The Choices We Make

The Choices We Make

Have you ever wondered why children in the same family who were brought up in the same way can turn out so differently? Maybe one becomes successful in school and the other drops out. Maybe one obeys the laws of the land and the other is always getting into some kind of a scrape with the law. One has long range goals and the other just lives from day to day thinking “Whatever.”

In today’s scripture we see a family who sees these extreme differences in their twin sons. Isaac and Rebecca’s twins, Esau and Jacob turned out having very different lifestyles which caused themselves considerable grief as well as their family.

Someone has said about the book of Genesis, that it is “full of the seeds of things”.  It is a book of beginnings; some good and some bad.  And as we read through it what we find is the planting of the seedlings of history, of the church, of the moral and spiritual truths that men either foolishly ignore, to their destruction, or wisely follow, to their salvation.

It is an illustrative book; by that I mean the accounts of the men and woman as recorded for us there are living illustrations of the doctrinal and spiritual truths revealed to us in the New Testament, by which we are exhorted to order our lives.

For example, in second Corinthians 5, in the context of exhorting the believer, while looking forward to being at home with the Lord, to be mindful that it is also important to try to be pleasing to Him while here in the flesh, Paul interjects the statement, “…for we walk by faith, not by sight…”

Going back to Genesis then we find, not those words, but the acting out of an historical event that sets forth the value and virtue of walking by faith rather than by sight.

Let’s join Jacob and Esau in the kitchen tent now, and make some observations about this fateful day.

Read the text - Genesis 25: 29-34

1. Body
1. Don't Trust Your "Gut Instinct!"  (VV. 29-30)
1. One day Esau came home from hunting, and he found Jacob brewing some of his famous home cooked stew.  Esau was so hungry that he was willing to trade anything for a hot meal.  He was convinced that he had to have something to eat or he would perish.
1. Have you ever heard someone say: “Mom, dad, I’ve just got to have it or I’m going to die.”  Or, “I just can’t do without it.  I’ll get it no matter what I have to give up or what it will cost.”
2. Esau did like a lot of people today, he thought with his belly.  Instead of thinking with his head he let his passion or desire control his actions.
2. Danger sign #1 :  Don't think with your belly!
3. The second problem in Esau's situation is that he was tired.  "... he was weary."
1. When we're tired, the cravings of our flesh become magnified.
2. When we're tired, we can make decisions that seem ridiculous on later reflection.
4. Danger sign #2 :  Don't make important decisions when you're tired!
5. Foolish Esau gave in to his appetites at a time of weakness.  Unless we are controlled by the power of the Holy Spirit we will all tend to give into our natural impulses to live by one’s fleshly appetites.  
6. Paul wrote, “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” (Gal. 5:16,17)
2. Don't Get Your Priorities Mixed Up  (vv. 31-32)
1. So in walks the hunter.  He smells the stew, his stomach growls, and so he growls back.
2. The present is all that matters.  His mind has already forgotten the hunt, and there is no place in his head for how he’ll spend his evening; much less his distant future.
3. He doesn’t even know what he’s asking for!  “Please give me a swallow of that red stuff…”
4. Reminds me of my dog, Dixie.  It doesn’t matter if she’s just finished eating her dog food.  I can toss her a bit of hot dog, or a chunk of pork or a bit of cheese, toss it in the air, and it’s in her mouth and down her gut in a heartbeat.  I’m not sure she even tastes it.  Doesn’t matter to her; at that moment, she exists to consume.
5. When some people are so focused on their immediate problems that they forget about their long term obligations to God and their families they make self-destructive decisions.  Some of these self-destructive decisions include lying, immorality, lust, dishonesty, slander, disrespect of authorities, complacency, prayerlessness, choosing poor friends, selfishness, fighting, gossip, fault-finding, abusive behavior, jealousy, envy, anger, greed, complaining etc.  Ask the Lord to help you replace negative attitudes and actions with positive Spirit filled choices.
6. So you may ask, what did Esau trade?  He traded his birthright.  Now to you and me that might not seem like much but the birthright which was the inheritance to the eldest son was a big thing in Bible times.
7. The birthright: this was a privilege given to the first-born son of the family.  The eldest son succeeded to his father’s rank and position as the head of the family or tribe.  He became the leader at the death of the father. He also inherited a double portion of his father’s property.
8. Esau traded all of the privileges that were his inheritance for a short-lived moment of pleasure.  Pleasure meant more to him than anything else.
9. Esau undervalued what was good and overvalued that which had temporary importance.  People who live by their fleshly desires tend to declare what is good as worthless and that which is vain as being of great worth.  Esau’s distorted value system came as a result of failing to follow Godly priorities.  
10. Jesus said, “Do not be like the pagans who worry about what they will eat and drink.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. (Matt. 6:30-33)  Believe that the Lord will provide for the righteous people who are more interested in God’s will than their own selfish ambitions.
3. Don't Sell Yourself Short  (vv. 33-34)
1. Perhaps the greatest lesson Esau teaches us is the crucial importance of moments of decision.  The decisions we make today influence the rest of our lives.
1. Consider Esau’s crucial decision.  Esau’s decision was a momentous one at the time.  Stated simply, it was the decision to remain hungry and keep his birthright or to satisfy his appetite and lose his birthright.  At the moment the decision seemed obvious to Esau.  But later he lived to regret that decision because he could never get his birthright back.  That decision in a moment of weakness cast a shadow on the rest of his days on earth.
2. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.  1 John 2:16
1. The decisions of life demand great care.  Life brings all kinds of decisions, both big ones and little ones.   We should be ever conscious of God’s leadership in our lives.   He leads us during our moments of strength and during our moments of weakness.   If we always look to him for guidance, he will never lead us to regret a decision.
3. Consider, briefly, some of the decisions that we make.
1. The husband and wife have been fighting at home.  It’s troubling.  Not a good situation, but at work there’s a woman who listens.  She’s kind and caring.  He finds himself looking forward to spending time with her.  He never intended to cheat on his wife, but you see, that’s exactly where all of these little decisions he has made end up.
2. Then there are the husband and wife who were both brought up in the church.  Both were encouraged by their parents to attend services and volunteer for church activities whenever possible.  But now that they have their own children, things have changed.  Nowadays there’s sports and camps and concerts and some Sundays’ we’re simply too tired to get up and go to church.  If you ask them, they’d tell you that the church was still a priority, but by the decisions that they make- week after week- you can see that church is only one priority out of many.
4. Illustration — Getting what we want but losing what we had
1. There was a bull that belonged to a farmer that treated that bull very well. That bull was in a rich pasture with tender grass almost up to his knees. A nice pond with clean, cool water to quench his thirst when he was parched was available for that bull. There were spreading shade trees to shelter that bull from the hot sun during the summer months and to provide a respite when it rained. He had six heifer cows sharing his pasture. That bull had everything a bull could want. Surely, this was a happy bull.
   
