Jacob becomes Israel: From Heel-grabber, to God-fighter, to God-fights
Sermon Manuscript
I put a lot of thought into naming my children. Both of their names have significance to me. Ellie's name is actually Ellen Jane. Both names are family names. Ellen is my mom’s middle name, and it’s a family name that’s been passed down for many generations. Jane is the name of Phill's grandmother. Although she’s not his grandmother biologically, Jane was family for Phill when he needed it most. She is a precious woman. So we knew that if our first child was a girl, we were going to name her Ellen Jane. The name itself together means something like “the light of God’s graciousness.” And certainly that’s how we felt when we had our firstborn.
Savannah's name is Savannah Joy. Savannah is named for the city. It is such a special city to both of us individually and it's where we went on our honeymoon. It's one of the places we vacationed most together since we've been married. So we named her for that city because of its special place in our hearts. We named her Joy because I wanted a biblical name. While no one in the Bible is named Joy, of course, the Bible is full of joy. So we named her Savannah Joy is a reminder of our love and God’s gift of joy in our lives.
So together we have first the light of God’s graciousness, and second the joy of God. I picked these names because I wanted their names to have deep significance. Likewise, in the Bible babies are given names to represent the child’s life or the circumstances of their birth. For instance, Isaac means laughter and Sarah and Abraham both laughed at the idea of having a child in their old age. Jacob means heel-grabber since he grasped the heel of his brother Esau at birth.
God also changes names to represent a significant spiritual change in a person from the presence of God in their lives. When Abraham had his name changed to Abraham from Abram, it was to emphasize that he would be more than just a father, he would be a father of multitudes. And today we see another name change. We're going to see Jacob the heel-grasper become Israel in Genesis 32:22-32. We're going to learn what that name means beyond that it became the name of the nation. I invite you to turn in your Bibles or in your smart phone to Genesis 32:22-32. I’ll be reading from the NRSV.
22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” 29 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. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.
THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD - THANKS BE TO GOD
There are so many topics I could have preached on today from this passage. Preparing for this sermon had me dusting off my old seminary books trying to study the meaning of words and their use in the passage in the original Hebrew. I really dove into this one. It’s such a potent passage. There’s so many directions I could have taken this sermon. I could have talked about what it means for God to wound as an act of love; I could have talked about the different theories on the identities of the man who wrestled Jacob and what it meant for Jacob to have kept up with someone divine. In fact, I had to go back and delete these from the first draft of my sermon because I slipped them in. Rather than talking about those, we’re going to laser focus on Jacob’s name change which walks us through a three-part change in Jacob from God as illustrated in his name change.
Last week Jacob prayed beautiful words of faith, and now Jacob gets to prove it. A man starts to wrestle him in the night. What a strange sentence, and surely it was stranger to experience. As Jacob wrestles and fights he realizes this is no ordinary man. Certainly no ordinary man could fight all night long. That also says a lot about Jacob and his strength that he could fight all night long. It is revealed that this man is God.
At first, I wonder who Jacob thought he was fighting. I bet he first assumed Esau had come to fight him. The text doesn't say that. That’s my speculation and I want to be clear about that. But I bet he thought it was Esau at first. Then likely he figured out pretty quickly it wasn't Esau, but he wasn't sure who he was fighting. And then the fight went on and on and on. And when Jacob refused to release the man, he wounded Jacob with just a touch. That must have been the moment that Jacob realized he was fighting someone supernatural. Rather than cowering in fear at this realization as perhaps a sane person would, Jacob fought harder and he demanded a blessing from God. Once he was blessed Jacob limped away a different man.
When Jacob was born he was the heel grabber in a literal sense because of their birth story where he grasped Esau’s heel. When he deceived Esau then it became a figurative name as someone who deceives and trips others up. That is who Jacob became. In his sin nature Jacob became a deceiver, trickster, motivated by fear and selfishness. Jacob spent his life tripping others up and deceiving to get his way. Rather than directly dealing with conflict or taking his problems to God, he took matters into his own hands and dealt with his problems in a roundabout and deceitful way. His name was heel-grabber and his nature was sinner. But that's not who Jacob was meant to be. God had a plan for Jacob, and it wasn’t as a heel-grabbing sinner.
