Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I want to welcome you here on this Mother's Day, and we're going to actually receive communion. You know, I was just thinking about communion this morning. I was reading in John's Gospel, actually chapter six, where there's a similar story. There's a dispute as to whether this reflects the Eucharist or not. But the point is simply this, that you and I have two ordinances in the church. One is personal water baptism as we become a believer. The second is we're renewing our covenant. When we respond in communion, it's reminding ourselves of the centrality of our Christian faith. We're thinking about what Jesus said, that you and I need to receive him through communion and through his word, that there's something profound that happens. There's an exchange that you and I receive the life of Christ.
[00:00:52] Jesus is talking about that in John's Gospel. But here Paul is writing to the Corinthians, and he's explaining to them that what Jesus came to do would forever change the human story. How many recognize as humanity. We've been dealing with a thing called sin. And it affects and mars all of our lives. It's a very profound thing. It not only affects us individually, but it affects the people around us. When you have a world full of sin, it creates a lot of havoc and problems. And then we have the solution. Jesus came to address sin. He died for our sin. And because of that, he dealt with the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death.
[00:01:35] And so today, even though we physically die, you and I are going to experience eternal life beginning at the point where we receive Christ all the way into eternity. And I'm celebrating right now because as I look at our world and there's so many challenges in it, we have a kingdom that's about to arrive on the scene. It's a kingdom that's going to displace the brokenness of humanity. It's the kingdom of God. And Christ will be at the center of our entire world. And won't that be an amazing thing where sin will no longer be dominant in our world. It'll be eradicated. And you and I will be free from sin both inwardly and around us. So we're going to remind ourselves here today. Paul writing, he said, the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he's at the Passover meal. He took bread, the Passover meal, the bread, he broke it. And he said, this is really representative in many ways. This emblem represents now my broken body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So, Father, as We receive this bread today.
[00:02:37] We recognize that we're receiving the life of Christ. We're honoring you. We're reflecting on you. We recognize the centrality of your work of grace. Not something we've done, something you've done. And we've received this work of forgiveness and life. And we thank youk for that. In Jesus name, let's eat the bread together in the same way, after supper, he took the cup.
[00:03:04] He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. In other words, both covenants, old and new. It says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission or forgiveness of sins. Amazing.
[00:03:17] The heinousness of sin is such that it requires the sacrifice. And as we read the Old Testament, we see all of these animal sacrifices. But they were only to bring us to the ultimate sacrifice, where Jesus comes once and for all at the end of the age, and he gives us life for us and he sheds his blood. And it says, this new covenant, now we're remembering. Do this whenever you drink it. He said. He said, in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. And so I just. I know sometimes as we look at our world, we get fearful or anxious or irritated. Isn't that true? We're upset. Can I just give you good news? Let's not live like that. Let's not live with fear and anxiety. The Bible says when all these things start happening, he says, lift up your head. Your redemption is drawing close.
[00:04:08] We have a, you know, before a new kingdom can come, the old has to disappear. And that's what you're seeing. We're witnessing the diminishment of the kingdom of humanity. And there's a new kingdom arising on the scene. And it's the kingdom of God's kingdom. Jesus came. He's the king. But we're not experiencing it in its fullness. It's coming in its fullness. And I'm excited about that. So, Lord, we thank youk for your coming kingdom. And even as we celebrate communion today, we recognize that this kingdom can only be obtained through belief and acceptance of your death and resurrection. And so we pray today we're acknowledging you're the central person in our lives and in our church family. We acknowledge your presence. You are here today. And now I pray that we will experience you in communion and through your word, that we will leave here knowing that you have touched our hearts. In Jesus name. Amen. Let's drink together.
[00:05:10] So if you'll hang on to those little cups. And then as we leave, you can just drop them off. There's some garbage dispensers on your way out. We'd appreciate that so very much.
[00:05:19] So I'm going to have a stand really quickly here, and we're going to go to the Lord in prayer. And I want to pray specifically for moms today. This is your special day because I'm going to preach what I call an atypical Mother's Day sermon, which means this is unlike any Mother's Day sermon you've probably heard. How's that? And I'm going to speak on a text I've never spoken on before about a person I've never spoken on before. And, you know, I've spoken a lot of sermons in my day. I've never done this, but God directed me. And it's not just for moms. This is for every person in this room that you feel you're trapped in a situation you can't get out. How's that? I want you to hear what God wants to say to you this morning. So, Father, we come to you. We want to honor our mothers.
[00:06:03] We wouldn't be here without them. We're grateful for them. And, Lord, we know that they were imperfect, as we all are.
[00:06:11] So at the times, maybe we have been disappointed, but ultimately, we're grateful and we're thankful for them. They sacrificed a lot for us. And I just pray right now that you'll bless every mom today, you know, because you're a good God, loving God, forgiving God, a gracious and compassionate God. And I pray that we will honor them today.
[00:06:32] Because you know what? There's something about honor that needs to be given to whom honors do. And we know that mothers need to be honored. They need to be loved, they need to be valued. We're going to talk about that. Lord, help us to understand the nature of your grace for us, each one of us, today. In Jesus name, amen. Okay, you may be seated.
[00:06:55] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles today to the book of Genesis. Genesis, okay. Chapter 29.
[00:07:03] Yeah. You know, it was really funny this morning. I always pray with the worship team before the first service.
[00:07:08] And Leila and these girls, the two younger girls here on the platform, they said, what? This is your Mother's Day sermon. How to deal with being trapped in a loveless marriage.
