Missing the Point of Grace
Genesis 34:1 – 35:15
December 14, 2014
You know by now that Moses is on a journey with the book of Genesis.
We have called it “The Gospel According to Moses”
He has shown us the dangers of sin
He has shown us the realities of judgment
He has shown us the truths of salvation
We have seen God save Abraham
We have seen God save Isaac
We have seen God save Jacob
And as we have witnessed God’s working in theses men
We are constantly called back to the one obvious reality that
Salvation is by God’s grace.
We began the life of Abraham back in Genesis 12.
This morning we will dive into chapter 35.
(That’s 24 chapters)
And it is not an exaggeration to say that
GRACE HAS BEEN DRIPPING OUT OF THOSE CHAPTERS.
Whether it was God’s election of certain men
Or God’s protection of those men
Or God’s sanctification of those men
Or God’s promises to those men
It is grace – grace – grace from the word go.
And indeed as many of you have grown up in church and heard the stories and sang the songs, you’ve been exposed to grace your whole life.
• Often have we talked about the grace of God to forgive our sin through the atonement of Christ.
• Often have we talked about the grace of God to foreknow and choose and predestine and call and justify and sanctify and eventually glorify us.
• Often have we sang the song, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”
We understand what Paul said in:
Romans 5:20 “…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,”
We are living testimonies to God’s grace.
The danger (and you probably know it from the title of the sermon)
Is that any one of us should miss the point of grace.
And I don’t mind telling you that there are many ways to do that.
You could be like those Paul wrote to in Romans 6 who would ask:
Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”
Grace is not given in response to sin.
God lavishes grace on us, you don’t have to sin more to get more.
Trying to get more grace by sinning more is to miss the point of grace.
Or
Romans 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”
Obviously grace is not a license to sin.
Anyone who thinks that now that they are under grace they can do whatever they want has obviously missed the point of grace.
And those are just a couple of ways that people miss the point of grace.
This morning I want to show you how Jacob was missing the point.
And the way Jacob was missing it is tragically
A very common problem even among believers today.
No, Jacob wasn’t purposely sinning to get more grace…
No, Jacob wasn’t purposely sinning because grace meant it was ok…
Jacob was missing the point of grace by disregarding it.
He was ignoring what God’s grace had sought to accomplish in his life.
Now we’ve been on the journey with Jacob
And we’ve seen what God’s grace has been doing for him.
• God’s grace set him apart (chose him)
• God’s grace sanctified him (God working to make him holy)
• God’s grace taught him to trust God
• God’s grace even weakened him to make him strong
• Jacob went from the 2nd born to the chosen son
• Jacob went from self-reliant to a man dependent on God
• Jacob went from a strong man to a weak man
• Jacob went from a scheming and planning man to a patient one
God orchestrated major changes in Jacob’s life
All as an act of grace on his behalf.
And Jacob is now reaching a point in his life
Where he is starting to disregard all of it.
It is apathy
It is complacency
It is backsliddenness
And sadly most all of us are guilty of this.
We see God’s work of grace in our lives to make us more like Him,
To purify us, to mold us and shape us.
And then, after the lesson, we forget the work of grace and we actually begin to slowly revert back to the person we used to be.
That is to completely disregard the work of grace in your life.
And this morning I want to show you how that was happening to Jacob,
And how God dealt with it.
And as God commonly does, He take an event in Jacob’s life
And uses it to work on Jacob.
Two main points.
#1 THE EVENT
Genesis 34:1-31
What we have here is a story about a tragic event in Jacob’s life.
You need to understand that chapter 34 is a story that serves as a catalyst
To explain to you the events of chapter 35.
In chapter 35 we see Jacob come back to God.
Chapter 34 is the event God used to make that happen.
To get started, let me remind you of where we ended up last week.
Jacob finally met Esau and realized that
God really had been working and fighting on his behalf.
Jacob and Esau reunited and it was good.
