Sunday Service

The Altar of Renewal Genesis 28: Genesis 35:1-15 INTRODUCTION: Several years ago I ordered several magazines as part of a fundraiser for one of the local schools. My problem with magazines is that I almost never look at them. Anyway, about a year later I started getting those relentless renewal letters, and I had no intention of renewing any of them, but they just kept coming. You know how it is. Then I heard about this sheep rancher out in Montana who had subscription to Time magazine. This was years ago when computerization of everything was just getting started, and Time-Life Publishers was switching over to a computer system for subscription renewals, and a glitch in the system caused this poor sheep rancher in Montana to get 12,000 renewal letters in the mail. And since this lonely rancher hardly ever got any mail, he sat down and opened each of them. Three weeks later, red-eyed and weary and up to his chest in paper, he made out a check for $6 and sent a letter to the president of Time-Life, which simply said, “I give up!” I wonder how many times and how many different ways God sends us the message that it’s time to renew our spiritual lives. Sometimes, we’re ready to renew our relationship with him, and sometimes we’re not. Sometimes when God becomes persistent, we become resistant. Sometimes it comes down to God’s relentless pursuit, and we finally just have say, “I give up!” Let’s continue our series this morning on Building Altars – and this morning I want us to think about The Altar of Renewal. The idea of spiritual renewal is based on the assumption that you have first been made new. You can’t renew your subscription to Home and Garden, or Sports Illustrated unless you’re already a subscriber, right? And you can’t be spiritually renewed unless you have been made new in Christ. For a variety of reasons, spiritual renewal is a necessary part of the Christian life, and this morning we’re going to look at the life and experience of a man named Jacob, who had a life-changing encounter with God, but needed to renew his relationship with the Lord, and he built an Altar of Renewal. But first, let’s take a look at: JACOB’S FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GOD: He was the younger son of Isaac and Rebekah. Remember, Isaac was the beloved son of Abraham we looked at last week. Esau was the name of the oldest son, Jacob’s brother. When we looked at what the Scripture tells us about Jacob before his life-changing encounter with God, we should be able to see ourselves when we were controlled by the flesh. He was a greedy, selfish, and deceitful young man who coveted his brother’s birthright – the father’s blessing of inheritance and all the rights and privileges of ownership and family leadership. And Jacob wanted what belonged to Esau so much he was willing to deceive his father and steal what belonged to his brother. And after he was successful in getting that blessing, he had to get out of town fast, as they say, because Esau was angry enough to kill him. That night, weary and worn, Jacob found a place to camp, and he found a stone he used as a pillow, and he fell asleep. Let’s pick up the story there in Genesis 28. READ GENESIS 28:12-22. I want to point out several things here: • Jacob had obviously heard of God, but he didn’t know God personally. Maybe like a lot of us. Maybe we grew up in church, or at least heard about the Lord, but hadn’t encountered him personally • But here in a dream – God can do this anyway he wants – he introduces himself to Jacob. He tells him, “This is who I am, and this is what I’m going to do for you.” It’s a two-fold promise. A part of the promise is a continuation of the promise he made to Abraham, and one was personal. READ V. 15. Listen. That’s how personal God is. That’s the same promise we have in Christ. “I am with you always, even to the end of time.” • Then I want you to notice that the first thing Jacob did was build an altar and worship the Lord. He used his stone pillow and made it a stone pillar. He erected it as an altar and poured olive oil on it, which was symbolic of God’s presence, and he dedicated the place to God. He called the place Bethel, which means House of God. Jacob says, “Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it! What an awesome place this is!” • This is why I call Jacob’s experience a life-changing encounter with God. Before that experience, he had only heard about God. But at Bethel he heard from God in a very personal way and responded to God with a promise of his own. In essence, he said, “Lord, if you’re willing to do all that for me; if you’re willing to be with me always and watch over me and protect me and bless me, and make right what I made wrong, then you will be my God – the God I worship and the God I will serve. And I’m going to demonstrate that I’ve changed by giving you a tenth of all my possessions.” So this greedy, self-centered young man had a change of heart. His greedy heart became a giving heart. So Jacob left Bethel and went on to Haran where he found his uncle Laban who took him in. He lived in Haran for 20 years and married two of Laban’s daughters, Leah and Rachel, which is a whole other story. But all along he wanted to go back home, and finally the day came when he set out for Canaan with his wives, his 12 sons, and his vast flocks and herds. So a lot happened in those 20 years Jacob spent in Haran. Twenty years is a long time. Things happen, and