The Consequences of Indifference.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] All right, go ahead and have a seat. Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, [0:04] my name’s Steve, I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church, and as always, I’m thankful and [0:08] grateful to see each and every one of you. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to [0:12] Genesis chapter 34. We’re gonna kind of start in 33, but we’re gonna be in chapter 34 for most of [0:20] the morning. We’re gonna try to make our way through the entire chapter this morning. But [0:25] the last few weeks, we have been back in the book of Genesis, and we have continued looking at the

[0:32] life of Jacob as he returned from his years with Laban, his relative, seeking to find a wife, and [0:40] all that record kind of took into account with all of the different things that Jacob did, all [0:46] of the different sins that he found himself in. And last week, we started taking a look at kind [0:50] of his journey back to his homeland, all of the things that have taken place there. He was [0:56] reunited with his brother Esau, and that was a really a moment of reconciliation for Jacob as [1:02] well as Esau. But if it’s one thing that you’ve kind of noticed through the life of Jacob, it’s

[1:09] that there has been kind of a theme of sin and repentance, then sin and repentance, then sin and [1:15] repentance, and it’s kind of a cycle that is going on in his life where he has feared man [1:21] in many instances, and it has literally cost Jacob the opportunity to see God work in amazing [1:29] ways on his behalf. Jacob is the chosen one of God. He’s been chosen to really be one of the [1:36] forefathers of the nation of Israel, and so having that knowledge that he’s chosen by God, and I pray [1:43] that you as a follower of Jesus, if you are a follower of Jesus in here, that will be kind of

[1:48] your understanding of who you are, that you are a chosen one of God. And when you are chosen by God, [1:54] you have so many opportunities through faith to see God work in amazing ways in your life. [2:01] And when you seek to manipulate the situation, when you seek to deceive, when you seek to get [2:07] your way, what you are costing yourself is an opportunity to see God work in mighty ways on [2:14] your behalf. But because of fear, and that’s what it is, it’s not that you’re wise, it’s not that [2:20] you’re smarter, it’s not that you’ve got this great abundant realization of what life needs to be like,

[2:26] it’s that you are afraid that God won’t work in the way that you need him to work in your life, [2:32] you’re afraid that God will work in a way that you would rather God not work in your life, [2:37] and so that is why you act in such faithless and sinful ways. But in every moment where Jacob [2:46] actually lives by the faith that he claims to have in God, God always works in extraordinary ways. [2:54] But then when you see sin creep in and faithlessness creep in, what do you see [2:59] happen in Jacob’s life? You see pain, you see hurt, not just in his life, but in the lives

[3:06] of others. Now, I want to give you fair warning, and I knew there was going to come a day, [3:12] and whenever you preach through an entire book of the Bible, it kind of makes it so that you can’t [3:15] avoid things that, quite frankly, most pastors avoid. They’ll spend their entire careers avoiding [3:22] certain chapters of the Bible. And there’s a great reason, if you Google sermons on Genesis 34, [3:27] you don’t find a lot of them. It’s not going to be like a Romans 8-28 where there’s thousands [3:35] of podcasts to listen to. Genesis 34 is one of these narratives of Scripture that is difficult.

[3:42] It’s difficult to preach on. It was difficult to write this sermon, and it’s because it contains [3:48] Genesis 34 through 39 contains some narratives that are a little harder for us to swallow, [3:54] a little harder for us to kind of find those coffee cup moments where it’s like, [3:59] that’s so inspirational. There isn’t a ton of it, if there’s any. And so, if, you know, [4:07] and I can’t really see in the crowd very well because of the lights, but if there are young [4:10] children in here, I’ll be frank, this might be a good time to take them to Village Kids,

[4:15] because we’ve got some adult matters to work through this morning, just to give you a couple [4:20] of the highlights, rape, cowardice, deception, forced circumcision, and mass killing. So this [4:26] story has it all, folks. I mean, we’re going to hit all of the highlights of stuff that we just [4:32] love talking about. I mean, these are the things where it’s like, when I’m looking for inspiration, [4:36] I go to Genesis 34. No, no one has ever said that, that has a normal functioning brain. [4:44] All right, if you’ve got some kind of weird imbalance that will help you find help with,

[4:48] you maybe like this, but Genesis 34 is tough. And what it all really is going to boil down to [4:56] is Jacob’s sin of indifference. Everything that we’re going to read about this morning, [5:03] every ounce of pain that this family is going to endure this morning, if Jacob had been a real [5:10] father, if Jacob had been a real man, if Jacob had been a real Christian,

