Heading Home, Part 1

Today, you're going to be so glad that you came. Today, you're going to be able to take with you some very practical principles that will help you through your life like nothing you've ever seen before. Let's look at Genesis 31 together, first three verses.

Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's son saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's and from what belonged to our father he had has made all this wealth. And Jacob saw the attitude of Laban and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. Then the Lord said to Jacob, return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives and I will be with you. In those three verses, we're able to see and decipher many things about the life of Jacob. As Jacob heads home, the very first thing I want you to see this morning is the prompting, what moved him.

He had been in Haran for 20 years, but today was the day he would begin his journey back to his homeland. Two things I want you to see, the ways of man and the word of God. When you examine the ways of man, you're going to see the workings of God. When you examine the word of God, you're going to see the will of God and you'll understand why Jacob would now begin to use this time to move. Under the ways of man, I want you to see two things, the conversation of Laban's sons and the countenance of Laban himself.

The text tells us in verse number one, Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons. Stop right there just for a moment. When you hear the words of people and they're saying things about you that are untrue, it causes you to want to move, doesn't it? It causes you to want to change churches. It causes you to want to change jobs. It causes you to want to move out of that circle of people. Especially when they begin to speak things about you that are untrue. And the sons of Laban had gotten together and they said these words, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.

You see what Jacob's done? He has taken our dad's stuff. He has made himself wealthy by abusing and using our dad's resources. That wasn't true. That was completely false. Jacob knew it. You see, Jacob hadn't taken all that was Laban's. On the contrary, all that Laban had, as we examined in chapter 30, was already his. In fact, he he gave the striped and the speckled and the spotted sheep to Laban and said take them. And Laban took them three days journey away from Jacob. And Jacob just kept Laban's flock, the solid colored black ones and white ones.

And he would raise them in every sheep or land that would come from that group of livestock that was solid black or white. They would still be Laban's. But the striped, speckled, spotted ones would be Jacob's. And what did God do? God in a supernatural way brought about his sovereign purposes and Jacob became a wealthy man because of God. Not because of Jacob's deceit. Not because of because Jacob took away from Laban. None of that. None of that is true. Jacob was a man that operated in truthfulness with his father-in-law Laban.

And so we see that the conversation of Laban's sons, the ways of man would begin to prompt him to move on. It had been six years, six years that he had given to raise Laban's livestock. And from that, take the spotted, speckled, and striped sheep that would be his own. And in verse number 43, it says, the man Jacob became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys, all because God had prospered him. And Jacob knew it. How do we know? If you go down and check with 31, as he begins to speak with Rachel and Leah, he says in verse number five, he says, the God of my father has been with me.

He says, and you know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. However, God did not allow him to hurt me. Verse number nine, thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me. You see, Jacob knew that God was involved. Jacob knew that God was working in his life and Jacob would give all the glory to God. So Jacob knew that in spite of the ways of man, there was the working of God that was bigger than the conversation of Laban's sons.

And number two, the countenance of Laban. It says in verse number two, and Jacob saw the attitude of Laban and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly.

Even Laban had become sour on Jacob. And so he realized that it was time for him to move on, that Laban was no longer going to be friendly toward him as he had been the previous 20 years. But in spite of that, there was the word of God. For God came to him and said, I will be with you. Return to your land, return to the land of your fathers, and I will be with you. But there's something very important here you need to see. Go down with me if you would to verse number 12. God says these words, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

God says to Jacob, I have seen everything that Laban has done to you. I have seen how he has cheated you, how he has deceived you, how he has tricked you, how he has lied to you, how he has taken you and abused you, even abused his daughters. I have seen the deceit of the man. I've seen it all, God says.

And he says in verse number 13, I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now arise, leave this land and return to the land of your birth. You see, what you need to understand is that Jacob knew in his heart and mind that God was in control because God cared about him. Thus God would cause him to conquer everything in his life. Jacob realized that. He understood it. He was able to grasp it. This morning, I need you to grasp that with me today. I need you to understand that.