things change for us just like they did for Jacob. Time so easily gets away from us, and so does our relationship with the Lord, and God sends us a renewal notice. As we continue to follow Jacob’s story, I want us to see: THREE REASONS WE NEED SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: I. SPIRITUAL RENEWAL IS NECESSARY BECAUSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD LOSE THEIR POWER OVER TIME: Do you remember when you had that life-changing encounter with God? In other words, do you remember when Jesus became real to you, when he saved you, and when you knew that you had become a child of God forever? Do you remember that feeling, that overwhelming sense of love, joy, and excitement? There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for the Lord. We’re on fire for the Lord. But like any fire, if you don’t feed it, it starts to die down. I make Elliott hot tea every morning while I’m making my coffee. I put water in the tea pot, bring it to a boil, then when I remove it from the heat, do you know how long it takes the water to stop boiling? About 10 seconds! Spiritual renewal is necessary because encounters with God soon lose their power. Time, even a short time, and distance, even a short distance – like taking a tea pot off one eye and putting it on another – and what was hot begins to cool. Listen. I know you Tiger fans were feeling it Monday night after the Tigers stomped all over the Crimson Tide. Congratulations, by the way. But you’ll have to admit that the euphoria you rightly felt on Monday night had already lost some of its steam by Tuesday morning, right? And each day that has gone by, that excitement seems more distant. The same thing is true in our spiritual lives. It’s what happened to Jacob, and it’s what happens to us. So look at the text. READ GENESIS 35:1 II. SPIRITUAL RENEWAL IS NECESSARY BECAUSE WE PICK UP SO MUCH GARBAGE ALONG THE WAY: Let me tell you, it is beyond amazing how fast the garbage piles up at my house. I don’t know how just two people create so much trash, but we do! Are we the only ones? And we all know what happens if we don’t take out the trash, right? The whole house begins to stink! And guess what - the same thing happens in our spiritual lives. Look at the text with me. READ GENESIS 35:2-4. Where did all these idols and pagan tokens come from? They came from the house of Uncle Laban. They came from Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s wives. They brought them into Jacob’s life because they were idol worshipers. The thing is Jacob knew better. He had encountered the True God of his father and grandfather. He knew that these idols and pagan tokens of Haran were useless pieces of trash, and nothing more than excess baggage that needed to be disposed of. Listen. When God is leading you to a time and place of renewal, it’s time to dispose of all those things of the world, the culture, and the past that will weigh you down and hinder your progress. Look. I’ve moved a number of times in my life, and one thing I know is this: You don’t take your trash with you! You pack up the furniture, your personal belongings, and your kids, but you dispose of the garbage. And when God calls us to a time and place of renewal, you got to go through your stuff and get rid of those things that have accumulated over time that are not of God. Maybe it’s an attitude that stinks. Maybe it’s a habit that stinks. Maybe it’s something you’ve allowed to become an idol in your life, a false god. You got to get rid of those things. HEBREWS 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” III. SPIRITUAL RENEWAL IS NECESSARY BECAUSE WE NEED TO CHANGE: When we have a life-changing encounter with the Lord, we are changed forever by his power to transform us from death to life, but he’s not through changing us, transforming our values, our character, our thinking, and our lifestyles. Look again at the text. READ GENESIS 35:9-15. There are two things I want you to notice from this passage: • The first thing is the name change. We know that in biblical times names were very significant. Jacob means Deceiver. Israel means God fights. So this was God’s way of saying to Jacob: “You and I need a new beginning in our relationship. We need to take our relationship to a new level. I’ve got an important role for you in my promise to build a great nation”, and that great nation would take on his name – Israel. And, of course, his 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel. • The second thing is the sacrifice Jacob made at this Altar of Renewal he built at Bethel as he worshiped God – El Shaddai – God Almighty. The first time he built an altar, he poured oil on it to signify the holiness of that encounter. The second time he offered something more. He poured out a drink offering of wine that represented his life blood – his dying to self, as if to say, “Okay, Lord, I’m with you. I’m dying to self. The old Jacob is dead. By your power, El Shaddai – I’m a new man today. I’m no longer Jacob the deceiver. I’m Israel and God fights for me.” RESPONSE: At The Altar of Renewal, like Jacob, we always offer something more – something more of ourselves – more humility, faith, more love, more obedience, more surrender, more yielding, more praise, more adoration, and more thanksgiving. How long has it been since you built an Altar of Renewal? How much garbage has piled up in your life? What kind of change is God leading you to make today?