READING FOR JUNE 7, 2024; GENESIS 48, GALATIANS 1, PSALM 51:1-12 GENESIS 48 This chapter may be the most relevant to our church of any in the Bible. Jacob became sick and aware of his imminent death. Both these states of sickness and death were not part of God’s original creation but entered the world through sin. The fact that they usually gang up on us at the same time is a great challenge of old age. (Anyone else feel this way?) It is, however, also a motivation to long and prepare for our eternal home.
It turned Jacob’s thoughts to God’s past faithfulness and the promised future for Jacob’s descendants. Jacob remembered the time at Luz, on his way to meet Laban and his daughters, where God affirmed that His Covenant with Abraham would be fulfilled through him (i.e., Jacob). This recollection led Jacob to move to the next generation of this fulfillment. He claimed Joseph’s two eldest sons as his own, each son to be the father of one of the tribes of Israel. He then threw in a seemingly unrelated recollection of Rachel’s death, giving some indication of how sad her loss still made him. (Ever notice how the loss of a spouse can always be on the minds of the surviving partner?)
Here we are reminded of the final blessing Isaac gave Jacob long ago, only Jacob is now in Isaac’s role. Jacob has one more trick, literally, up his sleeve. For a reason not given, but totally true to character, he intentionally switches his hands to give the more powerful blessing to the younger son Ephraim (meaning fruitfulness) rather than the older son Manasseh (meaning forgetfulness). Did this switcheroo really matter in the long run? Hear God’s word many centuries later to Jeremiah: “I will lead them by streams of waters, on a straight path on which they will not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn” (Jeremiah 3:9).
One of the most memorable chapters in the New Testament is Hebrews 11, where the writer provides a hall of fame of great men and women of faith and their greatest accomplishments. What is considered the great faith accomplishment of Jacob? “By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff” (Heb. 11:21).
HERE IS THE SUPER-IMPORTANT POINT. For many of us, there are relatively few years left to live in this life. But, there is still time to leave a legacy of faith and blessing for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. It might be and likely will be the single most eternally significant act of faith we can achieve in our lives. ARE OUR CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, AND GREAT GRANDCHILDREN LIVING FOR THE LORD? LET’S PRAY AND STRATIGIZE AS A CHURCH TOWARD THAT END. NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT IN OUR LAST YEARS!
READING FOR JUNE 7, 2024 CONTINUED: GALATIANS 1, PSALM 51:1-12 GALATIANS 1 If you look at the greetings in Paul’s letters to the other churches, even to the sinful church at Corinth, he typically spends at least nine verses and up to half the first chapter expressing introductory niceties. He leaves all that out here and jumps to his urgent concern. It comes gushing forth in a torrent of emotion. Why is he so upset? They got the Gospel wrong! Their particular error will be evident in subsequent chapters, but Paul wants them and us to know that we cannot get this wrong. In fact, if somehow Paul or an angel from heaven visits us at Yorktown Methodist Church preaching a different Gospel from what we have in the Bible, Paul says we should curse them (vs.8), meaning condemn them to Hell. To make sure we take him seriously, he repeats this admonition right away (vs. 9). We must make sure that any teacher, minister, or perspective pastor is clear about this. It should be the first question from any pastoral search committee and for anyone seeking membership or church leadership. WE MUST ALL UNDERSTAND AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. It alone rescues us from evil (vs.4). Paul then explains why his past preaching of the Gospel to them was accurate. He received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ (vs 12), not through any secondary human source. He goes on to say his immediate and dramatic change from being the persecutor of the church to the preeminent preacher to the Gentiles shows that this could only be accomplished by God’s grace alone, not through human instruction, even by the other apostles. They didn’t influence the change; they only verified the change: “They were glorifying God because of me” (vs. 24). PSALM 51:1-12 As part of our communion service, we often read one of the confessional prayers at the beginning of our hymnal. They are good prayers, but they fail to reach the grandeur of God’s attributes, depth of personal remorse, passion for inner renewal, and desperation for spiritual relationship as found in this epic confessional prayer by David. God’s Attributes. It is only because of God’s limitless grace (greater than our sins-Rom 5:20-21) and faithfulness (always new and great-Lam. 3:23) that David or we have any reason to ask for forgiveness. We know whatever God decides will be perfect judgment and that He alone has the ability and compassion to give us inner purity and joy, no matter what our sins have been. There is always reason to hope because of God. Personal Remorse. We should never minimize our sins by thinking, “That’s OK; it doesn’t matter.” We need to continually be aware of their gravity. Even though we may have terribly wronged someone else, by comparison, it is only the holy God we have sinned against. We must remember that we were born with a sin nature and constantly need God’s sustaining spirit. We cannot avoid sin in our strength alone. Passion for Renewal. David anticipates the complete inner cleansing from sin made possible by Jesus on the cross: “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). He also anticipates a newness of heart possible when we are saved: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Desperate for Relationship. When David became King, he received much more than a crown: “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came on David from that day forward” (1 Sam. 16:13). He feared losing this relationship (vs.11). As believers in Jesus, we all have this relationship: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16).
