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Genesis 37:1-11

¹Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. ²This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. ⁴But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. ⁵Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. ⁷There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words. ⁹He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” ¹¹So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

The rest of Genesis will deal with Joseph’s story. He was born to Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife, probably about thirteen years after his oldest brother, Reuben. He wasn’t old enough to do full work, so he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah – Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

Whether he was bored or jealous that he was not allowed to do “real” work, he would tattle about his brothers to Jacob. Jacob makes no secret of his affinity for Joseph and gives him a special robe. It was obvious to the brothers that Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved them, and that made them hate Joseph.

Things got worse when the LORD gave Joseph a dream and how to interpret it — That one day, his older brothers would bow to him. Joseph bragged about it to his brothers.

Things got worse when the LORD gave Joseph a second dream and interpretation, which implied that not only his brothers, but also his father would one day bow down to him. For this, even Jacob rebuked him, and his brothers were jealous of Joseph, as well as hating him.

The chapter continues to tell us that Jacob sent Joseph to Shechem to see how the brothers were doing so that Joseph could report back to Jacob. Once Joseph got to Shechem, he found out that his brothers were at Dothan, so Joseph headed there.

When the brothers saw Joseph coming, some of them schemed to kill him, throw him into a hole and claim that a wild animal ate him.  Reuben convinces them not to kill him, but just to throw him into a pit, where he planned to rescue him later. So, the brothers took the fancy robe and threw Joseph into a pit.

While Reuben was away, Judah convinced the other brothers that they should just sell Joseph. So, they sold Joseph to some Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and the traders took Joseph to Egypt.

When Reuben returned, he learned that Joseph was gone. So, they dipped Joseph’s robe in some goat blood, and told their father that a wild animal had devoured Joseph. Jacob is grief stricken and mourns for many days and could not be comforted.

Jacob believes that Joseph is dead, but we are told differently. Joseph is alive and was sold again – This time to one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

We know that the two dreams and their interpretations that Joseph had were legitimately from God. However, Joseph chose to use them to elevate himself above his brothers, and this ends up aggravating his relationship with his brothers. Later, we will see that Joseph has learned from this and he uses dreams and interpretations as God intended. Dreams will end up not only saving Joseph and his family but preserve God’s plan to make a great nation out of the descendants of Abraham.

We have heard about pastors who considered themselves prophets and that claim that they were given dreams and visions from God of certain things that ended up not coming true. These include those who proclaim the winner of presidential election, or that the results of elections will be overturned, or when certain end time prophesies will come true. These people are either looking to gain fame or favor, and their dreams and visions are just made up or are wishful thinking. We know if dreams and visions are from God – They will come true.

Does God give us dreams and interpretations of them? If so, we must be guided by the Holy Spirit as to how to use them. It will rarely be for our profit alone.

There are many things in the Bible that the world might consider as just made-up stuff. The world has a hard time believing in a loving God, especially when they see the sinful acts of people and the conditions around them that are less than idyllic. A God that is powerful enough to create the universe, loving mankind enough to send His Son to earth to die for mankind’s sins – just by believing – sounds like a pipe dream to the world.

I believe that the LORD had given the two dreams and their interpretations to Joseph to give him hope to hang on to through the ordeals that he will go through. When things get tough, the dreams would remind him that he will see his family again and that he has a big role to play in God’s plan for Israel.

We do not need to receive any special dreams from God to give us hope for the future. We have the Bible. The Bible tells us that by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our sins will be forgiven and that we are assured of life eternal with Christ and all His followers. But we also know that we have been created and saved to do the good works of God that he has planned for each of us since the beginning of time.

So, let us move forward with the tasks God has given us, with hope in our hearts. Not “I hope this will happen” type of hope, but a hope that God assures us will come true. There are many in this world living without much hope – And each one of us know at least a few. We can give these people the assured hope by telling them that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

(the above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during worship on October 15, 2023.)

Matthew 21:23-32

Our text for today is Matthew 21:28-32 but there is some necessary context to understand:

• At the beginning of the chapter Jesus has entered Jerusalem on a donkey (as a king) with everyone cheering “Hosanna!”
• He then enters the temple area and throws out the money-changers and all that are buying and selling – “It is written…my house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of robbers.”
• He then returns the next day and is teaching in the temple area again. The leaders, who are still shook up from the previous day now ask him:

“By what authority are you doing these things?… and who gave you that authority?”  Jesus answers them with a question of his own. “I’ll ask you a question. And if you answer me, I’ll tell you by what authority I’m doing these things.”

“John’s baptism – where did it come from? Was it from heaven…or of human origin?”

The leaders plead the 5^th. They don’t want to incriminate themselves. If they say “it was from heaven” Jesus will ask them, “then why didn’t you believe John and repent?” If they say it was merely of human origin, the people would riot and become angry – because they all respected John as a prophet from God. So they say “we don’t know” and Jesus replies “then I won’t answer you either.”

And that brings us to our parable for today: the story of the two sons. Now in the English it says the “first” and “second” son…In Japanese it says the older and younger son.

In the English it is the first son that says “I won’t” but later goes and works. It’s the other son who says “I will” but doesn’t go. When the leaders are asked who did the father’s will….they then answer “the first one”.

Jesus is clearly calling out the leaders as “the son who says yes, but doesn’t go”. He is also pointing to the tax collectors and prostitutes as examples of the son who says “No, I don’t feel like it.”…but then later goes.

The parable is a challenge to each of us today. Which son (or daughter) are we?

