Genesis 33

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel and we do have some extra copies. If you need one to follow along today, just raise your hand up real high. Somebody’ll give you one. There’s also up on the screen the name of the network here in the building and the password if you would prefer to find a Bible online and follow along that way.

They aren’t here, but I just got to give a shout-out to the Husmans to… Yesterday, I think it was, right? They usually sit right here, second or third row. We can tell them we erupted in applause to announce their 68th wedding anniversary. Yeah. Yeah. Some of you young people that are on the Facebook, I’m not on Facebook, so go on there and find them or Matt Husman, their son that comes here as well, and make sure you let them know we gave him a big shout-out.

Today, we are in Genesis, and this study is called In the Beginning. That’s the way the book begins, and it is a book of beginnings. And it begins to help us with some of those big questions that we’ve asked since the beginning. Where’d everything come from? Why is there something rather than nothing? Why is there this something rather than some other something? What does it mean to be a human person? Big question in our day and time right now. What does it really mean to be human? And what has gone wrong with the world, and is there a way for it to be set right? And Genesis really does such a great job helping us begin to answer some of these questions.

We’re in chapter 33, if you want to turn there in your Bibles. If you’re not familiar, this is all the way to the left in your Bibles, first of 66 books in the library of ancient literature. And we’re in the storyline of the man called Jacob. His name has been changed by God to Israel. He’ll be referred to by both names throughout. And even we find in the Psalms and a couple other places that he stands as a fountain head of not only the line of the 12 tribes, because these children are the namesake of the tribes of Israel, but also he stands for the people of God In the Old Testament. Jacob is often referred to as, or Israel’s, they’re sort of interchangeable.

When we get here in chapter 33, what’s happened is now God has called Jacob, who left his hometown because he and his brother got into all these scraps, and Jacob a thief and a heel grabber. His name means heel grabber. He’s a deceiver. He’s manipulated things with his brother to where he got the birthright away from his brother and he got the family blessing away from his brother. And his brother then, in turn, wanted to react to him, and literally thinking about murder. And we read about that. Mama comes to Jacob, and Jacob’s her favorite. And mama says, “Get out of here. Go to my homeland and stay up there until the fury of your brother is in some way abated, and then you can come back.”

So, he’s gone and he’s been gone, though, for 20 years up there in the homeland of his mother. He has found family and work, and God has been really taking the initiative and breaking into his life in a lot of ways. And we’ve seen the arc and curve of somebody that comes to a realization of the real God who’s really there and just a long, slow process. There are other people we read about in the Bible that’s like a really sharp turn, like we talk about the Damascus Road experience for Saul who became Paul in the New Testament, very much [inaudible 00:04:04]. With this Jacob guy, though, it just seems to be one of…

And I don’t know where you’re at. I don’t know what you believe. I don’t know what you think or believe about God, but I encourage you, as we read through and study through books of the Bible like this, to take note of at least four things, how God reveals himself. Two, what God shows us through His Word about human persons and our vulnerability, our tendencies, the things we need to know and learn about ourselves. And then, three, what exactly is the gospel? How’s it foreshadowed in some way? And then, fourthly, what is the faith response that God is calling for from this passage?

We try to do that with every passage we teach. It’s not always 100% real clear to us how to answer those questions. But in this particular one here, this is a classic story of reconciliation. And these two brothers, last time they saw each other, one of them had murder on his mind. The other one had been stealing, and thieving, and manipulating, and it just was not good. And so, it’s been 20 years as we pull up on this story here and what’s going to happen.

All right, verse one, chapter 33, “Jacob lifted up his eyes and look and behold Esau was coming.” So, here’s Jacob traveling along with his wife, and his 11 sons, and his one daughter that we’ve read about, and flocks, and herds, and all that big, en masse, big, slow-moving entourage. In the distance, he sees Esau coming, and he has 400 men with him. That sounds foreboding. I mean, that sounds like, what do you mean? Where’s his cattle? Where’s his women and children? Why has he got 400… Why is that pointed out? What’s his response going to be to the approach of Jacob who wants to come back home?

Well, Jacob divides the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids. He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. And so, it sounds like he’s doing women and children first as the approaching army that might be out to slaughter them. The reaction looks threatening all that sort of thing.