[00:07:23] Really, Pastor?
[00:07:25] I said yes. But hang on. Don't just dismiss this, okay?
[00:07:31] Just hang on, guys, because I think God is going to do something special today. How many Know that each of us are living our lives within the framework of a greater story. There's God's story, then there's our personal story. And from the very beginning of time, God's plan was always to reveal his amazing love to us despite our sin and also the sins of other people.
[00:07:57] And I want to get across to us something that's very profound. I think, you know, our sin not only affects our life, but it also affects the lives of the people around us. And many other people. Too many people today are experiencing pain from the sins of others.
[00:08:16] And so the question I want to raise today, how do we handle this? Now? I think God has given us an amazing tool. I'll tell you what that tool is. It's called forgiveness.
[00:08:24] It's the greatest tool because it frees us from carrying hurt. Now, I'm going to paint a picture to you today.
[00:08:33] You're driving down the road one day and someone's inebriated. They cross the road, they strike your vehicle.
[00:08:40] It's terrible. You survive it, but now you're paralyzed.
[00:08:45] Now you can imagine this is never going to change. Now your whole life has been affected by one person sinning against you.
[00:08:54] So what are you going to do? Are you going to decide you're going to live the rest of your days in anger and bitterness, frustration, blaming?
[00:09:05] The only way to get rid of all of that negatively charged junk in your system is to forgive that person.
[00:09:12] Well, that's great. I forgave him, but it doesn't change the fact that my situation not changing.
[00:09:19] So what I want to try to do today is talk about how do we live with the negative circumstances that another person's sin has caused us?
[00:09:30] Because you know that's going to happen. We need to understand that that does happen in our lives, and it's happened to a lot of people. And a lot of people have never been able to overcome that. And I believe God has an answer for that. And God wants to help us deal with this stuff in our lives.
[00:09:46] So in their book, Learning Life Principles from the Women of the Bible, there's three authors, Wayne Barber, Eddie Raisnake and Richard shepherd, and they kind of explain how injustice needs to be addressed in our lives. And they said, isn't it interesting how we all have to bear up under other people's sins from time to time? No one is exempted, especially in a personal relationship.
[00:10:11] Don't beat yourself up, they said. You're no different than so many others who face similar circumstances and consequences. In other words, we've all had moments where it wasn't our fault, what was done to us was wrong. And now we have consequences that we have to live with because of what somebody else did.
[00:10:29] How are we going to move forward?
[00:10:31] I've already suggested step one. We got to forgive. Otherwise we just keep living inside of our own poison and it affects other people. Then that we're going to start negatively impacting other people. Because unforgiveness is a sin. But we don't think of it that way. We live. You know, I think of the Bible lives, the people in the stories they're just beginning to mirror, I think so often our own heartache, our disappointment, our joys and our victories. And we're going to look at today as we read the text of the scriptures. We're reading the Bible. What comes before us is an accurate account.
[00:11:07] Life not as it should be, but rather as it actually is. That's what I love about the Bible. It doesn't sugarcoat anything. It just tells you the way it is.
[00:11:17] It's helpful because you know what? That's the way life is.
[00:11:20] We all have an idealized picture of what we want our life to be. But how many know that rarely happens that way? That's not exactly how it plays out. You know, I think we have to remind ourselves that different times also have different mores or customs.
[00:11:35] But when we read as we're going to look at Genesis here, that does not mean that God has a different moral standard. God has always been consistent. God has never changed. He has the same moral standard. Truth, justice, forgiveness and love are always a part of God's standard for our lives. No matter where you're reading or what culture you're in or what time that you're in, these things are unchanging.
[00:12:02] And that's important to know. So we're going to look at the life of an often forgotten person, a woman that God used in a powerful way not only to shape her family, but also to shape a nation. Because as we're going to discover, she's the mother of six of the sons of Jacob.
[00:12:19] And I'm talking about Leah.
[00:12:21] I've never preached on Leah before. I've never really examined her life before.
[00:12:26] But you know what? Leah is a.
[00:12:29] It's kind of a sad story, but it's a beautiful story. We're going to see what happens as a result of her life in a situation that she was trapped in and experiencing a lack of real love from her husband. We're going to look at that story.
[00:12:46] You know, what are some of the characteristics in her life that really made her such a wonderful godly woman.
[00:12:54] How did Leeah deal with being trapped in a loveless marriage?
[00:12:58] She couldn't get out of it.
[00:12:59] A lot different time that she was living in. And I think there's two things that we can discover about Leah that gives us a clue as to her response in the situation. So I'm trying to figure out what are some of the life lessons we can embrace from her story. I want to examine two things that I think are going to empower us in difficult and often unchanging life situations.
[00:13:22] All right, and so the first one. Well, let me just read what these guys say.
[00:13:27] Barbara, Raisnake and Shepherd. They said, if you have ever been unloved and rejected by a spouse or any other person, then this lesson will hopefully minister to your heart.
[00:13:37] So many wives have sought for the love of their husbands only to be rewarded with more rejection and hurt in their lives. In fact, studies have shown that feelings of rejection among women are a common occurrence today.
[00:13:51] So let's take a look at these two things.
[00:13:53] The first one is simply our attitude. Now, how many know we can't always change life circumstances, but we can always work on our attitude? Do you know that's true? You know, same people can go to, you know.
