Sermon (August 13) by Rev. Robert McDowell "The Story of Joseph: Part I"

     When I was in the fifth or sixth grade, my best friend, Danny who was like a brother to me came over to my house to hang-out as we so often did that summer together.

     During that particular summer, we were really into building clubhouses.  I lived on a farm and we had plenty of places to build clubhouses.

     My favorite clubhouse was one that we built in a large maple tree in my front yard.  This tree had really big limbs to allow us to build a small floor, four walls and a roof.  It wasn't fancy, but it served us well.

     On one day that summer, we had built a clubhouse in the middle of our large meadow.  We didn't do a very good job in building it but it did take us a full day to complete it.

     The day after we had built this clubhouse, Danny came over.  And I can't recall all of the details of what exactly happened, but my friend Danny and I got into an argument about something.

     And Danny decided to tear down the clubhouse we had just built the day before.  When I saw Danny knocking down the walls of this clubhouse, it was like I became a different person.  Anger set in and I ran toward Danny and pushed him over.

     He pushed me back and before too long, we were in a fight.  Here I was fighting my best friend.   And we were bruising and scratching each other.

     That little incident taught me at an early age of how fragile relationships can be, even the relationship of best friends.

     This morning, we begin a two-part sermon series on Joseph and his brothers as part of our summer long focus on stories from the Book of Genesis.

     Our scripture reading this morning shows us how not to do relationships.  It's a painful verse by verse scripture reading on the lessons of how to have a dysfunctional family.

     One of the reasons why I am convinced that the Bible is true and can be trusted as the inspired Word of God is because it is not afraid to reveal the character flaws of the patriarchs and the matriarchs of our faith.  One would expect these very obvious flaws to be swept under the rug by our holy book. 

     Instead, the dirty laundry of our biblical heroes of faith are hung out on the line for all to see.

     I mean, what kind of patriarch is Jacob in this story?  "Parenting for Dummies," he did not read.  No.  Instead, he just does what feels natural to him.  If you're drawn to one of your kids more than with the others, just favor that one over the others.

     As I read this scripture I just wish an angel would send Dr. Phil to Jacob and ask him his famous question - "And how's that working for you?"  Or wouldn't you just love to hear Dr. Phil say to him, "What were you thinking?"

      We are told up front that we're going to have major problems.  All you have to do is read verse 3.  "Now Israel, (which was the new name for Jacob) now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his children” (keep in mind that he has 12 children total) and it goes on to say that he loved Joseph more because Joseph was his youngest.  Actually, Joseph wasn't the youngest, Benjamin was.  But still, Joseph was very special to his dad.

     Now I'm the youngest of four in my family, and whenever we get together, my two sisters and brother love to remind me of just how much I was spoiled simply because I was the youngest.

     And it's true.  The rules were much more lax for me.  I think my parents were just plain tired of parenting after raising the first three.

     For example, they weren't as strict with me about getting good grades.  I guess it was about six years ago now, I went back home to see my mom who has since died, and I ended up rummaging through some of my things that were still in the attic.   And one of the things I found was my elementary grade school cards.  I couldn’t believe that these were still saved in pristine condition and tucked away in a shoe box.

     Just to show you what kind of student I was, here is what my first grade teacher, Mrs. Maddox wrote about me on the grade card.  She used the sandwich approach.  You know what that is right?  You begin and end with something positive and stick the negative part in the middle.  Here’s what she wrote - “Robert is working nicely. He is easily confused on new materials but is not timid about asking about things he does not understand.”  Is that me or what?

     And here’s what my 4^th grade teacher, Mrs. Umberger wrote about me on a different grade card.  And she did not use the sandwich approach.  She got straight to the point. “Robert’s grade is low because he gets very low grades on his workbook.  He doesn’t take time to read directions carefully.” That is so me even to this day!

     Every so often, my dad would simply tell me his oft quoted line, "Son - you better buckle down."  And that was all he said to me.  No repercussions.  No extra chores.  Just – “Robert.  You better buckle down."  I never understood what he meant by that.  Were my pants too loose?  "You better buckle down."

     This was my dad’s way of reminding me to study a little harder, but he was still a lot softer on me than he was on my sisters and brother.

     I've always been able to relate to this story of Joseph because as the youngest, I guess you could say that I enjoyed my share of privileges.

     I am told by a very trusted authority (namely my wife) that the psychological reason for this family dynamic is because parents don't want their little baby to grow up.  The others grew up so fast and they want to keep the youngest a baby forever.