[5:17] every ounce of it could have been avoided. But Jacob, like so many, is a coward, and he’s [5:26] indifferent about his children. He’s indifferent about how the choices that he makes and how they [5:33] children, and he’s indifferent when his children truly need him to act. So what do his children do? [5:41] His children act in unwise ways because they have no example to follow. The one who’s called by God [5:50] to lead, he doesn’t lead. And so I want to pick up in Genesis 33, 15, and that’s where we’re going [5:57] to start the narrative this morning. It says, So Esau said, Let me leave with you some of the

[6:05] people who are with me. But Jacob said, What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my [6:10] Lord. So Esau returned that day on his way to Sair, but Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth, built himself [6:17] a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called [6:22] Sukkoth, which means temporary. It’s not in your Bible, I just translated it for you.

[6:54] Lord,

[7:01] every moment that we can come before you in prayer is a blessed moment. [7:06] Lord, I thank you. Lord, I ask you this morning for wisdom in my words. I ask you for your Holy [7:14] Spirit to take them into the hearts that you have softened this morning to receive your word, to [7:20] receive its message. And Lord, my prayer is that you would work in mighty ways. Lord, I pray for [7:28] all those in Houston this morning who are still baffled at all that’s happening around them. [7:33] Lord, I thank you for the volunteers. I thank you forever in helping them. I pray that you would

[7:39] protect people. I pray that you would work in their lives. Lord, I pray for those in Asia who’ve [7:44] experienced flooding that many of us don’t even know about that’s even worse. Lord, I pray that [7:49] you would work in their lives. Lord, I pray where people need to be rescued, they would be rescued. [7:55] I pray where provision is needed, provision would happen. And I pray through it all there would be a [8:00] gospel awakening. Lord, speak through me this morning. Be merciful to me a sinner. In the name [8:07] of Jesus, I pray. Amen. So when you come to a place like Genesis 34, and I stopped right before

[8:14] we got to 34 with purpose, because I want to explain to you sometimes people in our culture [8:20] aren’t great at reading the Old Testament. I love the Old Testament. I think that if you will really [8:25] apply the Old Testament to your understanding of the gospel, there will be so many less questions [8:31] about certain issues that we confront nowadays. This is extremely relevant, especially now. But [8:37] whenever you come to a narrative that you, it’s shocking, okay? And I mean there’s some OT stuff [8:43] that is shocking. Okay, OT means Old Testament. I abbreviate. But whenever you come and you’re

[8:50] like, good night. I mean there are some things in the Bible that you got to ask yourself, why is this [8:54] in the Bible? And that’s not a bad question to ask. That’s a good question. When you get to Genesis [9:00] 39, don’t go there yet, read later. You’re going to be even more, what? Why is that in there? [9:07] What you have to do is you have to put on your Bible gospel lenses and then ask yourself another [9:14] just as important question, almost more important question, what is God trying to teach me through [9:20] this? Because if the Lord included it in His Word, and just to put all the cards on the table,

[9:27] Village Church believes that this is the inerrant authoritative Word of God. All of it’s from Him, [9:34] and all of it is for us. And so we have to ask ourselves, what is it that the Lord is seeking [9:40] to teach me through this narrative? And so then it aids you to submit and say, there is something [9:49] that the Lord wants me to glean, and then it gives you a responsibility. I need to find out [9:54] what it is that the Lord wants me to glean from this message. And when then you look at it, [10:00] through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that aids you to not misinterpret what you are

[10:07] to receive from that passage. Because that is something that many people through the history [10:12] of the church have done, is they’ve misinterpreted Old Testament narratives because they haven’t [10:17] looked at it through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the point of the entire [10:22] Bible. And so when we get into this story, I want us to understand first something that we see in [10:29] Genesis 33, and at the end of Genesis 33, we see point number one, that ignoring the call of God [10:36] has dire consequences. Ignoring the call of God has dire consequences, and you may be saying to

[10:43] yourself, all they’re doing is camping. You know, how is that ignoring the call of God? I want to [10:51] tell you why it’s ignoring the call of God. This is where the story begins, and this is where things [10:56] begin to go wrong, because Jacob is step by step ignoring the call of God in his life. If you go [11:02] back to Genesis chapter 28 and look in verse 13, this is what the Lord revealed to Jacob. It says, [11:09] behold, the Lord stood above it. Jacob is having a vision and said, I am the Lord, the God of [11:14] Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give you and to

[11:21] your offspring. So right there, Jacob’s in his homeland, and the Lord reveals to him through a [11:28] miraculous vision, this is for you and your offspring. Then down in verse 18, same chapter, [11:35] so early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a [11:40] pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called the name of the place Bethel, but the name of the city [11:47] was Luz at the first. Now, Bethel means the house of God, very fitting name for the place, [11:56] because he’s told Jacob, just as he told Abraham, just as he told Isaac, this is the land for you,