My mom and I talk about these passages all the time. I talk about my mom, she’s 89, she watches every Sunday from… Everybody wave to her up here on the camera. And she’s watching. But anyway, she’s real honest about all this stuff. She goes, “What’s with Jacob putting the women in the children up front there?” She’s a little incensed at the whole thing and she wants Jacob to get his just deserts in this whole thing. That was last week we were talking about this. And I said, “Mom, just hold on. Chapter 33 is coming and just hold on. Verse four is coming and it helps to explain what happens, what ends up happening. I know it looks like he’s a coward. It looks like he’s throwing the women and children under the bus, and it’s not really him being chivalrous in some way.”

No, verse four then. Excuse me, verse three, “But he himself passed on ahead of them.” This is Jacob, right? “He passed on ahead,” verse three, “and he bowed down to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother.” Oh, so he organizes everybody, and he sticks them out front, but then he passes through himself. What do they see happening? What does each of them see happening to this one, Jacob, who probably they know to have been the scoundrel that he has been, a lot of them, those that worked for him, that helped him with the herds and the flocks who have come along, some of his family members? He’s like a shrewd, deal making, manipulative who always cared about me, myself, and I. And a lot of us know people like that and some of us are people like that at different times in our lives.

But in this moment, in verse three, he passes ahead in front of them and he bows seven times. And as I did my studies, some of the brightest scholars of Old Testament literature said, this is often the kind of response that someone would make to an approaching king, deference, respect, humility. This doesn’t sound like the kind of thing where somebody’s got it figured in their head that they’ve been at odds with the other person and they want to keep the fight going. No, it sounds like somebody who’s showing respect and honor. “Esau ran to meet him, and…” I kind half expected it to say he drew his sword and cut his head off. Because, that’s what he had in mind last time. That’s not what it says here. Interesting.

“Esau ran to meet him,” and he’s got 400 men with him, and they’re probably armed to the tee. “Esau ran to meet him and he embraced him, and he fell on his neck, and he kissed him,” wow, that’s beautiful, “and they wept.” This is really quite moving and pretty amazing when you think about it. What did they say? How did the weeping begin? Was it first as Esau’s running toward Jacob? Was Jacob thinking, “Oh no, I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die”? And what happened when he fell on him, and embraced him, and kissed him?

I’m the guy that’s reading the New Testament, and I read through the New Testament back into the Old Testament, and I think of the story Jesus told of the prodigal son and the prodigal father who ran out to meet his prodigal son and fell on him, and kissed him, and embraced him and welcomed him home. And the older brother, sadly, wouldn’t even come into the celebration. He wanted, like my mom, he wanted him to get his just deserts. “He’s the one that went away. He shouldn’t be welcome back to the family.” It’s so hard to be thinking about the younger brother and respond to the younger brother without becoming the older brother, isn’t it?

But here, he, Esau, embraced him. He fell on his neck and he kissed him and he wept. And I wonder what they talked about first. I mean, we get a little bit of this. But as they start to weep and feel the tears wet on each other’s shoulder and their chest begin to heave a little bit, and then they begin to sob a little, and fluids are flowing out of their mouths, and their nose, and everything like that, as Jacob say to Esau, “It’s been 20 years, brother. How’s dad? How’s Isaac? It’s been 20 years, brother. How’s mom? How is she?” And did Esau say, “I’m so sorry to tell you mom’s gone. She’s not with us anymore. Dad’s okay, but he’s getting really old”? And of course he was. We know that story. But what kind of interchange did they have? I mean that must have been such a beautiful moment.

“Well, Esau lifts up his eyes and saw the women and children and said, ‘Who are these with you?’ So, Jacob says to Esau,” and I love this answer, “‘The children whom God has graciously given your servant.'” Jacob’s going to mention the grace of God in his life, at work in his life a couple times here in this chapter. It’s awesome, it’s beautiful.

Would you do that too? Would I do that too? Would we be more verbal about the grace of God at work in our lives? Just like Jacob and Esau, just like Abraham and Isaac before them, each one of these people has had to be ingloriously extricated from some mischief that caused them consequences they didn’t like. So too for me, so too for you. What about the grace of God at work in your life? Does that flow freely from your lips when you’re talking to others and explaining some of what happens in your life, or what happens with your family, or what happens in your business, whatever? How has God been gracious to you? Let’s testify, people. Here, he does just that. He says, “These are the children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

Verse six, “And the maids came near with their children, they bowed down. Leah likewise came near with her children and they bowed down. Afterward, Joseph came near with Rachel and they bowed down.” Verse seven is telling us this thing about reconciliation, forgiveness, humility, all of that is contagious. What would happen in this world of incivility, and ranker, and acrimony that’s, on one to 10, it’s turned up to 12 right now, what would happen? How could we spread the good infection of that kind of approach? Really interesting.

