June 17, 2007

Jacob's Wages
Genesis 30: 25 -43

The concern over wages is a pretty big one in our lives. When budget time rolls around employees are anxious to know whether they will get a raise or not or if they do, will it be in line with inflation or even be a little better than that. If their wages are based on a contract, they are rather concerned with negotiations.

Any one who has ever had trouble with his or her wages will probably take some interest in Jacob's relationship with his uncle Laban here. Laban was a selfish, deceitful man and if Jacob had been solely at his mercy, he’d have left this world as poor as a church mouse. His uncle was determined to give him nothing but just to use him.

Jacob had an ace in the hole, an agent that negotiated his wages for him, and this agent was upright, straightforward and caring, He was God. Talk about clout in negotiations huh?

The secret of Jacob's success in working for uncle Laban is that even in the unpleasant earthly relationship he was really working for God a God who had promised to be with him and who would prosper his efforts.

Jacob worked as Paul advised those of his day. Eph 6: 5 -8 Servants, be obedient to them that are [your] masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eye service, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether [he be] bond or free.

God prospered Jacob, in fact prospered him beyond his wildest dreams. Remember when Jacob was trying to bargain with God in Gen 28? And said “if you'll be with me and watch over me and give me food to eat and clothes to wear.....then I will honor this place as your house and give you a tenth?“

Jacob was negotiating for basic needs but he fared much better than that. Instead of mere necessities God prospered him with a large family (2 large wives and 13 large children) and great wealth. Genesis 30 :43 says it “And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and donkeys.”

There are a number of principles involved in the way that Jacob grew prosperous, and these are worth our consideration.

These are not the way the self help books tell you to rise up the corporate ladder. These are not today’s tricks of the trade. Today's leader is told to be aggressive, to look out for number one. He or she is told how to dominate meetings. Given advice on how to negotiate and other useful things.
These may be valid business practices to some extent but we need to note that Jacob, who was serving God at this time to some degree, used none of these. He operated by a different set of rules.

The first principle is a strange one for a person who prospered as Jacob did but it is important to understand it.

Jacob was not trying to become a rich man. This is perhaps a good key to prosperity. Jacob wasn't driven, I mean, by greed and wasn't urged on by that horrid desire for power that pushes others aside.

At the end of his 14 years of service for the daughters he had no wealth at all. And in that state of poverty he is willing to quit the service (v. 26). I am sure there had been times he could have lined his pockets or at least have bettered his circumstances in less than scrupulous ways.

I know that many people, especially after having been treated like Jacob was and used deceitfully, might have felt that skimming a little was OK. After all I have certainly worked for it. Could you blame Jacob if he had tried to take advantage of this hard task master?

But now the supplanter seems to be listening, even if faintly, to God.

That Bethel experience woke him a little I think and he does not respond in deceit but serves Laban faithfully, not with eye service as pleasing a man, but in fear of God.

He conscientiously devotes himself to making Laban successful. He uses no deceit and guile here and never complains about his Father in Law and in fact when he proposes to leave Laban, it is without one word of reproach over past treatment. Jacob is learning, at last, to esteem others better than himself, to put others first.

Jacob's goal is not wealth, neither is he lazy. Not trying to become wealthy doesn't mean not having a concern for funds but rather not being driven by that motive. Jacob was VERY aware though that his hard work was enriching Uncle Laban.

Jacob was not trying to become wealthy in the sense that he was not advancing his wealth at someone else's expense. THAT IS WRONG by Gods standards. It is also ineffective, in the long run it doesn't pay.

An employer who is determined to wring out all he can from employees at as low a cost as possible diminishes their desire to work and their productivity. This person may neglect putting investment back into the business and ultimately loses because of inefficiency and failure to develop new products and markets.

Workers who are self centered, working only for themselves and not for the prosperity of the company (isn't that a lulu in this modern me first age) will harm the company. Their low productivity or unjustified high wages or wage demands) will mean a higher price for goods and services and will eventually bring their company to its end. Other plants and industries will undersell them. This is why America is on the negative side of much trade difficulty, we have selfish employers on one hand who don't pay fairly, who are in it totally for personal profit, and on the other we have employees who unionize for higher wages. And so the Japanese TVs and Motorcycles flood the market.

