Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm one of the pastors here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.
! We're continuing our series in the book of Genesis, which you'll remember is the origin story of God's people Israel. This summer we're in the story of Isaac and Jacob, mostly Jacob, found in chapters 25 through 36.
Remember last week Jacob got married to two sisters, Leah and Rachel. He married Rachel because he loved her and he married Leah because Laban tricked him into marrying Leah.
So we begin this week with a big problem. We have two women and one man and one woman is loved and the other woman is unloved.
In fact, the first verse of this passage, verse 31, tells us she's not just unloved, she's hated. So you don't have to be a genius to know that we are headed into some big, big trouble.
Okay, it's with that that I'm going to invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 29 starting at verse 31, which you'll find on page 7 of your worship guide.
And as we come to this passage, remember that this is God's word.
Jeremiah chapter 23 tells us that God's word is like a hammer that breaks a rock into pieces,
which means that there's nothing so powerful that God's word is not more powerful still.
And so that's why we read now Genesis 29 starting at 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.
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.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
Our Father in heaven, we do praise you and thank you again this morning for your word.
And we ask that you would honor your promise,
that it would be like a hammer that breaks a rock into pieces,
that you would use it to soften our hearts.
You'd show us our sin, our great need for the gospel and for salvation.
And you'd show us Jesus, how he meets us at that very same place of need.
Now we ask that you would use your word this morning to grow our love and our affection for Jesus Christ.
You'd use it to grow our reverence and our all for him.
You'd use it to lead us in obedience, in faith, following after you.
And we ask all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
In 2022, Forbes magazine officially named Elon Musk as the richest man in the entire world.
He was able to finally displace Jeff Bezos of Amazon.
Jeff was dropped all the way to number two.
So he reaches this great accomplishment.
Now that same year, 2022, Elon Musk goes on this trip to Greece.
He spends time with a man named Ari Emanuel, who is a entertainment and media mogul.
And he's visiting him in Greece because Ari is trying to help them work out this deal for Elon to buy Twitter.
And while he's there, he spends time on Ari's yacht,
which makes the news because of pictures that are now famous.
There's pictures of Elon and Ari, and they're both on the yacht.
They're both shirtless.
And that's the problem because there is a stark contrast.
Ari Emanuel is looking lean and muscular and jacked.
Elon Musk, not so much.
Walter Isaacson published a biography a few years ago of Musk, and he says this.
He, Elon, was photographed on a yacht looking pale and blubbery alongside Emanuel, that's Ari Emanuel, who looked preternaturally trim and tan.
So Elon is embarrassed.
He gets shamed on social media, and you think that's going to be the end of it.
No, it actually gets worse because Elon's unhinged father, Errol Musk, goes on to an Australian radio show shortly thereafter to discuss the incident.
And he says this.
Elon is very strongly built, but he's been eating badly.
He says he's told his son, hey, you need to take a weight loss supplement.
Then the interviewer on the Australian radio station asks Errol, are you proud of your son, Elon?
And he says, no.
Then he proceeds to talk about Elon's younger brother, Kimball, who he describes as his pride and joy.
So just so you understand how bad it is, Elon's father in public on a radio station says three things.
One, my son really needs to lose weight.
Two, I'm not proud of him.
And three, I really like his younger brother.
So what does Elon do next?
Elon does what his father has told him to do.
He starts taking a GLP-1.
And he starts taking a weight loss supplement.
The richest man in the world still cares what his father thinks of him.
Now there's a lesson here about how we speak to our children, whether we can, we choose to bring them life or death with our words.
That's for another day.
The point of the passage and that story is this.
There is a longing in the human heart for identity, for belonging, for acceptance, for love, for connection, for approval.
Being the richest man in the world does not take that away.
There's no amount of money that makes you immune.
Our passage this morning is in certain ways tragic.
And it is about just that.
It is about the need for love and worth and identity.
Leah has a very hungry heart.
And it's not hard to understand why.
The very last verse of our passage last week, verse 30, said this.
He, that is Jacob, loved Rachel more than Leah.
It gets even worse, the beginning of this week's passage, verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was hated.
So Leah's husband does not love her.
And worse than that, he hates her.
And on top of that, her father has used her as a pawn.
Laban gave her in marriage to a man who didn't love her for his own benefit.
Because he wanted seven more years of labor out of Jacob.
If we fast forward in Genesis chapter 31, which we'll get to before too long,
there's a comment from both Leah and Rachel about what they think of Laban.
And they say this.
That's a Father's Day card.
Dear dad, you have regarded us as foreigners, and you sold us, and you took all our money.
Leah's father uses her.
Leah's husband hates her.
Of course, of course she is desperate for love, hungry for love.
She's not beautiful.
She wasn't chosen.
So what is she going to do?
As the old saying goes, you have to play the cards you were dealt.
So Leah does.
The one thing she knows that she can do, she has kids.
That takes us to verse 32.
Child number one.