[12:02] this is the land for your offspring. And now Jacob is receiving a bit furthered revelation, [12:08] and so he says, clearly this land is the house of God, Bethel. Now after marriage and his time with [12:15] The Lord comes to Jacob again in Genesis 31, in verse 3, this is what he says, [12:20] Then down in Genesis 31, 13, the Lord says to Jacob,

[12:44] Okay, so the Lord’s been specific a couple of times. First, this is your land. Then Jacob leaves, [12:53] goes to Laban for a very long time, because Jacob is somebody that likes to kick the can down the [12:58] road as long as he possibly can. So the Lord comes back and the Lord says, basically, what are you [13:03] still doing here? I’m the God of Bethel. Go back. You need to be in the land of Abraham. You need [13:12] to go back to the house of God. So then in Genesis 32, 9, Jacob prays. This is Jacob speaking [13:20] now. He says, Oh, God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, oh Lord, who said to me,

[13:26] return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. Okay, so Jacob received the [13:33] message. Jacob’s like, I got to get home. But once Jacob starts that journey,

[13:42] he delays, he delays, he delays. So he comes, confronts Esau. Everything is going great. But [13:50] then when him and Esau kind of part paths, that’s where things start going wrong. Now, I said, [13:57] sucketh means temporary, because that’s what it does mean. But that’s important to the story, [14:02] because right there, Jacob is doing a very important thing. He’s saying this isn’t where [14:07] we’re going to settle cases is temporary. And kind of in the narrative, you kind of get this idea [14:14] where Jacob begins to tell Esau, my people are weak, my animals are weak. We kind of need to

[14:22] rest for a minute. But then when he leaves sucketh and he gets to Shechem, that’s where you really [14:29] start to see Jacob playing the delay game again, because what does he do? He doesn’t set up a [14:34] temporary place. He buys land. All right. That’s not something that you do when you’re obeying [14:42] God and get to Bethel. I’ve been specific, get home. And Jacob kind of gets close. Jacob kind of [14:50] can rest a little bit, you know, takes a little R&R. But then he gets to Shechem and he says, [14:55] you know, I like this place. Let’s get a real estate agent, honey. We’re not renting anymore.

[15:02] All right. And clearly, you can understand that in our culture. When you want to put down some roots, [15:07] you buy land and you say, let’s build a house. And so that’s what Jacob does. He delays, [15:13] he delays, he delays. And the old cliche is delayed obedience. What is it? It’s disobedience. [15:18] When you tell your kids to go clean their room, if you’ve got kids, and two hours later, [15:22] they’re still playing video games. They didn’t obey you, did they?

[15:28] No, if you’re a good parent, you understand that’s disobedience. [15:31] If you didn’t understand that, that’s the problem. All right. So delayed obedience is disobedience. [15:39] Jacob is ignoring the call of God because he’s got another thing that he wants to do. [15:46] I want you to understand that that is why Genesis 34 goes off the rails.

[15:55] Because everything begins with you ignoring the call of God. Everything begins when you minimize [16:05] the voice of God in your life to mere suggestions. When God has been clear in his word and you say, [16:16] that’s a good suggestion, when I get around to it, when life works out for me, when I think [16:28] things are measured up so that I can obey God, I’ll obey God. And then you do not understand [16:37] afterwards why your life is not one that God is working in. Why your prayers are meaningless. [16:48] Why the Bible is wholly irrelevant to you. You read it and you’re like,

[16:52] I don’t understand what this has to do with me. Well, when you ignore the call of God in your [16:58] life, when you ignore the parts that you do clearly understand, when you ignore the things [17:03] the Lord has been clear on, then why would the Bible be relevant in your life? [17:08] Why would you need prayer to work in your life? Why would you need the Holy Spirit to be active, [17:16] to be speaking, to be working? When you’re doing what you want to do, why would God work in your [17:25] doing great without him? 34.1. Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had born to Jacob,

[17:35] went out to see the women of the land. We’ll get back to this in a minute. It seems so innocent, [17:41] but it is not innocent. And when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, [17:48] he seized her, he laid with her, and he humiliated her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah, [17:57] the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to [18:03] his father Hamor saying, get me this girl for my wife. And all of the Bible, if you kind of [18:15] understand what’s going on in those four verses, that is shocking to you. That is shocking.

