The Wrestling Match

One of the best wrestling matches I ever had occurred against an opponent from a rival high school who was ranked as one of the top wrestlers in the county.  My opponent and I had completely different styles of wrestling.  I was tall and lean for my weight class, whereas my opponent was relatively short and heavily muscled.  I was a keen technical wrestler relying on skill and endurance to wear down and outscore my opponents. My rival was strong and bullish, relying on intimidation and ferocity to take down and pin his opponents quickly. 

When the whistle blew during the first period, I realized quickly I was in for the match of my life.  My opponent quickly tied up with me and attempted to bull me across the ring.  He threw me around like a rag doll at first scoring take downs and exposing my back several times to rack up points.  He engaged in a number of dirty wrestling moves to try to intimidate me and break my will to resist.  By the end of the first period I was down 13-4.  I was covered in scratches, bruises, and mat burns.  I would go home with two black eyes and a cut nose.  I knew, however, if I could just hang on I could wear him down. 

The second period started with me taking the bottom position, as he took the top position.  Off the whistle I hit a quick reversal, putting him on the defensive.  I began the long, steady work of wearing him down.  By the end of the regulation six-minute match, I had tied our scores 18-18. 

Each of us was exhausted, bruised, and battered when the referee brought us to the middle of the mat for sudden death overtime.  The whistle blew and we tied up.  Both of us were so exhausted we could barely stand.  Both sized each other up, wondering who would make the first move.  I freed myself from his tie up, and stood straight for a moment.  My opponent, exhausted, mirrored my relaxed posture hoping for a quick breath, when I shot for his leg.  My opponent attempted to sprawl, but not before I desperately clung to his leg for all I was worth.  He tried to get free, but I methodically worked to get behind his hips until I had gained control of him.  Finally, I secured the clear advantage and the ref awarded me two points for the take down, calling the match 20-18.  After separating us, the ref raised my hand as the victor.  My desperation and endurance had gained me the victory. 

We often think that this is how we gain God’s favor.  We are often tempted to believe that through our effort and persistence we earn God’s blessing.  However, the Old Testament shows us a similar story of a wrestling match that teaches us just the opposite lesson.  In Genesis 32:22-32, we read of Jacob’s wrestling match with God. 

“The same night he (Jacob) arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.  And Jacob was left alone.  And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.  Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’  But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’  And he said to him, ‘What is your name?’  And he said, ‘Jacob.’  Then he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel (which means strives with God), for you have striven with God and with men, and prevailed.’  Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’  But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’  And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the name of the place Penuel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.’  The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.  Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touch the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.” 

On first impression, one might think that this story teaches precisely the point I mentioned earlier, that we often approach God as if by our effort and persistence we earn God’s favor.  But actually, when we look at this story in its context, it tells a tale of the unmeasurable richness of God’s grace received through faith. 

To put things into perspective, we have go back and look at Abraham and Isaac, Jacob’s grandfather and father, respectively. 

Earlier in the Book of Genesis, God had already promised to Abraham that he would bless his descendants, promising that He would be their God and would establish them in the land of Canaan.  Abraham who was childless believed God’s promise and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  God further established his promises with Isaac, Jacob’s father, saying that Isaac’s descendants would be greatly multiplied, and that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  This promise is carried forward to Jacob, God having revealed to Rebekkah, Isaac’s wife, mother at the birth of her twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  God had promised to her that Jacob would inherit the promise. 

Jacob started life on the wrong foot.  He was the younger twin of his father Isaac and Rebekkah.  Genesis tells us that even at his birth, Jacob began a pattern of making a mess of his life.  As Esau emerges from the womb, it is said that Jacob came out next grasping at his brother’s heel, trying to subvert their birth order.  His given name, Jacob, which means he grasps the heel, would become a Hebrew idiom to refer to a cheat or a liar. 

In Biblical times, a man’s estate would be passed on by inheritance to the eldest son.  Jacob appears to have lusted after his brother’s birthright.  As a result, one day when Esau was famished after a hunting expedition, Jacob convinced his brother to sell the birthright to his inheritance for a bowl of stew.  Later, when Isaac had grown to be quite elderly, he called for his son Esau so that he might confer on him a special blessing, the blessing received from Abraham that God would bless his offspring and give them the gift of the Promised Land.  Jacob conspired with his mother to fool Isaac into conferring that blessing upon himself.  As a result, Esau grew to hate his brother who had twice cheated him.  He breathed out threats to kill Jacob when their father had died.  Apparently, Esau was a man of his word because Rebekkah convinced Jacob to flee to her brother’s family in a distant land to deliver him from his brother’s wrath. 

And yet, even though Jacob was forced to flee from his father’s house due to his lack of character, God met Jacob in a dream, confirming His promise.  “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.  The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.  Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south, and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land.  For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  Jacob pledged that if God kept his promise to return him safely to his father’s house in peace, he would trust in the Lord. 

