04/22/2024
Professor Laban
God lets Jacob learn through the School of Hard Knocks. Professor Laban is an excellent teacher if you want to learn first-hand how unfair life can be when you live among amoral and self-centered people. Jacob learned some important lessons about himself as well: the trickster was forced to deal with the consequences of working for the Master Trickster. Yet God allows Jacob’s tutorial to go on only so long. God says, in the chapter 31, “I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.” God doesn’t miss a thing. After all, God’s been with Jacob every step of the way. And it is as if God is saying, “If you’ve learned your lesson, then it’s about time for you to come home and begin to fulfill your destiny.”
Alas, Jacob is a slow learner—as are many of us. In words of the apostle Paul, he continues to do the things he doesn’t want to do and doesn’t do the thing he wants to do. Jacob’s spiritual growth might remind you of your own. It was certainly one step forward then one step back. But stay tuned. Next Sunday we’ll take a look at the meeting between God and Jacob—an epic struggle in which God finally makes some serious headway in changing the heart of his servant.
God is in the change of heart business. Just because Jacob is one of those chosen to keep and share the covenant or promise of God, it doesn’t mean he’s anymore exempt than we are from callousness and impatience. In scripture, as it is in life, growth is all that matters. It may come suddenly or may take a lifetime. But life without growth is a life God never intended us to live.
(I had intended to use portions of the above as the benediction Sunday, but only got out bits and pieces at 9 a.m. As we say, whatever doesn’t make the final cut on Sunday morning is fair game on Mondays!)
Archived Posts
One of the Longest Benedictions I Ran Out of Time to Share
Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...
So many quips and quotes...
So little time to preach
I wonder what Mary and Martha’s phones might look like:
* Martha = the open browser with 27 tabs
* Mary = the single window that matters
* Psalm 46 = God saying, “Close the tabs.”
Quotable Outtakes That Didn’t Make the Sermon This Week
“When you try to control everything, you don’t just exhaust yourself—you quietly replace trust in God with trust in you.” & more
There is a challenge when it comes to preaching the Word of God.
Preachers are called to open up and interpret the word—inspired and written down thousands of years ago—and make it relevant to a very different world. On top of that there’s a degree of persuasion that goes along with the process.
What Jessica Really Meant to Say in Her Sermon…
When Jessica or Rick or a guest preacher takes the pulpit it’s hard for me to write a One More Thing Blog. I can’t share with you what didn’t make it into the sermon because I have no idea, not having written or delivered it.
Jesus Keeps On Ruining Funerals!
I didn’t have anything this last week that didn’t end up in the sermon. No catchy illustrations that didn’t make the cut. No theological insights that slowed down the main point. No one can ruin a funeral like Jesus. Told as I saw it and that was it. So I did some quick research and I thought I’d share just a reminder of what Easter is all about.
When I Don’t Get To Give My Benediction
Yesterday’s sermon talked about how we are in the thrall of self-centeredness—caught in a system that rewards those who climb to the top, even when you have to climb on the back of others. I talked about a famous sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, ....