Jacob then re-entered the land of Canaan and declared that God was his God.
Genesis 33:18-20 “Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and 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 one hundred pieces of money. Then he erected there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.”
I told you last week that what Jacob did there was a good thing,
And I certainly hold to that this morning.
The problem is that by the time we get to chapter 34
Jacob seems to have regressed.
When Jacob came to that pagan city, he was living in his own land,
Purchased with his own money, and apparently got comfortable.
• By the time we get to chapter 34 we find “Dinah” is now a young woman
of marrying age. (Even in Bible times this would have been around 14 or
older)
• Since Dinah was the last child born of Leah, she could not have been
more than 1 or 2 years old in Ch. 33 and now she is marrying age.
The point is that Jacob must have dwelled here for at least 10-12 years.
And several things point to the fact that not only had he grown comfortable, but also that harmony was really all he wanted now.
“Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.”
I certainly wouldn’t be as harsh as some of the commentators I read
Who ascribed sin to Dinah for doing this,
But at the very least you must acknowledge that Jacob and his family
Were comfortable around their new pagan neighbors.
They were beginning to blend very well.
So Dinah goes out and tragedy strikes.
(READ VERSES 2-7)
Apparently while Dinah was out, Shechem came and spoke smooth words to her, lured her in, and then raped her.
While it was horribly sinful, it was not purely malicious.
Other times in Scripture when a woman is raped,
She is then hated and rejected by her attacker.
(Remember when David’s son Amnon raped his sister Tamar)
2 Samuel 13:15 “Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up, go away!”
This incident with Shechem wasn’t like that.
• He actually loved Dinah and wanted to marry her.
• He even went through “seemingly” proper channels by asking his father to
arrange it with her father.
This doesn’t lessen the sin of what he did,
It is just to show you that it really had more to do with
Cultural pagan influence than it did determined immorality.
You really get the idea that in his mind he did nothing wrong.
The problem is that it was sinful and it infuriated Dinah’s brothers.
(7) “Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.”
Well then Hamor comes to try and arrange the marriage
Between Shechem and Dinah.
(READ 8-18)
So Hamor comes and they ask for a bride price to be named,
But Jacob’s sons answer pretty shrewdly.
They appeal to their religion and say that they can’t form a marriage covenant with uncircumcised people and if such a thing is to be done then Hamor’s people must be circumcised.
And Hamor and Shechem agree that this is reasonable.
At this point I would point out again Jacob’s new found apathy.
By his silence (and by the fact that he wasn’t scheming like his boys) we can only deduce that Jacob was ok with making a covenant with these Pagans.
If you’ll remember, this would have been a first.
• Abraham adamantly refused to have his son Isaac marry a Canaanite
• Esau’s Canaanite wives brought grief to Isaac
• Jacob was sent to Padan Aram so that he wouldn’t marry a Canaanite
And yet Jacob here seems to be cool with it.
Blending in with the Canaanites doesn’t seem to be an issue with Jacob.
So Hamor and Shechem go back to their people and present the proposal.
(READ 19-24)
So it is presented as an opportunity to gain wealth.
Many have then stated that
It was a scam on the part of Hamor from the beginning.
I’m not sure I necessarily think that is the case.
I just think they are trying to convince a town of men to be circumcised and simply asking them to do it on Shechem’s behalf wasn’t going to be enough.
They mention the financial implications and the whole town of men agree.
And that is when the trap is sprung
(READ 25-31)
Simeon and Levi (Dana’s full brothers) attack the city
While the men are in pain and slaughter all the men.
If you think this is nobility, or some kind of Divine justice,
One would do good to ask you why more than Shechem were killed.
Did they really have to kill a whole town on behalf of one man’s sin?
But even if you still find honor in that I’d have to ask you:
Then what constituted the stealing of their wives and children and possessions?
Was that just a work of nobility and honor too?
