August 22 Sermon: Fear or Peace?

Consider these questions as we look at Genesis 32:1-21:

1. How does Jacob's fear of Esau affect his actions and decisions in this passage?

2. What is the significance of Jacob sending a substantial gift to Esau? How does it reflect his acknowledgment of his wrongdoings?

3. How does Jacob's prayer to God demonstrate his recognition of God's faithfulness and his own unworthiness? How does this prayer reveal Jacob's reliance on God in the face of fear?

Transcript:

Chances are you have used the cliche stuck between a rock and a hard place. We’ve all been in a place where there no good options to go forward with. You have to labor between 2 or 3 or maybe 10 different options and you find that none of them are great. You have to pick the option with the smallest opportunity of negative consequences. When we are in those kinds of situations, isn’t it nice when something comes along that sort of provides direction? Even if you are decisive person these situations can give you pause on how to move forward. Sometimes you just have to put your head down and go and hope for the best. These aren’t exactly the greatest situations but often you can look back on them and see that you grew through those circumstances. It stretched you a little and in the best of circumstances God used what you were experiencing to help you to trust less in yourself and more in his providential provision for you.

‌As we land in Genesis 32 this morning we are finding Jacob literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you will remember back to the passage that we explored last week Jacob and Laban used rocks as markers for the covenant of peace that they were making to bring about a resolution to the conflict between them. Jacob was tired of getting deceived by Laban and having his wages continually changed. This was a long time coming. We’ve felt a general tension in the story of Jacob ever since Laban craftily schemed to have Jacob marry Leah instead of Rachel after Jacob had labored for seven years for the hand of the younger daughter. Jacob left without letting his father-in-law know and Laban was unhappy and tracked him down. God intervened and warned Laban in a dream not to anything good or bad to Jacob. The whole situation resolved with stones placed as a reminder not only of the covenant between Laban and Jacob but it acted a physical dividing line of where Laban and Jacob could go. And so, what we see is that Jacob must move forward. God has ordained it to pass that Jacob must press on. Even if he wanted to return to the east and to the area around Haran, he must press on to the land that God has promised to him and to his offspring. Despite his desire to avoid the uncomfortable situation with his brother, Jacob must face Esau and trust that God will protect him from the threats that have been made against him.

‌And so as the drama in the life of Jacob ramps up once again we will be breaking these verses down into three main points to help us navigate the passage with the end goal of pulling truth from it that we can apply to our daily lives.

‌First we find that Jacob is afraid of Esau. Even though God has given him proof of his protection and provision he still is dealing with the fear that his actions have caused. We find that he fears retaliation by Esau so much that he divides his family into two camps to protect half of what he has.

‌The second thing we will see in the story is that Jacob cries out to God. He is clearly filled with fear because we actually see him putting it all on the line with God in a way we really haven’t seen him do before. As he pleads for help he recalls the promises that God has made to multiply his offspring and so we feel the deep sense of concern he has for not only himself but for his wives and his children.

‌Finally, we find that Jacob sends out a gift for Esau. Jacob does not go with the servants and the livestock but sits back and waits to see how it will be received. There is a substantial amount of fear in Jacob even though he has the promise of God. Our passage for this week leaves us hanging. Will Jacob’s fear be realized or will God bring a peace between Jacob and Esau that we never would have imagined possible.

‌And so as we start out this passage and our first point for the day we see something interesting. God sends angels to Jacob as he is starting out after the covenant with Laban. This is really interesting because Jacob has had this happen before and it was as he was leaving the promised land. He encountered angels at Bethel when he was leaving the land of the promise and now he is encountering them as he returns to the land. It frames his time in the land against the time that he spent in the east with Laban. He is welcomed back to the land and it is a reminder of the hand of God being upon him. Remember the message at Bethel. The blessing of God wasn’t just for Isaac and Abraham. It was extending to Jacob and this is a reminder of that truth as Jacob faces arguably the biggest obstacle in his life thus far. He has come up against a lot but the threat of Esau is what he has run from. The threat of retribution from his brother had to be one of those things that never left his mind. No matter what was going on he had to wonder when he was going to have to face him. And so this meeting with the angels here is a gracious act by God. He was told that God would be with him when he left the land and now he is reminded that God is with him as he comes back. In the midst of the anxiety that would have been an ever present reality in this situation, God graciously grants Jacob a reminder of his care for him.

‌And so Jacob makes this place a base of operations as he prepares to meet Esau and he sends out messengers in front of him to see what the situation is going to be.

