Trust God's Plan

 Read Genesis 29

Last time we talked about the vision that Jacob had while sleeping on a rock and renaming that place Bethel.  Jacob had an epiphany and it was that he was a part of God’s plan—this whole Father of Many Nations business would go through him and his offspring, of which he had none at the moment.

I’m sure his father had told him of his grandfather and the promise of being the Father of Many Nations, but now this was very real to him.  God’s plan for his life was taking hold of him.

Jacob continued his journey and arrived at the lands of his eastern relatives.  Like the servant who traveled to find his father a wife, he arrived at a well.  This was the place to be. This was where the herds of sheep would soon be watered.

Jacob talked with the men waiting to roll the stone away from the well and water their sheep and he confirmed that he was in the right place and that his uncle Laban was doing well. As Jacob was speaking with the men at the well, Rachel, Laban’s younger daughter approached.  She was beautiful.

She was also a shepherd and brought her father’s sheep to be watered.  Jacob, being a little less than subtle, rolled the stone away from the well so her sheep could be watered, and then walked up to Rachel and laid a kiss on her.

He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

Things were off to a good start.  Jacob’s thoughts of being murdered by his brother had surely given way to thoughts of love.  He was in love with Rachel.

He had stayed with his uncle for about a month and Laban said that Jacob shouldn’t be working for nothing.  He should name his wage.

When you don’t show up with a caravan of camels loaded with treasure and want a wife, what do you do? Jacob said that he would work for 7 years in exchange for receiving Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel, as his wife.

Laban thought, she could do worse and agreed.

The 7 years seemed short as Jacob was in love with Rachel.  Finally, the time came for the wedding and guests were summoned.

There was a feast and that probably meant some wine, but finally evening came and it was time to be with his new bride.  Laban brought Leah to Jacob and they made love.

When Jacob awakened, he discovered that he had been with Leah, the older daughter. He confronted Laban.  What’s up with that!  That wasn’t our deal.

Laban explained that in these parts, the older daughter must be married first.  What’s done is done.

The deceiver had been deceived, but this was still part of God’s plan.  The offspring from the line of the Father of Many Nations was going to increase rapidly and the community of peoples, which would be manifest in tribes, was happening.

Jacob probably did not realize this at the time, but the family tree was about to branch out.

Jacob was still in love with Rachel.

Laban said that if Jacob finished the bridal week, he would give Rachel to Jacob in exchange for another 7 years of service. Done deal!  You want to see the original spin on sister wives, well, here we go.

Jacob obviously loved Rachel more than Leah, so God leveled the playing field.  Leah conceived 4 times but Rachel could not.

The 4 sons by Leah were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. That’s pretty much where we wrap up this chapter.  There will be more kids from more women in the next chapter, and not just from the 2 sisters.

But what do we take from this week’s reading?

How about, making sure you have the right woman before you jump in the sack with her.  That’s an enduring lesson.

How about, if you are not running for your life because your brother wants to kill you, maybe Dad will give you enough for a dowery and you won’t have to work to get a wife.  That doesn’t apply much these days.  I can’t tell you how many guys—I’m not going to say men—that I deal with who have no job, no car, and no prospects for income but have shacked up with a woman as the financial support for the household.

I hope we haven’t seen the end of the days when the man provided for the wife and family, but in 2023, it’s not looking too good.

But surely that’s not all we can take out of this chapter, is it?

This is going to sound familiar.  It should.  God is very consistent in his ways and his ways must become our ways if we want to know abundant life. This whole, he will direct our paths business is for real.  We just have to trust that he has given us the best path for our lives.

I have shared this story a few times over the years.  In 1974, while a senior at Mangum High School, I was at the Burns Flat Relays.  The team needed a 4^th for the mile relay.  I always threw the discus, but there was no discus event at the relays and the guys knew I could run a quarter mile in under a minute, so there I was.

I waited and waited for the event.  I was bored.  I looked all around me and said, “Nobody would live here on purpose.”  As far as I was concerned this was a penal colony in the Outback, or the Gulag.  Who would live here, really?

