GENESIS 25 VALUE YOUR BIRTHRIGHT2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Genesis 25 Value Your Birthright

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018.

This morning as we look at Genesis chapter 25 and this account of Jacob and Esau, I've titled the message, Value Your Birthright. Because what we see happen in this account is Esau doesn't value his birthright. And it sets an example for us. It sets a model for us to learn what not to do based on what we see take place here with Esau.

Now, backing up for just a moment, as we're introduced to Jacob and Esau here in Genesis chapter 25, they are the sons of Isaac, who is the son of Abraham. And they are twins who were born, and yet God had declared...

before they were born, that they were going to wrestle each other. As they were wrestling in the womb and Rebecca seeks the Lord, God says, yeah, that's just the beginning. There's going to be a lot more wrestling going on between these two boys. And in fact, the younger is going to be the

master over the older, which was unusual for them in those days. And so God made this prophecy and made this declaration. And we're going to begin to see that develop and play out as we continue reading through the book of Genesis in the Bible in three years. But Esau was the one who was born first.

And as the one who was born first, even though they were twins born on the same day, there is the right of the firstborn for them in that culture. And for later on, when God established the law, he built that into the law as well. That there was certain rights that were given to the eldest son. And it was something that was to be honored. It was something that was to be given. It was their right.

not something they had to earn, not something that they had to, you know, work up for, but it was their right as the first one to be born, they had certain rights. This word birthright, it speaks of a particular right of possession or privilege that one has from birth. So just simply from the fact that Esau was born first,

automatically, he had some rights. He had some possessions, some positions. He had some very special things that were set for him because he was born first. To give you an idea of some of these things, here's a couple that we could consider Esau's birthright, included a position of authority. That is, when his dad would die,

Esau would automatically have the position of authority within the family.

That he would be the one who would have a say and he would have authority over the family. If the family was going to move, it was going to fall upon Esau and his decision and his authority. It would be under the realm of his authority. The distribution of the assets and the inheritance, that would be Esau's responsibility. He would have that role of authority to handle those things.

It also included a role of spiritual leadership, that there would be a responsibility to lead the family in the ways of God that Isaac has at the moment while he's still alive, but that would be passed on to the firstborn, the son named Esau in this case. This right that Esau had his birthright also included a double portion of the inheritance.

That is, when Isaac died, because he only had two sons, the inheritance would be divided into thirds. And so Esau would get two-thirds of the inheritance, and Jacob would get one-third. Not because Esau was better, not because, you know, he earned it, but just because he was the one who was born first. That was his birthright. That was his position and what he would be expected to receive.

Now, in the case of Jacob and Esau and this family, there is a special promise that God had given to Abraham about the blessing, about the line of the Messiah, the Savior would come through them. And so in this case, the birthright for Esau would include the carrying on of that and to be a recipient of that promised blessing to Abraham, you know, through his lineage. And so that also would be given to Esau as a result of Abraham.

his birthright. It was his rightful place because he was born first. Now, this was part of their culture, but again, God reiterated and confirmed these things later on when he established the law through Moses, that these things were established. This is what God declared, and these were the things that were expected to take place for the firstborn. Now,

What we see happen in this account, though, is that although all of these things are Esau's, they belong to him, they're rightfully his, he doesn't really care about them. He doesn't value his birthright. And again, as we look at this example, we're learning from Esau what not to do and learning from his mistakes to help us to value the birthright that we have been given.

The author of Hebrews brings up Esau as an example in this same way. In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14, it tells us, we should pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God.

The author of Hebrews brings up Esau as an example. He says, look, we need to be pursuing peace. We need to be pursuing holiness with the Lord. There's no way to see the Lord without holiness.

And we need to have this kind of pursuit to make sure that we don't become like Esau, who was a profane person. He was an ungodly man. He says we need to be pursuing these things to make sure that we don't follow his example.

And so as we look at this, we need to keep that in mind. We're looking at this to learn what not to do and to be warned that we don't follow that pattern, but instead that we would pursue peace and holiness. And so this morning, I want to encourage you to value your peace.

birthright. And we'll look at four things as we work our way through this passage here in Genesis chapter 25. The first one is just simply that you need to understand you have a valuable birthright.

And you may not have been thinking about that. You may not be aware of that so much. But like Esau had this birthright that was just automatically his because he was born first. Well, whether or not in your family you were born first or not, I happen to be a firstborn, so I have some great privileges and that's great. But...

