genesis 27: verse 41-46

Intro

What to do with Anger [

Q. Have you been mad at somebody this week ?

Q. Have you been so mad with someone you felt like hurting them?

What about killing them?

I have struggled with Anger many times in my day

and often my anger feels justified.....

-if someone hurts me emotionally/ physically

I deserve to feel this way

I love when people say, I Dont ever Get Angry

its a lie

If you have ever been to mcdonalds and heard the words

“the ice cream machine is broke”

then you have experienced Anger

But on a more real level

When injustice is done to you

or someone else

Q. Are we allowed to get angry?

The bible says

Ephesians 4:26 NKJV

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,

we are allowed to be angry

even more so we should be when

abortion

blasphemy

child abuse

even when someone does us wrong

steals, ignores, mistreats us

Anger in itself is not sin

but it becomes sin When we let it have its way with our heart

today we are going to be reading about

Esaus reaction

to having his blessing stolen by his brother Jacob

and we will see what How Jacob is able to make his escape.

The sin that has riddled the chosen family of God

has created many problems

but it will never be too much for God

to turn His back on His promise

Genesis 27:41 NKJV

So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

So we see a pretty obvious reaction of Anger

Jacob went through elaborate plan to steal Esaus blessing ----

jacob was trickster----theif ---- (explain story of jacob stealing blessing)

But we see how Jacobs anger turned to Hatred

the greek word used for hated means to bear a grudge

Q. HAve you ever held a grudge against someone..

where you hold anger towards someone for a continued time

When we hold grudges we are essentially holding onto poison…

We allow people to rent space in our heads..

always thinking about the negative thing they did to us

Esaus hatred for Jacob festered within his heart

and as the anger kept churning within

He decided in His heart that He would kill Him

ohhh We see a flashback to cain and able

the anger, the jealousy, the irritation that led to a plot to murder

Now I want to point out

before sin becomes action

it always starts in the heart…

When sin comes to your heart

make sure that you bring it to God

before it festers into action

Every murder started as a thought that festered in the heart

not many people plan on killing someone on a whim

but its the same thing with sexual immorality

the affair starts in the mind and heart before it becomes a reality

Matthew 15:19 NKJV

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

this is why we must guard our hearts from sin

because the enemy will always be attacking your thoughts

mainly trying to get you to question Gods goodness

Esau has let sin infest His heart by way of anger

His anger was a natural reaction

but what he did with His anger was a choice

He could either hold a grudge and sin

or give it to God and forgive..

What you do with anger is a choice

We saw that the sin started in the heart

Anger was presented to Esau via Jacobs terrible actions

Esau was justified in His anger

but He was not justified in purpousing in his heart to kill jacob

When faced with anything in this life

you have a choice in how you respond.

Either with love and forgivness

or with a grudge and rebellion and hatred

A lot of us have hatred in our heart that we need to give to God

there have been a few times I have been so angry with someone

and I chose not to act in forgivness

story of Ben stealing

I wanted to kill him

after years I forgave Him

I had a choice to give it to God or fester in Anger

Victory in the heart ----

peace in forgivness

This is always Gods heart that we would stand up for what is right

and walk in forgivness..

believe me when I say

living in anger is not worth it

it is a poison for your soul and for everyone around you…

James 1:20 NKJV

for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Psalm 37:8 NKJV

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.

Anger produces death

make the choice to bring your anger to God in prayer and prevent

the pain and suffering of carrying around this emotion with you

So Esau has decided after my Dad dies

I will kill Jacob

out of hatred for him..

Genesis 27:42–45 NKJV

And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”

Esaus plan makes way to mama bear

and mama bear keeps making decisions for her son

She says something very telling

that esau comforts himself by wanting to kill you

We see that Esau running to sin for comfort

Comfort yourself with God

When we are faced with pain

it is always a natural reaction to seek out comfort

in Esaus case He decided revenge and hatred would ease his pain

of being taken advantage of

Getting him back would ease his pain

but that is a lie

instead He ought to find comfort in knowing that

Romans 12:19 ESV

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

It is your job to forgive and love when mistreated

and put your trust in God to have your back

Ben is misserable and God has taken care of me financially

there was no use in harboring my anger and resent

If I could have leaned into God for comfort

I could have walked in peace instead of anger

BEcause Esau was comforting himself with his anger and intent to kill

Rebekah sent Jacob to live with her brother Laban

back in the first settlement of Abrahams journey

this is a city named haran

Rebekahs intent is that he leave for a few days

until the anger of Esau passes by

because usually with time

anger seems to get less and less

until a man is reasonable once again…

little did she know he would be gone for many years...

Genesis 27:46 NKJV

And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Rebekah uses this issue that has been bothering her

to manipulate Isaac , to agree in sending Jacob away

So JAcob is sent away

and everyone in this story looses

because they insisted in doing things their own way ...

issacc--- give blessing to wrong son

Rebekah --- plotting a lie and thievery of the blessing

Jacob— decieving his father

Esau— plotting a murder

and dear friends this is Who God used

its a picture to show us how God uses imperfect people

you were never able to be perfect as the law of God requires you to be

lets look at what Jesus said about anger

Matthew 5:21–22 NKJV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.

Jesus just said

if you have anger without cause

or if the anger is in your heart that leads to a grudge and anamosity

then you have committed murder in your heart

In the following verses Jesus implores us to get right with those you have

a problem with

Get right with them and then get right with God

now this verse exposes all of us as what?

murderers…

we are all guilty of murder in the heart.

so what do we do?

trust in the perfect life of Jesus

This is what Esau needed to do

Trust in God for forgivness

by way of trusting in the messiah to come..

Esau had a promise of a messiah that would take away the sins of the world

Jesus came and did just that

We know to turn our anger over to God

immediately when we feel it coming on

and we are able to identify the fact that it feels good to the flesh to live in our anger

so when you find yourself making the same mistakes as esau

make a decision

its your choice what to do with the wrongs that come into your life

you can turn to God for comfort instead of your sin

but dear friends

when you fail at this and you undoubtedly will

and your exposed as a murderer in the heart

remember the gospel

and to trust in the perfect life of Jesus

that Jesus lived in perfection for you

He got angry and never sinned

and this is the good news

He sacraficed his life for you

Jesus is the only one who can forgive you from your sin and change you in the heart

lets pray

Q. What would have been a better response to being swindled by Jacob.