Life Lessons Learned

Psalm of the Day: Matthew 21:1-11

Matthew 21:1–11 ESV

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Scripture memorization: Genesis 50:19-20

Genesis 50:19–20 “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13–21 ESV

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Sermon:

Once again, and as always. Good morning church. I Was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord.

Genesis. maybe more I'm starting to feel like than any other book that I have ever preached through, is all about finding and understanding the different threads that are woven together throughout the whole book. There are themes upon themes upon themes all layered together.

I Likely the biggest and most cohesive is the one that we've been memorizing in Genesis 50, 19, and 20,

Genesis 50:19–20 “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

The idea that God is working and orchestrating that God is ultimately Sovereign. Certainly, one of the themes that is most powerful and important. But there are others.

Since the time of Abraham, there's been the theme. Of. Descendants. Land and blessing. That Abraham and would have many descendants they would grow. They would inherit a land. They would become a great nation. That Nation would be a blessing and be blessed. So the theme of God's sovereignty, the theme of descendants, land blessing.

There's also the theme of. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpents. This one goes back to Genesis chapter 3 immediately following the fall. Adam and Eve have sinned. God enters on the scene. After confronting Adam and Eve, what's going on? Why did you do this, Adam? Well, it wasn't my fault. It was the woman. The woman: Well, it wasn't my fault. It was the serpent. God begins to speak, letting none of these off the hook, the serpent, the woman, or the man. The serpent God says this. In Genesis 3, 15,

Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

So, we've been tracing this theme of the seed of the serpent that Hurts the heel of the seed of the woman, but the seed of the woman that will ultimately crush the head of the seed of the serpent. And every time we come, every time it feels like we're looking at this story. The seed of the serpent is winning in the seed of the the woman is losing, which is opposite of what God Said.

Chapter 4 we had Cain and Abel. Cain the seed of the serpent shown by his actions, Abel The seat of the woman is murdered. We have to replace that seat of the woman with another child, Seth.

We get to the time of Noah, the evil seed of the serpent, The evil seed of the serpent is growing to the point where? Every intention of the thought of man's heart was only evil continually. From that. God selects Noah and his family, preserving the seed of the woman, though the seed of the serpent is growing. It's MAYBE… destroyed.

And then, after Noah, we grow. We're back to the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel man has grown so evil, the seed of the serpent, is being shown that God has to step in and divide all people. And then, that's when he comes in, and he selects Abraham. Abraham then becomes the hope for the seed of the woman. Part of this descendants, land, and blessing that we look for is the seed of the woman to crush the head of the seed of the serpent. We look for that. And, and it just keeps not happening.

Abraham. Has Isaac and Ishmael… the troble continues See the woman's seed in Isaac and Ishmale is the seed of the serpent. Issac has twins… he has Jacob and Esau? And it turns out this is still the Sea of the woman in the seed of the serpent playing out.

But, as we come to the end of Isaac's story, which is, we will be ending here in Genesis 36, is the end of Isaac's story and the beginning of Jacob's story proper… though told largely Through The Eyes of Joseph.… It gets a little complicated, but this is the end of Isaac's story. and in this section this difficulty of the seed of the woman versus the seed the serpent is highlighted, but it's highlighted. In a way that while it feels very true to our lived experience it is certainly not what we would hope.

Throughout all of scripture. There's this question that seems to linger often: Why do bad things happen to good people, and why do good things happen to bad people?

Psalm 73 before we dive into Genesis. Is a Psalm that laments this very thing?

Psalm 73:1–3 “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

God's good to the Sea of the woman, but I look around the wicked, the seed of the serpent is prosperous and flourishing.

Psalm 73:4–9 ESV

For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

And the crown of this thought, said as plainly as possible: Psalm 73:12 “Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.”

This always goes on and on and on and on and on about how good the evil habits. Nevertheless, he says. In verse 23 of Psalm 73,

Psalm 73:23–24 ESV

Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

It's not what I see. Look to the Lord.

Psalm 73:27–28 “For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”

That's where we need to get to. It's hard, it's difficult. This is highlighted and illustrated for us very cleanly and clearly at the end of the life of Isaac. So today, we'll be looking at Genesis chapter 35, starting in verse 16. We're gonna go to the end of chapter 36.

As we think through this. What we will see is the life of the seed of the woman. God's righteous and chosen and we will see the life of the seed of the serpent. Because it's long. We won't read it all at once, so let's open our time together with a word of prayer.

Dear Lord, we do thank you for your grace and your mercy. Your grace that is greater than all our sin, your mercy, that extends to us that while we were dead in sin and trespasses, you made us alive together with Christ. We thank you for your Sovereign hands working On and through all things. Thank you for your Sovereign hand upon us. May you work in our lives and our hearts. Speak to us. And you shape us according to your word. I asked this morning, you would speak through your servant. It's in Jesus name, we pray

Amen.

The section we're looking at today is really broken up into two thoughts. The first we'll be looking at the life Of Jacob. At the end of the time of Isaac. And then we will look at the life of Esau At the end of the time of Isaac. And so we start chapter 35, verse 16.

