The Root of Bitterness
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Introduction
Introduction
Thank you for opportunity to speak
Thank you for youth room
Thank you for spaghetti lunch; keep getting envelopes
This will be more of a Bible study rather than a preachy type of sermon.
I’m a little nervous about this message. I had so much fun studying for it. Brother Andrew said it sounds like it could be a whole series of messages and he’s right. Each passage and point we look at could be its own message.
Were going to look at a few different passages of Scripture and when I told Abbie the premise for the message I said I feel like I’m gonna be that crazy guy with a bulletin board and strings trying to connect all the dots to a mystery.
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Some observations of bitterness:
Bitterness is sin and negatively affects ourselves and others (Hebrews 12:15; James 3:14-16)
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Bitterness is a characteristic of the unsaved and is an unacceptable response of the believer (Romans 3:14; Acts 8:23)
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Each person has areas of bitterness to work on or be weary of (Proverbs 14:10)
The heart knoweth his own bitterness;
And a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.
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To understand this verse, we need to look at the context.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
So we know that Hebrews was an epistle written to Hebrew Christians, encouraging them to not go back to the Law, but to acknowledge their new covenant of Grace. And within this passage he is really driving home the importance of personal holiness in the lives of believers.
But this particular phrase “root of bitterness springing up” is actually a borrowed phrase from Deuteronomy 29:18 where the Lord is telling His covenant to the Israelites, that if they obey they’ll be blessed but if they disobey then they’ll be punished.
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
He says be weary of just one person who disobeys because they are like a bitter root, it spreads throughout the rest of the grove. Bitterness is a result of unrighteousness and it does not just affect you, but those around you. It is like a poison.
If you look at our verses in Hebrews, verses 14-16 are all one sentence. So the writer lays out this phrase root of bitterness, and then gives Esau as an example. So to get a good understanding of this bitterness, we need to go to the book of Genesis. We are going to get a bird’s eye view of Esau’s life and see what led to his deep bitterness.
Esau’s steps to bitterness:
And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
1. Esau cared about immediate satisfaction (25:29-34)
1. Esau cared about immediate satisfaction (25:29-34)
We see here that Esau has been hunting and has just come back in from the field and is in need of some food. After a long day of hunting there’s nothing much better than a hot meal. We’ve all been there before where we’ve had an exhausting day of work just expending energy all day without a meal, and when you finally get home you just want to dig in to anything and everything.
In the summers in high school I worked on a game hunting ranch with my best friend named Dustin and man we worked hard long days under the Texas sun. Our work day started at 7am and we never ate breakfast and our lunch break wasn’t until 12. So we’d spend the morning building fences and feeding animals and by noon we were just about dead. And we lived on this ranch in the middle of nowhere and we lived in little run down RV trailers, and for lunch we would eat a pack of ramen noodles with valentina hot sauce, and a little debbie brownie. And I tell you what eating those ramen noodles out of a styrofoam bowl in a tiny microwave in a rundown trailer is some of the best food I’ve ever had. I’ll eat that meal again and it just isn’t the same, and its probably because I am not near as hungry as I was.
So this is where Esau was at. He felt like he was about to die of starvation, he even says what good is a birthright to me if I’m dead. So he sells his birthright to his brother Jacob in exchange for some soup.
Esau was blinded by the temporal satisfaction of soup to the point that he lost sight of his birthright, which had much more value. He ascribed more worth to a physical desire than to a spiritual blessing. This is Esau’s first step to bitterness. He finds too much worth in things that do not deserve it.
I wonder how often each of us are guilty of something similar. Focusing too much on the temporary. Finding too much value in things of little value. Or maybe the contrast, not finding enough value in the things that are valuable. Maybe there is a sin that the Devil promises satisfaction in, but you’ve got to realize it is only temporary. The only thing that can truly satisfy is Christ. But soup isn’t a sin. So maybe there’s something in your life that is stealing away from the things that truly matter.
You must have an eternal focus rather than a temporal focus.
I must constantly examine my life to see if what I find worthy is actually worthy.
I’m a little bit of a pack-rat, a little bit of a hoarder. I’m not good at throwing things away. I like to collect stuff. Even when I was a little kid I liked to collect stuff. It started with rocks, loved to collect rocks and polish them. It moved to hot wheels cars, I actually still have a few. Then it went on to baseball cards and football cards. Then when I was in high school I worked at a western store and sold cowboy boots and I started collecting cowboy boots, I had all kinds of exotic skins, I had elephant, iguana, ostrich, rattlesnake, seabass, shark skin, all kinds. I would waste my paychecks on all those dumb boots and I loved them and thought they were so cool. Now the only time I ever wear them is out on a date with Abbie, which to my fault, is not super often. I wasted so much money on all those boots cause I thought they were worthy of it, they were worthy of me spending hundreds of dollars. And now I realize they’re not. Now I buy fake nikes from Amazon and the teens make fun of me.