[18:23] Because what you have to understand is what’s going on is that Jacob is apathetic to the call of God [18:30] on his life, and that led to a general apathy where his family was concerned. Now commentators [18:37] agree with the language used to describe Dinah’s venture into the community that she was seeking [18:44] to mingle with the other women of Shechem. Now whatever the reason, whether she was lonely [18:51] because she was the only daughter, or whether, you know, she was just a girl growing, becoming of age, [18:59] getting curious as to what’s going on around her, this is an ill-advised trip. Now I want to be

[19:05] clear. Most of you are going to think, that’s crazy. What do you mean? She’s just going to mingle [19:10] among the people? What are we supposed to do? Shelter them from the wicked people around them? [19:16] Yes. Yes. The first four verses are Jacob’s failure as a father to be an actual father of his daughter [19:35] and protect her from the wickedness around in a godless land. That’s what happened in the first [19:44] four verses. And you say, well isn’t Shechem guilty? You’re absolutely right he’s guilty. [19:49] You’re absolutely right he’s wicked, and he deserves to die, which he’s going to.

[19:54] So rape is what happened in this passage. You say, oh it doesn’t specifically say rape. [20:06] In the Hebrew it’s a little clearer when it says he seized her, it means that he took her against [20:12] her will. All right, that’s rape. And so this innocent venture where, you know, she’s a very [20:21] young girl, she’s not an adult, she’s a young girl, and Jacob is just ignoring what’s going on, [20:28] and he lets her go out into the people of the city because he is an apathetic father. Jacob [20:35] simply doesn’t protect his daughter. Let me tell you something, throughout this narrative Jacob’s

[20:41] apathy and cowardice shined through to show that he is being a lousy dad. And here’s where fathers [20:49] need a practical theology of family. It’s a practical theology. It is your job to protect [20:58] your children. Fathers, it is your job to protect your daughters. It’s not your job just to hope [21:05] that they grow up and get out. But some of you are boys who happen to be able to shave, and so [21:12] you’re so selfish and immature that you look at parenthood as an obligation that’s unfortunate, [21:19] and you just got to get them to 18 and you’re done. You are not a Christian.

[21:27] That’s your mentality. You are not a Christian. I want you to understand. I want to be clear [21:34] that if you are just buying time until they turn 18, you are not a follower of Jesus Christ. You [21:41] need to repent and you need to be regenerated because that is not following Jesus. That is [21:47] unregenerate sin. Do not believe you can have the Holy Spirit active in your life and that be your [21:53] mentality. Jacob ignores his family. Jacob’s off tent dwelling or something.

[22:06] And his daughter goes, mingles with the culture, and what do you think is going to happen when [22:10] you mingle with the culture that’s godless, when you mingle with the culture that’s wicked, [22:14] when you do that without discernment and this young girl doesn’t have discernment, bad things happen. [22:24] And that’s what happened. I want you to understand that we as a culture are failing our children [22:31] at astronomical levels. We believe that at 12 and 13 we need to give them unfiltered internet. We [22:40] can have complete access to the world around them and we let them go. We send them off for hours at

[22:47] a time and have no idea where they are. And then when they begin to form philosophies that you [22:52] disagree with, when things begin to happen in their lives that you don’t want to happen, you say, [22:58] but I did everything that I could. No, you didn’t. Your apathy caused all of it. [23:04] Your apathy caused every ounce of it. There’s no 12-year-old that needs a smartphone. [23:10] If you’re 12 years old, you’re in here and I’m ruining your life right now. [23:15] I’m actually trying to say that you need filters. 12-year-olds, by and large, they’re pretty dumb.

[23:29] And they are. If you don’t think 12-year-olds are dumb, what’s wrong with you? [23:34] Seriously, you didn’t know that? If I’m blowing your mind with this real revelation knowledge, [23:39] I’m sorry, but it’s true. I mean, they haven’t even been using the toilet for that long [23:45] and they barely can make it in. This is a few years removed from diapers. [23:54] They just learned how to read. You know, in the 1500s, you don’t know what was happening in the [24:06] 1500s. You have no idea. Yeah, well, in the 1500s, you’d have been farming. How’s that going for you?

[24:14] Okay. This is Jacob’s failure to lead his family in obeying the call of God first. [24:22] He failed. Then secondly, he didn’t obey the call of God, so secondly, he disobeyed the call of God [24:30] to protect his family by keeping them from paganism, to be faithful to God. He failed in that. [24:38] Fathers are called to protect their children from sin. To argue with this is to abdicate what God [24:47] designed fatherhood to be. Dinah shouldn’t have been in Shechem, point blank. Dinah then shouldn’t [24:56] have been mingling with the Shechemites unattended by her father. She goes alone at a very young age

[25:03] and is assaulted by a very wicked man. Fathers, be a father who actually loves his children with the [25:12] love of God, and to love them with the love of God is to love them enough to protect them by making [25:18] a stand against this type of thing. That’s what it is. You need to be the kind of man who is [25:27] always listening to God and moving with God. Now, make no mistake, Christian parenting is tough, [25:33] but the hardest part is admitting that you need to be a Christian parent, [25:38] because many of you have come to faith in Christ and you want him to save you to heaven.

