SOUP OF THE DAY 6/22/02
Have you been to a restaurant where the waiter tells you the soup of the day? It could be vegetable or potato (tater) or the fancier restaurants it could be broccoli or clam chowder soup. All of us have our favorites and the waiter entices us with our favorites. I have my favorite also, but today we are going to read about a soup that was so tempting that Esau gave up his birthright for.
Genesis 25:29-34
Into; Here we read about two twin brothers. They were not identical twins as far as appearance or personality. The first one out, Esau, was hairy and an outdoorsman, a hunter. The other, Jacob, the Bible describes as a mild man, dwelling in the tents. He was a Mom’s boy. (Tony’s twins)
Jacob was cooking some stew and Esau had just came home from a hunting trip. Esau gave up his birthright for a serving of the stew. The birthright consisted of special privileges. The firstborn would receive a double portion of the estate. Two for me and one for you. In this case not only would the birthright receive double portion but also the privilege of an everlasting covenant with God. In the genealogy of Christ we read that Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob not Isaac begot Esau. He gave up all of this for some stew.
What a nut you might be saying, but all of us have our soup that we sacrifice or birthright with our heavenly Father for some short time unfulfiling pleasure. Before we start talking about what a mistake Esau made lets look at a few of our own mistakes. As we do, ask yourself what is your soup of the day?
Sexual Soups (1 Corinthians 6:18)
How many times has this soup sapped someone? Sex with the proper boundaries is a gift from God. Those boundaries are clearly pointed out in God’s word. Don’t have sex till you are married. Any thing else is soup.
1. We see so many people having extramarital affairs and end up leaving their spouses and families thinking that grass will be better on the other side. We live in a throw it away society. If it is broke, throw it away. This philosophy has gone to our marriages. If it is broke, don’t try to fix it, throw it away.
2. In the society we live in Homosexuality is not only out of the closet it’s on the street corner with a bullhorn. A few weeks ago on a kid’s station, Nickelodeon, ran a special called, “My family is different”. They are trying to teach our kids in an early age that it is OK to be a homosexual. You can’t sit down very long and watch TV without something relating to that lifestyle popping up. We have church’s that are now accepting the homosexual lifestyle. Now we should welcome a homosexual into our church the same as any other sinner. Hate the sin and love the sinner. But some people think this lifestyle is acceptable. God says in Romans 1:26-27, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their woman exchanged the nature use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the nature use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. Yet some people choice to forget about Gods judgment and follow their own desires, forgetting that God destroyed a whole city for this type of sin.
3. Our soup could be the hidden sin of Pornography. (Example me sneaking into the freezer) You think this soup is not hurting anyone, nobody knows, it is not affecting your testimony. Two things, first someone does know and it does affect your relationship to Him. The next time you are looking at some porn just try to bow your head and pray. Now tell me it is not hurting anyone, now tell me it is not affecting your relationship with Him. The second is it is not going to remain hidden. Luke 12:2, “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.”
4. The soup of Abortion. I wish before anyone who had an abortion, they would have to talk to someone who has and then latter o had kids of their own. How many people have regretted killing an innocent baby? Before technology came around this was not a baby, it was a mass. Now with the technology we have available we at a few weeks old can see the heart beat of this tiny little child. God told us this a long time ago. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Guys before you think you are getting off easy, if you would take up your part of the responsibility then maybe the girls wouldn’t be so quick to abort your son or daughter. You might say, “I’m to young, I’ve got a life ahead of me.” You are right about being to young and not waiting till you are ready to be a mom or dad but the baby has a life to and the Bible says in Exodus 20:13, “Thou salt not kill”.
Your soup is that few minutes of pleasure you receive are worth taking a life for.
Self Soups
1. We have the soup of Abuse. You forget about what damage you are doing to your spouse or your child. If things don’t go you’re way then you either physically or verbally try to bully your way into the picture. This soup is often hidden but the results are clearly visible.
2. Some people like the liquid soup of Alcohol. They don’t care about the affect it has on their kids. You know where most kids try there first drink. It’s not at some party or some school function. It’s in their own home. They feel if mom or dad does it, then it can’t be all that bad. They don’t feel like it is nobody’s business if they take a drink every now and then. After all, the Bible says to drink a little wine for your stomach sake. Now if this pertains to you, ask yourself the last time you drank if you did it because of your stomach hurting. If you are saying you don’t care what your parents or anyone else thinks, you don’t care how much it hurts others or your testimony, you enjoy drinking and you’re not going to quit, then this could be your soup.
3. The soup of Anger. I know my toes are saying ouch to this one. I can’t begin to tell you the times that I have gotten angry and lost my temper and did something that I regretted latter. It is not a sin to be angry. The sin is what you do with that anger. Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry and sin not.” But so often we have that attitude that nobody is going to push us around and we get angry and sin. Not worrying about our testimony, not worrying about what might have caused that person to do what they did, we let our anger be our soup not worrying about the results.
4. This often results in another soup, Revenge. So often we have the get even soup. Someone wrongs us and they are going to pay. They don’t care about what effects it has on themselves or others. It could cost them a night in jail or you could lose your witness and send a soul to Hell. Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Vengeance belongs to God partly because human vengeance is often carried out to zealously. God’s vengeance is just.
5. Soup that is common is Gossip. So often time’s people can’t wait to talk about that news that they forget the people who often times are innocent they are hurting. An example; A man runs off with his secretary leaving behind his wife of fifteen years and there two children. When you talk about it, your not hurting him, he’s out of here. You are hurting the wife and kids who are left here to deal with it. This is a favorite soup for a lot of people but one that can do the most damage.
6. We have the soup of Depression. The self pity soup. You are feeling so sorry for yourself that you are affecting your relationship with God and others. Psalm 42:11, ”Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God.” When you are depressed you are saying, “I don’t trust you God, I don’t believe you want what’s best for me.” When you get in a depressed mode and stay in it, remember what God said in 1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcame them, because He who is in you is greater then he that is in the world.” When the burdens of this world get you down, give them to Him.
When you are tempted by the Self Soups remember what God’s word says in James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation;”
Spiritual Soup
1. We have the soup of Hypocrisy. This is someone who has received the merciful grace of our Lord Jesus Christ yet they don’t’ live the life that is pleasing to their Heavenly Father. The are so revolting that they cause others to die and go to Hell because they are no different then anyone else so what makes their lifestyle so appealing. Titus 1:16, “They profess that they know God; but I works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” If you care more about living a life that is pleasing to you rather than pleasing to Him then you are partaking in the soup of hypocrisy. We should live a life that is so appealing that others will want what we have.
2. The last soup is the Unsaved Soup. This soup is someone who care so much about what this world offers that he is willing to die for it. The Bible tells us in Mark 8:36, “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul.” Nothing is worth dying and spending an eternity in Hell for. This is not God’s desire. 1 Timothy 2:4, “who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”
So what is your soup of the day? What do you do that effects the loving relationship that your Heavenly Father offers?