[00:14:07] Well, let me put it this way. Two different people can have the same experience, and they can come out of it totally differently. And it's all to do with how they respond to the situation. It's our attitude. The Bible has a lot to say about attitude. That's the part we can work on, you know, and when we have a healthy attitude, it helps us to grow and develop.
[00:14:28] If we have an unhealthy attitude, it stunts us. And we walk around, you know, being frustrated. And the problem with having the wrong attitude is people don't want to be around you. How many know that's true? If you have a great attitude, people want to be around you. If you have a really, you know, you're frustrated, you're angry, you're complaining and grumping and all the rest of it. After a while, people go, I'm just tired of being around that person. They just bring me down. So I just want to point out to you, that's one of the things you and I have a choice over. God gives us a will. We can choose to have the right kind of an attitude. So you may be arguing that she had no choice, but she did have a choice. She had a choice in her attitude about how to move forward in her life. And what forges character is learning to rise above the challenges and adversities our lives.
[00:15:16] It always begins with our attitude.
[00:15:19] Will painful, unchanging and difficult circumstances define us? Or will we rise above it and allow it to be the tool that helps us become more loving, more understanding, more kind, more compassionate and go deeper into our relationship with God? Well, we're going to see. Leah continued to try and make the best out of a very difficult situation.
[00:15:45] You see, she lived in the shadow of a sister called Rachel. Rachel was beautiful and attractive, and people were certainly drawn to her. And that's certainly true of Jacob. When he laid eyes on Rachel, he decided, this is the girl I want to get married to. I mean, we're going to find out that he negotiates a bridal price that's unbelievably expensive.
[00:16:06] But what sustains relationships requires something beyond superficial outward things.
[00:16:12] There's a beauty that actually comes from within. I have seen people that maybe physically may not have been attractive, but inwardly there's a beauty that just flows out of their lives. And Peter speaks of this building healthy marriages. He's challenging wives to move past simple cosmetics. Now, let me just say something. This is not a knock on having cosmetics. I know it's a big industry. I know that people now are. They even go into plastic surgery. You know, there's so much pressure, you know, to look outwardly a certain way. But here's what I want to encourage us.
[00:16:47] Here's something that doesn't cost you anything, but that can produce amazing, powerful fruit. Let's take a look at what Peter says. He says your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Now, he's not saying that you can't do these things. He's saying this should not be the focus in our lives. Then he goes on to say this. Rather, it should be that of your inner self.
[00:17:13] Go back there. Inner self. The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. So what is God? What is God doing? He's looking on the inside, and that's where we need to look. You know, I think as a culture today, we're quite superficial. We're always looking on the outside. God's going, no, but I'm looking on the inside. And this is what we want to cultivate in our life. This gentle, this beautiful spirit that comes out of us. And that gentle, beautiful spirit attracts people. It's like a Magnet. People are drawn to that. And I'm going to argue that that's what we're going to see in Leah's life. She's going to be drawing people to herself. For this is the way the holy women of the past, who put their hope in God, used to adorn themselves. They focused on the inner life. Now, one of the speakers, I was at a conference here two weeks ago in Phoenix, and they were sharing a beautiful illustration of the necessity of difficulty. And they shared this illustration of wheat in a field. And the wheat's growing, and it's beautiful. And these farmers were really excited. They had the perfect weather conditions, sun and rain, and the, you know, stalks were really up there, and it looked like they're going to have a bumper crop. But then when they began to examine the kernels of the wheat, you know what they discovered? They were underdeveloped, and they couldn't figure it out. They said, we had perfect conditions. Why haven't the wheat turned out the way we wanted it to? And one of the elderly farmers said, not enough wind.
[00:18:37] You see, wind aids in the maturation of grain by reducing moisture and aiding in nutrient transfer and enhancing structural integrity. In other words, it does something to the actual plant itself.
[00:18:51] Wind is a form of adversity and challenge. God knows that if we do not have difficulties and challenges in our life, we will struggle to develop into mature and healthy people. Now, how many go, oh, I don't like to hear that, Pastor. You know, sign me up. I want adversity, Lord, because I want to become mature. But here's what I would say. We're not looking for it, but I think we have to have the right attitude when it comes our way. Now, you know, I love what James says, and I did preach on this book not too long ago, and it says, consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, you know what James is telling us? Choose your attitude.
[00:19:30] So you and I can't always change what's happening to us, but we can affect our attitude. I'm going to determine in the midst of this difficulty, to be joyful. How many think that's a choice?
[00:19:42] Does anybody know that's a choice? How many understand that you can choose your attitude. You can't always choose your circumstance. So I'm going to choose to be joyful. I'm going to make a choice. I'm going to choose to rejoice because I understand something. This is where knowledge comes in.
[00:19:58] I understand something that God can use this negative thing in my life to create something inside of me. He says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature, complete, and not lacking anything.
[00:20:18] Now, I've had moments in my life where I go, God, I don't get what you're doing, and I don't like it.
[00:20:23] You probably haven't had that prayer or, you know, I don't understand what you're doing, God, but this isn't any fun. Or, am I doing something wrong? And this is why it's happening.
[00:20:33] You know, I remember one time I was going through a season, and I don't just mean a few weeks or months. I'm talking years. And I felt God finally said to me, you know, I was reading a book, you know, God speaks in many ways, and he was teaching. He said, I'm teaching you something. I'm going, what are you teaching me? Perseverance.
