Sovereignty and Belonging
Notes
Transcript
Numerous studies have shown that we face a loneliness epidemic in the United States. Roughly half of U.S. adults report feeling lonely. This is driven by social media use, remote work, less community involvement, overworking, and our ever growing individualistic culture we have built. Roughly half of adult Americans struggle to find meaningful connection. It turns out that the one of the questions a teenager and an adult in America are asking is the same: Where do I belong?
Human beings were created in God’s image, not meaning that we look like him in physical characteristics, but that we are like him in essence. We have attributes that set us apart from every other creature on the earth. We have the capacity for reason, creation, judgment, love, critical thinking, and so much more. One characteristic that is deeply ingrained in us is a sense of belonging. We were made for communion with God, and for communion with each other. We are highly relational beings, and we spend much of our lives seeking a place to belong.
That’s why our mission statement is written the way it is. There is no family on earth like the family of God...at least that’s the way it should be. That is what we are striving to become. God has preordained that we would belong together in a community of which Christ is the head, where we have a common adoption and a common inheritance through our relationship with him.
God has preordained it that you should belong to him and that we should belong to one another.
As the book of Genesis comes to a close, Jacob (who is also called Israel) makes an interesting move. But in that move we learn a little bit more about the sovereignty of God and what it means to belong. We should expect by now that God does things a little unorthodox. This scene is no different.
The famine continued throughout Egypt and Canaan. The Egyptians got poorer while the Israelites got richer. This was all part of God’s plan and fulfillment of his promises. God promised Abraham blessings beyond measure, and he did. God took care of Israel.
We have already seen that the sovereignty of God gives us confidence in him. We talked last week about his sovereignty and how it anchors our hope. Today we will look at the sovereignty of God and our belonging.
The story of Genesis 48 begins with a realization that Jacob is nearing the end of his life. He has fallen ill and Joseph is summoned to pay his father a visit. In this visit, Jacob recounts the story of God. He tells of how God revealed himself to Jacob and confirmed his promises. This story is found in Genesis 28, when Jacob left his family after cheating Esau out of his inheritance. He told the story of how he lost Rachel on the way to what is now called Bethlehem. But right in the middle he makes a strange choice:
Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,
and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’
“Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.
“But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.
Jacob is now claiming Joseph’s two sons as his own. That seems strange. Why does he do this? There are some very important cultural dynamics at play here. First, we have to remember that the ancient world is very patriarchal. I know that is a bad word in some circles today, but this is how the ancient world operated. Family life centered around the father and his activity. It was extremely important that his legacy, his work, and his name be carried on. This usually occurred through a birthright given to the oldest son. It functioned as an inheritance where the oldest son became the new head of the family.
Reuben is Jacob’s oldest son. Simeon is second, Levi is third, Judah is fourth, and Joseph is second to last. What Jacob is doing is he is basically adopting his grandsons as his own children. When he says they will be his as Reuben and Simeon are, Ephraim and Manasseh are gaining a relationship status that is equal to Jacob’s two eldest sons. But it is more than that.
Tradition says that the birthright should pass to Reuben. But it won’t. If not to Reuben, then to Simeon, but it won’t. They will still get land inheritances. But Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born in Egypt, are adopted by Jacob so they would be able to identify with God’s covenant people, not Egyptian culture or religion. As descendants of Abraham, they still have a connection to the covenant promises of God, but Jacob takes it a step further to remove all doubt as to whether they belong.
To say that there has been a tense relationship between Joseph and his brothers is a massive understatement. What Jacob does not want is for there to be any reason Joseph isn’t provided for. By making this move, Jacob unquestionably gives Joseph’s sons a place to belong.
The next part is to give blessings to his children, which spans the rest of chapter 48 and all of chapter 49. He begins with Joseph and his two sons. But he makes another interesting move. It is customary to give the older son preference over the younger. After all, tradition says the older son is the one to carry on the family name and become the new head of the family. But Jacob reverses this. Typically, the right hand would be placed on the older, and the left on the younger. This has become a theme in Jacob’s life. Jacob, being the younger of twins took Esau’s place as the new head of the family. Joseph, while the firstborn son of Rachel, but the second to last of all the brothers was given the dream that made him the most powerful of all the brothers. But the interesting part is that the Messianic line doesn’t pass through Reuben, Simeon, or Joseph. We’ll see why next week.
This pattern upsets Joseph, but his father insists.