We're talking about spiritual things this morning. And in the spiritual realm, you have a valuable birthright, which is not based upon the timeframe of when you were born and who was first or who was not first, but it's based upon what God has declared and who God has declared you to be. And so you need to understand, you have a valuable birthright. But let's look at the passage for a moment and we'll get into that a little bit more deeper. Verse 29 says, now Jacob cooked a stew.

And Esau came in from the field and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, please feed me with that same red stew for I am weary. Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, sell me your birthright as of this day.

Here as we're looking at this account and we see this situation unfold, we see that Esau, as Pastor Dave was sharing earlier, he was the outdoors guy and Jacob was more the indoors guy. He was in the kitchen cooking regularly. And so Esau comes in from the field on this particular day and he's exhausted. He's been out hunting. He's been out, you know, doing whatever. And he comes in

He is famished. He's hungry and he's tired because he's, you know, been out there in the field and perhaps been away for a couple of days. We don't know, but he comes back in and he is just wiped out. He is weary. He is hungry and he walks in and he smells this good aroma. In fact, maybe that's what brought him that way anyways. You know, like we don't get the impression that Jacob and Esau hung out a lot normally, but perhaps he came back, you know, he's wiped out, but he's like...

something smells good. You know, you ever walk out of your house and you're like, whoa, someone's barbecuing. You know, it smells good. And you kind of go exploring a little bit like, you know, who's got the food on the grill? Like perhaps that's what happened. And Esau goes into Jacob's tent and he says, ooh, give me some of that stew. I'm tired and that smells really good. Now Jacob sees this as an opportunity. And he says, oh sure, I'll serve you a bowl of soup in exchange for your birthright.

All those things that we just talked about with Esau, Jacob says, I want those. So I'll trade you your position as the firstborn son. I'll trade you that for this bowl of soup. And in this, we see that Jacob sees what Esau has in his birthright, and he says, wow, that's valuable. I wish I was the firstborn. I wish I had those things in that position. I want that for myself. Now,

Jacob is not really the subject of, you know, what we'll be looking at this morning. His actions and his motivations, that's a topic for another time, but clearly questionable and not what God was calling him to do, right? But the point to consider is just that he saw the value. He said there's something there, there's something valuable about that role, that position that you have. But Esau, here he is hungry and tired, and so he's

Jacob decides, I'm going to use that as leverage and try to get this valuable thing from Esau. And it wasn't that difficult because as valuable as the birthright was, Esau didn't see it that way. It will tell us at the end of the passage in verse 34 that Esau despised his birthright. He didn't regard it at all. He didn't pay any attention to it. It wasn't important to him. It wasn't valuable to him. And that's what

caused him to behave the way that he behaved and to enter in to this transaction with Jacob. Now again, we're looking at this to learn what not to do. And so I would encourage you as you see Esau's relationship to his birthright to understand that you also have a birthright like Esau. It's incredibly valuable to

And you need to make sure that you value it according to its actual worth. Now, what is your birthright? Well, as a believer in Jesus Christ, there's a lot of things that are, well, given to you that are your right. They're your position. You don't earn them. You don't work for them. You don't have to deserve them. It's not, you know, the exclusive, you know, club of Christians gets them. They're, they're, they're

things that you have that are your right just because you have believed in Jesus Christ. And the list of those things, well, we could spend many days and weeks talking about what your birthright consists of. But I want to share a few things to kind of give you an example of things to consider for the birthright that you have and the value that it contains. The first thing I would encourage you to consider is your position as a child of God.

Just like a child, any child has a special position within the family because they're a child as opposed to any other random kid out there. In the same way, you have a special position within the family of God, within the work of God and relationship to God because you are a child of God by believing in Jesus Christ. In John chapter 1, we're told this in verse 12, it

That as many as received him, that's receiving Jesus, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. When you and I are born again, when we receive Jesus and believe in Jesus Christ, we are given the right to be children of God. Given the right. Now, we're all children of God in the sense that we are God's creation, right?

But that does not bring forth the rights of a child of God in the way that John is describing here. No, you have a right as a child of God to have access to God as a child has access to their own parents and a reliance upon God and an expectation of provision and protection from God. You have a position in relationship to God as his child. It's your right.

