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Article about looking for love in all the wrong places
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: A Sermon from Julius Kim. The Old Testament offers stories of heroes in the faith who inspire us, encourage us, and model how to live the Christian life with courage and confidence in God. And yet, woven into these stories of faith and courage are cautionary tales of fear and compromise.
Julius Kim addressed Genesis 29:15–35 in a sermon to his congregation of New Life Presbyterian Church in Escondido, California, on August 30, 2020, titled “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.” Kim uses Genesis 29 and the story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel to remind us to look to Christ for ultimate love, healing for our brokenness, and the fulfillment of our hearts’ desires. The Bible tells us the amazing story of God’s rescue, Jesus’s substitutionary death, and the divine grace and love that fixes all brokenness and fills all emptiness. Transcript. The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Julius Kim: I’,d invite you to turn to Genesis 29 for our scripture reading this morning. Let me add my welcome to pastor James, to all of you who are here today, to all of you watching online. Genesis 29 verses 15 to 35 will be the scripture reading. If you are able, if you can please stand for the reading of God’,s word. People of God listen carefully for this is the word of the Lord. Then Laban said to Jacob because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me what shall your wages be? Now Laban had two daughters, the name of the older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’,s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel and he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel. Laban said it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man, stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast, but in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob and he went into her. Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant. And in the morning behold, it was Leah and Jacob said to Laban, what is this that you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me? Laban said it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn, complete the week of this one and we will give you the other one also in return for serving me another seven years. Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. So Jacob went into Rachel also and loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban for another seven years. 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 he 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 born 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. Thus far the reading of God’,s word, you may be seated. Let’,s pray together. Father may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be pleasing in your sight oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer, would you now speak to us through your word, speak to us words of life, words of hope, words of love, words of peace, especially in the midst of all the brokenness in our world and even the brokenness in our hearts. Would you powerfully speak to us now through your spirit and by your word we pray in Jesus name, amen. I don’,t know about you, but I love the Old Testament because in the Old Testament we find these wonderful stories of these heroic figures of faith. Wonderful heroes of faith that inspire us, challenge us and cause us to live our lives with courage and confidence, hope and joy. Think about the great chapter in the New Testament Hebrews chapter 11, that outlines for us all these heroes of the faith, right? All those who face the trials and temptations of life with courage and conviction, it totally inspires me, I’,m sure it inspires you as well. But not all the stories of the old Testament go this way, do they? Surprisingly it doesn’,t take very long as you read through the Old Testament that right next to the stories of faith and courage are actually stories of fear and compromise. Think about the first couple Adam and Eve, it didn’,t take very long until they turned their back on God. The first set of children, Cain and Abel didn’,t take long until one brother murdered the other. And so I don’,t know about you, but actually as I read these kinds of stories, I’,m actually encouraged as well. Not just the heroic ones, but also the challenging ones, the difficult ones, because these stories of brokenness, loss and fear remind me that these people in the Old Testament that made it actually to the pages of Holy scripture are just like me. People who are looking for love in all the wrong places, people who don’,t seek the grace they need and don’,t deserve the grace they get. Did you hear that? People who don’,t seek the grace and the love that they actually need and don’,t deserve the grace and the love they actually get. So what I want to do is explore this particular story, it’,s not very heroic when you first look at it and see what it teaches us about our own hearts, our own lives. So I want to take a look at this story through the lens of the three characters that we find in this story. The character of Jacob, Leah, and Judah. And though there are more characters let me focus on that. I want to do this by looking at the desperation of Jacob, the longing of Leah and the hope of Judah. So let’,s take a look at this. First of all, Jacob. One of the first things you see in this story is Jacob’,s utter desperation and desire. Let’,s remember how we got here, what are we doing here by this time in this story in Genesis? What is Jacob doing at Laban’,s house? Remember God promises to Jacob’,s grandfather Abraham to bless his family so much so that the Messiah would actually come from this family, from Abraham’,s family, the Messiah himself. And so God blesses Abraham and Sarah with the son, the first of the promised seed, Isaac. Isaac finds and marries Rebecca and they receive twins from the Lord, but as you know, these are not ordinary twins. God states that the older will serve the younger and in spite of this prophecy however, Isaac actually loved the older son Esau. And so think about the relational dynamics of this dysfunctional family.
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