Genesis 25:29-34 NKJV Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. (30) And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. (31) But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” (32) And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” (33) Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. (34) And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Well church, welcome back to our three part series on the end of Genesis 25 titled “Birthright”.
- Through this series we have talked about the concept of birthright, both the physical and spiritual concept of birthright.
- Now the physical concept of a birthright, which will be important to understand for todays message, is that the firstborn son got a double-portion of inheritance from all the other children.
- I mistakenly said in the first sermon of this series that the firstborn son got everything, that was not always the case. Sometimes, many times in fact, it was the rule of the double portion… the firstborn son had a right to twice as much inheritance from his father than all the other sons.
- So for example, if I had two younger brothers and my father died with an estate worth 100,000 dollars… as the first born son I would inherit $50,000 and my brothers would inherit $25,000 each. I get twice as much, a double portion, because that would be my birthright.
- Of course we don’t do inheritance like that today, but that was very much the case in Jacob and Esau time.
- Now Esau was the firstborn, and as the firstborn he had the right to a double portion of all of his Father Isaac’s wealth. But he also had as his birthright a special blessing from God, a birthright that was just as much spiritual as it was physical.
- This was the birthright that Abraham passed down to Isaac, and that Isaac would pass down to Esau, his first born… or at least that he traditionally should have passed down to Isaac.
- This birthright was the covenant that God made with Abraham… a covenant to make him a mighty nation, a nation through whom the rest of the world would be blessed…
- This birthright included the promised land, the land of Canaan.
- This birthright also included the promise of a messiah, the seed of Abraham, that would save the world.
- This was a special birthright that was eternal in nature… yes there were physical elements to it (the promised land is a physical place, there are physical children and generations)… but it was more about the eternal blessings through Christ, the eternal promised land for God’s people. It was more about the eternal plan from God for mankind.
- As Christians we have this kind of birthright as well, a spiritual birthright with eternal implications… we talked about this in our first sermon in this series, but let’s just take a little refresher because this will be important for todays sermon as well…
- Eternal Life – if you are born again then you have the right to eternal life, amen?
- Identity as God’s Children – When we are born again we are adopted into God’s family.
- The Indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit – and all that the Holy Spirit brings.
- Access to the Father through Prayer – He is our Father… we can come to Him boldly about anything.
- Forgiveness and Righteousness – cleansing from sin and a right standing before God through Christ.
- God’s Promises and Provision – receiving all that we need according to His riches.
- Authority and Victory over Sin and the Enemy – We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.
- Purpose and Calling – part of our birthright means that we are a somebody in God’s kingdom.
- An Unshakable Kingdom – a guaranteed, lasting home with God that cannot fade or perish. And at the center of that kingdom is the Promised Land, New Jerusalem… where Christ has gone to prepare a place for us. Where we will live forever, with that promised eternal life, without pain, or sin, or temptation.
- This is our birthright as Christians… Now the question becomes… *with gravitas* WOULD YOU SELL THAT BIRTHRIGHT FOR A CUP OF STEW?
- WOULD YOU SELL IT FOR SOMETHING WORSE?
- WOULD YOU SELL IT FOR SOMETHING EVEN MORE STUPID THAN A CUP OF RED STEW?
- Ok, before I get too worked up lets pray
- Now the events that took place at the end of Genesis 25, at first glance seem really odd.
- Esau has this great birthright… a double portion of his fathers massive wealth… but not only that, this spiritual and eternal blessing, this covenant with God… he gets to be a part of God’s eternal plan… through his line will come the Seed that will save mankind.
- So it seems so incredibly odd that he would sell all of that for a cup of red stew. But that is exactly what happened.
Genesis 25:29-31 NKJV Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. (30) And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. (31) But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
- Now listen, I love me a cup of stew… don’t get me wrong.
- And man, when you are tired and hungry food just smells better! Doesn’t it…
- But Esau… my dude… it ain’t worth it…
- I think all of us have read this story and thought “That doesn’t make sense”.