‌He isn’t about to just run into his brother without knowing what he is up against. He has to know that with the influence of Isaac that Esau must have servants and wealth to be able to plan a way to overtake him.

‌But these aren’t just spies that are to sneak a peak at Esau’s encampment and then run back to report the situation to Jacob. They are sent Esau with a message. Jacob declares himself a servant of Esau. This is an interesting statement. Jacob is the one who is blessed, right? He is the child of the promise. He has the protection of almighty God. He is a servant of the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac but he is now cowering at the thought of encountering a mere human. He has the favor of God but now he is seeking the favor of a man.

‌But this isn’t going to be resolved by his own power. Like so many of the other events we’ve seen in Jacob’s life, God is going to have to win the victory for him and God gives him a very clear reminder of the truth of this because a report comes back to him that confirms his fears.

‌We discover that it isn’t just Jacob that is expecting to run in to Esau. It turns out that Esau is coming to meet him.

‌This isn’t good news. This isn’t running into a friend you haven’t seen in awhile in the food court at the mall and you get to have lunch with them. Esau is looking for him and he has a significant force with him. Like I said this isn’t having lunch with an old friend. This is like the school bully seeking you out to take your lunch money and he has a gang of cronies to give him a hand. The information we receive with Esau coming after him with a significant group of men is to let us know that Jacob is over matched. I always tell the story of when I believe Brandon Valley would have us beaten in football when I was in high school. It wasn’t late in the fourth quarter or even at the half. I think we were essentially beaten when we showed up at their field and our small band of football players had their entire team walk in front of us while we were warming up. I don’t know how many were on their team but it felt like it was 400 men. They were many, we were a few.

‌And Jacob was essentially beaten when he heard about the 400 men. Look at what happens. he goes from verse two where he is all excited that he declares where he is in God’s camp to being greatly afraid and distressed in verse 7. In just five verses we see a complete change in attitude. And, he quickly develops a plan on how to limit his damages and I’m guessing your thoughts on he little plan is probably similar to my thoughts on this. What? How are you going to do this? How are you going to divide things into halves?

‌One wife to camp one and the other to camp two. Joseph with Rachel and the other kids born by her servant. Leah has more kids and so a few of them are going to have go with aunt Rachel. This is an unbelievable situation to put your family in. Imagine what must be going through their heads. Imagine how this is taking Jacobs distress and fear and amplifying it down to his family.

‌And think about where the deceit of Jacob has led. It was 20 years prior but now his sin has him figuring out how to divide his family so that only half of them will be overtaken if Esau attacks. Now, I’ve been spinning this in a negative way but you can understand why he is doing it. He wants to preserve as much of his family as possible and he fears for their lives but clearly he isn’t trusting God.

‌But somethings does come from this. In the midst of his fear he does turn to God and we see his prayer as we move on to our second point and we see him cry out to God.

‌And as he cries out to God he appeals to the faithfulness of God. He calls God the God of his father Abraham and his father Isaac. God has been faithful to his family and he acknowledges that faithfulness in this prayer. He knows the story of how God was faithful to protect Abraham and how God confirmed that faithfulness to Isaac. He cries out to God in hopes that he will be merciful to him like he has been to his father and grandfather. And he should know that he will be because he isn’t hearing the promise of God second or third hand, is he? God has spoken to him and told him to return to his home country. Does he think that God is sending him into this trap? It is a trap of his own design. He has caused this but God is going to be faithful to protect him just as he has before and we can see this in the way that Jacob makes his plea to God for mercy.

‌He acknowledges that he is not worthy of the steadfast love and faithfulness that God has shown to him. This is quite the confession, isn’t it? He is acknowledging that he hasn’t been faithful to God even though God has been faithful to him. He doesn’t deserve any of it but yet he cries out for God to protect him because it is the only hope he’s got. He needs God to intervene.

‌And you and I can understand this because when we think about our state of affairs we understand that God is our only hope too. We are not mildly misguided and in need of redirection. In our sin we are not sick and in need of some medication to get things sorted out. The word of God makes it very clear that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We need an intervention from almighty God to resurrect us and bring us to newness of life because it is the only hope we’ve got. We need God to intervene just as badly as Jacob needs his intervention in this story.

‌And so, we can can pray right along with Jacob “I am not worthy of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant”. Ultimately, we acknowledge that here every week when we confess our sins. We are not worthy of the mercy we have been shown and yet God, in his steadfast love, continually shows us mercy and that is why we cry out to him even when we know that we don’t deserve it. And that is what Jacob is doing here. He calls out to God to protect his family and he invokes the promise that God has made to him. God, you said you would do good to me and make my offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered. And so I’m going to trust you God that you will protect my offspring even though it seems as though the situation is impossible, I’m going to believe your promises.

