What parts of your life would you have eliminated if you were writing the story? What would you have missed by making your life less tramatic?

May Your Life Be Interesting 

(Genesis 29:1-30, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 19, 2015) 

[29:1] Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. [2] As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large, [3] and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. [4] Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said, “We are from Haran.” [5] He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.” [6] He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!” [7] He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.” [8] But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.” [9] While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. [10] Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. [11] Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. [12] And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father. [13] As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, [14] and Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And he stayed with him a month. In the previous verses, Jacob had sought the blessing of God. He had been sent by Isaac to find his extended family. God brought him to the right place to do just that. At this first meeting, a very bold Jacob met the woman of his dreams who would eventually be the mother of two of his children, including Joseph, his favorite. 

[15] Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” [16] Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. [17] Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. [18] Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” [19] Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” [20] So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. [21] Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” [22] So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. [23] But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. [24] (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) [25] And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! 

God had more in mind for the man who would be the father of the chosen people than just Jacob identifying his own idea of the perfect bride. God had His own marriage plans for His Son. He had His purposes which would eventually involve all the nations. And He is free to use a father like Laban to bring them about. Before Jacob would ever have Rachel as his wife, he would have a different woman, her sister, Leah, who would end up being the mother of Judah, Messiah's tribe. 

And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” [26] Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. [27] Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” [28] Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. [29] (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) [30] So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. 

Jacob would also marry Rachel, but that story would take fourteen years to unfold from the time that Jacob first met Rachel. In order to provide the world with the people group of the Messiah, God would use a father's deception, supposed marital customs that were not all that rational, polygamy that was plainly against the Lord's highest moral plan (see Matthew 19), and plenty of delay and toil. 

 Put the Word to Work: Jesus and the new world of the resurrection kingdom would come to us through much that might at best seem questionable or unnecessary. We are not God. He rules. He knows. Meanwhile, He really does use us and our pleas for help, despite all of our mess. Don't give up. Remain faithful through all the noise around us and all the tears and unanswered questions. 

Memory Verse from the Songs of Ascents—Psalm 130:2 

O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 

Gospel Reading—Matthew 21:1-11 – The triumphal entry 

Hearing with Faith: Jacob, Nathaniel, the Galatian Church...

Jesus, the Only Ladder

(Genesis 28:10-22, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 12, 2015)

[10] Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. [11] And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. [12] And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

Jacob left Beersheba with the official blessing of his father. His mother insisted that he go, since Esau needed time to forget his hatred for his brother. He headed toward Haran in the north, on the other side of the Euphrates River, today in far eastern Turkey, just north of the Syrian border. On his way there, he came to Bethel, which is 10 miles north of Jerusalem, and he had a dream.

In his dream, Jacob saw a ladder connecting heaven with earth. Angels, heavenly beings that are not human but who sometimes assume human or other form for God's special purposes, were going up and down on that ladder. This ladder, whatever it may stand for, was very significant in the dream. Since the time when sin entered the world, there has been a horrible breach between heaven and earth. The ladder was a solution to that divide. It was a way for holy angels of God to go back and forth between one realm and another in order to do the Lord's bidding.

[13] And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “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. [14] 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. [15] 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 until I have done what I have promised you.”

The Great I-Am, spoke in this dream. He identified Himself both by His Name and by His special relationship to Jacob's father and grandfather. In His message to Jacob, He passed on the covenant blessing to the next generation, confirming what we had learned in previous episodes in Genesis. Jacob's offspring would be given the Promised Land. They would be very numerous, and all of the other people groups of the earth would be blessed through them. God would be with Jacob throughout his travels and would bring him back to this place. This was God's promise.

[16] Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” [17] And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
[18] So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. [19] He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. [20] Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, [21] so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, [22] and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

When Jacob awoke from sleep, he knew that God had visited him. He gave the place the name “Bethel,” which means “house of God.” He understood that He had received the promise of the Lord, and he worshiped, making a vow that if God would provide and bring him back in peace, then Jacob would give back to the Lord “a full tenth” of all he received.

Put the Word to Work: Jesus is Jacob's ladder (John 1:51). He alone will bring heaven to earth. We owe Him everything. Without Him we have nothing. We will not be ashamed of Him.

Memory Verse from the Songs of Ascents—Psalm 130:1

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!

Gospel Reading—Matthew 20:29-34 – Jesus heals two blind men

Gaining Your Father's Approval

Esau's Plan and the Resurrection Man

(Genesis 28:6-9, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 5, 2015)

[6] Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” [7] and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

Esau was the favorite son of Isaac, but he was not a Jew. This beloved son was forever a Gentile. Jacob, his fraternal twin, was the child of promise. God had told Rebekah before these boys were born that the older would serve the younger. When they had grown up some, Esau himself had sold his birthright to Jacob. Finally, Jacob, at his mother's instruction, had deceived Isaac, and received from him the blessing that Isaac had wanted to give to Esau. Then Isaac knew and accepted that Jacob was the child of promise. He called Jacob to himself one more time and sent him away with his blessing, this time knowing what he was doing.

Esau had observed all of this. Esau, the man who would never be a Jew, wanted his father's approval. He made some conclusions based on his father's parting instructions to Jacob. “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.” Esau had taken two wives from the Canaanite women.

[8] So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, [9] Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.

In his great desire to gain his father's joy, he entered into a third marriage. This time he married a daughter of Abraham's son, Ishmael. The Lord's word concerning Ishmael's line had long been established. “He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” After many years had passed, the words of Genesis confirmed the conflict that would follow the descendants of Ishmael with this brief sentence: “He settled over against all his kinsmen.” This was the family into which Esau married.

Put the Word to Work: True hope for Jew and Gentile can only come from gaining the approval of our Father in heaven. As Jesus said to Mary Magdelene in the garden, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” When the mother of James and John wanted to talk to Jesus, He asked her, “What do you want?” The plans of man will never win us lasting favor with God. Jesus, the Resurrection Man, has done this for us. Our future and our eternally secure approval and honor, can only be found in Him. His death was a “ransom for many.” Through His resurrection, He is the firstfruits of a glorious kingdom. All else is eternal loss.

Memory Verse from the Songs of Ascents—Psalm 129:5-8

[5] May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!
[6] Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up,
[7] with which the reaper does not fill his hand
nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
[8] nor do those who pass by say,
“The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the LORD!”

Gospel Reading—Matthew 20:20-28 – A ransom for many