Wrestle

This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Waterford Lakes, East Orlando. Visit us online at Christ Kingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. The first chapter, the first 18 verses in that first chapter, the word of the Lord. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Counted all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation because, like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also would the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he has tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

I tell you what, I don't have a question for you kids, but here is your answer. The answer is Jesus. So at the end of the service, find the ceiling and tell her Jesus. Anything else you might actually get from the sermon today and hopefully she will give over the doughnut.

All right, well, I want to let you know before I begin that I haven't forgotten that the scripture reading was out of James chapter 1. You are probably going to be tempted to think that in a moment because we are going to begin looking at somebody else's life. We are going to look at Jacob's life. We are going to find the story that I am going to kind of quickly bring us through in Genesis chapter 25 through 33. I want to let you know up front, I kind of have a different take on this story than what you are probably used to hearing. For some of you this may be troubling. For all of you, I encourage you when you get home, read through the story of Jacob a couple of times through. Try and put aside what you've heard before and read carefully. And then after that, if you have questions or complaints or concerns, you are more than welcome to email me. You can reach me at Scott at Christ Kingdom.org. Put all of your email right there and it will be handled appropriately. We pick up the story of Jacob with this part of verse. It says, and Jacob was left alone. You know I just looked at my watch, right? You know what the joke is about that? It's an old Baptist joke but little boy sitting in church and he's kind of a new experience to him. And so people are singing and raising their hands and he's like, Dad what does that mean? And the dad's like, oh that means they are offering their praises to God and then later on in the service the offering plate comes by and he's like, Dad what does this mean? And he's like, oh son, well this is when we give back to God and his work on a tenth of what he's given to us or more. And it came time for this sermon and the pastor got up and just before he preached he looked at his watch and the son looked at the father and said, Dad what does that mean? The dad said absolutely nothing son, absolutely nothing. But I will try and keep this all the time. Okay and Jacob was left alone. At this point in the story he's poised on the edge of the promised land. All of his family and his possessions lay ahead of him. His former home with his uncle and Padamaram lay behind him and there before him lay the waters of the jabbuk. And Jacob stood there alone but not for long because somewhere out there in the pitch black of night that blanketed and blinded Jacob 401 men were coming his way. His messengers had said they were coming to meet him. 400 men led by one estranged and vengeful brother by the name of Esau. And we're told then Jacob was afraid and greatly distressed. Quite honestly he had good reason because even before day one Jacob was at odds with his brother Esau. While they were still in Rebecca's womb God's word says they struggled together literally in the Hebrew it says it means they crushed one another in her so much that she feel feared for her life. And so she goes and she asks God you know what's up Lord. And God kind of gives her a prophetic what I want to call a prophetic sonogram. He gives her a clear picture as to what's going on in there. And he lets her know that this wrestling between these two is not going to end anytime soon. That in fact from birth the two would be divided. One would be stronger than the other but contrary to the norm the older would serve the younger. God didn't lie. When that blessed day came Esau was born first and Jacob literally right after him on his heel. And as they grew up the division that God had said would come between them it became easy to see even with the naked eye. We're told Esau is described as growing into kind of a wild man. He's hairy. He's impulsive. He preferred to be away from home in the fields hunting with the animals. In fact some commentators say he spent so much time with the animals he almost became like the animals with good reason because of how he behaves in these stories. Whereas Jacob is described as being kind of a civilized man. He dwelt intense which at that time was a way of indicating that they were this person was more civilized. Jacob concerned himself more with the affairs of his family and his home tending to his father's flocks his father's business. So you see a division between them not only in their appearance but also you see a division in the hearts of the parent. We're told Isaac their father he loved Esau meaning he preferred Esau over Jacob and we're told because he ate of Esau's game. And that's going to come into play in a moment. Whereas Rebecca remembering what God had told her she loved Jacob she preferred Jacob to Esau. And from then on the sparks did fly upward. So there's Jacob waiting alone in the night for Esau to come. And undoubtedly as he's waiting in the pitch black of night he must have remembered that day when Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted from the hunt. And Esau