In the early 90’s after coming back from Iraq, we packed up the family in South Carolina and headed to Camp Pendleton, California.  Along the way, we stopped in Burns Flat, America.  I looked around and thought, we could buy a house for what I just paid for our new car, and we did.

In 1999, I retired from the Marine Corps and we moved to Burns Flat.  Nowhere in my plan for my life was the metropolis of Burns Flat even a speck on the map and yet here we are.  Even if I knew back then that Burns Flat would have all 3 colors on its traffic light and a Dollar General and a Dollar Tree, would I have put this place on my life map.

As humans, we still think in terms of Point A to Point B in terms of a straight line.  We think that this thing—whatever it is—is our goal and it is a straight line from where we are to where we want to be.

God’s A and B might not look straight to us.  In fact, his directions might seem a bit confusing. They might seem very confusing. Sometimes, we might think, what is God thinking?

Really God, Burns Flat?

It seems like he might have given us a couple wrong turns, missed an exit, turned off the GPS, routed us through a wormhole, and made a left-hand turn from the right-hand lane.

This whole business of the Father of Many Nations and Abrahams's sons and grandsons makes you wonder about God’s plan.

But instead of wondering about the sanity of God’s plans, we should be in wonder at the mighty works of our sovereign God.  He is sovereign and he has good plans for us and if those plans don’t line up with our map, it’s time to get a new map.

Perhaps we need to pay less attention to the map and more to the divine compass we have been given.  I’m not going to expand that metaphor or analogy, but we need to trust God’s direction for our lives.

That doesn’t mean go out and do stupid stuff, but even if we do, God will take even our mistakes and use them for good for we love him and are called according to his purpose.

God has good plans for you.  Enjoy the ride from here through Joseph as we navigate Genesis, because there is some stuff coming that our finite human minds might say, no way God’s plan included that, but it did and it does.

One day, perhaps on this earth, perhaps in the heavenly realms, we should expect an aha moment or two, or three, or three million for what we do not understand now will make perfect sense to us.

We think the best plan is the one along the path of least resistance.  God does not always concur with that line of thought.  Sometimes there is more iron sharpens iron than we would have included in our own version of a divine plan, if we were consulted on the matter.

Sometimes we look around at what’s happening in our world and wonder if God took a couple weeks or decades off, but that’s not the case.

We are moving to what will be a glorious day.  There will be trials and tribulation along the way.  Jesus promised we would have trouble in the world, but he said to take courage, take heart, he has overcome the world.

Today, more than ever, we must trust that God is sovereign.  We must be assured that God is in control.  We must know that God has good plans for us and will never leave nor forsake us.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, even when you don’t comprehend the whole plan, even when you don’t understand the next step.  Just take your next step in faith.  God’s got this.

Trust him.

Amen.

You Matter to God!

 We will get back to Genesis in the next service.  For now, I ask you a simple question.  What is a sermon?

You may have different answers.  I hope you do, and they better not include the words naptime or hostage situation.

In its most basic form, a sermon is just a collection of phrases and sentences strung together.  That’s all I’m going to do this morning is put some sentences together.  Here we go.

 

God is great.

God is good.

God created everything good, even very good.

God knows all.

God is above all.

God is love.

 

God loves you.

God will never stop loving you.

God will never leave nor forsake you.

God is with you wherever you go.

God lives within you and will be with you through the end of the age.

God will fight for you.

God has stood in your place to pay for your sins.

God has ransomed and redeemed you.

God has released you from the power of sin and death.

 

God has an inheritance for you.

God has a place prepared for you.

Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what the Lord God has in store for you.

God has good plans for you.

God’s ways and his thoughts are higher than our own.

God gave us the mind of Christ.

 

You are made in God’s image.

God loves you so much that he gave his one and only Son to die for you.

God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world.

You will be with God forever.

You are God’s crowning jewel of his creation.

You matter.

You have important work to do as part of God’s will, as part of  his plan.