God is not going to let Jacob ignore him or trick his way out of this fight. If Jacob wants to survive, he's going to have to fight with God directly. This tells us a couple of things about what God teaches Jacob. First of all, he can't trip up or deceive God. I imagine he tried some tricky techniques in their fight, and I bet they did not work. Again, that's speculation, but it's how I imagine it went down. So Jacob could not use trickery in his fight with God. Second, Jacob also spent much of his life ignoring or avoiding God. He tried to use God to get what he wanted without having a genuine relationship with God. Rather than taking his concerns and worries, his hopes and dreams to God, he used trickery to get his way. He went around God. But now he has to face God directly. There is no going around God when he's fighting you physically in the night. And yes, this is a physical fight. Don’t let anyone tell you this was a dream. Jacob’s limp testified the physical nature of the fight. You can’t avoid God when he’s actively fighting with you.
Jacob, the heel-grabbing deceiver, enters this fight. But as he fights, something changes in Jacob. Before this, life is about Jacob. Jacob fights on his own and for himself. But through this fight, God changes Jacob’s nature. Jacob, once a deceiver, is now transformed by God into someone who fights with God. Believe it or not, this is an improvement. It is better to fight with God directly than to live in your own sinfulness and selfishness while avoiding God. Taking your fight against God is a step in the right direction. I want to take a moment away from the text to talk to you for a second. I hear people say I know I shouldn’t be angry with God, but I am. But I say no! If you’re angry with God, at least you’re looking towards him. If you are upset with what God is doing in your life rather than complaining about it and avoiding God, tell God about it. Talking to God even about your anger towards him is still a step towards God. So I don’t want you to feel bad about being angry at God. Just don’t neglect God. Keep looking towards him and sharing your hurt with him. It is better to fight with God than to avoid Him.
Back to Jacob. Jacob comes out of this fight a different man. To signify this, God renames him Israel. So who is he now according to his new name? What does it mean to be named Israel? That’s one of the things I was studying as I dusted off seminary books. The name Israel holds more interpretations than I realized, but two primary interpretations stand out. The name “Israel” in Hebrew combines the term “el,” meaning God, and “iserray,” which likely means “he fights.” So the two primary interpretations of this name are that it means God fights or he fights God. Which is the subject of the sentence: he, meaning Jacob, or God? I would love to tell you I have the definite answer on the meaning of the name Israel. Unfortunately, I can't do that. Hebrew scholars don’t even have a consensus. However, I think there is significance even in the name's ambiguity.
As Jacob fights God, God transforms him into something new. During the fight, the name Israel could mean “he fights God” as Jacob actively fought with God. He went from heel-grabber to God-fighter. And then at the end we have a Jacob who limps away with a physical reminder that God goes before him and fights for him. This man goes from heel-grabber deceiver Jacob to God-fighter Israel, to God fights for Israel. Do you see the shift? God fights Jacob’s new nature into him. From heel-grabber, to God-fighter, to God-fights. And in that last moment finally, for the first time in Jacob’s life, he puts the focus on God and God’s ways rather than Jacob and Jacob’s ways. The old heel-grabber is gone. And in his place is Israel, the one who has fought with God and prevailed and the one who now trusts God to fight for him. His name transforms from heel-grabber, to God-fighter, to God-fights.
What a powerful story. We don't think about God fighting us very much. But this is an example of God meeting his people right where they are. In that moment Jacob needed someone to wrestle the Jacob out of him. He needed the lifelong wound reminding him that God is strong enough to fight for him and he can trust God.
I bet you are listening to this story and you are also amazed by God’s work in Jacob’s life. Perhaps I lost you in all the theological talk and Hebrew terms. Just know that the point of this sermon was that God changed Jacob's nature through this fight. And as evidence of the change, God changed Jacob's name too. He changed Jacob from the heel grabber to the one who trusts God to fight for him.
But I want you to know that this story has as much to do with you and me as it does with Jacob. Yes, Jacob is the one who experienced this story, but it is in the in the inspired word of God which means it has relevance to you and me today. So here's my question for you: has God changed your name?
Because at your core your name is something akin to heal Grabber too. So is mine. My name in my nature when I was born wasn’t Leah Denise. That was the name given by my parents. My name was Sinner. But God wanted to give me a new name and a new nature. God gave me the name Saved from Sinner. God wants to give you a new name and a new nature. And you might be thinking to yourself, “why is she talking about this to a church? Doesn't she know that everyone at church has been given a new name already because we are all believers? Doesn't she know that we all walk with God already?”
