Redeeming Dysfunction
Notes
Transcript
How many of you remember the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies? Vegas Vacation, European Vacation, and probably the most popular Christmas Vacation? Chevy Chase plays Clark Griswold, a quirky, sort of buffoon of a dad. But my favorite character in those movies is Randy Quaid’s character, cousin Eddie. Do you remember cousin Eddie? He was the guy that made you want to be Clark Griswold! He was the craziest character in these movies. He had a way of making you feel a little bit better about yourself. I’d say, “I might be crazy, but I’m not crazy cousin Eddie crazy!”
How many of you have a crazy cousin Eddie in your family? If you raise your hand, you know exactly who cousin Eddie is in your family. If you didn’t raise your hand, I want you to know you are cousin Eddie! I’m just kidding! Some of you have a strict “never raise my hand in church” policy.
But no matter where you come from, there is at least one person in your family who is a bit crazy. They may be a lot of crazy. But if we are honest, we’re all just a little bit crazy. Nobody’s family is perfect. Everyone is navigating family relationships that vary in difficulty and complexity. We all wish that our family wasn’t as dysfunctional as it is. Every family has some level of dysfunction whether we are talking about our own immediate families, extended families, or the family of God.
If we zoom out for a second and take a look at the world around us, we see deep levels of dysfunction. There are fractured families, fractured friendships, corrupt politics, and everybody seems to have an agenda. How are we supposed to live in a world where God calls us to be holy as he is holy, and live in the midst of such dysfunction? How are we supposed to live in such a world especially when there is dysfunction within the family of God itself?
Genesis 27 is really a sad tale of dysfunction. There is a perception out there that says belonging to God means we have everything together, that somehow coming to faith makes us all better. We know that’s not how this works. We know that God begins a work of transformation in us and carries it through over our lifetimes. But we can struggle with the reality that God works through imperfect people.
As I told you a few weeks ago when we discussed the births of Esau and Jacob, there was a severe sibling rivalry at play. To make matters worse, Isaac and Rebekah played favorites. Isaac favored Esau for his tough, rugged, and outdoors loving lifestyle, while Rebekah favored Jacob, the homebody with fair skin and good at cooking. These family dynamics plagued their entire relationship, and it unfolds yet again in chapter 27.
Let’s read together:
Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.
“Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;
and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,
‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’
“Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you.
“Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.
“Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
“Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”
But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.
There is so much wrong here that it is difficult to fathom. What I want you to see is that there are no innocent bystanders in this chapter. Not one member of the family can claim innocence.
Isaac calls in Esau to announce his desire to give his blessing to him before he dies. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, except that two chapters ago when this story began, the twins were wrestling each other in the womb. When Rebekah sought the Lord on this he told her,
The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb;
And two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And the older shall serve the younger.”
So before the sons are ever born, God declares he is going to do something counter to the cultural norm. He intends the younger son to be the inheritor of the promises, not the older. Remember, in ancient times life centered around the father and the legacy of what the father built would pass down to his oldest son. This was the way of things. It was a cultural norm. But here, God does something different. He chooses the younger son. You can be sure Isaac knows about this, yet he still tries to give Esau his blessing instead of Jacob. Esau is his favorite son, so why wouldn’t he?
Have you ever seen God do something countercultural only for the people he is calling on to resist? This is the ancient version of, “but we’ve always done it this way.” God is not bound by cultural standards. He often challenges them to accomplish his purposes. Isaac knew what he should have done, but he chose Esau anyway.
Esau came in from hunting one day and smelled some amazing stew Jacob was cooking up. He was starving, and wanted some of Jacob’s stew. Jacob demanded that Esau sell his birthright. At the time, Esau didn’t care. You can’t eat a birthright. So in haste and poor judgment, he sold his birthright to his brother. Fast-forward to this chapter and Esau seeks out the blessing that now rightfully belongs to Jacob.
A father’s blessing back then was almost like a prophetic utterance. It is not the voice of God himself, but it almost carried a similar weight. The father would speak blessings over his son, hoping that would be the life he would live. It wasn’t a magical incantation, but the firstborn son lived for such a moment. It was a rite of passage. So naturally, Esau would want it even though it was no longer his to receive.
Then we have Rebekah, who overhears the conversation between Isaac and Esau. She is the mastermind behind the deception. A wife willing to dupe her own husband. This marriage is not God’s ideal for a relationship. Her deceptive tactics exhibit a lack of trust for what God promised her before her sons were born.
