sermonette: A Glimpse at the Family of God

Insight into what we were, what we are, and what w
Mark Schindler
Given 03-Oct-01; Sermon #FT01-04s; 22 minutes

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About a month ago, Nancy and I rented a movie called The Family Man. It was kind of it's a wonderful, wonderful life in reverse. Nicolas Cage played a very successful president of an investment firm on Wall Street who had everything he could possibly want in life. He was perfectly content with his existence. He had power and absolute control of his own destiny and life around him. Early on in the film, he intervenes in the convenience store, um, disputes that turns pretty ugly when one of the, the people involved in the dispute produces a gun. Well, he mediates the situation and, and settles it down. And then he thinks this poor fellow who produced the gun doesn't know what he's really doing, so he needs help. So he decides he's going to counsel this guy and tell him he needs to go to some counsel and get some help. The man tells him that what makes him think that he's so so capable of counseling somebody else. He's as needy as everyone else. Well, Cage tells him that's not true. He's got everything one could possibly want. It needs nothing. The other man suddenly calls him by name and says, Well, you think so? He said, You just brought on yourself what's going to happen to you from this point on. Well, he goes to bed that night in his million dollar New York penthouse, please this punch with his world around him that he controls. He wakes up in the morning in a house in the suburbs with a wife, two children, and a dog slobbering all over his face. He goes berserk. He charges out of the house, goes back to the city to his to his apartment, his, his Park Avenue apartment in his office. And he gets thrown out of both places because nobody knows who he is. Then this mysterious man all of a sudden pulls up in front of the office building driving cages Ferrari. He tells him. That he's getting a glimpse. You will not tell him anything else. He says, What's this all about? He will not tell him anything. The only thing he does, he hands him a child's tricycle bell, and he will not even tell them what to do with it. So now he finds himself married to the girl that he had left 13 years before to pursue riches in Paris. And now he's given the opportunity to see what his life would have been like if he had pursued relationships instead of relationships with money. What would have happened if he followed his love for another instead of his love for things? He goes from wearing $2000 Armani suits to off the rack. He goes from being the power broker and one of the major investment firms on Wall Street. To running a small retail tire business that he had taken over for his father-in-law after his heart attack. He goes from a jet-setting Manhattan night to a father and husband and a Wednesday night bowler with the boys. He goes from being in charge and having it all to being interdependent on others, and he hates it. He feels like everything he really wanted in life has been ripped away from him. He starts out feeling the tremendous pain of having everything that he thought he really wanted, seeing somebody else have it. He was living a rather comfortable life by our standards, but it still was not what he wanted. He did not have the finer things in life that he thought he should have. Slowly he learns though that he's got to take care of his family. He tries to buy things that his family can't afford. He realizes that he has an obligation to take care of that family. He still doesn't like it, but he's gradually sensing his feeling for obligation. And all along the way, somehow he starts to get a fulfillment that he never had before, so he decides having a family is really a good thing. But he still wants the other stuff. He's sitting on the fence. He's got to have this other the wealth and the power he once had. So he comes up with this scheme. He can keep the family, but he works himself back into the investment firm that he was on on Wall Street before so he can work his way back up the ladder and become in charge and in control again so he can have the best of both worlds. This is a good plan to him. He tells his wife what he's done and she gets really upset because she's, he's telling her they are moving back to New York to the city. She tells them that they made sacrifices purposely to keep the kids out of New York to raise them in an environment where they could grow up properly. But she tells him that what's really important is that if this is what he really needs to fulfill his life, then that's what they will do because they are a family and the family has to stay together no matter what. It's at this point that he finally realizes what it's all about, that what the needs of the family come before his own personal needs and desires. He finally at this point becomes the family man, and he must do whatever it takes to preserve and protect his family. Even if it means giving up his personal ambitions for the rest of his life, it's at this point that he understands he must turn over control of the rest of his life to the needs of the family. And it's at this point, at this moment that he hears the cha ching of the tricycle bell, and he realizes he understands what it's all about, and he's got to go back. He becomes frantic. He finds the man who gave him the bell and pleads with him, saying, I can't go back. Here's where I belong. This is my family. But the man tells him, you must remember this was only a glimpse. The next morning he wakes up and he finds himself back in his swank apartment the next morning from when this whole thing actually started. He's back to the master of his own universe, but now it's become a small universe, a pitiful universe that he wants no part of anymore. He feverishly searches out the woman that he had left to satisfy his own desires 13 years before, and when he finds her, she too has never married. She tells him she's gotten over it when he left her, and now she's as successful as he is. She's she's in a partner in an international law firm. And she's in control of her own destiny. At this point she's right in the middle of opening up, moving to Europe to open up their European office. She's leaving and he's got to stop her. He knows what life will be like with them, and without her and their family, it will never be complete. It's got to stop. She's got to understand his vision of their future has become so real to him that he shares it with her as if it's already happened. He tells her that she's his wife and they have two small children that he