- This story almost seems like more of a fairytale than anything we have read so far in Genesis.
- God speaks the earth into existence… yeah I believe that as fact, of course… He is God.
- Sarah has a baby at 90 years old… of course, God is a miracle worker.
- Lot’s wife turns into a pillar of salt… shouldn’t have been looking back.
- World wide flood, Demon spawn giants, Ram’s in bushes, wells in the wilderness… sure, yeah, of course…
- But this… this is hard to believe… it is hard for us to believe that someone would through away so much for so little, right… am I the only one to think this‽
- Well it is hard to believe until you understand PERSPECTIVE.
- When you understand that Jacob and Esau had two very different perspectives.
- Jacob constantly has an eternal perspective in his life. He is constantly thinking long term. He thinks far past his temporary desires and urgers. Jacob has a big-picture, long term, eternal perspective.
- Esau, on the other hand, is a man who thinks about the present, about the now… what do I want in THIS moment… what are my desires and my needs right now?
- If I want it now I am going to get it now.
- If I want it now I am going to take it now.
- If I want it now I am going to seek it now.
- Forget the future… I AM HUNGRY NOW!
- Esau’s perspective was constantly on the perishable, temporary pleasures of this life… and it set him up for this history changing moment, a moment God prophesied mind you when He said “The older will serve the younger”… but Esau’s focus on perishable, temporary pleasures set him up for this moment where he sells his birthright to his younger brother.
- So this morning sermon, the final sermon in our series, is titled:
- Promised Land Perspective over Perishable Pleasures.
- Jacob had a promised land perspective… and it resulted in an eternal birthright.
- This morning I am going to urge you to keep a promised land perspective, an eternal perspective… and to stop focusing on perishable, passing pleasures…
- Because perspective, church, dictates desire… that’s our first point this morning… perspective dictates desire.
Point One – Perspective Dictates Desire
Genesis 25:30-33 NKJV And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. (31) But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” (32) And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” (33) Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
- You know this is not the first time in Scripture where someone gave up eternity for something to eat… consider the birthright that Adam and Eve had… what did she do to throw it away?
Genesis 3:6 NKJV So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
- Adam and Eve gave up an eternity with God not for a bowl of stew but for a bite of fruit.
- And would you notice what happened before Eve took a bite? Her perspective changed.
- When the woman saw the tree… when she looked at the fruit.
- WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT EVE‽
- Before she was looking at all of the beauty of creation… perfect, living in harmony with God, her husband, and all that God had created.
- No sickness, no pain, no death… just a perfect existence with God.
- But there was one rule… Don’t eat of this one tree, don’t eat of this one fruit.
- But her perspective shifts from everything good and perfect and eternal to the forbidden… first she looks at the forbidden fruit…
- Then what happens? She looks, she sees… and then she desires…
Genesis 3:6 NKJV So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [no it’s not], that it was pleasant to the eyes [are you sure, because glaucoma didn’t exist before this point… thanks for that], and a tree desirable to make one wise [her perspective changed her desire], she took of its fruit and ate…
- You see church, when your perspective changes, your desires change.
- What you look at becomes what you desire.
- “Well I just don’t find my wife desirable anymore” yeah, what other women are you looking at?
- “The Bible is boring” yeah? What are you looking to for entertainment? GTA 5? Game of Thrones? Breaking Bad? Squid Game?
- “I don’t know man… I just don’t enjoy church anymore…” You don’t enjoy worshiping and praising God, you don’t enjoy fellowshipping with other believers, you don’t enjoy growing in your knowledge and application of scripture… what else are you doing on Sunday morning, or Saturday night for that matter, that in comparison seems so much better than those things… I would bet your perspective has shifted from the eternal to the temporary.
- If you flood your perspective with AAA video games, and movies with billion dollar budgets… yeah, I can’t compete with those things to entertain you on Sunday morning… but if your perspective is on the eternal, then you will be rushing to the church every time the doors open, rushing to your Bible every morning when you wake up, rushing to prayer at every opportunity you get.