I must constantly examine my life to see if what I find worthy is actually worthy.
So Esau cared only about immediate satisfaction, and then
2. Esau did not care about parental instruction (26:34-35)
2. Esau did not care about parental instruction (26:34-35)
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
There’s not a verse that says that Isaac specifically told Esau to not marry Hittite women, but it would have been understood and probably came up in conversation. It was the common practice of the day, you married within your own nation and tribe and intermarriage wasn’t super common. Esau would have heard the stories of Noah and how Noah cursed his son Ham, whos son was Canaan. The Hittites were a tribe of Canaanites so its not like Esau was just oblivious and didn’t know he shouldn’t marry Hittites, he knew.
But for some reason, Esau disregarded his parents wishes. He did not care about their rules and instructions, instead again he only cared about his temporal satisfaction. He saw two ladies that he wanted to marry, so he married them. When we disobey our parents and other authority figures in our lives, we are disobeying the Lord because He is the one who put those people in authority over us.
I must constantly examine my life to see if I am obeying the authority figures God has placed over me.
I remember once when I was around 11 or 12 years old and I had made a new friend at school, his name was Jacob. Jacob lived out in the country and had goats and pigs and fourwheelers so I loved going to Jacobs house. Well, Jacobs cousin was having a birthday party one Saturday and he invited me and I really wanted to go, but the only problem was that it was in the next town over, about a 45 minute drive. I knew my parents wouldn’t want me to do that since Jacob was a new friend and they didn’t know his parents very well, so I just told them that we were going to Jacobs house like usual. So I went to this birthday party and on the way back my mom called his mom and asked if now would be a good time to come pick me up, and she of course told her we would be back in about half an hour, and my mom asked from where, and that’s when Jacobs mom told her we had gone out of town to a birthday party. I knew my parents would not be okay with me doing this, but I did it any way, and reaped the consequences.
Esau knew his parents would not approve of his actions, but he did it any way, and he reaped the consequences.
I must constantly examine my life to see if I am obeying the authority figures God has placed over me.
So Esau cared about immediate satisfaction, he disobeyed his parents, and then
3. Esau regretted but never repented
(27:34-38)
3. Esau regretted but never repented
(27:34-38)
And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
We see that word bitter here in our passage. Esau had cried bitterly. Esau was upset, bitter, angry, sad, at what had transpired. He was full of regret, but not repentance.
“Godly sorrow brings repentance.” What is repentance? Repentance is a change of direction produced by a change of heart or mind. It’s not enough to just have a change of heart; it’s not enough to feel regret; it’s not enough to cry. The change of heart must produce a change of direction. Godly sorrow always produces a change of direction.
The world gets upset and regrets but they don’t change their ways. Worldly sorrow only leads to death.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
It seems like Hebrews 12:17 is kind of portraying the idea that he sought the blessing with tears instead of repentance, like he was trying to convince his dad that he was repentant.
When I got home after getting in trouble for going out of town to that birthday party, you better believe I regretted my actions. I very much did not like the consequences that followed. Some people talk about how they wouldn’t cry when they would get whooped cause they didn’t want their parents to see them cry or something like that. Shoot not me son I was wailing and crying like a baby to try to get them to stop. By this time when my mom would whoop me it really wasn’t even that bad but I’d still cry just so that it wouldn’t get to the point where it did hurt. I was trying to get them to think that I felt real real bad about the situation just so they’d be done. You know what, I was still a little bratty kid after that and disobeyed my parents a lot during that season of life. I was full of regret, but I wasn’t repentant because there was no change of action.
Hopefully you’re not like Esau, full of regret but no repentance. Hopefully you resemble 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I must constantly examine my life to see if I am confessing and repenting of any sin.
Some people talk about how repentance isn’t needed for the Christian anymore because Jesus forgave all sins past present and future. He sure did. But 1 John 1:9 is written to believers and tells them to confess. And I recognize in my own life in particular seasons where I feel closest to the Lord are the seasons when I want to go and spend time confessing my faults to him. Not out of obligation or out of guilt but just to tell Him. Being a father has changed my perspective of my Heavenly Father a lot. When Elliott grows in a few years and confesses his sins to me of course I’ll forgive him, past present future sins. But how amazing is it that my child would love me enough to come and confess it to me.
Your Heavenly Father loves you much more than I love my son. How much more does He want to hear from you. Not to condemn you, but to comfort you.