     And so, right off the bat, we know that trouble is brewing in the Jacob household.

     To make matters worse, Jacob has Joseph wear this pretentious coat of many colors.  And did you catch the little detail that this coat had sleeves?  In Bible times, you were somebody special and set apart if you had sleeves. 

     It was understood back then that anyone with long sleeves would not be expected to do manual labor.  Now, here's where Jacob and my father were very different.  I was expected to bail hay, mow the grass, and work at a factory over the holidays and during the summer months.

     Even though I may have been spoiled and got away with a lot, my dad never gave me a robe with sleeves.

     You want to talk about a recipe for disaster.  Picture Joseph's brothers sweating and dirty out in the fields and watching Joseph all clean and fresh coming toward them in his fancy "daddy loves me more than you" robe. 

     Which is exactly the scene we have in our scripture reading this morning.  And as Joseph approaches his brothers from a distance, the brothers are fuming. 

     One of them sarcastically says, "Here comes this dreamer."  If you recall, Joseph had told his brothers about two dreams in which his brothers had bowed down to him.  Not surprisingly, this did not go over very well with the brothers.

     So as Joseph walks toward his hard working brothers, one of them says, "Hey, guys, this is our chance to kill Mr. Dreamer."

     And this story goes from bad to worse.  There's a glimmer of hope when Reuben begs his brothers to not kill Joseph but to just throw him in a cistern that doesn't have any water. 

     They strip Joseph of his long sleeved robe and they throw him into a pit.  And how they managed to eat lunch after this I will never know, but while the brothers were eating, they noticed a caravan of people on their way to Egypt.

     That's when they decide to sell Joseph to this traveling group for twenty pieces of silver.  So Joseph officially becomes a slave and is sent off to Egypt.

      The brothers grab the robe, dip it into some blood of a goat, and make up a story that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. 

     Their father is devastated upon hearing this news and grieves the loss of his youngest son, Joseph.  Meanwhile, the band of travelers arrives in Egypt and Joseph is sold to one of Pharoah's officials.

     Let’s stop here for just a moment.  This story of Jacob and his dysfunctional family is just one of many dysfunctional stories that we find in this first book of the Bible.  Welcome to the wild and whacky world of the Book of Genesis!

     You would think that these kinds of crazy stories would be few and far between among God's people.  Sometimes the community of faith doesn't look all that different from the Kardashians. Actually, the Kardashians are much more functional that Joseph’s family.

     But none of this should surprise us, right?  I mean, the first few pages of the Book of Genesis tell us the story of how sin entered the world.  It was when we disobeyed God and ate from the tree of good and evil even though we were clearly told not to do so.  Even though we got to live in the beautiful and amazing Garden of Eden and had everything we wanted, we still chose to do what God had told us not to do.

     Theologians call this decision to disobey God, original sin.  And it’s something we struggle with throughout our life – the temptation to do the wrong thing because of a desire for greed, or pleasure, or power, or to take the easy way out. 

      Leonard Sweet is Christian speaker and author. He put it so well when he wrote, “The only thing original about me is original sin.”  Is it any wonder then, when new members join the church that they respond to this very heavy question?  And the question is, “Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world and repent of your sin?” 

     Because of original sin, we always face the temptation, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to disobey God.  That’s why Israel often strayed away from God.  And the same is true of the church.

      Some people look long and hard for the perfect church where there is no gossip, no jealousy, and where differences of opinions are always handled in loving and mature ways. 

     The story of Joseph is a story of how God’s own people struggle in being the community of faith that God has called us to be.  I wonder if the reason the bible is willing to air all of this dirty laundry is to help us come face to face with our own pettiness and hurtful actions toward each other.

     While I was serving as pastor of one of my previous churches, I was having lunch with a couple of parishioners in a local restaurant.  One of the members of our church was also eating in that same restaurant and she came up to our table to say “Hi.”

     And she said to everyone at our table, “Isn’t it great that we voted down the proposal?  That would have been a big mistake if we would have passed it.”

     She was referring to a very controversial vote that our church had recently made at a special Church Conference.

     What this church member who had come to our table didn’t know was that the people sitting with me voted in favor of the proposal.  Her words hurt them deeply.  She had assumed that they voted the same way that she had voted.

     It was an awkward moment and I don’t think she ever realized how hurtful that comment was to her fellow parishioners.