- Esau could not see past his own hunger… all he could see was what was in front of him. “I am hungry, I feel like I am going to die… there is some FIRE smelling stew right in front of me… I NEED TO GET THAT STEW NOW!”
- Jacob on the other hand, was happy to give up his stew… to be hungry for a moment, for an hour, for a day… in order to secure an ETERNITY of birthrights.
- His perspective was focused on the promised land… he was laser focused on securing this eternal spiritual birthright… so it was a NO BRAINER for him with the opportunity came to give up his stew and secure the Promised Land.
- Now I would like to propose to you that this was likely not the only time that Jacob and Esau had talked about the birthright.
- They had been fighting since in the womb… and as they got older, I bet the topic of birthright got brought up a lot…
- That brings me to my second point this morning… persuasion Twists Perspective.
Point Two – Persuasion Twists Perspective
Genesis 25:31 NKJV But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
- To me it sounds like they have talked about this before… this is not the first time, maybe, that Jacob has asked Esau to sell his birthright.
- You see the Bible does not give us every detail of every life event that ever happened to Jacob and Esau, or anyone else for that matter.
- We, in fact, know very little of Jacob and Esau’s childhood and teenage and early adult years.
- All we know is that they fought a lot, as many siblings do, but even more so… there was a striving since birth.
- And I would bet there were MANY conversations about the birthright.
- I can imagine a young Jacob, being eternally minded as he was, asking a young Esau “I wonder what it means that your seed will bless the earth”
- And Esau responding “what do I care about that old prophesy… if it doesn’t help me hunt the it ain’t worth my time”.
- I can imagine them as young men talking as Esau comes home from a successful hunt “Esau, Esau, mom and I were talking about the Promised Land you will inherit… wouldn’t it be awesome if you had a bunch of boys and each of those boys took a part of that land to settle in… like a bunch of tribes forming a nation…”
- “Bruv… what do I care? All you and mom ever do is talk about the future, a future we will probably never see… you know what dad cares about? He cares about food. He cares about eating wild game. So while you and mom are in here fantasying about the future, I am out actually accomplishing something for this family”.
- You see I would bet that Jacob picked up on the fact that Esau didn’t care about his birthright… and that for years Jacob has slowly been persuading Esau to give it up.
- Little hints, little whispers… “I mean Esau if you don’t care about your birthright, I will take it”.
- “I mean you are right Esau, your birthright doesn’t really have any practical use does it?”
- “I just wish there was some way that you could profit off of that birthright now…”
- It was the same thing Satan did to Eve… wasn’t it. Before Eve’s perspective was twisted… before she started looking at the wrong thing, Satan persuades her…
Genesis 3:1-6 NKJV Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; (3) but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” (4) Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (6) So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
- You see how Satan lies and persuades… he questions God’s word “Has good really said”… he calls God a liar “You shall not surely die”… and then he makes a promise of immediate pleasure “The moment you eat it your eyes will be opened”.
- And would you notice there are FIVE verses about Eve being persuaded, then in a moment her, in just a third of verse 6, her perspective changes.
- The persuasion is a slow process, it takes time, the devil keeps at it… much like I assume Jacob probably kept at his brother Esau.
- Now Satan still lies like this today, I have preached whole sermons about it. There are lessons about it in our Foundations notes if you are going through discipling, which you should be, you will learn how Satan’s tactics have not changed…
- But let me just say this… I believe people walk away from the their birthright not because they think it is not true… but because they are enticed by sin.
- I heard a story of a prominent pastor who was talking to his worship leader.
- The worship leader said “I am just having a lot of doubts… doubts that God is real… doubts that the Bible is true… I think I don’t believe anymore”
- To which the pastor replied “How long have you been in sexual sin?”
- To which the young worship leader looked shocked and said “HOW DID YOU KNOW‽”
- Because the Devil doesn’t whisper in your ear “Jesus isn’t real” instead what he whispers is “IF Jesus wasn’t real, then what you are doing wouldn’t be wrong”.