like a child laments that he's about to starve to death. This parents we know what it's at you know your kids can get to the point sometimes where I'm going to die I'm so hungry. This is how the Hebrew paints the picture of Esau the language that is used is just over the top. And so he growls at Jacob to let him eat some of the red stew that Jacob had been cooking. Again the to eat the Hebrew that choose there is used elsewhere for feeding an animal. It's almost like he's saying he's going to clam it down his throat. He can't even get out the sentence completely. It's incomplete Hebrew he says give me some of the red the red stuff the red stuff. This is Esau's state of mind and his behavior as he comes in from the field. And Jacob obliges him but the stew came of the price of Esau swearing over his birthright to Jacob. Now contrary to popular opinion Jacob didn't pull a gun on Esau and hold it to his head and say your birthright or your life. Now God's word is very plain and simple about it. He says that Esau swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob simply because he considered it to be worthless for him. Remember he spends his time in the field away from the affairs of his father. The idea of the birthright and the covenant leadership did not matter to Esau like it mattered to Jacob. And now as he feels like he's about to die from starvation he's like what good will any of this do for me? And he considers it worthless literally it says he despised his birthright. The Hebrew word there again very intensive used elsewhere talking about people despising God's law and God's temple. And so we're told he didn't complain but he sold his birthright and it says he ate and he drank and he rose and he went his way all without a fuss. Until the day came when Isaac their father called Esau to his bedside. Esau or Isaac also believing that he was dying wanted Esau to go out and kill and cook some of the delicious food that he loved Esau to make him. He wanted that to be his last meal. And in return Isaac promised Esau and the passage says his older son it makes a big deal of pointing that out. He saw the older son that he was going to bless Esau with his soul before he died. So you got to get this not only was Isaac intending not to follow the path that God had laid out because he was going to bless the older son rather than the younger despite the fact God had said that the older would serve the younger. But you find out as the story goes on Isaac intended to give Esau everything as his inheritance. He was not going to leave anything for Jacob which later you find out his contrary to God's law to the first born was supposed to be a double portion not everything but a double portion that was still supposed to be an inheritance left for the other children. Isaac wasn't going to do this he intended to give Esau everything. Well when Esau finds this out that this is what dad's intending to do suddenly his attitude about the family birthright changes. I don't doubt that in his heart he still probably didn't really care about the whole covenant leadership thing and all the promises made to Abraham and to his father Isaac and so on and so forth. But now that birthright was no longer worthless to him because interestingly enough in between the time that he sold his birthright and now he's being promised to be given the inheritance in the chapter in between God's word goes on to say that Yahweh blessed Isaac and the man became rich and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants so that the Philistines envy them. See dad struck gold and Esau knew it and now suddenly what was once worthless to him was now invaluable. So Esau conveniently forgetting that he had a legal oath swore the birthright over to Jacob went into the field to hunt for game and to bring it. However when he returned both he Esau and his father Isaac learned what the proverb teaches us that many are the plans in the mind of a man but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand because you see while Esau was out in the field and while everything was transpiring Rebecca heard about Isaac's intention to bless Esau instead of Jacob and so she intervened. Not only did she devise the scheme by which Jacob impersonates Esau so that he can go in and receive Isaac's blessing so that the covenant leadership would pass to the younger son instead of the older. She even stands in the cap on Jacob's behalf when Jacob is worried he's like mom if I do this if I do what you're telling me to be obedient and do if dad finds out he's not just going to bless me he's going to curse me and Rebecca is so certain in her plan that she stands in the gap and she says let your curse be on me my son only obey my voice. This is a very determined mom and mom's plan proceeds Isaac blesses unknowingly his son Jacob instead of Esau who he intends well not long after he received Isaac's blessing Jacob was found out for impersonating Esau. But what's interesting is once Isaac the father finds out he doesn't seek revenge on Jacob for deceiving him instead the passage reads almost as if he repents because he didn't go and which would have been within his power to revoke the blessing would have been kind of abnormal but he could have done it. He could have said that he took back the blessing and he intended for Esau since it was secured under deception but he doesn't do that in fact not only does he not revoke the blessing that he's given to Jacob he goes on later on to bless Jacob even more and very literal terms the same covenant blessing that was given to Abraham and passed down to him he passes on to Jacob later on. And then when Esau pleads for his dad to give him some kind of blessing his dad says son there's nothing left I've given it all to Jacob meant to give it to you but there's nothing left and so he kind of gives his son a blessing but it's not really a blessing. It's more of a prophecy and in the end Isaac basically tells his son what God had declared all along from the beginning Isaac tells Esau by your sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother. It's a very depressing blessing so much so the Esau Esau doesn't repent Esau comes unhinged. He screams he wails says I knew Jacob was properly named he's such a cheat he stole my birthright which we know wasn't true and now he's stolen my inheritance he's stolen my blessing and then we're told says in chapter 27 verse 41. Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him and Esau said to himself the days of mourning for my father are approaching then I will kill my brother Jacob the wild man wants to hunt down his own brother just like an animal. Well once this plot was discovered Rebecca intercedes once again she comes to the rescue she tells Jacob you need to rise flee to Laban who is her brother his uncle until your brother's fury turns away and so with Isaac's further blessing Jacob did just that he arose and he went in to her and to live with his uncle Laban. And by the time you're reading all this you kind of like look regardless of how you feel about Jacob you're like kind of deserved let's cut him a break all right. This is pretty intense but Jacob learns very quickly once he arrives at Laban's house that his wrestling career has not ended while he seeks refuge and heron from his brother who seeks to kill him. He discovers that his uncle Laban is out to get him just as much as Esau was just in a different way. Jacob presents himself in service to Laban time and time again and time and time again Laban does nothing but exploit Jacob on every occasion. And it's all because Jacob Laban even admits it he says I'm holding on to you because I'm being blessed by you being here with me God blesses you time and time again and I receive the blessing you see the covenant promise in effect. Laban's very upfront he says I want to hold on to you you're like the goose that laid the golden egg so he does all these things to try and hold on to Jacob when Jacob labors seven years for Laban's youngest daughter Rachel he wants her hand in marriage. But instead on the wedding night Laban tricks and deceives Jacob and gives to him his oldest daughter Leah and there's a couple of reasons why we believe that he does it he says look it wasn't the custom you don't give away the younger daughter before you give the older which was true. But you also see some of the motive of Laban of his older daughter still remaining with him he becomes responsible for her and if there's one thing you learn about Laban he is a greedy greedy man. His own daughter is admit my father has sold his body he's taken everything even the things that belong to us there's nothing remains for us which is why they're glad to leave their father's house. So you can see Laban has ulterior motives other than just the custom and passing Leah on to Jacob. Jacob learns it he confronts Laban laban says look no harm no foul let's just make a deal here I'll give you Rachel as well but just stay around for seven more years and work for me. And the passage says that Jacob agrees to it and he works the seven years and the seven years were at seven days to him because he's so in love with Rachel well during all of these years Jacob takes care of Laban's flocks and later on we learn during those years Laban repeatedly cheats Jacob by changing his wages ten times. Then when Jake was finally had enough he's about to leave but they strike another deal Jacob says I don't want any of your money I tell you what you pay me in your livestock. I've been faithful to you and God has blessed you because of me so here's the deal I want the spotted and the speckled lambs and the sheep and the goats and I think the black the darken males or whatever they agree. And Laban's like cool swears to the deal and before he leaves he takes the portion of his flock purposefully to put Jacob at a disadvantage so that none of the future flock would be spotted or speckled or darkened thinking that in essence he's going to rob Jacob. He's going to have had all these years of service for nothing in the end but come to find out God continues to bless Jacob time and time again and once Jacob's finally had enough he and his wives and their children they all steal away. What does Laban do? He hunts him down just like he saw was doing to Jacob. Laban goes after him to harm him and God intervenes tells Laban don't even speak an evil word about Jacob or else I will harm you and do to you what you intend to do to him. And so Laban concedes but it's kind of like you kind of get the picture of the way it's written that he with his teeth seething he finally meets up with Jacob. They have it out but they agree in the end that they're going to set up a memorial stone which one of the names that's attributed to it is Miss Pa and that stone is to be a witness that neither of them will cross over to go after the other in vengeance. So it's not a peaceful parting. Jacob wrestles the entire time he's in Laban's home just like he did when he was in his own home and now it's 20 years later and Jacob is sitting on the banks of the Javak River. He's on the threshold of returning into his childhood home about to enter in once again into the promised land that he previously had to flee. And