     Sometimes, we needlessly hurt one another in the Body of Christ.

     Even though I am not naïve enough to believe that a church can be perfect, I still am amazed at how flippantly we can say things to brothers and sisters in Christ without thinking.  And often, it's not so much the opinions we share because I think we all realize that we are a church of diverse opinions and thoughts.  The problem is in the way we share them.

     If the church isn’t perfect, that what is it?

     Christian blogger, Rachel Held Evans, in her book “Searching for Sundays” talks about a radio station that interviewed her. They asked her why she chooses to participate in the church even though much of her writing denounces the hypocrisy and judgmental attitude that is often associated with many churches.

     She writes, “I talked about Jesus—his life, teachings, death, resurrection, and presence in my life and in the world. I talked about how faith is always a risk and how the story of Jesus is a story I’m willing to risk being wrong about. And then I said something that surprised me a little, even as the words left my mouth.

     “I’m a Christian,” I said, “because Christianity names and addresses sin. It acknowledges the reality that the evil we observe in the world is also present within ourselves. It tells the truth about the human condition—that “we’re not okay.”

     “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed,” instructed James, the brother of Jesus. At its best, the church functions much like a recovery group, a safe place where a bunch of struggling, imperfect people come together to speak difficult truths to one another. Sometimes the truth is we have sinned as individuals. Sometimes the truth is we have sinned corporately, as a people. Sometimes the truth is we’re hurting because of another person’s sin or as a result of forces beyond our control. Sometimes the truth is we’re just hurting, and we’re not even sure why.

     The practice of confession gives us the chance to admit to one another that we’re not okay, and then to seek healing and reconciliation together, in community.”

     Rachel Held Evans speaks truth, does she not?

     Naming and confessing our sins both individually and collectively is how God helps us to have a world where brothers and sisters in Christ find unity in the midst of our many political and theological differences of opinion. It helps us to have a world that seeks peace rather than war. It’s also how we can have a world where all races live in harmony and where the Statue of Liberty torch is raised higher than the torches carried by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.

     Naming and confessing our sins is what the story of Joseph and his brothers has to offer us in our broken, hurting, and dysfunctional world that God created and seeks to make new.

     And so maybe we shouldn’t be all that surprised that the Bible didn’t edit out the dysfunctional stories of our matriarchs and patriarchs of faith.  These dirty laundry stories aren’t only found in the Book of Genesis. In the New Testament we read of Peter and Paul, two giants of the faith, two pillars of the church, sparring at one another over a delicate issue which the early church was facing at the time.

     And what about those twelve discples who were around a table with Jesus at the Last Supper.  Twelve men.  Not brothers in the biological sense of the word.  But brothers in Christ.

     One of those brothers left the table to proceed with his plans to betray Christ in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.  Joseph’s brothers got 20 pieces of silver for their betrayal.

     Another brother who was sitting around that table would end up denying Jesus three times.  And at one time or another, all of these brothers would forsake Jesus during a time when he needed them the most.

     The soldiers stripped Jesus of his robe before crucifying him.  Joseph was also stripped of his robe.

     Fortunately, the story doesn’t end with Joseph being sold into slavery.  And the story of Jesus doesn’t end with him on the cross.

     Today, we, the brothers and sisters in Christ, gather around the Lord’s table to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, to receive forgiveness for how we have intentionally or unintentionally hurt one another.

     It’s ironic that we who have broken Christ’s body because of our hurtful words, our jealousies, and our unloving ways, are the same people who will also be reminded in just a few moments of Christ’s words to us when he said, “This is my body broken for you.”

The Story of Joseph: Part I

Small Group Questions

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

August 13, 2017

The stories from the Book of Genesis that we've been looking at this summer, especially today's story of Jacob's dysfunctional family reminds us of how the bible isn't afraid of airing the dirty laundry of the matriarchs and patriarchs of our faith. Jacob favors Joseph over his other sons. Joseph flaunts his favoritism. Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery and lie to their father, Jacob about what happened to him. Dr. Phil would have loved to interview these biblical characters!

If you were Dr. Phil, what question would you like to ask Joseph's family?

Christian author, Rachel Held Evans claims that what makes Christianity special for her is that we don't need to pretend that we don't struggle with sin. Our faith invites us to share our struggles with each other, especially in a small group where we accept each other for who we are.

How has your small group helped you to feel free to confess your struggles and sins with each other?

