Experiencing Grace

The story of Jacob’s sons continues Genesis’ theme of the sovereignty of God.  God continues to work through sinful people and He continues to operate in ways we would not expect.  The point of working through sinful people and through seemingly odd ways appears to be that God is the one who is clearly in control.

God has His hand on a sinful Jacob and on a sinful Rachel even as they suffer greatly and make poor choices.  Rachel tries to control God and have children through another woman. This only leads to jealousy but God is not done.  He eventually blesses her and Jacob with Joseph.  Joseph becomes the promised child, the elected choice, the beloved heir.  This has less to do with Joseph and more to do with God’s sovereignty.

The point is that God is in control and we are not.  Everyone, this means that we are to wait upon him and not try to force his hand.  Pastors, this means that we are to make wise and righteous decisions but rest in the fact that God is the one who builds his Church.  Friends, this means that you should be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have and be strategic with your conversations with those you love, but God is the one who will save your friend or family member.  God also knows your needs and will take care of you.  God is in control and we are not.

I have two little observations from these important chapters.  Sarai and Abram loose faith in God’s promise and choose to help God by Abram conceiving a child with the servant girl Hagar.  Drama ensues as Sarai then becomes jealous of Hagar.  Even though Abram and Sarai are getting close to 100 years old, they still are disobedient with their little Hagar plan.  During this period of disobedience, God shows them great grace and expands his covenant with Abram.

God choice doesn’t always make sense, thus God receives the glory.  God chose a very old disobedient man and woman to begin the line of God’s People.  God’s People are truly people of the promise, people of divine origins.  God is the one who does the electing and many times it simply doesn’t make sense.  Still today we can’t create little Christian sub-cultures and insure God’s election.  We can’t funnel children through Christian school and insure that they will become followers of Jesus.  Election is based solely upon God’s sweet mercy, thus He receives the glory.

God’s promise is sure, even when it seems impossible, thus God receives the glory.  Abram and Sarai are close to 100 years old and think that maybe God’s promise wasn’t sure.  We can understand their struggle, I have never heard of a lady in her 90’s giving birth to a child.  But this is sort of the point, right?  God promises the impossible and then does the impossible.  I don’t want a God that I can put in some sort of box.  I want a God whom I can rest upon and see as magnificent.  God does this over and over again, and as a result, over and over again God is the one who is glorified.

Romans & Hebrews records that God considered Abraham a faithful and righteous man.  He is also revered as the father of the Israel.  Strangely, Abraham also commits gross sins during his life.  Genesis 12 & 13 record Abraham’s sinful attitudes of cowardice and self-preservation as he pimps his wife off to the Pharaoh.  There must have been a 1,000 other ways to play his situation.  I know there was a threat from the Egyptians and that Abraham needed to be there due to the famine, but were his actions faithful and righteous?  No.

The biggest lesson I am learning from Abraham’s life is that the general trajectory of his life was faithfulness and righteousness.  The Bible is clear that we must battle sin and that sin will always lead to some form of death, but Jesus is prepared to deal with our imperfections.  The primary way he deals with our sins is to forgive them.  God continues to pour out grace.  If you are one of God’s then you will not be perfect in this life, but you will increasingly battle sin and your lifestyle will be on a pathway or a trajectory toward greater faithfulness and righteousness.

After Noah finds dry land, his natural reaction to all that had just happened to him was to worship.  He builds an altar and makes a burnt offering of clean animals.  We know this was done from a pure heart because the Lord was pleased by it.  The aroma from this offering was pleasing to the Lord.  God was delighted and satisfied by Noah’s worship.  As a result of Noah’s worship and God’s delight, God covenants with himself to never flood the entire earth again.

None of us can put God in a box, he does as he pleases, but we can worship him from pure hearts.  We can worship Him in spirit and in truth.  We can react to situations the way he desires for us to react.  We can recognize his goodness and praise him for it.  All of this delights God.

As I listened to Kenlee (my 15 month old daughter) giggling in the next room, I am reminded that love is all about finding happiness in the happiness of others.  I love Kenlee so when she is happy I find happiness.  When she is hurt, I hurt.  If I love God, then I find happiness when he is happy.

Is God delighted in your worship today?  Are you finding happiness in the happiness of God over your worship?

I am passing through Colossians this week and it is a joy.  I have taught through this book a few times and love it each time.  Colossians is all about proclaiming Jesus in life and ministry.  It is all about being focused upon our primary love, Jesus.  We are to be Christo-centric in all things.  “Him we proclaim” (1:28) is what it is all about.

This includes how we battle against sin.  Sin raises is grotesque head daily in our hearts and lives.  There is a place for band-aids in battling this disease, but those band-aids don’t bring victory over a disease.  Legalistic boundaries don’t always lead to godliness.

I have been reading about the 18^th century Non-Conformist in England.  They finally got some level of freedom by the 18^th century and began to join together into denominations in order to advance the cause of the gospel.  As I have read some of their denominational statements they are fascinating how they say some the same things over and over again for decades and it is the same cries that current denominational statements make.  They decry the wickedness of their generation and the fear they have for their children and then lay down what people should not do.  I believe there is a need for the Church to have a prophetic voice and to call out sin our age, but there needs to be more than just a list of “don’ts”.

Paul argues that a list of “don’ts” has “no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (2:23).  The only way we can stop the indulgence of the flesh is “Him” (1:28).  A legalistic list of “don’ts” won’t bring victory only a focused love of “Him.”