And it's not something you have to earn or deserve or work for, but simply because you have believed in Jesus Christ, you have a position as a child of God. This gives you incredible access to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It gives some incredible promises to you as a child of the one who has created all things and reigns.

on the throne. This is an incredible aspect of your birthright. You are a child of God. There's so much there that we could go into, but moving on, another aspect of your birthright is absolute and total forgiveness. By believing in Jesus Christ, your right is to live a life free of guilt and condemnation from sin.

It's your right. You don't have to earn this. You don't have to deserve it. It is given to you because what Christ has done for us, his work upon the cross was so complete that all of your present, all of your past, and all of your future sins are washed and cleansed. And you have absolute and total forgiveness so that God relates to you as if you had never sinned, not even once.

That is incredibly valuable. Paul tells us in Romans 8, verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. There is no condemnation. Later on, Paul will say, who is he who condemns? It's not Jesus. Jesus is the one who's forgiven you. You have the right to no condemnation. Think about it this way. As Americans, we have the right to a fair trial.

But as Christians, we have the right to no trial at all, as far as God is concerned. Now, don't try to use that to get yourself off the hook in legal matters, but in spiritual matters, when you stand before God at the entrance to eternity, you have the right to no trial. The enemy cannot bring one thing against you. There can be no accusation brought against you.

You have absolute and total forgiveness. That's your right as a child of God, as a believer in Jesus Christ. Again, we could go on and on and consider there's great depth here. I would encourage you to meditate on your birthright and what you have in Christ. But moving on, another aspect to consider is your role of service to God.

Not only do you get this like awesome access to God and forgiveness and relationship to God and these promises from God, but you get to be part of God's work, which includes the privilege of serving and being part of the work. It also includes the reward and things that go along with that. We dealt a little bit with that on Wednesday evening and talked about how awesome that is, that we get rewarded for participating in the work of God. You have a role here.

in the work of God, in the kingdom of God. He includes you. And it's not something you have to earn. It's not something that you can deserve. It's not something that is, you know, given to an exclusive few. This is your right as a believer in Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5 that we are ambassadors for Christ, that God is pleading through us to the people around us, be reconciled to God.

This is a valuable part of our birthright that we get to be part of the eternal work that God wants to do in the lives of the people around us. Another aspect to consider of our birthright is your eternal inheritance. We have heaven to look forward to and all the glory that God has promised there. So great that God can't even describe it to us, our language, our words. It would be a crime to try to convey those things to us. It's

It's more than what we could imagine or think exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1 that it's an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled, that doesn't fade away, and it's reserved in heaven for you. Not because you earned it, not because you deserved it. You were given it at birth, not your physical birth, but your spiritual birth. You were born again, and the Lord said, here's your reservation.

It's undefiled. It's incorruptible. It doesn't fade away. You have eternity guaranteed and promised to you. Well, the last aspect that I'll mention this morning is every spiritual blessing in Christ. So that's just everything else, right? Every possible blessing that you could ever have from God, every possible blessing that would ever come to you, that the Lord would ever want to bestow upon you, every possible blessing that's available in Christ, that's yours, right?

That's yours. You get that. It's your right as a believer in Jesus Christ. God has given you this incredible, valuable birthright that by believing in Jesus Christ, you get this position as his child, cleansed and washed completely and nothing held against you at all ever. With the opportunity to serve God with the promise of eternal reward,

and everything else in between, the work that God wants to do, it's all promised to you because you believe in Jesus Christ. You have a valuable birthright. And as you consider that this morning, I would ask you, how much do you value that birthright? It's incredibly valuable. And again, we could go on and on, and I would encourage you to consider these things. But just on the surface now, as we've mentioned some of them, how much do you value that?

How important are these things to you? How important are these things in your life? Do you value your birthright more than Esau valued his? Today is the 28th of January. And I've shared with you guys several times before that I have a pattern that I follow and a thing that I do in my time with the Lord and that I pray for people, a specific list of people on different days.

And the way that I have it organized in my prayer list is that on the first day of the month, I pray for you in the body of Christ who have last names that begin with the letter A. So if your last name is Acosta, you kind of have a sense of when I remember to pray for you specifically. Then those who have the last name B, maybe like burnt, that's the second. And then the third, and you get the point, right? But then you get to the 26th and all the people with the last name starting with the letter Z are

I don't think we have any. But then comes the 27th, and then comes today, the 28th. And so after the 26th, I have different groups of people that I pray for, for a variety of things. And on the 28th is the day that I happen to pray for, specifically by name, all the members of my family that I can possibly remember and think of. So family, extended family, and all of that. And I was thinking about that this morning as I was looking at that list. This is part of my birthright.