Pastor Robert referred to the recent events of the white supremacy march in Charlottesville, Virginia as well as the threat of war with North Korea as examples of how our world is broken and dysfunctional in so many ways.

As a small group, offer this prayer together for world peace and mutual understanding:

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In his sermon on Joseph, Pastor Robert listed parallels with Joseph and his brothers and the story of Christ and the disciples. For example, Jacob had twelve sons and Jesus had twelve disciples, Joseph's brothers sold Joseph into slavery for twenty pieces of silver and one of the disciples betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver, Joseph's brother stripped Joseph of his robe and Jesus' robe was stripped from his when he was crucified. The good news is that Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection three days later opened the way for us to be forgiven for our sins and our dysfunctional ways.

Share a time when you felt forgiven and loved by Christ.

Pastoral Prayer (August 6) Athens First UMC

[Above is a picture of our Athens First Saturday outreach this past weekend. We had teams working on several projects to bless our community through several acts of kindness. The photo below is our mission team who arrived safely in Honduras on the same day we were serving here in our Athens community. They will be sharing God's love with the people they serve this week. Thanks to our Athens First Saturday outreach and our Honduras mission team, we are living out our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community AND our world. Way to go, church!]

O God, thank you for your promise to always stand by us, especially when we find ourselves in wrestling matches over our identity, our priorities, our stewardship, and our legacy. When life seems to have us pinned down, may we always turn to you for strength to be the people you have called us to be.

O God, thank you for these stories of faith from the Book of Genesis. Thank you for these summer Sundays as we see how you were able to fulfill the covenant that you made to Abraham to form a new people through him, a people who would not only love and worship you, but who would also be a blessing to the world.

O God, thank you for reminding us that we are part of this biblical story. You are calling each and every one of us to claim our identity in being your people. Thank you for all of the ways that we were able to be your people in our community through yesterday’s First Saturday outreach. O God, we wouldn’t have been able to do all that we did without each other.

Even as we seek to bless this community through your loving presence, we lift up to you our Honduras mission’s team as they bless the people they serve in that area of the world this week. O God, in this one weekend, we can see how we are living out the mission you have given us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and our world.

O God, on this Sunday, we especially lift up to you our youth as we begin planning for a new year of youth ministry. And we pray for the many ministries of our church that are starting again in the next several weeks like our music ministry, our new day and time for our Worship U service, our Sunday School classes, our Growing Tree pre-school, our outreach to college students, and so many other ministries that help us to have a loving faith, a learning faith, and a living faith.

We offer to you our individual prayers as well; for those who our on our hearts and minds this morning who are grieving; who are facing medical challenges; who are lonely; who are feeling relational or financial stress; and those who are anxious about their future. O God, like Jacob, may we yield to you, and be the people you have called us to be. We pray this in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray together saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”

Sermon (August 6) by Rev. Robert McDowell "Life's Wrestling Matches"

     My brother who still lives in the school district where we went to school in south central Pennsylvania, likes to keep me updated on the sports teams of the High School we attended.  A few years ago, he told me the incredible story about one of the high school wrestlers who was making national news.

     He told me that this wrestler was 170 pounds and he had these incredibly thick wrists and legs built like telephone poles. During his high school career, he won four consecutive state titles and finished his High School career with an undefeated record of 166 wins and no losses. Since he was in the eighth grade, national journalists referred to him as the LeBron James of wrestling.

     I wonder if this is the kind of wrestler that Jacob faced in our scripture reading from the Book of Genesis. Up to this point in the story, Jacob has proven to be an excellent wrestler.

     He was able to wrestle away the family birthright and blessing from his brother, Esau and his father, Isaac. With the help of his mother, Rebecca he flees for his life and stays with his Uncle Laban.

     After many years, he decided to return home, but not after wrestling away the best of Laban’s flocks and resources. He will be using these gifts that he took from Laban as a peace offering to give to his brother, Esau.

     On his way to meet his brother, Jacob even sends his family ahead of him while he spends the night by himself. What happened to Jacob that night, gives new meaning to the phrase, “restless night.” It was more of a “wrestling night.” Jacob ends up wrestling with an unidentified man the whole night until daybreak.

     This mysterious wrestler is unable to pin Jacob down. He is no match for Jacob who has learned from his birth how to wrestle away whatever he wants and from whomever he wants. Sometimes our greatest strength can also be our greatest weakness if not used in the right way.