• Are we the one that says “yes, I’ll go!”…”yes, I’ll be a good Christian and follow Jesus” but in the end pretty much ignores what Jesus teaches? Ignores the difficult work of repenting, dying to self, sharing our wealth, caring for the poor, etc. ?
• Or are we the daughter or son who says “NO, I don’t feel like it. No, I don’t believe in that stuff…I don’t want anything to do with it”…but then has a change of heart, repents, and follows Christ?

To be honest, I wish there was a third option! I don’t really want to be a hypocritical priest…or, a repenting prostitute. I want to be a “third kind of son” – one who says “yes” and then does what I promise!

And of course, by God’s grace, that’s the kind of son or daughter that we’re becoming. But for the sake of this parable lets think about these two options. Which one are we?

Most likely we are both…. at one time or another. At times we’ve been the child who says yes, but doesn’t follow through. And at other times we’ve said “No”, but later had a change of heart and did what we should.

The tough teaching here is: “Actions speak louder than words.” Do we just say “Yes” to Christ, but never follow through? Are we constantly just “saying…but never doing”?  Are we just “words….but no actions”?

It’s not the person who says they’re a Christian, but the person who actually follows Christ that is a true believer.

This statement is true, but it doesn’t feel very much like the gospel. If I sent you home only with that truth…you may simply be discouraged. Because there’s ALWAYS a gap between our best thoughts and motives and our actions.

But here’s the teaching from the parable that feels like gospel to me: It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve goofed up in the past. It doesn’t matter if you’ve betrayed Jesus three times like Peter (which was pretty extreme!). It doesn’t finally matter that you haven’t been a “successful” Christian in the past. You always have a chance TODAY….to repent, to change your mind, and to start fresh! God always welcomes a repentant sinner! When Jesus told this parable of two sons, the religious leaders were angry….others were thrilled. Which are we?

(the above is a summary of the message shared during worship on October 1, 2023.)

Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

In this short passage we see a pattern of faith. A faith cycle. In the Old Testament we see another common cycle. The people of Israel fall into trouble, cry out for help, God saves them, the people rejoice, but soon forget about God and go back to their old ways. Here however, we have a pattern that David describes and that should be an example for all of us. We may describe this cycle in six steps.

Step 1 Our condition – stuck in the mud…in a miry pit

David is clearly describing a situation where one simply cannot escape, cannot get out of this predicament with only one’s own strength.

Maybe someone here today feels like this? Out of work? In a difficult relationship? No matter what you do, things look hopeless? Out of patience? Three crying children…no help in sight?

Falling into the pits is not unusual. It is what we are good at. Troubles will always be with us. Even Jesus told his disciples, “In this world you will have trials.”

What we do in this situation however is very important. For a faithful pattern we turn to David again – for the next step.

Step 2  Cry out to the Lord

“He turned to me and heard my cry”

The inference here is that David is stuck….and realizing his helplessness, he cries out to the Lord for help. Crying out is also quite natural. People do this rather instinctively. The problem is that we often don’t know where or who to cry out to.

Although verse 4 was not part of our reading this morning, David says there, ”blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and not in the proud or deceitful.” In other words, if you are going to cry out…make sure you cry for help from the Lord who can help you…and not just to anyone.

An example of going to the wrong place is King Asa in the chronicles of the kings. In II Chronicles 16:12 we have the following short statement: “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.” Obviously, the problem was not seeking help from physicians. It was in completely ignoring the true source of healing.

Step 3  Wait patiently

God does not always answer when we wish. Waiting in humility and with patience shows our complete trust in the Lord. When will he come? When will he help me?  We wait in trust.

We all have cases where we have prayed for years, and still no answers or results. Has God forgotten us?

NO.

Step 4  God saves us!

And then, God shows up! Have you experienced this?　Have you ever felt saved by God?　We probably all have at some time. That sense of relief, that sense of peace. Everything is all right after all. Of course, we’re aware of the theological truth of our eternal salvation – made righteous by the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. But I mean… saved in smaller and daily ways?

Once when I was swimming in Hawaii, I felt like I almost drowned, suddenly pulled out about 100 meters from shore by a strong rip tide. With much struggle and after swallowing a great deal of sea water I was able to get back to the shore. But I clearly remember the sense of being miraculously protected, even amidst the feeling of fear, embarrassment, and relief. Each of us no doubt has a similar story.

So God saves us. What’s next? Do we simply fall back into another pit of trouble….and cry out for help again, continuing this short cycle? Not according to David. In fact, it’s these last two steps that are so unusual and life-changing.

Step 5  God puts a new song in our hearts!

Sometimes we can force our worship. Occasionally, even when we don’t feel like it, if we begin to praise God, that very act can change our moods and hearts. I’ve experienced that many times. However, David speaks of something even more amazing than our hearts being changed by singing. He seems to indicate that salvation itself produces a sense in which God puts a new song in our mouths. Not a song that we have to struggle to sing, or that we have to practice…but one that flows naturally from our mouths and hearts.

In Acts 3 and 4 we have the account of Peter and John miraculously healing the man who had been lame his whole life. Because it happens on the sabbath, the Jewish leaders are not happy about this – and drag Peter and John before the council. In the end, the leaders whip the disciples and command that they stop speaking about this Jesus of Nazareth. However, Peter responds, ”we can’t help but talk about Jesus.” In other words, even if they wanted to stay silent, they couldn’t! Their experience of the risen Lord , as well as the indwelling power of the Holy spirit that they had received at Pentecost was so life changing that their testimony…their new song… simply flowed naturally from their mouths.

After being saved, we can’t help but sing praise to our God.

