Blessings and THE Blessing
(Genesis 25:34, 26:34, and 27:1-40)
1. The Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower were not the first to celebrate Thanksgiving in the New World. Several groups before them had done similar things.
2. But the Plymouth Rock Thanksgiving is the one we model our celebration after; for one thing, it included turkey:
Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling" after wild ducks, geese, and turkey.7 The warriors brought five deer. The feast probably consisted of the following items (constructed from original sources and historical research by the Plimoth Plantation):
Seethed [boiled] Lobster
Roasted Goose
Boiled Turkey
Fricase of Coney (rabbit)
Pudding of Indian Corn Meal with dried Whortleberries (blueberries)
Seethed Cod
Roasted Duck
Stewed Pumpkin
Roasted Venison with Mustard Sauce
Savory Pudding of Hominy
Fruit and Holland Cheese
4. What -- no green bean casserole, no cranberries, and no sweet potatoes? Well, I guess stewed pumpkin would taste a bit like sweet potatoes! It would be fun -- and expensive (with lobster) to duplicate this menu, but I think most of us would rather have our family favorites.
5. During the first Thanksgiving season, our pilgrim fathers celebrated God’s blessings. They enjoyed the privilege of a bountiful harvest and plentiful food. But they knew that God had expectations for them. The privilege of the Thanksgiving Feast was coupled with the responsibility to contribute work to the community. Privilege and responsibility go together.
6. The birth right involved a lot of responsibility, and Esau did not want it -- at least as a young man.
7. Esau wanted Isaac’s blessing without the responsibility of the birthright.
8. Today, many of us want privilege without responsibility. For example, our elected politicians have made all sorts of impossible promises; those who won now have to face the reality of responsibility.
9. Their decisions may well be life or death ones, not just talk anymore. All of a sudden, the answers are not as easy as they were. Responsibility comes with the privilege.
MAIN IDEA: You cannot despise your birthright and receive the blessing.
I. Both Jacob and Esau Had Many Blessings, But Only Jacob Would Receive THE Blessing (Genesis 25:34, 26:34, and 27:1-40)
Background: Isaac thinks he is going to die, but will live 43 more years!
• There is an understanding that whoever Isaac officially blesses will be blessed; it is considered a prophetic utterance…probably revealed thusly to Isaac…
• In the logic of the ancients, cause and correlation are often confused; rather than think that a prophet’s words reveal God’s will, this can wrongly turn into this kind of thinking, "whatever the prophet says has to happen."
• Joke about the Amish man who confused correlation with cause:
An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked his father, "What is this, Father?" The father [never having seen an elevator] responded "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don’t know what it is."
While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed, an old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched small circles of lights with numbers above the walls light up. They continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction.
The walls opened up again and a beautiful 24-year-old woman stepped out. The father said to his son, "Go get your mother."
[source: www.goofball.com]
A. Esau’s Spiritual HARDNESS (25:34, 26:34)
1. He sells his birthright for lentil stew
2. He marries wrongly -- the pagans from the land
3. Esau reminds me of someone who does not have a living relationship with the risen Christ, yet he thinks he’s the same as those who do -- he just doesn’t get it; he may at times look like a Christian, but he cannot think like one!
B. ISAAC’S Plan (1-4)
1. The Jews often write up Isaac and Jacob and Rebekah as saintly and filled with good intentions. For example, one Rabbi writes, "…we read of Isaac’s plan to give his son Esau the material blessings, so that he could protect and support Jacob who would spend his life in the spiritual realm of Torah study and prayer…"
2. Nonsense. He knows the prophecy that Esau is supposed to serve Isaac, but he tries to secretly thwart that…he liked Esau better…more in common with him; he knows what he is doing is wrong, or he would be public about it.