Verse eight. “So he says, ‘What do you mean by all this company,'” this is Esau, “‘which I have met?'” In other words, why are they all here? He said, “Define favor in the sight of my Lord.” Jacob says that, calls him my Lord, not my brother who I hate, not my brother who I’ve stolen everything from, not my enemy, but my Lord. Respect again. And Esau’s reply is, “I have plenty.” The word for plenty there is rab, R-A-B. I’m not a Hebrew scholar, I’m just smart enough to know how to use the dictionary online. And sometimes it’s really interesting, because there’s going to be another word translated in the English, plenty, down here in another verse or two, and it’s not the same Hebrew word.

But right here it’s Esau saying, “I’ve got plenty, my brother. Let what you have be your own.” In other words, you don’t need to give me all this stuff. Because, the servants had gone ahead and promised all these gifts and all that sort of thing. And he’s basically saying, “You don’t need to give me anything. I’ve got plenty.”

Verse 10, “Jacob said, ‘No, please, if now I’ve found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God.'” In other words, I want to see you, and I want to see God in you. I want to see the life of God in you, and I don’t want to see you as God wants me to see you. Again, man, can I learn to do that? Yeah. “‘And you have received me favorably.'” That’s a shocker to Jacob who last time, again, last time they knew each other, Esau wanted to kill him.

“‘Please take my gift.'” Verse 11, the word gift there could also be translated blessing. Interesting, because that’s what Jacob stole from Esau. ‘”Please take my blessing which has been brought to you,'” And you can underline this next phrase, ‘”because God has dealt graciously,'” there it is again, ‘”with me. And because I have,'” and here it is the second time, in English anyway, ‘”plenty,'” this time it’s a different Hebrew word. It’s K-O-L, kol. And it means not just plenty, actually it would be better translated all. I have everything I need. God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.

There’s something to rest in. There’s a soul actually at rest in God’s provision, no matter what he’s got. And right now remember he’s literally… He ran away from his first home because of his own misdeeds. And then, he has left Laban and all that sort of thing because God’s told him to go return back home, and he doesn’t know what the outcome is going to be. He’s just walking in obedience at this point. He’s got a soul at rest though. Why? Because he has everything he needs, because God has been gracious to him.

Now, every single one of us could probably figure out a way to articulate how in some way God has been gracious to us, but to actually rest in it, to actually say, “God is sovereign and because he’s been gracious to me I have everything I need in Him.” That’s beautiful. Yeah. “Esau said, ‘Let’s take our journey and go and I will go before you.'” Verse 13, “But he said to him, ‘My Lord knows that the children are frail. The flocks and the herds, which are nursing, are a care or responsibility to me. And if they’re driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.'”

And remember, this is a 450 to 500 mile journey, not on an airplane, not on a train, not on a bus, not in cars, air conditioned with all kinds of great digital entertainment, it’s none of that. This is worn out sandals, dusty roads, smelly animals, and worn out clothes and no bathroom, no truck stops for bathrooms or anything, nothing. Okay? And so they’re tired. And he says, “We can’t keep up with you and your 400 men. I mean that’s going to happen.” And there may even be a little bit yet of a little hesitancy. He’s not sure. That’s quite possible. Very human, both of these people are, and we need to leave room for that. But he is saying, “I can’t really keep up anyway, “‘Please let my Lord pass on before his servant.'”

Verse 14, “‘And I’ll proceed at my leisure according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my Lord at Seir.'” Now, Seir is… I don’t have a map here today, but think about Israel. We’ve talked about this before. He’s probably in the northern third, but east of it, of what would be Israel at this time near the southern part of the Sea of Galilee. Seir would be down toward the Dead Sea. And the Jordan River runs between them, north and south like this.