Why is that? Because there comes a time in your life and in mine where we feel cheated, where we feel ripped off, where we feel that life is not treating us fairly. And if we don't see God caring, controlling, and conquering, we will falter. You see, you have to go back and ask yourself, why is it that after seven years of working for Laban that Jacob didn't say, you know what? I don't want Sorai's. I don't want Leah. And if this is the way you're going to treat me, I'm out of here. I don't need a wife like this, and I don't need a father-in-law like you, Laban, and I'm not going to stand for you to trick me.

I'm going back to my homeland. That's where I would have been. I wouldn't have kept Sorai's with me. I'd have been gone. But Jacob stayed. He wanted Rachel, so he'd work another seven years for Rachel. And then he'd stay and work another six years in spite of the trickery, the cheating, the lying, the deception, and even the rivalry in the home. You ever been there? All of us, to some degree, get to that point. Who needs this? I don't need it. I don't want it. And for the most part, we just turn our backs and walk away from it.

But Jacob stayed. Jacob knew that the God of Bethel, the God of his father Abraham and Isaac, he knew his God was with him. And God would come to him and say, I have seen all that Laban has done to you. Do you understand that when you believe that things aren't going well in your life, that God has seen all that your adversary has done to you? Do you believe that? And then how do you work around that? How do you handle that? You see, Jacob knew how to handle it. There's so many times we don't know how to handle it.

So what do you do? How do you handle that? Listen to Romans chapter 11. In fact, if you have your Bible, turn there with me, if you would, please. The apostle Paul was a guy who went through all kinds of problems, from one turmoil to one tragedy to one difficult time after another. That was the apostle Paul's life. But listen to what he says in Romans chapter 11, verse number 36. For from him and through him and to him are what? All things. From him are all things. Did you get that? Not only through him and to him, but from him are all things.

You say, I just don't believe that. Well, that's why when you read verse number 33, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. And then he says to him be the glory forever. Oh, may he be glorified. May he be praised. May he be put on display. May he be magnified. May he be manifested through my life and through everybody's life because he is the king of kings. He is the Lord of lords and he does everything well.

He is God. Paul understood that. You see, a proper theology will always help you understand your practical responsibility. But an improper theology helps us get all goofed up with our responsibility. You must understand that from him and through him and to him are all things. That God cares, that God controls, and that God ultimately conquers overall because he's in charge. Jacob believed that and God prepared him to be the father of a great nation. Do you understand that? Do you perceive that in God?

The Bible says, the book of Proverbs, 16th chapter, fourth verse, the Lord has made everything for its own purposes.

Even the wicked for the day of evil. So God says, I have made even the wicked for the day of evil. Because God has an ultimate purpose, right? And that purpose is for his glory. So from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. The Bible says, Isaiah 45, verse number 7, I am the one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity.

I am the Lord who does all these things. We've had families leave our church just over that one verse. Isaiah 45, verse number 7. Because they will not accept that God controls everything. They will not buy into the fact that God is sovereign. He rules over all the events of life. But he does. In fact, over in Psalm 147, it says this, verse number 15, he sends forth his command to the earth. His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool. He scatters the frost like ashes. He casts forth his ice on fragments.

Who can stand before his cold? He sends forth his word and melts them. He causes his wind to blow and the waters to flow. The Bible says God causes the weather.

It only rains when God says rain. It only snows when God says snow. The water only moves when God moves the water. You say, well, the water just runs because that's what water does. I mean, it's being pushed and run along to the sea. No, no, no, no, no. The Bible says God moves the water.

God does it. He sends forth his word. He commands the earth and the earth responds to what God says. So when you pray for sun on the day of your church picnic and the sun doesn't come out and shine forth on your picnic, it's because God has sent his word to the earth and said, let the clouds cover the sun that day. For from him and through him and to him are all things. And then to go further, it says this, Job 12, verse number 10, in his hand is the life of every creature and breath of all mankind.