You see God requires for HIS servants to be mutually benefited. Masters or Bosses, he says; Col 4: 1 ¦ Masters, give unto [your] servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. And to the Christian employee he says: in 3: 22-24 Servants, obey in all things [your] masters according to the flesh; not with eye service , as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

The bottom line is that greed is self destructive. Selfishness is unprofitable. What is proper and profitable ? To work for others, attempting to increase their well being and wealth while increasing your own.

Jacob first of all placed Others before Himself, The next thing to note here is that Jacob put Work Before Leisure. Jacob worked hard for his uncle .

He could have argued that “Unc” had mistreated him in the matter of his wives and that Laban owed him something. He could have lazed around with the view that he wasn't getting paid any way so why kill myself . Or he could have figured out that God promised to make him prosper, so why work. All wrong attitudes. God has no dole system, God does not want lazybones , He says in 1 Thess that the one who does not work shall not eat. When Jacob gets ready to leave later on he says “you know how much work I have done for you” and Laban has to acknowledge that his own prosperity has increased noticeably since Jacob came to work.

Jacob later says to Laban (31:38-42)38 “This twenty years [have] I [been] with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn [of beasts] I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, [whether] stolen by day, or stolen by night. [Thus] I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked [thee] yesternight.

Laban answered with bluster but could not refute Jacob's hard work in is behalf and his honesty as well. Can it be said that you are one who works hard for your employer? Are you trustworthy and honorable in your work? Jacob was.

Not only did he put Others ahead of self and work before leisure, Jacob was learning to put Faith before worry.

In Jacob's passionate speech to Laban in verse 31 there is a third principle that contributes to Jacob's prosperity. It is also seen in this chapter. Jacob trusted God for his prosperity.

There were no retirement plans in these pre-Christian centuries. There were no soc. security taxes or benefits. Jacob had something better, he had God, and God doesn't repay our contributions in inflated dollars or allow the benefit pool to run dry.

They worked hard for God. The bought the old run down farmhouse and land and began a 45 year rebuilding plan piece by piece. They had little money to raise those ten hungry children, but they went on serving God. They had no money put aside for the future, just a small retirement from the mission that was itself dependent on the support of others. The old house contained everything they owned and had accumulated in 45 years. It had a hand engraved pack basket made by chief Pooler of Indian Island, bows and arrows from Brazil and countless other treasures. And it all burned up that December morning in 1994. But the retirement plan of God is a good one. Because as you know the new house is warm and cozy and elegant beyond my mom's wildest dreams.

She had been content in little but God gave her much. God is faithful..

Jacob had begun to believe that, that is why when Jacob was asked about wages, he asked for all the speckled and spotted sheep and goats.

You have to know that then and even today the dominant color of Bedouin goats is said to be dark brown or black. Spotted animals are in the minority. These are what Jacob proposed as his wages. so Laban took all the presently spotted ones and took then away thee days journey because the deal was that the speckled ones had to come from normal colored sheep.

Jacob welcomed this arrangement...even though it appeared to be way in Laban’s favor. Why? It had to be trust in God, in a belief that God meant to bless him as he said no matter how the cards were stacked in Laban's favor.

Jacob had tended animals for a long time and knew that dark animals do not birth a majority of spotted offspring. He was not asking for a miracle, but he was depending on God to alter the percentages if he was to prosper.

The matter of the peeled branches is a puzzle in some ways, but we can possibly understand it a sign of faith. Perhaps God said to do this unusual thing as a test of Jacob's faith much as he asked Moses to set up a serpent in the wilderness.

The people were not healed by the snake, but by faith and obedience to their looking upon it. Maybe in the dream about spotted rams and goats which he speaks of God asked him to do this. I do not know, but I know that God did alter the birth patterns of these animals and Jacob's flock began to grow immensely. Jacob was learning to trust God, to have faith before worry.

Jesus said it best in Matt 6: 25 -34

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.

Here are three principles.

1)do not have as a goal to become wealthy

(2)work hard for your employer

(3)trust God for your prosperity

This doesn't mean you will become rich but it does mean you will be obeying God and that you will be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and that he then is obliged to meet your needs.

Can he? Just consider this: If Bill Gates undertook to feed all of God's birds for just one day, he would go broke. Yet God cares for their needs century after century from his storehouse. Can he care for you?

Augustus Caesar wished to honor a person whom he admired and who had done service for him. He bestowed a princely gift o the man and when the man saw the magnitude of the gift he said: “This gift is too great a gift for me to receive.”

“Ah,” Caesar replied, “But it is not too great a gift for me to give.”

You think about that Amen