11 Traits of The People of God – Part 6

Christian Shields

11 Traits of The People of God / Tribes of Israel / Genesis 29:31–30:24

Going over Naphtali (wrestling) and it’s theological importance including it’s connection to Nineveh. The people of God are a people who wrestle (I will try to avoid saying too much about wrestling with God as that sermon will come up soon).

Introduction

Genesis 30:7–8 NKJV

And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.

•     Leah had four kids, and each of those kids names reflected a trait that the people of God should exhibit… a characteristics, or prophetic bit of knowledge for us to live by.

•     Reuben taught us that as Christians we are seen by God, no matter our circumstances, God sees us.

•     And not only does God see us, but He hears us and acts on our behalf… that is what Simeon teaches us.

•     Of course Levi taught us that as Christians we must be Lavah to God, we must be joined to God.

•     And Judah teaches us that as Christians we must keep Praise first, and that our Savior is the Lion of Praise.

•     Man! Leah was ROCKING IT when it came to naming her children. Even though she was not perfect, she still trusted in God and focused on God… even though sometimes here desires were divided between God and her husband, she still would come back to trusting in God… and thus all her boys names reflect positive traits of the children of God…

•     But Rachel on the other hand, Leah’s younger and more beautiful sister… She was not rocking it so much… She now has two sons by way of her servant Bilhah… and, well, their names are not so positive.

•     Last week we learned about Dan… which comes from the Hebrew word Din, which means to Judge and vindicate.

•     On the positive side of things, we learned that God is our vindicator… when we are wronged we don’t need to take matters into our own hands, we just need to trust God and let Him vindicate us.

•     But Rachel, on the other hand, seemed to miss this. She took matters into her own hand, giving her husband another wife… and she foolishly claims “See God has vindicated me”… but in truth, Dan would be written out of the tribes of God by the end of things… He would be an example of what it is like to BE JUDGED.

•     So last week we learned that not only is God our vindicator, but also that God is our judge… and if we are the one in the wrong, it may be us who faces the wrath of God… Thus it is so important church that we LOVE GOD and that we HATE SIN… There is an abundance of grace and love, our salvation is not fragile, nor can it be stollen or snatched away… BUT, if we chose to abandon God and chase after sin and idolatry, the Bible is clear, we too can be cut off from God.

•     And I don’t want that for anyone… I want us all to worship Christ forever in heaven, amen?!

•     So Rachel kind of missed the mark with Dan… but now she has another son by way of Bilhah… and she names him Naphtali, now other names were based on Hebrew words, Simeon based on Shammah, Levi based on Lavah, Judah based on Yaddah… but here the name Naphtali is not just based on a Hebrew word, it IS the Hebrew word.

•     Naphtali is just the Hebrew word that means “My wrestling”.

•     I will put it up on the board because that is what I have been doing this series:

נַפְתָּלִי (Naphtali)

•     My wrestling

•     My struggle

•     Napthal means “Wrestling” or “struggle” and the Li at the end just means it is “my struggle” or “my wrestling”.

•     So my question is this: As Christians, are we supposed to wrestle?

•     I mean this is the 11 traits of the people of God series… so is it true to say of the people of God that we should be wrestlers? And if so, what should we be wrestling with?

•     That is the question, and that is the question I think that Rachel got wrong…

Don’t Wrestle The Wrong Opponent

Genesis 30:8 NKJV

Then Rachel said, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.

•     With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister…

•     Rachel is not wrestling with sin… or temptation…

•     She is not wrestling demons and principalities…

•     She is not grabbing ahold of God and wrestling Him, which is a topic of an upcoming sermon.

•     No, she is wrestling with her sister!

•     You know, she could have been happy for Leah, I mean Leah’s kids are more Rachel’s flesh and blood than Bilhah’s kids are.

•     Rachel actually shares DNA with Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Dan…

•     This two kids of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali… she is not even actually related to…

•     Instead of wrestling with Leah, she could have celebrated with Leah… she could have help raise her Nephews while praying for children of her own…

•     But instead she is fueled by envy, and she has taken matters into her own hands wrongfully saying that God has vindicated her and wrongfully saying that she has prevailed over her sister…

•     WHAT? Your sister has four boys… You only have two… and they are not even yours… what are you talking about “I have prevailed over my sister”… that is your sister, that is your family… you are both creating the 12 tribes of Israel… why are you striving against each other?

•     Are there not enough enemies, is there not enough wickedness, are there not enough problems in the world that you need to turn your wrath on each other.

•     Listen, as Christians… we are talking about 11 traits of the people of God… one trait we ought not to exhibit… as Christians we ought not wrestle with each other.

•     We should not be wrestling with our brothers and our sisters.

•     We should be wrestlers, yes, and in a moment we will talk about what we should be wrestling with… but it should not be each other.

2 Timothy 2:23–26 NKJV

But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

•     Now listen saints, I don’t want to belabor this point, because we have already talked about it a couple of times in the book of Genesis.

•     If you remember the sermon about the wells of striving and enmity we talked in depth about this… but let me just very quickly reiterate…

•     As a Christian you should not be making enemies of other Christians.

