Don't Forget Who You Are
What is Your Name • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewIs it Israel or is it Jacob? When God changes our Identity we must be vigilant to not revert back to who we were before that change.
Notes
Transcript
Lords Prayer
Lords Prayer
Before we begin today’s sermon would you join me in praying the words our Lord taught us to pray?
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: Amen
Dismiss Vanguard and Navigators
Introduction
Introduction
Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.
Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?”
So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.
Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.” But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”
And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.
Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.”
But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.
This is the Word of the Lord, Amen?
You may be seated
Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray
With this chapter we finally come to the conclusion of Jacob’s drama with his older brother Esau. This is a drama that started all the way back in Genesis 25 when Jacob and Esau were in the womb, and between then and now we have covered almost a fifth of the entire book Genesis. It is a substantial part of our peoples histroy.
But now this drama comes to an end, Jacob and Esau meet, they reconcile, and Jacob returns home to the promised land. If Genesis were a trilogy, this would be the triumphant end of the second movie… the credits would role as Jacob bows at the altar of El Elohe Israel… God, the God of Israel...
But before we are reminded that God is the God of Israel, we are also reminded that He is the God of Jacob.
What is Your Name
What is your name? That is the series we are in right now, and that which we will conclude this morning.
What is your name… the question that blind Isaac asked Jacob before handing out blessings… there Jacob lied “I am your son Esau”
But also the question that Jesus asked Jacob in the cave, after wrestling all night… Jacob clings to Christ and says “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” and Jesus responds “What is your name?”
Why would Jesus ask this? He is omniscient, all knowing… He knows Jacob’s name… so why ask the question… because He wanted Jacob to com to a place where he could finally admit who he was… He was not Esau the older brother… the one favored by society and by his father… no he was the heel grabber, the usurper, the trickster… the sinner.
“I am Jacob” he tells the Angel of the Lord… “I am the usurper, I am the liar, I am the sinner” He tells God in the flesh...
And then God, on that confession does something monumental… He gives Jacob, and all of us who are a part of the people of God, a new name.
And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
God changes our name from “Sinner” to “Victor”… from “Conquered” to “More than Conquerors”. We are those who have endured, who have clung to Christ, who have overcome and found the victory.
Israel… yes we struggle with men… and sometimes we even struggle with God… but we are not losers… we prevail! We prevail over man… because God is on our side, what can man do to us? And we prevail with God because God want’s us to win, not that we beat God, we could never hope to do that… but because God elevates us to victory… because He wants us to win.
We have had a lot of Holy Spirit moments over the past month, God has done some GREAT things in peoples lives… not just on Sundays by the way… There have been amazing testimonies of healings in Growth track, uncurable diseases, gone! Broken and sprained bones and joints… healed immediately… Last week at Growth track crutches were brought up to the altar! Because God healed Heavenleighs foot in an instant, and she didn’t need those crutches anymore…
We have seen people baptized in the Holy Spirit, we have seen prophetic words pouring out, we have seen people be saved and rededicated...
Then there was the Woman’s retreat! Say amen if you were blessed at the women’s retreat?
My wife came home overflowing with testimonies of how God had moved in the woman’s retreat. And I am hearing testimonies from husbands too! Josh told me that Deacon Brandy loved it so much she wished she could stay another day, and Josh said that God has already used this women’s retreat to bless their marriage!
I guess what I am saying is “God has done great things in CLC this past couple months, and I am here for it!”
So how do we get from that… how do we get from that level of victory, that level of Holy change and revival and growth… how do we get from “You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel”… to this...
Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men...
You shall no longer be called Jacob… 4 verses later “And now Jacob”… What happened?
The same thing that happens to… He forgot, for a moment, his new name… He forgot who he was.
That’s point one this morning… Don’t Forget who you are.
Don’t Forget Who You Are
Don’t Forget Who You Are
Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
Can you imagine the scene?
Jacob, or should I say Israel… leaves the cave where he had just literally encountered, wrestled with, and clung to God...
He leaves the place where God blessed Him and gave him a new name… and as soon as he gets out of the cave, there he is… his lifelong nemesis… Esau, marching toward him with 400 men...
I guess the whole two companies plan didn’t work out… now Jacob starts to panic… he grabs his family and arranges them in the most favorable way to present them to his brother… and then they start walking toward Esau… and every few steps, Jacob bows down to Esau times he bows down…
Once they meet, Jacob calls Esau “ My lord five different times and refers to himself as Esau’s servant twice...
So seven times Jacob bows before Esau, and seven times Jacob refers to either himself as servant or Esau as lord.
Now let me remind you who Jacob really is… who ISRAEL is...
Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
There are about a dozen or so such verses, I read many of them two weeks ago when I went all Wily Wonka on Jacob for this kind of thinking… but you get the picture, Esau, prophetically speaking, should be bowing down to Jacob.
Israel has struggled with men and with God an has prevailed… What he is doing to his brother is not what would call “Prevailing”… I would call it something more akin to groveling… It’s like he has forgotten everything that just happened between him and God...