No, the reality is that what Simeon and Levi did was not noble,
Nor was it religious zeal.
These men committed cold blooded murder and then robbery,
Even under the banner of a covenant of friendship.
It was wrong.
BUT THE SHOCKER IS FOUND IN JACOB’S RESPONSE.
Genesis 34:30 “Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”
• Dinah was raped and Jacob was silent
• Simeon and Levi committed sins against God, which Jacob didn’t mention
However Jacob’s once concern was that now they had brought trouble on him “by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land”
In other words, “You’ve made me stink to them”
“you’ve killed my reputation”
JACOB WAS UPSET THAT HE’D NO LONGER BE ABLE
TO LIVE IN HARMONY IN THE LAND.
Really?
After all that is occurred here, your biggest concern is that people aren’t going to like you now?
Your daughter was just raped…
Your sons just committed murder and theft…
And your fear is what it might do to your reputation and how it might affect your ability to live in peace and harmony?
Can you see that Jacob has reached a point of apathy in his life?
He’s willing to overlook a lot so long as he can live in peace and harmony.
WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?
Did God really choose him and send him to Padan Aran and break him of his self-reliance just so Jacob could move back to Canaan and blend in with the pagans?
NOT AT ALL!
He was completely disregarding
All that God had done in him the past 20 years.
Now listen, before we throw stones at Jacob, are we not prone to do the same?
Typically when we get saved we are filled with a holy fire and a zeal for God that is blatantly evident to those around us.
We hate sin
We hate deception and error
But over time we get comfortable.
And we begin to value a life of peace and harmony
Even more than we do a life of faithfulness to God.
We’ll actually let our convictions slide
If we just don’t have to fight with someone about it.
It’s almost like we think that God’s grace was for the purpose of
Making our lives easier or better or more prosperous.
BUT THAT ISN’T WHY GRACE CAME
Do you remember the purpose of grace?
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Grace did not come to make your life easier.
Grace came to draw you closer to God.
Grace came to set you apart for God.
The problem is that we are all prone to forget that
And just gravitate towards worldly comfort and harmony.
That is to miss the point of why grace ever came to you.
That’s Jacob.
• He has grown apathetic
• He has grown complacent
• He has backslidden
He is just a point in his life where he just doesn’t want any enemies.
He just wants to live in peace and harmony in the land.
Now please don’t misunderstand me.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to live in harmony with those around you.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”
Even tonight as we study the book of James you will see that Godly wisdom “is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
I’m not saying you should be some type of contentious person
Who just likes to pick fights and stir up trouble.
However, it is important that you remember that
Scripture promises that if you are going to live for Jesus,
There are some people you just won’t be able to be at peace with.
Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”
Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”
The reality is that there are some who only live in harmony
Because they have decided to put their light under a bushel
And bury their Bible in the sand.
And that is a disgrace!
That is a picture of a person who has come to value
Harmony more than holiness.
And that was Jacob.
#2 THE EFFECT
Genesis 35:1-15
As God commonly does,
Here we find Him capitalizing on an unfortunate situation.
Nothing about what happened in chapter 34 was good,
But God can take that bad scenario and use it for good.
Right now Jacob is afraid and God will use that to bring Jacob back.
God takes that opportunity to speak to Jacob.
(35:1) “Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
It is so important that you catch what happens here.
Jacob is afraid and so God comes to Jacob.
What does God say?
“Go up to Bethel”
“live there”
“make an altar there to God”
And then God reminds him of how this worked when he was afraid before.
“go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar to God”
DID GOD SAY ANYTHING ELSE TO HIM? (no)
Where there any other directives? (no)
Well that’s strange, because look what Jacob does.
(2-3) “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
Now Jacob does end up saying, “let us arise and to up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God,” but that isn’t the first thing he says.
WHAT DOES HE SAY FIRST?
“Put away the foreign gods”
“purify yourselves”
Obviously these were those idols that Rachel stole from Laban.
