Battling With Babies

Take your Bibles now and let's turn to Genesis chapter 29. Genesis chapter 29 as we read the story of this baby war. You follow as I begin reading in chapter 29 verse 31. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me.

She conceived again and bore a son and said, Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon. again she conceived and bore a son and said now this time my husband will be attached to me because i have borne him three sons therefore his name was called levi and she conceived again and bore a son and said this time i will praise the lord therefore she called his name judah then she ceased bearing when rachel saw that she bore jacob no children she envied her sister she said to jacob give me children or I shall die. Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel and said, am I in the place of God who's withheld from you the fruit of the womb?

Then she said, here's my servant Bilhah, go into her so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her. So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife and Jacob went into her and Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, God has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan.

Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, with mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed. So she called his name Naphtali. Then Leah saw that she'd cease bearing children, or when Leah saw that she'd cease bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, good fortune has come. So she called his name Gad. Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. And Leah said, happy am I, for women have called me happy. So she called his name Asher.

In the days of wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, please give me some of your son's mandrakes. But she said to her, is it a small matter that you've taken away my husband? would you take away my son's mandrakes also? Rachel said, then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.

When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, you must come into me for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes. So he lay with her that night and God listened to Leah and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband. So she called his name Issachar and Leah conceived again and she bore Jacob a sixth son then Leah said God has endowed me with a good endowment now my husband will honor me because I have born him six sons so she called his name Zebulun afterwards she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb she conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach.

And she called his name Joseph, saying, May the Lord add to me another son. Let's pray. Open now your word, Father. By your Spirit, give us insight. Bring conviction and encouragement. Help us to see Jesus.

Help us to leave here convicted, encouraged, and looking for your grace in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Some of you here are old enough to remember the Cold War. I grew up, and Becca grew up, and a number of you grew up in the days of the Cold War. That is, this war that raged between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. There were not any battles on land, sea, or air.

There were no infantry employed, no air forces that went to battle. Rather, it was what might be called an arms race. An arms race framed that whole conflict. When we got the atomic bomb, then Russia tried its best. USSR tried its best to get an atomic bomb. When they got the atomic bomb, we got the hydrogen bomb.

Then they got the hydrogen bomb. and pretty soon they were the first to get a satellite in the air, and so we decided we needed to get satellites in the air, and pretty soon we had intercontinental ballistic missiles, and then the Soviet Union got ICBMs, and then it just kept going and going and going until the equation said with all the weapons we have, we can destroy the world over seven times, as the arms race kept escalating. Well, that's the kind of war that's going on here, except the weapons of this war are babies. As you read through this soap opera of a story, you wonder, what is God up to in this whole thing?

Well, you remember the big picture is God is pursuing Jacob with his relentless grace, with the intention of fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant. This is grace that will change Jacob's life. And as you read this story, you say, wow, Jacob, if anybody needs God's grace, it's you. But at this point in his life you see a man who lacks faith Faith isn part of his makeup right now Believing the promises of God, the promises of God just aren't even on his radar right now.

And remember what we've learned thus far in this book. The lack of faith always leads to the birth of sin. That is to say, unless faith grows, sin will blossom. And that's what we see here. This narrative gives us another vantage point on Jacob's lack of faith and the growth of sin. You see sin in Jacob's life, in the way that he leads his family, or the lack of leadership. and you see sin multiplied in his family because of it.

Yet God is at work in this and through this to accomplish his purpose. Well, let's get an idea of what's going on with Jacob first of all. What you certainly have to see here is the lack of spiritual leadership. It begins with the fact that he's faithless. And that's obvious because Jacob is prayerless. A clear evidence of the lack of faith.

Recall this. Unlike Abraham's servant, he sought a wife. You know, Abraham's servant, when he came looking for a wife for Isaac, prefaced it all with prayer. And then praising God when God answered his prayer. But Jacob kind of stumbles into this marriage without prayer, without praise, and without consulting the Lord at all. And this is most evident in his response to Rachel when she expresses her frustration with her infertility. now you remember what grandpa abraham and his dad isaac did when their wives could not bear children what did they do they prayed they prayed for their wives but jacob doesn't even think of it jacob doesn't even think of it here such a lack of faith leads then to a lack of spiritual leadership how do we see this how do you see this well the first obvious the first obvious indication that he's not being a leader is he plays favorites okay obviously he plays favorites he favors rachel over leah now some of you men are sitting here right now thinking i've got nothing to worry worry about.

