Don't Sell Yourself Short

February 2, 2020                   NOTES NOT EDITED

Don’t Sell Yourself Short

Genesis 25:27-34

SIS—“Seemingly small decisions can lead to huge regrets.”

Like any person, Nick answers phone calls, types on a computer, combs his hair, shaves, brushes his teeth, pours himself a glass of water, and even plays the drums.  None of these things are particularly unique or remarkable.  Unless you consider that Nick Vujicic doesn’t have any arms or legs!  He just has what appear to be two toes that protrude from his waist.  Born with no arms and no legs, Nick stands 3 feet 2 inches tall.  He has not however, sold himself short.

He may be short on the outside, but he towers like a giant on the inside, never letting his disabilities limit his destinations.  He’s a college graduate, a world traveler, a father.  He has a beautiful wife and four children including twin girls.  He golfs, swims, and even surfs, all without limbs.  He likes to say that while he lives a life without limbs, it is also a “life without limits.”  Nick is also a very devoted believer and follower of Jesus Christ.

Nick applied a simple principle we all can apply:  focus on our blessings, not our circumstances. 

That remarkable application of understanding “counting one’s blessings” propelled Nick into a very fulfilling and successful life.  In short, Nick Vujicic never sold himself short.

Today, we are going to see someone who took a totally different approach to the circumstances of his life.  These were circumstances much less dire by a great measure than the challenges faced by Nick Vujicic.  In our story, the challenge that led Esau to sell himself short and squander his blessings, was simply being hungry at the end of a day of hunting.  He sold himself short—in fact, he sold his blessings for a simple bowl of red beans.

Our text today tells similar story in which a man sells himself short and experiences a great loss.  Let’s read together from Gen 25:27-34

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.  ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was _⌊also_⌋ named Edom.³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” ³² “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

The story of Esau selling his birthright provides a deep insight into why most people never experience great blessing in their life.  They sell-out to immediate gratification.  They give in to the lure of the pursuit of material possessions.  They disregard the value of a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  They enter into a short-sale that brings an eternity of regret.

1.  What exactly did Esau Sell? (v31, 33)

³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

……………………………….

³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.

First, before I discuss the birthright, let me point out that the Bible does not address Jacob’s cunning and manipulation in this matter.  This is not to say that the Bible condones taking advantage of another.  It does not.  It is not to say that Jacob is at all pure in this matter—nor in many matters in his life.  Jacob’s actions are simply not the point of this story.  This story is about Esau’s attitude and how it affected his blessing.

It further teaches us that we, alone, are responsible for our individual choices.  We cannot hide behind blaming someone else.  We cannot get to heaven on another’s merit, nor can one be cast into hell for another’s transgression.

The birthright we are speaking about was a well-established aspect of Jewish life during this time.

Finally, the act of swearing an oath to obtain the bowl of stew means that the person agreed to be bound for all time by this transaction.  This further emphasizes the long-term negative effects of a short-term satisfaction.  There would be no turning back according to Jewish law.  It was a done deal.

Let’s examine this instance of “selling oneself, short” and see if we can gain some insight into how to avoid making the same mistake as Esau.  To gain that insight, I have four questions to ask.

2.  What did he sell it for? (v 30)

“Let me eat some of that red stuff.”

A moment of sinful pleasure can gain an eternity of hellish pain.

The contrast in this story could not be greater:  a birthright for a bowl of stew.  It begs the question:  “how could anybody sell something so special for a price so cheap?  Yet, people do this every day.

The application of this matter here is this:  when we come to a place that God offers us a choice between immediate gratification and eternal blessing, and we choose unwisely to follow the flesh, God allows us that free choice.  But, with such a choice, comes consequences—sometimes very grave consequences.

Every time we have the opportunity to say “no” to sin and “yes” to God, and we instead say “yes” to sin, then we follow in the footsteps of Esau – we make a short sale.  We sell out way too cheaply.

Reminds me of a Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme:

Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been?

I’ve been to London to visit the Queen.

Pussy cat, pussy cat what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under a chair.

Like this cat, and like Esau, so many people sell their lives too cheaply in the pursuit of material stuff and temporary pleasures.  We play “cat and mouse” games with our lives, not in the presence of an earthly queen, but Almighty God. We tragically undervalue the worth of a relationship with God—which is what the birthright represents in this story.  Esau sold something of immeasurable worth for something with no lasting value.