•     You should not be name calling, or implying that others are dumb, or hateful, or ignorant.

•     There are people in this church who voted for Harris, and people in this church who voted for Trump… there are people who support the actions of ICE and people who protest the actions of ICE.

•     There are people who are cheering for the Seahawks and there are people who don’t watch football…

•     But listen, if we have Christ in common, I mean a real, true, passionate, born again love for Jesus… then we should not be enemies, we are brothers and sisters.

•     And I get it it, there are wolves in sheep clothing who need to be called out sometimes… but that is the exception, not the rule.

•     But the truth is guys, we all have blind spots. We all are wrong about things now and again, and I’ll tell you, I am much more likely to listen to correction if it comes humbly, if it is spoken gently and with love.

•     There is just such a big difference between “You voted for Trump? HOW COULD YOU VOTE FOR SUCH A RACIST?! YOU BIGGOT! AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN?”

•     And “You know as a Christian I find it hard to politically support someone who seems to live contrary to the principles outlined in Scripture”.

•     Or “You voted for Harris? YOU BABY MURDERING PSYCOPATH”

•     And “I believe life begins and conception, and I really think Abortion is a massive national sin, so I won’t vote for someone who supports abortion”.

•     Now I am not asking you to be soft, I am asking you to be wise but gentle.

•     I am not asking you to avoid speaking the truth, but instead asking that you speak the truth in love… especially when dealing with brothers and sisters in Christ.

Ephesians 4:15 NKJV

but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—

Matthew 10:16 NKJV

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

Proverbs 20:3 NKJV

It is honorable for a man to stop striving, Since any fool can start a quarrel.

•     Ok, that is all I am going to say about wrestling the wrong opponent, because what I want to focus on this morning is who we SHOULD be wrestling as Christians, because as Christians we don’t wrestle flesh and blood… we wrestle against demons, sin, and wickedness.

 Naphtali Néged Ha-Rá – My Wrestling is Against Evil

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

•     Who do we NOT wrestle with? We don’t wrestle with flesh and blood… we wrestle against sin, we wrestle against darkness, we wrestle agianst the demonic… My Wrestling… Naphtali… My wrestling is against evil.

•     It is not Naphtali Neged Leah… or Nafphtali Neged achoti…

•     My wrestling is not against Leah, or my sisters or brothers… no my wrestling is against evil! Naphtali Neged Ha-Ra!

•     My wrestling, unlike Rachels wrestling, MY WRESTLING IS AGAINST EVIL.

•     Side note: Do you guys like the Hebrew… do you like learning a little bit of Hebrew in the sermons, or are you guys like “what is he talking about?”

•     I like it, but I am a nerd… I always have in the back of my head something my uncle once said to me, he lives in another state and I was talking to him about his church and he was like “I really like our new pastor… but he is always trying to teach us Hebrew words and I don’t know nothing about Hebrew”….

•     I don’t know, I think it’s fun and y’all are stuck with me… so… Naphtali Neged Ha-Ra… My wrestling is against evil.

•     Paul talks about this wrestling against sin and evil within, and I want you to contrast what Paul says, and Paul’s attitude towards what Rachel said and Rachel’s attitude:

Romans 7:21–25 NKJV

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

•     So Paul says “I will to do good… I delight in the law… but there is this evil in me… my flesh wars against my mind and my spirit… there is a struggle within me, there is a wrestling that I face, oh wretched man that I am… I wrestle with evil… I want to do good, but there is this evil inside of me constantly fighting with me…

•     I think we, as born again Christians, can really understand this war that Paul is talking about… at least we SHOULD be able to relate with this.

•     I mean, if we are not wrestling with sin and the desire to sin, what are we doing?! Are we even Christians if we are not CONSTANTLY going to war against sin in our lives?

•     I mean this is Paul who wrote most of the New Testament saying that he has to constantly wrestle with this evil inside of him… are we really better than Paul?

•     I mean, if you are not wrestling with sin then you are either not really saved, or you are perfect… and if you are perfect then you should probably be preaching… because I still wrestle with sin…

•     Now the sin I wrestle with now is different then when I first got saved… but I still have desires that are contrary to the will and law of God.

•     I want to gossip… because as a pastor I get the GOOD tea! But I refuse, I fight against that nonsense.

•     I still have to fight the desire to be unforgiving, some people I just don’t WANT to forgive…

•     I still have a laziness inside of me that want’s to skip reading my Bible and instead just scroll social media for an hour… the struggle is real! BUT I DON’T JUST ACCEPT IT! I wrestle against it.

•     You know one of my biggest struggles? I STILL LOVE COMEDY! But man, it is all so filthy… there is almost no good comedy for the Christian… we get Nat Bargatze and Michael Jr… but every once in a while a new comedy movie comes out and I really REALLY want to watch it… but they are always rated R and so filthy… and I am like “NO! I am a man of God, I am not watching that filth”… but it is a wrestling I have often.