Finally, we have Jacob. We already said his name means “deceiver” or “trickster.” It is in his nature to be cunning. He cleverly got Esau to sell his birthright. What he wanted was already his. It was promised by God. Yet God uses the dysfunction for his purposes.
Here he is now and his hesitation doesn’t come in the form of a moral objection. He doesn’t say to his mom, “No, I can’t do that to Dad! That would be wrong! How could you ask me to do such a thing?” No. Instead, he says, “What happens if we get caught?” He’s in. He’s willing.
There are no innocent people here. The story of the Bible is filled with dysfunctional people who do terrible things. It stings even more when we see it come from the people he chose! But the promise of the younger child leading the older would come to pass. Look at the blessing Isaac gave Jacob that he thought he was giving to Esau:
So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed;
Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
Isaac intended this for Esau, but God meant it for Jacob. But notice it was not because Jacob deserved it. God did it for his own glory and their good. I don’t want you to miss this. God did not bless Jacob’s deception. He honored his commitment to do what he said he would do.
This is what I want you to take away from today:
God redeems even the most dysfunctional families for his glory and our good.
God redeems even the most dysfunctional families for his glory and our good.
I may not know your family background very well. I do know that whatever it is, there is some level of dysfunction at play. It’s painful. It hurts. You wonder why it doesn’t end. How long can God allow this to continue? When we focus on the trauma, we often miss the opportunity to work on the solution.
I want you to know that this is exactly why Jesus came. He was born into a world riddled with dysfunction. His own family was dysfunctional. His disciples were dysfunctional. His critics were dysfunctional. But he came into this world to save us from the dysfunction created by the fall. He came to save us from ourselves.
Many of us know John 3:16. The verse that comes after it is equally as important.
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
The world was not designed like this. The Bible teaches us that God’s design in the beginning was perfect. The world was a place where everything worked in harmony. There were no natural disasters. There was no sickness or disease. There were no droughts or famines. You could walk up to a lion and it wouldn’t rip your arm off.
But one day our ancestors chose to abandon God’s design and choose their own way. The Bible has a word for that called sin. Sin has led to the dysfunction we all experience every day - the dysfunction in families, in politics, in schools, and yes, even in churches. We have tried all sorts of things to heal the dysfunction, yet nothing has worked. In fact, today it seems there is more dysfunction in the world than ever before. Humanity is still looking for an answer.
The Bible gives us an answer in Jesus, who stepped out of heaven, took on humanity, and lived a perfect life in a dysfunctional world. He then offered himself as a sacrifice, paying the price of our rebellion so we can be forgiven and restored to a right relationship to our creator. The Bible says if we will turn from trying to solve the problem ourselves and turn to him, trusting in him, he will heal the dysfunction in our lives.
The Bible says Jesus was crucified on a cross, buried in a tomb, and rose from the dead three days later, promising that if you will trust him you can have an eternal and abundant life. The abundance of life promised in John 10:10 comes in many forms, but one of them is the healing of dysfunction in your life.
Are you ready for him to come in and take over the management of your life? Are you ready to experience healing from the dysfunction you experience in your life? Turn to Jesus. Ask him to come into your life. Recognize you are not an innocent bystander. You have contributed to the dysfunction you experience in your life. Turn from trying to work out your own solutions, because if you are honest, it hasn’t been working out up to this point. Trust in Jesus and the Bible says a miracle will happen. The Holy Spirit of God himself will come in to you and begin redeeming the dysfunction in your life. Are you ready for that? All you need to do today is ask him to do it. If you need help with taking that step, come see me during the invitation in a moment.
If you have already taken that first step, and you are here having walked with Christ for some time, it doesn’t mean you are free of dysfunction in your life. The Bible calls us to wage war on our own sin, grab it by the root, and kill it. You can’t do all of it at once, so what is one area of your life you need to go after first? Where is the low hanging fruit? Have you grown complacent and stopped allowing the Holy Spirit to do his refining work? What door is he knocking on right now, and will you be brave enough to open it? That’s where the real transformation happens.
God has the power to redeem dysfunction in your life. It starts with a choice. You can choose that you are not going to walk the same path your family is. You don’t have to keep doing the same things you have been doing. You can choose different. You can choose the way of Jesus, who can heal you of the brokenness you experience in your life. Are you ready for something different?
