1.  Once, it was asked,  "Which disturbs you the most?"
* A soul lost in Hell...or a scratch on your new car?
* You're missing the worship service...or missing a day's work?
* A sermon ten minutes long ... or lunch a half hour late?
* The church not growing ... or the garden not growing?
* Your Bible being unopened ... or your newspaper not read?
* Your children being late for school ... or late for Sunday school?
* The offerings decreasing ... or your income decreasing?
* Your church work being neglected ... or your housework being neglected?
 * Missing a good Bible lesson ... or missing a favorite T.V.
       program?

2. Your answer would be determined by what you value the most as a person. How you answer would depend on how you feel about spiritual matters verses all other matters in your life.

3. What we're looking at are those in the Old Testament that questioned the value and profit of certain spiritual matters.

4. In the book of Job we saw those who questioned the value and profit of prayer. We read in Job 21:15,
"What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?"

5. Today we see that Esau questioned the value of spiritual blessings.

We hear him saying in Genesis 25:32,
"And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?"

6.  We once again see our word "profit" and again some divine and spiritual matter is being questioned of its value and profit.

What's being questioned here?
Is there value and profit in spiritual blessings.

Let's consider this familiar story and learn some truth today from God's Word that'll be valuable for each of us as Christians.

1. That which is in question and was forfeited or lost by Esau was a birthright.

The word "birthright" means, "firstling" and denotes the special privileges and advantages that belonged to the first-born son among the Jews.

 Jews gave a sacred importance to the rank of the "first-born" or "first-begotten."

  In the story before us we see Esau, the first-born, trading or
  giving up his birthright in exchange for a meal of red
  pottage.

What was it that he lost in the deal?

A. HE LOST PATERNAL BLESSINGS.

1.  The first-born received a double-portion of the paternal inheritance.

 The father would pass on to the first-born son a double portion of
 his estate.
If a father had two sons he would divide his estate into 3 portions and the first-born would receive 2 portions.

If the father had 3 sons he would divide his estate into 4 portions and the first-born would receive 2 portions, and etc.

B. HE LOST JUDICIAL BLESSINGS.

1.  The first-born not only received a double-portion of the father's estate, but also inherited the judicial authority of his father.

 He would become the head of the family.

 He would become the one that would govern the family and make
 the decisions for the family.

 He was given all judicial authority in the family.

C. HE LOST SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

1. First and foremost was the spiritual inheritance received by the first-born.

 He became the spiritual priest and spiritual leader of the family.

To a Jewish family this was the most importance and a privilege and role that was passed to the first-born.

2. When you look at the story of Esau and understand the "birthright" you understand the significance of what he gave up and what was lost in his trade with Jacob.

We read in verses 31-33:
"And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. [32] And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? [33] And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob."

3. It wasn't a small matter that was Esau lost.

 It was one of the most costly meals that anyone ever purchased.

You could say that he gave up everything for a meal of red pottage that was nothing but a stew or soup made up of different kinds of grain.

 Even worse, the red pottage was an inferior type of pottage.

He gave up a double-portion of his inheritance,
 a future place of judicial authority,
  and many spiritual blessings
    for a cheap bowl of soup.

4. In those days, when a man sold his fields for an insignificant amount, the people would say he sold his land for pottage.

If a father gave his daughter in marriage to a low-caste, they would say, "He has given her for pottage."

If a learned man stooped from what was expected of him it would be said, "He has fallen into the pottage-pot."

They would say of a man in great poverty, "Alas! He can't get pottage."

5. If anybody had fallen into the "pottage-pot" it was Esau when you consider what he lost.
 

1. When you look at Esau you find in him desires that were mastering and desires that were missing which put him into a place of danger.

 What he did, trading his birthright, indicates how dangerous of a
 place he had come.

2. The New Testament describes Esau this way in Hebrews 12:16:
"Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."

3.  What Esau lost was due entirely to what he lacked.

What did he lack?

Let me point out two major things that were lacking in his life.

A. HE LACKED A CONTROL OVER THE PHYSICAL.

1. In Genesis 25 we find Esau returning from hunting and he's starving.

 Jacob his brother has a pot of soup on; Esau gets a whiff and says, "Give me a bowl of that pottage." Jacob being the schemer and con artist that he was says, "I tell you what. I'll trade you a bowl for your birthright."