I get the opportunity to be part of each of these people's lives, to pray for them, to intercede on their behalf. And God has given me the opportunity to pray for them and be part of their lives in a way that nobody else can. Nobody else is connected to these people in this same way. Nobody else is able to intercede in this same way that I have this opportunity to serve my family in this way.

like nobody else has. This is incredibly valuable. This is incredibly valuable that God would grant us this opportunity, this role within our own families. Paul talks about this a little bit in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, where he's talking about marriage. And he's talking about the situation where someone who is a believer is married to an unbeliever. And Paul says, look, if it's all possible,

You're a believer. Your spouse is an unbeliever. If it's all possible, stay in that relationship. Not to the extent that you're put in harm's way or anything like that, but if they're willing to stay with you, stay with them. And he explains why in 1 Corinthians 7, 14, he says, "'For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.'"

Paul says, stay in that relationship. If at all possible, stay in that marriage, stay in that home because you have an integral part of what God wants to do in your spouse's life, in your spouse's heart, in your children's life and in their hearts that you have an incredible role. And so if it's all possible, stay there because, well, that's really valuable. Don't just surrender that. Don't just give that up because when you stay, you get to be part of the work that God wants to do.

Every one of us, in our own families, in our own workplaces, within the church, the body of Christ, within our communities and our neighborhoods, we all have these roles that are given to us by God of representing Him and honoring Him, interceding on behalf of people. It's just part of our right as believers in Jesus Christ. How much do you value that? Your opportunity to show God's love, to represent and honor God.

and the lives of the people around you. That's your birthright. Nobody has to grant that to you. Nobody has to give you the authority to do that. Nobody has to earn the ability to do that. That's your right as a believer in Jesus Christ. You're an ambassador. You're God's representative there in your family, in your workplace, and so on and so forth. How much do you value that? You have a valuable birthright. However, although this is your birthright, this is your position,

As we move on now to verse 32, we get point number two. Here's the second thing you need to understand, and that is your sinful nature does not value your birthright. You have this incredibly valuable role and position and promises and blessings from God, incredibly valuable what God has given to you. But you need to understand that there's going to be a conflict and a battle within you because your sinful nature does not value any of those things.

It's not excited about any of those things. Esau says in verse 32, look, I am about to die. So what is this birthright to me? So as the situation continues to unfold, Esau's tired. He's hungry. Jacob has some good smelling stew. He wants some. Jacob sees an opportunity. He begins to exchange, you know, offer a trade. And what we see happening here with Esau is this despising that is going to talk about later.

What good is a birthright to me if I'm dead, Esau says. Here Esau really represents our sinful nature, our flesh quite well. What good is a birthright to me? Well, so what if I get this authority and this role and this privilege and these blessings? So what? What does it matter if I'm dead? I can't enjoy those things. Now on the surface, you might think, well, he kind of does have a point. I mean, you can't leave the family if you're in the grave, right? But let me ask you to consider this.

Do you really think Esau was dying? Do you really think Esau was at the point of starvation where if he didn't eat in the next 15 minutes, he would die of starvation? Or do you think Esau was just being dramatic? I think Esau was just being dramatic. He's not at the point of death. He's not at the point where he's going to die if he doesn't eat this bowl of soup. No, but Esau...

experiencing the same thing that you and I are familiar with, hunger, exhaustion. And you know how it is when you're hungry and exhausted, boy, your body is screaming at you and telling you all kinds of ridiculous nonsense. Your flesh will scream all kinds of ridiculous things at you. Well, normally, just normal day to day, but also when you're extra hungry,

hungry, or tired. We even have words like hangry, right? I'm sorry for what I said when I was hangry, right? Because I was hungry, and I was angry, and my hunger made my anger, you know, more intense, and I didn't mean what I said, but I said it because I was hangry, and we excuse ourselves, you know, because I was hangry, you know, and everybody, oh, okay, you were hangry. We all can relate to that. We all recognize how that is. That's the flesh of

