The Life of Isaac: The Different Appetites - The Beginnings of Jacob and Esau

Genesis 25:1-34 The Different Appetites (The Beginnings of Jacob and Esau) Introduction: "These are the generation" introduces for us the next main section of Genesis. The story of Isaac really begins here in Genesis 25:19 and stretches to Genesis 37:1. Up to this point the author has been dealing with the life of Abraham although much of Isaac's life has been covered (birth, sacrifice, search for a bride, and marriage) Although these next chapters record the life of Isaac they focus much, if not all, of their attention on Jacob. Now Isaac is similar to his father - his wife is also barren. Isaac is different than his father in the sense that he doesn't take matters into his own hands (Hagar and Ishmael). He prays and patiently waits for twenty years for the Lord to answer his prayer. Now it was very clear with Abraham that God was going to do a miraculous thing with Abraham and Sarah in bringing about the birth of Isaac; and so we understand why Ishmael was rejected - because he was not the son of promise; he was a work of Abraham and Sarah's own doing. When it comes to Isaac and his offspring we don't have that very obvious difference - we have two children who are born, twin boys. From their conception they are in a struggle - a struggle for dominance- who will receive the blessing of Abraham?. But God tells Rebekah something interesting from the beginning before the children had every done anything, whether right or wrong, God had already chosen the younger to be the heir of promise. It was through Jacob that God would bring about his promises to Abraham of being blessed and being a blessing, and of possessing the land of Canaan and the gate of his enemy. The divine revelation that the older would serve the younger prepares us to expect that Jacob will have a significant role to play in the development of the unique family line in Genesis. Normally, younger brothers were subservient to the firstborn male, who enjoyed special privileges associated with the concept of primogeniture. Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings. This morning I want to look at Isaac, Esau and Jacob, and I want us to consider their desires or lust or appetites in relation to what God is doing in this chapter. 1. Isaac: An Appetite for Comfort a. Isaac is a complex character, he is the promised child of Abraham and Sarah; he is chosen, over his brother Ishmael, to carry on the covenant of Abraham their father; He is the Christ type in Genesis 22 -the only son who is to be an offering for sin. He is the spiritual man who is meditating in the field as he waits for a bride. He is the the spiritual leader who seeks God on behalf of his wife’s barrenness rather than taking matters into his own hands. b. Yet it seems in Isaac’s old age that he let compromise creep in. c. I think it’s safe to assume that Rebekah shared the vision/revelation that God revealed to here concerning her offspring “that the older shall serve the younger.” d. Yet Isaac does not seem to have any regard for this revelation but he continues in the customs of the day- placing his affections and future on Esau. e. The question is why? What kept Isaac from submitting to this oracle of God? i. The text tells us that “Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game” There is no deep emotional or spiritual reason for Isaac preferring Esau; it is actually a very shallow reason for loving his son. He loves him because his son makes him comfortable by satisfying his love for food. 1. So for the sake of his own comfort Isaac disregards the word of the Lord ii. But we are no different from Isaac. Some of us are also ignoring the word of the Lord because it challenges our comforts, it will cost us things that are dear to us. Like relationships (Boyfriend/Girlfriend/friendship/parent), Job, status, money, power, pleasure. 1. But your appetite will become a snare to you just as it did to Isaac - he was deceived and made a fool because he was blinded by his appetite. 2. It is so important that we crucify those fleshly passions in our youth or in times of strength so that they don’t come back to trip us up and enslave us at a later time of weakness. a. My mom and I were talking the other day about those we know who are in their older years who aren’t finishing well because they never crucified those passions while they had the strength. i. Galatians 5:24 “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” 1. Don’t ignore them, don’t even lock them up- kill them or they’ll come back to haunt you. 2. “...the choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin...Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you. Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work." - John Owen 2. Esau: An Appetite for the Wild a. "Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field”. - he's a wild man, he's a big kid, who's playing out in the fields neglecting the responsibility of family and inheritance. b. Esau is a man of natural appetites. Esau is a man who cares nothing for spiritual things, for he sees no value in them. He feeds his appetite and trades Gods eternal blessing and honor for momentary fulfillment- a bowl of stew. i. Patrick Henry Reardon puts it like this, “Esau, for the sole purpose of gratifying an immediate impulse, thoughtlessly betrayed an inherited treasure”. 