Step 6   Others will be watching and come to know God!

This completes the cycle. We don’t just jump into trouble again. Here we see that when God saves us, it is not just to benefit us, but to benefit others as well! God’s acts on our behalf are also meant as a blessing to others. Just as God meant to bless all nations through blessing Israel, God means to bless our neighbors through blessing us.

It’s common knowledge to say “no pain, no gain”.  Everyone knows that troubles and trials can sometimes produce growth. But this last step is completely startling. Have you ever considered that your struggles and trials may not just benefit you, but those around you as well?

 OUR TRIALS TODAY MAY LEAD TO OUR NEIGHBORS’ SALVATION TOMORROW.

At the end of this passage the Psalmist says that others will be watching us. What will they see?

Just like the prisoners were watching Paul and Silas in that cold prison in Philippi…and listening as they sang praises to God at midnight, those around us will be watching. What will they see?

They will see that we as Christians, are not shocked by trials. We have them too! They will watch as we patiently turn to the Lord and pray. They will watch as God saves us. They will notice that we will not take credit but give glory to God through our new song. This will lead many to see that there is something different about our faith.

Can you see the power of this faith cycle?

(the above is a summary of the message shared during worship on September 24, 2023.)

Genesis 35:1-15

After the wrestling match with the mysterious stranger, Esau finally arrives with his four hundred men. Contrary to Jacob’s fears of Esau’s anger and retaliation, Esau runs to Jacob, genuinely happy to see his younger brother. Esau too has been blessed with wealth and is no longer angry with Jacob. Jacob refused all offered help from Esau and promises to meet later in Seir. But Jacob still has no desire to spend any more time with Esau and proceeds to Succoth. Then he moves on to Shechem.

In Genesis 34, we read about sordid events surrounding Dinah, the daughter between Leah and Jacob. While she was visiting the women of the area, she is raped by Shechem, son of Hamor, who sold Jacob his land. Shechem ends up falling in love with Dinah and wants to marry her.

Hamor and Shechem meet with Jacob’s sons to negotiate an agreement where Shechem would marry Dinah. The sons of Jacob tell them that this could only happen if every male in the city is circumcised. If they would do that, then they would not only allow Shechem to marry Dinah, but they would become part of that community.  This sounded good to Hamor and Shechem and they convince the men of the city that this would be beneficial to them. They agree and all the males are circumcised.

Two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, had no intention of becoming part of the community nor letting Shechem marry Dinah. While the men of the city were still in pain from the circumcision, Simeon and Levi entered the city with a sword and killed all the males. Then the other brothers joined in and plundered the city, taking all the women, children, flocks and wealth.

We now come to this morning’s passage. God tells Jacob to go to Bethel and settle there. They were also to make an altar to God, who appeared to Jacob when he was fleeing from his brother Esau. Before going to Bethel and building an altar to God, Jacob has the people put away all the foreign gods, purify themselves, and change their clothes.

God put a terror upon all the cities around so that no one dared attack them on the way to Bethel, which at the time was called Luz. God appears to Jacob and blesses him. Jacob is to be called Israel from now on. God promises to give Jacob the land that He promised to Abraham and Isaac. He also promises to give Jacob’s offspring the land. In response, Jacob sets up a pillar where God had spoken to him and named the place Bethel.

The narrative then goes on to describe how Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. It also tells of Reuben, the oldest son, sinning by sleeping with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Then it tells of how Isaac died at the age of one hundred eighty years and how Esau and Jacob together buried him.

But before moving on to the story of Joseph, all of chapter thirty-six is devoted to Esau and his descendants. It even points out that several of Esau’s descendants become kings over their lands, before Israel ever had a king. Looking back, it is surprising how sympathetically and generously Esau is depicted. All the trickery and cheating are attributed to Jacob, the elected one, rather than Esau. It is a good reminder that when the narrative focuses on the line of Abraham that leads to the nation of Israel (and to Jesus Christ), it is not like He only cares about Israel.

Besides the unexpected focus on Esau, it is also curious that the whole sordid episode of Dinah is preserved, as well as the account of Reuben sleeping with Bilhah. We see that Genesis is not a whitewashed version of Israel’s past.

When God calls to Jacob to go back to Bethel, without being commanded, Jacob feels the need to cleanup before he goes there – Putting away idols, purifying themselves and changing their clothes. This most likely comes from the fact that Jacob’s sons had used circumcision, the sign of the covenant with God, to commit mass murder and plunder.  They needed to cleanse themselves before going on.

Once an altar to God is built, God reiterates the new name that is given to Jacob – Israel – As well as the promise of a great nation through Jacob.

What these last two chapters point out is that Israel cannot leave the promised land, but also, it cannot eliminate the other inhabitants. They will need to live among other peoples, and they will need to figure out how not to defile God’s name and how to be a blessing to others.

It is the same for us. Once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our lives need to show devotion to God and to the Lord’s commands of loving God and loving others. Among us will always be others who are not part of God’s kingdom. We too will need to figure out how to avoid defiling God’s name and at the same time be witnesses to those around us.

It can be difficult at times, since we are inundated with temptations of chasing after things that are not of God. We constantly sin through our actions, inactions, words and thoughts. Like Jacob and his people, we need to purify ourselves and go meet God. We need to acknowledge our sins, confess them and ask for forgiveness. God will then forgive and refresh us so that we can go about doing the Kingdom work for which we were created and saved.

