No. 3 - BROKENNESS — THE PRINCIPLE

Genesis 32:24-32

In the previous messages we have defined “Brokenness as the process whereby God brings us to the end of ourselves and into total love, trust, and submission toward Him.”

As we think about that definition let’s look at in in the third of the famed patriarchs: Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham.

This was the second major crisis in Jacob’s spiritual life.

1st—Gen 28 at Bethel - - 2nd—Gen 32 at Jabbok

Saw a ladder - - Saw the Lord

Became a believing man - - Became a broken man

Became a son of God - - Became a saint of God

Heaven . . . beyond - - Here . . . now

Put a spring in his step - - Sustained a lasting limp in his walk

Died to sin - - Died to self

What is interesting is there is more than 20 years between these events. God is never in a rush in His work in us. It was at first that God saved Jacob, then it took years for God to subdue Jacob.

In Genesis 32 a strange but true connection is made with blessedness and brokenness—a most unlikely union. We all want blessedness. We all need brokenness.

1. The Crisis and Circumstances of Jacob’s Blessedness.

Jacob was finally headed home after 20 years of service to his crooked father-in-law and uncle, Laban. It was 20 long years of confusion and compromise. But while Jacob was making his way home he learned that Esau, his brother, was on his way to meet him. Fear gripped him, v. 7. Under that dark, night sky

Jacob probably thought his past had caught up with him.

· He had cheated his brother, Esau.

· He had deceived his blind father, Isaac.

· It had taken him 20 years, but he had finally outwitted his unscrupulous uncle, Laban.

The New Testament says, “Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall be also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap destruction,” Galatians 6:7-8a. Most of us sow our seeds of worldliness and waywardness and then pray for crop failure! We don’t want to get what we deserve.

Jacob had what has been called a “fox-hole” conversation with God.

· Jacob called on God, v. 9.

· Jacob confessed, v. 10.

· Jacob saw himself as captured, v. 11-12. He had to call on God.

Yet after all of this, he resorted to carnal scheming and planning to save his neck, separating his family into three groups, vs. 22-23. “And Jacob was left alone,” v. 24. Exhausted, Jacob possibly fell asleep.

A young man said to his girl friend. “I dreamed about you last night. I dreamt I proposed to you, last night. What do you think that means?” The girl said, “That means you’ve got more sense when you are asleep, than when you are awake.”

Well, here Jacob is asleep, but he is not going to be able to sleep through that he was about to face. This was God’s “wake-up” call to Jacob.

If God has recently given you a “wake-up” call, let me insist that you not, I said, not hit the snooze button on God. Putting God off is not a good idea. How many know that from personal experience?

2. The Confrontation and Conflict of Jacob’s Blessedness.

In the darkness of the night Jacob encountered someone who wanted to fight. That was right down Jacob’s alley. Jacob had been a fighter all his life and up until that time Jacob had been undefeated.

· At his birth he “took hold on Esau’s heel,” Genesis 25:26.

· Jacob had gotten Esau’s “birthright” for a bowl of beans, Genesis 25:29-34.

· He had taken his brother’s “blessing” in another contest, Genesis 27:28-30.

· Jacob fought with Laban over his wives and wages and wealth, and although he had a few setbacks, won battle after battle, Genesis 29-31.

But this fight was different because it was one of the few fights that Jacob did not initiated. A stranger in the dark night had started this conflict. Darkness had hidden both their faces, but this was no “fair fight,” Jacob was wrestling with God, vs. 24-25. Here is a classic case of a man fighting God. Jacob seemed to be able to hold his own against God. How sad that we are so strong in our foolish resistance of God. But God kept the pressure on. So persistent was God and so resistant was Jacob that God was forced to dislocate Jacob’s thigh and disable him.

3. The Collapse and Cry of Jacob’s Blessedness.

Jacob had given up the fight. He was toast (with no jelly). Put a fork in him, he’s done. He was spent. When Jacob no longer had the strength to resist, he wrapped his arms around the divine Wrestler and refused to let Him go until he received the blessing, as though this was not the point to which God had been working for his whole lifetime! Oh, that men would cry out, “I will not let thee go, except Thou bless me.” All his fight was gone. All resistance ended.

Jacob was striving all his life with men – winning some and losing some. But that night he spent all night resisting God – and lost. As Jacob realizes all this, as he sees the bankruptcy of all his efforts to fight with men and to resist God, he at long last sees that the true treasure is God Himself. And seeing God as his treasure – he, the loser, wins. He has saved his life by losing it. And so this loss is Jacob’s – Israel’s – victory.

When will we quit fighting God? And when will we start clinging to God? When will we surrender to God’s prevailing power? How desperately do we want the blessing of God?

4. The Change and Conversion of Jacob’s Blessedness.

Here is where Jacob is truly “converted,” the true turning-point in his life.

