God’s Professional Wrestler

Genesis 32:22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27 The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. 28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." 29 Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."

I know you don’t want to admit it, but somewhere along the line, you’ve enjoyed the “guilty pleasure” of professional wrestling – soap operas for men. Maybe you watched the classics like Verne Gagne, Nick Bockwinkel, Baron von Raschke with his “Claw” or George the Animal Steele who chewed up turnbuckles.

Or maybe you enjoyed the superstars in the height of their popularity with Hulk Hogan, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Randy “Macho Man” Savage or “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. They were creative characters, perfect for television.

This past weekend, TNA wrestling was here in Racine. You can find their promotional poster in the Friendship Room, with a few minor modifications. Jacob is the featured wrestler.

Jacob wrestled with God. Just like these pro wrestlers, Jacob was quite a character. Pro wrestlers have great character names like “Sting,” “The Rock,” and “The Undertaker.” In the beginning of his life, Jacob’s pro wrestling name would have been “The Heel-Grabber.” Later on his name was changed to “Israel.” Let’s look this morning at Jacob – God’s professional wrestler.

Jacob was the second of twin boys. Esau was born first but Jacob wasn’t far behind, born holding on to Esau’s heel. Seeing this, his parents, Isaac and Rebekah, named him Jacob which means “heel grabber.” It was an innocent name, but as Jacob’s life unfolded, his name came to suggest “one who trips up another.”

In that day, the firstborn received the birthright. The firstborn would eventually become the head of the family and receive a double share of inheritance. From the very beginning Jacob wanted the birthright and was willing to do anything to obtain it.

While Rebekah was still pregnant God had told her. “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). From the beginning God had promised that Jacob, the younger, would receive great blessings. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t the firstborn, because God had promised that he would become a great nation, his descendants would possess the Promised Land, and the promised Savior would come from his family. All Jacob had to do was trust God’s promises. But again and again in his life, Jacob couldn’t do it. He continually took matters into his own hands and trusted in his own cunning and deception.

Jacob tricked his brother, Esau, into exchanging his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup. With the exception of the forbidden fruit, that bowl of lentil soup has to be the most expensive meal anybody ever bought. Years later, he deceived his father, Isaac, by dressing in Esau’s clothing, covering his hands and neck with goat hair, and even imitating his brother’s voice. Jacob fooled his blind, dying father into giving him the blessing instead of Esau. Esau said of his brother: “He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing! Isn’t he rightly named Jacob (The Heel-Grabber) (Genesis 27:36)?”

Jacob got what he wanted – the birthright and the blessing. But Esau was so enraged that he vowed to kill his brother. So, Jacob ran away and left his home, his inheritance, the Promised Land, and all the things that he had schemed to get. Jacob went to live with his uncle Laban who lived some 500 miles away.

After Jacob spent many years away from home, he desired to return. He had two wives, eleven sons and plenty of possessions. The good news was … Esau was waiting at home. The bad news was … Esau was waiting at home … with four hundred armed men. How was Jacob going to get himself out of this mess? He sent ahead many gifts to Esau and then divided his family into two groups thinking that if one was slaughtered the other might escape. When there was nothing more he could do, Jacob prayed. He finally made use of God’s almighty power.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, professional wrestling is fake. The wrestlers come to work, put on their costumes and get into character. After wrestling they go home to their families and they are different people. Edge becomes Adam Copeland. Triple H is Paul Levesque (pronounced luh-veck). Shawn Michaels is Michael Hickenbottom. The “heels” – the professional wrestling term for the “bad guy” is just dad at home.

But Jacob realized that he really was “The Heel-Grabber.” It wasn’t an act. It wasn’t fake. He was a “heel.” He really was a bad guy. But in the midst of that startling revelation, that night a truly big change came over Jacob. In the darkness a man wrestled with Jacob. The struggle continued until the man touched Jacob’s hip and dislocated it. Then Jacob knew it was the Lord and threw his arms around Him saying, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the Lord asked him, not because He had forgotten, but to remind Jacob that he had been a “heel-grabber,” one who took unfair advantage of a rival. That name no longer fit this man, so God gave him a new name. “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and men and overcome.”

That night God began to build a new Jacob, a man who would trust in Him and believe in His promises. The “Heel-Grabber” became “Israel,” which means “one who struggles with God.” He became a persistent wrestler who clung to God’s promise and won God’s blessing. This time legitimately. Jacob’s lingering self-trust, his reliance on his own clever devices, caused him to despair in the face of danger. But this momentous encounter with God had broken his self-trust and brought him to trust entirely on God’s mercy. Jacob’s spiritual life was restored. His faith was purified. His heart filled with hope. Jacob, God’s professional wrestler, changed from a bad guy to a good guy. The “heel” became the “babyface,” the one the angels and crowds of saints cheer for. His life had been salvaged. He was now known as “Israel.”

