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Genesis 25:19-34; 27-33
 
! Introduction
            We have often heard the saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
It is a good saying and certainly God wants us to be generous, but let’s think about this a little more.
What do most of us find easier to do, to give or to receive?
Someone gives us a gift and what do we think?
“Oh, I don’t have anything to give them.”
Sometimes even when we really need help, we are reluctant to ask for it and receive it.
Rather than receiving help, we would like to be in control.
To illustrate: I like to hold the remote control.
I like to be the one holding the steering wheel.
Since we like to be in control, we are quite comfortable with the saying, “God helps those who help themselves,” but is it true?
Is that the relationship God has in mind with us?
Is that true when it comes to salvation?
Can we be good enough to deserve salvation?
Is it true when it comes to our life in Christ?
Do you have the power to change the sins that are deep in your heart?
Do we find satisfaction by striving for the good things in this life?
Is it possible for us to make someone else a Christian?
For me there is something very appealing about leaning on the power and wisdom of God, but I find it hard to let go of the control that I like so much to have.
In our continuing series of faith biographies this morning, we will look at the life of Jacob.
His story speaks loudly to me.
As we look at how faith grew in his life, we will learn that faith is receiving the blessings of God as a gift.
We will learn that in our relationship to God, it is more blessed to receive than to give.
!
I.
The Promises of God
            In order to understand the faith story of Jacob, we need to be reminded where he fits into the plan of God.
God has a plan.
His plan is to create a people for himself who will follow Him.
Near the beginning of human history, God began to prepare for that plan by calling Abraham to be his follower.
He promised Abraham, in Genesis 12, that he would make him into a great nation, bless him and in fact bless all the people on the earth through him.
This promise was passed on to Isaac, his son, and it was also passed on to Jacob who was the son of Isaac.
It is important to notice that Jacob was and knew he was an heir of the covenant promises of God which included both future and present blessings.
Please turn to Genesis 25:23 where we learn that before he was born, God already revealed to the family that Jacob would be the one to carry the promises of God to the next generation.
There Rebekah is told, “Two nations are in your womb… the older will serve the younger.”
Well, Jacob was the younger and so from birth it was known that he was the one who would carry the promises of God.
He grew up hearing the stories of his father and grandfather and knowing the promises which God had made to them.
When Isaac blessed his son, when he was older, he told him in Genesis 27:27-29, “May God give you of earth’s richness…May nations serve you…May…those who bless you be blessed.”
When Jacob left his home, Isaac blessed him by saying, “May God give you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land…God gave to Abraham.”
When Jacob left home and came to Bethel he had a dream and God confirmed this promise to him saying, “…I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying…All peoples of the earth will be blessed through you…”
            Jacob understood that God was promising him the blessings given to Abraham.
These blessings included the promise of a land for his people, a good life and the salvation of all humanity.
!
II.
How Do We Receive Those Promises?
But how did Jacob receive those blessings?
Did he accept them as a gift from God? Did He trust God to bring them into his life in His way?
We learn about Jacob’s ways pretty early in his life.
Jacob was a twin with his brother Esau.
Esau was born first, but when Jacob was born immediately afterwards, he came out holding on to his brothers heel.
Jacob’s name comes from a word which means “heel” and is often used to describe someone who grasps the heel and deceives or grasps from behind.
It would be as if two people were having a race and the one behind grabbed the heel of the one in front and pulled him back and passed him.
That is what Jacob’s name means and that is the kind of person Jacob was.
He manifested this manipulative, controlling nature when one day Esau came in from hunting and was very hungry.
Jacob saw an opportunity and used it to manipulate Esau into selling him the birthright.
A while later, Isaac was about to bless his oldest son, Esau, with the a special blessing reserved for the primary heir.
Often we have looked at this story from the point of view that Isaac should have blessed Jacob and this may all be true, but this morning, I want to remind us that Jacob was willing to stoop to deception and manipulation in order to receive the blessing God had for him.
At the prompting of his mother, Jacob pretended to be Esau and received the blessing instead of his brother Esau.
In Genesis 27:36, we have the perspective of Esau who said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob?
He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!”
Esau was so angry at Jacob for doing this to him that he vowed to kill Jacob as soon as his father died.
In order to prevent this, Rebekah manipulated the situation so that Isaac would send Jacob away to her brother’s place on the pretence of finding a wife from the people who lived there.
So Jacob left for Padan Aram to live with his uncle Laban.
When Jacob arrived at Laban’s place it seems he had met his match.
We soon learn that the character trait of manipulation was one he inherited from his mother’s side of the family.
She had already shown herself as a manipulator by prompting Jacob to get the blessing and Laban certainly was a manipulator.
Jacob worked for Uncle Laban for 7 years.
The purpose was to earn a dowry so that he could marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel.
Laban fooled Jacob and on the wedding night he discovered that he had married Rachel’s sister, Leah.
He worked another seven years so that he could also marry Rachel whom he really loved.
Then after working 14 years for his wives, he continued to work for Laban in order to build up a herd of his own.
We read in Genesis 31:41 that Jacob was aware that Laban had changed his wages numerous times.
A manipulator had met a manipulator.
Jacob was, however, not learning his lesson.
He continued to be one who wanted to control the situation.
In Genesis 30:37-43 we have the interesting story of the way in which Jacob manipulated the flocks and herds of Laban to gain the best advantage.
I doubt if what Jacob did really was what produced a large herd for him.
He placed stripped rods at the watering holes, in front of the best animals so that the speckled animals, which they had agreed were his, would multiply more and would be the best and healthiest animals.
This is another example of Jacob trying to manipulate the situation.
Finally, Jacob and Laban could not get along any more and Jacob, at the prompting of God, decided to go back to his home country.
The only problem was that Esau was still there and probably still angry enough to kill him.
Slowly Jacob with all his family and flocks and herds travelled across the country until he came near to Esau.
He could not avoid meeting Esau so he sent for him before he entered the promised land.
When Esau heard about this, he went to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men.
Well 400 men had only one implication and Jacob had come to a crisis point.
As he anticipated, with fear, what was ahead, he once again tried to manipulate the situation by sending ahead of him a series of large gifts of animals to try to buy Esau’s favor.
Many years earlier when he had bought Esau’s birthright, he had discovered that Esau had a price and he was hoping that he would still have a price at which he would be willing to overlook the offence.
He also divided his family and remaining flocks into two groups so that if Esau attacked one, he could escape with the other.
Once again, we see how he was trying to manipulate the situation.
!
III.
Learning To Receive
            Jacob possessed the promises of God’s blessings, but he wanted to be in control.
He wanted to manipulate things to make sure he received God’s blessings.
He would get the birthright in his own way.
He would make sure that the flocks and herds reproduced to his advantage.
He would make his brother not kill him.
He would inherit the land by his cunning.
His whole life was one of trying to gain the blessings of God by his own grasping, deceiving, manipulating ways.
Where did his manipulating ways get him?
Behind him was Laban.
He could not go back there.
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