October 20, 2002

Genesis 32; Genesis 33:1-20 Genesis 35:1-15

As I said earlier, this is quite a story! It would make a great movie wouldn’t it? It has intrigue – suspense—deception--and at this point in the movie, the music would begin to swell as the two brothers, Esau and Jacob, come face to face after so many years.

Jacob expects the worst as he meets his brother – in fact, Jacob deserves the worst. But instead he receives mercy, kindness and a new chance at a relationship with Esau.

While we just read that Jacob had an encounter with God, it would appear that Esau, at some time in his life, had too. We find in him no thirst for revenge, no trickery or hateful words. Instead, Jacob received a warm hug from the brother he had deceived.

And I think probably at this point, Jacob begins to learn that, with God, you get what you need, not necessarily what you deserve.

What Jacob deserved was probably some kind of payback from Esau – but what he received was what he needed to become the man God had created him to be.

Jacob had wrestled with God and was changed – wrestling with God ends in ultimate submission to Him, and even though Jacob had prevailed in the wrestling match, God won – because He turned Jacob back to Himself.

Wrestling with God –ever felt like you’ve done that? I like to look at wrestling with God as working out my relationship with Him, working out with Him what He has called me to be, what He has called me to do. And it can be a wrestling-type experience; a pushing and pulling of my will until it comes in line with God’s will.

Everyone wrestles with God in his or her life. Usually the first big time is when we come to Christ – that initial letting go of ourselves to God. But through our Christian walk there will be other wrestling matches, as God works to mold each one of us into the person He created us to be.

Wrestling with God is not an easy thing – it left Jacob with a permanent limp – a permanent reminder that he had encountered the living God.

Jacob limped away from his encounter a new person – God even gave him a new name, “Israel”, which means “he struggles with God”. That’s a lot better than being known as “the deceiver” or “the supplanter”, isn’t it? The one who names has the power – Jacob realized who was truly in charge, and with that realization, he became a new person. When you and I accept Jesus into our lives, our names change. We become a Christian, which means “little Christ”. Our new name should influence us and help to determine how we live our lives.

That’s the first point I’d like us to think about this morning – does our new name, does being a “Christian” reflect in our living? Do we live and act like “little Christs” every day of the week in any circumstance?

The second point is the importance of reconciliation, the importance of restoring harmony in our interactions with others. God wants our hearts open and free to receive Him and His teachings. If there are problems in our relationships or if we are involved in wrong relationships – relationships that harm others, ourselves, or our connection to God, we need to work to heal or change those relationships.

Matthew 5:23,24 says, “If you enter your place of worship and are about to make an offering, but remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right, then come and offer your gift.”

In other words, “Mend your fences.”

“Mending fences” means to make things right, to correct a wrong, to restore harmony to a relationship, even if you’ve done nothing wrong.

That’s the rub, isn’t it? Saying “I’m sorry” or seeking forgiveness for some blunder or mistake may not always be an easy thing to do, but we know in our hearts we were in the wrong, so it’s a little easier to apologize for it.

But “mending a fence” when you’ve done nothing wrong – well, why should we do that? After all, isn’t it up to the OTHER person to apologize and make things right?

But look at verse 23 again – “ . . . if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you . . . go and be reconciled FIRST. “You remember that your brother has something against you.”

Reconciliation is EVERYONE’S job, not just those responsible for the wrong – but each person, right or wrong, is responsible for keeping those fences in good condition!

True, consistent reconciliation with one another can only happen when we allow God to take charge of our lives and we submit ourselves and our lives to Him – that’s where the wrestling comes in, as we let the Lord have more and more control of us, so we can become more and more like Him.

We give the Lord control of our lives, we work at making peace with those around us and THEN we can take our gift to the altar. A lot of effort, isn’t it? Letting go of control of our lives and putting it into God’s hands is the toughest thing we as Christians do on a daily basis.

But it’s also probably the most rewarding, because it draws us nearer to God, it helps us understand and appreciate Him more, and we grow closer to becoming the people He created us to be.

After Jacob wrestled with God, he continued to be Jacob. He didn’t suddenly become Israel overnight, he had to grow into that name.

If we read on in Genesis 34 and 35, we find Jacob having troubles with his children and then his household worshipping other gods. Life didn’t become sunshine and roses overnight, or even within a few years for him. But Jacob allowed God to work on him, in him and through him, so that Jacob became more and more the man God had created him to be, and he carried the limp with him until the day he died – a reminder of his encounter with God.

We, too, have to grow into our name of Christian. We have to realize that there will be on-going wrestling matches as God helps us to be who He created us to be.

I find it interesting that the phrase used for Jacob’s encounter with God is that “they wrestled”. Fortunately, our son, Ryan, never got into the “sport” of wrestling, but I’ve talked to the parents of kids who do wrestle, and discovered that it’s quite difficult as a parent to watch your child being pummeled and twisted like a pretzel, all in the name of “sport”! Wrestling is a full-body, “every muscle’s got to be working”

sport, and it takes intense concentration, an excellent physical condition and a willingness to be twisted and turned every which way.

Sounds something like following Jesus, doesn’t it? Being a Christian is hard work, because day-in-day-out we must give up our rights to ourselves so that God can “mold us, make us and shape us like the potter and his clay” as He works in us and through us.

Amen.