Despite his poor motives, God had apparently revealed that his blessing would stand, for Hebrews tells us:
"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future." (Hebrews 11:20)
What he enjoys most about Esau is his hunting and providing wild game, so he sends him out…
Women are usually more comfortable with vegetarian meals than men; men are noted to be "meat-eaters." Yet in that ancient culture, people did not eat meat nearly as often as we do; most days then ate lentils, breads, and dairy products. So meat was a real treat, and it involved a financial sacrifice, since wealth was measured in livestock. Additionally, refrigeration and preservation were not usually available, so they only would kill animals at large celebrations. So meat from hunting was a real treat!
C. REBEKAH’S Plan (5-17)
She is as sneaky as her husband and sons. They are all sneaks and manipulators in this family. Maybe that’s why Isaac and Rebekah got along so well.
Instead of trusting God, Rebekah and Jacob come up with this scheme. Smell like Esau, feel like Esau, and cook food like Esau.
D. Jacob’s DECEPTION Executed (18-29)
He lies and keeps answering that he is truly Esau.
The blessing Isaac gives Jacob indicates that he will father the special nation and seed spoken of by God to Abraham
E. Esau’s Emotional DEVASTATION (30-40)
Isaac was devastated when he realized what happened
Esau was devastated when he found out
Hebrews 12:15-17. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 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. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
By this point, Isaac got with the program; he realized he could not get by with pulling a fast one on God…he now accepts what he knows he cannot change…
The only blessing Isaac could give Esau was a limited one!
The birthright carried some blessing, but mostly focused upon responsibility and leadership; the blessing emphasized comfort, prosperity, and a life of happiness.
Esau wanted the privileges but not the responsibility; Jacob wanted both --or at least he understood the two went together.
You cannot despise your birthright and receive the blessing.
II. The APPLICATION
A. Esau: A good opportunity but a CLOSED heart
He had all the privileges by nature: born first, a man’s man, aggressive, strong, his dad’s favorite…
But he did not want the spiritual and leadership responsibilities; he sold his birth right for a miserable bowl of lentil stew and didn’t care…He was closed to God and despised the blessings he should have had -- until it later hit him.
B. Jacob: A good opportunity, an open heart, but SINFUL choices
Jacob was the top sneak in a family of sneaks. He connived, manipulated, lied and schemed. Even though Esau was more honest than Jacob, Jacob’s heart was more open to God’s than Esau’s heart.
C. Isaac: Cooperating with God’s plan LATE in time
Although it is easy to condemn Isaac for trying to circumvent God’s will, you have to give him credit for admitting defeat and accepting God’s will. He did not dig in and try to give the blessing to Esau after it was too late. He admitted defeat.
One mark of humility is quietly admitting you were in the wrong and accepting correction. For all his scheming, it seems Isaac was a humble man.
D. Rebekah: SCHEMER par excellence
She had probably been thinking about this for some time.
She is to be applauded for her shrewdness, but she did not exemplify God’s will for us. Jesus urged us to, " … be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:17). I think it is fair to say that Rebekah was not the most innocent!
E. God: His Sovereign will accomplished through SINFUL people
Jacob obtained the blessing, but at what price?
His brother hated him and from this point on planned to kill him.
Rebekah and Isaac sent Jacob away to preserve his life and that of Esau’s. Jacob would never see his favored parent, Rebekah, again.
Last week, I ended the sermon with a quotation from the Rabbi Hillel, who said, "If I am not for myself who will be for me? Yet, if I am for myself only, what am I?"
This is the question Jacob must struggle with. "What am I?"
F. Us: Sharing God’s Blessings or Receiving THE blessing?
God blesses all His creation. We call this His common grace.
But then He offers THE blessing, which is a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. This relationship is based upon faith and results in the salvation of our souls and the forgiveness of sin.
Some people want heaven but they don’t want Jesus Christ in their lives; they want the privilege of the blessing, but not the expectation of following Christ that goes with it…
John 1:12-13, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."
You have to receive Him, not just His blessing…
Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
You have received many blessings from God. But have you received THE blessing? Jesus is THE blessing.
