mysterious wrestling match goes on all night
Jacob doesn’t know who he’s wrestling
Doesn’t seem like he knows why he’s wrestling
Jacob’s tenacity is displayed as he wrestles until daybreak
Jacob seems to be pretty good at wrestling because the man realizes that he can’t win
The man breaks Jacob’s hip
Gospel Connection
Gospel Connection
Jacob is brought to the end of himself
The gospel is a message of weakness for weak people
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The gospel is a message of death
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Through death comes blessing
God Blesses
God Blesses
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
Blessing Demanded
Blessing Demanded
Jacob pursues a blessing for the second time in his story
He must realize who he’s wrestling with at this point
He weeps and begs for a blessing
Hosea 12:4 “4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there—”
Jacob the schemer seems to have finally recognized that his blessing must come from God rather than his plans
Blessing Granted
Blessing Granted
The blessing is unexpected
He does get a blessing, but that comes after he receives something else – a new name
Jacob receives a new name
God’s renaming of Jacob emphasizes his authority over Jacob
The new name has something to do with “wrestling/struggling” rather than “supplanting”
Jacob receives the blessing
Rather than receiving a blessing through deceit he receives a blessing through clinging to the Lord
An act of dependence and faith rather than self reliance
Gospel Connection
Gospel Connection
God blesses those who are broken and dependent on him.
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
We Remember
We Remember
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Jacob is left with 4 ways of remembering his dependence on God
His new name
A place named after the event
A limp
A dietary law
Remembering is powerful because it anchors our confidence and our obedience in gratitude rather than in merit
Merit badges
Our hope doesn’t come through our efforts and deceit, it comes through the work of Christ
Our task is to look back and remember what he has done and cling to him