And so, Esau is going to end up, just because I’ve read the rest of the book, he’s going to end up staying in the area of Mount Seir. And it’s going to become where the Edomites flow from his descendants basically. But for right now, what we’re being told is that Esau wants Jacob to go with him to Seir. And yet, Jacob has been told by God to go to Bethel, so the House of God. That’s where God wants Jacob to go. But he’s not even going to go there. We’ll see that in this particular chapter.

“And so, Esau says to him, ‘Please let me leave you with some of the people who are with me.'” In other words, let some of my soldiers hang out with you. But he said, “‘What need is there,” Jacob did, “‘Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord.’ So, Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock, therefore the place is named Succoth,” which means sheds or booths, that sort of thing. “Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aran,” and that’s where he was at when he ran away from his homeland, he ran up to Paddan Aran where he met Laban, and Leah, and Rachel. “And he camped before the city. He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for 100 pieces of money.”

Just know the live body detail in that last verse. Okay? That’s one of those things I know sometimes you’ll dial out going, “Who’s Hamor, what’s Shechem? I don’t know.” Just notice that it’s live body detail. The idea there is to remind us that we’re reading history. We’re not just reading fairy tales or some kind of myth or whatever. This is live body detail. You can crosscheck other resources and find these places and some of these names from time to time. And it’s really awesome that our Bible would be that way.

“He erected there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel,” which is God, the God of Israel. And that’s beautiful. That’s his name now, Israel. And he has now built his first altar. We knew that Abraham was someone who built altars. We knew even that Isaac built an altar. But now here’s Jacob building his first altar. Again, his curve is so long in his faith and the way he’s coming to faith. But it’s really interesting. And now, I think his realization of who God is, is really becoming a little bit more clear, his theology developing a little. And remember, we haven’t even gotten to Moses and the 10 Commandments or any of that stuff now. So, it’s a long slow curve. And God is being so faithful to reveal himself to these folks.

What a great chapter. What a great story of reconciliation, if you will. I think that the terms forgiveness and reconciliation sometimes get conflated. They are two beautiful words. But I think that there’s a slight difference in the meaning. And I think maybe sometimes it becomes more clear to us when we think about how it’s used. I think that forgiveness is something that you can do unilaterally. It takes one person to forgive. I think reconciliation, though, actually takes more than one person. And sometimes you may make an effort at reconciliation with someone and it will involve forgiveness, but the other person may not be interested in reconciliation. Why, I don’t know. I think sometimes our pride gets in the way. Sometimes we’re stubborn, sometimes we’re hurt, sometimes we’re afraid. But we don’t venture out into the turf or the area that we need to go to, to actually have reconciled relationships.

And so, this is an interesting chapter because, to me, if I think of all the people’s stories that I hear as a pastor, if I think of all the things, even in my own life, as I think of some of the broken, along the way, some of the bumpy rides and relationships and stuff like that, if I try to think about all that, none of my story and none of the stories I’ve heard have actually included a brother who is out to kill you. And none of the stories that I know, I know some of them that have been liars and some of them have taken things, and all that sort of thing, but not like this. And so, these stories are preserved for us in a way.

And so are the stories in the New Testament where we see relationships go south, where we see some bickering between Christians, like Paul and the Apostle Peter in Antioch, Syria and Antioch. Or when we see Paul and Barnabas separate and go different ways, because one of them wants to bring John Mark and the other one doesn’t. And there’s a disagreement there. What ends up happening is, glory to God, two missionary teams get sent out ultimately. God can transform even our stubborn resistance to reconciliation.

But this is a fascinating story to me and I think there’s some things that we can mine from it. First of all, I think we see that sin separates us from God and from one another. I know that that’s fairly obvious. But everybody doesn’t quite acknowledge that sin exists in this world. And in our postmodern world… And we may be post postmodern, I’m sorry. Put 10 posts there, that’s the kind of world we live in. We’re post everything. All right? So, post toasties, we’re post everything. And so, the confusion that we’ve now gotten to is that we think we are in charge of reality itself, including the defining of our own selves.

And you can see the confusion, you can see it out there. It’s not hard to see. You can even see it in your own self, in your own mind, in your own soul, as that kind of confusion and those kinds of thoughts flood into our souls and minds and begin to influence us and shape us, as we consider what does it mean to be a human person, or we consider what does it mean to be married, or we consider what does it mean to be any number of things in this world in which we live. And so, it’s really important that we understand that sin actually separates us from God and from one another.