I'm okay on that count because I only have one wife. Right? Listen. When you don't cultivate faith and you fall into this kind of spiritual indifference, you can still play favorites. You'll play favorites with your children. You'll play favorites with your children.

You may even favor your job over your wife. You may favor your children over your wife, or you may favor your wife over your children. You may favor some kind of hobby over your family. You can still play favorites. The point is, if you do not cultivate the faith, your faith, that leads to leadership, man, you will be unaware or indifferent to the things that are going on in your family.

You won't even be aware of it. I don't think Jacob was aware. At least he wasn't aware that he was doing anything wrong. He was aware of all the other things that was going on, but I don't think he was aware that the problem started with him. He's indifferent to that. So he plays favorites.

Not only that, he becomes a pawn in this baby war. Doesn't he? Look at verse 14 of chapter 30. In the days of weed harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Please give me some of your son's mandrakes. But she said to her, Is it a small matter that you've taken away my husband?

Would you take away my son's mandrakes also? Rachel said, Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes. When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes. And so he lay with her that night, and God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

And Leah said, God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband. So she called his name Issachar. Obviously, there's no leadership going on here, is there? He's just a pawn. One writer put it this way. As wives struggle for God's blessing in children to validate their marriages, Jacob is reduced to a stud. now I know what you're asking I've heard it a thousand times especially from you women what's with this guy I mean come on he just does what they says and sleeps with water as opposed to the other what in the world's going on well I can think of some reasons why he would do that I can think of some reasons why he'd do that after years of these women fighting with each other he's willing to do anything to keep the peace.

Does that surprise you men? No. Sometimes we guys are like, I'll do anything to keep peace. We're not peacemakers, we're peacekeepers. My mom used to call it, let's just keep an even keel. Which meant as kids, we had to just be quiet so you don't trip dad's trigger.

But that could be what going on here I just want peace between these women Okay I do it Alright And notice that Reuben is old enough to be employed as a soldier in this war Right? You know what? Mandrakes are plants associated with fertility. Right? So, Reuben is bringing these to his mother. Why?

Because in this battle for preeminence in the household, he's going to give his mom an advantage. And if she has an advantage, guess what? He has an advantage. I mean, we've got big time war going on here, don't we? It may even be that if Jacob does not go along, Leah, certainly, or maybe even Rachel will make his life miserable. I don't know the reasons, but there can be reasons for him becoming such a pawn.

The point is, he certainly is not a leader. Here's another evidence that there's this total lack of spiritual leadership is look at Jacob's response to Rachel. Look at his response to this woman who is hurting. When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, give me children or I shall die. Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel and said, am I in the place of God who's withheld from you the fruit of the womb?

What a sensitive guy. Right? You know what? He is absolutely theologically correct. He's got it down. His doctrine is good.

But boy, he's a lousy minister of that doctrine. Rachel's frustrated. So she comes to him with this unreasoning, unreasonable demand. Of course, that's what happens when you get frustrated and you just lose all sense of reason. And Jacob just gets angry in return. But notice this, he doesn't gently encourage her and help her face this difficulty.

He doesn't pray with her or pray for her. He does not pour out his heart for her before God. He doesn't empathize with her, seeing her pain. He just gets mad. And essentially what he does is he passes the blame off himself onto God with a shrug of the shoulders. And says, hey, it's not my fault.

Right? It's not my fault. There's no leadership in the face of pain and difficulty here. So with all these things going on, you can see this at least. Jacob is not. He's not tuned in to God, and he's not yet.

And he's not tuned in then to leading his family. You remember when the covenant was made with Abraham, God said, lead your family in my way. That's part of the covenant, and Jacob is not doing it. now because of that many other people suffer because he's not leading many suffer so here we see then that sin you see sin multiply because of the lack of spiritual leadership for one thing you see hatred in this household because of Jacob's spiritual indifference.

Look, in order for hatred to grow in that family, in order for hatred to grow in any family, just be indifferent. You don't have to be authoritative. You don't have to speak harshly. You don't have to do anything like that. Just don't be a leader. And hatred will grow among your family members. hatred in this household because of his spiritual indifference one writer put it this way the atmosphere in the household was electric with tension and jealousy as the two sisters crowed triumphantly over each other as each successive son is born i love that the household is electric with the tension of jealousy and anger right this was a battle for security and prestige between these women see a woman's prestige a woman's security was based on the fact that she bore children and that the more you had the better so this is a battle for security and prestige as well as love whoever wins the baby race Whoever secures Jacob's embraces stood to gain security and prestige while the loser is doomed to a meaningless existence on the sidelines.

