I Want It.... Now!
A Sermon On:
Genesis 25: 19-34
PREPARED BY
KEN GEHRELS
PASTOR
CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
NEPEAN, ONTARIO
THE EVENT INTRODUCED
Some people, it seems, are born with an ability to turn a profit or make a buck for themselves out of the most innocent and seemingly unpromising circumstances. They are the ones with the Midas touch. Everything they come in contact with turns to gold for them. They seem to have a nose for opportunity and always take advantage of it.
Jacob was such a fellow. We see that in today's story. Imagine: cooking a pot of red stew, lentil stew say other translations, at a cost of what, maybe $2 at the most in today's money. Then trading that up front for the right to claim first crack at Father's blessing and inheritance when he dies, what was know as the "birthright." Not a bad return on investment, you'd have to agree.
Now whether it was an acceptably moral thing to do, whether the ethics involved were squeaky clean or not, is a different matter. And it's one that, I suppose, we could debate for some time. But, you know, it also happens to be a matter in which the bible is quite honestly not interested at this point.
You see, the writer of this story was more interested in someone and something else. Notice the very last line of the account. That gives the clue:
"So Esau despised his birthright."
Esau is the main character in the last section of Genesis 25, not Jacob. The Bible says, "so Esau despised his birthright." It doesn't say "so Jacob hoodwinked the purchase of the birthright."
What Esau had, and what Esau wanted - these are the things that concern us in Genesis 25.
What Esau wanted. The bible makes no bones about it - grovelling after a bowl of lentil stew. The English doesn't adequately show how desperate he acted. One would think from reading the original Hebrew that he hadn't eaten in a month! It translates something like this:
"Let me gulp down some of the red stuff, this red stuff....."
You almost want to shield your face because of him sputtering and frothing as he says it. That's what Esau wanted.
What did he have? The birthright.
Other pages of the Bible show us from examples that the birthright meant getting a doubly large share of the father's blessing and inheritance. It also meant that the one receiving it would become ruler over the entire family, and have title to all the possessions of the household.
Please remember that for the early families of the bible times, the birthright also included the possession of the promise which came to Abraham, the promise of a homeland in Palestine, the promise of being the people of God and of having the ever-present care of God.
Esau, as first-born, has all this for himself. But he's hungry and Jacob has the stew he wants. So he makes the trade. His future inheritance, the greatest blessings of anyone in the family, are all given up for a steaming bowl of stew that fills your stomach, loading you up with protein and gas.
What a sucker Esau is. We sure wouldn't have done something that dumb!..... or would we? Let's take a closer look.
WHY ESAU TRADED THE BIRTHRIGHT
The most obvious question needing an answer is "Why would motivate Esau to get rid of his birthright at BiWay prices?"
The thing to remember about these birthright privileges is that they couldn't be smelled, measured or touched. They were things of tomorrow. Esau, on the other hand, was a man of the moment. A bird in the hand was worth AT LEAST two in the bush. Not much use if you can't hold it.
What's a blessing for tomorrow when you may not even be around to enjoy it? What's a blessing way off yonder when there is this delicious stew bubbling and steaming right under your nose? Besides, what if - just suppose - that his father's lifting of hands in blessing didn't work? Then what? He would be out everything, including the bowl of lentil stew.
Esau's a realist. This is life, man. Better enjoy it now. Later will be too late. "I'm hungry. The stew is ready. I want it NOW!"
We call Esau a realist. Know what the bible calls him?
Godless.
Wow - there's a heavy term.
Not - practical, realistic, hesitant, careful.
But --- Godless.
See - God is one who looks to people like Esau, and folks like you and I, and He calls us to live not by a sensory-heavy realism -- the old "when I see it I'll believe it' attitude. Not that. Live by faith. Faith - where you stretch out your hand to a God you can't see, and move out in a direction you can't completely predict towards a destination you can't see.
The bible defines faith in this way:
Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.
Sure that there is a God and that when we raise our hands invoking His blessing on another person, that the blessing is real and will be shared.
Sure that when we pray in a moment of distress, or loneliness, or need our words are NOT lost in the wind.
Sure that as we trudge through dark days of life, we are not alone.
Sure that there IS an eternity beyond what's here and now. That we're headed for it. Sure that the way we respond to the outstretched hand of God in this life determines what will happen to us in that eternity.
Faith - from our perspective today, our busy, busy, in your face point of view:
that God sent His precious son Jesus.
That Jesus' death on the cross was the payment for the sins of all who will place their trust in Him.