I probably should have put up there, I’m sorry, but let’s call this extended point one, okay? Sin separates us from God and from one another, and from our true yourselves. Because, the person that God really wants me to be, as His son, is to be a person who rests in His love and flourishes in my relationships with others. Why? Because I rest in His love, and forgiveness, and grace in my life. Just like Jacob here, God’s been gracious to me. Now, I can turn and do the same for others.

We say it in this prayer, don’t we? You may or may not know it, but every time we say this prayer, you say a… There’s one conditional clause that you say, you say, “God forgive me in the same way I forgive others.” And if you ever stop and think about that, you might go, “Doh. Actually want God to forgive me way better than I forgive others.” And you probably do too. And you probably take offense if people don’t forgive you when you’ve offended them. And the problem with us is that pride, which is at the root of all my sin, pride keeps separating me from God, understanding that truth right there, and separates me from others, my pride does, and it separates me even from my own true self. Pride is at the root of all my sin. Pride is at the root of all of your sin. And it is a separator.

And yeah, the church has done a really good job of articulating what our sins, what do they look like. And you have to answer that question. Who is it in this culture that, in the post everything world, that defines what his sin? Because, the minute you say something is sin, somebody else will go, “Who are you to tell me what sin is?” Right? And for years and centuries the church has been articulating, here’s what the Bible teaches us. This is what God says. These are the kinds of things that are categorized as sin that will break our relationship with God, with others, and even with ourselves, things like pride and vainglory, greed and covetousness, lusts of all kinds. And it’s not just sexual lust folks, there are lusts of all kinds. But yes, there is sexual lust. Envy, gluttony, drunkenness, wrath, anger, sloth.

Do you see yourself on the screen? Because, you see me on the screen. Whether you know it or not, I’m up there. And I would suggest humbly, as your pastor, you are up there too. You dress up really nice on Sunday, you look good. I like your smiles. We’re all usually pretty polite to each other. But we’re all up there.

And some of us are up there in that last category. That’s a hard one. That last one is tough. In the world in which we live, it’s the race to be first to know, and the first one to read it, and tweet it. And we get so proud of the fact that we’re right or so proud of the fact that we posted first or whatever it is. And then, if it’s got gossip in it, it’s what? A delectable delight it is to our pride. It’s just so wonderful, savory in every way. And there, we fall into that division, that dividing asunder of people. And we jump into the river of ranker and we find ourselves being choked out by the kudzu of our culture, which is outrage. Don’t let that happen to you. We got to set aside all of that stuff up there.

And the problem is, Alan Jones says, is we live in an age where everything is permitted but nothing is forgiven. Look at what a catch 22 we’re in. We’re trapped. Everything is right, because nothing is wrong. And yet, you are wrong, because you disagree with me.

The other day I caused a little… I confess, I am on Twitter a little bit. I said something like, “Warning,” it’s like a children’s warning or whatever, “I often read and quote people I don’t agree with.” Usually, if you post something, people don’t agree with you, it’s like jump, quick, kill, destroy. And yet, here we have, with Jacob and Esau, this one that comes and bows seven times, and this one that comes humbly and really is intent on obeying God, working toward forgiveness and reconciliation, when he used to be, how do I manipulate this? How do I take best advantage of this other person? How do I possibly get everything I can out of this? And it’s just an interesting contrast, isn’t it, the world in which we live. Some people are more ready to reconcile than we realize. And that’s really wonderful, isn’t it? God loves reconciliation. But because of sin and pride, not everybody else does. Do you have a relationship that could use some forgiveness or some reconciliation of some sort?

I’ve actually been told stories by people that come to our church over 20 years of somebody extending an olive branch, somebody making a move toward reconciliation, and the other person saying a couple different things. Like one would say something like, “I wasn’t offended at all. What are you talking about where we need…” And they just didn’t even know. But the one person thought this was this huge, mountainous, conflict that was going on. The other person didn’t even know. And the other kinds of stories I’ve heard before are those kinds where somebody offers the first move and the other person just breaks down, and cries and weeps profoundly. “I’ve just been waiting for you to say… I just have felt so bad myself, and so I’m sorry too.” And just like Jacob and Esau, they fall on each other and weep together. And the weeping turns from this mourning that turns into this hopeful mourning that turns into this beautiful glory and this reconciled relationship because of the way God has been at work in their lives.