Now, there's a man, Job, who experienced all kinds of tragedy in his life. And yet he understood that his life was in the hand of almighty God, that he controlled everything. Either God's in charge of everything or God's in charge of nothing. But for the most part, from the human level, we don't want to accept that. We don't want to believe that. But in order to fulfill your responsibility, you must understand and have a proper theology. You must know God and understand him. And once you understand him as untraceable, unfathomable, and incomprehensible that he is, as best as you understand him, believing and take it by faith that from him and through him and to him all things come about.

Jacob understood that. When God said, I've seen all that Laban's done for you, it doesn't mean that God has stood by and observed and watched. Oh, I saw that, Jacob. I'm so sorry. I saw what he did to you. I'm sorry. That's not what it means. It means completely the opposite, that God was instrumental in working the events of Jacob's life out for the greater purposes of God's glory. That's what it means. It's not that God was a casual observer of what was taking place in Jacob's life. No, quite the contrary.

He was intimately involved in all the events of his life. Everything. Why? Ephesians 1 11 says that he works all things after the counsel of his own will. Colossians 1 17 says he is before all things and in him all things are held together. That is, God is actually involved in everything. So intricately involved in every detail of your life that he actually holds them together with or at any time he ceases to be involved, then everything would fall apart. You see, that's how you understand the book of Revelation, when the sky begins to fall and it rolls up like a scroll and things on the world begin to degenerate.

It's because God releases his hold on things. For without his intricate involvement, nothing would exist. Nothing. Nothing would operate because God controls it all. And it says in Hebrews 1, he upholds all things by the word of his power. How does he do it? Through his word. The power of his word is able to keep things together, to keep things rolling, to keep things moving. That's how he does it. That's the theology. If you understand the theology, then you can implement your responsibility. And today, I want to tell you what your responsibility is.

I want to tell you that when you go through a time in your life where you don't understand what's going on and you feel like your world's crumbling around you and you think that that God isn't in control or caring about you or if things around you are so bad, you think, you know what? I've been cheated. I've been lied to. I've been deceived. I've been ripped off. I have been abused. I have been lied about. And the words of people speaking about me are so wrong and I'm tired of it. When you feel like your life is unfair, when you feel like you've been treated unjustly, God has a word for you.

And I want to give you that word this morning. I want to invite you to turn with me to the book of 1 Peter.

We're using Jacob as our model of a man who understood that God was in control, who for 20 years would continue doing what God had called him to do in spite of the problems in his family, the problems that happened to him personally. And Peter gives us some practical principles. And let me tell you a little bit of background about the people that Peter wrote to because it helps you understand the context.

In 64 AD, there was a burning in Rome and the Christians were blamed for that. Nero blamed the Christians. So know what Nero did? Nero would take Christians, he'd capture them, and he would wrap them in a thing called pitch. He'd stick them and tie them to a pole and he'd set them on fire while they were alive to light his gardens at night. And Rome would be lit with these Christians who would be burned alive at a stake. And for those that he didn't do that to, he would wrap them in animal skins, sew them up, and feed them to his hunting dogs.

And the dogs would rip away at that animal skin until they got to the Christians underneath that and begin to eat away at their flesh. And at night the Christians in Rome could hear the screams of their friends, crying out in agony because their flesh was being burned, because their bodies were being chewed up by hunting dogs. Have any of you experienced that personally? I don't think so. So whatever it is you're going through today is nothing like they were going through then. That's why I tell you the people in Bible times had it much more difficult than we do today.

So go back to the Bible for your answers because the Bible gives you the biblical principle to live by. And so Peter writes to these people. He writes to these Jews who are scattered abroad, who are aliens and strangers in a foreign land. And he says, you know what? I want to give you some guidance. I want to tell you what you need to do when your life has been treated unfairly. That you don't even think God's around you anymore. And you know what? For the most part they did it. They conquered. I want to give you those principles this morning.

Hopefully I'll be able to get through them. If not, we'll pick them up next week. Verse number eight, first Peter chapter three.