2. But, the bull was unhappy. He could see another pasture across the road; and in that pasture he could see three cows. Understand, this bull had everything a bull could want. Nevertheless, he felt he had to somehow get into that other pasture. One day, the bull decided that he just had to try to find a way to get out of his own pasture and into that other pasture where he could see those other cows. Day-by-day, he gazed across the fences that kept him from what he wanted. As time passed, he measured the first fence, eyeing it up and down and estimating how he could get across that fence. Finally, the bull gathered up his strength and his courage; he began to run as hard as he could run toward the fence that kept him in his beautiful pasture. As he neared that fence, he jumped as hard as he could and almost cleared that fence, but he caught his underside on the fence and cut himself badly. He was torn up something terrible.
3. Having made it across one fence, the bull realized there was still another fence that he must get over if he was to get with those three cows. Well, he had made it over the one fence; he’d just have to make another run to get over that next fence. So, again gathering his courage and running with all his might toward that second fence he jumped at the last minute. He almost made it over unscathed, but he cut himself again, adding to the damage already sustained to his undercarriage.
4. Nevertheless, he was in the pasture with those three cows. As he staggered, bleeding toward those cows, he noticed they were three bulls. And so you see, he got what he wanted, but he lost what he had.
2. Conclusion
1. The Hebrew writer warns lest we become like Esau, "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; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;  lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.  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."(Heb 12:14-17.)
2. Here is a warning, not only for the unbeliever but for professing Christians also, be careful with the decisions that you make:  be very careful not to despise the blessings and promises of God.  Because the day will come when you will see the consequences begin to manifest themselves, and if your heart and conscience have been hardened by sustained practice of sin, you may find yourself in bitter remorse, yet not be able to find repentance, and what a horrible place that must be.
3. Esau saw only the present, and lost the eternal.   Jacob looked to the unseen future, and from his loins came the Christ.
4. “”Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”        II Cor 4:16-18
5. May the Lord give each one of us clearness of vision through our spiritual eyes, to look at the things that are eternal, and imbue each one of us with a magnificent obsession to be consumed by our Christ and His kingdom.