calls by name. They have a dog and a house in the suburbs. She works part time doing legal work for people who can't afford it. They are willing to do whatever it takes to preserve and protect their family. He tells her she may think that he's nuts because this is not what she sees as reality right now, but he has had a glimpse of what should have been theirs, and he knows now beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what they must do for the rest of their lives, and they need to do whatever it takes to spend that time together taking care of their family, no matter what personal sacrifice it takes for each of them. He convinces her, and the movie ends with them sitting, sharing a meal and their vision of their future with their family. You may think that I've gone to great lengths to give you a complete movie review of a rather mediocre film. But brethren, I just gave you what these 7 days are all about in God's holy days. This is our glimpse of the family of God and our part in it. These holy days are the glimpse of the life that God has destined for all of us to be part of His family. He has called us out of this world. That we live in now to this place where he has put his name so that we can share our glimpse, his glimpse of our future. Turn with me to Leviticus 23, of course we were there yesterday and I think we just need to go back. Because this is an important starting point. For these days days of the tabernacles turn to the Leviticus 23. And in verse 39, Also in the 15th day of the 7th month when you have gathered in the full of the harvest fruit of the land. And you shall keep a feast unto the Lord 7 days. On the 1st day shall be a Sabbath, and on the 8th day shall be a Sabbath, and you shall take you on the 1st day, the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for 7 days, and you shall keep it a feast unto the Lord 7 days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the 7th month. You shall dwell in booths 7 days. All that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths. That your generation may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths and I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God, and Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. Brethren, we see here this is a memorial of something that has already happened, but as we have learned over the years, This is much more than a memorial of something that's already happened. It's a look into the future. It's our glimpse of God's plan for all of mankind. It's his holy day plan for bringing people into his family, the family that we will become preservers and protectors of. Do you really understand what it means to be part of Israel? Let's take a look at the words children in Israel that were in this particular passage. The word children is translated from the Hebrew word banin and it's in Strons in 1121, and it literally means a son as a builder of the family name. And Israel comes from the Hebrew world. Israel from 3478 and strongs, and it means he will rule as God. It comes from two Hebrew words that literally mean he will have the power of a prince of the Almighty. Do you comprehend what that means, brethren? That's incredible. Brethren, we are here today because we are receiving a glimpse and carrying out our part of responsibilities before God. So that we can be builders of the family name and to learn to be rulers with the princely power of the Father. I'd like us to take a minute to take a look at someone who learned the lesson of what it meant to be a family man. I want to look at someone who saw the vision of what he was to become clearly enough that it changed his life and caused him to be dedicated to that vision for the rest of his life and to eternity. Turn with me to Genesis 32. Genesis 32, this of course is Jacob, who later became Israel. He started out his life as Jacob the supplanter. He had been a spoiled mama's boy who saw the value in a sweetheart deal and took advantage. And another's weakness by by buying his brother's birthright because he desired the physical things that it would bring. He plotted with his mother to deceive his father so he could take the blessing that belonged to another. But as this man in the movie saw things merely as justifiable, so did Jacob, and now it's changed. Now in Genesis 32 we see another Jacob, someone who's been through it all. He'd gone through a pretty intense training period, and he was converted as he came back. He sought We see a man who has now changed. In verse one, it says, and Jacob went on his way and the angel of God met him, and when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host, and he called the name of the place Maham. Jacob had a clear vision at this point. He saw that God placed his divine protection around him, just like we should see it as we go back into this world in the next week, that God's placing his divine protection around us. And in verse 3 it says, and Jacob sent messengers before him unto Esau, his brother to the land of Cyr, the country of Edom, and he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you speak unto my Lord Esau. Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants, and I have sent them to tell my Lord. That I, I may find grace in thy sight, and the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he comes to meet you with 400 men. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. And he divided the people that that the way that was with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands and said if Esau comes to the one company and smite it, then the other company which left shall escape. And then Jacob Gave a prayer before God, which I thought was one of the most wonderful prayers I've ever read. And Jacob said, O God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isaac, the Lord which said unto me, Return unto the country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and of the truth which you have showed unto thy servant, for with my staff I passed over the Jordan, and now I have become as two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children, and thou sayest, I will surely do good to you and make thy seat as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude. This is a different man than left his parents some 20 odd years before. He now clearly saw the vision of a family that he was to become. He knew it was his responsibility to protect the family and obey God. He divided the group into two bands so that if Esau wanted vengeance, he was going to sacrifice himself for his family, so the family would still be safe. He was willing to sacrifice himself for the rest of the family