Back To Bethel

Back To Bethel

Genesis 34

    What do you think about compromise?  Is it a good or bad thing?

    There is an old Russian parable about a hunter who came to a clearing and encountered a bear. The hunter raised his rifle to shoot when the bear said, “Wait, what do you want?” 

The hunter replied, “A fur coat.” 

“That’s reasonable,” answered the bear. “I want a full stomach. Let’s sit down and talk about it.” 

So they sat down and after a while, the bear walked away all by himself. He had his full stomach, and the hunter had his fur coat. 

Compromise isn’t always a good thing.   Sometimes, it can be very dangerous and destructive, and that is especially true when it comes to spiritual matters. 

When we compromise with the world we lose our fellowship with God. A former minister,
 W R Inge, famously observed that any church that enters into a marriage with the spirit of the age "will soon find itself a widow in the next". It happens to the individual as well.

Before we begin with our text for today, I need to "set the table" for you for this account in Genesis 33, where we learn with Jacob just how dangerous compromise can be. 

Genesis 33:18-19 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.  

God called Jacob back to Bethel (Genesis 31:13), but Jacob stops about a day’s journey short in Shechem.  You see, Shechem was at the crossroads of trade, while Bethel was in the middle of the wilderness.  Shechem offered material prosperity and greater comfort; and besides, it was close to where God wanted Jacob.  It was a nice compromise, and, after all,  Jacob could worship God at Shechem just as well as he could at Bethel – or so he thought.

Genesis 33:20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel  – which means “God, the God of Israel.” 

    Jacob stops up short in full obedience to God, but he thinks that his building an altar is going to make up for it.  Jacob has compromised in his commitment to God.  He is trying to serve both God and money, thinking that by his prayers and religious activity he can compensate for his lack of full obedience. 

    And - if we’re really honest with ourselves - sometimes we do the exact same thing. We try to ride the fence between what God says and what the world offers us, thinking our prayers and piety will cover our disobedience.  But that will never work.  Jesus Himself said, “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24). 

    In today's text from Genesis 34, we see Jacob's family face one of their worst crisis.  This issue of compromise and friendship with the world threatens to destroy this family, at worst, or at least, derail God's plan of redemption.    In our text today we see Jacob's family ...

Caught By The World  (vv. 1-4)   

Reacting Like The World  (vv. 7-29, various)    and ...

Despised By The World (vv. 30-31)