So they're not just after love here. They're not just after babies. Those babies are the means of achieving security and prestige. with the family, with the culture, with the people around them. They are in a battle for supremacy. Now the naming of the children was often... You ever notice this?

In our culture, you just name a kid. You could name him Brittany or Skyler. It's a, you know, whichever one you want. Let's decide on that. In that culture, naming was very important. and it oftentimes reflected the circumstances of the birth. And with the naming of these boys you really get an insight into these women minds Now again remember look at chapter 30 again and let read this little chunk beginning in verse 3 So, well let's just scan it very quickly.

So Rachel gives Bilhah, her maidservant, to Jacob as another wife, a second-class wife. And then Bilhah has a child, so Rachel names him Dan, which means God has judged me. And then Bilhah has another son, and Rachel names him Naphtali, because she says, with mighty wrestlings I've wrestled with my sister and have prevailed. so she called his name naphtali then leah you know these are these are then considered rachel's children so leah is saying okay i'm i gotta catch up so she gives zilpah to jacob he has gad which means good fortune and asher which means happiness now remember it was a legal custom back then to use surrogate mothers the culture is not so much different than ours and you know like today like then, it's not the surrogate.

It's not the surrogate mother. That woman may bear the child and give birth to the child, but it's not her child. Right? That's the way it is in our culture. It's this other woman's child. It's counted as her child.

So therefore she names him. Now look at the names these women give their children. You'll see hatred and rivalry. Rachel has Dan. God has vindicated me against you. Ha!

And then she has Naphtali. I have triumphed in my struggle against my sister. How would you like to go through life with that name, right? Oh, yeah. I'm the trophy. Right?

I'm the sign that you won. Well, Leah's not going to be outdone. Oh, yeah? Well, I have good fortune and I am happy. Man, I'm telling you. Now, think about this.

Although this is laid out, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, I don't think this happens chronologically. That is to say, it's not Leah has some sons, and then Bilhah, Zilpah, Leah, Rachel. I don't think it happens that way, because he has 11 children, 12, if you include Dinah. he has 12 children within a space of seven years okay so it's not happened chronologically so what's happening is Leah Leah probably had one or two children and then Bill Hogg gets into the whole battle and then then Leah's not conceiving and now you've got Zilpah involved so you kind to have this baby to baby kind of a race going on probably.

Alright, so it's, you know, it's Leah, Rachel, Leah again, Rachel with the surrogates and so forth. I mean, we're talking about a major war with babies here. Okay? And it's a war between these two women. Now also see this, not only do you see this kind of hatred expressed with the naming of these children, but the family itself becomes a dehumanized marketplace characterized by competition.

Laban, you remember, had reduced Jacob from family to hired shepherd, right? Guess what? Leah does the same thing. Jacob's now reduced from husband to hired man. A sex trade going on here. Okay?

And that's how she says, I've got my wages. It's dehumanizing. It's awful. And Reuben is even involved to get a jump on the competition. Right? Ah, I found these fertility plants.

Okay. hey, here mom, right? I mean, because if she gets advantage, he benefits. I mean, you've got this dehumanized marketplace of a family. And then, it's interesting to see that the struggle of these sisters mirrors the struggle between Jacob and Esau. who's going to serve whom that's what it's about which one will lead and which one will serve and so in this household you see hatred and rivalry war rules this household there's hatred, there's war all these things are happening that's not the only thing look at the anguish of Leah just the anguish of Leah her story screams notice me notice me four of the six sons she herself bore have names that say Jacob please love me isn't that the case can you enter into this woman's anguish here she wants a husband who loves her she clearly says I must have my husband's affection or my life is meaningless.

By the way, she even sees God as a useful tool in trying to gain his affection. She employs God. by naming them. The Lord has given me this so that he'll be attached to me. The Lord has given me this so now my husband will love me. See, she should have found her meaning in the plan and purpose of God. Now this isn't to say, oh Leah, get over it!

