I am Pastor Nathan, and this morning we're going
to be looking at what is the beginning of Jacob's
return to the promised land. And the thing that
kind of frames the front bookend of this part
of his story is a story that I've heard over
the years from many different people. I myself
have experienced, and some of you may have experienced,
but the story goes this way. There's a worker
who's been working faithfully at a company for
years and years and years. And over those years,
this worker became somebody that everybody could
count on. Somebody that everybody trusted to
show up early and to leave late. And they become
the problem solver and the trainer of new hires.
And they're just invaluable to their employer.
But unfortunately, every time promotion time
comes up, they get overlooked. Somebody else
gets the promotion somebody else gets the raise
and to make it worse the boss Knew that the company
was thriving largely because of this person's
efforts I don't know if you've ever been in that
situation, but it's sadly not uncommon. And maybe
you've experienced it in your workplace. Maybe
you experience this type of thing in your home
life where you find yourself at times feeling
unappreciated, feeling overlooked, or maybe even
taken advantage of when you're doing everything
that you know to do that is right and honest
and appropriate. This is exactly where we find
Jacob here in Genesis 30. We're going to be in
verses 25 through 43 today. And at this point
in Jacob's life, he's been working for his uncle
Laban for about 14 years. And he's about to embark
on another four years of labor. And he did all
of this just to marry the woman he loved. Rachel,
the woman he wanted to be with, and yet through
all of the mess and the deception and the duplicity,
everything, through all of it, God's hand was
still on Jacob's life. And that is the big lesson
for us today. You know, some of us have mess
in our life, and you've all heard the phrase,
Lord, bless this mess. Because we go through
things, we go through difficulties, and as we've
seen in Jacob's life already, sometimes we bring
it upon ourselves through our own disobedience,
through our own bad decisions. But there are
times in our lives where we find ourselves in
the middle of a mess, even when we feel like
we're doing everything right, even when we're
being obedient. And those times where we find
ourselves there, whether it's a bad boss, a bad
company, or even a dysfunctional family, the
prayer that could come across our lips is, Lord,
Bless this mess. And so the text we're looking
at this morning really shows us something that
I think every believer needs to hear, probably
needs to hear every single day, and it's simply
this, that God's promises don't stop even though
you find yourself in an unfair workplace. God's
promises don't stop even when you find yourself
laboring under a bad boss or a bad employer.
God's blessings aren't limited by difficult people.
And then God can take the worst situations and
weave his faithfulness through all of it. Because
God is in the business of turning trials into
triumphs. And so Jacob's story reminds us that
God can and does bless his people right in the
middle of the mess. And that is a beautiful hope
that we have. And really, the question or the
thought for us today as we go through this is,
if God can turn Jacob's workplace trials into
a blessing, he could redeem yours as well. So,
but before we get into the Word today, we're
going to spend some time worshiping God because
He is worth it. He is almighty. He is glorious.
He is the Savior of our soul. He is the one who
loves us the way no one ever can because God
has a love for us that is beyond our understanding.
But to be able to experience it, to be able to
live under that banner of love is just such an
amazing thing. And of course, we want to praise
Him for that. Amen? Let's pray. Father, We love
you so much. God, we are so grateful that you
sent your son to this earth to die for us, to
live this perfect life without sin and yet to
suffer the death that we all deserve to die.
And yet, God, it is a process that we have faith
in because, Lord, you promised that if we believe
in you, if we trust in you, Lord, that we are
saved. It doesn't mean that we've cleaned our
act up. It doesn't mean that we're great and
good people, Lord. It simply means that you love
us and you save us because we believe in you
and what you did. And God, that is just amazing.
And so, Lord, so much of our life is a mess,
God, because we live with our born -again soul
right up against our fallen nature. And Lord,
as the Apostle Paul said, these two things war
against each other. And so often the result of
that is just mess. But Lord, we know you bless
in the middle of that. And I pray, God, today
that you would even encourage us, Lord, those
that may be in this room this morning are in
the middle of a difficult situation, a place
where they're maybe feeling underappreciated
and taken advantage of, Lord, that they would
be encouraged today, Lord, that you work even
in the middle of the mess and that your blessings
can come right there where they're at. Lord.
We ask that you would be blessed today as we
praise you, God. Lord, you are just so wonderful.
Thank you for every blessing, God. We love you
so much. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's
worship church. All right. Well, I couldn't have
landed on a better spot in Genesis right before
Labor Day than the study that deals with Jacob's
workplace problems. And so we're going to be
looking at all of that today. And so we're going
to be in Genesis chapter 30, verses 25 through
43. But just to set the context here a little
bit, you know, remember back in Genesis 28, Jacob
had this wonderful vision at Bethel as he was
fleeing his homeland under threat of death because
he had deceived and stole from both his brother
and his father. And so now he was fleeing for
his life. under the auspices of, hey, go find
a wife from our family in the north. And so he
has this vision at Bethel, these angels going
up and down on this staircase or ladder, whatever
you want to call it. And there God was just reminding
him that, Jacob, there is nowhere you can go
that I am not. There is nowhere you could run
to that I won't be there with you doing business
on your behalf because I am your God. And so
with that encouragement, Jacob heard the promises
reiterated to him by the Lord where the Lord
said, hey, the promises that I gave to Abraham
that went to your father Isaac that are now to
you is you are going to inherit this promised
land. You are going to have a people that you
and yourself, your offspring are going to grow
and be more numerous than the stars in the sky
and the sand in the sea. And you and your people
are going to be a blessing to the entire world.