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.
Reuben means see a son.
So Leah's saying, look, I've given you what Rachel has, and I've given you the thing that is most important and valuable.
What you need for God's promises to be honored is for the line to continue.
Of course, you will love me now.
But he doesn't.
So we move on from son number one to son number two.
Verse 33.
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.
So Leah's still self-absorbed.
She's still consumed with her relationship to her husband.
Now, she doesn't express a hope that this son will solve things like she did with son number one.
She does repeat the fact that her husband hates her.
But then the next son, she does express her hope once again.
So we're now moving from son two to son three.
Verse 34.
Now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have borne him three sons.
Therefore, his name was called Levi.
Did you hear that?
This time.
This time it will be different.
This time Jacob will finally love me because I've given him not one, not two, but three sons.
How could I not at this point be on top?
Isn't this enough?
Will Jacob love me now?
Will three sons do the trick?
They don't.
And if you're honest,
you've asked yourself the same question.
Am I enough to be loved?
Am I interesting enough?
Am I impressive enough?
Have I had enough peak experiences and done enough interesting adventures?
Do I have the right hobbies?
Am I attractive enough?
Do I look beautiful enough?
Young enough?
Do I have the right clothes and good style?
Is it time to start the Botox?
Am I smart enough?
Do I have the right SAT scores, good enough grades, the right degrees from the appropriate schools?
Am I successful enough?
Am I athletic a performance at the level that I need for people to finally find me interesting?
Do I bring home enough money?
No matter what it is, shame comes along and says, no, that's not going to cut it.
And so the treadmill never ends.
Even if you're the richest man in the world.
And that's the problem.
The problem for Leah, and it's the problem for us.
Your hungry heart will never be full.
It will never be satisfied by the people in your life, by the experiences of this world.
They will never give you what you want or need.
And if you demand that the people around you and the things of this world satisfy you,
you will always be disappointed.
Remind you of this quote that I've told you many times on page 7 of your worship guide from David Gibson.
Listen, in the created world, you can only truly enjoy what you do not worship.
If you worship those things, you will end up bitter.
And you will turn off your heart eventually.
So what do we do?
What do we do with our hungry hearts?
Thankfully, Leah's story shows us things can end differently.
And that's what happens with son number four.
This is verse 35.
This time.
Something's going to be different.
There's going to be a change in the pattern.
What is it?
The change is this.
God's name has been mentioned in the past.
She mentions the fact that God has seen her in her pain and provided for her.
But she's never said what she says here.
I will praise the Lord.
She had mentioned God.
She had not praised God.
And for the first time, there's no mention of Jacob and her desire for his love.
What happened?
As Leah's hope for her husband's love fades,
Leah's contentment in God grows.
As Leah's hope for her husband's love fades,
her satisfaction in God becomes more and more.
Over the course of four sons,
Leah has changed where she sets her eyes.
Over the birth of her four sons,
she has decided where her hope actually is.
Now, it's not complete.
Leah's not perfect.
She's going to get into another competition next week.
Okay?
That's how sanctification works.
We are not there until we are in heaven.
But Leah is growing.
She is growing.
She is growing in knowing where her hungry heart is really fed.
Leah has to be brought to the end of herself
to find that only God satisfies.
It's a long journey.
It's a painful journey.
But God is at work.
God has been at work,
sun by sun,
shaping her and refining her.
God has been using Leah's disappointments.
He's been using her heartbreak
to draw Leah to him.
Christian,
God is doing the same with you.
It's wrong that Leah was treated this way
by her husband and her dad.
It's actually right.
It's good and right for her to desire
a healthy marriage,
a healthy father.
Of course, right?
We want our spouse to love us.
But what about when it doesn't happen?
God uses this injustice,
and it is an injustice.
Don't hear what I'm not saying.
It is wrong that Jacob and Laban
have behaved this way.
God is using this injustice
to place Leah's eyes on him.
Remember, we looked at Romans 5,
verses 3 through 5.
God uses suffering to transform you.
God uses suffering to make you
look more like Jesus.
God uses the disappointments in your life
to fix your eyes on him.
that you can become like Leah
and said,
this time,
this time it will be different.
I won't wallow in my disappointment.
I won't be looking for other people
to fill the hole in my heart.
No, this time,
I will praise the Lord.
God uses the failures of humans
to grow your hope in him.
A number of years ago,
I met with a Christian counselor,
and we were talking about
a frustrating person in my life
who will remain nameless.
And the counselor said this to me.
He said,
are you ready?
Are you ready to give up on this person?
Now, it sounds shocking.
It doesn't sound like something
a Christian counselor should say to you.
Depending on what you mean by give up.
If by give up,
you mean abandoning them.
Of course,
that's not what we want to do,
but he meant something different.
What he meant was this.
Are you ready to give up your demands?
Are you ready to accept this person
for who they are?
Are you ready to come to terms
with the fact that they may never change?
