[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/death_to_self_bean-bowl.mp3[/podcast] Todays message is entitled, Bean Bowl. Not the burrito bowl, the bean bowl. It came to my attention last week that when I preached on the life and times of Jacob that I missed two very important things. Those two important things are going to be covered today as part of this sermon. The reason I missed them last week was because they were important but not essential to understand the sermon last week. But this week it is essential that you understand them so that you wont fall for the ole bean bowl trick that Jacob sells his brother Esau. Lets open to Genesis 25:27-34. I know we were there last week, but this is our starting point again this week. 27?When the boys grew up, Esau was?a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man,?dwelling in tents.?28?Isaac loved Esau because?he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29?Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.?30?And Esau said to Jacob, Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted! (Therefore his name was called Edom.)?31?Jacob said, Sell me your birthright now.?32?Esau said, I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me??33?Jacob said, Swear to me now. So he swore to him and?sold his birthright to Jacob.?34?Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:27-34) Two things I want you to see in this passage. First, in verse 27, the Bible says, When the boys grew up. I want to set the context of how old Esau and Jacob were when they grew up. Because when the Bible is talking about growing up the Bible isnt talking about 12 years old or 16 years old like we would be talking about in our culture and context. I cant tell you how they were but my guess is the Bible is saying that Jacob and Esau were middle to late aged, like somewhere between 40 and 77. This means that until they were about 40 years old, they were still growing up with very little identity to call their own. I want you to understand this message from the Bible about this statement: growing up means nothing if you dont grow the right way. Esau was a skillful hunter but the moral of the story is that he never learned how to control his appetite. Its so easy for us, as people, living in insular worlds connected by the vast medium of technology to grow up on the outside but stay small on the inside. I want to ask you, and you should ask yourselves, are you really grown up or are you still governed by childish selfishness and impulsiveness? Just this week I had a conversation with Michelle which made me realize how stupidly selfish and impulsive I really am. I learned how to be a super awesome professional and have huge capacity to do incredible things, but I never learned how to be a human being in a relationship with another human being. I had been so selfish. Growth and maturity are not the same things and they dont necessarily happen at the same time. This is the second thing I want you to see in the passage: Esau was a skillful hunter but on a particular day, cant say when it was, all that skill resulted in nothing. Have you ever had a day, week, month, or even year like that? For all your talent and abilities, you got nothing. There are times in our lives where for all its worth, we end up empty handed. It leaves us unsatisfied and that dissatisfaction bring out our dramatic side out of us. Lets look at the passage one more time starting with verse 29. 29?Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.?30?And Esau said to Jacob, Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted! (Therefore his name was called Edom.)?31?Jacob said, Sell me your birthright now.?32?Esau said, I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?? Esau says, what use is a birthright to me? Esau was so hungry that he was willing to do anything to satisfy his appetite. He wanted immediate gratification, and he became a drama queen. When we get hungry dont we blow everything out of proportion? Its what happens when we get too lonely, or too tired. We start to settle for things that we would normally think twice about. For Esau he traded his birthright for a bowl of bean soupa bean bowl. Now this is the part of the story that I missed last week. Yes, it was wrong for Jacob to con his brother. But it was more stupid for Esau to give up his birthright for a bean bowl. Let me explain to you birthright in Israelite culture. According to Deuteronomy, the first born son is allotted a double portion of the paternal inheritance. It means you got double what your siblings got. Look at how fast Esaus double portion disappeared in verse 34: Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. His double inheritance was traded away for a single moment for a bean bowl. This has to be the worst trade off in history. Esau gave up so much for so little. But this is exactly what we do when we make dramatic decisions in our hunger. We sell our peace by choosing to ear worrisome thoughts. We sell our joy by eating a bowl of things to grumble about. We sell our testimonies by indulging our tempers. We sell away our great things for fast food and we, like Esau, despise our decision after the fact. After all, the things we are trading away for are fleeting, at best. Lets go to Hebrews 12 because the writer of the Hebrews explains Esaus situation so plainly. 14?Make every effort to live in peace with everyone?and to be holy;?without holiness no one will see the Lord.?15?See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God?and that no bitter root?grows up to cause trouble and defile many.?16?See that no one is sexually immoral,?or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.?17?Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears,?he could not change what he had done. (Hebrews 12:14-16) Without holiness no one will see the Lord. What does that mean exactly? It is explained in verse 16 and 17. Read that again. Yes, holiness to see God is having the wherewithal to not sell your birthright for a single meal! Hebrews calls Esau godless because Esau traded away everything for a bean bowl. Do you see how important it is not to be so self-involved? Yes, I get youre hungry. Yes, I get you hadnt had a good streak in a while. Yes, I understand life sucks pretty badly for you because everybody you know is passing you by. But dont trade it for a bean bowl like Esau. When you trade what youre destined for, for a bean bowl, you may not got a second chance, you may have missed your opportunity. Somebody else may have already taken your place. Dont fall into the trap of being tempted to give up what you want most for what you want now. I want you to notice what Genesis and Hebrews doesnt say: it doesnt say that Esau enjoyed the bean bowl. You know why? Because its a bean bowl. The bowl, when Jacob was making it, looked so good to Esau. But when Esau ate it, he just left. Im guessing he left because it wasnt that good and because when he wasnt hungry anymore, he didnt want any more stew. Jacob, the con man, in the story is no different than the devil on any other day. Look at Matthew 3. 1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted?by the devil.?2?After fasting forty days and forty nights,?he was hungry.?3?The tempter?came to him and said, If you are the Son of God,?tell these stones to become bread. 4?Jesus answered,?It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 3:1-4) The devil wanted Jesus to trade his birthright for a bean bowl. The devil wants us to trade our birthright for a bean bowl. Unlike Jesus, the sad thing is that we trade for bean bowls almost on a daily basis. And in hindsight we turn around and regret, but come on, it is a bowl of beans were losing perspective over. Jesus is tempted for 40 days with bean bowls but Jesus saw that the temporary relief would mean nothing if he traded for it. We need to stop living like were always going to be starving. We need to stop living like were never going to be successful. We need to stop desiring like the world desires and see our lives for the way God sees it. It was because Jesus was tempted by the devil and didnt trade away his hunger for a bowl of bread that he was able to become the perfect sacrifice for our sins and mistakes. If Jesus had traded away his hunger for the bean bowl, we would have been up the river without a paddle. Jesus did not trade it away. Jesus lived the perfect life. He died on our behalf. He died for all those times we did trade away our worth for a bowl of beans. He saved us from despising decisions. Some of us accepted that. We all need to learn from it. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says this: 16?Therefore we do not lose heart.?Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly?we are being renewed?day by day.?17?For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.?18?So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,?since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Dont make the mistake of trading your life for a bowl of beans. Paul writes this to the Corinthians. We have an inheritance which is greater than you imagined. We possess everything Jesus possess when he ascended into heaven because he gave us that birthright when we first believed in his saving grace and power. When we believe in Jesus all the things we traded for bean bowls, well, thats an end of all of that. Gods grace allows us to stop living like starving failures and start living like future inheritors. Lets pray.
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