God has loved us deeply.
In Malachi 1:2 (NIV) the word of the Lord comes to Israel through Malachi the prophet. " 'I have loved you,' says the LORD..."
What an incredible declaration! What does it mean that the creator of the universe, the King of kings and Lord of lords, would declare such a thing?
Back in college I learned an important lesson about love. Lara and I had been dating for quite some time. Do you want to hear some of the sappy details? Too bad! Okay, I relent. The first time we met was at the mens' dorm. Lara was down at the check-in desk, trying to call some guy who was on my floor, but he wasn't answering his phone.
My first thought was, "Wow, this girl is beautiful. Look at that hair, that smile, and those eyes. Who is she?" Remember, I was in Bible College and learning to be a godly man, so I was only thinking pure thoughts! My second thought was, "What could she possibly want with that other guy?"
Fortunately for me, she had no interest in that other guy. We struck up some conversation, then she stalked me during one of my intramural basketball games, and somehow the two of us ended up bowling afterwards. Lara was a horrible bowler, but man, was she cute! I hadn't met anyone like Lara before. She was intelligent, kind, understanding, and holy. She'd laugh at all my jokes. She beats me at bowling now.
We dated for months and months before she'd even let us hold hands. It was even longer before she'd sit next to me in chapel. Still longer before our first kiss. I really couldn't see myself ever being with anyone else, so one night I confidently declared, "Lara, I love you."
I don't know what response I was expecting, but it wasn't deafening silence! Lara was perplexed by my words. I had many friends who said this kind of thing to their girlfriends every day. What was the big deal?
Lara wanted to know exactly what I meant, so she pressed me. She started quoting
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV).
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
And she started talking about Christ's kind of love-- how Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. As I thought about the high call of love reflected in 1 Corinthians 13 and reflected on Christ's willingness to die for us, I looked deep into Lara's eyes and said, "I guess I don't love you!" I think that was our first big fight! But we worked through it.
Human nature makes us doubt love.
" 'I have loved you,' says the LORD." The Lord most certainly knows what he is saying, right? He most certainly means this in the fullest possible sense, right? Yet there is something in our human nature that makes us doubt love, especially God's love. I want to talk more about this in a minute, but first let's talk about a story in
Genesis 25:21-34 which tells us about two brothers.
It begins with Isaac in Genesis 25:22 (NIV) praying to the LORD on behalf of his wife because she was barren. "The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, 'Why is this happening to me?' So she went to inquire of the LORD." The LORD, in his loving-kindness, in his covenant-love, blessed Isaac and Rebekah with twin boys. But the LORD in his foreknowledge warned Isaac and Rebekah about the battles to begin.
Genesis 25:23-28 (NIV) continues,
"The LORD said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.' When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob."
You can see that Esau and Jacob had very different temperaments, very different wiring, and very different upbringings. They both experienced imperfect human love. One had a mother wound. One had a father wound. Yet both had the same LORD. And both were born into this world because of God's expressed love and kindness. Typically the younger sibling would serve the older sibling, and the older sibling would be entitled to the birthright.
The story continues in
Genesis 25:29-34 (NIV).
"Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, 'Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!' (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, 'First sell me your
birthright.' 'Look, I am about to die,' Esau said. 'What good is the birthright to me?' But Jacob said, 'Swear to me first.' So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright."
A single choice can change the trajectory of our lives forever.
Two brothers. The same LORD. The same earthly father. The same earthly mother. Different temperaments, different wiring, different upbringings, and different wounds. But also two distinct attitudes, two distinct mentalities, and two distinct paths. The younger brother coveted his older brother's birthright, while the older brother despised his birthright. One brother conspired to steal his brother's birthright, while the other was willing to trade it away in order to satisfy the cravings of his flesh.
Isn't it amazing how even a single choice can change the trajectory of our lives forever? How a single choice can impact generations upon generations, even nations? Isn't it even more alarming how God honors our choices? Esau's descendents, Edom (the Edomites), would serve Jacob's descendents forever! Jacob would inherit that place in God's sovereign plan that was rightfully Esau's. One moment of impulsive behavior impacted generations, and redirected thousands of years of history.
Now what does all of this have to do with God's love? That's a great question! This morning I want to talk about three mentalities-- three distinct attitudes or responses we can have to God's love.
The Jacob mentality.