I read about A GEM DEALER who was strolling through the aisles of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.  There were all kinds, shapes and sizes of stones.  Most were nothing more than fancy rocks, but when polished people used them to make amateur jewelry.  As this gem dealer passed on man’s particular booth, he caught sight of a particularly large bluish stone the size and shape of a potato.  Other than it’s blue-violet shade, it was not particularly pretty and was too large to be useful in making jewelry.  The gem dealer picked up the stone, inspected it, and calmly set it down.  With no since of urgency or even much particular interest the gemologist asked after seeing the price tag, “You really want $15 for THIS?”  The seller, realizing the rock was an odd shape and size happily lowered the rock’s price to $10.  Now, I can see you are all way ahead of me.  The stone has since been certified as a 1,905 carat natural star sapphire.  That is 800 carats larger than the largest known sapphire of its kind.  The value set for this stone purchased for $10 . . . $2.28 million.

The seller did not know the great treasure he possessed and sold it for next to nothing.  Such was the case with Esau and his birthright.  He did not know the great treasure he could have in a relationship with God and sold that opportunity for a “bowl of red beans.”
 

3.  Why did he sell it for so cheap?

❶ He was IMPULSIVE. (v 32)

“I’m about to die.”

All Esau could think about was feeding his appetite.

One of the key ingredients to blessing in life is “self-control.”  Without self-control, a person’s life quickly spins out of control.  Take for example an incident that happened in West Haven, Conn., a few years ago.  Geoffry Mayne was driving through town one day and as he came to a stoplight, he felt something was wrong with one of his wheels, or perhaps his breaks.  He put the car in park and stepped out to take a quick look.  While he was inspecting his wheel, the car slipped into reverse and began to accelerate.  The steering wheel jammed and the car began to drive in circles in the intersection.  Traffic started to stack up.  On-lookers called 911 and within minutes the police and fire departments showed up.  They were puzzled as to what to do as the car sped round and round.  Unfortunately, the car had plenty of gas and was not going to stop on its own.  Two hours later they came up with a plan.  With traffic stopped in both directions, they positioned three large front-end loading tractors (the ones with the massive scoops).  On command the three large tractors moved in on the out-of-control car, smashing it to a stop.  With the car pinned, firefighters broke the driver’s side window and shut off the engine.  The intersection was once again open, but the car was demolished.

When we indulge our every appetite, whether for sex, money, or power, we become like that out-of-control car.  In the end, our lives end up demolished by those things in which we impulsively indulge ourselves for immediate gratification.

Esau was “indulgent.”  He lacked self-control.  He fed his appetite and in the end, that appetite devoured his blessing in life.

❷ He was INDIFFERENT. (32b)

“What good is a birthright to me?”

These are perhaps the most significant words in this story.  They represent an insidious attitude that has infected mankind from the days of our first parents, Adam and Eve.  They show a complete indifference to the things of God.  It will not be open rebellion that causes most people in the world to find hell to be their eternal abode.  It will be indifference. 

It’s not that most people “hate” God (though some do), but most people simply ignore him.  And even those in church treat the things of God with disrespectful indifference.  You might call this attitude, “Ho Humness.”  So many people will attend church today and leave with a  “ho hum attitude” yawning their way to lunch.

Esau demonstrated and absolute indifference to the birthright provided to him by the Law God had given to Esau’s people.

❸ He was IRREVERENT.

Notice that indulgence and indifference ultimately lead to outright irreverence.  Verse 34 says,

“So, Esau despised his birthright.”

The paths of indulgence and indifference will always converge and lead to the valley of irreverence.  This happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden, and it happened to Esau in our text here. 

The Hebrew word translated, “despised,” is used many times in the O.T.  It means to “treat as worthless, or even with vile contempt.” This type of despicable attitude is condemned in harsh terms in the O.T.  The prophet, Malachi, addresses this attitude of contempt and irreverence that had by his time become epidemic in Israel:

1:6 “A son honors _⌊his_⌋ father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is _⌊your_⌋ fear of Me?  says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.”Yet you ask: “How have we despised Your name?”⁷ “By presenting defiled food on My altar.”You ask: “How have we defiled You?”When you say: “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”

⁸ “When you present a blind _⌊animal_⌋ for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick _⌊animal_⌋, is it not wrong?

………………

¹² But you are profaning it  when you say: “The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.” . . . . . . . .