Genesis 35:16–29 ESV

Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

As I read through this text this week and as really I worked my way through in my heart in my mind to try to understand. How do we best describe this… I decided it best to to take a step back. So I changed the preservice schedule, I changed the New Testament reading, I decided NOT to treat this passage like a long Genealogy and instead see some case studies or examples of life. We're going to do the same for Esau. Take a step back. And, and I just want to summarize everything we read here.

THE LIVED Experience of the SEED OF THE WOMAN

Jacob's live here in microcosm is, is the lived experience of the seed of the woman he Jacob, and so I'm making some assumptions here. Going back to what we've been talking about, Jacob was the chosen one God covenanted and promised. Therefore, the seed of the woman. and His lived experience. It's not great here. They're journeying from Bethel. Rachel goes into labor. This should be joyous. To remind us of the context. The reason he has Jacob 11 Sons as of the beginning of this verse is because his wives and his wives servants. It seems there is a competition. Maybe my husband will love me more if I have the most kids. Leah has four. Then she stops having kids, so Rachel, feeling jealous has her servant, have children with her husband. They have two, they stop having kids. Leah is jealous because Rachel is catching up, so she decides to to add more kids in her collection of kids. Through HER servant… Then, after that God opens the womb of Leah and she has two more. Leah now has six kids, two kids each with two servant sbut through this all Rachel - Jacob's favorite wife, His most loved wife, most cherished wife - has not had any.

and then ultimately she does. God hears her prayer. He opens her womb. She has a child. But even as she has a child, her hope, maybe God will give me more. And here it feels like God is answering her prayer. She prayed. God will give me more children. But what happens?

It's a hard labor. A hard labor before modern medicine hospitals. Hard labor in a time when Giving birth was a dangerous proposition. The high mortality rate. While she's giving birth in this hard labor. Her Midwife tries to encourage her. It's okay, you have a son. But heres the tragedy: Her son can't save her.

And she dies.

What she has longed for is a child. What likely Jacob has longed for is a child, another child with the wife he loves... this child. Costs him. His wife.

As she's dying, she cries out. She names her son, “son of my sorrow”. But Jacob. His lived experience is I'm gonna be reminded of sorrow, maybe instead I can be reminded of Joy.

He renames this child, Benjamin, son of my right hand.

So he now has 12 sons. That part of his life is full. But there is still a hole in his heart. The wife he loved has died. This will then shape and warp how he deals with his children going forward, how he deals with life. How he deals with sorrow? There's a pivotal time in his life. And sorrow. Upon sorrow, he has to set up a pillar over her tomb. That's her Graves. He walks by and sees it that stone, as this was being written, was still there to this day. The people running the promised land. The now many descendants of Jacob would look and see. That's where she was buried. Lived experiences, that of Sorrow.

And it is one of betrayal, verse 22. This one verse.

Genesis 35:22 “While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it.

There's a lot going on here. Here's the best way we can think through this. The thought of Reuben was likely if Rachel has died. That would be his. Rachel, being his dad's favorite wife. How worked is this that he knows that it's bad? Well, maybe that wife's servant will then become his new favorite, so he goes to steal his father's affection. There's also this thought, where, if he does this, he will be stealing his father, his father's inheritance. There's a lot going on here.

This is deep seated, vile treachery.

The lived experience of the seed of the woman here is heartbreak, sorrow loss, Brokenness, treachery from his own Sons. Israel knows about it. This is, there's something that happened, we're told explicitly. Israel, heard of it? We know that he heard of it because eventually, when we get to the time when he's blessing all of his children, he's going to reference this. And this becomes a problem. This pans out the way this works bad. Bad Things come here. It's treachery, it's sorrow, it's heartbreak.

We have then a recounting of his sons given to us by mother. If you have your little. Paper we worked on. We preached through the birth of the sons narrative. Where recounted, all of them. This the full list, the sons of Rachel Joseph and Benjamin is included. These were the twelve Sons. That will ultimately become the 12 tribes. Because this is the seed of the woman, the one whom the blessings of land descendants and blessing will flow.

But this life is sorrow and loss and heartbreak and difficulty. And we are not done yet… He gets home, he gets to spend time with his father, and then his father dies. His wife dies. His father dies. There's death around him. The lived experience of the Seed of the woman is difficulty.

And then 36:1. These are the generations of Esau - there's no solution. There's no fixing this. There's no dealing with it straight into Esau.

And we are moved from the lived experience of the seed of the woman to looking at the perceived experience of the seed of the serpent.

The PERCIEVED experience of the SEED OF THE SERPENT

I went back and forth. This is a genealogy. Shall I read it? I asked myself. And I know that many of you. Really think it's important we read through every verse of every book we preach through. And I think so too.… So, here we go. This is the perceived experience of the seed of the serpent.

Genesis 36 ESV

These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir. These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place. Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.

What in the world just went on? A lot. We've got people finding Springs. We got Sons and Daughters. We got a lot going on here. Here's the point. Jacob. Has sorrow. Upon sorrow. Upon difficulty upon pain upon betrayal. And 12 sons.

