Earlier this year we took a look at this
same story
and at that time we focused on the importance of blessings, especially blessing
others. But like every story in the Bible, there is so much more to learn about
who we are and who Jesus is and how Jesus changes life and brings the kingdom
of heaven closer. So, this morning we’ll take a look at Jacob and his tendency
to lie and deceive the people around him. This is a character issue for Jacob,
one of the flaws and cracks in his jar of clay. Though it is really hard to see
how the light of Jesus can shine through Jacob’s cracks.
Deceit or lying is one of those character
traits that
can sneak up on you and change you before you even realise it. It usually
starts off small, using the express lane in the grocery store when you have 17
items in your cart, telling your hostess that you love her food while at the
same time you’re trying to figure out how to slip it to the dog, telling the
boss you’ve sent the email, or maybe it’s the old tried and true school lie,
the dog ate my homework. The great thing is that you get away with it for a
while and it makes life seem to go along more smoothly and slowly deceit and
lying becomes a part of who you are and how you move through life. The sad
thing is that so many people today believe that deceit and lying isn’t a big deal
and will find lots of situations where lying saved a person’s life like during
war or in a domestic abuse situation. Yet how often do these situations really
happen, most of the deceit and lying we do or experience is about more day to
day common things and we do it to make life simple and easy for us, not for the
other person.
The problem is that deceit is always
personal,
directed towards someone; it’s not a victimless action because there is always
someone affected, often that person is you yourself and who you are becoming as
a person. If deceit and lying is becoming too normal in your life, no matter
how large or small, you need to deal with it. I like how Carey Nieuwhof puts
it, “Sin is like a weed: It grows
fast and you never have to water it. The best way to tackle sin is to pull
it out by its root before it creeps into other areas of your life.”
Jacob is encouraged by his mother to deceive his
father to get the family blessing. Jacob goes along with his mom and lies and
deceives his father into thinking that he is really his brother Esau, and as
you heard, Jacob and Rebekah are successful and they get what they want. It’s
not just a simply lie that Jacob and Rebekah tell, it’s a whole elaborate
set-up to deceive Isaac. Rebekah takes Esau’s clothes for Jacob, they cover
Jacob with goatskins so he feels like his brother, they take a goat from their
herd instead of hunting for game and cook it up just the way Isaac likes so he
focuses on how good it tastes, and then there is the direct lie when Isaac asks
Jacob straight out, “Are you really my son Esau,”
and Jacob replies, “I am.”
Practical wisdom tells us that lies and deceit will always catch
up with you at some point. Growing up, I remember being told that if I planned
on lying at home, church or school to keep it simple and close to the truth
because otherwise the lie just grow and grow until it falls apart because it’s based
on a weak and shifting foundation. We see this in Jacob’s life. Because of what
Jacob and Rebekah did, Jacob has to leave home. He ends up with relatives Haran
where he ends up marrying sisters but deceit and lying mark Jacob’s life. Jacob
deceives his father and brother, he ends up deceiving and manipulating his
father-in-law Laban, he gets deceived by his father-in-law, by his wives and
later on his own children. All these lies and deceits bring great pain and
brokenness in Jacob’s life and the life of his family.
When you look at a guy like Jacob, with a family as
messed up as his family is, I sometimes wonder why God even bothers with them. It is
through Jacob’s family that Jesus comes to earth, but I still sometimes wonder
why Jesus didn’t come from a healthier family, why are there so many broken and
cracked jars of clay in his family line? Then I look at myself, at my family
and the family I come from and realise that I am who I am because they are all
a part of who I am because they’ve all been part of making me who I am. It’s
the same with Jesus, his family line shapes him. He knows the brokenness that
deceit creates because it’s part of his family heritage, he knows the
importance of truth because he is truth, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life,” is how Jesus puts is. Deceit guides us away
from Jesus, it twists truth and takes away from the full life Jesus intends for
us.
Jesus teaches about how destructive lying
is,
calling Satan the Father of Lies, referring back
to Genesis 2 and 3 where Satan twists God’s words to say something God didn’t,
leading Eve and Adam to choose Satan’s lies over God. When you think about it,
we’re not a whole lot different, we keep choosing all kinds of things over
Jesus to make ourselves feel good whether it’s our work, our play, our toys,
power, influence or whatever. We create our own truth based on what makes us
feel good instead of accepting Jesus as the truth and making him the first
priority in our life; who shapes who we are, our values and focus. Even in
church, we focus on what we want to believe and will explain away the teachings
of God and Jesus that we don’t like and create our own truths.
Jesus leads us into the truth, the truth that we
are sinners in need to forgiveness and grace, in need of a transformation of
our hearts, minds and souls. This is why Jesus calls his message the gospel of the grace of God the truth in John 8 and
he goes on to say that it’s truth that sets us free, free from the power of
Satan in our lives. The truth of the gospel of grace is that it’s Jesus who comes
to take our sin, our lies and deceit to the cross to bring his transformation
and change in us and into the world through us because we can’t save ourselves
from our own sin. Jesus comes to show us what the kingdom of heaven is all
about, a place where humility and grace, where forgiveness and serving others,
where people are encouraged to develop the potential God has placed in each of
us, where genuine love for others shapes our community, where Jesus comes to
bring full lives that offer hope to those searching for healing, meaning and a
new start in life. Jesus comes to train us to bring the kingdom of heaven
close, to help others to come to know him.
Jesus comes from the family of Jacob, the man known as a
deceiver, a man whose name is changed to Israel, one
who struggles with God. Jacob is now daily reminded of his weakness and
with his new name, he is reminded of God’s power and blessing. He’s learned the
truth about who God is, and about who he really is. Jacob needed to put aside
the lie that he was the most important person in the world and everything was
alright if it benefited him. Jacob slowly learned to trust in God Almighty who
is truth and trustworthy and shows his deep commitment to his people by sending
his beloved son Jesus to die so that we can experience new life in him.
Jacob’s story provides hope for us. Jesus reveals the
truth, he is the truth. If we want to know how the world is supposed to be, the
truth of who we are and are called to be, we only need to look to Jesus. If
you’re looking for peace and joy, for acceptance, forgiveness, maybe even a new
life, Jacob’s story shows the truth about God who keeps reaching out to us and
can transform your life in amazing ways. This is especially shown through Jesus
and the cross. Billy Graham said about Jesus and truth, “Jesus is the only one who can bring peace and joy and the total
satisfaction you are looking for.”
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