[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/death_to_the_selfie-jacob_story.mp3[/podcast] Today we begin a brand new series called, Death to the Selfie. I began telling you last week how this series came to me, and I wanted to elaborate on it. My wife and I started to look at Instagram as of late just to see whats out there and what weve noticed is that there is a whole lot of selfies. In fact, my phone has a flash in the front so that you can take a selfie in the dark! But that got me thinking are we miserable because were always trying to put a selfie ready pose out there and so we lose ourselves and our surroundings? Or are we just un-bless-able because we pretending to be somebody were not. This morning were going to look at the life of Jacob from the lens of how being self-involved is a miserable life and the repercussions from it. I want to begin the story from Genesis 25, verse 24. 24?When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.?25?The first came out red,?all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau.?26?Afterward his brother came out with?his hand holding Esau’s heel, so?his name was called Jacob.?Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. This story, whether its true or not, I dont know. But there is one thing we need to know about the man, Jacob, he wanted to be first and he tried, although he failed, at being first. He subconsciously wanted to get ahead. Verse 26 says Jacob was so named because he was born grabbing the heel of his brother. Do we know those type of people? People who intentionally sabotage other people because they want to be that person? These people just cant see other people get ahead of them. They let you know it too, although they might not really know it. It made him miserable to know that he wasnt first. Jacob had a me first mentality. This culture that we live in, we all strive subconsciously to be recognized. If you dont believe me, you just need to watch a single episode of Gossip Girl. Michelle and I watched a few episodes of it on Netflix to see what all the hoopla was about and its simple: I live on the upper east side and I want to be first and have everybody know it. We may not take pride in our money or things because were not greedy, but we take pride in having more than other people or being thinner, or smarter, or better. I want to keep reading, verse 29. 29?Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.?30?And Esau said to Jacob, Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted! (Therefore his name was called Edom.)31?Jacob said, Sell me your birthright now.?32?Esau said, I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me??33?Jacob said, Swear to me now. So he swore to him and?sold his birthright to Jacob.?34?Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:24-34) Jacob wanted his older brother to sell him his birthright. Without getting into how stupid Esau is for selling Jacob the rights to his birth. I want you to see how badly Jacob wants to be Esau. Esau is so hungry, so desperate, he was willing to give everything away for some food. Jacob, being opportunistic and having a me, first mentality jumped at the opportunity. Some of us are so self-involved, and so greedy, and so opposed to who we are that we would jump at any chance to be somebody other than us. Ive been following the story of the gunman in Oregon that went on a shooting spree at the college out west, and heres the summary of his manifesto: highly interested in high profile shootings, angry at not having a girlfriend and bitter at a world that he believed was working against him. This is the story of a guy that he lost himself somewhere trying to get something or some place. That guy, Chris Mercer Harper, he wanted to be somebody else and he couldnt so he took it out on people who were trying to better themselves. Look at what he wrote and I quote, I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. … Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight. Im not saying that were like that if were working hard trying to obtain goals and such, but I am saying that our story, if we put ourselves first will be as miserable and misguided as Chris Mercer. Im telling you this because the truth of the matter is that from our misery, we believe and find Christ as our savior, and unfortunately, we believe as soon as we are rescued by Christ that we have to be somebody else in order to be blessed by God. It really isnt true. Lets take another look into Jacobs life. Im going to lift parts of Genesis 27 and 28 so that we can read the just important, meaty parts that we need to focus on today. 6?Rebekah said to her son Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,?7?Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the?Lord?before I die.?8?Now therefore, my son,?obey my voice as I command you.?9?Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.?10?And you shall bring it to your father to eat,?so that he may bless you before he dies.?11?But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold,?my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.?12?Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring?a curse upon myself and not a blessing.?13?His mother said to him,?Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me. 14?So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.?15?Then Rebekah took the?best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.?16?And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.17?And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18?So he went in to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here I am. Who are you, my son??19?Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.?20?But Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? He answered, Because the?Lord?your God granted me success.?21?Then Isaac said to Jacob, Please come near, that I?may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.?22?So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.?23?And he did not recognize him, because?his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands.?So he blessed him.?24?He said, Are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am.?25?Then he said, Bring it near to me,?that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you. So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. (Genesis 27:6-25) After this story, Jacob has to go on the run because his brother wants to kill him. This is not the blessing that Jacob intended. He didnt want to go on the run. But hes on the run anyways. How horrible. He put on animal skins and pretended to be his brother Esau and it didnt end up the way he thought it would. He thought it would be happily ever after, but really it meant being a fugitive from his own brother. He spends the next 20 years on the run. He got the blessing from his dying dad, but he couldnt enjoy it. We put on costumes like Jacob did to get things we think we need. We all have a gap between the person we want to be and the person we are, so we create a fake identity to bridge the gap like Jacob in this story. God cant bless who we pretend to be. God makes it so obvious that he cannot bless somebody who is not himself or herself in Genesis 28. 20?Then Jacob?made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,?21?so that I come again to my father’s house in peace,?then the Lord?shall be my God,?22?and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And?of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you. (Genesis 28:20-22) Jacob realizes himself, that he cannot live on the run, he has to go home in peace. He has to do that. He cannot be blessed, God will not be his God until Jacob comes back home in peace. It takes Jacob twenty years to go back home and realize that he cant pretend to be somebody hes not. It was a long time coming, but he did realize it. I want to look at that moment because I think its also here that we have a lot of things to learn from. 22?The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,?and crossed the ford of the?Jabbok.23?He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.?24?And Jacob was left alone. And?a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.?25?When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.?26?Then he said, Let me go, for the day has broken. But Jacob said,?I will not let you go unless you bless me.?27?And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.?28?Then he said,?Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,?for?you have striven with God and?with men, and have prevailed.?29?Then Jacob asked him, Please tell me your name. But he said,?Why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him.?30?So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,?saying, For?I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.?31?The sun rose upon him as he passed?Penuel, limping because of his hip.?32?Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh. (Genesis 32:22-32) Jacob had conned his way through life until this point. But now there was nowhere he could run. He first ran away from his brother, now he ran away from his wives father or his uncle. Jacob wrestles with God all night long and doesnt let go until God blesses him. I want you to see this. Jacob finally got a hold of God, the only one who could bless him. When Jacob got a hold, he didnt let go. The first step in finding out who we are is grabbing hold of God and not letting go until he blesses us. That means that when things get tough, we hang on, when things are good, we still hang on, we hang on and on and hold tight, dont you let go until God blesses you. See another thing thats going on here in this story. When God asks Jacob for his name, he doesnt pretend to be somebody else like he did with his father. Instead, Jacob says my name is Jacob. We cannot be blessed by God unless we come to him like we truly are. And we are ready to admit who we really are. But heres something more interesting. God changes Jacobs name. He changes it to Israel. The Bible conteinues to to call Jacob and Israel interchangeably. The process of becoming who God called you to be after you accept Christ as your savior involves our new identity, but it also involves our old one. Sometimes we conflict within ourselves, but it doesnt mean that God gives up on the promise He has for you. It means that God wants us and is for us if we come to Him as we are, He will work with us. God isnt just the God of our parts that are pretty, for some of us that may be no parts. God is the God of Jacob, of people who admit that there is nothing good within me, that I got by in life. God says, I am your God, as long as you can admit who you are. Lets pray.
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