God’s Faithfulness > My Memory

WELCOME
Pastor Chris Paavola:
Well, hey everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Very, very good to be with you guys on this Labor Day weekend, and I hope that you guys are safe. And if you’re watching online, I hope you guys are safe and having fun and relaxing. It’s a little bittersweet today though I’m a little sad because we’re wrapping up this series greater than, and I have loved this series that we’ve been in all summer long, basically as we’ve been going through the life of this man named Jacob who lived 4,000 years ago and discovering as he does a life greater than we know with a God who’s greater than we know. And so we did Isaac and Jacob this summer. Last summer, we did Abraham, his father or his grandfather, and then next summer we’ll do a sequel kind of thing. We’ll do Joseph, his son. He’s got a remarkable life and we’ll kind of journey through that and continue to discover these truths. But today we are in the life of Jacob and we don’t set the agenda for these services. It’s not like a series with predetermined topics. Whatever happens in this story, that’s what we talk about. And today we look at the story, we absolutely, it’s Jacob dealing with fear and specifically fear of the future of what’s about to happen. And he’s got in the chapter just before this, we didn’t have time to get into it.

BACKSTORY
His whole life is recorded for us. But in Genesis 34, his kids do some really dishonorable things, just tragic stuff, and he’s afraid about his kids’ future. And we’ll see that in just a moment. And then his wife’s health is failing. His father is near the end of his life. And then God has told him to go into this new lands. And in this new land, it is occupied by hostile tribes and he is afraid. He’s afraid of this future that’s before him, and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. And I think that’s what makes him identifiable to us. That’s what makes him human. I mean, we all have fears, like legitimate fears that we face. I don’t care who you are and I don’t mean fears like I’m afraid of snakes. Or maybe you’re afraid Texas is going to beat Michigan next week. Hey, what goes around comes around. I might be hanging my head in shame next Sunday. I don’t know what, we did buy tickets, so I’m excited to go to the big house for the first time. It’s going to be good. We are very excited. We’re going to be wearing our burn orange though. Just let it be. No, I have no idea what I was saying anymore, but yeah, no, no, the fears, legitimate fears, not petty fears like that. I’m talking about legitimate fears. Fears of I maybe your finances, fears of maybe your relationship with your spouse. Are you guys going to make it fears of are we going to be able to get that home? Fears of your health or your loved one’s health fears of losing a job. We all have fears when we face the future. I just pulled this week and doing a little bit of research for this message and I saw this, it’s just like just overwhelming how much anxiety and fear we’re dealing with in our society.

Eight out of 10 Americans fear their health or the health of a loved one. Eight out of 10, the seven out of 10 Americans fear corruption in the government, which is a sign of our times to say that seven out of 10 people are afraid of corruption in our government. I don’t know if that’s always been a legitimate fear in America, but it’s definitely current. Six out of 10 Americans fear their finances. Five out of 10 fear crime. And maybe this is why one of the most common or the most common command in scripture is the command to fear. Not because we are afraid and you think about what we’re afraid of. What we’re afraid of is things that we can’t control. That’s why we’re afraid of it. We’re not afraid of things that we can control, the things that we know that we can oversee.

We’re afraid of things that we can’t control. And it doesn’t matter how much you arm yourself with the Second Amendment, right? It doesn’t matter how much you arm yourself with your 401k or your insurance policies. It doesn’t matter how much you arm yourself with vitamins and probiotics and supplements. There are things out of our control and that’s why we’re afraid of them. But when we look at the story of Jacob today, it gives us something that we can do that I actually think is not a very common thing to do, but it’s something that we can do to address the fear that we have. And so whatever it is you’re going through, when we look at the life of Jacob, we are going to have something that we can do today to address what it is you are afraid of. So, I already gave you the backstory a little bit with his family and God’s calling.

11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty… I will give this land to your descendants after you.”
Genesis 35

And then we read in Genesis 35, just a couple really interesting things before we get to Jacob’s response, and it starts in verse one. “God said to Jacob, go up to Bethel.” So, he’s telling him to go to a new land and settle there and build an altar there. He’s telling him to construct a stone altar there, and we’ll get to that in just a moment, but this is God’s directive for him. And we’ll see why in just a minute. Then in verse two, “Jacob said to his household and to all who are with him, get rid of the foreign gods”, foreign gods. And he’s saying, these idols that you’ve collected, because they’ve come into this land and they’ve dispossessed people who are in this land, this is the land they believe God is giving them. And so, he says to them, get rid of these foreign gods that you’ve collected and that you’ve allocated over through all of your conquest, these things that are nice, collectible trinkets. Get rid of them, you and your whole household. Well, why did they collect them? Not because they were beautiful. Usually these were just rudimentary stone carvings, not because they were worth anything. Why did they collect these foreign gods? Why did his children and his family collect these foreign gods? Because they thought it could help them