And then God kind of closed off that whole moment
there where he told Jacob, I am with you and
I will keep you wherever you go. That's a huge
promise for us to hang on to as God's children.
Because every time we find ourselves in a mess,
we tend to freak out a little bit, maybe forget
God's with us, start getting concerned with,
I've got to figure this out, and I've got to
come up with all the plans and the way out, and
all that type of stuff is fine, but we can't
let that override the reality that God is with
us, that God has promised to be with us in whatever
our circumstances are, no matter what we're going
through, God is there. After that wonderful event,
Jacob continued up to Haran where he met with
his family, and he met right there when he arrived
what would be the love of his life, Rachel, the
woman he wanted to spend his life with. And so
he ended up working seven years for the right
to marry her, and the Bible gives us that wonderfully
romantic moment where it's like, oh, but it was
but a few days for him. You know, and we all
go, oh, every time we read that, right? But after
those seven years, his crafty uncle Laban tricked
him into marrying his older daughter Leah instead
of Rachel, to which Jacob obviously objected
to. But then Laban used that to extort another
seven years of labor out of him for the right
to marry Rachel. And so now Jacob, during this
second seven years, his family had begun to grow
as he started having children. Leah, the unloved,
the unnoticed. wife was the first one to bear
sons. God had given her that great blessing to
not only be the first to bear sons in the family,
but she also gave birth to those that would be
directly in the line of the Levitical priests,
that she gave birth to Levi, and the kingly line
as she gave birth to Judah, which ultimately
the Messiah would come from. What a great honor
for her. But through that, you had Rachel, who
was then barren, entered into battle. trying
to outbirth Leah because she wanted to be the
number one woman in the family. And so this battle
of babies would ultimately produce 12 sons. Through
all of this chaos and all of this mess and all
of this difficulty, what God worked through this
was the foundation of the 12 tribes of Israel,
the men that these tribes came from. And so just
a reminder again that out of all the human scheming
and all the human fighting and all the human
striving for blessing or position, God still
worked his sovereign plan through it because
God had made promises that were dependent on
him and his character, meaning there was nothing
man could do to derail those promises. And so
that brings us to Genesis chapter 30, verse 25,
where we pick up the story here in Jacob's life.
It says, after Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob
said to Laban, send me on my way so that I could
return to my homeland. Give me my wives and my
children that I have worked for and let me go.
You know how hard I have worked for you. So 14
years, Jacob has been working for his conniving
uncle Laban. building his uncle Laban's prosperity,
building his business, growing his flocks, all
of this stuff. And for the first seven years,
I imagine it was elation for him. He was anticipating
the marriage to the love of his life, Rachel.
The second seven years, however, I think were
in grudging acceptance that he had been outwitted
by his uncle, that he had been outsmarted by
him. But during this time, His family's growing,
and he comes to the end of this, and now he's
telling his uncle, send me on my way. Let me
go. I've done the time. I've fulfilled the obligation.
Send me away. And the reason here is because
Jacob is ready to prepare or to provide for his
own household. You see, during this whole time,
he has been laboring and making his uncles. family
rich. And it's interesting here, he goes, give
me my wives and children that I have worked for
and let me go. Because culturally in this place,
even though they were Jacob's wives at this point,
They were still Laban's daughters. And because
Laban was the patriarch of that whole family,
he had authority and control over all of it.
And so Jacob's like, look, let me go so I can
start my own family with my wives and my kids.
We could be separate. I could start my own family
in all that regard. And so we see him just saying,
let me leave. And his words are sharp. His words
are kind of angry. There doesn't seem to be any
family love between Jacob and Laban anymore.
He's like, you know how hard I've worked for
you. It's almost like you could hear him go,
punk, let me go. Because he's tired of being
taken advantage of. And he says, so I could return
to my homeland. That phrase right there tells
us that Jacob was still believing in God's promise.
And how could he not, right? Because God said,
you're going to have a land, you're going to
have a people, and you're going to be a blessing
to the world. Well, look at these sons. At this
point, there was 11. He would eventually have
12. But God had obviously fulfilled the promise
of a people. His family, his offspring were multiplying
in a very blessed way. And so let me go back
to my homeland. Let me go back to the land that
God promised me. I still believe in that promise.