undoubtedly these thoughts had to be going through his mind remembering all these things realizing that from birth it seems as if Jacob has been destined for conflict just as much as he was destined to rule according to God's word. It seems like from the circumstances of Jacob's life that he was destined to be on the run and to flee just as much as he was to flourish as God's word said that he would. And it's hardly the kind of life that you would expect to unfold for a child that was born and answer to the prayer of a father because you see Jacob and Esau's mother that she was barren. And in sorrow she appeals for her husband and Isaac goes before God and he prays and God gives them Jacob and Esau. So he would expect more of a blessed, fruitful, peaceful life for a child who's an answer to a parent's prayer. But instead it's nothing but conflict, time and time again. Having to wrestle every step of the journey with someone else and every stage of his life just to secure and enjoy the things that had either been promised to him or that actually rightly rightfully belong to him. And again, we come to that passage and Jacob was left alone and shrouded by the darkness, waiting and wondering if he and his family are going to survive to see the dawn, wondering if Laban is actually going to keep his word and not cross over from behind him and harm them like he wanted to do originally. And Jacob's there in that night wondering if Esau has his fury, if it's actually turned away from him after 20 years knowing that he and his 400 men are coming out to meet Jacob from ahead. He's boxed in and the darkness of night and he's alone. And then, like that, the Bible says, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Boom! It's like he's blinded and there's a just spontaneous drive by wrestling match breaks out and takes place and hidden in this passage are these clues to let you know that this wrestling match is a moment of destiny for Jacob. Because you see in the Hebrew, Jacob is Ya'akob. He wrestles the word wrestles in Hebrew is Ya'abek at the Jabek, which is Ya'buk. And in the Hebrew, there's that asinance, the rhyming, or is it alliteration looking for my wife, the teacher, who hopefully will tell me that the consonants are all in there. And it's the narrator's way of basically saying this was meant to be. This is a momentous moment that's taking place. This wrestling match is the wrestling match. This is the moment that Jacob was destined for. And it's a moment that summarizes his whole life. He's having to wrestle in order to survive and move on to the next stage of his life. And that he has to wrestle this man before he's going to be able to cross the Jabek into the land of blessing. And you're left wondering, okay, so who is Jacob wrestling? Is it Laban who's come from behind him? Is it Issa coming from ahead of him? Well, Jacob doesn't know. And actually, it's not until it unfolds a little bit further that we're actually told. We're only told what matters in the moment. And that is that Jacob wrestles once again and once again, Jacob prevails. Never knowing his opponent is, who his opponent is, until this mystery man touches Jacob's hip and it dislocates his hip joint. Now, the Hebrew word, I'm not sure how your translation may have it, but the Hebrew word that in the ESV red touch, it has a range of meaning. It can be something as simple as a touch, or it can actually be something as violent as a strike. So some commentators say this mystery man strikes Jacob on the hip. I tend to prefer to think that actually he did just touch him and supernaturally it dislocates his hip. Because at that moment that Jacob realizes he's not wrestling with just some mere mortal man. And at that point, Jacob, despite his injury, holds on to this man and insists that he is not going to let this mystery man go until this man blesses him. He knows this is not, he saw, he knows this is laven. He knows that somehow some way he's wrestling with the divine. And this mystery man blesses Jacob in a way he never imagined. He says, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. I want to say that again. You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. The blessing comes in this form. No longer is Jacob going to bear this name that for so long had stigmatized his life. And it had become a by word, even in the mouth of his brother, Esau. Now, when his parents named Jacob, Jacob was not a negative connotation with that word. I mean, I doubt any one of us are willing to name our child, you know, disease. You know, you're just not going to do that because you know there's a stigma attaches where it's those names have a connotation in the Hebrew. It's a very neutral term. It is Esau who takes it to mean something very negative. And doubtfully, it's laven who considers Jacob name, Jacob's name to be his stigma. And God says through this blessing, Jacob, you're no longer going to be stigmatized by this name. You're no longer going to be the heel grabbing replacement. You're no longer going to be the one who wrestles with Esau for your covenant leadership. You're no longer going to wrestle with your father Isaac to inherit the blessing. You're no longer going to wrestle laven in order to get your family and the provisions that you'd earn. Instead, God gives him this new name. It's a memorial name, a name that was supposed to speak to him and to the nation that was going to be formed out of all of his descendants. It would be a name that promised them that they were a people who would prevail and prevail not only against men, but prevail with God. That's the weird thing about this