Not For Sale, Trade, Or Compromise: My Birthright

NOT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR COMPROMISE: MY BIRTHRIGHT

1 Kgs. 21:1-15

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A four-year-old boy accompanied his expectant mother to the doctor’s office. When the mother heaved a sigh and clutched her stomach, her son looked alarmed. "Mommy, what is it?" He asked.

2. "The baby brother you're going to have is kicking," his mother explained. "He's probably getting bored," the youngster decided. "Why don't you swallow a toy?"

3. JOKE # 2. A mother had just brought her newborn triplets home from the hospital. Her older boy, a four-year-old, took his first doubtful look at the new babies and said, "We probably better go out front of Wal-Mart right away. They're going to be harder to get rid of than kittens!”

B. TEXT

Gen. 25:31; “Jacob replied, ‘First sell me your birthright.’”

Heb. 12:16-17; “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. 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.”

1 There was…a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite ….close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden….In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” 3 But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” 1 Kgs. 21:1-3.

C. THESIS

1. This message is all about realizing what is yours in Christ and determining to contend for it for yourself, as Jude said, “Contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (vs. 3).

2. Ahab is a type of the devil, who is trying to get Naboth (a type of the Christian) to give up his/her inheritance in Christ Jesus. In John 10:10 Jesus called the devil "a thief," who takes what doesn't belong to him. An heir possesses what DOES belong to him. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ!

3. We're going to see this morning how we're supposed to hold on to what is ours in Christ and not let the enemy take it from us.

4. The title of this morning's message is "Not for Sale, Trade, or Compromise: My Birthright."

I. WHAT IS A BIRTHRIGHT?

A. BIRTHRIGHT DEFINED

1. Birthright is defined as “the right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth.” [Merriam-Webster]

2. In the natural world, inheritance is viewed as property, money, estates, lineage, citizenship, and sometimes, fame or ignominy.

B. FAIRNESS OF BIRTHRIGHT

1. None of what is received was earned by the heir.

2. Achievements of predecessors are passed down to heirs, often times to profligate and worthless individuals, who don’t know what it means to work because they’ve never had to, and often squander what they get.

3. There’s no work, but simply a gift from one generation of a family to another generation of the family. How can this be right?

4. BECAUSE THE ONE WHO ACHIEVED IT LIVES ON IN THE HEIR – GENETICALLY. PART OF THE PARENT SURVIVES IN THE CHILD. The LIFE of one is passed on and is antecedent to the other. The child would have no life without the genes of the parent, so the descendant gets to enjoy the fruits of the earlier life, whom it replaced.

C. BIRTHRIGHT & THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Nowhere is all this more true than in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is only for those who are born to it. You must be born again. The fruits of Christ our forebear are accrued to us.

1. His Riches; His Titles; His Status; His Possessions; His Privileges, are all ours!

2. CONNECTION TO HIM AS PARENT. How is all this possible? Because His life is inside us! So He is really only inheriting what is His own (since He is risen & lives in us) and we get to share it with Him!

II. ESAU SOLD HIS SOUL

The writer of Hebrews brought up a specific example and danger of relinquishing one’s inheritance: a man named Esau. Genesis 27 tells the story of Esau, a rugged, outdoorsman who loved to hunt. He was a ‘man's man.’ He was strong, well-built, he wore a beard. He was a Hugh Jackman kind of guy. He had a lot of good traits, but a few fatal ones too!

A. THE WRONG VALUES OF ESAU

1. Hebrews 12:16, "Lest there be any... profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."

a. "Profane" -- "to treat something sacred with abuse or contempt."