     Jacob may know how to get what he wants, but he has yet to learn what it means to get what God wants. God wants Jacob to continue to live out the faith that began with his grandfather, Abraham and continued with his father, Isaac.

     Jacob just isn’t there yet. He still sees himself as the man who can fool just about anyone, but he can’t fool God.

     Much is at stake at this point of the biblical story, because God does not have a plan “B.” God’s covenant to rescue the world from sin and death is dependent upon Jacob getting his act together. Jacob has only been thinking about himself. At this point, we’re left wondering if Jacob will ever quit tricking people and start trusting God.

     The all night wrestling match between this mysterious being and Jacob, interestingly enough takes place at Jabbok, which is located just across the border from the Promised Land and the place where God would establish his people. In addition to its geographical significance, the words, “Jabbok” and “Jacob” are very similar in sound. They both mean, “to wrestle.” It’s a play on words by the biblical author. A lot is at stake at this place called, Jabbok.

     This wrestling match lasted through the night and into the morning hours. I don’t think Jacob was expecting it to last so long. Rob Strauss, a professional wrestler said that the sport of wrestling is “a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired – you quit when the gorilla is tired.”  Jacob’s opponent just would not quit. He gave Jacob everything he could handle and then some.

    Jacob eventually wins the wrestling match but not without paying a price. Jacob’s opponent ends up striking him on the hip socket and putting his hip out of joint. Even in pain, Jacob doesn’t let go of him. Jacob will not leave from this match without a prize. But unknown to him at the time, the prize will be something that will change the course of his life.

     Jacob’s prize was a new name. Instead of “Jacob, the wrestler” he will be known as “Israel,” the name that would one day refer to God’s chosen people. As a new day was beginning, Jacob received a new beginning as well. Instead of striving for his own benefit, he would now be striving for God and God’s people. Our story ends with Jacob limping away because of his wrestling injury.

     Now, we might not be a championship wrestler like the high school wrestler who ended up winning four state titles, but all of us experience life’s wrestling matches.  From time to time, all of us wrestle with who we are and who God is calling us to be.

     Marcus Aurelius, the ancient Roman emperor once said, “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”  I think he was right. We live our lives more on a wrestling mat than we do on the dance floor.  What are some of life’s wrestling matches that we face in our everyday lives and how can our faith help us?

     Here’s the first wrestling match we all face from time to time. It relates to our identity. Jacob was given a new name at the end of his wrestling match. From that point on, he was known as Israel. Jacob went from being known as the one who tricked people to get his way, to one of the leading patriarchs of our faith.

     There’s a wonderful tradition in the church to help us remember our identity. Whenever someone is baptized, we don’t use their last name, only their first and middle names. The reason for this is that it reminds us that our new name is “Christian.”

     When we are baptized, Christ gives us a new name. We become known as a child of God. We belong to Christ. That’s why we can call each other brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s because we all have the same last name. We are family. We are children of God.

     The good news of our faith is that we don’t have to figure out who we are. We already know who we are. We are God’s people. We belong to Christ. That’s our identity.

     Up until this point, Jacob was trying to be somebody that he wasn’t. Jacob thought that his true identity was related to the order of when he was born and he spent the first part of his life trying to be his older brother rather than Jacob. God wants us to be who we were created to be.

     What a freeing thought to know that we don’t need to try to be somebody other than who God created us to be. Jacob needed to be the best Jacob that he was created to be.

     We used to own three white West Highland terrier dogs before we moved here to Athens. We still have one of those three. Since we’ve moved to Athens, we’ve added another westie so now we have two of them.

     But when we had those three westies, people could never tell them apart because they looked so much alike. We could easily tell them apart even though they had subtle differences. We could tell them apart by how curly their hair was, by the sound of their bark, and by the way they walked.

     When God created us, he made each one of us unique. We each have a unique blending of personalities, interests, spiritual gifts, and passions. We don’t need to be somebody else because we already have everything we need.     

     There will be times when we will forget who we are, so let’s remind each other of our identity.

     Another wrestling match that we face in life is related to our priorities. It’s pretty clear that Jacob’s priority was to do whatever he needed to get ahead. His priority was not to live out who God called him to be.

     Sometimes, we get our priorities out of order. We forget what is most important in our lives.

     Keeping our priorities in the right order is often a wrestling match especially since there is so much competition for our time and attention. We want to do what is most important but so many things can come at us at the same time.

