Lessons for Today
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we saw the birth of two twin brothers, Jacob and Esau. This birth story already introduced conflict between them. We see that God ordained one to be his chosen man to continue the elect line through and the other he did not choose. After this we saw that Isaac the dad loved Esau more while Rebekah loved Jacob more. This is all setting the stage for conflict between the two brothers and this conflict is starting in tonight's passage.
As we look at this passage I want to look at several lessons for us today in it. There are several choices that are made in this passage and some are positive and some are negative. In each of them there is a truth that we can learn from as we follow Christ.
So lets read this section and then begin to unpack all that it has for us.
Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
This begins with a simple trade deal between two brothers, except it was not that simple. Esau is convinced that he is about to starve to death after being out hunting and Jacob just so happens to be cooking stew in his tent. When Esau ask Jacob for some as he was fearing for his life, which was most likely an extreme exaggeration, Jacob uses this as an opportunity to get something from his brother that he wants. What he wants is the birthright, this means that he wanted to have all of the rights that Esau had as the firstborn.
Esau in his dramatic fashion says that his rights as firstborn are useless if he is dead from starvation so he gladly made this deal.
From there we see that these brothers are set against each other. Now a famine enters the land. This famine is not the same one that we read about a few chapters back but is a separate one and in the last one Abraham went down to Egypt which would be a safe spot in a time of famine. Here the Lord tells him not to do this but to stay in the land. This would have been a tough thing to follow through with but he does and stays in the land. This comes with God transferring all of the promises made to Abraham over to him.
So the covenant is set up now with the next generation and the brothers are set against each other.
The two biggest choices that we are going to look at here are the choice that Esau made and the choice that Isaac made and we will see what we can learn from these for our own spiritual walk and we will finish with a thought on the promises of God and how they relate to all of this.
Before we dive into this lets pray.
Don’t Trade the Eternal for the Temporary
Don’t Trade the Eternal for the Temporary
Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Now we know that God had chosen to work through Jacob and not Esau but still here we see that Esau has a distain for his position as firstborn and is ready to give it up. That position is the one that you would expect the elect line to go through based on worldly standards and Esau is ready to trade it all in for a bowl of stew.
It says in Hebrews 12.16
that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
This is saying that this was an immoral and unholy act by Esau. He traded something of great eternal significance for a single mean.
In our own lives how often do we trade meaningful things for meaningless things. I can give you an example that we are all guilty of to an extent, screen time vs time in the word.
We need to think of what truly has value in our lives and focus on that not on meaningless things. And what has more value than anything is a relationship with Christ.
Never trade the eternal for the meaningless.
Trust God’s Word in Times of Trial
Trust God’s Word in Times of Trial
Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
The second thing is to trust God’s word in times of trial. A famine would have been some of the toughest times in the ancient world and there was a place that was almost always safe from famine, that place was Egypt. God tells him to not go there though and to stay in the land and that he will take care of him and pass all of the covenant on to him if he does this.
Isaac trust God in this and in turn he receives all that was promised and he was greatly taken care of by God.
When difficult times come do you trust God in them and what he says or do you turn to the quick and easy fix.
I know it is not always easy but it is always worth it to look to God and not to the world whenever these difficult times are upon us but Gods way is always better and he is the one that we need to trust in times of trial.
God’s Promises Stand Sure
God’s Promises Stand Sure
because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
Finally tonight the driving force behind all that we do must come from this, God’s promises stand sure.
Abraham followed God and all of the promises to him stand sure, they cannot be moved. This goes for more than just the promises made to Abraham though, all of the promises made by God stand and will be true. There is nothing in the Bible that should ever cause us to doubt the truth of that statement.
Because of this when the trials and difficulties in life come we should not cave, we should not give in. Rather we should rest in the promises of God knowing that all he says will come about. When temporary things come about we need to keep our hope set on the eternal. That is what the promises of God can teach us, we must keep a eternal perspective and know that all of the promises in the Bible will be fulfilled.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The greatest promise that stands true is the promise of salvation to all who would believe. Many people would stray from the word of God and says that it has nothing for us. They would focus on the temporary fleeting pleasures of this world. But the Bible offers us something eternal, something that we can trust, it offers us salvation.
This salvation is found through faith in Jesus. It puts true meaning for your life and it brings real forgiveness for all that you have done wrong. All that you have done wrong is wrong against God because he is a holy God. How gracious that he offers forgiveness through his son. Don’t trade the eternal for the temporary, don’t walk away from the word of God, trust in God’s word and his promises, take hold of the eternal, put your faith in Jesus tonight.
