The House & Mission of God

  • Matt Marino
  • Feb 21, 2010
  • Series: Genesis
  • Passage: Genesis 35:1-15

 2-21-10

The House & Mission of God

GENESIS 35:1-15

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Two weeks ago—when we saw Jacob’s name changed to Israel—we said that the name changes of Abram and Jacob taught us how to avoid two extremes about the Christian faith. Now we’re going to see the positive expression of that great truth. 

 

Since God speaks twice to Jacob here—once to leave for Bethel and once on his way—let’s look at the structure of this passage from the voice of God. And let’s also remember that all who are in Christ are in this same covenant. So God is saying to you and I today two things through Jacob:

 

BUILD MY HOUSE (vv. 1-8)

BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY (vv. 9-15)

 

The Big Idea is that the glory of God always demands the biggest view of two kinds of growth—inward and outward.

 

DOCTRINE

 

BUILD MY HOUSE

A Place Where God is God

Beth (house of) el (God)

 

God had already taught Jacob that when God shows up, you change shape and your identity!

[1 Jn. 3:2-3] “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

 

Purity of the heart is to desire God alone, so that this purification begets more purity. 

[Mat. 5:8] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

 

God is expected here among the congregation in a special way:

He is present to communicate to his people (vv. 1, 3)

He is present to fight for his kingdom (v. 5)

[Deut. 2:25] “This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

[Acts 5:11] “And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.”

 

He is present to bless his people (v. 9)

[Ps. 16:11] “in your presence there is fullness of joy…”

 

“When the Bible says that God is ‘present’ it usually means ‘present to bless.’ That is, although there are a few references to God’s presence to sustain or presence to punish, the vast majority of biblical references to God’s presence are simply more brief ways of stating that he is present to bless.” WAYNE GRUDEM, Systematic Theology (177) 

A Place Where No Other god is God

Jacob to Family: Put away all else and purify yourselves: including clothes (v. 2) and other ornaments (v. 4)! 

 

[Ex. 19:10] “the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments.”

 

Please don’t go out and buy special garments: that’s not the point.

 

Christ is our legal purity before the presence of God. This act is a moral purity that is gradual and for the purpose of fighting the war.

[Heb. 10:14] “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

[Heb. 12:4] “Strive…for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

 

Jacob to Family: Come to Bethel and see and live!

Think back to Noah as head—come into the ark with me!

But note that the right response for Jacob was to fulfill the role of prophet to his home—the same home that he had just failed…again!

[Prov. 24:16] “the righteous falls seven times and rises again.”

 

[Hag. 1:2-4] “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.’ Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

 

Jacob still had idols in his old age. Be warned against taking offense at confrontation with truth all the way to your death.

 

REPEAT: that the glory of God always demands the biggest view of two kinds of growth—inward and outward.

 

BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY

God is God—Therefore Multiply!

Jacob is an old man. We may understand the repetition of the covenant, but this isn’t review. This is a command! 

In other words, it is a command to further the spiritual offspring.

 

This is a precursor to the Great Commission (v.11) 

[Mat. 28:18-19a] “All authority (exousia) in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

 

That God is almighty refers to his omnipotence: power to do all things.

[Is. 43:13] “there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?”

 

Notice that there is a commanding rationale.

Because God is God…(He is worth it and powerful to achieve it)

[2 Cor. 4:6] “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

[Mat. 3:9] “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

 

So if every single child of Adam dropped dead apart from Christ, God would still fulfill his promise to Abraham and Jacob!

 

Because reality is summing up in this…(This is happening and all else burns)

 

A Company of Nations—That’s You!

Covenant Theology 101

The Israel of History – the conditional people who would strive with God

[Hos. 12:3-4] “In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us.”

 

The Israel of God (v. 10) [cf. Gal. 6:16]

[Gal. 4:26] “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

[Eph. 2:12] “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.”

 

The offspring are of the diverse nations /ethnos (v. 11)

[Rom. 9:6-8, TURN] Ultimate Israel is the unconditional elect of God.

[Rev. 5:9] “by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

 

The land promise has two phases (Palestine the picture, then the world)

[Rom. 4:13] “…the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world…”

 

Consequently, this command is to The Well for Boise!

Because God is who He is, therefore be fruitful and multiply in Boise.

 

The final promise is unconditional, because of the obedience of Christ; but a wasted life will result from disobedience to this command.

[1 Cor. 3:12-15, TURN] This is a deep truth and hard to hear, but try to wrap your mind around it! 1) You contribute nothing to your salvation (God does that by free grace and Christ’s obedience); 2) You can ruin your life and the life of others by disobedience to his highest calling—even though you can’t lose your salvation; 3) If you’re one of the people God saves (by Christ’s obedience), you’ll care about your effects in history (by your obedience). Too thick? Get used to it!

 

In verse 13 it says that “God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him,” which marks the close of the age of the Patriarchs. It would be the last time that God appeared to the Fathers. Joseph would be close to God, but God would speak to him in dreams, not by personal appearance. God commissioned Israel to be a light to the nations and that God would supply the growth. Then once God gave these instructions, he ascended to heaven, just like after Jesus commissioned the church to be fruitful and multiply, Jesus went up from them to his throne in heaven.

 

REPEAT: that the glory of God always demands the biggest view of two kinds of growth—inward and outward.

 

APPICATION

 

To the Definition of the Church – The church is called out of the world to build God’s house and multiply it. We could unpack that forever. But a few things should click for us right away:

The church as an institution outlasts and informs all other institutions.

The church is a body, not a building…(BUT)

The church is a congregation, not a conglomerate (SO, no other units comprise it)

The church has certain prerogatives that no other institution has, and so no other thing, group, event can take the place of these congregational realities. 

The church as a congregation is most like worship in heaven and so God means it to display his glory most right now (and since He is what your soul is made for…)

 

To Church Growth and Corporate Worship (Horizontal vs. Vertical) 

We tend to over-correct (or mis-correct). We see a trend toward drawing big crowds or launching out on big projects that minimize the church and therefore minimize God. We react to this by blaming the size of the crowd or the project. Then we see cold irrelevance among people trying to get things right. We notice that such purity projects always stay small and never reach out. We react to this by blaming the quest for purity.  

 

Martin Luther said that the history of man is like a drunk trying to mount a donkey. He falls off one side, then gets back up to the saddle and slides off the other, then again and again. We are that drunk. 

 

But the Great Commission is clear: I am God Almighty—be fruitful and multiply! Go and make deep-discipled-worshipers. In the biblical worldview, inward and outward growth happen because of each other, never separate. Our covenant theology is less mature if it is less missional; and our understanding of missions is powerless if it is not rooted in covenant theology. 

 

To Church Planting and Missions

When the church is on mission, it is reproducing a people of the gospel; but then that just means that it is expanding the church. Church planting is missionary work, and missionary work is church planting. If either of these ever become anything else, then it’s not God’s mission. God’s mission is always an expansion of his house, and God’s house is always on mission. You can start to see the extremes that the American church lives on. Foundational passages of Scripture like this bring enormous correction to practices and whole frameworks that are really just cultural idols. 

 

To anyone who doesn’t think these applications apply to them…You are either in Christ or you’re outside of Christ. If you’re inside of Christ, you are called to his mission.