Set Apart

 Read Genesis 35

Jacob was living in a land where there had been much death and desolation at the hands of his sons.  Even though the pagan peoples around him did not band together against him, property values had surely bottomed out.

Yes, he had all the grazing land that he wanted but this place would always be a reminder of sin taking hold of his entire family.  It was time for a change.

The change came about not because Jacob reasoned that he needed to move.  God commanded him to move, and this would not just be a change of scenery.  It would not just be moving to a better neighborhood.

This would be a setting apart of Jacob and his family.

God told Jacob to go to Bethel.  Remember, you met me there before. Do what you did the first time.  Set up an altar to me.  This was the place where Jacob had his vision.  This was the place Jacob named Bethel because God was in that place.

Now God was sending Jacob to that place.

This was more than just a road trip.  Before everyone left—and we are talking not just blood relatives but all who had been acquired by Jacob over the course of time, including those spoils from killing all of Hamor’s men—Jacob command them to give up their false gods.

This is something of a choose this day moment for Jacob’s people. There could be no sitting on the fence. There might not have been much choice involved.  It sounds like everyone was voluntold to get cleaned up and get rid of their pagan baggage.

Jacob told his people to purify themselves and put on new clothes. The exact purification ritual is not clear, but this was to be a change of everything—heart, mind, body, spirit, and clothing, and you surely don’t put clean clothes on a dirty body.

They also took off their earrings.  Some commentaries say that these were part of pagan practices or superstitious rituals.  In any case, they were not going to make the trip.

Jacob buried all of these in a place where they were not likely to be found.

Why not destroy them?  There is no definitive answer, but the hiding of them accomplished what destroying them would have done and would surely provide the plot for a Hollywood movie when some unsuspecting putz stumbled upon them in 2024.

In any case, the people who made this trip would not be encumbered by the trappings of their pagan past.

Jacob did what was commanded of him.  He set up the altar and later a pillar. He had come to this place where he had seen angels ascending and descending between earth and heaven and God had plans for him.

God had told him this once before, but at this time and place, its purpose became clear. 

God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.”

Jacob left the old ways and was set apart for God’s work.  Even the old name had to go.  He was now Israel.

God passed the promise given to Abraham and Isaac on to Jacob.

·       You will have many descendants.  You are now the mainstay of this Father of Many Nations business.

·       This land in which you now reside—more than just the parking place that you now occupy—is my gift to your descendants.

This whole Father of Many Nations thing has been going on for a while.  Jacob and his 4 wives put it into high gear, but now we see God setting apart a people. 

Somehow Jacob—Israel—knew this.  He knew this was significant. He was to be different from the pagan people who surrounded him.  We don’t seed the words chosen people, but we see the setting apart.

We don’t really see the full manifestation of God’s Chosen People until they emerge from Egypt centuries later.  The essence of this setting apart comes to us in Leviticus.

You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

If you ever wonder why there were all of these laws—some seem obscure—given by God in what we know as Leviticus, understand that God was setting apart a people to be like him.

But why this law or that one.  Did God really have to tell people that?

God noted that it was because the people in the land that was given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did these things that were repulsive to the Lord. You are set apart for God.  We don’t do these things because we belong to God as his own. We are his special people.

We are to be holy as he is holy.

That setting apart was underway with Israel and his family.  Isaac died soon after Israel was sent to Bethel.  Israel, tribes, and chosen people were what was to come.

That story is on our near horizon, but let’s jump to 2023 and our group of believers.  Have we been set apart? Is that just a Hebrew thing?  Is it just for pastors, or maybe elders? Are we special?

Are we set apart?

You know the answer.  God chose us—we were preselected to be with him for eternity.  We didn’t earn anything.  It was a gift but we received the gift by faith.

We are chosen.  We are set apart.  We are his.  We are to be holy as God is holy.

We are not going to get a perfect score on the Law of Moses test.  Only Jesus could do this.  He said that he came to fulfill the law and he did.

Praise the Lord that he did because that gave God the Father the Unblemished Lamb that would be sacrificed for our sins.

But we must always remember that we are set apart for God.  How?

Many ways, but the most essential is love.  We are to be known by our love.

We should see ourselves as set apart for God.  We are known to each other not only by acknowledging God in everything we do but by the presence of love in everything we do.

Others should see us as set apart for God.  The world may praise us for this or the world most likely will condemn us for this, but the world should not be confused about us.  We belong to God.  We are set apart by God.  We are to be known as followers of Christ Jesus by our love.

The lost should see us as set apart by God and for God.  The lost should see the light of God shining through us. The lost should know the love of God through us.

Make no mistake, you are set apart by God and for God.  He works in us and through us and as it turns out he is always working for us.

And if God is for us, who then can be against us?

Think this day on being set apart for God and his purpose.  Know that our part in this is to repent of the ways of the world and seek the ways of God.

This is a wholesale exchange of body, mind, soul, and spirit.  We leave the old behind and take on our new nature.  We are a new creation and God has purpose for our lives.

We are set apart to bring glory to his name and be known as his disciples by our love.

We are brothers and sisters with Christ.

We are not troubled by trouble in this world but we take courage in the One who overcame the world.

We know that this present suffering that we endure—sometimes much and sometimes little—is nothing compared to what the God who set us apart has in store for us.

If the world says, “Dude, you’re just different”, respond by saying, “I know.  I’m set apart by God for his good works.”

In my profession of faith and baptism, I have been purified by God’s own Spirit.

I put off the old clothes and put on the new.  I am a new creation.

I cast off everything—not just earrings—that gets in my way of following God.

I am ready to go to Bethel and seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness.

You are set apart by God for God and you should rejoice in that.  We should enjoy being different from the world.

Let us rejoice in being set apart for God!

Amen.