Bitter Roots (2)

Matthew 6:22–24 NKJV

22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Bitterness Brings Darkness

I have observed and counseled many people over the course of my ministry (which spans near 30 years now,) a vast plague of bitterness and a dearth of true love. When we deal with the topics of bitterness and love, we are dealing with our influence on the world around us for darkness or light.

Hebrews 12:14–17 NKJV

14 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.

Pursue Peace and Holiness

This is where we see the influence of the church on grand display.

We are to PURSUE peace with ALL people… let that sink in. Now to be certain we cannot force peace on those who will not have it, but as much as it involves us we must live peaceably with all men.

We are to pursue holiness - without which no one will see the Lord. NO ONE will see the Lord in us if we are not allowing Him to live through us. If we are not wrapped up in His holiness. Not self righteous hypocrisy, but a true life that is a reflection of our Savior. This is about influencing others for Christ!

Now we get to the crux of the matter. Falling short of the grace of God is not about losing our salvation. It is about falling short of the grace of God. About living a life unworthy of the grace that’s been bestowed freely upon us. The Word says that we are to walk worthy! This falling away may also include those who have a form of religion but deny the power of Christ. Those who are religious but lost. We are to watch out for them and one another. Both for salvation and for sanctification.

Finally we are gifted with the following phrase and then example. Lest any fruit of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.

What a tremendous gift God has given to us. To share with us and warn us of this spiritual, relational and physically deadly root.

The frightening part of the passage refers to sad Esau. He was a mess. I’m going to take a few moments to share his story for those unfamiliar with it. It goes like this.

Genesis 25:29–34 (NKJV) 29 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.

Esau was his fathers favorite son. He grew up knowing of God. In the household of God. He was strong, manly and impressive. He was a fighter and a hunter.

His brother Jacob was a shepherd and was not the hunter his brother was. He lacked the thickness of stature and typical masculine hairiness. He was his mothers favorite.

Esau went hunting one day. It must have been a bad day and he was tired and hungry. He saw Jacob cooking some lentil stew and asked for some. Jacob, ever the younger and ambitious son said sell me your birthright this day. Esau then displays utter carelessness for God and the things of God. HE whined “I’m about to die! What good is this birthright to me!?” IT was plenty good. It often included a double inheritance, authority, and prophetic words and encouragement spoken over the one with the first birthright. So why did he do this? The Bible says he despised his birthright.

His mind was set on earthly things. The things of God meant nothing to him. The Bible calls him a profane person… this means that he was set against the things of God. IT wasn’t simply about hunger, it was hunger without regard for God and His way and His blessings.

We are given an example now of what bitterness may look like and where it may come from. HE was bitter over losing the blessing of his birthright. When he was growing older he wanted it back.

Hear me well, Esau became bitter because of his perception and lack of contentment which should come from God. He became bitter because he was filled up with the things of earth and when he didn’t think he was getting what he deserved he got bitter.

This next thought is scary - He tried to to repent but his bitterness kept him from it.

Bitterness is a Big Deal

I want to leave you with some hope this morning. First turn to Jesus before it’s too late. Don’t worry about tears or working up emotion. They may come in time. Instead, examine your own heart and see what bitterness you may find there and confess it to the Lord. Begin the process of giving it over to him.