Unfortunately, it seems that Jacob’s character did not improve even during his exile.  Jacob successfully meets with his uncle Laban and is hired on as a worker in Laban’s house.  What is more, Laban allows Jacob to marry his two daughters and provides him with sheep and cattle and other goods out of his own flocks.  Jacob agrees to work for his uncle for twenty years.  However, Jacob, greedy as always, swindles Laban and finds a way to cheat his uncle out of the strongest of his flocks.  The tension between Laban and Jacob grew to be so great that once again, Jacob is forced to flee for his life.  As Jacob flees with his family and his possessions, Laban pursues him and catches up to Jacob.  However, God intervenes with Laban and a peace is arranged between Jacob and his uncle. 

Just when Jacob thinks that he can breathe easily, his past catches up with him again.  It turns out that his brother Esau has heard that Jacob is returning to the land of Canaan.  Esau and a band of four hundred men are on their way to meet with Jacob. 

Jacob remembers his brother’s threats and assumes the worst.  He is so fearful that he divides up his possessions into different camps in the hope that if Esau attacks one camp, the other camp might have the opportunity to slip away and survive.  He packs up his wives and children and sends them back across the river where they were encamped.  Alone and desperate at the thought of facing the wrath of his brother, Jacob grasps at any straw to secure God’s deliverance. 

It is at this point, in the middle of the night, Jacob encounters a mysterious stranger whom he wrestles with all night.  As the morning begins to dawn, the stranger, seemingly toying with Jacob throughout the night dislocates Jacob’s hip with just a touch.  Though he must have been exhausted and in immense pain, Jacob desperately clings to this man, hoping that if he just holds on, this stranger might bless him and deliver him from the sins of his past. 

The stranger asks Jacob to let him go, and Jacob only assents to do so if the stranger would bless him.  The stranger does so, and in the light of the day, Jacob recognizes that it was God who had wrestled with him all night long.  It was God who had allowed Jacob to hang with him. 

In the end, God blesses Jacob and keeps the promise that he had made.  Jacob is reconciled with his brother, and is returned to his father’s household, just as God had promised so many years ago.  God had proven faithful to his promises.  In time Jacob’s descendants would be established in the land of Canaan, in accordance with His word. 

Jacob finally comes to faith in the God that was able to save him, and in the promises that God had established with him.  

It is funny.  The strangest thing about this episode to me, is that Jacob went through the exercise of wrestling with God to demand a blessing that he already had. 

As we saw, God had established his promise with Jacob even at his birth.  Jacob was wrestling with God because he was having trouble believing in God’s promises.  Jacob was really wrestling with his unbelief that God would fulfill that which he had guaranteed. 

I can sympathize with Jacob. 

As a former wrestler myself, I understand the urge to try to take matters into my own hands.  I understand the tendency to strive and beat myself to exhaustion to seize that which I want.  As a man with a past, a sinner in need or reconciliation before God and man, I understand the desperation to try to use my own strength and will to make right that which I have wronged. 

When I try to take things into my own hands though, I miss the point.  I am stepping into the ring against a foe I am hopelessly outmatched against and cannot defeat.  Like Jacob, I am striving against my sin. 

In his epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul tells us of our hopeless state in sin, and the ineffectiveness of our works in defeating sin. 

“For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.  Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.’  Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” 

Just as Jacob knew that his sins were sure to bring about his death at the hands of Esau, the Law guarantees that the wages of sin for us is death. 

And yet, just as Jacob had received a promise from God which would deliver him from the power of death, God has made promises to us as well. 

In the gospel of Matthew, at the annunciation of the coming of Christ to Joseph, the angel reminds Joseph of the promise made to Israel through the prophet Isaiah:

“’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save the people from their sins.’”  Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God With Us.’”

It is this Jesus who would become our champion.  He is the one who would step in the ring against the powers of Sin, Death, and the Devil.  And through his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the tomb, Christ would prove that he is the victor for us. 

Our striving is not necessary.  We only need to have faith that God has fulfilled his promise by sending His Son.  Christ lived in obedience, that through faith his obedience might be applied to us through faith.  He died upon the cross, that by his death, the curse of the law for our trespasses might be paid.  He rose from the grave that we might have the certainty of knowing that Christ is victorious against our adversary. 

Our works are useless.  As Saint Paul states:  “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

Our only role is to confess God’s faithfulness to his promises.  Again, Paul declares:

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    

Just like Jacob, we don’t have to strive with God for his blessings.  We only need to trust that He has promised to send his Son on our behalf, and that he has proven faithful to His promises.  Just like Jacob, let us go forward in confidence that God has delivered our lives from sin and death.  

"And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." - Galatians 3:29

Unity In The Cross, Unity In Christ

For at least the past decade this country has been divided and polarized over nearly every topic under the sun.  Unfortunately, rather than finding ways to unify, the divide has only deepened.  Core values upon which the nation was founded, and which had provided some sense of unity in the past, are now being questioned and in many cases cast aside.  We find ourselves watching our nation tearing itself apart from the inside-out.  The nightly news broadcast brings us images of violence and unrest, murder, assault, arson, robbery, and vandalism. 

In this chaos, there have been precious few calls for unity and reconciliation.  Ideologies have sought to divide us by political party, race, and sex, advocating for never-ending conflict with no real hope of reconciliation.  At this point in time, there seems to be little cause for hope in our nation. 