[25:44] You want him to give you some inspirational quotes to help you with the stress of the weekly [25:48] life, but you don’t want to be a Christian anything. You just want to go to heaven.

[25:58] You need to be a Christian parent. Our primary call is to lead our children to be faithful to [26:04] God above absolutely all things, and we can only do that if we are faithful to God above all things. [26:12] So, faithless parents will produce even more faithless children. Sometimes we get it backwards, [26:20] and we worry about the things of this world before we worry about their faith and obedience [26:25] to Jesus, and that is what happened to Jacob. Friends, I tell you, you need to protect your [26:31] daughters. Your daughter needs more protection even than your son does, and I know some of you

[26:37] think men and women are equal. Yes, in value, but there’s a reason I don’t send my wife to [26:45] check out things that go bump in the night. Now, some of you all do. You’ve got to cut that out, [26:51] man. All right, bro, I’m calling you out. You can take your man card. Hear a noise. You go. [26:59] Take weapons. I do. I mean, man, I can run down commando style. [27:05] AK-47 on my back, RPG on my shoulder. Somebody’s going to die even if it’s me.

[27:17] You need to protect your daughters from the danger of men. See, wickedness

[27:25] twists the design of male and female. And I want to talk about one specific twist. I’m not going [27:29] to get into the entire theology because of time. But one specific thing that it does is it takes [27:34] men who are designed by God to be physically strong, to be the leaders of their family in [27:42] wisdom and discernment. And they take that and sinfully twist it to where they can take advantage [27:48] of women versus through their fidelity to God, be faithful to one woman protecting her purity [27:54] with all that he has. And so fathers need to protect their daughters from wicked men.

[28:02] And that’s most of them. Any man or boy over the age of puberty is wicked sexually in one way or [28:15] the other. Through temptation, through his desires, through those things. And so if you’re a [28:21] father and you’ve got a daughter, you need to realize that there’s coming a point, very young [28:27] nowadays, gets younger and younger because of sexual perversion. But it is your job to keep [28:32] her from being taken advantage of. I’m talking, you take dudes out, you warn her, you treat her [28:40] like she should be treated by a man. If you will treat your daughter the way that a man should

[28:47] treat your daughter, she will know a scumbag from a mile away because he doesn’t treat, [28:54] why would she leave you for someone who doesn’t treat you as good as you do? So you need to [29:02] honor her. You need to show her how beautiful she is. You need to show her how wonderful and innocent [29:08] that she is. And you need to care for her like 1 Peter says, as a weaker vessel. What that means [29:14] is like a great, just beautiful, priceless vase that you would see in a museum. You don’t see them [29:20] picking it up and playing catch with it. All right. They put on those nice stupid looking white gloves

[29:26] and they pick them up and they’re very careful because they don’t want to drop them. And they [29:30] set it down so delicately. That’s the vision of how a woman is to be treated. And fathers, you start [29:37] that. So at a very young age, if you’re just sending your daughter out there, you’re sending [29:40] a sheep among wolves. You’re abdicating your authority. See, fathers need to protect their [29:47] daughters. You need to protect your daughter. Your chief concern isn’t, catch this, your chief [29:52] concern isn’t for your children to be wise in the world until you have treated them to be wise about

[29:59] the world because they are wise about God’s rule over the world. Let me say that again. [30:07] Your chief concern isn’t for your children to be wise in the world until you have trained them to [30:13] be wise about the world because they are wise about God’s rule over this world. So most of you [30:22] think, well, I’ve got to train them up to get a good job first. Then their God will be money. [30:29] Because yours is.

[30:33] Now you’re getting it backwards. That’s in reverse.

