Sermon Tone Analysis
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In His Grip
Genesis 32:1-32
20211219
Cling to God with all your might and your weakness will be overcome by his beauBful strength
Introduc)on:
Nothing highlights the way God works beEer than Christmas.
I mean when the Messiah came into the world – he didn’t
come as the people expected.
Even though the Scriptures, which God’s people had, were fairly clear in what was to take
place.
The real events the people were experiencing; living under Roman occupaBon, being accustomed to a religion
typified by “the Scribes and Pharisees” meant that their expectaBons for Messiah were more in line with a naBonalisBc
leader that would arise and expel their Roman occupiers.
This would allow them to live as they wanted, under the law,
and with the sacrificial system leU intact.
You might think that doesn’t make much sense.
But if you put it in the context of what the people of Israel were afraid of
it does start to make sense.
They were afraid that their way of life was not going to be maintained.
That their
understanding of the way God was to be worshipped would be infringed upon.
And this understanding had clearly
morphed over Bme from what we are studying now in the book of Genesis, and the family line of Abraham, the
patriarchs, and on through the centuries.
The people of God were at Bmes walking with the LORD but then, at Bmes,
were clearly defying his commands.
They were not rendering their hearts to him.
This heavily influenced the Judaism
that Christ was born into.
The animosity between the Jews and the GenBles was ripe.
Although they were not at war it would be wrong to
characterize the Bme of Jesus’ birth as tranquil.
So, when Jesus was born to a poor Jewish woman, a virgin, in a stable, in
the liEle town of Bethlehem – there the angels declared to the shepherds what had happened.
They of course
responded with rejoicing and put themselves into moBon to see this thing that had been told them.
But aside from
Herod’s maniacal decree to kill the children of the region – it didn’t seem that the arrival of Messiah made the massive
impact that the people were expecBng to have happened.
However, and impact did take place as the Lord worked.
Joseph, who was made aware of Mary’s pregnancy through
what the angel declared to him, did the unthinkable to those looking on.
He maintained his promise and took his wife
(MaE.
1:24) in spite of the shame.
It would have incited a great amount of fear in him to do such a thing.
But he trusted
that which was told him.
But the quesBon is why?
This is the same quesBon that we face when the Lord is direcBng us by his word, by the Spirit,
and in pursuit of his will.
For Joseph: He had an encounter with the angel of the Lord (MaE.
1:20).
OUen Bmes the path
we are being directed in is fraught with shame and ridicule from the world.
Or at least it should be.
This is in part why we
have spent Bme first in the Christmas story.
Beyond the nostalgia of the celebraBon of Christmas, especially the way we
celebrate it societally here in America, the original and God ordained Christmas was scandalous.
The people of Jesus’
Bme wanted an idea of Messiah and what they received was infinitely more valuable.
They wanted to be freed from
Roman rule and they instead were offered freedom from sin and eternal damnaBon.
Jacob is now in a similar paEern and predicament.
He has been directed by God to return to the land of his kindred (Gen.
31:3).
He could potenBally abandon this idea and go back to Paddan-aram near his father-in-law, Laban.
He could turn in
a different direcBon in order to avoid being anywhere near Esau, whom when he leU the land of his kindred over 20
years ago, was ready to kill him.
But, here is the thing, he is faced with the divine word of God as it was spoken to him.
This first took place when he leU his family behind, and the LORD spoke saying, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your
father and the God of Isaac.
The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
Your offspring shall be like
the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in
you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you
go, and will bring you back to this land.
For I will not leave you unFl I have done what I have promised you.””
(Gen 28:13–
15) And then just last chapter, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” (Gen 31:3).
With the words spoken to Jacob, with the words wri0en for us; What else is required to overcome our fears and trust
God?
Every Bme – the faith of an individual is tempered like steel – when God makes a point to encounter the person.
To
have an encounter with God is a grace beyond our comprehension.
He chooses whom he chooses and the right response
to such an encounter is the very focal point of this message.
Cling to God with all your might and your weakness will be overcome by his beauBful strength.
Many here have had an encounter with God that has leU its indelible mark upon you.
Others are being prepared but
whether you are sealed as a believer in Christ or on your way we have much to learn from God’s Holy Word.
I want us to
be a church that clings to God with everything we have, to embrace our weakness in exchange for his strength.
Will God Really Do As He Says?
I’m Afraid.
1. vv1-2 “Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
And when Jacob saw them he said...”
a. Jacob is returning to the land of his kindred.
On his way north, over 20 years previous, the LORD revealed to
him in a vision the heavens opened and angels ascending and descending upon the earth.
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