Bethel was the place of promise and hope for Jacob. After committing a great sin against his father and brother, God promised Jacob that he would return safely someday to this place. After the atrocity done to the city of Shechem, Jacob once again needed to go back to Bethel where God would give him another fresh start.

For us, Christ and the work He did on the cross is what gives us God’s forgiveness, the promise of eternal life, and the vocation of doing Kingdom work. We will often sin and fail, but we can always go back to the promises of God. When we turn to Him, even after a grave sin, He will forgive us and refresh us, so that once again, we go about doing His work – To be witnesses to those near and far that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

(The above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano at our worship on 09/10/2023.)

I John 1:1-3

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

We’ve been looking at God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. God promised not only to bless Abraham with many children that would become a great nation; but that through this people, the entire world would be blessed. We’ve also seen that this is God’s plan – to bless the entire world! And amazingly, God desires to bless the entire world through us, God’s people.

But how do we do that….in a specific sense? We’ve used the acrostic BLESS, and looked at 5 natural ways that we can bless people around us and reach out to them with the good news of Jesus:

1. Begin with Prayer
2. Listen with Care
3. Eat together
4. Serve with love
5. Share your story (the story of Jesus in your life)

Today we’re looking at this last step – to actually share our own story about what God has done for us; what Jesus means to us. In some ways this last step in the BLESS process (how we can be a blessing to those around us who still don’t know Jesus) …. may feel like the most difficult.

What words do we use? What stories do we share? Of course, we want to talk about what Jesus means to us. What God has done for us. The story of salvation. God’s love for us.

1. Sharing Your  Story will come naturally – when it’s part of BLESSing others.

Sometimes we’re afraid of sharing our story because we feel pushy, boring, fanatical, and we don’t want to bother people. But sharing will follow naturally from praying, listening, eating, and serving, earlier steps that we’ve been talking about. To put it differently, those first steps have allowwed us to “earn their ear.”

Usually the problem comes in preaching at people too directly, without context. When I was in college we were challenged to share our faith with total strangers using the well-known booklet, the “Four Spiritual Laws”. While there is nothing wrong with this….and it’s been a tract that has been used with great results – it often falls into the trap of “talking AT people” without really knowing them…or understanding what their felt needs might be.

2. When Sharing Your Story – you don’t need to know everything…. But you need to know Jesus.

Another fear we have is that we won’t know everything. We feel that we don’t understand scripture adequately ourselves. What if they ask questions I can’t answer? This is natural but again, it’s also natural to say “I don’t know that one. But I DO know what Jesus has done for me.”

I John 1:1-3 – our text for today states it clearly. “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard.”

God has NOT asked us to explain Christianity, although that may be a good thing at times. God has NOT asked us to compare Christianity with other religions, although that might also be an excellent exercise. I love doing that and have often had chances to do so with Japanese friends. But those conversations, while interesting, almost always go nowhere in terms of helping people meet Jesus.

If my task as a missionary had been to convince people to change religions – I would have been so discouraged in Japan. Fortunately, God has asked me to do something else – to simply talk about my experience of Jesus.

So maybe getting ready to BLESS others by sharing our story means doing some soul searching about whether or not we’ve really set aside Christ as Lord in our heart, in the very core of who we are? Have I really seen Jesus recently? Have I heard from him recently?

I need to make sure that I have seen and heard from Jesus recently. I need to first have this relationship and then speak simply about it. That is my task!

In John 15:5 we have Jesus sharing these words with his disciples: “I am the Vine, your are the branches.  If you stay connected to me, you (sharing your story) will bear much fruit. If you’re not connected to me, you can do nothing (sharing your story will lack power).

We don’t need to know everything. But we want to know Jesus!

3. Sharing Your Story is not really a TASK, it’s a RESULT.

In Acts 3 we have the story of Peter and John healing a lame man in front of the temple. Although this should be reason for great rejoicing, the religious leaders are upset….and Peter and John are then called in and asked to account for the authority by which they did this. “In the name of Jesus” was their reply. Later, both the man who was healed, as well as his parents are called before the authorities to answer questions. Finally, Peter and John are again called before the religious leaders and firmly told “stop speaking about this Jesus.” But here was their famous reply:

“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:20

There’s a sense in which their experience with Jesus, as well as the post-pentecost indwelling of the Holy Spirit, has created within them an almost irresistible need to share. Even if they tried, they couldn’t keep quiet!

Some of us may feel that we have little to share. I’ve often felt that way. My life isn’t very dramatic. I don’t have the spiritual power that Peter and John had. I’ve never miraculously healed anyone. No one is marveling at my faith. No one is saying “Wow, it’s so clear Tim that you’ve been with Jesus.” But we need to be careful. Peter and John’s strong witness had nothing to do with them either. Neither of them were powerful on their own. It was because of Jesus in their lives, because of the Holy Spirit working through them that they had such an impact.

Although “sharing your story” is often difficult and may even require courage at times… we look forward to the time when talking about Jesus is not so much a TASK that we crank up our courage for…. but instead that it becomes the natural RESULT of knowing Jesus.

I’m reminded of the old hymn my parents taught me and my siblings.

I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY

IT WILL BE MY THEME IN GLORY

TO TELL THAT OLD (AND CURRENT) STORY

OF JESUS, AND HIS LOVE

CONCLUSION

1. Sharing our story is natural, when part of a larger Blessing
2. When sharing our story, we don’t need to know everything, but we need to know Jesus
3. Sharing our story is not a TASK, but a RESULT

This challenges us to go deeper in our own relationship with Jesus. And this will result in maximum blessings for ourselves…. And for others!