But let this not be the case in the Church. 

For we are heirs to a gift that no ideology, political theory, or social justice construct can ever compare.  We are heirs to the true source of reconciliation, unity, and redemption.  We possess the hope that we bear in Jesus Christ.  It is this gift that Paul describes in his epistle to the Ephesians.  And it is in Christ that the Church unites around, places its hope in, and walks together with one another. 

Paul first came to Ephesus after having been driven out of the city of Corinth.  Paul arrived in Ephesus and began doing what he normally did.  He visited the synagogues and marketplaces, proclaiming Christ to any who would listen.  As a result of Paul’s efforts, a mixed Church consisting of Jews and Gentiles arose in Ephesus.  After preaching there for many months, Paul was again driven out of the city.  However, the Church that he founded there in Ephesus endured. 

Paul’s letter to the Jewish and Gentile congregation provides his answer to exactly what unifies the Church.  This is most evident in the beginning of the second chapter of Ephesians where Paul starts by laying out the common problem to all mankind. 

“And YOU were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them WE TOO all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” 

According to Paul, we began our lives as spiritually dead, hopelessly under the power of sin and Satan.  When we look at the goings on in our society today, I think there is no doubt that we are in bondage to sin.  We observe the callous destruction of persons and property over sins of malice and coveting, and it is evident what happens when as Paul says, people indulge in the desires of the flesh and the mind.  We look at these things and conclude those who engage in such actions justly deserve God’s wrath and judgment.

It would be too easy to excuse ourselves from this condemnation; however, Paul doesn’t leave that option open.  He says YOU were dead in your trespasses and sins, and WE TOO lived in like manner.  I look at the anger and hostility I feel toward my neighbor stemming from such uncertain days, and there is no way that I can deny that Paul had me in mind as well when he penned this short summary of man’s sinful anthropology. 

Though we all carry the common bond of being sinners, it is this sin that separates us one from another.  We are divided by anger, hatred, lust, greed, and coveting. 

And yet, in the next several verses, Paul will provide God’s answer to man’s slavery to sin and Satan. 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

In God’s great mercy, he provided us with the means of redemption, his Son. 

Note the repetition that Paul makes of the role of Christ in every step of this redemption.  We were made alive together, WITH CHRIST.  He raised us up WITH HIM.  He seated us in the presence of God in CHRIST JESUS.  In the ages to come he will show us the surpassing riches of his grace in CHRIST JESUS. 

Paul goes on.  

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Paul emphasizes that Christ is the central figure in our salvation.  Salvation is not based on who you are, what race, sex, or ethnicity you hail from.  It is not based on your works, because you are dead in sin and justly condemned under God’s law.  Every verb in that section is God’s action on your behalf.  We are not the subject of any of those actions. 

Salvation is based wholly and totally on Christ’s death on the cross for you.  It is through faith alone, gifted to you, that you benefit from the atoning sacrifice of Christ.  No one may boast on their own account because you have done nothing to merit your salvation. 

This is true for every man, woman, and child.  Paul hammers this home to his listeners, both Jews and Gentile alike. 

“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who were called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands – remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the World.”

Yet, in Christ, God is taking many peoples and making them one. 

“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that He Himself might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.  And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

In Christ we are reconciled to God.  It is through Christ’s blood that you were bought and redeemed from the power of sin and the devil.  Where formerly, in our sin, we were at war with God, Christ himself has become our peace. 

And yet, this passage doesn’t stop with our reconciliation to God.  By Christ’s blood we were reconciled to one another as well.  We went from being separate peoples to being one people.  We went from being strangers to being one household of God.  We went from being aliens to being fellow citizens and saints.  All of this begins, continues, and ends with the cross of Christ. 

And yet, when I look at the Church, I see a Church divided.  How can this have happened? 

It happened because we have forgotten that we are sinners.  I personally am hopelessly in debt to sin.  Nothing I can do of my own volition can save me from my sin.  There is no five-point sermon to being a better me that can change that reality about myself.  There is no self-help book or political ideology by which I can do enough good works to earn my salvation. 

The only way that salvation comes to me is through the cross.  I cannot free myself from the power of sin, death, and the devil.  I can only be redeemed, bought by the precious blood of my Lord, Jesus Christ. 

I cannot stand before God on my own, but must be carried to the throne of God on Christ’s whipped and shredded back, held by his nail-pierced hands, and moved along by his hole-ridden feet.  I cannot then stand before my neighbor and boast of my own holiness or merit or virtue.  The only holiness I possess is a gift, given to me by Christ.  My neighbor and I together only have standing before God through the cross. 

It is the cross, and the cross alone that gives us true unity.  It is Christ’ blood alone that reconciles me to my brother.  It is in Christ alone that we have true community.  In Christ alone do we have peace with one another. 

Let us as the Church walk in the unity of the cross.  Where we have sinned, let us approach the foot of the cross and repent.  Where we have been offended, let us forgive, knowing that we too have sinned against God and one another.  Let us present a wholly different picture of redemption, reconciliation, and unity to the world that is still in bondage to sin.