I Am Esau

Hebrews 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.”.  A birthright can be many things that we fail to value as we should.  I have equated this with our country and the Constitution for years but, I am finally beginning to see how those are only a by-product of how my life parallels Esau’s.  Solomon said in Proverbs 8:10-11, “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.”  My parents were not wealthy, monetarily when they died, so our inheritance was relatively small.  But they had a vast wealth of life experience and wisdom, so if you believe what Solomon said I failed to value, squandered, or sold for nothing a vast fortune.  It would be like spending one of my dad’s old silver dollars for a buck and finding that it was worth thirty thousand dollars after it was gone.  This was of far greater value than that and I failed to keep very little of it.  Save, a few things I can remember.  I was a greater fool than I had ever imagined and I had imagined that I was a pretty big fool.  I rejected all that wisdom because in my pride and rebellion I thought I could do it better. 

You may make some decisions and get some valuable knowledge but it will ultimately be built on nothing but sand.  Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had a foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”  Psalms 127:1-2, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, they stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late.”   I desired to be the best father ever.  I read books, sacrificed time and money, poured my entire being into being everything I thought my children needed.  In the end, I got the same response my parents got from me.  Like I was with my parents, they were with me. It is almost like a broken record. For those who don’t know what record is.   It is a vinyl disc that you used to listen to like a cd.  When a record was broken it would skip at the crack and most times would play the same line over and over stuck there until you physically picked up the needle and moved it.  It would be in that loop forever if something wasn’t done.  I feel, that is what is going to happen here, unless we have the courage to change.  I built my house on sand and it fell because no matter how much of God’s word is used to build the house, if the foundation is not built on his word it will fall. 

God gave me my parents and the wisdom they had learned to be the foundation for my house and I rejected it.  I can never be in God’s will if I am in rebellion to the ones he placed in charge of my foundation.  They were not perfect, none are, but like the bad things that happen in my life that make me who I am and provide the tools I need, to succeed in what I have been called too, my parents faults and failures, are also for his glory as well, and to be used to build the perfect foundation.  If not, then God would not have created me with them as my parents.  When I rebelled against my parents, I rebelled against God and His design.  How can God bless my house when I am rebelling against his design for my house all along.  God will not put his stamp of approval on my house designs, only his.  Ephesians 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—‘so that it may go well with you and you may enjoy long life on the earth.’”   It was one of the ten commands that God gave us which means it is pretty foundational.  Now any child who knows their bible will automatically jump to the next verse so let us squash that right now.  Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”  Now I have used this to excuse my rebellion, my children have used it, in fact, every time a child who has been raised in the church doesn’t want to obey their parents, they use this verse.  Here is the problem, generally, they resent their parents, no matter how imperfect, for trying to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.  This verse was to caution parents to discipline their children, which is the opposite of what the child wants.  Also, this verse, never says it is okay to disrespect, not honor or obey your parents.  Parents doing something wrong doesn’t justify the children disobeying.  Some may get to go back and reestablish an honoring relationship with their parents, but me, like Esau, can’t.  My inheritance is gone and the foundation of my house is crumbled.

 I must start over and look to God to build my house, on his foundation.  Yet I hear over and over, I’m not a child.  Fair enough but let me ask you a question.  When do you quit being your parent’s child, or when do they quit being your parent?  You can reject them, or rebel against them all you want but you are stuck with each other whether you like it or not.  Also, you cannot live in submission to God when you are in rebellion against your parents, even if you are an adult, or even if they are wrong. Jesus Christ was our example.  This verse demonstrated Christ’s obedience as a child, Luke 2:49-51, “‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.  Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.  But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.”  This is God’s son and knows more than even the Pharisees at twelve, yet he obeyed his parents. What about when your older?  Here’s Christ in his thirties.  John 2:3-5, “When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Woman, why do you involve me?’  Jesus replied.  ‘My hour has not yet come.’  His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”  Now I have heard people say that Jesus was testing her faith when he said, ‘My hour has not yet come.’, but, if that is the case then that would make Jesus a liar and therefore, not God.  But if what he said is true then, even though she was wrong, he obeyed her anyway.  He was to be submitted her, as he was to his father in heaven.  It was more important to demonstrate his obedience to his earthly mother than to stay on a schedule.  She also knew he would because, even after he said it wasn’t his time, she told the servants to do what he said.  Now I have heard others say what he said meant something different so, I will list another account when he is dealing with his brothers and says the same thing with a different response.  John 7:2-9, “Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.  No one who wants to become a public figure, acts in secret.  Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’  For even his own brothers did not believe in him.  Therefore, Jesus told them, ‘My time is not yet here; for you any time will do.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.  You go to the festival.  I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.  After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.”  I believe all of this was not about the miracle of turning the water into wine.  It was about demonstrating obedience to his parents.  If he would submit to his earthly parents, he would also submit to his heavenly father.  I am not sure why it took me so long to figure this out. 

Only after my inheritance was gone and my foundation and house in shambles, did I finally dig deep enough to find what was right there in front of me my whole life.  What my parents tried to teach me, I was too stubborn and stupid to see.  The next two passages speak to what it will look like in the end.  Romans 1:29-31, “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.”  2 Tim. 3:1-5, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”   These passages speak of all the things God views as awful, and that demonstrate a complete disregard for Him, or his principles, it is listed there.  No wonder, my house fell down.  No wonder, my inheritance is gone.  How could I expect that God would bless me and my house when I was training them in rebellion and not righteousness.

What happened when people did honor their parents is demonstrated in Jeremiah 35.  God told Jeremiah to get wine and invite the Rekabite family to a room and offer the family wine.  The family refused because, they said, their forefathers had commanded them to not touch wine and none of their family would out of respect for the forefathers, even though a prophet was saying that God told them to drink.  This how God responded even though they refused to obey him.  Jeremiah 35:17-19, “Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command the of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’  Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son a Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’”   I am Esau, and as I look around, I am definitely not alone.  I see friends, family and church members, all doing the same thing, wondering why their house has collapsed.  As I look around, what I see looks like a war zone, with crumbled houses everywhere, yet no bombs went off.  We did it to ourselves.  We built monuments to our righteousness, only to have them crumble, because they were built on a foundation of rebellion.  God forgive us.  Forgive the Esau in all of us.

                                                                        Love Dad