‌And so we have seen the cries of Jacob and we move on to our final point for this morning as we see Jacob send out a gift for Esau in hopes that it will bring peace.

‌And you know what the goal of this is. He is hoping to appease Esau. Now, I don’t know hows things worked in the ancient near east on matters like this and I’m sure you don’t either but doesn’t this feel a little off to you. I mean, I get wanting to offer a peace offering but after what Jacob did in deceiving their father and taking the blessing does it really feel like a few hundred goats and sheep and some camels and donkeys are going to make things better. Esau has 400 guys with him. He clearly has wealth and power of his own. A few hundred head of livestock probably won’t make much of difference. He has livestock. He has wealth. He has power. You would think that what he wants is vengeance. Right? But in looking into this a little deeper it actually would have been seen as an extravagant gift to give someone five hundred and fifty animals. And so we have to think about this a little bit. Why would Jacob do this? He is not only afraid but it would seem that he also understands that he has wronged his brother and that he has every right to enact justice upon him for what he has done. This gift let us know that Jacob knows he is wrong. Just as he acknowledge before God that he wasn’t worthy of steadfast love and mercy he is acknowledging before Esau that he has wronged him.

‌But we find that Jacob isn’t putting too much hope in this gift even though it is substantial. Once again, acknowledging the severity of his actions towards his brother. There is an acknowledgement that what he has done may not be fixed with a bunch of animals and so he prepares to protect everyone.

‌And he instructs his servants to speak to Esau and let him know that he is coming and notice how he tells them to refer to him as Esau’s servant. Jacob is doing everything to let Esau know that he sees him as the superior one. The gift indicates that and now he is telling them to refer to him as the servant of his older brother. And notice that we again have acknowledgment that Jacob is between a rock and a hard place. He has to move forward. Laban is behind him. Esau is in front of him. As much fear as he has, his circumstances force him to trust God. He is going to find out whether or not God will protect him and whether the gift that he has sent to Esau will appease him.

‌And as we conclude with this last part of the passage there isn’t much resolution, is there? We are left hanging. What is going to happen? Jacob cannot go backwards and has an obstacle in front of him. Life has been a struggle. He has been wrestling with conflict for his entire life and now we are left wondering what is next and we will find that God is going to once again show his faithfulness to Jacob and he his promises.

‌But that is a story for next week and it is a story for the ages but before we move on to that story we have to deal with this one. How can we apply this passage to our lives?

‌There is one specific thing I want us to think about this morning. As I’ve alluded to many times. Jacob is between a rock and a hard place. He is filled with fear because he has adversity and potential conflict on every side. In that position he cries out to God and acknowledges how much he needs him. In the face of fear, Jacob knows that the Lord his God is his only true source of peace. As the world around him is closing in, he cries out to the one who has promised to keep him safe and make his offspring like the sands of the seashore. He trusts that the one who can truly bring him peace will do so because he has spoken and he believes that word. It is hard for Jacob, no doubt, but he trusts it. He brings the promise up because he knows the one who has made the promise is faithful. In the face of fear, he believes that God can bring about peace.

‌As we face the times in our lives when we are overcome with fear we must remember the God who has spoken the word of the promise to us. He has promised to never leave us or forsake he. He has promised that when we are in him we have the sure and certain promise of eternal life. He has promised that our sins are forgiven and we have the perfect righteousness of Christ. This is true not because of anything that we have done but because Christ suffered and died to satisfy the wrath of God for our sin and he rose again in victory over sin, death, and hell. These are promises that God has spoken for his people in his word and so when we face the fears of this life we can have peace because the promise that has been promised in Jesus.

‌This goes from the macro problems we see in the world to the individual problems and fears we face in our daily lives. Not only is God in control and working all things for good for those who love him but we know that the Holy Spirit indwells us and we can have peace regardless of the circumstances that will come at us this week. But, just as it was for Jacob, this is hard. It isn’t easy to trust God but, like Jacob, it is important that we remember that Jesus is all we’ve got. Without him we have nothing because he is the one who can deliver us. But the best part of this all is that like Jacob, we are his covenant people and he holds on to us and will give us peace because that is what he accomplished for his people. And so, may we not be a people of fear but instead rest in the peace that his salvation brings us.