With the things that they’re afraid of, things that were out of their control. Like, oh, here’s a little trinket God doll thing. This false, this idol from another nation. This one helps us with our harvest. This God is the God who helps us with our money or our fertility. This God understands the stars and gives us science about what’s going to happen. It’s kind of like a horoscope. And then they collected all of these gods to help them with the thing that they’re afraid of. And he’s saying, don’t be afraid. I know you’re afraid of the future that you face. I know you have these fears, but get rid of them because our God has promised to help us. There’s later on we get the commands. You will have no other gods before me. Get rid of them. And we can look at Jacob and be like, oh, well, I mean I don’t have any voodoo dolls in my closet. I’m not collecting any false gods. That’s like the literal meaning, but there’s a conceptual meaning as well. The reformer Martin Luther said that idols are anything we put our trust in. Anything that we put our trust in, aside from our trust in God, anything that woos us to give affection to it above the Lord, that is an idol. And so, when you broaden the definition, suddenly you start to think, well, maybe I do have some false. I understand why this is commandment number one that God gave. Maybe I do have some false gods. You might not bow down and worship them, but what does your checkbook reflect where your trust is?

What is your calendar? If somebody looked at your calendar, what would they say? Has your heart’s affection and attention? Get rid of it.

The outward, the foreign God, get rid of it and place your trust in him alone. The psalmist says, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord. Place your trust in him. So Jacob tells us his family, get rid of these false gods and purify yourselves this process of confession and repentance, this purification. And then let us go up to Bethel where I will build an altar to God who answered me in the day of my fear and the day of my anxiety, in the day of my distress, and who has been with me wherever I have gone. And so they do this. And then we get this moment where God actually speaks to Jacob. And I think, I’m not sure, I looked through the rest of scripture and it appears, but I don’t want to over speak, but I think this is the last time God speaks to Jacob directly that we have record of. And when he speaks to him, there’s some nuance of what God says. And especially when you remember and remind yourself like, oh wait, Jacob is really afraid. He’s fearing the future. In his words has distress. And God responds and says, “I am God almighty.” I am God almighty. And that word, God almighty. In Hebrew though the language that he’s speaking and this is written in is El Shaddai. Maybe you’ve heard that before. El Shaddai. This is the third time we’ve heard this word. Now, in all of scripture leading up to this account in Genesis 35, the first time was his grandfather, Abraham. God identified himself to Abraham and said, I am El Shaddai. The second time was when his father, Isaac told him to go find a wife among his people. And El Shaddai, God Almighty will be with you, El Shaddai, God almighty. And now you put this in perspective to the foreign gods, you’re like, oh, I get it. He is king of kings, Lord of Lord, God of Gods. There is no other. He is God almighty God, always in control, not God, sometimes mighty not God. On Tuesdays mighty, no God always all the time ever mighty the Almighty God. And nothing is greater than him. He never loses. He never fails. He’s God almighty. And he reminds himself of who he is I am. And then look what he says, I will give this land to you and your descendants after you. And so he’s saying, okay, remember, this is the name I gave to your father, and then your father told you, and now I’m telling you this name. So, he brings to mind for Jacob all the things in the past, and he basically is saying, this is who I am. This is what I’ve done, and this is what I will do. This is who I am, this is what I’ve done, and this is what I will do. I am God almighty.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
Genesis 35

And then Jacob’s like, oh yeah. Oh yeah. And so in the next verse, verse 14, Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him and he poured out a drink offering on it. He also poured oil on it, kind of a consecration thing. And Jacob called the place where God talked with him, Beth El, which means the house of God. He builds the stone monuments a memorial to remind himself of something. Think about any other monument or memorial that we have, like the Lincoln Memorial or the Pearl Harbor Memorial or the Vietnam Memorial. What are they there to do? Remind us. We even hear the phrase, never forget, right? We throw that around sometimes, never. Because this monument means through that tragedy, through that hardship, we learn something that we have to hold onto from the Civil War, from Vietnam or Pearl Harbor or whatever it might be. Don’t forget this lesson so that when you have luxury and wealth and ease, or when you are in the middle of hard times, don’t forget these things. Remind yourself of them because fear tends to make us forget.

MONUMENTS
Now, this is not the only time Jacob has built a monument. He’s done this two other times. He did this as he was going on his way to find a bride. And he did this also after he reconciled with his uncle Laban. He built a monument to remember. But then we see this throughout scripture. Other people do the same thing. My favorite example though is Samuel, the prophet Samuel. About a thousand or so years later, he’s going through some of his own hardships. And what does Samuel do?