When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
He blessed them that day, saying,
“By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying,
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ”
Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
God has an interesting way of working in the world. He often breaks tradition to do what he has sovereignly chosen to do. People like me have a temptation to put God in a box. It’s not that I seek to limit his power or suggest he can’t act a certain way. It’s that my brain loves patterns and predictability, so I look for it in the way God works. But God consistently does the unexpected.
Remember that we are looking at old covenant texts. But we are in relationship with God through a new covenant, but what I want you to see is that in his sovereignty, God has chosen to forgive us, to redeem us, and give us a place to belong not just in the here and now, but also in eternity.
The New Covenant principle is this:
Belonging to God’s people has never been about bloodline or geography; it’s about covenantal identity and allegiance.
Belonging to God’s people has never been about bloodline or geography; it’s about covenantal identity and allegiance.
Ephraim and Manasseh had Egyptian blood. Egypt was the only context they ever knew. But through Jacob’s adoption they became part of God’s covenant people, trading their association and allegiance to Egypt for a connection and allegiance to the God of Israel. The reality is that God has done the same for us and extends the invitation to join his forever family.
The apostle Paul reminds the churches in Galatia of this truth in Galatians chapter 4. These verses are the basis for our mission statement:
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
This is the reality of a new covenant relationship with Jesus. Because we are adopted by God into the covenant people of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit as a promise, the following things are true.
The Holy Spirit testifies we are children of God.
The Holy Spirit testifies we are children of God.
Jesus promised his disciples that when he left, he would send another counselor, a helper, the Holy Spirit. We are not left alone. We are given the Holy Spirit as a comfort, a teacher, and a guide. But the Bible says he has another very important job. He testifies that we are children of God. Only those who are in covenant relationship with God through Christ have the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit testifies we are God’s children.
The apostle Paul writes in Romans,
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
Scripture continually testifies that we are God’s children.
In the opening of John’s gospel, he writes,
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
Paul reminds the churches in Galatia,
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul quotes God himself,
“And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.
And finally, John writes,
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
We are the children of God and the Holy Spirit in you testifies to this truth.
The Holy Spirit makes intimacy with God possible.
The Holy Spirit makes intimacy with God possible.
A good father cares for his children. A good father wants to know his children. A good father makes it possible for his children to have an intimate relationship with him.
Paul writes in Romans,
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
That term Abba was used for personal relationship between father and child in Israel. I wouldn’t call someone else’s father Abba. That would be weird. Today, we might use Dad or Daddy or some other affectionate name. But I don’t go around calling other people’s dads, “Dad.” That would be weird.
But check this out. The verse right after the two verses that inform our mission statement says,
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
The Holy Spirit in us gives us access to God.
Did you know there is no such thing as a super Christian? Nobody has more Holy Spirit than another. I have no more access to God than you do. I’m not special because I hold the title of pastor. You and I have equal standing before God as his children. The Holy Spirit in you is constantly inviting you to greater levels of intimacy with your dad. You just have to accept the invitation.
The Holy Spirit provides direction as we learn to walk by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit provides direction as we learn to walk by the Spirit.
Having children reminds you that we are not born knowing how to do stuff. Maturity is not innate in us. We grow into it. I still catch myself expecting my children to know what they cannot know. I have to remind myself that I am there to teach them.
You don’t get an instant dose of spiritual maturity when you come to faith. You learn it over time as you surrender trust and apply biblical principles to your life. You grow by doing. You grow by making one move at a time.
Back in Romans chapter 8, Paul just finished saying that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Those who are in the flesh do not have the Spirit of God. Starting in verse 9 he writes,
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—
for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
We put to death the things of the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not an automatic process, but an invitation to allow him to guide and direct us, giving us marching orders for applying scripture to our lives.
This adoption that we have attained as a gift from God is rooted in a new covenant relationship bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. He sacrificed himself not just to pay the penalty of our sins, but that through the payment of our sins, they would be removed from us, and we would have a relationship with God as we were created for.
God desires to be your closest relationship, your perfect father. You were created for this purpose. He preordained that we would be creatures that share communion with him. Do you take advantage of direct access to God every day? You have the opportunity.
The trouble is that sin still stands in the way. We quench the Holy Spirit through disobedience. What area of your life needs to come back under the Holy Spirit’s control today?
You belong to God. You belong in the church. You belong in the family of God. Praise him for giving us a place to belong both here and in eternity.