I know that most people who are in the pews of the church have experienced God and received the name Saved. However, I also know that many of us still act as if we haven’t been saved. And I'm not really talking about actions here. The actions and works of faith are evidence of God's changing of our nature from Sinner to Saved. I'm talking about your relationship with God. If you are not engaging in a daily relationship with God, then you are acting more like your name is Sinner rather than Saved. And that's not who you are. Your name is Saved.
Perhaps you come to church because it's what you've always done. Perhaps you come to this church because it's what you've always done and what your family for generations is always done. But I'm here to tell you that is not enough. We gather as the body of Christ to encourage each other and build each other up. That is extremely important for our faith development. But there is so much more to a relationship with God than just coming to church for an hour once a week. If there's no relationship with God that's happening during the week, then what happens on Sunday is not faith development. It's just a thing to do for an hour on your weekend. You likely have received a new name of Saved rather than Sinner. But which one are you acting like? Again, I'm not talking about good versus bad choices here. I’m talking about being somebody who has an active relationship with God. I’m talking about you being somebody who trusts God to fight for you. All the actions and works that come from that are simply evidence of the faith that you do or don't have in God. I believe there are those of you sitting in these pews today who have received the name Saved but you are acting like your name is Sinner. I would bet there are those who have backslidden into taking the reigns back from God and are living our live by their own will and ways.
And church, I tell you, that is not good. If you are coming to church because it is what you think you're supposed to do but you don't have a daily relationship with God, then that is not the evidence of one who has been saved. I don't say this to keep shame on you. Is no shame for those in Christ Jesus. But I say this to call you. God wants to fight for you. God does fight for you. But if you're ignoring him and not developing that relationship with God then you're living your life of your own will and ways and acting more like the sinner than the saved.
So let me ask you this. Which name of Jacob do you identify with most? Jacob, the heel-grabber? Steeped in your own sin and ignoring God. Or are you Israel, God-fighter. Are you currently wrestling with God? Do you feel like every time you talk to God is a fight? If so, you’re a god-fighter. Remember that’s a step in the right direction. Or are you Israel, God-fights? Are you letting God fight for you and through you more often than not? I’ll tell you where I’m at currently and I’ve been all three places, by the way. I’m somewhere between God-fighter and God-fights. I think I let God fight for me more often than not yet and I still sense that instinct to fight with God.
So I am telling you from what I’ve learned personally and from this scripture, God wants to fight for you. He wants your whole heart and your whole life. So be honest with yourself: are you heel-grabber, God-fighter, or God- fights? If you have been riding on the faith of your grandparents just like Jacob did then perhaps your name is still Sinner or heel-grabber. I want you to know that you can have your name be changed to Saved. God wants that for you. And if it feels like you’re wrestling with God as you listen to this sermon then I bet it’s time to claim the name Saved for yourself or reclaim it once again.
If you have claimed the name Saved and you do trust God to fight for you, then I hope this passage will serve as a reminder of your new name. You might stumble and fall into choices and actions that are more akin to someone named Sinner, but know that isn’t who you are anymore. Confess those sins to God, let him wrestle that sin nature out of you, and trust that he is with you even in your failings. Be encouraged that God is with you and fights for you.
I'm going to do something that is going to make many of your uncomfortable. I am about to give an altar call. I want you to come forward to the altar. And I know that's terrifying. I have resisted the call of the Holy Spirit to come to the altar more times than I like to admit. But the times that I have come to the altar when God called me, I have experienced God in ways that are so rich. It's not that there's anything magical about this kneeling rail. It's about you saying yes to the Holy Spirit telling you to come receive prayer. Saying yes to God is what is so rich and powerful. Yes, I know it's scary. But I am calling you to listen to the voice of God calling you to come and receive a new name or to reclaim that name once again. You are not meant to be like Jacob, the heel-grabbing Sinner. You are meant to be like Israel, your name Saved, as you trust God to fight for you.
I'll get things started. I will come down to the altar now for our closing prayer. Please come join me so that I can pray for you. Come pray and receive prayer. Claim or and reclaim your new name of Saved. You are no longer called Sinner. Your name can be Saved for the first time or once again. So please. Listen to the voice of God calling you to come to the altar. Come receive prayer during our closing hymn.