[00:20:49] Oh, yeah. Thank you, Lord. Finally you're letting me in on it. But, you know, I'm a slow learner, so it took a while to figure out, he's teaching me perseverance. Why? Because God wanted me to mature. He wanted me to grow up and smarten up, right? Not lacking anything. Arriving at the place where you're becoming a little more like Christ.
[00:21:08] To understand the story, we need to go back to how Jacob first came to Haran, where his mother's family lived.
[00:21:15] Jacob had deceived his father and his brother, taken away his blessing.
[00:21:20] Him and his mother had conspired, they had schemed, and they were successful in robbing Esau of the blessing that, you know, Isaac wanted to give him.
[00:21:30] But how many know that when you and I do things like that, we create an unhealthy family environment?
[00:21:36] And the Bible says that Esau was not happy with this. And he was angry.
[00:21:42] He was so angry that he was pacifying himself by this thought. When my dad dies, I'll kill my brother.
[00:21:50] And I don't want to kill my brother yet because that would make it hard on my dad, and my dad doesn't deserve that. But I'll tell you, when my dad dies, I'm getting even. I'm going to take my brother out. Rebekah got wind of it. So she approaches her husband and she says to Isaac, hey, listen, you know, I'm not happy with the girls that Esau married. Why don't we send Jacob up to my family neck of the woods, and he can marry somebody in from our. Our line and how that will share some of Our values. And they agreed. And so they send Jacob on his way. How many know that was really a strategy to get Jacob out of dodge, because she knew that if something happened to her husband, something was going to happen to the son that she loved, and that would be Jacob. And Esau would kill him. She knew that. So they got. She gets rid of him.
[00:22:36] So we pick up the story. He shows up at Haran, and he runs into his uncle Laban. And we'll see what happens here, because this is where Jacob now finds a wife. Starts in chapter 29 and verse 14.
[00:22:49] After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, just because you're a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what. Tell me what your wages should be. So now the Bible says that we're going to read in a minute that Jacob really loved his younger daughter Rachel.
[00:23:08] So it says it here.
[00:23:10] Now, Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
[00:23:16] Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful, the Bible says. And Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, I will work for you for seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel. In other words, this is the bridal price I'm helping set. I will labor and live among you for seven years so that you will give me your daughter in marriage. Seven years. How many of you know, this guy really fell hard?
[00:23:45] I mean, he was in love with Rachel.
[00:23:47] And when the Bible describes physical attributes, which is not that often, it's always meaningful to the story. And so we're picking up on this is a meaningful thing, the fact that she was beautiful, she was attractive, and Jacob went head over. I mean, yeah, Jacob went head over heels for her.
[00:24:06] But the Bible also described Leah. And I think sometimes we don't have a full understanding of this word.
[00:24:12] Kenneth Matthews relates the significance of her description here when he describes Leah's eyes. The term there in the Hebrew is actually quite uncertain that the term rendered weak in the NIV may be also interpreted to be gentle, like in Deuteronomy 28, where she's a gentle maiden, or the gentle words of Job 40, 27. So the same word. And then some English versions interpret the description of Leah's positively, meaning she had tender or delicate or lovely eyes. So this was her outstanding feature. There was a beauty in her eyes.
[00:24:48] And if so, the biblical authors describing the positive appeal of each woman, Leah's eyes and Rachel's form. The tenor of the passage, however, Contrasts Leah and Rachel. We know that that's true. There's a contrast between the two. First, their order of birth and perhaps here their charm. What's positive about them.
[00:25:08] And another commentator, Victor Hamilton, agrees with this and says that the traditional rendering, Leah's eyes were weak, is actually in need of some re examination. The adjective rock mean weak only in few places.
[00:25:22] More often it describes something that is tender, gentle, soft, delicate and young. And in the last three references of rock is parallel with another Hebrew word, naar, inexperienced and youthful. Rachel may have been older, but her eyes are the beautiful eyes of a person who looks much younger. So maybe she, you know, so they're basically saying that it wasn't that she was unattractive. It would just means that compared to Rachel, you know, there was a different type of beauty. And Jacob obviously was attracted to Rachel.
[00:25:55] Now, I think we need to understand the story within a cultural context and then we can glean from its principles what God would have us learn from this challenging situation Leah found herself in. Now, I don't know if you realize this, but in patriarchal times, which is what we're looking at here in the Book of Genesis, women were under the authority of their fathers until marriage.
[00:26:17] And if they became widowed, they were cared for, usually by a male relative. Women were primarily daughters in the scriptures, the Old Testament, or mothers. In this culture of arranged marriages, with no opportunities for women to live a life apart from their husbands or parents, marriage was a significant moment that would determine the future life that they would have. So Laban now is going to use his daughter Leah. How many think this is terrible?
[00:26:45] He's going to use his daughter Leah to deceive Jacob by switching his daughters. Regarding the marriage with Jacob, now we know that there's an irony in the story because this is exactly what Jacob did. He deceived his father and his brother. Now, hey, listen, what you sow many times comes back to bite you. And this is exactly what happens. So now he has worked for seven years. He's anticipated, you know, consummating his relationship with Rachel and being married to her.
[00:27:12] And Laban says to Leah, now can you allow me a little sanctified imagination here? Hopefully it's sanctified, but little imagination. So Laban comes to Leah and he says, listen, you're marrying Jacob. What? I don't want to marry Jacob.
[00:27:29] Jacob is in love with Rachel. Rachel's in love with Jacob. This is the last thing Rachel would have wanted. I'm sure of it.