Throughout the Bible, a new name demonstrates a change in relationship. Jacob to Israel, Abram (meaning “father”) to Abraham (meaning “father of many”), Simon to Peter (which means “rock”), Saul the Persecutor to Paul the Apostle. Jesus changes us, too, then gives us a new name. That new name was placed on us at our baptism, when God changed our relationship. Before we had been lying, deceiving, spawn of Satan. But with water and the Word we were reborn as God’s children. With the sign of the cross placed on our heads and hearts, the demons were dispossessed and Christ set up His kingdom in our hearts and minds. With Eric Jr.’s baptism this morning, we bring a child of nature and home his parents take a newborn creature, now the precious son of the Father, born again by Word and water (CW: 300 v4).

You and I are not the perfect people God wants us to be. We are sinners. But God has made us His saints. We are cheaters, deceivers, gossips, idol worshipers and more. But God has made us new creations, lights of the world and fishers of men. We were not right with God, so He changed us. The cause of this great change took place at Calvary’s cross. Jesus’ blood, His righteousness, His perfect sacrifice blasted us out of hell and placed us at heaven’s gate. We were aliens and foreigners, but God made us citizens of His kingdom and members of His household. He has given us the birthright in our Baptism to enter the Promised Land of heaven.

Our lives have been salvaged. Our eternity has been saved. The same Angel of the Lord who wrestled with Jacob that night and effected a change upon him, is the same Jesus Christ who wrestled with the devil, death and demons and has effected a change upon us. Our relationship with God is new. He has changed our name. So now God calls us “Christian,” “Son,” “Daughter,” “Brother,” “Friend.”

Now that we have been changed, salvaged and given a new name, God wants us to wrestle with Him – to wrestle with Him in prayer. God wants you to be His professional wrestler, wrestling like Jacob at Jabbok.

The pastor was visiting Christians in Brazil. One of the leaders of the Brazilian church was brought to Christ during a year-long stay in a drug rehab center. His therapy included three one-hour sessions of prayer a day. Dozens of recovering drug addicts spent sixty uninterrupted minutes on their knees in prayer.

The pastor expressed his amazement. And he confessed that his own prayers were woefully short and formal. The Brazilian leader invited (maybe dared?) the American pastor to pray with him. They knelt on the concrete floor of the small church and began to talk to God. Change that. The pastor talked. The Brazilian Christian cried, wailed, begged, cajoled and pleaded. He pounded his fists on the floor, raised his hands to heaven, confessed, thanked and praised. He admitted all his sins and recited every promise in the Bible as if God needed a reminder.

He wrestled with God in prayer.

Our passionate prayers move the heart of God. “The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective” (James 5:16). God knows the future, so He can then change the future. God has wired His kingdom for power, but He calls on us to pull the switch in prayer.

Most of us struggle with prayer. We forget to pray. And when we remember, we hurry through our woefully short prayers with hollow words. We give God a shopping list of things we want Him to do for us, instead of praying for His name to be hallowed, His kingdom to come and His will to be done. That is why Jesus prayed for us in Gethsemane. His perfect prayers cover over our woefully inadequate prayers. Now through Jesus, our High Priest, God wants us to get in His face like Moses did or be bold as Abram was or wrestle as Jacob did or be persistent like the widow was or sweat in prayer as Jesus did.

In professional wrestling, there is often a manager for the bad guy who is always trying to get ahead by cheating, tripping or hitting an opponent over the head with a steel chair. The devil is this sneaky manager we could call Lucifer “The Brain” Satan. He seeks to interrupt our prayers. The devil knows the stories. He witnessed the angel in Peter’s cell and the revival in Jerusalem. He knows what happens when we pray. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). When God’s faithful saints pray, miracle children are born, raging waters are parted, angels attack, lives are spared and heaven is opened. When God’s people approach His throne in prayer, tumors shrink, blindness turns to sight, strength is received, jobs are reclaimed, evil is thwarted, death is overcome and God’s kingdom comes.

Satan isn’t too troubled when you hear this sermon, but his old knobby knees tremble when you put the sermon into practice by praying. Satan doesn’t stumble when you walk through the church doors or attend a voters meeting. But the walls of hell shake when a child begins, “Our Father, who art in heaven …”

One of our members is currently struggling with cancer. Every weekday morning someone from church calls to pray with her over the phone. She admits that she is getting through this only with the Lord’s grace, Jesus’ strength and the power of her prayer warriors. Satan keeps you and me from prayer. The Great Dragon (Revelation 12:9) tries to position himself between us and God. But he scampers like a scared rabbit when he sees us wearing out our knees in prayer.

Fellow prayer warriors, be bold in prayer. Know what you need and ask God for it. Talk to Him about it. Speak to your Father. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Don’t give up. Be persistent. Be courageous. God wants to bless you through Christ. Wrestle with God in prayer. Quit your own cunning and make use of God’s almighty power. Cling to God’s promises. Win God’s blessing.

God changed Jacob. He has changed us, also. Before we had pro wrestling names like “Deceiver,” “Alien,” “Wicked.” Now God has given us new names like “Redeemed,” “Saint,” “Blood-bought Child,” “God’s professional prayer wrestlers.” Amen.

May the God of the covenant promise equip you for every good work. Amen.

22nd Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany on October 24, 2010