story. This mysterious angel, as most people say, says, you have wrestled with men and with God and you've prevailed against both. But you see wrestling with God and prevailing, Jacob prevailed against God, not like God was some enemy who was seeking to harm him or destroy him in vengeance like all of his relatives seem to be about. No, Jacob wrestled with God as his loving and his all-wise Heavenly Father who had purposed all of the wrestling in his life for his good. In this moment, this curtain is lifted and you realize when Jacob was wrestling with Esau and Isaac and Laven and anybody else in the meantime, ultimately he was wrestling with God. God was the man behind the curtain. God had purposed it all as his loving and all-wise Heavenly Father and so in wrestling with those men, he was wrestling with God and through it all he had prevailed. So his name is sovereignly changed and when it is the darkness lifts, the sun rises upon Jacob and he learns this truth, the truth that is laid behind his life the whole time. Again, that in all of his wrestling with all of these men throughout it all, he had in fact been wrestling with God. All of the struggle that he experienced with men, all of it had been purposed by God to grow him into faith and wisdom and perseverance. That he was going to need in order to fulfill this mission as the covenant had to be the man that he had inherited the blessing to be, this mission that God repeatedly calls Jacob through throughout his journey. Again, when you go back and you read that story, you'll see God meeting with Jacob telling him that Jacob is going to be the one to carry on the covenant that God had established with Abraham and Isaac before him. And God is going to grow Jacob and his family to be a mighty nation so that they would seek after God's kingdom and his righteousness on earth and as such God is going to use Jacob and his family to be a source of blessing to all of the peoples of the earth. That's pretty big shoes to fill if you ask me. That takes a lot of faith. That takes a lot of courage. That takes a lot of strength and a lot of wisdom. And that's exactly what God was doing all along. Wrestling with Jacob, little by little, time after time to build him up and you see this progression, take place in Jacob's life regardless of whether you see him for good or for evil. And it's like a father trains up a child through hard discipline. God, the heavenly father had been condescending to Jacob through all the wrestling in his life. And the only way I know how to think of it is, and maybe some of you dads know this, but I had an Uncle Martin who whenever we would go over to his house, we would wrestle with Uncle Martin. Uncle Martin was a stout man if you get my drift, like a fire plug. Obviously from day one, he could have put a the bionic elbow on us and they would all been over. You know, and our little hopes as future wrestlers would have been crushed, but he didn't do that. Oh, he'd roll around on the ground and he'd just, oh, you know, and he'd let us get on top of him and, you know, do the count and all that other stuff. He condescended to us to build us up to give us confidence, not only just to play with us, but the things that nerd that was kind of a nurture to our soul is young little bucks who were in love dusty roads and watching wrestling on TV. I know I'm not the only one. Gordon Foley. This is what God has been doing. And as the darkness lifts and the sun rises upon Jacob, he realizes that he's been wrestling with God and God says you've prevailed. You've done well. You're growing up to be the man that I've called you to be. That's the purpose behind it all. God answered Jacob's prayers because once he learned that he'd been wrestling with God face to face as he goes on to call the place. He says, I don't have anything to wh- I wrestled God face to face and yet God didn't destroy me. I have nothing to fear from Esau. No matter what happens. So the sun rises and you got to get it just like a western. The sun is rising. Jacob limps across the jabic river. He goes out before his family. And he goes out to meet his brother Esau. He doesn't wait for Esau to come to him. He goes to him. And you're waiting for him to come out with chess puffed up. Ready to- you want peace of this? Come on. It doesn't do that. No. Despite all of these great blessings that God has lavished on him, despite all of the wealth that God has enriched him with, despite this promise that God has given him and the truth of all these wrestling in his life. And the man that God has called Jacob to be. Jacob goes out and he doesn't boast in his power as mighty. He doesn't come out with guns of blazing. Instead, he welcomes Esau with a posture of service that he had learned over those past 20 years of wrestling. We were told he bowels himself to the ground seven times before his brother. And you know what? Esau runs an embrace and Esau weeps by God's grace. Jacob wrestles with Esau one more time and he prevails. So, Church of Jesus Christ. God's with us this morning. And I would be bold enough to say that by his spirit and through his word, he's speaking to us and he's telling us to wrestle. That we need to wrestle and we need to wrestle until we prevail. You see, like Jacob, we're God's covenant people, bought with a price redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And now we're called to go out and live in such a way that we are sources of blessing to all the peoples of the world by bringing them the gospel of Jesus and word and indeed. We're to baptize them in his name. We're to teach them to obey everything that he's