God trusts you with important things.

God has already promised to forgive you even before your sin is conceived in your heart, mind, or actions.

God wants you to talk to him and listen to him every day.

God wants you to lift up your voice to him.

God wants you to ask him for what you need, and to be bold about it.

 

We deserve condemnation.  We receive mercy.

We deserve little.  God gives us his grace generously.

We live in a world of disorder.  God brings order to chaos.

Our sin is extensive.  God’s grace goes far beyond our sin.

 

A few weeks ago, I talked with the session about challenge and support.  I know my nature is to challenge, but on occasion, we need some support. 

So, as we go through Genesis and sometimes it’s hard to see the message for today, know with certainty that you matter to God, and as his children and brothers and sisters with Christ, that means you matter to us.

Know that God wants you to know his peace, not peace as the world knows it, but true peace.

Know that God wants you to experience hope.  You are not confined to only those things that you can see, touch, smell, and feel but you hope in the promises of God and believe them as if you could see and touch them.

You know faith.

You know joy.

You live in God’s love.  You love others.  You are known as followers of Jesus by your love.

Paul wrote:  Faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love.  We know all three and are blessed to know that God’s love which we know so well in his mercy and grace goes far beyond anything that we can mess up.

God loves you.  You matter.

Yes, you are playing for the right team.  Even when it seems like things have gone to hell in a handbasket—a crazy metaphor but the one that caught on—God’s got this and he has you.

God’s got this!

I hope this morning, I gave you some phrases of affirmation and support so when the world is coming at you a little faster than you think you can handle, remember:  You matter to God.

You matter to God.

Amen.

Sleeping on a Rock

 Read Genesis 28

We shortchanged Esau a little in last week’s message but will do a short catch-up now. So Jacob has his father’s blessing and Esau is really ticked about it.

Esau asked his father if he didn’t have another blessing.  He did, but it didn’t quite live up to the first.

His father Isaac answered him,

“Your dwelling will be

    away from the earth’s richness,

    away from the dew of heaven above.

You will live by the sword

    and you will serve your brother.

But when you grow restless,

    you will throw his yoke

    from off your neck.”

This whole the older will serve the younger and selling his birthright thing was being manifested right before Esau.  Esau was not a happy camper.

Mom overheard Esau ranting that he would kill his brother.  Rebekah told Jacob to flee to the East and to her brother Laban.  Before he left, his father blessed him again.

Isaac also admonished Jacob not to take a wife from the Canaanite women.  My dad wouldn’t approve.  I don’t approve.  Your mother can’t stand the women from this land, and you shouldn’t want anything to do with them.

Take this time while you are laying low to find a wife from the house of Bethuel and the daughters of Laban.  It will be for the best.

Isaac also included in his blessing something that would pass on this Father of Many Nations mantel to Jacob.  He would be a community of many peoples.  That’s a step up from the father of twins, one of whom wants to kill the other.

Look at a community of many peoples as a stepping stone to many nations.  The story continues.

Somehow, Esau learned what Isaac had told Jacob about the local women.  Did he also know his mother’s thoughts?  Possibly.

He might have heard it from Jacob himself.  They were brothers and they probably still talked even though Esau wanted to kill Jacob, but he wouldn’t do anything until after Dad died.

We don’t know how Esau knew what and when he knew it, but he knew that his two local wives were a sore spot with his father.  Considering the disgust that Rebekah expressed to Isaac over Esau’s wives and what she would do if Jacob took a wife from them, I doubt she could have kept that sort of contempt to herself.

Give Esau credit for one thing.  He was a man of action.

Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

These were children of Abraham’s line.  It was a step up, right?  I’m not sure what the first two wives thought when Esau claimed what he thought would be his trophy wife.  There’s got to be a soap opera in there somewhere.

Now the story shifts back to Jacob.  He is heading east.  This Father of Many Nations thing that his grandfather was picked for is about to get very real.