Malachi 1:1-3 (NIV) says,
"An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. 'I have loved you,' says the LORD. 'But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' 'Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' the LORD says. 'Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.' "
Jacob is an interesting character-- yes, character. You already know he was a con man and a deceiver. Imagine the character of a man who conspires against his own flesh and blood to steal his family's fortune! Jacob would steal his brother's birthright and take his blessing. And he would spend most of his life running from his brother.
Throughout his life, Jacob took four different wives and had children with each wife. His home was fragmented with competing factions, divided loyalties, and unhealed hurts.
Jacob was a duplicitous, passive father as well. He rarely stepped in to discipline his children. He lacked the personal integrity to do so. He was a poor role model. At any time, his kids could point out his hypocrisy and say, "Dad you did it, so it must be okay." So when his oldest son had a sexual escapade with one of his own wives, Jacob did little to nothing about it. He just brushed it off. Imagine that your brother is your brother's son! One by one, every one of Jacob's sons began to develop his own deviant patterns of behavior, thus raising the level of family turmoil to all new heights.
When one of Jacob's daughters was violently raped by a band of thugs, it was too much for the family to endure. His sons went out and brutally murdered the men who had victimized their sister. But it was of little comfort. Afterward, Jacob was more concerned with the financial and social repercussions of their murderous plot, and less concerned about the moral flaws his sons' behavior displayed.
And we all know how Jacob played favorites with his son Joseph. Joseph got special attention from his father. He got extra portions at mealtime and got out of chores. Jacob spared Joseph the traumatic ordeal of having to wear his brothers' hand-me-downs, giving him a designer coat of many colors. But Jacob's other sons became so envious that they tried to kill Joseph. They saw him as an obstacle to their father's affection. And Jacob's three wives didn't treat Joseph any better. They wanted their own sons treated fairly and equitably.
God blessed Jacob despite Jacob's sinfulness.
Now why am I telling you all of this? It's because if you follow Jacob's life, and the lives of his sons, you will know that God blessed Jacob despite Jacob's sinfulness. Jacob did absolutely nothing to deserve God's love-- yet God increased his flocks, and providentially saved Jacob's family during a severe famine, through his son Joseph. In
Romans 9:15 (NIV) Paul recalls the story of Jacob and Esau to say,
"I (God)
will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
But what is the Jacob mentality? It's a mentality that doesn't appreciate the love it is already being given by the LORD. It is a mentality that cannot see the obvious no matter how obvious the obvious may be.
Malachi 1:1-3 (NIV) says,
"An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. 'I have loved you,' says the LORD. 'But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' 'Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' the LORD says. 'Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.' "
Don't get hung up on that word hate. This is a Hebrew idiom, a round about way of drawing a comparison between two brothers and two nations. Jesus uses this same expression in
Luke 14:26 (NIV).
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple." God doesn't hate, but he most certainly demonstrates his favor and blessing, and pours out his blessing, even on those who don't deserve it.
Essentially, God is saying, "I have loved Jacob more than Esau. I have loved you more than any of the other nations! Just look around! You could be living in a wasteland, and your inheritance could be getting consumed by desert jackals. I could have given you exactly what your sinful deception and material discontent deserves. But no, I have showered you with grace, mercy, and compassion, in spite of who you are."
How many of us haven't understood what God has done for us?
I wonder how many of you have a Jacob mentality? How many of you haven't understood, nor believed, all that God in his love has done for you? How many of you hope to manipulate God, deceive others (even your own flesh and blood) to get even more than all God has provided? We wouldn't even be here, we wouldn't have even been born, were it not for God's loving-kindness. We wouldn't have even survived, were it not for God's love. We wouldn't have even survived, let alone overcome our tragic past, our sordid past, our dysfunctional family history, the danger, the famine and drought, if the LORD had not intervened.
But instead of praising the LORD there is complaining. "Lord, what have you done for me lately? Lord, you haven't done enough. Lord, you need to do even more. Lord, I'm gonna have to covet, steal, and rob you of tithes and offerings because you haven't provided for my needs. God, I cannot be all-in, I cannot serve you, I cannot trust you, until you do more. Until you give me more, I need to keep looking out for myself."
The Esau mentality.
Esau was afflicted with a different mentality. Just as Esau despised his father's birthright, so Esau's descendents, Edom, despised the LORD's love.