Joyce Baldwin has a really good commentary on the Book of Genesis. “All the bitter enmity that had separated these two men for 20 years was swept away by the forgiving love that flooded their beings. Barriers of resentment, hatred, and fear fell in a moment, and permitted the joy of renewed friendships, introductions to the family and exchange of the news.” It’s a really wonderful summary of how beautiful that is.

Thirdly, and finally, there is a gospel-shaped reconciliation, and it looks like something. It’s got characteristics. It’s foreshadowed here in Genesis chapter 33, found more completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who comes, who’s the one that all of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s story points forward to. See, this is God’s record of redemption history, this Bible that we have. And throughout the Old Testament, we find it pointing forward to and finding its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus, who also comes into a dark world that had been His enemy and offers the olive branch of peace with God. Wow. And He lays down His life for the sins of the world, mine included, yours included, and essentially pays the full price for us to be completely reconciled with God. And that is amazing grace, that’s much more comprehensive. And so, there is a gospel-shaped reconciliation.

We see it foreshadowed here in the humility of Jacob bowing seven times, in the humility of Jesus condescending to take the infinite God of the universe, no beyond the universe. He created the universe. The infinite God condescending to become one of us. Couple decades ago there was that song that asked the question, what if God were one of us? And the answer of the New Testament is, He was. And it’s a good thing to say, what if, because watch it just blow you away as you read this story. What if? Here’s what if, reconciliation with God. Here’s what if, reconciliation between you and others as Jesus begins to work in your life, and transform and change you, and give you not only a model for how to forgive and how to reconcile, but to actually, His life inside of you, the Holy Spirit empowering us to do that.

Because, on my own, I got to tell you, I’m not naturally inclined toward reconciliation out on I-65. If you do me wrong, I’m not naturally inclined to just go, “Oh, it’s really okay, just keep on abusing me. I love that.” No, I’m not inclined toward that sort of thing. I love justice. Do you love justice? Yes. Do you hate injustice? Yes. Do you hate to suffer injustice? Yes, you do. And do you think that people that offend you or abuse you in some way should leave the planet? Yes, we all think that.

But here comes Jesus to the planet, filled with abusers, filled with people who are at odds with God, who prefer darkness to light. Here comes Jesus. Not only does He live among us, become one of us, but He dies for us. And then He gets back up from the grave defeating our last and greatest enemy. How humble Jesus is. How humble Jacob was. I thought he was humble here. And when grace is extended, hardened hearts are often broken up. And in this case, if I’m reading it right, I realize I’m speculating, because it’s not in the text, but if I’m reading this right, when Esau shows up with 400 men, that wasn’t like… And each one of them had a basket, a picnic basket, to share with everybody. “We’re so glad you’re home.” No, I think that was just in case old Jacob is still old Jacob. But here he comes and he’s different. And that humility leads is a beautiful thing. People can tell whether you mean that or not.

The second thing up there I think is honest confession and genuine repent. And that’s because sometimes we give dishonest confessions, don’t we? “Well, I’m sorry if you know that offended you.” You’re not sorry. Sorry doesn’t include the word if, it never does. Married couples, this is something for you. Anybody, really? The word if does not belong in an apology. We haven’t gotten to apologize yet, if you’re using the word if. Okay? So it’s, “I’m sorry. I was…” It’s so hard to say. “I was wrong.” Because, that means the death of pride. See? And it’s so hard to say that. You want to begin your apology with, “Hey, I was wrong,” and you might have explanations and all that sort of thing. But you need to begin with humility. We all do. And we need to begin with an honest confession and genuine repentance. The courage of the first move.

Man, had a guy come up to me afterwards at the past service and just say, “Thank you for talking about the courage of the first move. I made that first move a couple years ago with this person that I’m thinking of, and it didn’t go well.” And I said, “Well brother, that point up there is not about the outcome. We got to leave the outcomes to God. We just, like Jacob, move toward Bethel. Just like Jacob, obey, make the offer, and it might be rejected or it might be accepted. But regardless of the response of the other person, make the move, be courageous.” Maybe that’s you today. I don’t know. Offered restitution is there. Sometimes, that comes into play and needs to be offered and sometimes not. Glorious resolution is what we’re reaching for. That’s what we’re aiming for as believers, as Christians, see. And we’re not aiming for glory to us, we’re aiming for glory to God.