Yes, he is staying out of his brother’s crosshairs because he knows that the only thing restraining Esau’s killing rage is that Isaac is still alive.  But he also knows that if he is going to find a wife that Mom and Dad would approve of, living or not, she will have to come from the area of in which his mother had come.

Previously, we had to wonder if Abraham’s servant went directly to Paddan Aram, meaning some tough desert travel, or if he went via the Fertile Crescent.

This time we don’t have to guess.  We are told that Jacob went towards Harran.  That means he went north following the Fertile Crescent.  Harran is where Abraham’s father stopped and the place from which God called Abram into what would be the Promised Land.

For now, just know that Jacob is taking the longer, but the more judicious route to Paddan Aram.  He has to stop along the way.  It is near a city called Luz.

This is the place in the scripture that touches a crusty old Marines's heart.  Jacob took a stone to rest his head upon.  Despite all the deception up to his point—all of which kept him on track with God's plan, but being known as a deceiver just wasn’t too cool—in spite of all that, using a stone as a pillow makes Jacob my kind of people.

You have seen all of these ads for beds with different settings—sleep numbers is the term, I think.

There is a picture of a Marine sleeping on a rock on a mountainside titled:  Sleep Setting Marine.

Jacob is my kind of people

As you might expect sleeping with a rock as a pillow, Jacob had himself one doozy of a dream.

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

This whole Father of Many Nations thing, this Promised Land thing, and this universal blessing thing were not just stories that were handed down.  These were from God himself.

Now God had come to visit Abraham but this might be the first time anyone got a glimpse of heaven, albeit from the bottom of a ladder.

When Jacob awoke, he knew that the dream was not a result of the Canaanite street tacos he ate from the roadside stand the day before.  The Lord was in this place.  How awesome is that!

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Jacob took the stone that was his pillow and made a pillar of it.  I don’t know if that means he stood it with the long part of the rock vertically or put it atop others, but he poured oil on it and named the place Bethel which means House of God.

Then we see a vow from Jacob.  It might sound conditional, but I think it’s more of an affirmation from Jacob to himself on the order of, If I really am a part of this incredible plan—and it seems that I am—I will give a tenth of everything I have to God.

We saw the tithe with Abram and Melchizedek and now we see it with Jacob at Bethel.

The main thing that I want you to see is Jacob’s epiphany that he is part of God’s plan.

Now I want you to realize that you are a part of God’s plan.  We talk a lot about God’s plan but sometimes we make it sound like some government program that we don’t qualify for.

God’s plan is really personal.  It was personal for the Father of Many Nations.  It was personal for Isaac.  It was personal for Jacob.

It is personal for you.  You have a part to play.  Your part is not to build an Ark.  That one was taken.

Your part is not to be the Father of Many Nations.  That part was already taken.

Your part is not going to be to go to the top of Mount Sinai and get God’s law in writing.  That one is taken as well.

Your part might be to talk to that person in line in front of you who is upset with life. 

Your part might be to start a home Bible study.  It might be to manage our food supply that we help so many with.  It might be to help in the nursery.

It might be to answer God’s call to ordained ministry.  He doesn’t just call high school and college kids; I know from my personal experience and from 9 years on the Presbytery Committee on Preparation for Ministry.  God calls people from all walks of life, including some old-timers.

It might be for you to minister to children as a teacher in a public school.

It might be that you are the one who is going to introduce your neighbors to each other and see who can help whom.

It might be to take one of these lost children who have no godly direction at home and invest in them more than the hour or so a week that we see them.

It might be to be here at 5:00 pm every Wednesday to welcome kids to the basketball court and gaga pit instead of it just being a dumping ground for parents who zoom away.

Do some of the parents of this community need Tom to take them out behind the barn?  Probably so, but that’s not the part of the plan we have been given.

When God tugs at your heart—we don’t see too many cases of sleeping on rocks and having visions in our dreams these days—but when God’s Spirit tugs at your heart, don’t think if I don’t do this, God will just get someone else.

Think instead, God could choose anyone he wants to but he chose me.  He chose me.