And they’ve had them this whole time.
And Jacob hasn’t cared enough to get rid of them.
WHY?
Because he’s comfortable and he isn’t in great need of God,
And he doesn’t want to take the risk of offending anyone.
• He doesn’t want to offend Rachel (who brought them)
• He doesn’t want to offend the Canaanites (who would spot him a fanatic)
SO WHY GET RID OF THEM NOW?
Because now Jacob doesn’t want to offend God.
(He’s been worried about offending the world, now he’s worried about offending God.)
DO YOU SEE HOW THIS IS WORKING?
For 10 years Jacob has been living in complacency
And he hasn’t cared that those idols might be offending God.
Love for those idols has probably been what has kept Jacob from Bethel.
(It’s like Jesus told Nicodemus)
John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Jacob has been in apathy about his idolatry.
But now he needs God and he knows he can’t go to Bethel with them.
And friends, many of us live here far too much of the time!
• We grow to love our sin
• We grow to love being in harmony with the world around us
• And we lose our zeal for the things of God
AND THIS SHOULD NOT BE.
Grace came to set us apart
Grace came to make us different
When we go back to looking like the world,
We have missed the point for why grace came in the first place.
So God has Jacob’s attention, he puts away his idols and off he goes.
AND GOD WAS STILL FAITHFUL!
(5-7) “As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.”
Jacob makes it safely to Bethel.
He feared other cities, but in fact God made them fear him.
And Jacob gets to Bethel, builds the altar and then waits.
In fact he waits long enough that “Rebekah’s nurse” dies and Jacob buries her.
But Jacob is waiting at Bethel on God.
ISN’T IT GOOD TO SEE JACOB BACK WHERE HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE?
So Jacob has finally cleansed himself and is now seeking God.
AND GOD SHOWS UP!
(READ 9-15)
And God “appeared to Jacob again”
And God “blessed him.”
And I love what God has to say.
(10-12) “God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”
Did you catch what God did there?
One more time, He reminded Jacob of his name.
This wasn’t new information,
It was just information Jacob had seemed to have forgotten.
• You are not Jacob – YOU ARE ISRAEL!
• You are not God – I AM GOD ALMIGHTY!
• You don’t worry about staying in the land – I’M GIVING IT TO YOU!
God was reminding Jacob of all that He had been doing.
And that is good, because Jacob had clearly forgotten it.
Was Jacob taking advantage of grace? No
Was Jacob trying to use sin to get more grace? No
But Jacob had clearly forgotten all that grace had done in his life.
Grace had called him and set him apart – Jacob was content to blend back in
Grace had called him to be holy for God – Jacob was letting idols remain
Grace had called him to fully trust God – Jacob was making decisions on fear
Grace had called him to let God fight his battles – Jacob was doing it on his own
And that is what I mean when I talk to you
About missing the point of grace.
I fully realize that you aren’t out there
Purposely sinning to try and get more grace.
I fully realize that you aren’t under the delusion
That you can now do whatever you want.
But backsliding away from where grace has taken you
Is still to disregard it.
Let me read it again:
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
• Grace came to save you
• Grace came to cause you to deny ungodliness and worldly desires
• Grace came to cause you to live sensible, righteously and godly
• Grace came to cause you to look for the appearing of Christ
• Grace came to redeem us from every lawless deed
• Grace came to purify us for Christ
• Grace came to make us zealous for good deeds
And so if that is not you, then you are missing the point of grace.
God didn’t lavish His grace on you
To make you more comfortable in the world.
God gave you grace to make you His and His alone.
He reminded Jacob of that here
By reminding him that he was no longer Jacob, but Israel.
I would remind you that you also have been given a new nature
And you are no longer the old man either.
I want to close with you turning to:
EPHESIANS 4:17 – 5:21
That is precisely what I’m talking about.
Grace has made you new, don’t disregard what it has done for you!