Genesis 32:22-32

After Joseph was born to Rachel, Jacob asked Laban to let him go back home with his wives and children. But Laban did not want to let Jacob go yet, since it was obvious that Laban’s wealth was growing because God was favoring Jacob. So, they made a deal that Jacob would gather all the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, as well as every black lamb for himself. Then going forward, all the young animals that are born with similar coloring would belong to Jacob, but all the usual-colored ones would belong to Laban.

Laban decided to cheat Jacob and went ahead and removed all the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, as well as all the black lambs, before Jacob could get them. So, Jacob placed striped rods when the strong animals were breeding, and all the young came out to be Jacob’s. When the weaker animals were breeding, Jacob would not place the striped rods, and the weaker offspring came out to be Laban’s. Through this method, Jacob became exceedingly rich.

Even though Jacob believed in his methodology, it makes no sense to us that the markings of the young animals would depend on whether Jacob placed a striped rod in front of the breeding animals or not. It had all to do with God’s intent to build a nation through Jacob.

Laban’s sons started to talk about how Jacob was somehow stealing from the family, so Jacob decides to flee back home with his family and possessions. Jacob had worked twenty years in total for Laban. He started with nothing, and now he was a very wealthy man.

As Jacob got closer to home, he remembered what he had done to Esau twenty years previous, and that Esau had vowed to kill Jacob. So, he sends messengers ahead to Esau, to explain what has happened since he left. Then the messengers returned with the alarming news that Esau is on his way with four hundred men. Jacob divides his people and possessions into two groups, thinking that if Esau attacked one group, the other could escape.

Then Jacob prays to God, reminding Him that He promised to protect Jacob and would bring him back to the land. He then divides his group into three and sends them ahead in intervals. Each group was to tell Esau that these animals are gifts for him from Jacob. Jacob and his family stayed behind in the camp. And now we come to this morning’s passage.

Jacob sends his two wives and their servants and their children ahead across the river. Knowing Jacob, he did this so if Esau destroys everything that was sent ahead, and his family, Jacob still might be able to escape with his life.

Jacob is now prepared as much as he can be for the anticipated meeting with Esau. However, he ends up having an encounter that he did not anticipate. Jacob is attacked by a mysterious man, and they wrestle throughout the night.

It apparently was an even match. Then the stranger strikes Jacob on the hip and dislocates it. Jacob still hangs on, not letting the man go.

As the day is breaking, the stranger asks Jacob to let go. Sensing an advantage, Jacob asks for a blessing in return for releasing the man. Instead, the stranger gives Jacob a new name – Israel.

Then Jacob asks the stranger for his name. The stranger does not reveal his name, but blesses Jacob, and departs. Whether Jacob lets the man go or the man simply goes on his own, the text does not say. But Jacob is sure that he just had an encounter with God and survived. Jacob got the blessing he wanted, but now he is marked with a limp, presumably for the rest of his life.

There is much that is intentionally ambiguous in this passage.  At the beginning of the encounter, we have no idea who this stranger is that attacks Jacob. The narrative leads us to the conclusion that the stranger is God. Then this makes us wonder why God would have to ask Jacob to let Him go, or why He needs to go because the day is breaking? The English translation of this passage has the meaning of Israel as “. . . striven with God and with humans and has prevailed.” But the fact that Jacob’s hip is now dislocated and that he will carry a limp going forward, while the stranger went away unscathed, would lead us to think that Jacob did not really win the physical fight.

Many aspects of this narrative remain open to interpretation and have been interpreted/explained in a variety of ways by scholars and preachers. But what is clear is that here, Jacob receives the name Israel, and this signifies changes in his life, as well as the beginnings of a nation that was to play a special role in God’s plans.

Besides the obvious limp, we can see that Jacob is now changed in the next section, Genesis 33:1-3:

¹Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. ²He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother.

While the old Jacob would have put himself at the very back of the procession, Israel now stands in front of the procession. The unexpected encounter with God had changed and prepared Jacob for the encounter with Esau that he feared so much.

Although our encounters with God are probably not as dramatic as Jacob’s vision of a ladder to heaven or a wrestling match at Jabbok, God encountered us in a way that touched us. Our lives too will change if we acknowledge God and accept His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior. We stop living just for ourselves. Like Jacob, we start the work to build a nation – The Kingdom of God.

When we face difficulties in our lives, we will find that facing God before facing the difficulty will help us to get through it. Jacob feared his encounter with Esau, but after his encounter with God, he was able to face Esau head-on. Of course, Israel still has a bit of Jacob left in him – He lies to Esau that they will meet at Seir, but instead, settles at Succoth. It is like that with us also – God will transform us step-by-step.

Jacob, although he received his new name, Israel, does not instantly become the nation of God. For us too, it will take time. But God will be with us each step along the way.

(The above is a summary of the message shared with us by Shun Takano at worship on August 27, 2023)

Genesis 29:15-30

Jacob finally reaches the land where his mother, Rebekah, is from. He sees some shepherds at the well and asks them if they know Laban, his uncle. They reply that they do know Laban, and then inform Jacob that Laban’s daughter, Rachel, is now approaching the well with her father’s sheep.

Jacob runs to Rachel, rolls away the large stone so that she can water the sheep, and introduces himself. Rachel runs back home and tells Laban, and Laban comes and invites Jacob to his house, and ends up staying there for a month. This brings us to this morning’s passage.

Jacob falls in love with Rachel and agrees to work for Laban for seven years so he can marry her. But at the end of seven years, Laban tricks Jacob and he ends up married to Leah, the older sister. When confronted by an angry Jacob, Laban’s excuse is that the custom of the country is for the older daughter to marry before the younger daughter. He offers to also give Rachel to Jacob after a week, if he commits to work Laban for an additional seven years. Jacob agrees, and his life with four women – Leah and her maid Zilpah, and Rachel and her maid Bilhah – begins.

When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb but kept Rachel barren. Leah gave birth to Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.

A baby war ensues and in Genesis 30, we find that Rachel, since she was barren, demands that Jacob use her maid, Bilhah to have babies. Bilhah gives birth to Dan and Naphtali. Not to be outdone, Leah gives her maid, Zilpah to Jacob and she gives birth to Gad and Asher.

Then Leah gives birth to two more sons – Issachar and Zebulun – and a daughter, Dinah. Rachel finally gets pregnant and gives birth to Jospeh. We also find in Genesis 35 that Rachel gives birth to Benjamin, and Rachel dies while giving birth.

In summary, thirteen children – twelve sons and one daughter – are born to Jacob through four women:

• Leah – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah
• Bilhah (Rachel’s maid) – Dan and Naphtali
• Zilpah (Leah’s maid) – Gad and Asher
• Rachel – Joseph and Benjamin

Eventually we will learn that Jacob will receive the name, Israel, from the LORD, and Jacob’s twelve sons will become ancestors to the twelve tribes of Israel. Later in the story of the nation of Israel, there is no tribe called Joseph, but there will be the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim – They are the two sons who will be born to Joseph in Egypt and will be considered half-tribes.

Joseph will play a major role later in Genesis, and from the list of mothers, we see why Joseph will have special regards for Benjamin. Benjamin is the only full brother among his siblings.

So far in Genesis, we see a pattern where contrary to human custom of giving priority to the oldest offspring, God seems to favor the younger, with no explanation given. God accepts Able’s offering but rejects Cain’s – Cain was the older brother. Abraham’s firstborn son was Ishmael, and although God blessed him also, the one chosen to carry on the promise was the younger son, Isaac. From the time Esau and Jacob were in their mother’s womb, God chooses the younger, Jacob, to carry on the promise to Abraham.

When Jacbo falls in love with Rachel, the younger daughter, it seems that the pattern of the younger sibling being chosen is continuing. However, when we look at which children came from which mother, we see that this is not the case. Even though Rachel’s sons end up playing major roles, it is Leah’s sons that have a primary role in Israel’s history. Moses and Aaron will come from the line of Levi, which means that the savior and liberator of Israel, as well as the priestly line will come through Leah’s sons. Also, through Judah will come David, Solomon and Jesus. God blessed the unloved Leah.

Rachel, the beloved of Jacob, also has offspring that play major roles. Joseph will end up becoming prime minister of Egypt at a time of crisis caused by a prolonged drought and ends up saving not only Egypt but the surrounding countries and the future of the nation of Israel. Also, Paul, from the tribe of Benjamin will end up becoming the greatest evangelist and the author of 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament.

In the narrative about Jacob, we see people trying to secure a piece of God’s promise. They scheme, lie, cheat and trick people so that they can have a better future. Rebekah wanted to make sure that Jacob gets all the blessings by lying and tricking her husband and her elder son. Jacob goes along with his mother’s schemes and puts them into action. Laban wants the piece of the future for himself and both of his daughters, so tricks Jacob into marrying Leah. Jacob tries to make a deal with God at Bethel, and then will scheme himself into becoming wealthy.

For us who were born into the New Testament period, we do not have to worry about being part of God’s kingdom. We do not have to compete with others to be a part of it. We do not have to scheme, cheat or trick others to make our possibilities better. Thanks to the work done on the cross by Jesus Christ, anyone who is willing to accept Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior can be a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

When we reach high school age, we start thinking and planning for the intermediate future of joining society and the workforce. The type of work we think we want to do will determine whether we will continue with schooling or not.  It will also determine what kind of income we will most likely have, which in turn will determine what we will most likely be able to afford in the type of housing, location, vehicles, lifestyle, etc.

If we marry and start a family, we will start planning for the future of our children – What we can provide for their future education, wedding, etc. As the children start to get older and they enter society as adults, we start focusing on when to retire and how to prepare for that.

Once we retire, we no longer focus on our own long-term future, since our remaining time on earth is getting shorter, so our focus turns to our short-term future, as well as the future of our kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Like Rebekah, Jacob, Laban, Leah and Rachel, we are all concerned about the future, and we will do what we can to secure it. But a lot of what will happen is not under our control. Sometimes things work out the way we plan, but other times, they go in an unexpected direction. This could be due to no fault of our own – Illness, economy, environment, politics, etc.

We cannot control the future, nor stop it from coming. There is a part of us that is excited for the future, but there is also part of us that fears it. However, one thing about the future that we can be sure of is that if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then our spiritual future is assured. And even though we cannot assure our children’s or our grandchildren’s or great grandchildren’s salvation and eternal life, we can devote ourselves to the be the best witnesses to them, so that they too can be saved.

(the above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano at our August 20, 2023 worship.)

Mark 7:31-37

We continue our sermon series today with our 4th letter of the acronym “BLESS”. You’ll remember that we’ve been studying together on how we can bless those around us. How can our lives be used by God to bless others? How can we best share this good news of the gospel with those we come in contact with? Our text and model for this is God’s promise in Genesis to Abraham… where God promises to make Abraham into a great nation….and to then bless the entire world through him.

God told Abraham: “I will bless you and make you a great nation, a great people. And then through you I will bless the whole world.”

This is God’s mission. It is His desire to bless the whole world. And He chooses to do it, not independently, but through his people. We too, can be part of this mission. God has blessed us, and it is God’s desire that we now bless others.

How can we do this?

We’ve used the acronym BLESS to consider 5 different activities:

1. Begin with Prayer
2. Listen with Care
3. Eat together
4. Serve with Love
5. Share your story

Today our theme is to “serve with love”.

After we’ve prayed to be available, after God has led us to someone, after listening with care to truly understand and know them, after eating and sharing meals and times of food together….

Then, the next step is to find ways to serve them with love.

What are their needs? What could we do for them? That is today’s theme. As always, Jesus will be our example of how to “serve with love”. In Mark 10:45 (which is a bit farther in the gospel than our text for today) Jesus says the following about serving others with love. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Our text today is from Mark 7:31-37, where Jesus heals the man who was unable to hear or speak.

In this account, Jesus has traveled a long ways….and people bring to him a person who cannot hear or speak. They beg Jesus to lay his hands on this man and heal him. Jesus does so in a very loving way and the people are amazed. I want to highlight just three aspects of this account:

1. Jesus has traveled a long way but he serves one who is brought to him. He serves someone who is right in front of him, close by

I believe God intends for us to serve those who are close to us. We may travel to another country as a missionary, we may fly across the country for work. We may cover vast distances, but when we serve others in love, it will be someone close.

Obviously, there are ways to serve and love those who are far away. We are being called on to pray for, to give toward, the people of Puerto Rico, Houston, Florida, or Mexico. We maybe can’t go there but our prayers and offerings matter.

But in our mission to bless others, the people we will be serving are close at hand. A family member?, someone you just met on the street?, a neighbor?  Take a moment to think about the needy that are near you.

2. Jesus reaches out to this man very sensitively, with love

This is where our term “serving in LOVE” becomes important. He takes the man aside – away from the crowd.

Maybe this person has been made fun of because he can’t talk properly. We don’t know. But Jesus very sensitively takes him away from the crowd and to a quiet spot by themselves.  He puts his fingers in the man’s ears, touches his tongue and then looking up to heaven groans, sighs, moans, feels the man’s pain, becomes personally involved – and then says “Epatha”, be open! 

3. Jesus heals him with power

When we serve others in love it’s important to remember that we do so with God’s power. No, we’re not Jesus so we may not have the same power Christ had. Yet, as the Father sent the Son, and the Son sent the Spirit, scripture tells us that the Spirit has sent us, – and given us the same authority that Jesus had!

In other words, we are not to just see our serving others as a “good deed”, but instead as an act that embodies the power of God.  Maybe we can’t perform miracles ourselves, but we believe in miracles for others. When people are sick, we pray for their healing, even though we may have no power to heal them ourselves. When people are caught in addiction, we pray that they will be set free! – not just survive, but actually freed from bondage. We don’t have that power, but we believe God does. When serving others in love, it’s important to remember that God’s power and blessing is working THROUGH us! It’s not us, it’s God!

Close your eyes with me…..

• Think of someone close to you.
• Think of what you can do, and how you can do it sensitively.
• Believe that God is using you, that His power is flowing through your actions.

“Lord Jesus, we are yours. Please use us today….that we may serve others in love.”

(The above is a summary of the sermon that was shared during worship on August 6, 2023.)

Matthew 9:9-13

Several weeks ago we began a sermon series called “BLESS”.  It is based on Genesis 12:1-3 where God said to Abraham “I will bless you… in order that all nations will be blessed by you.”  When Jesus later said “Love God, Love Neighbor” it was another way of saying “thank God for how much He has blessed you, and make it your life work to bless those around you.”

We are loved by God….. so that we can love others.

We are reached  by God…. So that we can reach out to others.

We are saved by God… so that we can participate in the saving of others.

We are blessed by God…. So that we can be a blessing to others.

How can we love our neighbor? How can we bless our neighbor? How can we do that? We often feel so weak and unable to do so. This is the theme of our sermon series: BLESS

1. Begin with Prayer. 2. Listen with care 3. Eat together  4. Serve in Love  5. Share your story

Our theme this week is EATING. Eating together…..

When you think of Jesus and what he did on earth, what do you think of? Teaching, healing, dying on the cross…. But have you been aware of how many texts in the gospels have to do with Jesus eating with people?

• Feeding the 5,000 miraculously
• Enjoying the wedding feast in Cana and providing miraculous wine!
• Sharing the Passover (a last supper) with his disciples before he died
• Cooking fish for several of his disciples on the banks of Lake Galilee after the resurrection.
• Today’s text of attending a party of Matthew’s friends.

There are many texts with eating!

In our text for today, Matthew was so pleased to have been “called” by Jesus that it says “he followed”. He then calls all his friends together to celebrate and introduce them to Jesus. It wasn’t the elegant dinner party – it was most likely beer and bratts with chips on the side.  Jesus was criticized here for “eating with these sinners”.  

Of course, it’s not that some people were sinners…and some weren’t – “sinners” here refers to those who were openly involved in certain activities (prostitution, tax-collecting, common thievery, etc.) Jesus seems unconcerned with how he might be perceived. When he responds that “it’s the sick that need a doctor” he’s not really saying that Matthew and his friends are sick, while the religious teachers are healthy. He’s challenging them to live by the words of the Old Testament that they profess.  “God is more interested in mercy and compassion than He is in sacrifices and the keeping of religious rules.”

Jesus knows that eating with Matthew and his friends is the BEST way to reach out and bless them, to love them. Partying together is much better – and more fun – than judging others!

Who Do We Eat With?

• Sometimes I enjoy eating alone. Many people hate it. But usually I enjoy eating with others.
• My wife Andrea says that “happy family meals together” are her absolutely greatest joy and best memories – experiences to be treasured above all others.
• Have you ever noticed that we don’t eat with enemies. Why?  We seem to innately understand that eating is a sacred and wonderful thing. An act of thanksgiving and celebration. It’s almost impossible to do with people we don’t like.

Eating is not just a biological necessity, it is also a social and relational necessity.

Here is a quote I read recently:    “Sharing meals together on a regular basis is one of the most sacred practices we can engage in as believers. Missional hospitality is a tremendous opportunity to extend the kingdom of God. We can literally eat our way into the kingdom of God! If every Christian household regularly invited a stranger or a poor person into their home for a meal once a week, we would literally change the world by eating!”

Missional Eating – I like that phrase…

Obstacles to Eating Together

• I don’t have time (I barely eat with my own family)
• I don’t have time to clean the house
• I can’t cook

Yet, all of these can and should be able to be overcome if we really understood the sacred privilege and power of eating together.

I love that our church has a history of sharing lunch each Sunday!

• It requires a lot of work on someone’s part each Sunday
• Sometimes we’re uncomfortable about where to sit….or who to talk to.
• Yet, it’s a powerful and important part of our life together!

Conclusion:

Close your eyes with me. Think of our BLESS actions so far.

• Beginning with prayer… we tell God we’re available and that we desire to be instruments of blessing others.
• We make it a point to listen carefully and well to others. We really try to understand peoples’ world and situations before we start preaching or expressing opinions.
• And then thirdly, we seek opportunities to eat with people. Who might you eat with this week? Who might you invite over to your home for a meal?

Lord Jesus, help us this week to bless others, to love our neighbor, through eating together! Amen.

(The above is a summary of the message shared during worship on July 30, 2023.)

Genesis 28:10-22

Last time we covered how Isaac and Rebekah met. After that, Abraham dies at the age of 175 years. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. They were childless for twenty years, so Isaac prayed to the Lord, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins.

The two fought each other while still in the womb, and Rebekah asked the LORD what this was all about. The LORD tells her that there are two ancestors of nations inside her, but the older would end up serving the younger.

When it was time to give birth, Esau came out first, and Jacob second. Esau was hairy and a skilled hunter – a real outdoors type of a man. Jacob was a quiet man who liked to stay at home. Isaac favored Esau, since Isaac liked to eat game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

In ways we don’t understand, Esau had the birthright, and the blessing was also supposed to be given to Esau by his father, Isaac. But Jacob ends up buying the birthright from Esau with bread and stew, since Esau was hungry.

When Isaac was old and his eyesight was failing, Isaac decided it was time to bless Esau. He tells Esau to go hunt game and prepare a meal with it so that he could bless Esau. Rebekah overhears this and schemes for Jacob to get blessed by Isaac using trickery. She prepares a meal and has Jacob pretend to be Esau, by wearing Esau’s clothes and covering his hands and neck with goat skin so that his father would think it is Esau. Jacob obeys his mother, gets Isaac drunk, and steals the blessing.

The trickery is discovered when Esau comes back with game, prepares a meal, and brings it to Isaac. When they realize that they have been tricked, they are angry, but there is nothing they can do to reverse it. Through being blessed and owning the birthright, Jacob now is the leader over Esau.

Esau swears that he will kill Jacob, and Rebekah tells Jacob to run away to his uncle Laban’s house. Fearing for his life, Jacob starts his journey to Rebekah’s family. We pick up Jacob’s story with this morning’s passage.

The LORD speaks to Jacob in a dream. The vision he sees is a ladder, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. God did not create the world and then just step back and watch it go its own way – He is intimately connected and concerned with the world, sending His messengers to earth.

The LORD informs Jacob that He is the God of Abraham and Isaac. Jacob must have heard about the LORD from his parents and was familiar with the promise that was given to Abraham. Further, the LORD tells Jacob that he will be carrying on the promise and that Jacob’s descendants will become a great nation who will bless all the families of the earth. The LORD assures Jacob that wherever he goes, He will protect him and will bring him back to the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob.

Jacob senses that this is a special place – the place where heaven and earth meet. He calls it “Bethel”, the house of God.

It is interesting that even though he is in awe, Jacob is still trying to make a deal with God. His promises to make the LORD his God, as well as give a tenth of his possessions, only if God will keep him safe and give him food to eat and clothes to wear.

If a church was looking for someone to be a pastor, one would not choose someone like Jacob. Someone who will lie and cheat to get what he wants and tries to negotiate with God. But we must be reminded that God is not looking for a someone to fill a position – He is looking to build a nation. So, the lesson here is certainly not that we can act like Jacob and God will bless us for it. Jacob was chosen not because of what he did, but in spite of it.

It is interesting that Jesus refers to Jacob’s ladder in John 1:51 – “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Through Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection, He becomes the one who connects earth to heaven. By accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are assured of forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And unlike Jacob’s ladder, Jesus is not restricted to just to one place. We do not have to travel to Bethel – We can meet Jesus anywhere and whenever.

Let us be like Jacob in feeling the awe of our connection to heaven through Jesus Christ. But let us not be like Jacob in lying, cheating, scheming and trying to negotiate with God. Let us simply declare that the LORD is our God and that all we have is His.

(The above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano with us during our worship on July 23, 2023.)