Notice it says “Confess sins” not just ask for forgiveness of sins. You ought to get specific with how you’ve wronged your father.
I must constantly examine my life to see if I am confessing and repenting of any sin.
So Esau cared about immediate satisfaction, he disobeyed his parents, he didn’t repent, which led to
4. Esau was bitter in his heart (27:41)
4. Esau was bitter in his heart (27:41)
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
Esau was to the point where his anger had boiled over. He let his heart dictate his emotions and actions.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Your mind and your heart are powerful things. It is the only thing that is truly private in your life. No one knows what is going on inside your head except for you and the Lord. You must take control of your mind and your thoughts. Don’t let your mind run off to wicked imaginations. A heart that devises wicked imaginations is one of the seven abominations that God hates from Proverbs 6.
As believers, we can allow bitterness to disenchant our relationship with God and other Christians that instead of drawing people to Christ, we push them away. For example, in the book of Ruth, after Naomi’s husband and sons died after escaping a famine, Naomi accused God of injustice, insisting “ The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me”. Based on the painful experiences Naomi suffered in Moab, she judged God instead of considering that He might have a larger plan and might actually be working in her life for her good.
Trust God’s plan for your life Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Bitterness takes control because we let it. We let our mind run rampant with all kinds of situations. We dwell on things that are beyond our control. We play the victim and think we’ve been wronged. Let’s be honest, Esau was wronged in this story. He was lied to and cheated by his brother and mother and those were the things he was focused on. So much so that he didn’t realize that his own mistakes were partly to blame for his own bitterness. Bring your burdens and bitterness to Christ.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
I must constantly examine my life to see if obeying Christ with my thoughts and thinking on good things.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Bitterness takes control because we let it. Don’t lose control. Take your mind captive. Throw down wicked imaginations. Stop dwelling on things that are causing you bitterness.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
I must constantly examine my life to see if obeying Christ with my thoughts and thinking on good things.
So Esau cared about immediate satisfaction, he disobeyed his parents, he didn’t repent, he was bitter, and then
5. Esau tried to fix it on his own (28:8-9)
5. Esau tried to fix it on his own (28:8-9)
And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
We see now in this passage that Esau is trying anything to remedy the situation and get back in the good graces of his parents. Knowing that they were pleased when Jacob married someone in the family, he sought out Ishmael, Isaac’s half brother, and married one of his daughters. This was obviously too late and would not make a difference.
I must constantly examine my life to see if I am relying on Christ’s power and not my own.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
When we try to fix a broken situation on our own, we will fail every time. The only one who can restore a broken situation is Christ. You cannot fix it on your own but thankfully Christ can. If Esau would have repented a lot earlier and changed the direction of his life he would not be experiencing the pain and bitterness that he’s experiencing.
I must constantly examine my life to see if I am relying on Christ’s power and not my own.
The only true remedy for your bitterness is Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Turn back to Hebrews 12 very quickly and then we’ll be done.
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant.
Friends, Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant of Grace. This is a promise from Him to us that we no longer have to live by the letter of the Mosaic Law but by His grace. Yes, we still follow a moral law but the means by which we follow it are through the Holy Spirit and His grace.
If you study Esau throughout the Bible, you can see how he missed out. Besides Genesis, he is also mentioned in Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Malachi, Romans, and Hebrews.
He missed his spot in the royal lineage of Christ. Jacobs name was changed to Israel and that’s how the Jews were identified, they were called Israelites. Esau missed out on that legacy. Now him and his people, the Edomites would always be servant to the Israelites. In Malachi it even says, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.
Esau could have had the birthright and the blessing, which would have been a covenant between him and his father, but he denied it for a bowl of soup. Are you denying Christ’s covenant of grace for worldly pleasures?
Esau could have listened to and obeyed the mediator of that covenant, but he decided to follow his flesh instead. Are you disobeying the mediator of your new covenant?
Esau regretted that he missed out on the blessings of that covenant, but he never repented of his sins. Will you one day regret missing out on the blessings of this new covenant?
Esau blamed others and wouldn’t take responsibility for his own bitterness when he missed his covenant blessings. Do you blame others for your bitterness instead of taking it to the mediator?
Esau tried to win back the covenant blessings, but it was too late. Do you try to work to gain favor from the mediator of the covenant instead of accepting His free grace?
Roots of a tree are on the first things to start growing in spring. As the ground slowly thaws from winter, the roots sprout millions of tiny hairs that soak in food and nutrients from the grounds. Then the nutrients are slowly absorbed from the soil and up the tree. But, if there is any pollution, gall, bitterness in that soil, it spreads and it spreads quickly. Infecting that tree and those around it. How’s your roots?
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.