Blind Passion<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastor Don Carpenter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bible Reading Challenge 2021 \/ Genesis 25:29\u201334<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A fly was buzzing along one morning when he saw a lawn<\/p>\n\n\n\n mower someone had left out in their front yard. He flew over and sat on the handle, watching the children going down the sidewalk on their way to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One little boy tripped on a crack and fell, spilling his lunch on the sidewalk. He picked himself up, put his lunch back in the bag and went on. But he missed a piece of bologna. The fly had not eaten that morning and he sure was hungry. So he flew down and started eating the bologna. In fact he ate so much that he could not fly, so he waddled across the sidewalk, across the lawn, up the wheel of the lawn mower, up the handle, and sat there resting and watching the children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was still some bologna laying there on the sidewalk. He was really stuffed, but that baloney sure did look good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally temptation got the best of him and he jumped off the handle of the lawn mower to fly over to the baloney. But alas he was too full to fly and he went splat!!, killing him instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moral of the story: Don\u2019t fly off the handle when you are full of baloney.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a dark side to us, that\u2019s as reckless as the fly. It does not matter what the costs are, you just got to have it. Humanity is like that, so full of baloney, they can\u2019t see it and they fly off the handle, thinking they can handle it all, and be satisfied only to end up splat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n _____________<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible is full of warnings about fleshly lusts\u2026 natural desires that seek to be fulfilled outside the boundary of God\u2019 s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Peter 2:11<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 9:27<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 John 2:16<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like that poor fly, we can have have cravings, often physical desires, that attempt to rule our lives. This week during our 2021 Bible Reading Challenge, we read about Esau and how he gave up his inheritance and religious privilege as firstborn son in exchange for red lentil stew. What would lead him to make such a foolish choice? Tonight we are going to learn a very important lesson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Succumbing to the seduction of immediate gratification can blind you to the gravity and severity of its long term consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lust Can Be Triggered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesis 25:29\u201330<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tSometimes it is triggered by your senses\u2026 something in your environment\u2026 the smell of cooking<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tIt can be triggered by physical need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tIt can be triggered by physical neglect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tIt can be triggered by fatigue\u2026 Esau had been hunting all day and got nothing<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tIt can be triggered as a learned response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is possible to identify some of those triggers and avoid them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Romans 13:14<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And he was famished: famished means to be weak and faint from having gone without food for a long while. This idea is sometimes expressed idiomatically; for example, \u201chunger held him by the throat\u201d or \u201chunger burned his stomach.\u201d1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 William David Reyburn and Euan McG. Fry, A Handbook on Genesis, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 585.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me eat some of that red pottage is literally \u201cLet me swallow.\u2026\u201d The narrator is depicting Esau as a greedy glutton. njv expresses the thought well with \u201cLet me gulp down.\u201d In some translations the feeling is expressed by \u201cGive me that red soup of yours. Hurry!\u201d Red pottage is literally \u201cthis red, red\u201d (Hebrew \u2019edom, a word that sounds like \u201cEdom\u201d).1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 William David Reyburn and Euan McG. Fry, A Handbook on Genesis, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 586.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gratification Comes At a Price<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesis 25:31<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n BIRTHRIGHT \u2014 a right, privilege, or possession to which a person, especially the firstborn son, was entitled by birth in Bible times. In Israel, as in the rest of the ancient world, the firstborn son enjoyed a favored position. His birthright included a double portion of his father\u2019s assets upon his death (Deut. 21:17<\/a>). Part of the firstborn\u2019s benefits also were a special blessing from the father (Gen. 27:27<\/a>) and the privilege of leadership of the family (Gen. 43:33<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \tThe inheritance rights of the firstborn were protected by law, so the father could not give his benefits to a younger son (Deut. 21:15\u201317<\/a>). The firstborn himself, however, could lose the birthright. Because he committed incest with his father\u2019s concubine (Gen. 35:22<\/a>), Reuben lost his favored position (1 Chr. 5:1\u20132<\/a>), while Esau sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for a stew of lentils (Gen. 25:29\u201334<\/a>), or for \u201cone morsel of food\u201d (Heb. 12:16<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \tJesus was both the firstborn of his heavenly Father (John 3:16<\/a>), and his earthly mother, Mary (Luke 2:7<\/a>); so he enjoyed the rights and privileges of the Jewish birthright. All Christians are His brothers, sharing in His spiritual inheritance (Rom. 8:17<\/a>). They are counted as \u201cfirstborn\u201d by God\u2019s grace (Heb. 12:23<\/a>).1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson\u2019s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hebrews 11:25<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tLust could have you give up your family<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tLust could have you give up your marriage<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tLust could have you give up your job<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tLust could have you give up your life\u2019s savings<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tLust could have you give up your health<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tLust could have you give up your life<\/p>\n\n\n\n James 1:13\u201315<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The severity of the lust masks the severity of the consequences.