That is the flesh dominating our life. In the language, when Esau says, give me some of that stew, it literally says, well, the word red is the word for stew. It's a red stew. So give me that red, that red. It's repeated. Give me that red. Give me that red. It's like, it's an impatient kind of, give it to me right now. I need it right now. Give it to me. And that is Esau's

dominated by his sinful nature, saying, I'm hungry, I want what I want right now, and I don't care what it costs me, I'm going to get what I want. This is the same sinful nature that you and I have. You need to understand those cravings, those desires, they often will be intensified in these moments of exhaustion and tiredness and weakness, and there's temptations that come that are extra powerful, you know, because of that condition that

But you need to recognize that is your sinful nature and it doesn't value your birthright. It doesn't place a priority on what God has given to you. The commentator John Butler says it this way. He says,

the devil will have an easy time getting him to forsake the spiritual to satisfy physical appetites. Again, I would ask you, how much do you value your birthright? Is it easy for the enemy to put you in a physical condition so that you sacrifice spiritual things? That you sacrifice, it's not even a competition, but sacrifice.

Because of this situation, your flesh, your sinful nature dominates and you throw out things of God. You throw out instruction from God, walk with God, insight from God. You throw out those things because you're tired, you're hungry, you're angry, you're fed up, you're frustrated. The list goes on and on. The conditions of our sinful nature.

The enemy is a little bit different than this situation here in Genesis for us because the enemy is not working against us because he wants what we have and he's not going to get our birthright. He's not under any misguided ideas about that. He just doesn't want you to have it. And so the enemy comes against us, works with our sinful nature, uses that for leverage to try to get us to throw away the valuable things that God has given to us.

I've shared this concept many times, but the enemy cannot take from you what God has given to you. So what he does is he does his best to get you to give it up on your own. He can't take away your role in the body of Christ. He can't take away your role in your family. He can't take away your access to God as a child of God. He can't take away the blessings that God has promised to you. He can't take any of that away. He can't even touch it. There's nothing he could take away. But he, working with your sinful nature, will do his best to try to convince you

Yeah, throw it away. Give up on that. Your sinful nature, it's an issue. It's where the real battle lies. You might look at it this way. Your sinful nature is a spoiled, bratty, rebellious teenager. And I can say that because most of the youth are up there, and so we won't have a revolt on our hands if... Don't tell them I said that, okay? But you remember what it was like, those teenage years? Boy, the sinful nature really manifests itself pretty clearly in those times, right? High emotions, strong feelings, hormones raging, you know,

Rebellion. I don't even want that. But just because my parents don't want that or the teacher didn't want me to do that, you know what I mean? I don't even want it, but because I just want to show them they're not the boss of me. And so I'm going to do that. I'm going to go that way. And there's this rebellion within. There's these cravings and there's these screamings at you and demands to do. That's your sinful nature. And it doesn't value your birthright. It doesn't value your position as a child of God.

It doesn't value your role of service to God. Your flesh, given the choice, you want to sleep more or you want to get up and worship? Your flesh every time says, let's sleep more. You want to go feast or you want to fast and pray? Your flesh, I want to feast. Unless you get caught up in legalism, then that's a different thing. But still, it's the flesh. It's feeding itself instead of a real relationship with God and value of the things of God. You have a valuable birthright. Your position is

your forgiveness your service your inheritance every spiritual blessing in christ and the enemy would love to capitalize on your sinful nature and get you to throw out these blessings and these promises this is where the battle is this is where the war is your flesh will be the target of the enemy's attack now please understand in this that the issue is not that you have weakness

or that you have temptation, or even that you fail in the midst of the temptation. The real issue is your attitudes towards the failure, towards the weakness. If you think about the contrast between Saul and David, Saul, he fell short. He rebelled against God. He ignored what God said. So did David. But David was a man after God's own heart. Because Saul, when he was brought face to face with the reality of his sinfulness,

excused, tried to explain away the issue. David, when he was brought face to face with his weaknesses and failures, repented and turned to God and called upon the Lord. It's not so much that you have weakness or that you have failures. We're all going to. And it's not, you know, an exact parallel in that, you know, one failure and now you've lost everything. You know, you've lost the whole birthright. No, no, that doesn't work that way. But we do throw away parts of

of what God has given to us. We do throw away some of the rights that we have when we allow our sinful nature to dominate our lives. That's why Paul tells us in Galatians to walk in the spirit and then you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. We need to walk in the spirit. We need to let God lead us and be strengthened by God. And when we fail, come to God with the right heart of repentance and confession.