[00:27:39] How many think this is distressing?
[00:27:42] And on Top of that, the dad says to her, we're not going to tell him.
[00:27:50] You're just going to go in and when he wakes up in the morning, you'll be there. You're his bride.
[00:27:57] Now, a couple of things that will help us understand the story. First of all, no electricity.
[00:28:05] Isn't that true? Come on now, that's recent invention. And here's another one. You know, you see these women walking around, many of them from a Middle Eastern culture. All you see is their eyes.
[00:28:16] Anybody know that's what you see, just their eyes.
[00:28:19] So in this wedding festival, all he can see from a distance is someone dressed.
[00:28:27] Eyes, nothing else. He's not seeing anything else. And so the party goes on. It's evening time now.
[00:28:34] And he goes into the tent, it's nighttime.
[00:28:38] He assumes that he's consummating his relationship with Rachel until the morning shows up and he finds out it's Leah.
[00:28:48] Now, I don't know about you, but I think Jacob was a little upset.
[00:28:55] I may think that's probably true.
[00:28:58] The tragedy is that Leah was simply an instrument by which her father utilized to see, to deceive Jacob. I don't think, you know, in my mind, really, she didn't have a say in the situation.
[00:29:18] Let's pick up the story in verse 22. So Laban brought together all the people of the place and he gave a feast. And when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob. Jacob made love to her. And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant when the morning came.
[00:29:37] I love the way it says there was Leah.
[00:29:41] That's a pretty stark statement if you think about it.
[00:29:45] And then he comes out of the tent.
[00:29:48] So Jacob said to Laban, what is it you've done to me?
[00:29:53] And I think he probably shouted it and was a little upset. How many think Jacob probably was a little bit upset?
[00:30:00] You know, what in the world's going on here?
[00:30:03] We agreed to something. I worked seven years. I'm in love with your younger daughter. And you give me your older daughter.
[00:30:10] What kind of a nasty thing is this, right? He was upset.
[00:30:16] And you know, I feel for Leah because can you imagine, she didn't have a choice.
[00:30:21] She probably felt shame.
[00:30:24] I don't know if Jacob screamed at her at first. I don't even know if he did that or not. He might have just brushed, dismissed her completely and just realized she's just a foil in the plot. And he's running out of the tent screaming at Laban. I Don't know.
[00:30:39] How do you think this woman felt? This is now her husband.
[00:30:44] She feels rejection.
[00:30:46] She's heartbroken. Maybe she feels shame. Maybe she felt like I was not allowed to say anything. I would have dishonored my father. This is a shame on our culture, folks. This is really tough stuff.
[00:30:57] Laban's answer and his response to Jacob is he says, it's not the custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Well, why didn't you tell me that before we made the arrangement, remember? Right. You know, Laban's trying to deceive him all along. You can tell.
[00:31:16] He says, oh, by the way, finish this daughter's bridal week and then we will give you the younger one also in return for another seven years of work. There's the motivation. Strictly economic.
[00:31:26] He says, yeah, just, you know, fulfill your responsibility here for one week.
[00:31:31] And then he said, you're going to get to work another week.
[00:31:36] You get my younger daughter after working seven years Now, I don't think. And most of the commentaries agrees with this. I don't think he waited to give Rachel to Jacob after another seven years went by. No, he gave her to him. A week later, they had another feast, and then he had to work seven years to receive her. So what's happening in those seven years?
[00:32:04] Well, what do you think Jacob's doing? He's locked in. He's in love with Rachel. He's neglecting Leah.
[00:32:10] Can you see that?
[00:32:12] She feels unwanted. She feels unloved, you say. Is that true? Well, I think the Bible teaches us that.
[00:32:23] So what's the trial in Leah's life? A feeling of being overlooked, used by others and unloved by your husband because he was in love with her sister and she knew it.
[00:32:35] There's no question from the biblical text that Leah felt unloved. We know that God was watching this family drama being played out, and he had made an assessment that Leah was unloved. He knew it. God knew it.
[00:32:49] However, God showed special kindness and love to Leeah. Now, I'm going to just say this. In all of our lives here, there's the big story of God's plan, and then there's all of our little human stories. And God is watching every one of our little human stories. He knows everything about your life. He knows all that's going on. He knows if you're loved or unloved, wanted, rejected. He knows all this stuff. He knows the sin that you've committed. He knows the sin that's been committed against you. He knows all of these things.
[00:33:14] God knows these things.
[00:33:16] The Bible says in verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive. But Rachel remained childless. This is interesting.
[00:33:26] Now, this idea is one of comparison. It's not that Jacob hated Leah, but compared to the love he had for Rachel, Leah was just forgotten, neglected. God saw her terrible state, and he responded with grace.
[00:33:40] You see, what was considered a great blessing in the ancient world was where that a person was able to have children. It was a world in which there was an underdeveloped understanding of life after death.
[00:33:53] And so the ancients focused on their legacy through descendants. In other words, that's why we see such an incredible focus in the Old Testament on genealogies.
[00:34:03] Because, you see, if you don't know there's an afterlife, then you think that you're going to kind of live, in a sense, through your children. And that's why having children was so critical to these ancient people.
[00:34:17] You think about it, it's an oral tradition.