Man, I don’t know about you, but I can relate to that...
How many times has God meet me here at this altar… has He done great things in my life and through my life… miracles, salvations, prophecies… callings, and promises and blessings…
How many times I leave this place… and the real world hits… and I forget it all...
Heck, sometimes we don’t make it to lunch before I have forgotten it all… little kids screaming… big kids arguing… it get’s loud sometimes in that little minivan… and it is easy to forget… I just experienced a holy moment… God just did something… I am not the man I was when I walked into that cave… I am not the man I was when I walked into that church… I am living with a new name, with a new calling… with a new vision…
How easy it is to revert back to Jacob when we see our fears marching straight for us… when the stresses of life come crashing down...
There was another guy who had his name changed by Jesus… Peter. Peter was once called Simon, but God changed his name… and Peter has a thing to say about forgetting...
In 2 Peter 1, he says that as Christians… as people who have been born again and redeemed, we should abound and grow in virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
He says as Christians we should abound in these things, but if we lack in these things, he gives us the reason for that lack:
For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
It’s a forgetting problem. It’s not a rebellion problem. It’s not a faithlessness problem. It is a forgetting problem...
Originally I was going to write this sermon about backsliding… but I did not have peace in my spirit about that word… backsliding...
Because that word invokes thoughts of intentional sin and rebellion...
But I don’t think Jacob is being rebellious here.
He is afraid… sure… anxious even… but I don’t think he is intending to outright ignore the blessing and callings of God… I think this is just his gut reaction.
He walks out of the cave and BOOM there is the army that he was so afraid of when he entered the cave… and for a moment, he forgets everything that happened with God and tries once again to deal with things the way he knows how...
I wonder how many people during this sermon series was touched… blessed by the move of the Spirit… maybe you got a new name or were reminded of the new name God gave you long ago… I know I was...
I wonder how many people were up at the altar and God was working on them, calling them, blessing them, changing them… how many people clung to Jesus in this place… and then went home and was confronted with all those stresses of life.
What happened at the altar most likely did not change all your circumstances… you still have bills to pay, and a job to go to, and a marriage to steward, and children to raise… Or if you are a student… things felt great on Sunday but on Monday the stress of school comes rushing at you like an angry brother and 400 men with him… exams, friendships, teachers, extracurriculars… for some people it can be a lot… and it is easy to forget all that God did…
And as we forget we start to drift, and as we drift we forget more, and as we forget more we drift more… Anyone here know what I am talking about?
It can be really dangerous to forget...
Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
We need to earnestly remember and dwell on all the things God has commanded us, all the promises He has given us, all the good He has done for us, all the things He has called us too… we must remember and give heed in earnest… or we will drift away Hebrews says… then it goes on to say “How can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation”...
Those are frightening words… how can we escape… escape what?
How can we escape turmoil, and persecution, and hardship… or worse… how can we escape the wrath of God if we neglect all He has done for us?
Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.
There is a warning there… if you forget all that God has done… there is a chance that those things could depart from your heart all the days of your life… that is the end of the drift… I think I have seen it happen to people… the completely forget everything God has done for them, spoken to them, called them to…
But that is not what happened to Jacob, praise God, and it is not going to happen to us, either, is it church?
But as that drift starts, let me just encourage you… the solution is simple, but it does require some diligence… the solution is to remember God’s Goodness.
Remember God’s Goodness
Remember God’s Goodness
Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.” But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”
And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.
Esau was not the same man he was when Jacob fled from him...
The Esau then was angry, and murderous… He was proud, but shortsighted… He did not have much to show for his life, other than his father’s favor, and that favor was seemingly stolen from him by his brother Jacob.
But that is not the Esau we see now… now we see a prosperous Esau, who has wealth and influence and authority… I mean it is no small thing to be able to gather 400 men together!
God had not forgotten Esau… Esau thought his blessing was a curse when his father gave it to him… do you remember that blessing from Genesis 27, his father tells Esau “Your dwelling will be away from the fatness of the earth”… and then it says that because of this blessing Esau hated his brother Jacob...
But that was 20 years ago… and now Esau has learned it really was a blessing… even away from the fatness of the earth, God had blessed him tremendously… so he doesn’t need to hate his brother anymore, because… here is a free sermon for you… God has enough blessings for everyone, you don’t need to covet someone else's blessing…
So Esau is no longer angry, and he is walking in the blessings of God… the presents and the groveling from Jacob was unnecessary, Esau was walking in the blessings and the grace and the goodness of God…
And when Jacob saw that new Esau, the Esau full of the goodness and grace of God… He was reminded of the Man he was wrestling with in the cave…
And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God...”
When I saw your face it was like I was looking at the face of God… well Jacob knows what the face of God looks like, he was just wrestling with him and even named the place there “Peniel - for I have seen good face to face and yet live”.
So when Jacob sees Esau the next morning, Esau's face reminds him of the God he was just clinging too… it reminds him of God’s goodness...