[30:38] God gives you wisdom about this world and then he gives you wisdom in this world. [30:43] That’s the right order. Number two, this morning, I need you to understand that [30:48] distinction is missional. Distinction is missional. If you go through the rest of the narrative, [30:55] you see starting in verse five, now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. [31:01] And so you’re a dad and you hear that your daughter’s been raped. What do you do? Well, [31:06] my prayer is that you’re looking for black market AK-47s, AR-15s. You’re looking for something

[31:11] that can’t be traced because you’re about to take some guys out. But his sons were with his livestock [31:18] in the field. So Jacob held his piece. I read that and I’m like, what? I would lose it, man. [31:27] I’d be hiring mercenaries. I mean, there’d be entire armies behind me. Jacob says, oh, I’ve [31:35] got to wait for my sons. I’m just, you know, I’m not a man of action. I’m just, you know, [31:44] I can’t do these things. And so Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him.

[31:51] The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it. [31:55] And the men were indignant and angry. Notice what the word usage does to us. It says Jacob held his [32:04] piece. His sons were indignant. His sons were angry because his sons got it. Jacob didn’t get [32:14] it. Jacob didn’t get it because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s [32:22] daughter for such a thing must not be done. And I want you to jump down to verse 13. So what happens [32:30] between eight and 13 is very simple and very perverted. The king comes to Jacob and he says,

[32:37] Jacob, my son has had your daughter and he loves her. He wants more. Can we have your daughter? [32:45] What price? You put a price on it. And then in verse 13, his sons react. [32:53] Jacob doesn’t. Verse 13, the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father deceitfully [32:59] because he had defiled their sister Dinah. Why were they going to respond deceitfully? [33:04] Because they didn’t have a father responding courageously.

[33:09] They said to them, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, [33:15] for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you [33:19] that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. [33:26] He yells at us. Then we will give our daughters to you and we will take your daughters to ourselves [33:33] and we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be [33:40] circumcised, then we will take our daughter and we will be gone. And so they lie. How do we know

[33:48] they lie? These guys were crafty. Now remember, they are the sons of Jacob, the old chief [33:55] deceiver, the manipulator. They thought to themselves, there’s a whole lot more of them [34:02] than there are of us, but we are taking these guys out. How can we do it? Well, how can you [34:06] make a man weak? Well, and so the king goes back and he issues a decree. Every man of Shechem,

[34:22] get a knife, got some surgery. And so the text tells us that after they had all obeyed the decree, [34:32] while they were recovering, Jacob’s sons attack and kill everyone.

[34:42] Then in verse 30, I’m skipping over a lot for time and just summon it for you. [34:50] Verse 30, Jacob finally reacts. How heartbreaking is that? His reaction is even more heartbreaking. [35:00] Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Simeon and Levi, they’re men who are going to be given to violence [35:05] throughout the rest of their lives because their father didn’t lead them in this moment. [35:11] You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and [35:16] the Parasites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me,

[35:22] I shall be destroyed, both I and my household. That’s Jacob’s reaction.

[35:32] And Simeon and Levi respond to Jacob and they said, [35:36] should he treat our sister like a prostitute?

[35:41] And the Scripture never says another thing about it.

[35:45] That question sums up the entire story and it also points out why I believe this is [35:49] a narrative about fatherhood. Because it ends with a question from sons looking for a dad.

[35:58] Their response is, dad, what should we have done?

[36:04] Why would they ever have to ask their dad that after the fact?

[36:09] He had days to tell them to stop. He had days to redirect them. He had days to tell them the [36:19] truth. He had days to tell them, now people aren’t going to like me. That’s Jacob’s concern. [36:25] Jacob’s concern is, now I’m not going to be able to trade with people. Now I’m not going to be able [36:29] to make money. Now I’m not going to be able to go and have any fame in this town and they might [36:34] actually come against me and hurt me because of the things that you have done. Jacob wants to fit in [36:42] and that is so painful. You see, syncretism isn’t missional. See, a lot of people have this view of

[36:49] the mission of Jesus, that the mission of Jesus is being hip in the culture. It’s fitting in with [36:54] the culture. It’s people inviting you places. It’s everybody thinking that you are the coolest, [37:00] you are the most popular because, man, you’re just like everyone else.

[37:07] That’s what Jacob wanted. That is what Dinah sought to do at the beginning of Genesis 34 [37:13] and that is how Jacob’s reaction tells us. Jacob gets news of the rape and he doesn’t respond [37:19] until after everything has been done and he tells his sons, you have made me stink to the inhabitants [37:25] of the land. There is a sinfulness in the deceit of his sons but there is a greater sinfulness [37:34] in the lack of deceit from Jacob in this moment and that’s so fascinating because Jacob has [37:41] spent most of his life deceiving people. But his lack of deceit is actually a symbol of his sin

[37:50] in this moment. They have a dad who doesn’t go to the king and say, we are servants of the most high [38:03] God, you wicked king. He will bring justice upon your head. You say, what should have happened? [38:13] That should have happened because this is a man chosen by God. This is a man who has seen the [38:22] Lord work mightily on his bath and when his daughter gets raped, he should have gone and said, [38:26] now you look at me. You don’t know who I am. You don’t know who my God is but I’m about to arrange [38:32] a meeting. That’s what he should have done. That would have been biblical justice.