[00:34:19] And if you were to live back then, these people would actually know how many generations back they could go back and give you their generations. How many? When you're reading the book of Revelation, man, it's all these genealogies. These guys are memorizing. Yes, my father was so and so. His father was so and so. His father was so and so. And they would have little stories to remember the different descendants. You know, we don't live in an oral tradition. We have a written tradition. And most of us can't remember back to our great grandfather. We know nothing hardly about them. Isn't that true?
[00:34:50] Come on, let's be realistic. You know, how many here can tell me what their 10th grandfather did? You know, most of us go, who is that? I don't even remember his name. You know, every once in a while you have a person interested in genealogies or history, but for the most part, people are forgotten.
[00:35:05] But these people worked at memorizing and remembering who their parents were because this helped them have a sense of, my life is being remembered.
[00:35:14] And that's what was happening.
[00:35:16] So we see in the Old Testament, this idea of children are such a great blessing. I think they are a blessing. But here we see children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward from him. In Psalm 127, 128, it says, Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. So what can we learn from the story?
[00:35:40] God is watching over us. He sees the drama.
[00:35:44] He knows what's going on. He knows the games people are playing in their personal lives.
[00:35:50] And, you know, God knows the people that are being treated poorly and unjustly. And he shows special grace. God himself steps in many times in our lives and shows mercy and grace to us. But let me move to the other point I want to get across.
[00:36:04] Second thing that empowers us in these difficult and unchanging life situations is finding strength and love from God.
[00:36:12] So what's the point? Number one, I need to have the right attitude. Point number two, I need to have the right focus.
[00:36:17] I need to focus on God, not the problem.
[00:36:20] How many know? We tend to focus on the problem.
[00:36:23] You ever get fixated on problems and it kind of drags you down, but when you're focused on God, then it changes it. You say, you know what? God's bigger than this problem. Here we find the greatest source of strength, love and grace that comes from God. We move from trying to find significance and meaning in our life, in achievements and relationships, to actually experiencing and valuing God's grace and favor to us.
[00:36:47] You know, people are running around trying to be somebody. I want to tell you something. You already are somebody. You're loved by God.
[00:36:55] Every human being is loved by God.
[00:36:58] Isn't that great? Isn't that freeing? You can find your meaning and significance in life knowing him.
[00:37:04] We know that Leah had a faith in God as it's seen in the naming of her children.
[00:37:10] She looked to God to provide grace and blessing in her life. We see a shift happening as she has this longing and hope that Jacob will one day pay attention to her, will begin to love her. And so we pick up the story. Leah became pregnant, gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, it is because the Lord has seen my misery.
[00:37:32] Surely my husband will love me now. Now, it's interesting. You know, she. She was living a terribly lonely and painful life. And in naming her firstborn Reuben, Leah is literally saying the word Reuben means see a son, see a son. She said. She's basically saying, jacob, can you see me now? See, I've given you a son. She was hoping that by having this child, he would love her.
[00:37:58] It's a beautiful. It's a hope, it's an aspiration.
[00:38:02] How many know? It didn't change Jacob one iota.
[00:38:05] He just continues on. Doesn't change him. But it's certainly God.
[00:38:10] God saw her miserable situation. He heard her cry. And we know that he heard her crying, that she was praying because of the name of her second son was Simeon. You know, it's interesting. Often trouble marriages say if we only have kids, it'll help bring us together. But that's not the solution.
[00:38:26] It's a change of heart that has to happen, not a change of circumstance.
[00:38:30] See, we're so focused on changing circumstances that we think, if I change my circumstances, it'll change things. I'm saying, no, you got to have a change of heart.
[00:38:40] I need to have a change of heart. People around me need to have a change of heart. Look what it goes on. She conceived again. And when she gave birth to a son, she said, because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one, too. And so she named him Sami. In other words, the Lord heard.
[00:38:55] God has heard my cry. God is hearing me. Can I just tell you right now, in your pain, God hears you. If you're talking to him, he'll hear you.
[00:39:03] He sees and he hears. I read that in the Old Testament, you know, Remember?
[00:39:08] Even Hagar, she ran by the well and there she was. And she called God, who came and rescued her. The God who sees and hears. I love that about God. He sees your life.
[00:39:20] He hears your cry.
[00:39:23] Now Leah is beginning here.
[00:39:26] She's moving along in these pregnancies.
[00:39:29] And we get down here to the naming of her third son.
[00:39:35] But I like what she does. Rather than naming her son my distressor or my unloved one, she chooses to name them, see his son and God is heard. We are seeing where Leah's focus is at.
[00:39:47] It's upon God's gracious hand in our lives. So where is our focus in the challenging moments of our lives? Do we focus solely on the problems, the issues, the challenges? Or do we see God's gracious hand despite these things? Do we focus on the blessings that are all around us?
[00:40:06] You know, Leah has two more significant sons, which is only seen by seeing their significance later on by the descendants. She's about to have children that are going to impact the nation. I love this.
[00:40:19] The third son she calls Levi, which means attached or united.
[00:40:23] Though she was bearing Jacob's son, she did not sense any emotional attachment.
[00:40:29] This is still the cry of her heart to become emotionally bonded to Jacob.
[00:40:35] But now we come to the fourth son.
[00:40:38] And now her focus has shifted.
[00:40:41] She has moved from desire for the earthly attachment to Jacob to gratitude and praise to God for his incredible blessings in her life. Instead of wanting, there is satisfaction. You know, we have a Plaque in our house. It's in our basement. I have a little gym down there. I work out down there. So I'm walking around in the basement, in the room that we usually have our guests in, this little plaque, and it says this real simple.