I personally have had a very similar experience, I have shared this before, but it is so perfect with this story...
When I was in Junior high I had a bully, Jason… and Jason beat me up A LOT… I probably deserved some of it… but he would slam my face into concrete benches, he would gather other boys to jump me and beat me… one time he told me he was going to kill me and I believed him… for 3 years this kid tormented me… Praise God, we went to different high schools, because I don’t think I could have taken much more...
In high school I found Christ and became a new person, I saw the goodness of God on my life and had everything changed… I never thought about Jason once I found christ, I had no bitterness or animosity… that was the past, and the old me who liked to run his mouth and get into trouble… that old me was dead anyway...
Then when I was 17, I was skating at the skatepark and I see walking down the sidewalk my old bully Jason… and he has is eyes locked on me… He didn’t have 400 men with him, but I was convinced he was coming to kill me...
So I prepare myself to fight… adrenaline pumping through my viens… fists clinched… let’s do this… Jason gets closer and closer… my heart races and he yells out “CHRISTIAN SHIELDS! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!”
And I am like “What’s good Jason?”
And he responds “I just want to say ‘I am sorry’”
“Huh… what now?”
“I know I treated you bad in Junior High, but I have given my life to Christ and everything is different… I want to say sorry, and I ask you forgive me”.
Can I tell you church… in that moment, I wasn’t looking at my bully anymore… I was looking at the face of Christ…
I mean not literally, but man I could see the goodness of God on him… in that skatepark, on that concrete… a holy moment happened and I remembered a fresh the goodness of God…
But those moments are few and far in-between… you are not going to have your Junior High bully walk up to you every day to share their conversion story… how do we do this in the every day? How do we remember who we are in Christ and all His goodness? How do we guard ourselves from forgetting?
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure… in other words… work hard to be sure you are who God has called you to be… the surer you are, the harder it is to forget...
I know I am a child of God because God has done so much for me.
He has healed me, physically, multiple times.
He speaks to me, we converse, He leads me with His word both Written and Spoken, and the two never contradict.
He has called me and provided for that calling.
He has spoken promises into my life and I have seen those promises come true.
I know His written word well, though I endeavor to know it better… and I have seen it be proven true time after time after time...
And so I know I am saved because the Word says I am saved… I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart… the Word says I am saved… I repented from my sins and baptized in His name… the Word says I am saved… I no longer love my sin but love His commandments… the Word says I am saved.
His Word says it.
His goodness in my life testifies of it.
His miracle and outstretched arm prove it.
I AM SURE OF MY SALVATION… but I must be diligent to remember these things, because as he warned just verses before it is easy to forget and to start drifting.
Diligence looks like coming to church every Sunday even when I don’t feel like it… because at church I am reminded of the goodness of God.
Diligence looks like cutting off friendships and relationships with people who don’t point me toward Christ, and instead spending my time and emotional energy with people who remind me of the goodness of God.
Diligence looks like putting away my old ways… the old music I listened to… the old movies I watched… the old video games I played...
It is real hard to remember the goodness of God while playing a videogame about stealing cars and shotting police officers...
Diligence looks like talking to my children and one day my grandchildren about all the good God has done for me… my children are real quick to remind me of the goodness of God when I start to get a little depressed or angry…
Diligence looks like taking a Sabath every week to slow down and have family time and talk about the goodness of God.
Diligence looks like have a prayer custom… going to a secret place daily to praise and give thanks and to petition God… because when you pray and God answers… it is hard to forget the goodness of God.
Diligence looks like reading your Bible daily… even if you are not a strong reader… because the Bible testifies of the goodness of God… and to know it is to know God’s goodness.
Diligence looks like forgiving others because you were forgiven by Christ… it is hard to forgive sometimes… and that should remind us of how much pain Jesus went through to forgive us… the cross is the ultimate example of the goodness of God on our lives.
If we forget then we are shortsighted and may find ourselves drifting away from God...
Don’t forget who you are, don’t forget your name in Christ… be diligent to remember… you are saved and chosen and redeemed… God HAS been good to you and He is not going to stop being good to you as long as you walk with Him...
Let me conclude with the final verses of Chapter 33.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Turn On Children’s Class Lamps
The New King James Version Chapter 33
18 Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. 19 And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. 20 Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.
Jacob came safely into Canaan, buys some land, and then he builds an alter. He names the altar “El Elohe Israel” which means God, the God of Israel.
The chapter starts with “Now Jacob” but it ends with “The God of Israel”.
If you have reverted back to an old name, the good news is you can always chose to remember, you call always, with diligence, find that new name again… live in that new name again.
Gospel Call - Quick
Aaronic Blessing
יאר יהוה פניו אליך ויחנך
ישא יהוה פניו אליך וישם לך שׁלום
"The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presence
ye·va·re'·khe·kha' · Adonai · ve·yeesh'·me·re'·kha
ya·eir · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley'·kha · vee·khoon·ne'·kah
ees·sa · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley'·kha · ve·ya·seim · le·kha · sha·lom
"The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presence