And I still believe that land is going to be
mine. And so he knew that that land would be
there ready for him. But he just wanted to go
and wanted nothing from Laban anymore. He was
done. I believe Jacob at this point in his life,
as he's growing and maturing as a man of God,
had come to understand that above all things,
God is his provider. God is the one that's providing.
He started out going, I believe God's promised
so much I'm going to lie in scheme to get it.
And all of that had led to this 14 years of laboring
for someone else. It was a mess. And I believe
he was finally at the point of saying, look,
God will take care of me. Just let me go. I don't
want to work for you anymore. God promised me
a land. God's obviously promised me people, and
my family's growing. And, you know, we have to...
make sure that in our own situations, especially
our working situations where we might find ourselves
under a bad boss or a bad employer, or we have
bad managers, people that are very difficult
for us, we have to understand that our forward
movement in life as Christians is ultimately
by God's hand, not human approval, right? It's
not based upon... all of our effort, it's based
upon primarily God's work in our life. And that's
why we have to be in a place where we say, okay,
God, I'm just trusting you. I don't understand.
This doesn't make sense. But I'm going to trust
you in my situation here because you are my provider.
You are my father. You are the one that's taking
care of me and is going to provide for me. And
so in our situations, we just have to learn to
trust in God's provision. Now, Jacob, I believe,
was coming to this place, but getting away from
his uncle Laban. was not going to be easy. And
so we pick it up in verse 27. But Laban said
to him, if I have found favor with you, stay.
I have learned by divination that the Lord has
blessed me because of you. Then Laban said, name
your wages and I will pay them. So ever the manipulator
and winner of the worst boss ever, Laban tries
to continue manipulating his nephew Jacob. by
flattering him at first. Oh, if I have found
favor with you, as if Jacob was the authority.
You see, that was the kind of phrase you would
use with people that were in authority when you
wanted to grovel to your superior, so to speak.
And so Laban's like, oh, oh, I'm so sorry. If
I have favor with you, stay, please. Notice he
says, name your wages and I will pay them. Doesn't
that sound familiar? That's exactly what he said
14 years prior when he was like, oh, Jacob, your
family. You shouldn't stay with me for nothing.
Tell me what you want to earn and I will bless
you with it. And that was Jacob's initial duping,
conning, or Laban's initial conning of Jacob.
And so now he's trying to do this same thing.
He says, I've learned by divination. And that's
an interesting word there because there's great
debate on the exact meaning of it. Some commentators
and scholars go, oh, it means that he learned
by oracle or learned by omen, like some type
of superstitious thing. Like, you know, he went
to the local oracle who like threw the bones
in the basket and read the smoke and, oh, I've
learned. Here's your oracle of what God is speaking.
The problem is, is the word means that, but it
also means simply to learn from experience. Other
scholars go, what he means by divination here
is he's just using a fancy way to say, yeah,
of course, I've seen by experience how much you
have blessed my flocks, how my business has grown.
And so it may be a superstitious thing that he's
leaning into. It may not be. I kind of think
there's a little bit of superstition to it because
we've already seen that the family is prone to
that, right? Remember Rachel? Give me those mandrakes.
Those will cure my fertility. There was always
this sign of extra spiritual things that are
somehow going to affect the situation. And we're
going to see that even Jacob might have a little
bit of that later. But either way, he says, I've
learned, whether it's through spooky stuff or
whether it's just through observing that your
Lord has blessed me. And he uses the word Yahweh
there because, again, he's trying to appeal to
Jacob's spirituality. You believe in this God,
Jacob. You believe in him, and so I'm going to
pay him the honor that is due, and it's all manipulation
on behalf of Laban. Because Laban cared nothing
for Jacob's God. He cared only for the blessings
that Jacob's God brought through Jacob. Now,
this is actually a fulfillment of God's promise.
You see, you remember the promise that God made
to Jacob. He said, through you and your offspring,
all nations of the earth will be blessed. Now,
we know that primarily this application is ultimately
the Messiah who came through the family line
and by dying for the entire world, blessed all
nations of the earth by just simply offering
salvation through faith in Christ. But there's
also kind of an auxiliary application here that
people around you will be blessed because I'm
blessing you. The promise we know originally
came to Abraham. And then in Genesis 26, we saw
that Isaac, who inherited that promise, ended
up being a blessing to Abimelech. And then in
Genesis 39, later when we get there, we're going
to see that Joseph ends up being a blessing to
Potiphar's house, so much so that the devil tried
to get in and ruin Joseph through all that. But
here we're seeing that Jacob's presence in Laban's
life was a great blessing to Laban. And that
is sometimes the situation we get to find ourselves
in, where we're in the situation where we're
like, this isn't right. I feel like I'm getting
taken advantage of. I feel like this is unfair.
And yet my unsaved pagan employer, their business
is blessing. Their business is growing largely
as a part of my work. And that doesn't seem right
to me. That doesn't seem fair. And that happens.