[00:41:05] Gratitude turns what you have into enough.
[00:41:11] What's that little plaque trying to say?
[00:41:14] Listen, if you have gratitude in your heart, if you know God, he's more than enough.
[00:41:21] He really is.
[00:41:23] I think sometimes we think, if I have this, it'll be enough. If I have that, I'll be satisfied. And, you know, something about the human heart is we're never totally satisfied. No matter what we get, we're never satisfied. Because the deepest longing in our heart is not for things.
[00:41:39] It's not even for people. Ultimately, the deepest longing in our heart is for God. And until we have that met, we're going to always be longing and searching and hoping and trying to achieve and doing all these kind of things, looking for significance. But the moment we really experience the love of God in our hearts, something changes.
[00:42:00] There's a deep satisfaction.
[00:42:02] Gratitude, you know, being thankful. You know what she names her fourth son? Judah. It means praise. She's praising God. It's so beautiful.
[00:42:16] She conceived again, and when she gave birth, she said, this time I will praise the Lord.
[00:42:23] So she named him Judah. And then she stopped having children. I will praise the Lord. How many get in there? It's a decision.
[00:42:32] It's a decision. It's a choice again. God has given us volition. He's given us a will. He's given us a choice. I will praise God. You know, sometimes the hardest thing to do when you're struggling and you're in an unchanging circumstance, that's difficult. It's really difficult to praise God. But listen to the psalmist, and they're teaching us a lesson, and you have to learn this.
[00:42:55] You don't just praise God when everything is great. You learn to praise God at all times. And psalmist says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continuously be in my mouth to worship God and praise him, for he alone is worthy. And, you know, as we begin to worship God, something happens inside of our soul. The spirit of the living God rises up within us and it begins to affect our emotions until finally we may have begun praising God unemotionally and maybe with a bit of detachment. But as I'm worshiping God, something happens to my spirit and I come alive. And all of a sudden, joy floods my heart. It's like an amazing river Coming inside of me. And I'm filled with joy. And nothing has changed in my life except me and except you. It's powerful. Try it. You'll see it works.
[00:43:51] Victor Hamilton shares this insight. Only with the birth of her fourth son does Leah say nothing about her lamentable situation. She names child Judah and says, I will praise Yahweh. The birth of these last two sons is not without import or an importance. The birth Levi we remember is the ancestor of what the Levitical priests. Moses and Aaron are sons of the Levites. From Judah issued the principal line of the monarchy. Two of the major Old Testament institutions, priesthood and kingship, have their origins in an unwanted and an unplanned marriage.
[00:44:26] Isn't that amazing? How many think it's amazing?
[00:44:30] Is that incredible?
[00:44:32] What am I saying? You know what? Her life was not easy. She felt unloved. But she experienced God's love. She began to worship God, and God blessed her with children that one day became the central part of the nation of Israel.
[00:44:51] Because out of Judah you have King David, and out of that whole line, that line of Judah, you come to whom?
[00:44:59] You come to Jesus.
[00:45:02] Leah is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great. I don't know how many greats, but quite a few grandmother of Jesus.
[00:45:09] Are you impressed? I'm impressed.
[00:45:11] So she didn't have an easy life, but she had a favored life by God. She was blessed by God. God used her in an amazing way.
[00:45:20] Well, I got six minutes. See if I can do this.
[00:45:25] Rachel, meanwhile, she's having a problem.
[00:45:28] When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. Isn't that interesting? The girl that had everything going for her now is jealous of the sister that had nothing going for her.
[00:45:39] How many think that's kind of a reversal? And why was that happening? Because she couldn't have any children. So she got. She told her husband, give me children or I die.
[00:45:50] Jacob is like, really?
[00:45:53] I'm not God.
[00:45:56] You know, he becomes angry with her. He says, am I in the place of God? Can I do that? He says, who has kept you from having children? Not me.
[00:46:05] Interesting story.
[00:46:07] You know, there's a lot of reversals in Scripture.
[00:46:10] The last shall be first, the first shall be last. On and on it goes.
[00:46:14] Well, then they start playing this game, giving their handmaidens. I got in trouble in the first service because Patty was here. And I said, can you imagine? He's got two wives and two concubines. I don't even know. It's a challenge Enough to have one wife without having four wives.
[00:46:30] Now that doesn't mean I'm having a problem with Patty. It's just saying that, listen, when you're married, it's work to just have a good relationship with one person. I can't even imagine being married to four women.
[00:46:42] That would be very difficult.
[00:46:45] You know it's true.
[00:46:47] Look what happened in the story.
[00:46:49] Jacob was. He's in a no win situation. I'm telling you, got in a lot of trouble.
[00:46:56] So now we see a profound understanding here in the life of these two ladies. I want to just keep moving down. We'll come to.
[00:47:04] Here we go.
[00:47:06] So, Leah, I'm skipping some stuff here.
[00:47:14] She bears a total of seven children to Jacob.
[00:47:19] She is the predominant person in the 12 tribes of Israel. How many see that? Six sons, you know, two others came through a concubine. Two others came through a concubine. Two came through Rachel.
[00:47:33] The last son was the death of Rachel. And when she was dying, she was so wounded, she called him Ben Omi, which means the son of my sorrow.
[00:47:44] She was dying.