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped me.”
1 Samuel 7

Samuel builds an altar, builds a monument, takes a stone pile, and set it up saying, thus far has the Lord helped me? And that stone of help, that phrase help me, it’s the phrase Ebenezer. So we’re just saying, come thou found here. I raise my Ebenezer, hereby thy great help. I’ve come. We just sang that and you’re like, what is Ebenezer? Why are we singing about Uncle Scrooge and the Christmas Carol? Now, you know an ebenezer stone of help. I love this summary from Samuel because it’s exact. What is Jacob trying to do? He’s trying to remember thus far has the Lord helped me?

No matter what’s going to come, I’ve been through that. But when I go through that, I know this to be true. Monuments help us remember what fear makes us forget. Monuments help us remember what fear makes us forget. Fear makes us forget that he is faithful. Fear makes us forget that he is kind. Fear makes us forget that he is good. Fear makes us forget that he has a plan and he is powerful and he has a purpose. And so, he builds a monument to remember thus far has the Lord helps me. So when he is going through good times, he can remember, this is not me thus far. Has the Lord helps me? And when he’s going through hard times in the future, he can look at this monument. His kids are doing his kids’ thing that are driving him crazy. He has failing health. His finances can all be lost and he can go, oh yeah, but thus far, has the Lord helped me? Is he still good? Is he still kind? Thank you, brother. Is he still faithful? Yes.

BUILD A MONUMENT TO REMEMBER WHAT FEAR MAKES YOU FORGET
Monuments help us remember what fear makes us forget. And now that brings us to you and your fears that you are facing about the future. Maybe it’s fears of your health, your finances, your marriage. Am I going to get this home or my kid’s going to love the Lord? Am I going to be able to just pay the bills? Whatever fear you’re facing, it’s time to build a monument to remind yourself what fear makes you forget that thus far has the Lord helped me? And so that’s what we’re going to do to end our time together. You’re going to finish building this monument today.

DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE
We celebrate communion every once in a while. Around here today when we celebrate communion, we’re doing things a little different. You’re going to walk on the outside aisles and come forward today. Whoa, I know. And then you’re going to return to your seats through the center out. We might have collisions. Use your blinker. Just go slow. Okay? Where am I going? But you’re going to go down the outside aisle and you’re going to receive the bread here, and we’re going to place it in your hand. And notice what Jesus says when he gives us his body and blood and the bread and the wine of communion.

He says, take and eat. This is my body. Do this in, remember, it’s a memorial. It’s a monumental meal because monuments help us remember what fear makes us forget. And he says, do this often. Why?

Because monuments help us remember what fear makes us forget. So take and eat and remember that I have died on the cross for your sins. Remember that I will rise from the grave to give you life. Remember that I am with you, that I am good, that I am faithful, that I am kind, that I am powerful, that I have a plan. Remember this, and then you’re going to come here and you’ll take wine right here, and you’ll hold it in your hands and he’ll say, do this in remembrance of me yet again. And you’ll place the empty cup in this basket here, and then you’ll come and grab a rock. We’ve got a table full of rocks here. And I want you to hold the rock in your hands, my friends, and just feel its weight for a moment. I know we got all the time. There’s no rush. Don’t feel the oh, because there’s people behind me. I have to hurry. Take just a moment and feel that weight in your hands. Feel it. What fear are you holding onto? What does it represent for you? And then I want you to pray the words of scripture,

“THUS FAR THE LORD HAS HELPED ME.”

And I want you to say, thus far has the Lord helped me? Would you say that with me right now actually thus far has the Lord helped me? And I want you to say aloud and this moment thus far, has the Lord helped me say it over the rock and then put it down and build a monument to help you remember what fear makes you forget. And I promise you, I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what’s going to happen next week with the thing that you’re afraid of. I don’t know what’s going to happen next year, the next decade, I don’t know. But I do know this, that no matter what happens, it will be no less true. You will be able to say on that day what you’re saying today, in spite of everything I know thus far, has the Lord helped me. Because monuments help you remember what fear makes you forget.

PRAYER
Let me pray for you, heavenly Father, first of all, every Sunday we come to you with some type of confession of how we’ve fallen short. And today we confess that we have put our trust in other things.

We’ve made idols out of worthless things. We’ve put our trust in our position and our wealth and our health and our relationships and our possessions and trivial things have wooed our hearts affection away from you and dethroned you from being first in our life. And we need your forgiveness. So forgive us, Lord, by your mercy and grace, because of the innocent suffering and death of your beloved son, Jesus, forgive us, renew us and lead us that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name. And Lord, I pray for any person in here who is going through any kind of fear, I pray that God, you would remind them through this exercise and remind them in this moment that you are with them, that you love them, that you will not forsake them, that you have a plan for them, that you are powerful enough to enact that plan, that you’re their protector, their provider. And remind them this morning that thus far have you helped them. And in the future, they will be able to say those same words. And because we call you Lord, and we’ve

Placed you first, and we’ve gotten rid of the foreign gods from among us, we call you Lord and we pray the prayer you taught us to pray, saying our Father, who arts in heaven, Hollywood, be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.