Don’t think your part is too big or too small.

Like it or not, we are part of God’s plan.  Don’t fight it.  Enjoy it.

Let me put it this way.  Who do you think has come up with a better plan for your life, you or God?

For the person who is still leaning on their own understanding, the answer is our own plan.  We understand it.

For the person who has learned to trust in the Lord with all of their heart, the answer is unequivocally God’s plan.

It’s not what Tom is telling you is God’s plan for your life, though you might get an affirmation from me.

It’s not what the elders of the church are telling you is God’s plan for your life, but they might have a conversation or two with you that strikes a chord.

It is the Spirit of God that is within you leading you—making your path straight—to whom you should give your full attention. The body of Christ might just affirm that calling—that part of God’s plan.

Yes, it’s happened again.  Proverbs 3:5-6 jumped into the sermon.

Trust in the Lord.  Trust that you are part of God’s plan and that your part of his plan us exactly what it should be.  It’s not up to you to decide if your part is big or small.

OK, so Tom wants me to redirect my life based on what God is telling me through his Spirit.  I’m not convinced that some of these odds and ends sort of things are part of God’s plan. 

God picks big things for big people.  This little stuff that I am called to do can’t be from God, can it?

Let’s leave Genesis for the moment but we will stay in the Old Testament, specifically 2 Kings 5.

This will be the short, it’s time to wrap up this message version.  Naaman was the very successful commander of the army of Aram, but he had leprosy. The VA in his country couldn’t do anything for him, but Naaman’s wife had a slave girl that had been captured in a raid into Israel.

She told her master who told her husband that there was a prophet in Samaria who could cure him.  He wanted to go but couldn’t just take a week’s leave and hear to Samaria in Israel.  Aram and Israel were frequently at war, even if it was just a raid or a skirmish here and there.

If he went by himself, he could be captured and ransomed.  If he took protection, it could be deemed an invasion and an act or war.  He had to go to his king.

His king said to go to Samaria.  He would clear it with the king of Israel.  So Naaman loaded up some animals with plenty of valuables, ready to pay whatever it cost to get him well.

There’s more to this story, but I cut to the chase.  Elisha the prophet knew that Naaman was coming.  Naaman pulled up in his chariot with all of his treasure ladened animals in trace.  He went to the door.

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

Naaman stormed away from the door and he was ticked.  The prophet couldn’t even come out to see him.  Was there no red carpet?  Couldn’t they sit down for tea?  No!  A servant came and said go wash in the Jordan 7 times and your flesh will be restored.

Could this prophet have not at least come out and called on the name of his God and waved his hands a couple times?  C’mon, I’m the commander of the army of Aram and he sends a servant.

Besides, the Jordan is a dirty river.  We have clean rivers closer to home.  Naaman was steaming.

Do you know what Naaman had other than Leprosy?  He had good and faithful servants.  They had the backbone to talk to him while he was still steaming.

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

If the prophet had come to the door and told him to run 100 miles with 100 pounds on his back, Naaman would have done it.  But such a simple thing as washing 7 times in a dirty river didn’t seem like it came from anybody’s God much less this prophet who was supposed to be a prophet of the one true God.

And yet when Naaman did what the Lord commanded through his prophet, his skin was as clean as that of a young boy.

What a crazy thing to tell this man to do, but it was God’s plan and it worked out great for this commander who thought himself above receiving a message from a servant and was blessed that he heard messages from many servants.

Back to Genesis.

Jacob renamed the place Bethel because the Lord was in that place.  Today I remind you that the Lord is in you.  Learn to hear him speak through the Spirit of God.

We don’t need a dream or a vision.  We don’t need the prophet to come to the door. We don’t need a burning bush.

We need to listen to the quiet voice of the Spirit of God that lives within us. Sometimes it may just be a whisper, but if we are in constant communication with our God, we will know his voice.

We don’t need to see our part as grandiose to consider it a part of God’s plan.  We don’t need to see our part as so unique that no others are called to do the same thing.  We don’t need to see our part of the plan delivered on stone tablets to know it’s our part.