That we can continue to maintain and receive the fullness of all the birthright that God has given to us. Well, moving on now to verse 33, we get point number three, and that is you will be offered a low value for your birthright. So in the midst of your sinful nature, you know, not valuing, thinking low of, not highly esteeming these things that God has given to you. Well, in accordance with that, what the enemy will bring you in the form of an offer is nothing

Something not very valuable in exchange for your birthright. Verse 33, then Jacob said, swear to me as of this day. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. What's the going rate for birthrights these days? A bowl of soup. That was the going rate for Jacob and Esau. One bowl of soup. And Esau said, yeah, I'll give up the double portion of the inheritance for that. Sure. Makes sense. Yeah. I'll give up my inheritance.

opportunity to be a leader within the family. I'll give up. I'll lay down all. I don't want to be part of the messianic line and receive, you know, those blessings and promises from God. No, no. Yeah, bowl of soup. That's a good trade. That's what Esau said in that moment. Now again, it's a moment of weakness and he's hungry and he's tired. His flesh is dominating. The offer that's made is incredibly low, but because his sinful nature doesn't value his role and what God has given to him.

He decides it's a fair trade. Alexander McLaren says this, the great lesson of this story lies on its surface. It is the folly and sin of buying present gratification of appetite or sense at the price of giving up far greater future good. It's right here on the surface, he says. This is the lesson of this story that there is the immediate gratification right in front of you and that is received instead of

the greater future good. Esau traded what was rightfully his for a momentary need at a bad exchange rate. And it's kind of like what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 20, or sorry, Matthew chapter 16. In Matthew 16, Jesus says, if anyone wants to come after me, you need to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. There's a cost involved. Count the cost and then come follow me. He goes on to say in verse 26,

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? I know it says verse 24 on the screen, but it's actually verse 26 in Matthew 16. But Jesus says this, there's no thing that you can exchange and have it be a good value, have it be profitable. What profit is it if you gain the whole world? So if we change the scenario, what if Esau began to negotiate? How about two bowls of soup, Jacob?

Does it then become okay? Does it become a fair trade? Two bowls of soup for your whole birthright? Does that make sense? How about bowls of soup for life? Does it then become a fair trade? You see, the point is, Jesus is saying, if you gain the whole world, you get everything that's possible to get, but you lose your soul, then what did it end up profiting you? You might've got lots of temporary, immediate things, but you lost the big picture. You lost an eternity.

you will be offered a low value for your birthright. And again, in our case, it's not so much a one-time thing like Jacob and Esau, but it is a day-to-day, a moment-by-moment thing. And every time you say yes to things in your life, remember that you're also saying no to other things. Those activities and those decisions, they cost things in other areas. And if we are allowing ourselves to say yes to our sinful nature, it is taking away from us

the spiritual aspect and the things that God has given to us in that way. We need to understand the exchange rate and they're not good. You're going to be offered a low value for your birthright, your position as a child of God. What would you be willing to give in exchange for that? Now, if you were presented the choice, hey, here's a bowl of soup and you are no longer a child of God if you take this. You want the bowl of soup? I think everybody would say no.

But that's not usually how it plays out in our lives. I would ask you to consider, are you too busy to spend time with God? I think we all have had that experience. I would suggest to you that's a lot like Esau. That is allowing our lives, our flesh, our sinful nature to dictate, to dominate, to make decisions for us and keep us from God. It's despising God.

our birthright. God has given you access to him. If you're not enjoying that and walking in that relationship with God, understand that you have devalued what it is that God has given to you. How much do you value your birthright? You have absolute and total forgiveness. Now, if you just carry on in sin and carry on and continue, understand you live a life of sin. You've devalued, you've despised

The forgiveness that God has given and being set free from the bondage to sin and death. Would you give up the opportunity to be a light and influence to your family for a bowl of soup? Again, given that, you know, specific scenario, I hope you wouldn't. I hope you're not that weak, but maybe you would. But maybe it takes different forms, you know. There are situations daily that unfold where fathers are just destroying their families for nothing.

for moments of pleasure, for pursuits of things that will not last, for careers that will not, you know, develop into spiritual things. And typically, it's not the decision of, all right, you can either have your career or you can, you know, be a good father. That's usually not the decision. And many times, it's presented in different ways. And there's lots of tactics the enemy uses in our own self. You know, we justify ourselves. And it's more usually like

I will get to that, but I just need to focus on this. I need to get this done so then I can focus on that. And there is an exchange that happens day by day and moment by moment. And the issue is it happens because we have forgotten the value. Your role as a father, there's nothing worth trading that for. Your role as a spouse, there's nothing worth trading that for.