I can imagine he added, "And I'll even throw in a piece of corn-bread."

What does Esau do?

  He takes Jacob up on the deal and trades his birthright for a
  meal of pottage.

2. Now let me set the scene.

Esau is hungry. His stomach is crying out, "Feed me! Feed me!"

 His flesh wants to be satisfied. His belly is growling, "Put me
 first!"

Before him is the physical (his body) and the spiritual (his birthright).

Which one is the dominant one in his life?

  Which is more important to Esau? The answer is obvious. It was his flesh.  He feeds his flesh at the expense of the spiritual.

 He gives it all up in order to feed the fleshly desires of his body.

3. The Bible speaks of man as a three-part person: body, soul, and spirit.

 The body is the visible part of our house. It's the part of us that's
 seen by others. By it we relate to the world around us.
 We see, touch, taste, feel, and hear by our bodies.

4. The soul is the unseen part of us.
 It's that part that contains our nature and personality.
 It consists of our mind, emotion, and will.

In reality, the soul is the real us living in our bodies.

 When we look at someone we only see the body, not the real
 person.

The body often expresses the real person, but the real "us" is inside these bodies of ours.

5. Woodrow Wilson's favorite used to say:

6. The spirit is that part of us that makes contact with God.

It's by our spirit that we relate to God and He relates to us.

It's this part of us that makes us different from all other part of God's creation.

A flower has a body but no soul or spirit.

A dog has a body and soul but no spirit.

Man is body, soul, and spirit.

He's the only part of creation that can have a relationship with God.

7. God's plan for man is that the spirit influences the soul and the soul the body, not the body governing the soul.

 We're to be a spirit-led people.

Our spirit is to guide our soul (mind, emotion, and will) and the soul is to govern what the body does and give the body its marching orders, not the other way around.

8. What happens in many cases is that we get the God designed order reversed.

Let me give you an example.

Its Sunday morning. The spirit says, "Time to get up and go to church." But the body says, "I'm so tired. This is my only day to rest. Why not sleep in today."

Now which one that's in charge is going to make the decision what happens.

 If the spirit is in charge you're going to get up regardless of how
 tired you feel.

It's Sunday and God's people are to be in the house of God.

  But on the other hand, if the body is in charge you'll lay in
  bed and miss church.

9. Let me give you another example.

Temptation comes along and the body says, "That'll be fun. It'll feel good. It'll make me happy."

 The spirit says, "Flee from temptation. It's sin. It's wrong. God
 says no!"

Again, which one that's in charge will determine the outcome.

10. When you look at Esau you find a person in that the body gave the marching orders and not the spirit.

 His body said, "Feed me" and that's what he did,
 even though it cost him his birthright.

 He lacked a control over the physical.

B. HE LACKED A CONCERN FOR THE SPIRITUAL.

1.  I quoted Hebrews 12:16 earlier that spoke of Esau as being a "fornicator" and as being "profane."

The verse gives us great insight into the person of Esau and reveals why he lacked a control over the physical.
  He lacked a concern for the spiritual.

2. Hebrews speaks of him as being a "fornicator."

 Nowhere do we read that he was a fornicator or adultery in a
 physical sense.

The word is often used in the Bible to describe both physical and spiritual adultery.

 In the case of Esau, I believe it speaks of spiritual adultery or
 spiritual fornication.
In other words, he was a man that was unfaithful to God.

 Esau was a man having an affair with the world and being
 unfaithful to God.

3. Hebrews also speaks of him as being "profane."

 The word doesn't mean that he was an out wicked man.

In my opinion, Esau was a fairly decent fellow and we would have no doubt enjoyed his company.

He was a man's man, talking sports, hunting, fishing, etc.

 The word speaks of something secular verses something spiritual.

It indicates that Esau was a man who thought more of the material and physical than he did the spiritual.

4. It indicates that Esau was a man that lacked a desire for the things of God.

 Spiritual matters had very little interest for him.

The things of God had very little attraction for him.