When we start living our lives for God’s glory, now think about this, when we start living our lives for God’s glory, there isn’t something that puts another person out of the reach of God’s grace. There’s no repugnant other for believers. We live in a world where everybody thinks of those people as the repugnant other. They voted that way, therefore they’re the repugnant other. Or they’re those kind of Christians, and so they’re the repugnant other. There’s no repugnant other for us. Why? Because we’re all sinners. We’ve received grace. God’s been gracious to me. Now, reflect grace. It doesn’t mean pull yourself up by your bootstrap. No, it means just simply reflect His grace. He’s shown it to you, now you’ve shown it to them.

How could I withhold? Most of the time, when we’re trapped in a unforgiveness mode, it’s because we don’t really appreciate how much we’ve been forgiven by God. And that’s why we keep coming to this table, see, because we want to keep reminding ourselves that we need to be thankful for what Christ has done for us. So, courage of a first move, offer of restitution, glorious resolution, we’re going for that.

Couple quotes before I go here. From Baldwin again, “The quiet, hidden work of God’s spirit goes on through the centuries, embracing succeeding generations, all of which belong in His worldwide outreach and are part of a greater whole, called by Jesus the kingdom of God. Statistics cannot estimate its size nor reckon it’s worth.” Get a look at that, man. What’s she saying there guys? Is it, there is this city on a hill, God’s people, and it’s supposed to be visible, audible, and it’s supposed to be a light that’s not hidden under a basket or a bushel, or darkness around, or whatever? The Kingdom of God is people who have learned to love God and learn to love one another well. And forgiveness is what we call loving someone in spite of the fact that they may have hurt us or failed us in some way. That’s what forgiveness is.

Reconciliation is when I actually come back into that restored relationship with that person in some way, and the miracles that God can do through willing hearts along those lines. And again, I recognize you may have somebody in your life that you might try to reconcile with, but they’re not interested. And I understand that. I’m going to pray for this dear person that came up to me last hour, and I’m going to pray for some of you that might be making a move toward reconciliation with somebody this week. And we’ll hopefully hear some good stories of what God doe. And then through it all, I wonder how many of us need God’s reconciling power at work in our lives this week.

Jesus talked about the importance of love and unity among his followers, in John chapter 17. He knew that would be important for us. Paul wrote to the ancient church at Corinth, and I would like for you to read this passage aloud with me. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now, all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself, through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

See, there’s a point to all of this, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ in a world that needs Jesus and needs to see Jesus in reconciled relationships. And I mean, I can tell you, I mean, there are people that marvel that, especially having gone through a contentious election cycle at odds already, that people from different sides of the political aisles can actually be in the same room together. I know one thing, they can’t be on Facebook together. But come to the place where we seek His face, and that’s where we find people being able to, who would otherwise be enemies, we find them living reconciled relationships and loving one another.

Got to hurry. Let’s close up with this Keller quote here. “The main way Christians can be a resource to the broader culture is by restoring the church to being a well-known community of forgiveness and reconciliation.” Who’s in? I’m in. Let’s do this. Let’s do this kind of thing. Let’s be these kind of people in a world overrun with people that aren’t interested in that kind of thing.

Christ is the great example. That’s true. But I want you to know it’s the life of Christ in you, the life of Christ in me, that actually makes this possible. I cannot do this on my own. I’m not good at this. And so, it is a supernatural thing that leads to a glorious thing whenever it is done in our lives. And so, we get the opportunity then to be His righteousness, the thing He’s clothed us with, His righteousness. We get to go out there and wear that robe and be those people. And the glory doesn’t go to us, it goes to Him, because He’s the one that changes our hearts, and our lives, and our relationships.

Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord, for a message from so long ago of what you can do with hearts that will yield themselves to you. Pray for each and every one of us, as we consider the way Jesus has reconciled us to God. Pray that you then would move us to receive that, and walk in that, and rest in that in such a way that it just the beauty of the Lord so captures us. That it’s the most important thing in our lives. That, all of a sudden, we find ourselves being able to forgive others because we’ve been so, so, so forgiven ourselves. Empower us, Lord, to live as your sons and daughters, to bear the family resemblance. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen and amen.