1. It's interesting that Isaac chooses his own appetite over the word of God, and Esau sells his birthright (the blessing of God) for his stomach. c. Not only that but Esau doesn't even savor the moment, he doesn't waste anytime; it says, he ate, and drank and rose and went his way. therefore the narrator comments that Esau's actions show that he despised his birthright it meant nothing to him. i. His Birthright was a weight and responsibility that he did not want to carry out. Esau is indifferent to his birthright. He does not grab the significance of all that God has promised to fulfill through the unique line descended from Abraham, of which he is the natural heir. 1. Hebrews 12:15-17 "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears." a. Some of us like Esau are frustrated with the family name of Christian it’s something we feel we cannot live up to, and to us it isn’t a joy but a weight. We long for the wild, and not for a father who disciplines and lays responsibility upon us. 3. Jacob: An Appetite for Blessing and Self Preservation a. The text now tells us in contrast to Esau; "While Jacob was a quite man, dwelling in tents". The term quite man is also the term used for Job when God said he was blameless, full of integrity, or a complete man. b. Jacob is described as being a man of the tent. Many have misinterpreted this as Jacob being a momma's boy while Esau is the manly man. What is actually being told us is that Jacob in contrast to his brother is a man who cares about the things of the family and his fathers household; he is the responsible one while Esau is the wild, irresponsible man who is not concerned with the family or the blessing. c. Jacob is a man that is after God he has a hunger for spiritual things (the blessing). Jacob although after the blessing and things of God thinks that God is basically there to bless him, and thats all God is good for and there for. d. Jacob is also a dog eat dog kinda of a guy. He looks out only for himself, and his own blessing and preservation. He thinks that the family blessing comes through bloodline and can be obtained through wrestling and wit; He doesn't understand that the blessing (although being passed from his father) comes through God’s own choosing, grace and timing. i. Jacob is a man who like his grandfather Abraham fails to trust God and by grace and faith receive the blessing but rather devises plans, deceives, wrestles to take the blessing for himself, by his own power, in his own timing. 1. Many of us can Identify with Jacob we misunderstand the blessing of God. a. We think that it is received through wrestling with God: we think that its received by doing the right things and by not doing bad things. We still don’t understand that it is received through faith and by God’s initiative and not our own. b. We also misunderstand what the blessing is for: God has only blessed us (whether we are talking about salvation or physical and spiritual blessing) to make us a blessing to others. Many of us think that its all about us, and our christian experience so far has been a very frustrating one, with little blessing. 4. The Chosen People of God a. Here are the chosen people of God; it kinda makes you wonder why them God? b. All three of these many failed miserably to glorify God and to be a blessing to others. c. But Isaac, Esau, and Jacob in their failings point forward to someone greater, who would not fail. I think that is why so many of the so called heroes of the Bible’s failures are highlighted - so that Jesus shines even more! 5. Jesus: An Appetite for the will of God a. Jesus does not seek his own comfort. i. Jesus left the comforts of heaven that he might do the will of the father and display God’s love and grace through his sacrifice for the sin of the world. b. Jesus does not seek his own will but the will of the Father. i. Jesus is not a wild man; He does not seek to make his own way in the world. We see that Jesus is the obedient son who does not seek to buck off the responsibility that the father has placed on him. Hebrews 10:5-7 says, “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” c. Jesus does not scheme and strive for the blessing but waits for it with patience. i. Jesus patiently waits for the Fathers word to come to pass, he does not take the kingdom, or the crown by force; Jesus patiently waits and commits his soul and body to the Father even unto death. 1. Philippians 2:8-11 “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ii. Also Jesus is not out for himself. Remember he was the eternal king who humbled himself by becoming a man and died in our place for our sins. The book of Hebrews tells us that for the joy that was set before him Jesus endured the shame and suffering of the cross. Jesus suffered and died not because he was a sinner but because we are sinners and we needed a savior. Jesus ultimately died so that he might bless us. 1. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Conclusion: You see, every one of our appetites, whether spiritual or unspiritual, are tainted by sin. Meaning that none of us have a total pure desire that glorifies God and seeks the good of others. Jesus is the only one in all of history who has ever had a pure untainted appetite to glorify God and bless others. So what do we do? We look to Jesus -Hebrews 12 The Bible continually points us toward one man; Jesus Christ, the God-man. Who did not seek his own comfort; who did not neglect his God given responsibility, and mission; who did not seek his own greatness but sought a blessing for his people. The Bible says it is only by Christ death that we can have our appetites removed and made new! We are made into a new creation - the old is gone the new has come. 1. Some of you are in that place this morning you need to receive the forgiveness and newness of life in Jesus. You need a new life with a new appetite for the things of God. 2. Some of you are not appropriating what Christ has already done, you haven’t crucified your passions! You need to look to Jesus, not only for inspiration but for strength and victory over your passions/appetites. We are to continually be walking in that newness of life by the power of Christ in us - the Holy Spirit. Jesus, throughout his earthly ministry, was filled with the Holy Spirit; which enabled him to resist the temptation: to choose comfort, to choose the wild or to choose the blessing and preservation of his own life over the will of God. It is only by Christ life and Christ power that we can change, and that we can have an appetite to will and to do the will of God. So if we are failures like Isaac, Esau and Jacob we need Jesus. Or if we are overcoming we are doing it by the power of Jesus!