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesis 25:32<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n **Canvas Slide**<\/p>\n\n\n\n Esau exaggerates not only his hunger but the imminence of his death as well, unless one understands his hinn?h ??n??\u00ee h\u00f4l?? l?m\u00fb? as an idiom of hyperbole, akin to our \u201cI\u2019m starving to death\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m dying of thirst.\u201d When Esau first spoke about his hunger (v. 30), he used the exact phrase that the narrator had used in the previous verse: narrator (v. 29): \u201cEsau \u2026 starving (??s?w \u2026 ??y?p?); Esau (v. 30): \u201cI am starving\u201d (??y?p? ??n??\u00ee). Here he exaggerates \u201cI am starving\u201d to \u201cI am on the verge of dying.\u201d If he really believes that he is dying, then does he think a bowl of stew can arrest the inevitable? But given the choice of retaining his special status or getting something to eat, he opts for the latter.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18\u201350, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 184\u2013185.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Philippians 3:18\u201319<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hebrews 12:16\u201317<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The third \u201clest\u201d clause is v. 16: \u201cLest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright\u201d (AV). Because the OT has no explicit reference to immoral behavior by Esau, it is hard to know whether \u201cfornicator\u201d is to be understood literally or metaphorically.2 In nonbiblical Jewish literature Esau was accused of being a womanizer and one who not infrequently engaged in immoral trysts with married women (Gen. Rabbah 65:1; Jub. 25:1, 8). More than likely Heb. 12:16<\/a> reflects that tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \tThe incident to which the writer of Hebrews clearly alludes illustrates a misplaced sense of values more than it does sexual immorality. To prostitute oneself, as in Esau\u2019s case, means to be bereft of any spiritual values, to put the needs of the immediate moment ahead of any other considerations, to put feeling ahead of conscience, to give away much (\u201csold his birthright\u201d) and receive back little in return (\u201cfor a single meal\u201d). This, says the writer to the Hebrews, is what Esau did, but what those who pursue peace and sanctification will avoid. Note that Heb. 12:16<\/a> describes Esau as both p\u00f3rnos and b\u00e9b?los (\u201cprofane\u201d [AV]; \u201cirreligious\u201d [RSV]; \u201cdegrade religion\u201d [JB]; \u201cworldly-minded\u201d [NEB]); \u201cdefiled\u201d [Buchanan]; \u201cunclean\u201d [Attridge]). In the LXX b\u00e9b?los is associated with cultic matters (e.g., Lev. 10:10<\/a>; Ezek. 4:14<\/a>; 21:25<\/a>; 22:26<\/a>; 44:23<\/a>). But in the NT it is always an ethical\/religious term, applied either to people (1 Tim. 1:9<\/a>; Heb. 12:16<\/a>) or to things (1 Tim. 4:7<\/a>; 6:20<\/a>; 2 Tim. 2:16<\/a>)1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18\u201350, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 188.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Succumbing to immediate gratification of lust shows contempt toward the gifts you already possess.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesis 25:33\u201334<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The story concludes by expressing a feeling of disdain for Esau: Thus Esau despised his birthright. Despised is used here in the sense of careless indifference or disregard. For Esau the birthright is a worthless object. reb translates \u201cEsau showed by this how little he valued his birthright,\u201d spcl \u201cEsau \u2026 left, without attaching any importance to his rights as oldest son.\u201d These and tev are satisfactory translation models.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 William David Reyburn and Euan McG. Fry, A Handbook on Genesis, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 588.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certainly the profane nature of Esau was a warning for Israel. It is wrong to sacrifice spiritual provisions to satisfy one\u2019s physical appetites. This is a question of priorities. Esau saw only food; and he did whatever was necessary to get what he wanted (cf. Eve and the food on the tree, 3:6).1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Allen P. Ross, \u201cGenesis,\u201d in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psalm 106:24<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yea, they despised the pleasant land, They believed not his word:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew 22:4\u20135<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So what does this little story tucked away in Genesis tell us? Physical desires can be triggered into a monstrous lustful desire demanding immediate satisfaction. We must take care not to feed those desires and to avoid making provisions for their existence wherever possible. We have learned that sinful lust comes at a much higher level of long term pain than the short term pleasure it affords. We have learned that lust can blind us in the heat of the moment so it is wise to avoid the heat of the moment. We have learned that in the end, when we give in to lust, we show great contempt to the important relationships and privileges we already enjoy. We have learned that we must keep our face in the Book, our eyes on Jesus and do what it takes to stay away from Blind Passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:17 PM January 13, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blind Passion Pastor Don Carpenter Bible Reading Challenge 2021 \/ Genesis 25:29\u201334 A fly was buzzing along one morning when he saw a lawn mower someone had left out in their front yard. He flew over and sat on the handle, watching the children going down the sidewalk on their way to school. One little … Continue reading Blind Passion<\/span>