Bible Study Esau's Choice: Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain.

[Tenchi]

Hebrews 12:14-17 (NASB)
14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
​

Do you know the story of Esau selling his firstborn birthright to his deceitful, younger brother Jacob for a bowl of stew? (Genesis 25:278-34) When I was a kid and first heard the story, I thought that Esau was a pretty stupid person. Who would do such a thing? His trade with his brother seemed so obviously short-sighted and ruinous to Esau - especially given what he got in return. As an older adult, I see now that Esau's Choice is actually a very popular one, made again and again by people who are otherwise sensible and rational.

It's good to get God's perspective on Esau's Choice. While I'm inclined to see it as just foolish and/or extremely shortsighted, in the Book of Hebrews, God says that Esau's Choice reflected the immorality and godlessness of Esau. Yikes. God looked very dimly on Esau's yielding up his great, future birthright for the satisfaction of a trivial, momentary need, drawing out in the Book of Hebrews that Esau did so as a consequence of a low character, not as an unusual one-off decision, an aberration in Esau's normal thinking and conduct. No, he did as he did, relinquishing much for little, because Esau was a seriously corrupt man.

How does this work out, exactly? Why was Esau's Choice immoral and godless? Because it disregarded the high honor and responsibility of a firstborn son, treating the spiritual heritage entailed in his birthright as a trifle to be traded away for a bowl of stew. Esau's Choice also demonstrated an over-riding preoccupation with fleshly things. That Esau was not in the habit of reining-in his physical appetites is clear in his readiness to discard an enduring birthright to satisfy - only temporarily - an acute fleshly impulse. Unrestrained by reason and untempered by considerations of the future, pangs of hunger overtook Esau such that he would sacrifice all to satisfy his stomach. In this, he parallels those of whom Paul wrote:

Philippians 3:18-19 (NASB)
18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

Esau's belly was his god and it cost it him dearly to worship it. Though he sought to repent of his wicked, short-sighted choice later on, what he had done could not be reversed. Sadly, Esau's not the only one who has made (and is currently making) such an immoral and godless choice. Christians make the same choice day-in and day-out when they sacrifice their spiritual birthright in Jesus for fleshly, temporal things. The believer who would rather spend an hour looking at porn than his Bible has made Esau's Choice; the believer who binge-watches some Netflix series at the expense of spending time with God in study of His word and prayer has made Esau's Choice; the believer who goes on holiday to some warm, tropical locale, never once thinking of God, gratifying fleshly, temporal desires while neglecting eternal, spiritual realities, has made Esau's Choice; the believer who forsakes the assembly of believers on a Sunday morning for another hour warm and comfy in bed has made Esau's Choice. And so it goes.

Just as in Esau's case, there is a terrible price that is paid by the Christian who makes Esau's Choice. Above all, they cease to enjoy God, to fellowship with Him. God will not hear, nor look upon, those who follow Esau's evil example. (Psalms 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; 1 Peter 3:10-12) Many Christians shrug their shoulders at this, unconcerned by such a prospect. God has always seemed a long way off, a vague figure more theoretical than real, the Ultimate Prude and pious Wet Blanket. He certainly doesn't induce in them the sort of intense gratification, the pleasure and delight, that boozing it up with their buddies on the golf-course links does, or that howling madly with fifty thousand other people at an NFL game does, or that fornicating with their boy/girlfriend does. They don't realize that their flat response to the chronic absence of fellowship with God is part of the price they're paying for doing as Esau did. Their evil choice is so destructive that it has made God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Greatest Possible Being and their Eternal Destiny seem uninteresting and easily sacrificed in the pursuit of some trivial, momentary fleshly impulse. Rather than this frightening those who've made Esau's Choice, the effect of their choice - often made over and over again - has so dulled them to God that they can't understand why feeling as they do toward God is a problem.

As you can imagine, God doesn't much like it when His children, whose existence He sustains moment-by-moment, and for whom His only Son died in horrible agony, and who were created to know and love Him, yield up fellowship with Him in order to serve their bellies. Doing so, He says to us in His word is immoral and godless.

How can one who's made Esau's Choice many times and who is, as a result, deadened toward God in their heart revive the failing flicker of spiritual life that remains? Here's God's prescription for change:

Revelation 2:4-5 (NASB)
4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

It is always God's love that is to be the motivating force in our walk with Him. (Matthew 22:36-38; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; 1 John 4:16-19) "We love Him because He first loved us." This is always forgotten by the believer who has made Esau's Choice. And so, God's says to the one cold toward Himself, "Remember your first love for me and understand how far from it you've fallen."

Continued below.

 

[Tenchi]

Seeing how far from the light and motivating power of God's love one has strayed, God's second prescription is to repent. That is, change one's thinking about one's sin and about God. Always, Esau's Choice is made after we have lied to ourselves about it. Repentance means to expose those lies under the Light of God's word and the convicting power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and cut them down and root them out, choosing instead to embrace divine Truth and freedom over self-deception and bondage.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB)
5 ...destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

James 4:8-10 (NASB)
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Finally, God says to the one guilty of Esau's Choice: Return to the deeds you did at first. Genuine repentance always manifests in corresponding action. Completing God's prescription for change, for escaping the destruction of Esau's Choice, requires taking action and living in accord with God's will and way. What does this looks like? Consider the following:

Romans 13:12-14 (NASB)
12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Ephesians 5:1-5 (NASB)
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Philippians 4:8 (NASB)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 3:7-14 (NASB)
7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

God has made each of us to know and enjoy Him, in peace, love and righteousness, communing with Him daily. But if we will not, we move unavoidably along a road that will end in disaster and that, as in Esau's story, could not be reversed.

Proverbs 29:1 (NASB)
1 A man who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

What choice will you make today? Will it be Esau's Choice? Or will you follow Paul's example, giving up all for the surpassing value of knowing Christ? One way or the other, you will choose again this day whom you will serve, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness and Life.

 

[Tenchi]

Bump.