What do we believe

 Read Genesis 33

Esau lived in an area that is present-day Jordan or Saudi Arabia.  By the chapter’s end, we see there is no bad blood between Jacob and Esau.  If you choose to keep on reading not only Genesis but the rest of the Torah, you will see that Esau’s descendants did not continue this warm reception.

Let’s look more than 400 years down the road.  The Israelites have been liberated from slavery in Egypt.  They were in the wilderness and much of it was near the land of Esau’s descendants—Edom. Moses had wanted to pass through Edom but Edom denied them passage and even brought forth an army to say that they meant business in this matter.

Edom—the land of Esau’s descendants—would be part of the southern border of the Promised Land.  Esau’s descendants were still descendants of Father Abraham, but not included in the land promised to him.

In today’s chapter, we see that all of Jacob’s worry was for nothing.  His brother did not intend to harm him.  His brother did not need his offerings of livestock and took them only at Jacob’s insistence.  His brother was not out for blood.

Some say that time heals all wounds.  I lean more towards God uses people—imperfect people—to accomplish his good and perfect plan.

Esau and his 400 men would not destroy Jacob and his family.  God had special plans for Jacob—Israel—and those who would come from his line.  So is that it?  Is that the story of this chapter?  Pretty much, but I want us to think on God’s plan, at least the part that has been revealed to us.

To do that, we spend a little time in Isaiah.  Isaiah is still a few centuries down the road in man’s time, but the word of the Lord is revealed through him and that word is for all time. Listen to verse 46:10.

I make known the end from the beginning,

    from ancient times, what is still to come.

I say, ‘My purpose will stand,

    and I will do all that I please.’

I am pretty good at forecasting the future.  Any time that alcohol is being consumed and the words hold my beer are interjected into the situation, I can forecast that business will be good in the emergency room.

Anytime that there is a group of young Marines who are unsupervised for the moment and there is a red button on a wall with at least a dozen sign’s that read DO NOT TOUCH or TOUCHING THIS BUTTON WILL DETONATE A NUCLEAR DEVICE or anything along those lines, at least one of them will go touch the button.

I am pretty good at forecasting the future.

If I look at an online ad for lawnmowers, in short order my Facebook feed, my email, and the text messages on my phone will be blown up with ads for lawnmowers.

I am pretty good at forecasting the future, but God knows the future from the beginning.  In fact, just so we know that he is God, he tells us what’s coming.

It’s not like he is going to email me next week’s lottery numbers or who is going to win the World Series.  He does tell us as he told Abraham that he would be the Father of Many Nations. 

He did promise a land to a specific people and just to make sure that the children of Abraham would not be fighting the children of Abraham by God’s design, he parked Esau on the other side of what would be one of the borders of the Promised Land.

God will accomplish his plan.  Sometimes it makes sense to us.  Sometimes it is contrary to our own understanding.  Sometimes we are completely oblivious but God will do what God will do and we are often blessed that he tells us what that is.

When Isaiah spoke these words of God to his people, it was as if to answer the question, “Is the God of all the universe still there?”  His answer is that there is no other god of substance.  There are none like me. I am the one true God.

While we see a cordial reunion of brothers and camps separated by enough distance that the relationship might stay that way, the story here is that God will do what God will do and when he tells us what he will do we should believe him.

But what do you believe?  God is real.  God sent his Son to save us from sin and death. You must use the King James Bible?  Tom should work on his jokes more.

What do you believe?

This morning, I am going to ask us to state together what we believe.  We might call these core beliefs.  We might differ on what we eat or what day we worship, but we do have some beliefs common to most Christians.

You remember Proverbs 3:5.  I know you know it.  It gets most of the attention when it comes to the verse that follows.

Sometimes, especially today, we need that sixth verse. We need to acknowledge verbally and in the presence of others the ways of the Lord.  We need to acknowledge what we believe.

Most of you know this as the Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

 

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy church universal,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

 

Amen.

 

God will accomplish his plan.  We are well served to live in accord with his plan and less by what we think we understand that is contrary to his plan. This is our Christian maturity.

We get there by growing in God’s grace.

To you, this might just be Old Testament history, but if you have eyes to see, it documents the things that God said he would do long before they happened.

Why is this important?  When we step out on faith, it’s more of a step than a blind leap for we know that God does fulfill his promises.  God does what God does and we are blessed when he tells us what he is going to do.

We are blessed to trust him.

Trust in the Lord with all of you heart…

Amen.