Are you ready to look in the face
the reality that this person
will never be who you need
or want them to be?
Are you ready to love them
right here,
right now,
if they never change?
Are you ready to give up?
Are you ready to grieve
who you wish they would be
but never will?
You can only give up
if you stop demanding
that they give you
what only God can give.
Are you ready to give up?
Are you ready to give up
the dream,
the illusion
that your family,
your friends
will meet your needs
and fill your heart?
Are you willing to admit
they will never be
what you need
or want them to be
and finally,
finally let the Lord
be and do those things for you?
Are you ready to say
with Leah,
this time,
I will praise the Lord?
The psalmist in Psalm 73
gives us a little picture
of what this looks like.
He says this,
my flesh and my heart
may fail,
but God is the strength
of my heart
and my portion
forever.
For a moment,
Leah lets God
be her portion.
The psalmist then says this,
but for me,
it is good
to be near God.
I have made the Lord God
my refuge
that I may tell
of all your works.
That's the secret.
the hungry heart
will not be quiet.
It's got to feed
on something.
The hungry heart
will only be full
when it feeds
on Jesus Christ.
That's what Jesus
is talking about
in John chapter 7
when he says this,
on the last day
of the feast,
the great day,
Jesus stood up
and cried out,
if anyone thirsts,
let him come to me
and drink.
Whoever believes in me
as the scripture
has said,
out of his heart
will flow rivers
of living water.
water.
Do you want
rivers
of living water
to flow
out of you?
It won't come
from your spouse.
It won't come
from your dad
or your mom.
If anyone thirsts,
let him come
to me
and drink.
it looks
a little bit
like this.
I'm not married
now
and I may
never be.
And I could
choose
quiet desperation
I could grasp
at any chance
of a relationship
or
I can recognize
that the greatest
love is a love
I already have
and cannot lose.
I can still hope
for a spouse,
right?
But it's not
my greatest hope.
That is not
what my life
rises
or falls on.
Psalm 73
can be true
for me.
God is the strength
of my heart
and my portion
forever.
Maybe your husband
finds many things
more interesting
than you.
You could run away
and you could hide
yourself in hobbies
or romance novels.
that's an option.
You could choose
bitterness.
You could distract
yourself.
Or you can
grieve it.
You can say
this is a real
loss
but I will
not.
I will not
shut my heart
down
but for me
it is good
to be near God.
I have made
the Lord God
my refuge
that I may tell
of all your works.
Maybe your dad
loved your brother
more.
And you can
spend your whole
life on overdrive
if you want.
You can try
to prove him wrong.
I think that's
the path that
Elon is going for.
Or you can say
this I'm going
to grieve it.
That's a real
loss.
And I have
a greater love.
I have the love
of my heavenly
father.
And so you can
say with the
psalmist
God is the
strength of
my heart
and my portion
forever.
When you
give up.
When you
stop demanding
that other
people do
what only
God can do
you will find
real freedom
and real joy.
because you
can love
them truly
really
for the
first time.
You're able
to take risks.
You can be
vulnerable
and have
intimacy
because God
will be
there
if it all
falls apart.
You know
that he's
the strength
of your heart
and your
portion
forever.
I want you
to look with
me on the
back of your
worship guide
which talks
with us about
what it is
that Jesus
does for us
that gives us
this freedom.
we won't need
to be recognized
by others
if we know
we are seen
and known
and deeply
loved by the
king of all
the universe
himself.
We can
unclench our
grip on
status
if we know
we're held
in Jesus'
hands.
we can
kneel down
if we are
sure
he will
one day
lift us
up.
Christian
that is
your hope.
That is
what allows
you to
unclench
your grasp
and give
up
asking
that others
do what
only God
can do.
By the
way
we see
that very
thing
in this
passage.
Jacob
has eyes
only
for
Rachel
but
Leah
is not
unseen.
Verse
31
very
beginning
of this
passage
when the
Lord
saw
that
Leah
was
hated.
Jacob
does not
see
Leah.
God
has seen
Leah
from the
very
beginning.
In
Christ
God
sees
you
and
nothing
else
matters.
Hast
thou
heard
him
seen
him
known
him
is
not
thine
a
captured
heart
chief
among
ten
thousand
own
him
joyful
choose
the
better
part
captivated
by his
beauty
worthy
tribute
haste
to bring
let
his
peerless
worth
constrain
thee
crown
him
now
unrivaled
king
let's
pray.
Our
father
in
heaven
we do
praise
you
and
thank
you
that
you
offer
us
a
love
that
is
unshakable
you
offer
us
something
that
no
human
can
give
we
ask
that
you
would
do
the
work
in
us
that
you
did
in
Leah
that
we
would
look
at
you
more
than
anything
else
before
anything
else
that
we
would
be
able
to
say
with
her
this
time
I
will
praise
the
Lord
we
ask
all
of
these
things
in
the
mighty
!
name
of
Jesus
Christ
Amen