Malachi 1:4-5 (NIV) says,
"Edom may say, 'Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.' But this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD. You will see it with your own eyes and say, 'Great is the LORD-- even beyond the borders of Israel!' "
Edom's mentality is, "So what? So what if God loves or doesn't love? We don't need God anyway. We can rebuild even bigger and better without God. Let's go it alone." And let's not forget Esau's short-sighted words. "Look, I'm about to die! What good is a birthright to me? Quick, let me have some of that stew! I'm famished! Let's eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."
Esau was willing to give away his soul to fill his belly. It reminds me of
Philippians 3:18-19 (NIV) where Paul says,
"...many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things."
Ephesians 2:1-3 (NIV) says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgression and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
Both mentalities exist in the Church today.
Isn't it true that both mentalities exist in the Church today? There are those who feel that God hasn't loved, blessed, or given us enough. There are those who'd rather serve a master other than God, than to love God and hate the other. There are those who think they'll do better going it alone, without hope, without God, following the cravings and desires of their sinful nature.
Some people misread Malachi 1:2-3 (NIV). "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated..." Some people wrongly believe that the nation of Israel is automatically saved by virtue of God's eternal decree. "I'm saved just because I'm a child of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I'm saved by birth, by my ethnicity, by my own righteousness, and by my good luck."
And some wrongly believe that others are destined for eternal hell, by virtue of divine decree. "There is no hope for me. I'm born into perdition. I grew up on the wrong side of tracks, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong family, in the wrong nation, and everything is wrong about my life. God doesn't love me, nor do I deserve to even be called a son. I'm getting what I deserve. I'm a son or daughter of my hell-bound, short-sighted, undestined, unchosen, unadopted, and unloved ancestors."
The only way we can properly understand God's loving intention for both of these brothers is by remembering the tale of two other brothers.
The tale of the prodigal brothers.
Do you remember the tale of the prodigal brothers? I know you've always been taught that one was saved and the other was lost. But the truth is that they were both lost.
The younger brother was lost because he had an Esau mentality. He was so shortsighted as to demand his inheritance so that he could go to a distant country, where he could squander his wealth and live a wild life. In the end, he plummeted into ruin. He got what his sins deserved. His inheritance went not to desert jackals, but rather to pigs. But unlike Edom, this son came to his senses. He repented. He had the audacity, yes audacity, to came back to his father for grace. And not because he deserved it, but because he realized that apart from God, nothing could be rebuilt in his life. There was nothing to be gained living in a wicked land, among wicked people, under God's wrath.
The older brother was lost because he had a Jacob mentality. The elder brother stayed in his father's house and enjoyed his father's favor. He had his birthright and had his father's blessing. But when his brother returned home, he became angry and resentful. He didn't believe that the father had done enough for him, and so he confronted the father.
Luke 15:29-30 (NIV) says,
"Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"
The Lord's mentality.
The father's mentality is altogether different.
Luke 15:31-32 (NIV) says,
" 'My son,' the Father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
The father's mentality is to save both brothers! In
Romans 9 when Paul speaks of God's sovereign choice of Jacob over Esau, it's to amplify his later point that now in Christ, God would call both Jew and Gentile to faith. And that as the LORD revealed to Hosea in
Romans 9:25 (NIV) which says,
"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one."
Or as Paul would declare in
Romans 10:11-13 (NIV),
"As Scripture says, 'Anyone who trust in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' "
God's purpose was that all men be saved, that both brothers be saved! Yet which brother is actually the hardest to save? Is it prodigal son who is like Esau? Or is it the prodigal son who is like Jacob? Ironically, in the story of the prodigal sons, it is the Son like Esau who is saved, while we're never not quite sure whether the son like Jacob ever accepts the father's grace.
Nevertheless, God's offer of grace remains for both sons-- for the elder son and the prodigal son; for the one like Jacob and the one like Esau. For both, God's love remained unchanged.
John 3:16 (NIV) says,
"For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes on him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Are you all in?
This morning we kick off a new series that asks, "Are you all in?"
We'll never be all in for God, and our response to his grace will never be so complete, until we begin to understand all he has already given us in Christ. For you Jacobs it means understanding that all the Father has is already yours in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3 (NIV) says,
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
For you Esaus, it means that no matter how far from God you've drifted, and no matter how much of your inheritance you've squandered, God longs for your return. You no longer have to run in fear. God invites you to return, to trust his love, and be reconciled through Christ. Everyone who trusts, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.