See That No One Misses

SEE THAT NO ONE MISSES

Hebrews 12:14-17

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: GROUND SIRLOIN ON SALE

1. It was a holiday weekend when a man walked into a butcher shop that had a sign in the window saying, "Ground Sirloin: 29 cents per pound.”

2. “Wow!” He exclaimed, “that’s the best sirloin price I’ve seen in years! I'm having a cookout so I'd like 25 pounds of your ground sirloin, please."

3. The butcher shook his head and said, "I’m sorry but I'm all out."

4. The disappointed man went down the street to another butcher shop and asked, "How much is your ground sirloin?"

"It's $4.29 per pound."

5. "Four dollars & 29 cents?" exclaimed the man. "Just up the street they are selling it for just 29 cents a pound!"

6. The butcher smiled calmly at the gentleman and asked, "Does he have any?" "No. He's out of it right now."

7. "Well," said the butcher, "When I don't have any, I’ll sell mine for 29 cents per pound too!"

B. TEXT

14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses 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 [KJV – ‘profane’] 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. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. [NIV, 1984]

C. THESIS

1. The writer of Hebrews brings up many areas we need to hear about today: the need for holiness, the danger of bitterness, immoral sexual behavior.

2. When he warned that people might “miss the grace of God,” the Greek word for ‘miss’ (ustereo) means "to fall short," to be insufficient.

3. 3 times in the Bible people were said to “miss” or come short of the grace of God. This means THEY DIDN’T MAKE IT TO HEAVEN!

4. So we’re going to look at those 3 examples and see whether we might be in danger of missing the grace of God.

5. The title of this message is “See That No One Misses.”

I. ESAU

The writer of Hebrews brought up a specific example of missing the grace of God, 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."

b. His problem was -- Spiritual things were low on his list of priorities. He lived only for the here and now.

2. Esau had been out hunting all day and caught nothing. He came home and Jacob was cooking a big pot of chili. Ah! It smelled so good! (His senses took over).

3. "Give me some of that chili, brother." "Okay -- for a price; sell me your birthright!" Now the birthright was Esau’s inheritance rights – it was worth a fortune! It would affect his descendants. It was like the King of England abdicating his rights to the throne!

4. Esau should have said, “You’re crazy!” But Esau did it!

5. It was like selling Manhattan for $24 in beads! Like selling the Hope diamond as a paperweight in a garage sale! We can't help but say, "How foolish!"

B. INSTANT GRATIFICATION

1. At that moment -- as he smelled the chili -- his spiritual inheritance didn't seem all that important! It happens to people all the time; they get in a situation of temptation and surrender all for the pleasures of the moment.

2. A case in point:

a. Karen Glance, age 36. She traded her happiness and peace for a $100,000-plus yearly income. "I was a workaholic," she says, "a crazy, crazy woman. I was on the plane four times a week. I just wanted to get to the top. All of a sudden, I realized that I was reaching that goal but I wasn't happy."

b. Another case: a girl in her teens. Her trade-off included her virginity for the chance at love and security. But she found that "having premarital sex was the worst mistake I ever made... someday I will marry someone and share something very special with him, but I will also have to tell him of my sickening experience. I dread the day that I have to tell the man I truly love that he is not the only one, though I wish that he was."