We need to trust that God has good plans for us and he knows exactly what he wants us to do.

Trust your part of his plan is exactly what is best for you.  You are part of God’s plan. 

Don’t run from it.  Don’t hide from it. 

Embrace it.  Enjoy it.

Amen.

 

Just Trust Him

 Read Genesis 27

Here’s the thing for the next couple of Sundays.  We are calling them Throwback Sundays.  Why?

You are going to get the same message at the 9 am service and the 11 am service.  Why call them Throwback Sundays?

That’s the way we did it about 16 or 17 years ago.  If I had to go back 50 years, I would call them vintage Sundays.  I just realized that most the things that I have at home are not old.  They are vintage.

But to the message.  It’s the same at both services.  I tell you this because some of you might not have noticed.

For this story to make any sense at all, you must consider God’s words to Rebekah in Genesis 25.

“Two nations are in your womb,

    and two peoples from within you will be separated;

one people will be stronger than the other,

    and the older will serve the younger.”

The children from whom these two nations would come are Esau—the older but just by a heel, and Jacob who had latched on to his brother as they emerged from the womb.

To further understand, we look to the end of Genesis 25.

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

Isaac is now an old man and his vision is about gone.  He knows his days are numbered and it is time to give his blessing to his oldest son.  He calls for Esau and tells him to get some fresh game and cook it for him.  Isaac wanted a special meal to go with this blessing.

Esau got his hunting equipment and went to the field.  Rebekah had overheard this conversation and told Jacob to go get 2 goats from the flock so she could cook them just the way Isaac liked them.

As they say in theater, the plot thickens.  Both sons are on their assigned tasks.  Slaughtering the goats and preparing them took less time than hunting game.  Jacob’s meal was ready first. Mom made sure of it.

Jacob was Leary of passing himself off as his brother.  Esau was a man who was rougher.  His skin was tougher.  He was still a hairy man.  Jacob, well, not so much.

Jacob knew this whole ploy was so that Isaac would bless him and not his brother.  Esau had sworn away his birthright for a bowl of stew, but his father’s blessing was still in the hands of Isaac.

Mom dressed Jacob in Esau’s best clothes and put goat skins over his hands.  Isaac could barely see so he would have to rely on other senses.  If he touched or smelled Jacob, he would feel and smell like his older brother.

Jacob was still skeptical.  What if his father discovered the deception?  He would curse him.

Rebekah said that the curse would fall on her.  Jacob proceeded to take his father the meal.

Jacob began with a lie.  Isaac asked, “Who is there?”

Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your oldest son.” The deception was in full swing.

The deception was not easy.  Jacob felt and smelled like Esau, but the voice was that of Jacob.  In the end, Isaac was convinced that this was his older son and he blessed him.

He blessed him.  This was a big deal.  This was huge as far as the estate of his father was concerned, though if you keep reading, Jacob does not seem to be the beneficiary of that estate.

But a blessing is a blessing and Jacob had it.  He was blessed as if he were the firstborn.

What a screwball story.  God’s Chosen People will come from the line of Jacob.  The Savior of the world will come from the line of Jacob.

But could it have not come from Esau? Again, let’s go back just a little.

When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

Esau already had 2 wives from the pagan people who surrounded them.  Remember that Abraham sent his servant to get Isaac a wife from his brother’s family hundreds of miles east of where they lived now.  There was no way that his son would marry one of these heathen women.

But Abraham’s oldest grandson did just that.  Actually, he took 2 pagan wives.  We are told that Esau despised his birthright.  He apparently was not too concerned about his offspring either.

By the way, Esau would later take a wife from the descendants of Ishmael. 

Jacob was pretty slick.  His mom was a good coach, but the story doesn’t end here.  Esau comes to his father’s tent with the game he killed and cook to his dad’s specifications only to discover that Jacob had stolen his blessing.

There were no do-overs.  What was done was done. Jacob had his father’s blessing.