commanded us. See, we're his disciples. We're called to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness without any worry or concern over the common cares of our life that so many people live their lives for. But I think we've all learned by now this is not an easy affair. These are big shoes to fill. Namely because there's going to be conflict. There's going to be conflict because God established that there would be conflict in his grace. See, by God's grace, he put in between enmity between us the seed of the woman and Satan, the seed of the serpent so that we wouldn't be deceived and blindly lead after Satan, like Adam and Eve did. So in Genesis 3.15, God says, I'm going to put enmity between you two. That's a good thing. He's basically saying, I'm going to put it in the heart of my people that they will despise you Satan and they will make war against you. And they will not blindly follow your lead. So there's enmity in our hearts against Satan and therefore we should expect conflict with him and all those who are deceived and continue to be deceived by Satan because we're supposed to go out to them and bring the gospel to them and live the gospel before them. There's going to be conflict. There's also going to be tests and trials and temptations, troubles of our hearts and our minds and our souls that are going to war against us, some in our workplaces, some in our schools, some even in our homes. But nevertheless, we must wrestle against them until we prevail. See, we aren't called to seek God's kingdom in some heavenly vacuum where one day we're going to be whisked away to escape all this ugly earth stuff, huh? No, what does Jesus teach us? He teaches us to pray this to work for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the end, heavenly Jerusalem, we don't fly up to it. Heavenly Jerusalem descends into the earth and now the dwelling place of God is with man. So while we work this out on this earth, there's going to be conflict and we have to wrestle against it and we have to do it until we prevail. It's hard. I know. And I want to say a few things in application and closing. One is this. A lot of our battle ends up being how we interpret and respond to the circumstances of our lives. Well, James tells us something. He says, you know what? This is how you should interpret and respond to the conflict in your life. Consider it joy. Consider it a joy to be wrestling in your life with enmity and all of the trials and the tribulations. Because you can know that behind it all, you have your all-loving, ever-wise heavenly father who has purposed it for your good and who's working it all together for your good. It's not that you can't be in sorrow over the troubles that happen in your life but it can't be trouble that overcomes. Ultimately, there should be joy within us as we confront these things and we wrestle with these things. This is the word that's supposed to help us redefine our reality. The truth is, is not what we feel in a moment's instance. The truth is what God's word says it is and God says, I intend this for your good because I'm going to grow you up through this so that you can be wise, strong, mighty warriors. So consider it joy. Our mental attitude about things. What does G.I. Joe say knowing is half the battle and not the story? That's come true. And so James begins here to his letter to the disperse and knows that we're suffering. Consider it joy that you're going through what you're going through because God's behind it all. And he loves you and he intends it for good. Now you're good but for the good of all the peoples of the earth. So wrestle and consider it joy. As we wrestle though, we have to pray. We've got to be diligent in our prayer. Believe it or not, Jacob prayed. Go back and read the story. You'll see it and his prayers are awesome. In fact, I think he prays the longest prayer in the book of Genesis. We need to pray like Jacob and we need to pray for the wisdom that we need in order to prevail through our wrestling. He also learned something else from Jacob. He knew how to fight. He was awfully wise and very cunning with his opponent, which is why many people kind of consider him a bad guy or at least he starts out a bad guy and eventually is redeemed. However, remember this. Before Jesus sends his disciples out, he tells them, hey guys, I want to let you know something. I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves. You're going out to be slaughtered. So guess what? I want you to be as innocent as dogs as it regards my righteousness as innocent as dogs. You know what? You also be as wise as serpent. You learn to know the strategies of Satan and you turn him on his head. That's what it means to be as wise as a serpent. We need that wisdom. And so we must pray, pray that God give us this wisdom and know that God isn't going to scold us for asking like, haven't you learned anything by now? Or well, just figure it out on your own. No, it doesn't scold us. And he does not withhold any good or perfect gift from us. But instead he graciously and generously gives to those who ask and who ask with faith, believing that he will give. And I want to tell you something. From experience, like recent experience, like two days ago when you get beat up and you're worn down from wrestling, prayers usually the first thing that stops. Because you're like, this is the most impractical thing. I've been praying all along and making any difference. Why bother? I'll sleep in. I got better things to do. Pray, wrestle through prayer. And then fight. John Calvin says this. He says, basically, look, this is the order of