· He took a new name. What is your name? Who are you? Before he had said, “I am Esau.” Jacob sadly confessed, “Jacob” meaning “supplanter, cheat.” God said, “I’ve been waiting 20 years to hear that. You will now be called “Israel” meaning “a prince of God.” Are you broken in God’s holy presence because you know who you are—a sinner?

· He took a new position and power, “As a prince hast thou power with God and men.” A prince is what? A child of a king. We have a royal connection.

· He took on a new walk. The “hollow of the thigh” us the hip socket. Ouch! He halted; he limped. It was a constant reminder of his meeting with God and who won that match. When Moses will later met God face to face, the glow of that meeting was on his face—the mark on his face. But when Jacob met God he limped—the mark was on his feet. In reality, its not enough to look right, but we need to walk right.

Jacob learned that God doesn’t need our strength. He wants our weakness. Jacob had been forced into early retirement. His wrestling days were over. Now under his permanent wounded condition Jacob understands his fighting days are over and is content from this time on to let God do his fighting for him!

Psychologists and socialists would say it is impossible for some to radically changed in mid-life. But God can do what no other person can—and He changed Jacob. We will all be “changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” when Jesus returns at the rapture, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. But until then, we all need to be “changed… from glory to glory” into our Lord’s image, 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Don’t you want to be changed—truly changed? Someone said, ”The only people in the church who are changed are the babies in the nursery, and they do so kicking and screaming.”

What will happen when you have quit fighting God and are truly clinging to God? The answer is verse 29. Jacob humbly asks, “God, tell me...What is thy name?” You will want to know God better. Although God did not answer Jacob, it showed the change in Jacob’s heart. He had seen God—face to face.

Jacob leaves, rejoins his wives and children and announces, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved,” v. 30. This was a matter of….

· Genuine Testimony. “Let the redeemed of the Lord, say so.”

· Serious Accountability. What we do not openly confess we probably will not live up to.

5. The Channel of Jacob’s Blessedness.

How does God change us, bless us? How was Jacob prepared to receive the blessing? What is the channel in which God’s blessings flow? Now, let’s get this. This is the key: God’s blessings flow in the channel of brokenness. That’s right. Brokenness. The way to blessedness is brokenness. Before God could extend the blessings there had to be a complete collapse, a bitter breaking of the strong, self-life of Jacob. God cannot entrust a person with any deep blessing, any important spiritual ministry until there is a breaking.

How was it that Jacob “prevailed,” as it says in Genesis 32:28. Hosea 12:4 gives the answer. “Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him.” At the very same time, this was Jacob’s greatest defeat and Jacob’s greatest victory. It was his death and resurrection. It both paralyzed him and empowered him. It was the night he lost it all and the night that he gained it all.

If we learn anything from this story it is this: there is a conflict between God and his children. It is a real conflict but not a hostile conflict. It is a conflict for control. A conflict in which God overthrows, but only to raise us up higher still. God prevails over us. God weakens us. God humbles us. But in it all it is that God might bless us. We are broken to be blessed. He prevails and we prevail. We prevail as He prevails.

Until one is broken, he is full of himself: his plans, his ambitions, his value judgments, his opinions, his will, his tastes.

A medical doctor was asked about the significance of God touching Jacob upon the sinew of his thigh. The doctor said, “The sinew of the thigh is the strongest part of the human body. A horse could hardly tear away the limb, pulling it straight. Only as it is twisted can it be torn apart.”

Brokenness is the first thing all of us need, but it the last things all of us want. Like Jacob, we fight until our strength is gone.

We see brilliance all around us, but little brokenness.

Too many churches are all like the Laodicean church. “Thou sayest, I am rich, increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” Revelation 3:17. We are measuring ourselves by our buildings and budgets and baptisms, instead of using God’s true measurement: brokenness.

Isaiah 57:15 God dwells in two places...at once.

· “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place…” That’s is heaven.

· “...with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” That is the heart of those who are broken.

The last image we have of Jacob is seeing him limping to meet Esau as the sun is rising. He has lost his great physical power; he has lost all he previously depended on. But now Jacob is a man of God. Jacob is saved and surrendered. Jacob values God above all else.

The devil will whisper to the “Jacobs” of our day saying, “Your future can never be better than your past. You are what you are. Live with it.”

But, to God, the law of heredity are not irreversible. Listen to Psalm 20:1. “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee…”

There is a God for people like Jacob! Amen? Sure, we believe in the “God of Abraham” and the “God of Moses” and the “God of the Apostle Paul.” But, is it not incredible that the true God is “the God of Jacob.” The God of Jacob loves us without a reason. The God of Jacob persists when others have given up. The God of Jacob says temperament, environment, upbringing, failure do not make the man. God makes the man!

And it would be through Jacob that the royal line of Messiah would come. And it is all because of God’s grace and goodness and glory.

Brokenness is the process whereby God brings us to the end of ourselves and into total love, trust, and submission toward Him.