Esau, on the other hand Coming from him are Clans. Tribes. Possession. So many possessions that the land cannot hold them. That's what we read in verse seven. Countless people come from him. Peoples and Nations Clans, and in fact, kingdoms, and there are kingdoms Verse 31… before any King ever Reigns in the promised land. Before any King Reigns over Jerusalem, though Jacob was promised from you shall be Nations. Kings shall come from you. This is just last week.

Genesis 35:11 “And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.”

Jacob doesn't have Kings. He has 12 sons, a dead wife, a dead father, his wife's buried trouble, betrayal from his kids. What does Esau have: Kings and kingdoms?

These are the kings who ran the reign of the land of Edom Esau is prosperous. Prosperous. Prosperous. No Sorrow recorded here. No heartache, recorded here. Just blessing. Just prospering? Just good things.

And this, then, is the perceived experience of the seed of the serpent, right? As we look this, we have to be careful for our own heart and mind. To the life of the seed of the woman, The Chosen God's own, a people that will be his possession. It's difficult, hard and painful. We look at the ones who have rejected God who have moved out of the promised land...

if we, if we look at Esau's path here, he starts in the promised land. But then he abandons God's goodness, and he goes to do his own thing, and it's prosperous. Kings Nations land all of these things. Esau has it all.

The perceived from one point of view is he left all that God called him to, and it's good for him. He should have stayed. He should have served his brother. The older Shall Serve the younger he should have been there. He abandoned all of this. He has good things.

BUT And The way this is written draws us to see something else as well.…

Because on one hand, yeah, he's prosperous King's Nation blessing? Yes. But as you dive through the progression and we read through what's actually taking place here. What we learn is Esau is on a one way road to destruction. It may be paved with what he thinks are nice things… but the end result is death… I'll give you the short short version of how this unfolds. Esau starts. Dabbling. In intermarriage. Marry some Canaanite women. But he goes back, he marries. His uncle's daughter. He's trying. By the time we get to the end, it's just complete intermarriage. There's no ability to separate. This is what this passage is teaching us. We get to the point where we cannot separate. Esau. And his descendants. With the sinful Nations all around.

And what ends up happening? In the end.

The seed of the woman? Will be blessed. Seed of the serpents. Will be crushed. Genesis is teaching us don't put your eyes on what you can see and perceive. Instead, look to the Lord in his promises. Edom. The edomites are going to be a thorn in the flesh of Israel. Until they're destroyed. Until we don't hear about them anymore. We could go through the time of the judges. We could go through the time of the Kings. We could go to the book of Isaiah. When Isaiah begins speaking, blessing upon God's people and curses to all the nations many of those nations find there Genesis here, and we see, oh, something's happening here.

So what do we learn when on one side It's sorrow, it's heartbreak. and then on the other is proseperopus and seeming joy and fulfillment? Well what we do is look back and turn to God. Because he knows the whole story and what we see and percieve is not everything… We think it might. If the Bible ended in Genesis 35, verse 43. Sure, we think, okay. Well, then, I guess it is better be the Sea of the serpent, but we know the full story.

And so the encouragement here is. Don't look to what our eyes can see. God works in mysterious ways.

Today's Palm Sunday.

A day set apart that we we look, and we we set aside to to Proclaim. Hosanna in the highest blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus, triumphantly enters. We think we think. Here it is. Part of the reason Jesus and the triumphal entry is so powerful is because the world's so broken. We know we need a king. And so here comes Jesus and the people think we got it. Here it is, everything's going to be better. But then, what's their lived experience? He's not fixing things. He's making the Pharisees more and more mad. He hasn't overthrown Roman occupation. Things are still difficult. We don't like it. It's still painful. So they kill him. The crowds chant crucify him. The Pharisees say kill him. They take him to Pontius Pilate. They want him dead.

You think Jacob has it heard.… Here this whiplash where on day they are praising you and five days later your own thoughts cannot be heard over the crowds chanting “Crucify him!” - That's the lived experience of the seed of the woman.

It's the highest high. The triumphal entry followed within 5 days by the lowest low - “Good” Friday.

Darkness. Death. Jesus hangs on the cross.

Yet, we call it Good Friday because there salvation was purchased there. We call it good friday because after thosands of years of waiting - The head of the seed of the serpent was crushed there.

The seed of the woman was Victorious, proven as he rose on the third day. That's what we celebrate next week.

And so, as we look at our lives. Maybe you looked at your lived experience and you are on the “Why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people” train If so, You have good company.

Jacob's on that train. Jesus is on that train. David's on that train. Moses is on that train.

Every saint of God is on that train.

In this life there will be troubles and difficulty. And pain. Don't look to what we see, what, what we think don't look to what we perceive and think is going on in the lives of the other. We don't know how they've turned their back on God and what God is doing and how God will work all that out. Instead, we trust in him.

Let's pray.

Communion:

Matthew 26

Announcements:

Grace Group - NO FRIDAY GROUP

NO YOUTH GROUP - Diaper Drive

Next Sunday Potluck

April 12th Congregational meeting

Next week Shower

Next week Leadership Meeting

Special Thank you to the BAC and in particular SUE for the Kitchen