Esau asked if his father had only one blessing.  This was Isaac’s response.

“Your dwelling will be

    away from the earth’s richness,

    away from the dew of heaven above.

You will live by the sword

    and you will serve your brother.

But when you grow restless,

    you will throw his yoke

    from off your neck.”

That’s not quite the same as how Isaac blessed Jacob.

“Ah, the smell of my son

    is like the smell of a field

    that the Lord has blessed.

May God give you heaven’s dew

    and earth’s richness—

    an abundance of grain and new wine.

May nations serve you

    and peoples bow down to you.

Be lord over your brothers,

    and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.

May those who curse you be cursed

    and those who bless you be blessed.”

Now that was a blessing that would continue this special lineage from the Father of Many Nations.  It was all part of God’s will that the line to his chosen people and to Jesus would go through Jacob.

We think of our plans as well order and sensible.  Sometimes we look at God’s plans and think, “What is he thinking?’

Did the God of all the universe really come up with this?

Our own understanding tells us that it’s a crazy plan.  That won’t work. I’ve got some ideas of my own.

When we think about those things too much, we have forgotten that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and truly sovereign.

When we think, “Just what is God thinking?” we are asking if God has lost control of his creation.

Through our human eyes and through our own understanding, it might seem like he has, but we walk by, live by faith not sight.

God does not run his plans by us for an estimate of supportability.

God does not ask us to chime in as the dream team of consultants that we think ourselves to be.

Have you ever seen those memes of our plans as a straight line from point A to point B?  Then there is one of God’s plan that goes from A to B but looks like a 2-year-old was turned loose with a crayon.  The trip takes you from A to B but it visits a thousand other destinations en route, some more than once.

Let me tell you that the one that looks like it was done by a small child armed with crayons is the one to put on your refrigerator.

Trust God’s plan.

It may involve hardship.  It may involve suffering.  It may involve death of loved ones.  I may involve dealing with people who hate your guts.

It may not proceed at your pace. It may include what you might think are unnecessary steps. It may just seem outright crazy, but if you know it to be from the Lord, then just trust it.

Decades ago, I was known among the Marines in my company by a simple phrase.  When Marines were looking at all the reasons that would make the mission impossible, I would simply say:

JUST DO IT

Yes, Nike stole my slogan.  It’s my own fault.  I never copyrighted or trademarked it.  Who would have thought it would catch on with people who made shirts and shoes?

JUST DO IT

I want us to try something similar.  As we face the absurdity of navigating our world, let’s think in similar terms.

JUST TRUST HIM

As we look at putting our Master’s words into practice in what seems like a never-ending race of running against the wind, let us think:

JUST TRUST HIM

When God’s word tells us to love our enemies or pray for those who hate us or turn the other cheek when our own nature would like to deliver a real whopping, think this:

JUST TRUST HIM

We will continue following the story of Jacob and Esau. We skipped over Esau’s part in this for today, but he is not forgotten.  For now, let’s just leave it with he is very upset and thinking about killing his brother.

 It’s good to know the story.  Study it. Learn it.  Know it, but above all just trust God and God's plans and his thoughts and his ways for they are truly higher than our thoughts and ways.

In an age that seems exceedingly complicated, here’s is something simple to which you may cling.

JUST TRUST HIM

It’s the whole trust in the Lord with all of your heart thing again.

It’s that lean not on your own understanding bit one more time.

It’s just trust him.

JUST TRUST HIM

 

Amen.

Why are you here? A Message affirming the resurrection of the Lord and the Promise of our own

 Read Matthew 28

Mark 16

Luke 24

John 20

Why do we gather this morning?  Some who are not here most Sundays but just wanted to hear a message on Resurrection Sunday and you knew that in this place it would be short and sweet and celebratory.

In other places, the preacher knows that he will see some people only once or twice a year so he preaches half of the Old Testament and all of the New.  This is 2023 so I am counseled by my old friend who is now deceased—Common Sense—that this part was in jest.

Let’s get to the real question. Why is this morning special to us—to all Christians?