¹⁴ “The deceiver is cursed who has an _⌊acceptable_⌋ male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective _⌊animal_⌋ to the Lord.  For I am a great King,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “and My name  will be feared among the nations.  THEN CHPT 2 “Therefore, this decree  is for you priests: ² If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart  to honor My name,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings.

Esau’s indulgence and indifference rotted away his soul until he was openly irreverent to the Lord.  Irreverence displays itself as a contemptuous attitude toward the Lord and His ways.  Without reverence for God, a curse falls upon a person’s life and any hope of blessing evaporates like a snowflake in hot sunlight.

This story shows that Esau was extremely deficient in his character which prompted him to sell something of infinite worth for a “bowl of stew.”  When one reads the story, one cannot help but ask, “How could he sell something so valuable for such a cheap price?” 

And yet, people do this every day.  Every day—this day included—hundreds of thousands will die and fall into an eternity without God because of an indulgent, indifferent, and finally irreverent attitude toward the things of God.

4.  What did Esau Really Lose? (Heb. 12:16-17)

The Scripture says, “He sold his soul.”

¹⁶ And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent  person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for one meal.  ¹⁷ For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.

If not for this verse, the story might have ended with Esau losing a double portion of his father’s estate and the authority that went along with the birthright of the first-born.  But, Hebrews suggests very strongly that much more was lost in this transaction.

Esau, lost the “the opportunity for repentance.”  About 40 years later Esau would beg his dying father, Isaac, to give him a blessing.  Genesis 27 tells us the story.  Many years had passed and apparently Isaac did not know of Jacob’s earlier purchase of the birthright and was going bless Esau, the older son.  Yet, Jacob and his mother, Rebekah, concocted a scheme to secure the blessing for Jacob.  The fact remained:  Esau had sealed the deal many years earlier by swearing an oath, and the deal could not be changed, and in fact, did not change.  Jacob received the blessing.

Genesis 27:34 says,

³⁴ When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”

This same scene will be repeated in the last days of judgment. We see the wise and unwise virgins—those who had acted properly toward the Bridegroom, who is Christ, and those, like Esau, who have acted unwisely.  The Word says (Mat. 25:10-12),

Then those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.¹¹ “Later the rest of the virgins also came and said, ‘Master, master, open up for us!’¹² “But he replied, ‘I assure you: I do not know you!’

This is just like the foolish men and women in Noah’s day ignored God’s warning of a coming judgment while Noah and his family faithfully worked on the ark for many years.  God closed and sealed the door of the ark and no matter how much those outside banged, and cried, and wailed for mercy, the “door was shut!”

What did Esau really sell?  He sold his soul.  He sold his opportunity to repent and establish an eternity long relationship with God.  Instead, Esau became hardened and to this day the “Edomites,” or “Muslims” are the sworn enemies of the Israelites, or descendents of Jacob.

What a tragic story.  The story of a “short sale.”  The story of a man who gave up a place in eternal bliss for a bowl of red-bean stew.  Can you think of any story more tragic?

We live in a world where “anything and everything is for sale.”  Like, selling a haunted painting for example.  This painting just sold for $1025 on Ebay.  Apparently, the children depicted in the painting would exit the painting and fight during the night.  The sale required a signed waiver from the buyer that said in part, “By bidding you agree . . . to hold the owners harmless in regard to [the painting] and [its] impact, expressed or replied.” So far, I’ve not seen any published reports on how the new owners are dealing with the unruly children in the painting.

In May of 2006 a person from Australia tried to sell the country New Zealand on Ebay.  The bid had reached $3000 before it was taken down due to a violation of eBay's policy.  eBay prohibits the sale of a  a country without the consent of its' people.

Yes, we live in a world where anything and everything is “for sale” 24/7.  Sadly, too often we put ourselves, our dreams, and our potential up for sale—and tragically, we sell ourselves short.  We sell our eternal rewards for worldly trinkets.  When we are driven by worldly passions and temporary circumstances we sell ourselves short at a great loss, both now and in eternity.

There is one thing we should never sell—for any price—and that is our birthright to be a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.  Our integrity; our devotion; our soul, our purpose in life should never be for sale at any price—NEVER!  Are you one of those people who are selling yourself short and heading for a lifetime of regret? 

If you need food and cannot get it, you may go hungry.  But, in the time of judgment when you will need salvation and do not have it, you will go to hell.

A little discomfort now in light of a great reward in eternity is a very small price to pay for living a life of full devotion to God.

Don’t sell yourself short.