Your role as a coworker, as a member of the body of Christ, your role to serve God and be an ambassador for God, there's nothing worth trading that for. Would you give up the opportunity to be part of someone receiving Jesus Christ and being born again in order to make 10 more dollars? How about 100 more dollars? How about 1,000 more dollars, right? Like, what would you give in exchange for that? There's no rate that would be worthwhile. But the thing is, we need to make sure that we value that birthright, right?

so that we don't exchange it for things of low value. And again, you could look at the inheritance and every spiritual blessing in Christ. The enemy cannot take any of these things away from you. But what he is hard at work doing, and he works full-time and overtime and double-time and trying to convince you, you could do that later. You could give up on that. You don't need to worry about that. Do other things. Anything that he can do to convince you to not receive and walk in and enjoy

all that God has for you. And that brings me to point number four found in verse 34, and that is guard your valuable birthright. You have this valuable birthright, and you have this internal battle because your sinful nature doesn't value it. But don't let that rebellious teenager rule your life. Instead, you need to guard and set yourself up to value these things that God has given to you. Verse 34 says,

As you read this verse, you see there's this casualness to Esau's behavior. No sense of remorse or regret. He sat down, he ate, he drank, then he got up, and he went on his way. So casual. So little did he regard Esau.

all that God had bestowed upon him. And that's why the author of Hebrews says he's a profane man. He despised what God had given to him. We need to learn from Esau's example and make sure that we don't take that same approach and have that same heart towards the incredible gifts and positions and roles and opportunities, blessings that God has given to us. Commentator Alexander McLaren says, let us take heed.

that we estimate things according to their true relative worth, that we live not for today but for eternity, and that we suppress all greedy cravings. If we do not, we shall be profane persons like Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. We gotta be careful. We need to take heed. We need to make sure that we esteem things accurately according to what God has said, not for today, not letting our immediate feelings

needs or desires or cravings be the rule and to dominate our lives. Instead, we need to seek after the things of God. See, the problem with Esau was not that he was hungry this one time. This wasn't the issue. It was not that this is like, you know, the perfect storm that one day he was tired and he was hungry at the same time. And so he just blew it. And it caused him in this state of hunger and exhaustion to despise his birthright. No,

The reality is Esau despised his birthright long before this day ever happened. He already thought little of it. He already esteemed it little. It wasn't a big deal to him. He didn't want it. He didn't care about the things of God. And so when this moment came, he exchanged all that God had given to him for a bowl of soup. This is the word of caution and warning to us. It's not, again, a one-time failure or a one-time moment of weakness. It's about leading up to that. Where is your heart today?

Have you set yourself up to guard this valuable birthright that God has given to you? This role, these opportunities, and this access to God that he has enabled for you by Christ dying upon the cross for our sins. Do you value your birthright? Again, reflecting on what some of those things are, you have a position as a child of God. You're in his kingdom and in his family. You have access to God. You have promises of protection and provision and

I mean, there's some great benefits to being a child of God. It's yours. But that doesn't mean everybody enjoys that and walks in that. Because when we allow our sinful nature to dominate and to dictate, we throw away our access to God for moments, for things that have a little value. You have absolute and total forgiveness, and yet so many times,

will walk around and carry around this weight of guilt and condemnation that's not from God. You have the right to no trial, no guilt, no condemnation. You don't have to carry that. Christ carried that for you. You have absolute and total forgiveness. Don't exchange that. Don't sacrifice that and put yourself in a compromising situation so that then you carry around the weight and the burden of guilt again. You have a role in service to God.

Again, there's great opportunity here. It's an incredibly valuable thing. What would you trade that for? You know, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul dealt with an issue where the New Testament Christians were trading their opportunity to minister for a good meal also. They were flaunting their eating of meat sacrificed to idols and causing issues in the body of Christ. It was messing with their opportunity to minister to others.

