Fellowship in the Word

Bil Gebhardt: There's peace there. I'm going to trust God and I'm not going to let the Labans in my life get to me. That peace. It's interesting if you went back just a couple chapters in Philippians 2:13, it says, "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work his good pleasure." Then it says this: "Do all things without grumbling or disputing."

Does that sound just like you, right? You would never grumble about a Laban in your life. You see, that's what we do. We grumble about it. We complain about it. God says, "I see this."

Jason Gebhardt: Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bil Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bil Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world.

Bil Gebhardt: Now when Laban had gone to shear his flock, that's a distance away, then Rachel stole the household idols which were her father's. Told you, she's a nice girl. Now she's stealing from her father, but she has something in mind. In that culture, if you got the possession of the household idols, you have a larger portion of the inheritance. So she stole the idols so that when Laban dies, she can come back and say she had all the idols. They have to give her more. She's motivated just like Jacob and just like Laban.

And Jacob, notice it says, "deceived Laban." That word "deceived" is the exact same Hebrew word as the verse before when it says she stole. They just translated it deception. He deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. He said, "We've got to get out of here without your father knowing. He's shearing sheep. Let's get out of here." So he fled with all that he had and he arose and he crossed the Euphrates and he set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

They start a 500-mile walk back to the promised land. When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, then he took his kinsman with him and he pursued him a distance of seven days journey and he overtook him in the hill country. Now he has the men. He's going to go get them. There was a change, though. God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said, "Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad."

Now he never had that before. Now he's told by Jacob's God, and he knows by Jacob's God why he was wealthy. So he says, "I don't want you to say a bad word about him or a good word." Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country and Laban with his kinsman camped in the hill country of Gilead. Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? My little girls."

He doesn't care about his daughters at all. He never has. They're just "my little girls, you took my little girls from me." "Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and didn't tell me? Because I might have sent you away with joy and with songs and with timbrel and lyre. I wanted to throw a party for you guys. I wanted to have a party so we could all celebrate together." This is what Jacob's thinking. There'd be no party with this guy.

"You didn't even allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you've done foolishly." He said, "It is in my power to do you harm. Go ahead and try." You see what I mean? He's saying that just as a bluff. "It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob." He remembers that.

So he says, "Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?" He's a pagan. He has all kinds of idols. Then Jacob replied to Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. The one with whom you find your gods shall not live." He just pronounced the death sentence on Rachel, the one he loves. You see, that's what he said.

"In the presence of our kinsman, point out what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself." Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. So then he went out of Leah's tent and he entered Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel saddle and she sat on them.

That's her scheme. Now here's what's interesting about this. When a child goes in the presence of their parent at any time in your life, you have to stand. That's their culture. You stand in front of your parent. Rachel said, "I'd love to stand, but watch what I can't do." She says, "Let not my Lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me." I'm having a lady's moment here and I can't stand and I have to sit on the idols. You see? I have to do this.

This deception, everywhere you go there is deception. So he searched and did not find the household idols. Then Jacob finally becomes angry, contended with Laban. Jacob said to Laban, "What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found in all the household that was your goods?" Set it here before my kinsman and your kinsman that they may decide between us two.

"These 20 years I have been with you. Your ewes, your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams from your flocks. That which was torn by beasts, I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. You required it out of my hand, whether stolen by day or by night. If it was stolen, I had to eat the cost. Thus I was by day, the heat consumed me and frost by night and my sleep fled from my eyes."

"These 20 years I have been in your house. I have served you 14 years for your two daughters, six years for your flock, and you changed my wages 10 times." There is his blow-up to Laban. Then he says for the first time in his life something spiritual. He said, "If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands and he rendered judgment last night."

That's the first time. That's a change now in Jacob's life. God has been for me this whole time. And then Laban replied to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters and the children are my children and the flocks are my flocks and all that you see is mine." That's not true. He just said that to say, "Look, I still think everything belongs to me and not you." But apparently here your God has decided to change this whole thing and make it different.

He says, "So come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and we'll bear witness between you and me." And Jacob took a stone, he set it up as a pillar. Jacob said to his kinsman, "Gather stones." So they took stones and made a heap and they ate there by the heap. Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha. By the way, that just means stones in a heap. Jacob called it Galeed, a Hebrew word for stones in a heap or stones as a witness.

Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me this day. Therefore we will name it Galeed." And Mizpah, that means watchtower. "Mizpah," for he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another. If you mistreat my daughters or if you take wives beside my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me." And Laban said to Jacob, "Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I set between you and me."

"This heap is a witness and the pillar is a witness. I will not pass by this heap to do you harm and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me for harm. The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of your father judge between us." So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered up a sacrifice on the mountain and called his kinsman to the meal and they ate and the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

Early in the morning Laban arose, kissed his sons and daughters, blessed them. Laban departed, returned to his place and you never hear another word of him in the Bible. He's out of the story. Now why was Laban in Jacob's life for 20 years? To change Jacob. It took someone worse than Jacob to change Jacob. It took someone who would scheme and deceive and take advantage like Jacob did to finally reach Jacob.

You see, that's an amazing thing. That's why God said, "I've seen what Laban has done to you all these 20 years." The reason it took 20 years is because of Jacob. That's how long it took for Jacob to have any insight whatsoever. God used Laban to shape Jacob. God uses Labans to shape us. You see the Labans of our life? God uses the Labans of our life. What we view as a really terrible trial, God views as a test of our faith.

What are you going to believe when you have a Laban in your life? Let me look at two New Testament passages. First one's in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6. Remember the choices that Jacob had. Did God tell Jacob "I'm going to put you back in the promised land"? Yep. "And I'm going to get you there safely"? Yep, he did. But all the circumstances look like Laban is continually taking advantage of me for 20 years.

So Jacob has a choice, the same choice we have. Do I fill my life with anxiety and fear or do I trust God? That's the choice. The choice is everybody's. Do I want to have anxiety or do I want to trust God? So look at this verse now in that light, verse 6. Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing." Now how much wiggle room do we have there? None. One thing you and I should never be is anxious.

He says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication." The prayer is the formal words, the supplication's the emotions behind it. What he's saying is when you have Labans in your life, talk to God about it. Tell God about it. Go ahead, tell him how you feel. You can do this. That's a good thing. But here's the test part. "Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving."

Okay. How many of you thank God for the Labans in your life? "I just thank God for that. I thank God for that circumstance. I thank God for that person. I thank them." Is that what you do? Is that what you do with the Labans or do you do what Jacob did? I imagine for 20 years, every time he got back to the tent, "Oh, your father. The guy never stops. He just changed my wages again. This guy is so unfair."

But notice what happens if we trust God. "Be anxious for nothing and in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts." There's peace there. I'm going to trust God and I'm not going to let the Labans in my life get to me. That peace.

It's interesting if you went back just a couple chapters in Philippians 2:13, it says, "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work his good pleasure." Then it says this: "Do all things without grumbling or disputing." Does that sound just like you, right? You would never grumble about a Laban in your life. You see, that's what we do. We grumble about it. We complain about it. God says, "I see this."

One more passage I want to look at is James chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various Labans." That's a paraphrase. "Consider it all joy when you encounter various Labans, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete and lack in nothing." God uses Labans to grow us up.

He uses the Labans of life to grow us up. That's the way this thing works. I'm not sure there would be another way to ever reach Jacob without someone like Laban because Laban is the worst version of Jacob. And finally, Jacob wakes up to this after he was taken advantage of. Remember, he deceived his brother out of his birthright, he stole the blessing from his father Isaac. He was an amazing guy. He'd do anything as a scheme.

So points from this story. I know we all prefer to live life without Labans. Well, good luck with that. I don't think that's going to happen. I think most lives have Labans in it. When you have a Laban in your life, talk to God about it. Thank God for it. And then realize this: God's going to use this situation to build into my life. Now what's interesting is how many promises did God give Jacob? Two. One? That's it. One promise, two.

"I will take you back into the land." That's a promise. "And I will make sure you're there safely." So it's either two parts of one promise or two promises. Question: How many promises has God made to you? You see how many? They're somewhat innumerable. You and I have so many more promises than Jacob had. Philippians 4: God says, "I promise to supply all your needs according to the riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

I promise to meet all your needs on the basis of Christ. Jesus said in Luke 6: "God will bless you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over." He said, "I promise I'll do that." With Paul's thorn in the flesh and the pain he was going through in 2 Corinthians 12, God said, "I promise that my grace will be sufficient for you no matter what your suffering. I promise my grace will be sufficient for you."

Romans 8:28 we've looked at many times: "I promise to make all things work together for your good." That's a promise of God. In Isaiah 54, he said, "I promise to defeat any weapon that is formed against you." Isaiah 43: "I promise to provide you streams in the deserts." Also in that chapter: "I promise to make a way when there is no way." Psalm 30: "I promise to turn your sorrow into joy." And Psalm 147: "I promise to bind up your broken heart." Those are promises.

Do I want to trust God or do I want to look at the circumstances and let the circumstances fill me with anxiety and fear? See, that's our choice. And that's where the point of all Labans comes, you see. We may not want to ever or ever have to deal with a Laban like Jacob did for 20 years. I sure hope not. But you will have Laban-like people in your life. We all do. Most importantly, don't give in.

Don't fight fire with fire. Don't contend with your Labans using Laban terms. We do that all the time. We try to fight it out on our own with the Labans. Respond to your Laban by trusting God instead of looking at your fears. That's what God is telling us in this story. It's a remarkable story. I've never been through this long a place of scripture with someone that we would all call one of the great heroes of the Bible.

Jacob's name is changed to Israel. The 12 tribes are from him. And I don't know about you, but the more I know about him, that is not a very impressive man. The answer to all that is simply found in that one word from God. It's grace. That's the unmerited favor of God. The grace that was bestowed on Jacob is the grace that's been bestowed on you and on me. Let's pray.

Father, the story seems almost humorous to us. And yet in another sense, it makes a very clear point we can't miss it. Jacob doesn't become the father of the nation Israel because of anything that he had done, nothing that he had accomplished, no devotion that he really showed, but because of your unmerited favor. Your grace was upon him. You made the covenant with Abraham. It went to Isaac and then to Jacob.

Father, that lesson is such an important one for us to know. All of us fall short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, not even one of us. But we are what we are because of the grace of God. We are forever grateful and thankful that you have bestowed your grace upon us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Jason Gebhardt: You've been listening to Pastor Bil Gebhardt on the radio ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you'd just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well.

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