1. Body
1. Caught By The World  (vv. 1-4)
1. One of the ways that we become entangled is when the world asks us:  What’s the worst that could happen?
1. Going to the party
1. Dinah is about fourteen or fifteen years old
2. She has no sisters
3. She is interested in what the local girls are like
1. How do they dress?
2. What are they interested in?
4. There is some sort of party or festival in town
2. "Alone" in the world
1. Jewish author, Aben Ezra notes that she went out on her own, that is, without the permission of either of her parents.
2. She may have gone with a maid or servant girl, as the news of what happens to her is quickly returned to Jacob.
3. Unprotected & unprepared
1. She should have known what her grandfather, Isaac, and her great-grandfather, Abraham, both feared as they journeyed in these lands.  
2. Both of them were afraid that the kings (or princes) of the land would want to take their wives by force.
3. I’m not blaming the victim here for what happened to her.  The fault for what occurred lies squarely with Shechem.
4. But, instead of being unprotected and unaware, Dinah might have been more alert to the dangers around her.
5. The Bible says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). 
4. Believer's Relationship With The World
1. John 15:19  -- If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 
2. John 16:33  -- These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 
3. 2 Tim. 3:12  -- Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Reacting Like The World  (vv. 7-29, various)
4. What's wrong with acting this way?
5. Her brothers were Angry (v. 7)
1. Psalm 4:4 -- Be angry, and do not sin...
2. Eph. 4:26-27 -- “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.
6. They became Deceitful (v. 13)
1. Zechariah 8:17 -- Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor;
         And do not love a false oath.
         For all these are things that I hate,’
         Says the LORD.” 
2. Proverbs 6:16ff -- These six things the LORD hates,
    Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
   A proud look,
    A lying tongue,
   Hands that shed innocent blood,
   A heart that devises wicked plans,
   Feet that are swift in running to evil,
   A false witness who speaks lies,
   And one who sows discord among brethren.
3. Colossians 3:9-10 -- Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him
7. Which ended in a Murderous Rage (v. 25)
1. Rom 12:19 -- Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
2. James 1:19-20 -- So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
3. 1 Peter 3:9 -- not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
8. Romans charts the way of the believer.  
1. Romans 12:2 -- And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
2. Rom. 12:21 -- Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
2. Despised By The World (vv. 30-31)
1. What happens when we lose our witness?
1. Look now at Jacob's response to all of this.  (v. 30)
2. Jacob finally says something, but it is too little too late. The culture has corrupted his family, and now Jacob fears for their very lives. But that’s what compromise does to people and their families. It leads to indecision and indignation. It destroys integrity. It corrupts families, and it breeds fear. 
3. What happens when we lose our witness?
1. Made a stench to the neighbors
2. They are stronger and sure to come
3. They will destroy us all.
4. Despite his attempts to live peacefully there, Jacob and his family are strangers and aliens in this place.
5. Now, when Moses writes this account in the life of Jacob hundreds of years later, he is writing it to a generation of Israelites getting ready to conquer the land of Canaan. In essence, he is describing the kind of corruption the Canaanites can bring to the people of Israel, and he is warning Israel not to intermarry with the Canaanites after they enter the land. 
6. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses is warning God’s people not to compromise with the Canaanite culture at all. They are not to intermarry. They are not to form alliances. They are not to corrupt themselves with Canaanite treachery and idolatry. 
7. But this is not only a warning for God’s people back then. It is a warning for God’s people today.
8. Almost isn’t good enough
9. On October 31, 1983, Korean Airlines Flight 007 departed from Anchorage, Alaska, for a direct flight to Seoul, Korea. Unknown to the crew, however, the computer engaging the flight navigation system contained a 1 1/2 degree routing error. At the point of departure, the mistake was unnoticeable. One hundred miles out, the deviation was still so small as to be undetectable, but as the giant 747 continued across the Aleutian Islands and out over the Pacific, the plane increasingly strayed from its proper course. Eventually it was flying over Soviet air space. Russian radar picked up the error, and fighter jets scrambled to intercept Flight 007. A short time later the jet was shot out of the sky over mainland Russia and the lives of everyone onboard was lost, all because of a 1 1/2 degree routing error!

1. Jesus told us ---  Mark 9:50 -- Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it?  Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”
2. Matthew 5:13 -- “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 
3. D. A. Carson says, “We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith.  We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.
1. Conclusion 
1. Today is Veteran’s Day.  I realize that not all veterans are from the Army, however, this quotation about the choices that we make is from the "Cadet Prayer." It is repeated every Sunday in chapel services at West Point:
1. "Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be contented with half truth when whole truth can be won. Endow us with courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns to compromise with vice & injustice and knows no fear when right and truth are in jeopardy."
2. Jacob has made some compromising choices, and he has hit "rock bottom."   For him, the way UP is DOWN.
3. Sometimes God uses the consequences of our wrong choices to wake us up.
4. Some of you came to Christ and got serious about serving Him through a divorce or relational breakup, through a financial downturn or the death of someone close to you.
5. Sometimes we have to hit bottom before we are ready to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ. And it can often be difficult to discern exactly how far down is down.
6. Sometimes we refuse to bear down spiritually until we or our family hits bottom.
7. God spoke again to him, and Israel Was Rescued by God  (Gen 35:1-7)
1. God said Arise and Go to Bethel (the House of God)
1. About thirty miles away
2. to safety
3. This was where God wanted him to be, all along.
2. Repent (v.2)
3. Worship  (v. 7)
4. Saved (Rescued from a fate well deserved.)  (v. 5)