- He doesn’t say “The Bible isn’t true” instead he says, “If the Bible weren’t true, then what you want wouldn’t be forbidden”.
- He doesn’t say “You should disobey God”, instead he says, “Are you sure God really said that?”
- Satan doesn’t come in with logical arguments… He doesn’t try to disprove the Bible… He doesn’t dispute the facts… He persuades you to focus on your sin instead of God… to focus on your desires… to focus on perishable pleasures instead of the birthright you have been promised.
- Then as your perspective shifts, so do your desires… and as your desires shift… then your actions shift… and once you are in sin, then Satan doesn’t need to talk you out of the faith, you do it yourself…
- That brings me to my final point this morning… DON’T SELL YOUR BIRTHRIGHT
Point Three – DON’T SELL YOUR BIRTHRIGHT
Genesis 25:31-34 NKJV But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” (32) And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” (33) Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. (34) And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
- I was going to name this point: Perspective Dictates Path. Path Dictates Destination.
- Because it was more preacher and had the P alliteration I am going with on this series…
- But I really just wanted to get this point through DON’T SELL YOUR BIRHTRIGHT!!!!
- People get all confused “How could Esau sell his birthright for a cup of stew”… and I hope I explained a bit how that could happen in this sermon…
- But even without that context… even without unpacking it all… I can tell you that Esau’s actions aren’t that shocking…
- I mean he sold his birthright for a cup of stew… and he was hungry… at least he got some sustenance from it…
- YET I AS A PASTOR OVER HERE HAVE SEEN PEOPLE SELL THEIR BIRTHRIGHT FOR MUCH LESS.
- I have seen Christians trading their birthright for a night with a woman.
- I have seen them trade their birthright for a used needle.
- I have seen them trade it for a bottle.
- I have seen them trade it for jobs and money.
- I have seen them trade it for prestige and fame.
- I have seen them trade it for friendships they did not want to give up.
- We over here like “How could Esau sell his eternal birthright for a cup of stew” yet how many Christian men sell there birthright for images of women on a screen?
- How many Christian women sell their birthright for a relationship with a man who is not their husband.
- How many American Christians sell their birthright for a stack of Federal Reserve notes that are not even back by gold anymore… which by the way is the PAVING MATERIAL OF HEAVEN.
- Man get your perspective right… when you are tempted to go have drinks with that person who is not your spouse… think about how much Esau throw away and how stupid he was… then be smarter than him with the BETTER birthright you have.
- When you are tempted to slander that person who made you mad… consider Esau… at least he got stew out of the situation.
- When you are tempted to steal that movie, or illegally stream that football game… consider Esau… IT’S NOT WORTH IT! DON’T SELL YOUR BIRTHRIGHT.
- And if that is important to you… not selling your birhtirght… then your perspective needs to remain on eternity… on the things from above, on the promised land.
Colossians 3:1-17 NKJV If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (3) For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (4) When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (5) Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (6) Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, (7) in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
- Now I don’t have time to talk in depth about the difference between losing your salvation and freely walking away from your salvation.
- Esaus birthright was not snatched from him, but he freely gave it. Just like many Christians freely walk away from the faith in favor of sin.
- There are many verses that talk about this fact… about names being erased from the book of life… about Christians losing their inheritance from new Jerusalem and losing there part from the book of life and the tree of life…
- And it is a hotly debated topic as some Christians teach that once you are saved you are always saved… and though I disagree, I think we can all agree that SIN IS NEVER WORTH IT!…
- Therefore I say again DON’T SELL YOUR BIRTHRIGHT…
- Now let’s close by reading what the author of Hebrews had to say about Jacob and Esau…
Conclusion
Hebrews 12:14-17 NKJV Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: (15) looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; (16) lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. (17) For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
- Esau did not have a chance to repent from selling his birthright… but we do have time to repent… so let’s close by giving that chance to repent
Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God.
Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids
2808 Schaeffer DR SW,
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
www.CedarRapidsChurch.com
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