God will do that. I think that's a part of our
witness to the world. That when God is blessing
those around us through us, it really does give
us the opportunity to enter into those spiritual
conversations to tell those, this is God. This
is the Lord blessing you. Listen up. Because
if you don't know him, ultimately you're going
to stand before him in judgment. But it's a fulfillment
of what God said. Jacob, all the nations of the
earth are going to be blessed through your family.
And it's through Jacob's presence here that Laban
is being blessed. I believe this is what is meant
when the New Testament tells us as Christians
to be the salt of the earth or that we are the
salt of the earth, right? We're a preservative.
Our presence a lot of times is a positive presence
or it should be a positive presence in our workplaces
and in our families, especially those that don't
know the Lord around us, right? Our employers,
when they come to know us as we're the honest
ones, We're the trustworthy ones. We're the ones
who don't clock in late and leave early. It's
the Christian that's always the one that has
a good work ethic. And when our employers see
that, it's a witness to them. When they see that
through our effort, they are being blessed, it's
a witness to them. And so, you know, pay attention
to that. Now, that doesn't mean that every time
we're a positive witness in our difficult situations
that that's going to lead to their salvation.
That's ultimately a decision they make. But we
need to be mindful of that effect that we have
so that we can then follow up on that to pray
with people and to encourage them to come to
know the Lord. But this is what is happening
here with Jacob and Laban. So verse 29, Jacob
says to him, you know how I have served you and
how your herds have fared with me. For you had
very little before I came, but now your wealth
has increased. The Lord has blessed you because
of me. And now, When will I also do something
for my own family? See, Jacob is God's person,
but Jacob is still Jacob, and he's still a work
in progress. So Jacob here is recognizing, of
course, Laban is still trying to scam him. Name
your price. But he's not going to take any of
that. Why? Because he knows Laban is always going
to try and twist the deal, change the terms,
you know, do something to take advantage of that.
But I believe Jacob here is sensing an opportunity
to kind of counter -manipulate Laban. He's like,
oh, he's trying to pull one over on me, but I'm
going to step out and try and manipulate him
a little bit. Jacob is still a scoundrel here.
And so he counters with, yeah, of course I've
been a blessing to you. Of course you've seen
how I've served you. I know you've seen how big
your flocks are. I see all that. You had very
little, but gosh, look how rich you are now.
Why? The Lord has blessed you because of me.
So he's acknowledging the stuff that's important
to Laban, but then he turns around with this
phrase, but when am I going to get the chance
to do something for my family? Appealing to the
family honor that was so important in the culture.
You see, by pointing out all the prosperity that
he's brought in Laban, he's pointing out the
thing that directly impacts Laban the most, the
most important thing to him, and that's his financial
bottom line. That's what Laban's been all about.
He just wants the money as much as he could get.
And so capitalizing on that, Jacob then uses
this reverse psychology. When am I going to be
able to be a husband and a father to my own family?
And so verse 31, Laban says, well, what should
I give you? Jacob said, you don't need to give
me anything. If you do this one thing for me,
I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.
Let me go through all your sheep today and remove
every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every
dark -colored sheep among the lambs and the spotted
and speckled among the female goats. Such will
be my wages. In the future, when you come to
check on my wages, my honesty will testify for
me. If I have any female goats that are not speckled
or spotted or any lambs that are not black, they
will be considered stolen. Good, said Laban.
Let it be as you have said. That day Laban removed
the streaked and spotted male goats and all the
speckled and spotted female goats, every one
that had any white on it, and every dark -colored
one among the lambs, and he placed his sons in
charge of them. He put a three -day journey between
himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding
the rest of Laban's flock. So as I said, Jacob
didn't want to get anything from Laban without
earning it. Because he knew that Laban just had
a way to twist. He wasn't generous. He wasn't
benevolent. He simply wanted to take advantage.
And so, Laban, I don't want anything from you
just because you want to give it and bless me
because that's not who you are. He knew that
Laban was trying to attach strings and all that,
so he gives this very clever proposal. And I
believe this clever proposal was Jacob knowing
Laban and trying to catch Laban in his own greed.
And what this proposal was is, I will keep working
for you. Cha -ching for Laban, right? I will
keep working hard for you. I will keep laboring.
I will keep being a blessing to you in your bottom
line under these conditions. Now, this had to
shock Laban, right? He had to think Jacob was
an idiot because Jacob says, I will keep working
from you under these conditions. You keep all
of the prized, all of the purebred, all of the
spotless livestock, all of them, and I'll take
the rest. I'll take the leftovers. I'll take
the ones that are worth less money to sell. I
will take the ones that are probably worthless
to you. And this doesn't make any sense. This
is what we would call today a bad business deal.
Laban had to have been like, oh, poor Jacob.
You sad moron. Have you learned nothing from
me in all these years? And so Laban doesn't even
negotiate. Good. Laban knew. Laban knew how lopsided
this deal was. Let it be as you have said, he
says. But God was setting the stage to provide.