[38:41] His lack of reaction is rooted in faithlessness. A man who would rather sync up with the culture [38:47] than stand out from the culture and lead his family in a different and distinct direction. [38:53] This isn’t about God to Jacob. This is about fitting in with people around him. It would [38:59] have been a gracious thing for Jacob to have gone to the Shechemites and instead tell them, [39:07] we are distinct. This is wicked. You’ve sinned against God but instead he just wants to blend [39:13] in, get the favor of a blasphemous king as well as his sexual predator son. Jacob,

[39:21] once you understand, he considered giving his daughter to the rapist.

[39:29] Consider that wickedness. Friend, we are called to be different in this world. We are called [39:35] to be distinct in this world. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 starting in verse 14, the word of God [39:40] tells us, it says, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness [39:44] with lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial, [39:49] false God? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple [39:54] of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling

[39:59] among them and walk among them and will be their God and they shall be my people. That will make [40:05] you distinct. Corinth, the church that this was written to, had a history of trying to blend with [40:11] the culture around them in many ways. And so Paul wrote to them, he said, don’t be unequally yoked [40:17] with unbelievers. Now this is a text that usually only comes up with dating non-Christians. [40:23] But if it only comes up then we’ve failed. The context that Paul is dealing with here is [40:30] syncretizing with the culture by labeling pagans as believers for cultural popularity. That is the

[40:39] context of being unequally yoked, being willing to compromise so that the unbelievers will accept us [40:46] and maybe even be tricked into thinking they are believers themselves. The Corinthians were [40:51] tempted to compromise the integrity of the gospel to fit into culture. So I ask you, where are you [40:58] compromising to fit in? Where are you compromising just to get along? And a better question, how are [41:04] you distinct from anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ? How are you showing the unordinary [41:09] nature of the Christian life? If you don’t, what is that teaching your family? What are you teaching

[41:15] your children? What are you teaching your neighbors? How do you obscure the truth of God by your lack [41:22] of willingness to be distinct in a world so desperate for you to be distinct? Number three, [41:31] don’t let indifference define you. Don’t let indifference define you. See, Jacob was indifferent [41:38] in three ways. First, he was indifferent about the call of God to Bethel. Such a simple thing [41:45] isn’t it? Not really. See, God hasn’t told you that you’ve got to move your family to Bethel, [41:54] maybe. I don’t know, maybe he has. Most of you don’t even know where it is.

[42:01] But God has been so specific about so many things that you ignore, has He not? [42:06] God has told you to repent of so many things that you hold on to and make excuses for [42:10] because that’s just who you are. Number two, he was indifferent about protecting his daughter. [42:18] What a grievous sin. But how indifferent are you about protecting your children?

[42:24] What have you let into your home that should have never been there?

[42:30] What have you let into their lives that should have never been let into their lives? Where are [42:33] you letting them go that you should never let them go because they don’t have the discernment to go [42:38] there? And then thirdly, he was indifferent to act and lead his family in the mission of God. [42:46] You see, many of us, we get this, eh, what can I do mentality? Eh, what are you going to do? [42:52] Well, there’s nothing I could do. Most of the time when you say that, there are plenty of things [42:58] that you can do. Indifference is a sin. I want to speak to the men. Men must act.

[43:06] Men must reject the passivity that has so overwhelmed us about so many things. We are [43:14] called by God to lead our families with courage. And this goes for all men, but especially the [43:20] fathers. Fathers, you are never to be indifferent about anything where your children are concerned. [43:27] That is never a picture of God that you see in scriptures. And that is who fathers represent to [43:33] their families. God. We never see God acting in indifference about anything. [43:41] The picture of leadership in the Bible is always Jesus Christ. That is a man. He led.

[43:48] He stood out in culture. He never syncretized to pagans and he never syncretized to legalists.

[43:58] Never. [43:58] Never. Look at Jacob at the end of the story. But they might kill me.

[44:07] If in reaction to such an injustice on my children costs me my life, I give it gladly.