     I remember trying to use a numbering system to help me prioritize my responsibilities. Even though I had good intentions, I discovered that most of the time I was responding to the urgent rather than working on what was most important. It seemed like I rarely had enough time to focus on what I believed to be the most important things in my life.

     What are those important things in your life? Your relationship with God? Quality time with family and friends? Making a difference in our community and world?

     Remember to put first things first.

     A third wrestling match that we face in life is related to our stewardship. Stewardship involves how we manage our resources. Up to this point in the story, Jacob used his resources for his own benefit, rather than for how he could be a blessing to others.

     I was having breakfast with a friend this past fall. Somehow, we got on the discussion of giving to the church. He said that early in his marriage, he and his wife wrestled over the decision on how much of their income they should give to the church. Their ultimate goal was to begin tithing and giving 10 percent of their income to Christ and his church, but that just seemed like a lot of money.

     He said how they were at a standstill so they decided to pray about it. Soon after they prayed about what to do, they went to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to get a license plate for their car.

     You can't make this up folks. Here is the license plate the BMV randomly gave to them for their car. He actually sent me this picture of it because he and his wife couldn’t believe their eyes. 

    It says, “GIV-010.”

     Friends, this wasn’t even someone else’s vanity plate even though that’s what it looks like. This was just the next number for them to take. Now, that’s amazing! This is what we have been calling a “Thin Place Moment,” a God moment like no other.

     Well, needless to say, they saw this license plate as God’s answer to their prayer about giving. Give 10%.

     And that’s what they started to do.  And after all of these years of marriage now with children and now grandchildren, they continue to give 10% toward the work of Christ and his church. And they continue to tell this story of how God answered their prayer.

     How we manage our money and resources is something that we wrestle with all of the time. How much should we spend and save for ourselves?  How much should we give away to be a blessing to God and the church? Jacob’s wrestling match led to a change in his life. Instead of using his resources for his own end, he began to offer what he had for God’s purposes.

     God calls us to be generous in our giving.

     This brings us to the fourth wrestling match that we face in life. This is related to our legacy and what do we want to leave behind. If Jacob wouldn’t have turned toward God, we would probably only remember him as someone who tricked others to get his way.

     Thankfully, we also remember Jacob as the one who became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. It was through Jacob that God’s covenant to rescue the world from sin and death was able to continue. Jacob was able to live out what began with his grandfather, Abraham and his father, Isaac.

     How do you want to be remembered? We won’t be here forever but our legacy will live on. The decisions we make today add up to the legacy that we will leave behind.

     The good news is that we don’t wrestle alone. God is by our side during every match. Whenever I struggle with a decision or feel like I’m wrestling with something in my life, I think of Jesus who came to save us from our sins. Jesus learned to wrestle whenever he faced important decisions regarding his identity, his priorities, his stewardship, and his legacy.

     On the night before he died on the cross for our sins, he faced his own wrestling match as he prayed for God’s will to be done. He died on a cross, but then he rose again and offers us forgiveness, hope, and new life.

     This story reminds us that we don’t wrestle alone. The one who gave it all is right there with us and will never let us go.

Life's Wrestling Matches

Small Group Questions

Genesis 32:22-31

August 6, 2017

Our summer long Genesis sermon series brings us to this story of when Jacob has a wrestling match with God and walks away limping, but also with God's blessing. The wrestling match takes place as Jacob is on his way to make a peace offering with his brother, Esau who he had cheated to get the family birthright. Pastor Robert shared four wrestling matches that we often have along our faith journey that ties in with the story of Jacob. These include wrestling with our identity, our priorities, our stewardship, and our legacy.

Share when you have wrestled with God over one of these four areas of your life (identity, priorities, stewardship, & legacy.) Did it lead to a blessing? Did it leave you limping?

The story of Jacob wrestling with God concludes with an assuring word that God will always be by his side. 

When have you felt God by your side during a time of wrestling in your life?

This story of wrestling reminds us of how Jesus wrestled with his faith in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before he would go to the cross. He prayed for God that night to remove the cup of suffering that was awaiting him but he ended by saying, "not my will but thy will be done."

As a group, share this prayer together from Sunday's worship service:

Eternal God, in the midst of our fears and doubts, you call us home. Be with us on our journey when our faith wavers and we seek safety in our own clever schemes. Stay with us especially when we stray from you. Forgive us for our waywardness in being the people you have called us to be. When we turn away from you, show us the path that leads to life. As you did for Jacob so long ago, bless us in our struggles so that we might be a blessing to others. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.