But it is to say that it's so easy to slip into idolatry. Her heart so desired affection from her husband that life is meaningless without it. Now, that happens with us too, right? We worship the created order rather than the creator many times. Little things, sometimes they grow into something that says, my life is meaningless unless I get this thing.

And that's what Leah has, in her anguish, that's what's happened to her. She doesn't see that God has blessed her with many children that will fulfill the purposes of God. You remember what he says in the Abrahamic Covenant? You'll have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Wow. She has lots of kids.

Right? Seven children by herself. as opposed to the anguish of Leah you see the hostility of Rachel her life screams give me children why? because for her her life has become meaningless unless she has children I must have children or I will die. Life's not worth living if I don't have children. Keep in mind now. Keep in mind, it's not just for the sake of children.

It's for the sake of preeminence. I want to be the favored one in this household. Again, she already had preeminence because of Jacob's love for her, but she is not satisfied with that. She wants the preeminence that comes in the social currency of that day. Last thing I would point out, and certainly not the last thing you find here. I think we could mine this for riches of sin, if I can put it that way.

But there's one last thing that I see. You know what it is? It's ingratitude. Ingratitude. In their competition to best one another, they did not thank God for the children He gave them. That is to say, they saw these children more as weapons than treasures.

They're so after the preeminence in the household that they don't love the children. At least that's the way it appears. And so you see this lack of spiritual leadership can lead to a household of hatred, competition, ingratitude, anguish, hostility. a whole stew of sin. Man, listen, when you don't lead, you're cooking a pretty lousy stew. It will happen in your families if you don't lead.

If you don't lead in a spiritual way, if you don't lead your family in the way that God says, you will have a mess on your hands. It doesn't take a harsh, mean guy to have this kind of a stew. All it takes is an indifferent, passive dad. You know what? In my experience as a pastor, as I counsel families who are going through horrible things, in my experience it has been more that men do not lead than it is men are harsh and authoritative.

Now I'm not saying harsh and authoritative is not an issue. It is. But in my counseling ministry, I have seen much more passivity than I have harshness. Men are lazy. men are indifferent men don't want to take the risk of leadership and as a result these kinds of things happen man i challenging you today be the leaders god calls you to be See what happens when you don However that not the last word See the work of God despite the lack of spiritual leadership You still see the work of God.

God still worked in Leah's life. God still worked in Leah's life. God has special compassion on the unloved and the hurt and the ones who come in last. whose womb did he open first hers she's the unloved one she's the unattractive one she's the one that no one would look at god has compassion on those people it's compassion on you didn't he losers right and so he began his great work in her life rather than in the favored one what did we read in first corinthians today god uses the weak god uses the losers god uses the despised to accomplish his work and so he works with leah and by the way god did work faith in her even though she's not unlike us 100 on on spot when it comes to god right she still what's interesting is she names her children she uses the name of the lord yahwah his personal name he she uses that name that tells you something she has abandoned the gods of her father laban to embrace the god of abraham and isaac she sees him she does not You know, when you go through the Bible, you see all these different names.

And sometimes they have the names of pagan gods in them. Not so with her. Not so with her. Instead, she incorporates the name of God in the naming of her children. That says something. But what's marvelous here, and we know this now because of where we sit in the history of redemption, But do you see what child she had?

God favored her with Judah. Who is Judah? Judah is the father, if you will, the father of Jesus. The one through whom the seed that's supposed to bless all the nations comes through Leah. Through Judah. But God also worked graciously in Rachel's life. you notice that when she'd given up all efforts when she'd given up all the efforts no more mandrakes right i'm giving up access to my husband that's when god worked in her and notice the word that's used here notice the word that's used here verse 22 then god what remembered rachel now you remember all the way back in Genesis chapter 8 verse 1 we looked at that word remembered so when Noah was in the ark and it says the Lord what remembered Noah not meaning that the Lord is so busy that suddenly goes oh yeah Rachel down there oh yeah I forgot all about her that's not the issue this is covenant language this is saying Rachel belonged to him he's going to now turn and remember her, that is to say work.

Work now for her. And after she had given up all human means, it is then that God remembers. Please note verse 22. She had begun to pray. God has listened to me. Here is one who comes to the Lord saying, Lord give me a child please no more anger no more fight in the battle just I'm done isn't that the way God always works though it's when you say I'm done I give up that when God works God works not when we strong but when we weak And God continues to fulfill His promise that He made by covenant The promise of a multitude of descendants.