[44:14] I give it gladly. Because I will not be indifferent to the things that God calls me [44:21] to be active about. Jesus took responsibility for his people. He took all the responsibility [44:27] for the church. He engaged the culture around him at the sacrifice of everything. It cost Jesus [44:33] his very life. And some of you are worried it is going to cost you a little of your leisurely time. [44:39] But his was a victorious sacrifice. Christian father, are you sacrificing for the distinction [44:46] of Christ? Have you trusted him as your savior, but you play games about what it means for him

[44:52] to be your Lord? You see for some of you, your indifference is going to cost your children their [44:58] faith. Because you want Jesus to take you to heaven, but you are unwilling for him to change [45:04] the way you live on this earth. What picture of faith are you giving to the next generation?

[45:11] Women, especially young women, do not settle for an indifferent man or a pagan. Both will take [45:19] advantage of you and call you to roles that God never intended for you to be in. [45:24] Too often we take the mentality about this stuff, both men and women. Well, there is nothing I can [45:28] really do. I know I am engaged to a guy who is totally passive, he is apathetic, he does not [45:37] lead at anything, he does not even have a job, he is a complete loser. I have never seen him read [45:43] the Bible. I love Jesus, but I am praying for him. Stop praying, the Lord wants you to dump him.

[45:52] If you are just dating him, dump him. He is a loser. Get rid of him. Kick him to the curb. [46:00] Get as far away as you possibly can. He is going to be a terrible husband. Because marriage only [46:05] amplifies the problems. It only puts a spotlight on sin. So get away from that guy. You still have [46:18] the choice. Get away from him. And if he is sitting beside you, him, that guy.

[46:27] If you do not want to tell him to repent, tell him to come meet. I will tell him to repent. [46:30] I am not afraid of nothing. But men, look at Jacob, look at that coward. Men commit to the Lord. [46:41] As long as you have breath, understand change is possible. As long as you are alive, you can change. [46:47] The grace of God that sent Jesus to take the penalty for sin, took the penalty for indifference, [46:52] took the penalty for cowardice, took the penalty for your syncretism. And it gives us the privilege [46:59] of repenting towards taking responsibility, of changing whatever needs to change to lead our lives

[47:05] and others to God, no matter what the cost. Real men will lay their lives down for the things of God.

[47:14] See, for many of us, we label sin as things that we do wrong. It is true. But it can also be very [47:22] seductionistic. You see, those are called sins of commission, things that we do that are sin. [47:29] But understand that your refusal to act and be brave to change and stand against the tide of [47:34] what is going on around you, that is called a sin of omission. That is indifference. It is just as [47:41] deadly and toxic as sinful actions. Maybe more so. Because when we do not act, people get hurt. [47:52] When we do not act, people misunderstand God and the Gospel. And children pay the price for cowardly

[47:59] parents. Unfortunately, we do not just have to follow the example of Jacob. We have the example [48:04] of Jesus Christ, who is victorious, who earned our forgiveness, who earned our redemption, [48:10] and has earned our restoration. Friends, Jesus rejected passivity. He accepted responsibility. [48:21] He invested eternally, and Jesus Christ always led courageously. That is the example that we [48:29] follow into a life that is worth living, because there is not another one. I know some of you are [48:35] afraid of change. You are feeling like it is risky. So did Jacob. I want you to understand

[48:43] Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Jesus Christ is leading. And to follow him [48:53] is not the great risk. To act like Jacob is. Whatever it costs, Jesus is always worth it. [49:06] As the band comes forward, his narratives do not leave us much wiggle room

[49:16] for little niceties. They are hard records. They are true records. They are historic. [49:26] And the Father, in his wisdom of using the Holy Spirit to write the Scripture, [49:31] he chose to include certain narratives. And I think he included this so that we would begin [49:38] to see the effects of sin on the institution of the family. But by God’s grace, Jesus redeems [49:49] everything and works to restore everything in our lives. And I tell you today, no matter who you [49:55] are, no matter what you are dealing with, whether you are a coward or whether you just act with

[50:02] foolishness and anger towards everything, Jesus wants to save you. He wants to redeem you. He [50:13] wants to teach you what it is to act with responsibility. He wants to teach you what it [50:18] is to accept responsibility. He wants to teach you what it is to lead courageously.

[50:25] But you have to trust him as your Savior. You have to submit to him as your Lord. [50:30] And you can do that today. There are people in the foyer that would love to pray with you [50:34] to explain what the Gospel is and how it changes your life. But if you are in here [50:39] and you have believed in Jesus Christ, these tables in the front and the back, [50:44] our response to the Word is always communion because the bread represents the broken body [50:49] of Jesus. The cup represents his shed blood. And when we eat and when we drink,

[50:54] it means I believe I have Jesus Christ inside of me. He’s leading me and I’m following him. [51:03] And when we follow him, there’s no room for apathy.

[51:08] Friends, if you want to proclaim Jesus as your King when you’re ready, come.