how you meet these challenges. This is what we learned from the passage. First, you avail yourself of God. And then secondly, you make use of whatever means he provides you. And then third, you basically shut your eyes. And you set yourself to the task of what God's word tells you to do. And you fight. That's what John Calvin says. Yeah, pray. But don't you dare let prayer and fervent prayer become some excuse for not doing something. Fighting means you have to be practical. God's kingdom isn't built by some supernatural, spiritual osmosis. Where we just kind of sit back and as the passage goes, forget her for better or worse, you know, let go and let God. You know, just don't have to do anything. Just let God do everything. Ha! God gives you wisdom. He gives you resources. And he says, get busy, wrestle. And you find that in Jacob. Jacob is a scrapper. He prays. And then he gets busy. And he does what he thinks he should do. To the best of his knowledge, he begins plotting and scheming. And he makes his way in confronting Jacob. And he's very wise about what he does when you learn his strategy in Genesis 32. So take advantage of every resource that God has afforded us to build ourselves up for the battle. Take advantage of his word, take advantage of his sacraments, take advantage of his people, take advantage of his gifts, take advantage of him. And what he gives us and all of that. And then fight. And fight to win. Fight and hold on tight as James puts it. Remain steadfast under that trial. Withstanding the test, cleave to the promises of God no matter how much it hurts you even if your hip is dislocated in the process. You hold on knowing that God's word does not wither. It does not fail. It does not perish like all the riches in the wealth that so many people put their trust in in times of crisis. You hold on and you cleave to that word and you cleave to God knowing that he cannot be corrupted by evil. And therefore he's not going to be tempting us. And he's not tempted himself. And he's never going to intend anything but good for us through this battle. And that he steadfast to his word. And with him there is no shadow or turning of change. God remains steadfast. Therefore we can and should remain steadfast as we wrestle and war on account of his kingdom. And that's the tenacity of faith that you see in Jacob. In fact, Hosea goes on in chapter 12 with Hosea and says, Israelites pay attention to your forefather Jacob. He got it right. He held on to God. He went to God and he didn't quit going to God until he got what he needed from God. And you guys need to do the same thing. Hosea commends Jacob as an example. And this is something that dawned on me this time. You know, when all of this is unfolding, Joseph, who at that time was the youngest son, was watching it all. And he saw his dad go through what he went through. That had to be a powerful witness seeing your dad hold on through all of that wrestling. And later on you see that coming to play when Joseph himself suffers such great tragedy, such unfairness and injustice. And yet when the opportunity is given to him to seek vengeance on his brother, does he do it? No. Instead he praises God and says, boys, boys, put away the tears. What you intended for evil, God intended for good. Look, we're all here now. There's plenty. Tell me, Jacob didn't have something to do with that in his witness. So as we wrestle with tenacity, let's wrestle and let's let our kids see us wrestling for their faith, the sake of their faith that they will take up the mantle and carry it further than we'll ever get. Last thing, as you wrestle, know that we are not alone. The passage said that Jacob was alone, but in truth he wasn't because at both that Bethel and right before he meets, he saw God meets him by his angels. And Jacob realizes God is in this place. This is God's camp. Guess what? Jesus said to us, what? He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. The truth of Psalm 37, 14, that God encamps around those who fear Him. So beloved church of Jesus Christ, let us wrestle with the courage of knowing that God is with us and God is for us. And let's wrestle on continually, cleaving to Him until that day comes when He will be our God and we will be as people and we will all be together and nothing will ever separate us. The day when we will be perfect and complete, the day when we will lack nothing, the day when we will be made whole, the day when we will receive the crown of life that God has promised to us. The day when we will no longer be tempted or lured or enticed away by our evil desires, the day when our desires will no longer be able to give birth to sin and then to death. The day when we will wrestle no more, because on that day we will have prevailed in Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God. And all of his people said, what? Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we give you thanks. We give you praise. You are such a good and wonderful and loving and wise God. Father, please this morning work by your spirit through your word in our hearts that we would bear forth a great fruits of righteousness to you. That the world when they would see us undergo the wrestling that we are destined for and fighting for your kingdom, that they would not see us crying out foul and injustice and unfairness and he cheated me like he saw. But instead they would see us fighting with joy, dancing even with tears in our eyes, asking you for wisdom, cleaving to your promise and never giving up. God, as you have said, may it be so in us and we ask it for the glory of Jesus Christ our King. Amen.