•     Now your walk with Christ is different than my walk, your wrestling might be different too… you might be wrestling with addiction… or wrestling with depression… you might be wrestling with lust, or greed, or living a lifestyle contrary to scripture.

•     I don’t know what you are wrestling with, but YOU SHOULD KNOW… It should have a name, you should have a target drawn over it… In fact… just take a moment right now and think “What am I wrestling with” I want you to really think about it and pray about it for a moment, and give it a name…

•     Lust, pornography, alcohol, drugs, greed, stealing, gossip… what are you wrestling with?

•     Ungodly relationships, ungodly business dealings, anger, shortsightedness, laziness, unforgiveness… who is your enemy, it is not flesh and blood… it is not Leah… so who is it?

•     Is it money? Is it a hobby you have put over God? Is it a desire to be like by all to the point that you comprimise your faith?

•     Who are you wrestling with? Is it fear? Is it faithlessness? is it doubt?

•     What evil are you spending your effort and strength overcoming… I mean it, write it down if you need to… because I am fairly confident that all of us are wrestling with something and not all of us are wrestling with the right things…

•     So many people are wrestling with their brothers and sisters… so many Rachels in the church wrestling with their Leahs… but Leah is not the enemy!

•     So make sure your enemy has a name, so when you wake up in the morning you can say “No! I am going to wrestle with this evil and I am going to prevail by the blood of Christ!” Naphtali Neged Ha-Ra!

•     And you know, it is by that “Blood of Christ” part that really sets Paul’s struggle apart from Rachel’s struggle. Look how Paul end’s his tirade against sin in his body…

Romans 7:24–25 NKJV

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

•     Paul says “I am going to be victorious against this sin, I am going to be victorious against this evil… but how shall I prevail? Through Christ Jesus our Lord!

•     Contrast that with Rachel who is wrestling not against evil, but wrestling against her sister:

Genesis 30:7–8 NKJV

And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.

•     Paul says “I will prevail through Christ” but Rachel says “I am the wrestler, I have wrestled against my sister, and by my strength, by my craftiness, I HAVE PREVAILED”.

•     But as we know she didn’t really prevail… and I think when we are wrestling the wrong things, and wrestling by the wrong strength and wrong wisdom… I think we also set the wrong victory conditions… we convince ourselves we have won, when we were wrestling the wrong things all along…

•     But when we can firmly say “I don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but Naphtali Negev Ha-Ra… My wrestling is against evil… and it is by the blood of Christ that I will prevail” then our victory conditions change… now victory looks like hearing “well done my good and faithful servant”… now victory looks like persevering until the end… running the race and not giving up, not finding myself disqualified.

•     When I am wrestling with my sister I tell myself “victory is having more sons than her” and then I lie to myself and tell myself I have been victorious…

•     But when I am wrestling evil then I tell myself “Jesus has already one the victory”… so when things don’t play out like I think they do… when my mom dies of cancer, when my body is full of aches and pains, when people fail me or stab me in the proverbial back… all of those things can feel like defeat… but I DON’T WRESTLE AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD… so the problems of flesh and blood can’t defeat me.

•     Now if I had more time I would talk about wrestling with Satan and his minions… I would spend some time talking about spiritual warfare…

•     But I am endeavoring this year to not preach quit as long every Sunday… to let few words be more powerful than many words… and the truth is, the wrestle with the demonic ought to be easier than  the wrestling with the evil within…

James 4:7 NKJV

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

•     Resist the devil and he will flee from you. IT IS THAT EASY. Satan RUNS AWAY from me when I resist him in the name of Jesus.

•     I wish that addiction would flee at the first sign of resistance… I wish greed, and gossip, and lust, and any manner of dark sins would flee when resisted… but Paul makes it clear, it is a WAR within to deal with those things.

•     But spiritual warfare is real, and though it is not the subject of this sermon, if it is something you are dealing with or want to know more about, let me know and I can get you some resources and send you a link to the sermon from James on this subject.

•     In the mean time church, as we talk about the 11 traits of the people of God from these birth stories, let us as Christians be wrestlers, but let us make sure that we are wrestling with the correct opponent, amen? Ok, let’s wrap this sermon up.

Conclusion

Genesis 30:1–8 NKJV

Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”

And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.” Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, “God has judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.

•     Rachel took her problems into her own hands… instead of rejoicing in her sisters growing family, she envied her… and that envy made her take things into her own hands…

•     And when you take matters into your own hands your mindset about God get’s skewed…

•     How many men lives have I seen destroyed because a Christian got tired of waiting on God and took matters into their own hands…

•     Marriages destroyed, families ripped apart, lives destroyed… because of people wrestling the wrong opponents… people vindicating themselves… and all the while thinking God is in it.

•     And when it falls apart, as it always does, they shake their fist at heaven saying “How could you let this happen God?”

•     Don’t be that person, Saints… don’t be Rachel, be Leah… Leah who always brings it back to God… Leah who finally surrenders it all to Praise.

•     Wrestle! YES! But wrestle sin, wrestle evil, wrestle principalities… don’t wrestle each other, amen?!

Gospel Call