To sum up. We'll stop right there. To sum up. I want to sum up everything for you. He's already talked to to husbands who are married to unbelieving wives. He's talked to wives who are married to unbelieving husbands. He's talked to those who are employees and have unfair bosses and treat them in unjust situations. He's already addressed them. He did that in chapter two in the first part of chapter three.

He says, but what I want to do is I want to sum everything up for you. I want to make it as concise as possible. Here it is. Let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted and humble in spirit. Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult. But giving a blessing instead. For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. Principle number one is that I want you to portray Christ-like attitude.

No matter what happens to you. Live harmoniously. Live like-minded. Live the mind of Christ. And then he says I want you to to be sympathetic. It's a it's a word that means fellow feelings. To feel what your brethren feel. Paul talks about it when he says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. And and to suffer with those who suffer. It's it's to feel what what they feel. And then he says to be brotherly or to have the the brotherly kind of affection for one another. And and be kind-hearted to one another.

In other words be tender-hearted. Have a sense of compassion for one another. And be be humble in spirit or or be bowed down in your mind. Have the attitude of Christ. Portray his attitude. Now when when you're being treated unjustly and unfairly, that's not the attitude you have, right? You have a completely different attitude. So he says this. He says not returning evil for evil because that's what we want to do, right? Well, if they said that about me, you wait till I tell them a piece of my mind that you can ill afford to give away by the way.

You see you need to understand that it's important that we want to get back and and get even to people. And Peter says, you know, don't return evil for evil. Don't do that. Instead give a blessing. Don't return insult for insult. You ever been in an argument with your husband and your wife and they insult you? What do you do? You insult them right back. Well, they in turn insult you and then you insult them right back to to get the upper hand. And Peter says don't do that. And we come back and say well, but you don't you hear Peter what they said to me?

And Peter said are you being burned at the stake? Are animals eating your flesh? Relax. Don't return evil for evil. Don't return insult for insult. Instead give them a blessing. Because you have been called to inherit a blessing. God has called you to bless you. Did you know that? God has called you and wants to bless you and God wants to do a great work in your life. And if you're portraying a Christ-like attitude, guess what? The blessings that you're going to receive are far beyond anything you can you can begin to comprehend.

So portray a Christ-like attitude. And then he says this. For for let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. You want to see good days? Don't say nasty things. And then he says and let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. That's the that's the Christ-like attitude. Pursue peace. Pursue peace. You see when we are treated unfairly our minds on the human level go immediately to how we can return bad for bad.

How we can somehow get the upper hand that we might put ourselves above the one who insulted us or who demeaned us or who cheated us or ripped us off. You know what? Jesus never did that. And in Jacob's encounter with Laban when he was deceived and he woke up and had sore eyes beside him in bed. He could have got up and said Laban you tricked me. You deceived me. Doggone you. You should never do that to me again. How dare you? I'm gonna get you. But he never did. Instead he's he returned a blessing.

He said I'll work another seven years if you give me Rachel. Was he crazy? Another seven years 14 years for one woman. Most people aren't even married 14 years. So why would you want to work 14 years for the woman? But you see he returned a blessing. Not an insult for an insult. Not evil for evil. Because you see Jacob knew he was called to inherit a blessing. Because God promised to bless him. And so he kept that theology in mind. He had a proper theology that caused him to act properly to the man who offended him.

Who deceived him. Who tricked him. Portray a Christ-like attitude. Number two. Praise God for his providential care. Peter is quoting Psalm 34 and listen to what he says in the next verse. Verse number 12. The Lord is against those who do evil. Oh just that one verse. Right there is your motivation. Is the drive that keeps you portraying Christ. To praise God for his providential care. That's the principle derived from from verse 12. Praise him for for his watch care love for you. In 2nd Chronicles 16 verse number 9 says the eyes of the Lord rove to and fro upon the earth to see the hearts of those who are favorable toward him.

God is looking for those people who are committed to him who want to serve him. And God sees them to make sure that they understand he cares he controls. So Paul would say and from him and through him and to him are all things. And then he says who was there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good. He gives us another principle. He gives us five more and you'll have to wait till next week to get them. Let's pray.