because he knew God's promise would happen and he was doing what he had to do to get it done. And now in all humility, he tells God he knows what he has been and what He is and what He is and he is the worthy of all the least of God's people, worthy, unworthy of God's mercies. He's not worthy of having a glimpse of the truth of the family of God and his part in it, but he has grabbed on to that vision. He will not let go. He reminds God of the promise that he made of his descendants being in the sand of the sea, and he'll do his part because he knows that God is moving forward and he'll do his. Verse 13 says, and he lodged there that same night, and he took of his hand. There which came into his hand a present for Esau's brother. It shows us here by the phrase which came into his hand that Jacob also knew that all the blessings, the physical blessings that he had received while he was with Laban were gifts from God. Now just to please him, not just to please him in his physical condition, but to use to make restitution and to give to others. That's what all these gifts were all about as far as he saw from now on. According to Adam Clark's commentary. The gifts detailed in verses 14 and 15. that he sent to Esau. And then I quote from Clark's commentary, a princely present. And such as was sufficient to be to have compensated Esau for any kind of temporal loss that he might have sustained in being deprived of his birthright and blessing. The 30 milch camels were particularly valuable, for milch camels among the Arabs constitute a principal part of their riches. And down in verse 18, he even called refers to him as Esau's servant. Brethren Jacob had had a glimpse of what he was to become his future, and now he saw his duty before God, and he was, he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that that. Cherished blessing of an understanding of the truth and the mercies of God were preserved. Down in verse 24 comes the topper. We all know how he wrestled all that night and the one who he wrestled with was actually Jesus Christ. We also know he wouldn't give up. He kept on wrestling, and he wouldn't give up on the struggle. Christ gave him at that point an even sharper vision into what he was to become when he said to him, thy name shall be called no more Jacob. But Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and have prevailed. Brethren, when I was preparing this sermon I I had great doubts about using Jacob as my example, the family man. We all know too well what kind of family he had physically. We all know how dysfunctional, a current word he was. I thought of a couple of things that his family had gone through. They were, they were fighting with each other all the time. There was always problems. And they were so hard fought to get along, but Nancy pointed out to me when I was preparing this, she said, what better man to use? He was what we real Christians are. He saw the glimpse of God that gave him his future, and it motivated him to turn around and walk the other way. He was still saddled with a human nature that broke out at times. It was warring within him and it broke out at times in sin. But he tenaciously battled it and wouldn't give up. He wouldn't quit because he'd seen the glimpse of his future and he knew what God's promise was and he knew it was going to come to fulfillment. You know, brethren is an aside, maybe even as we study the scriptures, God's teaching us something about in our glimpse about how we judge other people. Because we do not always have all the facts as God sees them. Even here we only have a small glimpse of what Jacob, who later became Israel, was really like. We only see him in his failings in leading his physical family and judge him harshly as we often do with each other. We do not see the day to day details of his struggle to build and hold on to that glimpse ahead of God's future. There are only a few things that we do know for sure about this man, but what we do know is that this man grabbed onto a vision and wouldn't let go, and God said, you no longer are Jacob the so planner, but rather Israel who will have the power of the prince of the Almighty. You know that even at the point of his death, as it says in Hebrews 11:21, he saw clearly from his glimpse that God had given him to whom the blessings of the physical and spiritual family were to go, and he blessed them. Israel had a glimpse of the family of God, and it was his motivation for the rest of his life. Brethren in the story that I started out with sermon out with, it ended with a kind of and everybody lives happily ever after ending. Our lives are not a movie. Our lives are real and our glimpse of God's future is real. But as the apostle Paul said, part of that glimpse is the insight into what we are, what we were, and what we are to become. Paul says But God has given us the opportunity to come out of this what we are, to share with each other at this feast what we are to become. And James says in chapter 5, verse 7, you do not have to turn there, I'll just read it to you. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it until he receives the early and the latter reign. Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draws nigh. Grudge not against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge stands before the door. So here we are this week to share the food that God has given us, to share our lives, to share our vision of the future. And to know what we shall become, that we must be convicted of that glimpse through the holy days that we are celebrating. You know, as I look around this room, I see people that are Infirmed physically, we are all infirmed mentally, spiritually. We've got a lot of growing to do. Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my father's death. And at 11:52 yesterday morning, My grandson was born. Um, was the next generation of the Schindlers, Jacob Lawrence Schindler. And as I look at him, I see what my father gave to me that I gave to my son that he gives to his son, and that's the family name that we all need that we need to build on, and that's what he's going to do. And as I look around this room today, I see everyone that's going to be builders of that family name that God has blessed with gifts to use to grow and to become like Him. It's a struggle, brethren. We're going to fight for the rest of our lives to get through it, but as Mr. Armstrong was always so fond of saying, he read the end of the book, and we win. James the Apostle, and John said, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for he shall we shall see him as he is, and every man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.