Now it's starting to happen. Now it's starting to happen. We have 12 children now. At least 11 sons and one daughter. who knows how many more might come at this point they don't know but they've got a good got a good hefty group there right see this is not a case of one winner and 11 losers in the abrahamical covenant race okay they're all part of that covenant and notice that this also is fulfilling Isaac's blessing on Jacob.

Turn back to 28. Chapter 28, verse 3. You remember as Isaac sent off Jacob with this blessing, he said, God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples. It's starting to happen. He's honoring that blessing. All of this, all of this in spite of the prayerlessness and the resulting mess that flows from it.

All of it despite that. That's God's grace. In fact, in fact, all this sordid scheming has done nothing less than accomplish the purposes of God. Not even this kind of wickedness can keep God from accomplishing His gracious purpose of bringing about the fulfillment of the promises he made through Abraham. Not even all their wickedness will keep God from accomplishing his purposes.

Isn't that great? I don't know about you, that gives me lots of hope. Right? I may not see myself, you know, as wickedly scheming among the congregation here, but there's a lot of times when I feel like, wow, God, what could you... Josh and I talk about this. You know, Josh is a young pastor, and he's like, I'm not ready.

Good. You need to have that attitude. Because God will use that. So maybe you're sitting here thinking, well, God can't do anything with me. If God can use this, guess what? He can use you and your weakness.

In fact, that's the way God normally works. Now you see here then that God's grace can always overcome our sin. You see that in Jesus. Did Jesus come to save people who had it all together? No. Listen, you've got to think this way.

Jesus does not come to save people who have it all together. And even as Christians, you don't have it all together. Your only hope will be, always must be, Jesus. No matter where you are in your Christian walk, you can always see. I don't measure up. God's grace is not stopped by your failure.

Your failure becomes the arena of the grace of God. Do we not read this? This whole messy, sordid story shows us that no one is beyond the reach of the grace of God. I think of Titus chapter 3, beginning in verse 3, where the Apostle Paul writes, For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Who does that sound like? Sounds like this family, doesn't it? sounds like you and me what does he go on to say but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the holy spirit whom he poured out on us richly through jesus christ our savior so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life man that's good news, isn't it? Family's a mess.

But that doesn't stop God from working. See, God specializes in rescuing losers and redeeming hopeless cases. You may be sitting here today saying, I have failed. My family's a mess. You're not beyond the grace of God. You're not beyond the grace of God.

And notice, how did Jesus save us? How did God accomplish our salvation? You know how he did it? Through the sordid scheming of wicked people. He accomplished our salvation. You see, that's the way God works.

So, those whom Jesus has purchased by his grace, by his blood, must respond to that grace by providing spiritual leadership in your homes. You've been the recipient of God's grace. Now respond to that grace by leading. Men, respond to that grace by leading. Your response to the grace of God. Listen, we always think of these great and mighty things.

God's been so gracious to me, I'm going to conquer the world. No, no. respond to the grace of God by just leading at home. That's where it starts. You know what thought occurred to me? We see all this wickedness that spreads across our land. What would happen if just homes, families, would follow God, would follow Christ?

Just families. This family, and then this family, and this family. Men, you want to conquer the world? Be leaders at home. See what happens. men how are you leading your families does your faith in jesus lead you to spiritual leadership remember if faith does not grow sin will blossom you've got to believe the promises of god and step out in that faith if faith does not grow sin will blossom and it will bear bitter fruit in your family.

Now listen, your failure cannot thwart God's gracious purposes. But I say to you, wouldn't you rather be an instrument of grace to your family? Wouldn't you rather be that, an instrument of grace to your family? Again, you may say, but my family's a mess. I failed. You're not beyond the grace that's found in Jesus.

Go to Him. Go to Him. Find help there. Listen to Him. Follow Him. And watch what happens.

Father, thank You. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You that there is always hope in the grace of God. you have been kind to us in Jesus. The loving kindness of God has appeared in Christ. Thank you for a Savior whose grace extends not just to the penalty of our sin, but to the power of it that we may conquer in the name of Christ. Help us to be men.

Lord, help us to be men who will lead, who believe what you say and act on that faith. Give us works that grow from that kind of faith, we pray. Thank you. Lord, thank you that in the text of Scripture we find honest portrayals of what we are like so that we might have hope in you. thank you for your word this morning in Jesus name Amen