A FRESH START 

GENESIS 32:24-32 

          Here in this passage of Scripture Jacob wrestles all night long with this being.  The being is initially described as a man.  However some believe this to have been an angelic being while others believe that it was God having assumed a bodily form.  My task today is not to debate over who this being was but rather to look at what happened here for Jacob.  What is important to us this morning in this passage is that the being changed Jacobs name and by doing so gave Jacob a fresh start.  The title of today’s message is A FRESH START. 

          To understand the importance of a fresh start for Jacob we have to back up and look at his life.  The story of Jacob begins in

GENESIS 25:23-26

          Jacob was the second of two twin boys born to Isaac and Rebekah and grandson of Abraham and Sarah.  When the boys were born Jacob came out holding on to his brother’s heel.  The name Jacob means heel-catcher, supplanter, cheater, defrauder and deceiver.  Supplanter according to Webster is one who takes the place of another through force or plotting.  All of these names are accurate depictions of the life of Jacob.  As a young man Jacob cheats his brother Esau out of his birthright by taking advantage of Esau’s hunger.  Yes Esau should have had more respect for his birthright than to trade it for food.  However, Jacob knew that he was not striking a fair bargain.  He requested all that his brother would inherit as the price for one bowl of cereal.

GENESIS 27:1-4 (Tell 5-20) GENESIS 27:21-29 (Tell 30-33) GENESIS 27:34-36.

          Jacob deceives his father and steals his brother’s blessing.  However, when you lead a life of lying, cheating, stealing and deceit you will receive the same from others.  What does Galatians 6:7-8 declare?   “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sow, that shall he also reap.  For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

          When Jacob runs from Esau he goes to his uncle’s house, Laban the brother of his mother.  There he saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban.  Jacob fell in love with Rachel and promised Laban to work 7 years so that he could have Rachel.  Laban deceived Jacob and sent him Leah instead of Rachel.  Then Jacob had to work another 7 years to get Rachel.  When Jacob wanted to take his wives and children and go back to his father’s land, Laban convinced him to stay and work for him.  His wages would be all of the speckled and spotted cattle among the herds.

GENESIS 30:37-43

          Why this technique worked I do not know, but I do know that Jacob was cheating and deceiving Laban.  He was not allowing the natural course of events to determine which cattle would be his and which would be Laban’s.  He was stacking the deck in his favor.  Not only was he making sure he had more cattle but also that he had the stronger animals.  He was living up to his name.

GENESIS 31:1-10

          Where did this dream stuff come from?  Maybe God did tell him how to make the cattle bear in his favor, but there certainly is no mention of that dream or conversation early on in the scriptures.  Jacob cheated his father-in-law and now he wants his wives to side with him so he says God has shown me favor and blessed me with your father’s cattle.  It is as Jacob is fleeing from Laban and returning to his brother Esau that we come to our original text.

GENESIS 32:24-32

          Jacob has spent his life up to this point cheating, deceiving and stealing from others.  He has lived up to his name.  But now God changes his name.  The name Israel means God’s prince, soldier of God. Jacob gets a fresh start.  Rather than being the trickster and deceiver, he is now to be the Prince and soldier of God.  But just as Jacob lived up to his old name, he must choose to live up to the new name.  Jacob could not continue to be a deceiver, cheater and liar and still live up to his new name, Prince and soldier of God.  He had to change his ways to match his name change.

          As we start a new year, God offers us the opportunity to put our past year behind and start anew.  He gives us a fresh start.  We have a new opportunity to live up to the name Christian, the name Child of God.

HEBREWS 12:1

EPHESIANS 5:5-21

          Now some of these things we have done in times past and for some times past was just last year.  But a new year started Thursday and we have a fresh start.  Let’s commit ourselves even more to God.  Let’s resist the devil and watch him flee from us.  Let’s put on our armor, take up our weapon and fight the good fight of faith that we may lay hold on eternal light.  Let’s stand in the victory that Christ has already won for us.  With this fresh start let’s live up to our name.

There are a couple of other points I want to make from the life of Jacob.

GENESIS 33:1-3

1.                 Don’t assume that because you get a fresh start, your past mistakes will be wiped out.  Jacob may have had a life changing and name changing experience with God, but he still had to face Esau, whom he had greatly wronged.  When Jacob saw his brother coming with 400 men, panic struck him.  Forgiveness from God does not eliminate the need to repent to those we have wronged and seek forgiveness from them.  It also does not free us from paying our debt whether to society or to individuals.  Jacob knows that he wronged his brother and as payment for his wrong he has sent him portions of all the livestock he acquired while with Laban.  Still Jacob does not know what Esau will do. 

2.                 Understand that you are training your children to be just like you.  Genesis 34 tells a story of how Jacobs’s sons deceived a whole city and killed all the males in the city.  Jacob himself had no part in this deception, but his children did exactly what they had seen their father do, lie and be deceptive to get what he wanted.  They did likewise.  These are the same men who in Genesis 37 sold their brother Joseph into slavery and then told their father Jacob that Joseph was dead.  He deceived his father Isaac and his children followed right in his footsteps and deceived him.

3.                 Don’t think that your weaknesses and areas of Struggle are just going to go away.

GENESIS 35:9-10

          God felt the need to come back at a later date and remind Jacob that he was no longer a deceiver, cheater and liar.  He reminded him that now he was a Prince and soldier of God.  Though we are not given an incident where it appears that Jacob was struggling with his new identity, we know that like us he had an enemy.  I cannot believe that the enemy just let Jacob go without putting opportunities in his path to cheat, deceive and lie to achieve his goals.  Once the enemy has a doorway into our lives he does not easily give us that passageway.  He is not in the habit of giving up ground that he appears to have gained.  Here God reminds Jacob of his new character maybe to help him not to slip back into old habits.  As we are being changed into the image of Christ, it is important we listen to and yield to the Spirit of God.

          In the New Testament Jesus often gave individuals a fresh start.  Some he healed.  Some he simply forgave and some he delivered from the bondage inflicted on them by the enemy.  In many of these cases he would tell the “go and sin no more”.  In other words, I am giving you another chance.  Go and do not repeat your mistakes.  We started a new year on Thursday; a fresh start; a new chance to serve God with all of our heart, mind, soul and body.  Let’s take advantage of our fresh start.