[00:47:46] Of course, Jacob changed his name. He goes, I don't want to be reminded every time I call his name that he was the reason why Jacob, Rachel died. He changed his name. You're the son of my right hand, which is Benjamin. That's what it means. Son of my right hand. He changed his name.
[00:48:01] But Leeah, I believe throughout her life, God had honored her.
[00:48:09] She had cried out to him, she had praised him. Over time, her love for the Lord actually surpassed her love for Jacob. And the love that God bestowed upon Leah provided her the stability that she would need the rest of her life. And I want to close with this thought at the end of her life, listen to what the scriptures teach us here, all the way down to the last second to last chapter of Genesis. And then Jacob knows he's dying.
[00:48:38] Then he says this to his children.
[00:48:41] He says, then he gave these instructions, I'm about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephraim the Hittite. The only land that they had bought this was the cemetery. Abraham, he says, the cave in Cana, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place for Ephraim the Hittite.
[00:49:04] There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there. Isaac and his wife Rebecca were buried. And there I buried Leah.
[00:49:13] No mention of Rachel.
[00:49:16] She died in their journey. And he buried her in a town called Bethlehem, basically. So she's buried there. There's a marker that's where Rachel, his tomb is, but the family plot.
[00:49:31] He buried Leah there. And then he says this. He says, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.
[00:49:44] So what is he saying? Bury me with Leah.
[00:49:49] He's honoring her at the end of her life.
[00:49:51] He realizes, you know, what she brought to their family.
[00:49:57] So I'm going to close with this. So often in our lives, we long for human love. That's true. That's a deep longing.
[00:50:04] But oftentimes we face rejection and loss. Yet God's love can create within our hearts a deep sense of security and identity.
[00:50:12] As wonderful as human love is, there is no substitute for God's love for us. Human love is conditional and limited. God's love is unconditional and unlimited. I want us to stand. I want to pray. I did this with the first service. I want to pray today.
[00:50:28] And I'm going to share the prayer. I want to pray over you today.
[00:50:32] Here's the prayer. The Apostle Paul is writing to the Ephesians. It's a very interesting prayer. In chapter three. He wants them to have a revelation, an illumination, a quickening, an understanding.
[00:50:45] He wants the Spirit of God to come and reveal to them the love of God. Its height, its length, its breadth, and its depth. Why?
[00:50:53] You know, one of the problems in our life is until we experience God's love, we will keep doing crazy stuff to get love.
[00:51:04] It's true.
[00:51:06] We want to be accepted. We want to be loved.
[00:51:09] It's a cry of our soul.
[00:51:12] I want to say something to all of us. God says, I want to love you.
[00:51:16] As a matter of fact, Paul writes it in the book of Romans. It's the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
[00:51:24] I want to pray today. God's spirit would pour his love into your heart and my. My heart that you and I would experience God's love today.
[00:51:35] You know, I've had moments. I'm gonna tell you, in my own life, sometimes there's such an ache and a longing in your soul. I remember one time I was ministering in India, and, you know, I was with one of the guys that we went. I always go with somebody. Patty wasn't in on this trip. I was by myself. So I was in my own room. In India, you're so out of whack for time.
[00:51:57] You know, daytime is nighttime there, nighttime is daytime there. So I'm awake all night.
[00:52:02] You know, I've just taught all day. Can't sleep. I'm awake all Night, I'm gonna have to get up in the morning. I didn't get up. I just stayed awake and got up and taught all the next day. So that's quite a long time.
[00:52:13] But that night I was in God's presence, just waiting on God, crying out to him. I said, lord, there's such a longing and an ache in my soul that I know only you can feel.
[00:52:25] Would you pour out your love into my heart?
[00:52:29] The spirit of God came down. Just fill my soul.
[00:52:33] Intimacy with God, that's what we need.
[00:52:37] It's the greatest cry of the human heart. I want to pray God's spirit would come today.
[00:52:42] Open your heart to him. Just say, lord, I want to receive your love today.
[00:52:46] I want to. You know, it was Charles Finney that said when he gave his life to Christ, he said it felt like liquid waves of love are pouring over his soul.
[00:52:53] I've had moments like that. It's amazing. God wants to pour his love into us. And so, Father, as we open our hearts this afternoon, early afternoon here, May 10, 2026, Lord, would your spirit come right now and pour your love in us?
[00:53:11] Would you fill us today into a measure we've never known before? May we experience divine love.
[00:53:18] May you just so fill us with your love, Lord. It would be transformative in our soul.
[00:53:22] It would help us, Lord, to become a channel of that very love. Help us to be a conduit of divine love. May your love flow in us. May love flow through us.
[00:53:32] Only you can bring that about, Father. I can't create that for anybody, even myself. I know only you can do it. So I pray today, spirit of God, would you come today?
[00:53:42] Would you fill every heart with love? Love to overflowing. Just fill us to overflowing today with your love.
[00:53:49] Lord, there's broken places in our soul. There's wounded places in our soul.
[00:53:54] There's places that we don't even realize the depth of despair that's in our soul, the longing, the ache.
[00:54:01] Holy Spirit, would you come right now and fill it? Fill our hearts with your love.
[00:54:06] We thank you for that divine love. Open our hearts and minds. Quicken it to us, make it real to us. May we experience it. Not just.
[00:54:16] Not just an emotion. I pray something far deeper than that. I pray even deeper than an emotion. I pray a deposit. I pray a divine deposit inside of us that will affect change within us. And we thank you for it.
[00:54:31] In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave.