What is it that brings us into this place of worship, some who may see the inside of this sanctuary only once or twice a year? Some of you were here early this morning.

Why are we here?

What brings us here?

We can worship every day of our lives, and we should.

We can gather as God’s children any time that we want, and we should gather frequently.

We can lift up songs to the Lord as we drive down the interstate, just make sure that you watch out for those who are texting instead of singing.

Why are we here?

To celebrate resurrection, of course. But we can do that every day.  We should do that every day.  We should live with the precept that this is the day that the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.

We should rejoice every day.  It is the day that the Lord has made.  We are his children, brothers and sisters with Christ Jesus himself.

Why gather this morning?  Some of you came very early.  Was it for the breakfast that followed the service?

Today, I venture away from the scriptures traditionally used for resurrection service. I go to the sixth chapter of John.  Jesus had fed the multitude, walked on water, revealed that he was the bread of life, and told those who had followed him that their real sustenance would come from his flesh and his blood.

We understand the words, this is my body broken for you.  This is my blood poured out for the remission of sins, but so many did not.  It was uncomfortable for them.

These many followers did not comprehend the metaphors that Jesus was using.  Many left.  His teachings were too difficult for them.

These people had been a part of the feeding of the multitude.  Some may have seen Jesus walk on water.  They surely listened to him teach about his Father in heaven.  They surely heard messages of love.  They knew that Jesus was different from any other rabbi they had ever heard.

But now, Jesus was saying that he came from heaven.  He was the manna that would save them.  Even though they were not as rigid as their teachers of the law, they will still fixed in their ways.  They did not seem ready to receive Jesus as Lord. And so we read:

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

To whom shall we go?  You have the words of life, life abundant, and life eternal.

Where else would we go this morning except to the place where we proclaim the words of life?  Where else would we go?

This is the place that you have come to know as the place where the words of life are spoken every week and not just by me.  We speak words of life to each other.  We proclaim the good news together every Sunday, sometimes more often.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Our very lives are given as a living sacrifices bringing glory to God, but we are called to never forsake the gathering together of believers.  How could we not gather on such a morning?

Everything that we do should bring glory to God.  Most of that takes place outside of this building.

So why are you here this morning?

It’s because you could be nowhere else.  You couldn’t be anywhere else. You are compelled to celebrate the resurrection with other believers. Your spirit beckons you to not only be present but fully participate in this celebration.

Your soul longs to sing in affirmation, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.

Your song is an affirmation to me and to the person next to you and to all who are gathered.  Their lifted voices affirm your faith. You couldn’t be anywhere else.

We know who has the words of life and we must come together and rejoice not only in the forgiveness of our sins that came by the blood of Jesus but in the promise of resurrection.

I have been to a lot of things in my life.  I have been to Paris, London, Rome, and Tokyo.  I have been to Africa, the Philippines, and Iraq. I have been north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Equator.

I have been to a rock concert and to the Bicentennial Celebration in Washington D.C.  I have been to a war and to the Highway of Death.

I have been to an auction and to a riot.  I have been to the Department of Motor Vehicles in at least 5 different states for tags and licenses.

You know where I have never been?

I have never been to a resurrection.  We believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and that he will raise us to life at a time only he knows.

We may get hit by a meteor later today, die of cancer, or hang around in these bodies until we wear them out, but the death of the body is not the end.  We will be raised to life with our God and our Savior for all eternity.

Think of Jesus talking to Martha before he would go raise Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus has the words of life.

Jesus is the word of life.

Where else would we go but to celebrate his resurrection and our own?

And while we are gathered, we should affirm to each other not only that Jesus is risen.  He is risen, indeed!

We should also affirm to each other that we have a resurrection on our horizon as well.

We are compelled to be here today.  Our spirit would not let us be anywhere else, but while we are here, let us affirm the resurrection of our Lord the promise of our own resurrection to come.

How do we affirm it?

By being here to celebrate this morning, and by the lives we live as we leave this place.

Amen.