That belief in Jesus, dependence on Jesus, surrender to Jesus is THE way meaningful life, comfort-based life..... eternal life.
Esau was the sort of guy who would kind of sneer at you when you'd mention the word faith. If you pushed him, he'd wave his hand and tell you he was fine and that when he needed a crutch he'd give you a call.
If you want to see the Bible's assessment of that a little further, let me refer you to Hebrews 12.14-17 as a reading assignment.
See, the problem is not that Esau traded off his rights to inherit a bunch of camels, sheep, wagons, and nomad tents. If that's what he wanted to do, that was his own foolish business.
But Esau ALSO traded off the other part of the inheritance rights, the part that guaranteed him the care of God, a secure future now and in eternity in God's presence, the special care of God.
That's what Hebrews 12 means by calling Esau "godless." Quite plainly, Esau couldn't be bothered paying attention to God. God didn't factor into his planning for the future. God, God's demands, and God's promises didn't matter. At all.
Understandably, such an attitude doesn't go over terribly well with the Living Almighty Creator and Keeper of the Cosmos. Imagine the arrogance of an ant in a 12' x 12' room with an elephant; an ant living without paying any attention to the elephant, pretending as though he - almighty ant - were the only one who had anything to say about what went on in his life and what the future would bring. Such arrogance, such ignorance of the elephant, will lead to a very squashed ant at some time or another.
It's a horribly short-sighted attitude. And it's precisely that kind of short-sightedness which the Scriptures would have us avoid.
THE ESAU EXPERIENCE IN OUR LIVES
What a sucker Esau is. We sure wouldn't have done something that dumb! Taken in by a smooth-talking snake-oil salesman like Jacob. Imagine.
Really - imagine.
Imagine the possibility of making the things of life that we can smell and taste and handle seem awfully good - six-digit bank accounts, muscle-bound or voluptuous body shapes, the dream car or home, long-awaited promotion, graduation from school with honours, acceptance by the other kids in class.
Actually in some cases they really are good... at least for the moment.
But like with the red stew, they get enjoyed and digested, and in time fade away. Pretty soon our desires begin to roar again and the cravings leave one at the very point where it all began. No richer. No better off.
We get took in when we begin to spend too much time or energy or interest on such things; when they consume all our life's passions; when we look at such things and say,
"let's be truthful. This is concrete. This is real. This is where life is at. All that other stuff, faith stuff, religion - it's OK, don't get me wrong - but it's just not the same!"
THE WARNING OF HEBREWS
The trade between Jacob and Esau, the attitude of Esau, and the warning note sounded by Hebrews are all meant to do one thing, my friends. To have us stop for a moment and to say, "Hey, where am I going with my life?
If everything were to come to a grinding halt tomorrow and I were to be face to face with Almighty God - as will indeed happen sometime to all of us - what will it be like?
Will I be able to say that I have spent enough of my life planning for and working with things that really matter?
Have I grasped something that lasts? Or has everything run like water through my fingers?"
Ours is a busy day and age. We work 50-60 hour weeks, and race back home to do the needed labours around the house. We watch the news, anxiously seeking to know more of current events. Quick fix a meal, off to bed and the next day is here before we know it. Pretty soon the weekend comes with its own litany of businesses. And suddenly we find ourselves shaking our heads saying "It's already February. And where DID 1997 go?"
The time is going to come, for all of us, at one point or another, when we will NEED a lifeline to God, we will NEED to be sure of our standing with him, we will NEED the comfort of the friendship of his son Jesus Christ.
The question is, "will we have it?"
To try and find faith AFTER a tragedy in life,
or waiting UNTIL we are ill,
to wait with building a personal trust relationship with Jesus Christ until the VERY MOMENT we need guidance or someone to spill our guts to,
to wait with confessing our sin and asking Jesus for forgiveness and asking him to rule our hearts until we know we are at death's door -
to wait until the very end for such things because we are so busy chasing the rainbows of life now, is to wait too long.
It's like reaching for your Interac card at the checkout, cart loaded with groceries, hungry kids waiting at home for a meal, and you discover that your bank account is empty. Not a plug nickel in your wallet.
You won't get past the check out.
Sitting in an emergency ward while they operate on your mother is NOT the time to begin wondering if God exists. You need to lean on a faith previously nurtured.
Playing the roulette wheel of life and hoping, chancing, assuming that you've got the statistical number of years ahead to wait for making spiritual commitments is the fool's game.
'Cause the moment will come when we need to reach for what really matters, what really lasts, what really pays off.
And if we haven't prepared for it in this life, all the weeping and wailing won't help then.
Just ask Esau.