God was setting the stage to continue to show
Jacob, I'm here with you. I will keep you. He
was setting the stage here through this situation
that Jacob would continue to grow in his understanding
that God's promises are yes and amen. Now, Laban,
poor guy, he's going to have everything turned
back on him, but this is how God works in the
world so much. One of my favorite verses in the
Bible, favorite ideas in the Bible, is that God
uses foolish people and foolish ways to confound
the world. Doesn't that give you great hope?
If it doesn't, it's because you don't understand
you're the foolish person. I am so blessed when
God takes what the world thinks should be and
flips it upside down and still does a good thing
out of it. The world would say, this is a bad
business deal, and God's like, what's that to
me? I could do miracles through a bad business
deal. In fact, you look at what God has done
in the world through his church. I've mentioned
it before. Calvary Chapel pastors, we're all
known to be like, oh, what's the background of
every Calvary Chapel pastor? How do you qualify
to be a Calvary Chapel pastor? Well, you had
to have been a criminal, a drug addict, something
in your past, right? Because every Calvary Chapel
pastor, we seem to have all these really horrible
backgrounds, and God says, yes, that's the one
I want to use. That makes no sense. And that's
all of us. With all of our backgrounds, God says,
I want to use you. And you're like, but I've
done this. I've said this. Yeah, but I want to
use you. Why? Why does God use foolish people?
Why does God use foolish situations? Why does
God use foolish ways to work his will? So that
nobody but him gets the glory. We should understand
that. If God used the greatest speakers of the
world to proclaim his message, then people would
go, well, that guy's a great speaker. And that's
not at all the situation. If God worked through
every, well, of course that was a good business
deal. That's exactly how we would do it. So of
course God would do it that way. But God here
is setting up the exact opposite of the good
business deal to work his will and his miracles.
And I believe it's a critical moment in Jacob's
life that Jacob's going to continue to learn
that it's God who gives the increase. It's God
who gives blessing. It's God who takes care of
his kids. Now, yes, he works through our experience
and our talents and our gifts. And yes, he works
through our work ethic and the things we do.
But ultimately, it's him. It's him that's guiding
and directing, and it's him that's setting the
example for us to follow. And so here Jacob gives
this terrible business deal, and Laban is like,
oh my gosh, I got him again. Let's go forward
with that, right? Now it's just a picture of
God working through the everyday happenings of
life. That's what we call God's providence, right?
It's through the decisions we make, God works
his will. It's through the things that we might
not even be conscious going, okay, this is the
Lord I want. It's just we're using what God has
given us to make decisions in life, and God works
through that to work through his will. That's
God's providence. And so it's in the mess of
this radically dysfunctional family, God's sovereignty
is seeing his will fulfilled through their decision
-making. So the deal, right, Jacob would take
all the spotted and speckled ones. Pretty weird
deal as it is, but what does Laban do? Jacob
said, I will go through the flocks, and I will
take all the unwanted ones, and I'll just set
them aside, and I'll keep shepherding your flocks.
And Laban goes, sweet. But before Jacob gets
the opportunity, Laban goes through all the flocks,
takes out all the spotted, all the speckled,
takes out every one that Jacob would take according
to the deal, gives it to his sons, and he goes,
guys, go three days that way. And then Jacob
shows up to the flocks to get his wages, and
there's no spotted ones. There's no speckled
ones. Shucky darn, Jacob. I guess you're starting
out with nothing. Now, if I was Jacob, that's,
again, where I would have punched Laban in the
face, but I'm not in the story, right? It's like,
what a jerk. What a horrible person this Laban
is. And what is God doing here? I think God is
still allowing Jacob to continue to learn the
lesson of what it feels like to be taken advantage
of. What's interesting to me is Jacob took advantage
of his brother, and then he took advantage of
his father. And now Jacob has been duped twice.
Once with the whole marriage in the first 14
years, and now with the continued development
of his family. I find it very funny to hear a
man like Jacob say this. In the future, when
you come to check on my wages, my honesty will
testify for me. Are you kidding me, Jacob? You're
like the opposite of the poster child for honesty.
But that tells me that at this point in Jacob's
life, he's had growth. He's had maturity. He's
at a place now of saying, okay, I tried it my
way. It resulted in 14 years of labor I otherwise
shouldn't have worked. So now I'm going to try
and do the right thing. Now, again, I think he's
being a little manipulative here, still a work
in process, but he's thinking, I'm going to make
a deal. I'm going to spell out all the parameters.
It's going to be a fair deal. And I want you,
Laban, to know that my honesty will testify for
me. If you show up and, you know, things aren't
right, you'll know that I did wrong. And even
in that honesty, God is still allowing him to
be taken advantage of. That's when it hurts most.
You know, when we're... being stupid, and then
we have bad things happen to us. It's kind of,
it's our fault, right? We're reaping what we've
sown in that regard. But here, Jacob's at least
in his own mind trying to be honest, trying to
do the right thing, and he's still getting taken
advantage of. That's hard. But God is still growing
him. God is still molding him. God is still teaching
him the things that he needs to learn because
Jacob's ability to negotiate, Jacob's ability
to do business well, I think was a gift from
God. But the problem was Jacob used that ability
to manipulate and to steal and to lie. And God's
like, that's not what it's for. So I gotta burn
that out of your system. The first 14 years,
yeah, this was, you reaped what you sown. Hopefully
you're not gonna do that again. Now Jacob's going,
okay, let me be honest here. And God's going,
I still need you to experience what it's like
to even when you do the right thing, get taken
advantage of. So that you don't continue to do
that. So you don't do it again in your life.
And that's often the times that God has us in
these situations where we're crying out, God,
this isn't fair. God, I don't understand. God,
I have good work ethic. I mean, I know I'm a
sinner, but God, I'm endeavoring to choose obedience
and to do the right thing. And yet, God, I'm
still getting taken advantage of. Why? Maybe
it's a lesson. Maybe the lesson for you is, hey,
you've kind of been a Jacob, and I'm still allowing
you to feel what this is like so that you don't
do it again. Now, either way, Jacob launches
into this really interesting breeding program.
You see, what I find interesting here is Laban
steals all the sheep, sends them three days away,
and it tells us in verse 36 that Jacob... meanwhile,
was shepherding the rest of Laban's flock. I
would have freaked out, as I said. I would have
been like, this is wrong. You can't do this to
me. But what is Jacob doing here? He just kind
of goes along with it. Why? Because I think he
had a plan, and we see this in verse 37. Jacob
then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and
plain wood and peeled the bark, exposing white
strips on the branches. He set the peeled branches
in the troughs in front of the sheep in the water
channels where the sheep came to drink. And the
sheep bred when they came to drink. The flocks
bred in front of the branches and bore streaked,
speckled, and spotted young. Jacob separated
the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked
sheep and the completely dark sheep in Laban's
flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn't
put them with Laban's sheep. Whenever the stronger
of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the
branches in the troughs in full view of the flocks,
and they would breed in front of the branches.
As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not
put out the branches. So it turned out that the
weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger
ones to Jacob. So we read the story and we go,
what's up with the branches? Is there any scientific
support that this has anything to do with breeding
of sheep and goats? No, none that I could find.
I looked for you. And there's nothing out there.
This is likely just pure superstition on his
part. And this is where there's the possibility
that Jacob is even being influenced by the family.
His mom, Rachel, get the mandrakes. That's going
to fix it. His uncle, Laban, possibly through
divination I've learned. And now there's this
thing about if you strip this bark this certain
way, it's going to affect the birth of the sheep.
This was another thing that's postulated by some
scholars, is there was something about the branches
and how they were stripped that drew certain
sheep and goats to the place where they would
breed. So it was kind of the idea of selective
breeding. I don't know for sure. It could be
either one of those. But what is going on here...
is we have to understand that after 14 years
of herding Laban's sheep, Jacob had learned a
few things about herding sheep. He had some life
experience that he was able to employ here. I'm
sure he learned what we call today recessive
traits and selective breeding and all that type
of stuff that we know about today, right? That's
what we do with dogs, selective breeding to get
certain traits and everything. And so it's entirely
plausible that he was familiar with these things,
although he might not have called them that.
But I believe it was even more than that. He
was growing to trust the Lord in more mature
ways than he had before. And that's why I think
it's important that we pointed out the thing
that it says Jacob just went on taking care of
the flocks, that he didn't freak out, that he
didn't punch Laban in the face. I mean, we have
no record, right? Laban did this really deceitful
thing, and Jacob just kind of went, all right.
That tells me that Jacob is growing. He's maturing.
For me, and I see him going, I'm trying to do
the honest thing, that he's coming to this place
and he's going, okay, God, you're going to do
something here. I don't understand how. I mean,
I have these skills, I have this knowledge. The
peeling of the branches, that might be the superstitious
part where Jacob's kind of mixing a little bit
of superstition with his faith. Christians do
that. Sometimes people think, you know, I've
got to go to the pastor for prayer because his
prayers are more powerful. My prayers aren't
more powerful than anybody in here. Well, no,
aren't you closer to God? No. Well, I've got
to go to the church to pray. I can't grab my
brothers and sisters in here. Now, again, we're
here to pray with you. There's nothing wrong
with that. But we might add superstitions. Oh,
if I don't wear my cross necklace, my day isn't
going to go good. Cross necklace has nothing
to do with your day. It's a great witness. It's
a great testimony. But there's no power or magic
in that. Christians that are hooked up on astrology,
that just boggles my brain. What are you? What
do you mean? What's your sign? The cross? When
are you born? You're a Virgo. I'm like, what
is that supposed to mean? That dictates my whole
life? It's like, you believe in the Lord. So
it can happen. And I think this might be what
Jacob's doing here. There's faith. There's trust
in the Lord. There's like, look, I believe God's
going to work through this. But he still has
this little bit of like, well, let me do this
thing too. We have to understand, you know, it's
not our tricks. That bless us. It's the hand
of God. It's not our superstitions. And we might
not even call them that. But if there's something
we put our trust in outside of just God and his
presence and his reality, it could be superstition.
Some of you might be like, I've got a certain
parking spot. And I've got to park in that spot.
And if I don't park in that spot, my day goes
terrible, right? No! That's not how it works.
So, anyways, I don't think the peeled branches
did anything. And I believe Jacob came to understand
this because later on in Genesis 31, verse 9,
he testifies to this. This is what he says there.
This is when he's about to leave. He's talking
to his wives. And it says, Genesis 31 .9, God
has taken away your father's herds and given
them to me. When the flocks were breeding, I
saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and
speckled males were mating with the females.
In that dream, the angel of God said to me, Jacob.
And I said, here I am. And he said, look up and
see. All the males that are mating with the flocks
are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have
seen all that Laban has been doing to you. Did
you guys get the implication there? God did it.
He says, I am the God of Bethel where you poured
oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow
to me. Get up, leave this land, and return to
your native land. It was God that was causing
the breeding plan to flourish. Now, does that
mean that Jacob's knowledge had no part of it?
Absolutely not. Jacob was working through or
God was working through Jacob's knowledge and
his experience, but it was ultimately God that
was making it happen. It wasn't these peeled
branches. It does say that he would bring the
strong ones in and the weak ones out. That's
just knowledge and experience. But he had this
dream while he was doing all of this, and God's
like, bro, I'm doing it. I've seen how taken
advantage of you are. Look what's happening.
Only the spotted and speckled are mating. That's
why you're having spotted and speckled offspring.
It's just like a farmer who plants the seed in
the ground, right? The farmer does the work,
but it is God who gives the increase. It's a
miracle of God that we plant a seed in the dirt
and something grows from that. Now, does that
mean the farmer's experience doesn't matter?
No, of course not. You guys get that? It's ultimately
a perspective where we step back and we say,
look, I have experience, I have talent, I have
knowledge, I'm employing my brain, I'm using
my brain. But never take credit. God gets the
credit. God gets the glory. And it's always God
who should get the glory in all things. And so,
now this is a small detail. This is one of those
nerd Bible... studied things that I found. I
don't know if there's a particular context to
this or a meaning other than it's kind of like
God's wink in the story. But Laban means white.
That's what his name means. And so we have here
in this story that it's white streaks on the
branches and white markings on the sheep that
Laban kept. It could be a Hebrew wordplay thing.
And the reason I point that out just as an interesting
detail is because earlier we had Esau, which
means red. lost out on his blessing through red
stew. And so there's just this interesting, again,
I was like, is there something to this? And the
Lord's just like, no, just wink, wink, right?
That's kind of how it came across to me. But
the idea is that Laban thought he was clever,
and God just kind of flipped it on him, right?
Wordplay, just like, ha -ha. And so we get to
verse 43, and we come to the end of the story
here. And the man became very rich. This is speaking
of Jacob. He had many flocks, female and male
slaves and camels and donkeys. God has a way
of working through the mess. Jacob's home life
was a mess. One wife he didn't love, one wife
he did. Well, that's domestic bliss. Right? The
battle of the babies. Moms naming their kids
after the phase of the battle they're in. I mean,
come on, what a mess. Jacob's work life was a
mess. Laboring under this jerk who's just taking
advantage of him. And yet God overshadows all
of it with his will and brings blessing through
the mess to the lives of those who know him and
even some to those that don't. You see, God loves
to use the most unlikely people in unlikely situations
for his glory. And it's from this highly dysfunctional
family comes Israel. And from Israel comes the
Messiah. And the Messiah himself, the most unlikely
baby from the most unlikely town, born in the
most unlikely situation, who lived... The most
unlikely, sinless, perfect life. Who died the
most unlikely death an innocent person could
die. And came back to life three days later,
the most unlikely result of a person dying. But
he wasn't just a person. He was the Son of God.
He was God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. And he
did all of this. He came and did all this for
the most unlikely reason of all. We all know
ourselves, right? He did it because he loves
us. How unlikely is that? I know me. I wouldn't
love me. In fact, I probably would have smited
myself with great smiting already. But God didn't
do that. God looked down and said, I know you're
messed up. I know you're a sinner. I know your
life is dysfunctional. I know a lot of it is
because of your own decisions and some of it
is just the situations around you, but I love
you. I love you. And it's sinful, selfish, scheming
sinners that he loved. But he died for them.
He died for you. He died for me. The most unlikely
thing that could ever happen. And he's still
working in our lives. And he's still working
on behalf of us. And he's still, for those that
have trusted in him, working to sanctify and
to change us into his image. And he does all
that through our faith. Through our faith, he
grants us forgiveness. He grants us grace. He
grants us mercy and salvation. I mean, if God
can turn... The very worst into the very best.
If God could redeem the cross, which was the
darkest moment in history, the whole situation
with the Pharisees, the most dysfunctional scene
you could have, if God redeemed that, what do
you think he could do with your life? The darkest
moment of history, he redeemed it into something
that was the most glorious thing that has ever
happened. What can he do with the darkest moments
of your life? Well, there's mess. Okay. There's
dysfunction. Okay. I've been a liar. Okay. Does
any of that keep God from working in your life?
No. If the Lord can bring the Messiah out of
Jacob's family, what can he bring out of your
life? Just think about it. Stop thinking about
who you are and start thinking about who he is.
Stop thinking about what you've done and think
about what he did. And then ask yourself the
question again. If he could bring the Messiah
out of Jacob's messed up family, messed up life,
what could he bring out of mine? And the truth
is, glory. Beauty beyond belief. Not because
of you, but because of Him. God's promises, they
stand strong even in the midst of chaos and confusion.
It doesn't matter how messed up the situation
is. God is God. God's blessing will come upon
us, can come upon us in the midst of the mess,
and bless those around us. If that's not a testimony
of God's love, I don't know what is. Sometimes
when people look upon the Christian and they're
getting blessed and they go, I don't understand.
It's an opportunity to tell them about this God
who loves them. When they're the ones actively
fighting against the Christian and they're getting
blessed somehow. They go, this doesn't make any
sense. That's an opportunity for us to say, you're
absolutely right, it doesn't make any sense.
No, I wouldn't say that. You're a jerk, and God's
blessing. No, don't say that. God is trying to
get your attention. And God ultimately prospers
us as people. I'm not talking about financial
prosperity. God could do that if he chooses to.
But I'm talking about prosperity in life, in
good relationships, that zoe, that Greek word
life that the Bible talks about that just means
vibrant living, vibrant existence. Where we're
not being dominated by depression and anxiety,
but instead we're walking in the joy and the
peace that is a relationship with Jesus Christ.
That doesn't come through our tricks and our
schemes and our superstitions and our parking
space and our cross necklaces or whatever. It
comes through God's hand. It comes through God's
faithfulness. Because God redeems trials into
triumphs. And when we're in the middle of the
trial, we have to remember that. Because we remember
that in the middle of the trial, we can find
peace. We can find rest. That doesn't mean check
your brain at the door. No, but use the brain
God gave you. Work, labor, be a good example,
be a godly worker, have good work ethic, all
these things. But if you're in that situation
where you're like, I'm being taken advantage
of, and this isn't right, don't for a second
think that God is not aware of that. And if you're
still there, it's likely because he has you still
there. So keep praying, keep trusting, and keep
working unto him. When you find yourself in these
situations, remain honest. Remain godly. Remain
trusting him and pray. Lord, bless this mess.
Lord, redeem it. I know you can. But in the process,
Lord, give me the strength to patiently trust
you and to patiently wait until you do something
different here. Help me to learn the lesson.
One of my favorite prayers is, God, please help
me to learn the lesson fast because this is hard.
And sometimes I do, and sometimes it's a long
lesson. But God is faithful. We can't ever forget
that. Let's pray. Lord, we love you so much.
And God, I know that we don't always live like
that. And Lord, I'm so grateful that our salvation
is not based on us. And Lord, when we see these
stories, these people in the Old Testament, Lord,
like Jacob, God, there's hope in that story because
we see growth in his life. He's not perfect.
Neither are any of us. But Lord, we're hoping
and waiting and trusting in you. And so God,
I pray for everybody in this room, Lord. Those
that know you, that they have confessed Christ
as their Savior, Lord, and God, maybe even today
they're in a situation of dysfunction. They're
in the middle of a mess. God, I pray, Lord, that
you would bring the peace and the joy and all
that you could bring, Lord. That, God, you would
give them the strength to persevere, trusting
in you and what you're doing in that situation,
Lord. I pray, God, that you would give them every
opportunity, Lord, to share who you are, Lord.
To share what your people can have in the midst
of difficulty. And Lord, I pray, God, that as
we use the mind you've given us and our experiences
and things, we would never think that it's because
of our plans and our ideas. But Lord, we would
continue to give you the credit and give you
the glory because you gave us the brain to have
the idea. You gave us the hands and feet to do
the work. And so Lord, thank you for everything.
Lord God, I pray, Lord, that you would bless
the mess in our lives. That we would see your
hand and your movement in the midst of it. God,
we thank you for any blessing that comes upon
us in the middle of it. We thank you, Lord, that
your blessing would go to those around us, God,
because you called us to be a blessing to the
whole world. Help us to just be at peace. Help
us to shine your glory. Help us to glorify you
in all things because you deserve it. We love
you. We thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. Let's worship, church.