And they valued the meal more than the ministry. Now, Paul set the straight, you know, hey, there's liberty, but you need to love people more than that. This is your role. This is your opportunity to serve. Don't value the meal more than the people. We may not have, you know, the meal as an issue for us, but

There's a lot of other things that we could engage in and participate in which eliminate, which remove our opportunity to minister. And where's our priority? Where's our value? You know, that bottle of alcohol might remove your opportunity to minister to your family. Which is more important? Will you trade it? Will you trade the salvation of your family or at least your part in it for a beer? Will you trade it for some pornography? Will you trade it for an awesome career? What will you trade?

Your opportunity to be part of the salvation of your family. What will you trade for that? What's worth that? That's what we need to consider, that you have this valuable birthright, this awesome opportunity, this great privilege. Don't be like Esau. Don't throw it away for things that have no value. I want to finish up this morning by looking at 2 Peter 1. Would you turn there with me, please? 2 Peter 1, because Peter really gives us some great encouragement about

on these same things here in 2 Peter 1, talking about your birthright and how to guard it and protect yourself so that you don't throw away those things that God has given to you in exchange for temporary things that will not last. 2 Peter 1, it's right there towards the end of the New Testament. And I'm going to jump into verse 3. 2 Peter 1, verse 3. He says in verse 3,

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue.

Notice that. Here in verse 3 and 4, Peter's talking about your birthright.

That you have the divine power of God for everything that you need. And you have exceedingly great and precious promises. And you've escaped the corruption that is in this world. And you partake of the divine nature. There's all these blessings that you have been given by believing in Jesus Christ. It's your birthright. Now he says, guard it in verse 5.

but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and he'll go on to list some other characteristics as well. But the point is, but also for this very reason, because of all that God has given to you, because of the incredible value of what God has bestowed upon you, he says, you need to give all diligence to grow. The way that you guard your valuable birthright is to grow. It's to be aggressive,

in developing in your relationship with the Lord. Add to your faith. Increase in virtue. Increase in knowledge. And all these things. Grow and develop and draw near to God and pursue God. That is the only way to guard yourself and protect yourself and to make sure that you continue to value God

what God has given to you. But then he goes on to say, don't despise what God has given to you. In verse 9, he says, for he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. He's describing Esau. When you lack these things, when you're lacking growth, you're not developing in that way, you're short-sighted. You're thinking about the moment, you're gratifying the flesh, you're gratifying those instant things that

It's put you in a state of blindness, just like Esau. He was blind to the real value of what he had. He says, you've forgotten. You've been cleansed from your old sins. You've forgotten about all that God has done for you when you lack these things. And so he goes on to say, therefore, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. Guard yourself.

by investing in your relationship with God, by drawing near to God, by pursuing God, by loving God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. This morning, I want to encourage you to value your birthright. God has given so much to you, and there is a lot of temptation from within and from without to throw away things that God has given to you

for things that have little or no value, and it's not worth it. Don't fall prey to the lies. Don't fall into that trap. Don't let the enemy rip you off. You go experience everything that is rightfully yours as a believer in Jesus Christ. Value what God has given to you and protect your heart to value those things by adding to your faith, by being diligent to grow in your relationship with God. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us

Lord, I pray that you would give us an awareness. Awake at us, Lord. Open our eyes to the value of what you've bestowed upon us. Lord, in our walk with you, our access to you, our forgiveness, our opportunity to serve you, our promise in, Lord, in eternity and all these blessings. Lord, you've given so much to us. Sometimes I wonder, Lord, if it's kind of like living in Hawaii. Like when you live there, you don't really appreciate it. Lord, help us to not fall into that trap, to not tire of marveling at what you've bestowed upon us.

your goodness and your grace and all that you've given to us that is not from us earning or deserving or working towards, but because we have believed in you, you've given us rights. Lord, help us not to surrender those rights for worthless things, for momentary things, for temporary things. Lord, help us to guard against that. I pray, Lord, if there's any area of our lives where we are throwing away

exchanging for things that have no value, what you've given to us. Lord, open our eyes. Help us to see that and help us, Lord, not to respond like Esau and just say, oh, well, get up and just walk away. Lord, I pray that you bring us to a place of repentance. Lord, as we see that, as we recognize that, that we would turn from that and that we would pursue you and grasp hold of these incredible values that you've given to us. Lord, help us to walk with you

Protect us, Lord, from the weakness of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen.