Grace & Genesis 38

Last Lord’s Day (4/24) I preached through Genesis 38. It is one of those passages that can be uncomfortable as it shows man in all his sin. The passage looks at the life of Judah while Joseph was off in Egypt. As one person I read commented, this is sort of a “meanwhile back at the ranch” passage. Telling of what Judah, the one the line of Christ was to come through, was doing while his brother was enslaved in Egypt.

As I studied the passage I wondered how to deal with the sin of Er, Onan and Judah. How do I deal with this, especially with small children present, so as to be above all faithful to the text but also sensitive to those hearing the text? The more I read the passage the more it became clear that the sins of Judah and Onan are reveled as they are to show the grace of God. The sins do not have to be excessively expounded on as they stand by themselves and thus simply need to be read as presented in the text. What needs to be emphasized in this chapter is the grace of God. The revelation of the grace of God to use a man such as Judah, and for that matter Tamar, to bring about the one to crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15) is striking.

If you were to simply read Genesis with no understanding of what was to come you would think that Joseph was the one the line of Christ was to flow through. Is not Joseph a picture of Christ? Is not he the one that is pictured as more righteous? But no, God works through the imperfect to bring about the perfect. God works not as man but as God to do what most glorifies Him. We should not be surprised by this with all that we see in Genesis up to Chapter 38, but we usually are. So grace is a major part of Chapter 38.

Moses is writing this to the Hebrews preparing to cross the Jordon back into the Promised Land after 40 years in the wilderness. He is telling them not to be proud as if who they were was why God worked through them. Moses is showing how their heritage is one of sin but that it was God’s choice to work through them thus they had no reason to boast or pat themselves on the back. This is much as we should feel when we realize there is nothing in us that requires God to choose us. While I have heard many claim that the Doctrines of Grace can lead to pride, that is false. If pride comes out of your understanding of election you have misunderstood it. What should come out of a correct understanding of God’s calling is humility as we should clearly see we have nothing to boast about.

If we are truthful with ourselves our lives are much more closely aligned with that of Judah than Joseph and thus as with Judah it is only by grace God would call us to Himself. If you are truly one of God’s children you have been chosen by His grace not your merit and thus cannot boast (Eph 2:8-9).

This is not an excuse to live as Judah and simply expect God’s grace as the passage has a second feature and that is one of contrast. The contrast between the life of Judah and that of Joseph. Thus we are to see the grace of God to call us as we live as Judah. As well as to see our call to live, by God’s power, as Joseph.

So the sin that is portrayed in this passage is used to accentuate God’s grace. A grace seen from the beginning to the end of His word. There is not more grace in the Older Testament than in the Newer. It is all of grace that God would work though any of us. Let us truly understand that and seek to live, again by His power, in a way that most glorifies Him, as is laid out in His word.

If you would like to listen to last weeks sermon you can hear it here.

God is with Us

I had not intended to have a special sermon this past Lord’s Day for Christmas. My views on celebrating Christmas have changed over the years, that is a subject for a differ post, so I figured I would simply continue on in Genesis and look at Genesis 28:10-22 and Jacob’s Dream. Well, as I was doing my final review of the sermon on Saturday and then Sunday morning it occurred to me that the “God is with Us” theme is part of this passage. That is the message we need to remember all year long not just once a year.

As I read the front page of the Sunday morning paper there was an article about a family that cared for the homeless and the paper boldly proclaimed that this was what the season was all about. As great as it is that people would care for those who do not have that is not the reason to celebrate the incarnation. The reason for the incarnation was for God to be with Us in His Son. Moses message to the Hebrews as they prepared to cross the Jordon and the message to us as we journey in the City of Man is that God is with us. Jacob needed to be reminded that God was with him wherever he was and we need to remember that God is with us as His people wherever we are. We need to not simply see God as “for us” but that He is that and just as important “He is with us.”

For those that celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense keep this in mind as the externalities of this time of year vie for your affections. For those that do not celebrate Christmas as many do let us not for the sake of avoiding Christmas forget this message that we are to carry with us daily. Jacob was not given his dream by God for informational purposes; it was to change his life. We are not to read about his dream for informational purposes as it is to change our lives as if we had the dream ourselves.

Let us never forget that if we are one of God’s children through His electing grace God is with us no matter the circumstances. No matter what goes on in the world God will not forsake us or leave us. It is truly a message of victory to know that “God is with Us” and not just a victory spiritually but it is a victory in every aspect of life. Let us live as such. The martyrs of the past died knowing this and did not let their circumstances influence this great truth so let us also not let the circumstances that surround us hinder us living out this great truth.

If you would like to hear this past Lord’s Day message here it is: Jacob’s Dream – God Is With Us

Jacob's Journey Begins

Yesterday we looked at Gen 27:46-28:9 and the beginning of Jacob’s journey. A journey I am sure he could not have imagined. He thought he would be gone for a short while as Esau cooled off and he found a wife but oh there was so much more to come. He would not return for 20 years as God would work in that time to make him the man He desired him to be.

God moved Jacob out of his comfort zone to mold him into that which most glorified Him. Jacob had lived at home for over 70 years and was now sent on a 500 mile journey with nothing, to a land he had not seen, and to a people he did not know, now that is discomfort. But that is often what God does to us so that we become the most useful instruments in His hands to accomplish His purposes and most glorify him.

We often look at life through the lens of how things most affect us but God looks at His creation to see how it can be molded to most glorify Him. That is a radically different view than the one man naturally has which is a view that sees himself above all. That was Jacob’s view but God would change that outlook and God would take some time to do so. He will do the same with us. He will move us out of our comfort zone to move us into the place He desires us to be, God glorifying worshipers of Him.