  The most important thing in his life was the physical and
  material and not the spiritual.

5.  In Esau there were desires that were mastering and those desires were mastering because of the desires that we missing.

 The spiritual blessings that his birthright would bring to him
 weren't that important to him.

To him they weren't that valuable and of little immediate profit.

6. How do you feel about spiritual matters?

 How important are spiritual blessings to you?

Are they what you seek and desire more than anything else or are the things of this world more important to you?

There are many Christians whose job, vocation, wealth, and even hobbies are more important to them than the things of God.

7. Notice Genesis 25:34:
"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."

8. The word "despised" means, "to disesteem or take lightly."

Esau took lightly the things of God.

He took lightly the spiritual blessings associated with his birthright.

Do you take lightly the blessings of the Lord?

Do you take lightly spiritual matters?

1. Listen carefully to Hebrews 12:17:
"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."

2.  There would come a time when Esau deeply regretted what he done.

Yet, even though he sought a reversal of his actions with tears, the thing couldn't be reversed or undone.

He had given up everything when he lost the birthright and there came day when he would have given everything to have it back.

 Esau learned a hard lesson.

What did he learn?

A. HOW WE SHOULD VIEW THE ETERNAL.

1. Never sacrifice the future on the altar of the present.

That's exactly what Esau did.

 He sacrificed his future on the altar of the present.

 He had lived for the present and not for the future.

Esau learned that a life that's lived in the present should be lived in light of the future.

2. As believer's, we should live in the present in light of the eternal.

We should live today in light of tomorrow.

 We should live with the awareness that this life isn't all there is,
 but is merely the vestibule to the life to come.

3. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10:
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

4.  One day we will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ and give an account of all we've done, good or bad.

Many live their lives with no thought of that day, but only live for the present.
But you can be sure that on that day many will wish that the eternal had meant more to them than the present.

 They'll wish on that day that they had lived their life in light of the
 day when they stand before the Lord.

5. You can take lightly the things of God if you want to, but one day you'll wish that the eternal had meant more to you than the present.

What did he learn?
B. HOW WE SHOULD VALUE THE SPIRITUAL.

1. Esau had taken lightly spiritual things, putting the physical over the spiritual.

 But one day he realized how foolish and how wrong he had been.

There came a day when he realized how expensive that meal of red pottage had been.

  I'm sure that ten thousand times ten thousand he wished he
  had said to his body, "You're not worth what it'll cost me."

2. I'm reminded that all we enjoy in life is a gift from the Lord.
James said:
James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

3.  All that we have, our jobs, homes, careers, and every earthly possession is a gift of God.

There's nothing wrong with having things and doing things.

BUT, We should look at them as blessings from God.

But at the same time, they shouldn't be what matters most in our life.

They shouldn't be the things that we live for and devote our lives to.

 What should matter the most in our life is the spiritual and not the
 material and physical.

4. Henry Ford's mansion, "Fairlane," still stands in Dearborn, Michigan, as a master example of man's inventiveness. For its location he chose the beauty of a gentle slope overlooking the River.

Fifty-five rooms spread over three floors for a total of 31,000 square feet. Eight fireplaces, one of marble thirteen feet high, stood ready to warm the inhabitants, while 550 switches provided light at the flick of a finger. The impression throughout is still that of magnificent design, exquisite taste and perfect workmanship.

The house's cost in 1917, long before the shrinking dollar, was $1,057,000.

5. Henry Ford's ingenuity even reached to the power supply. Determined to be independent of public utilities, he built his own power plant at a cost of $200,000, using finely machined turbines to feed electricity to the entire estate with enough extra to sell to the public utilities in an emergency.

However, when torrential rains lashed the Detroit area in April 1947, the River Rouge went on a rampage. Soon it crept into the furnace under the boilers and smothered the fire, causing steam pressure to fall. The turbines stopped and the electricity failed for the only time in forty years.

6. Sadly, that was the night Henry Ford lay dying in his bedroom.

 Though surrounded by an engineering marvel, he left the world as
 he had entered it 87 years earlier—in a cold house lighted by
 candles.

7. All of the things of this world that we often live for can't be taken with us.

 We'll leave all our money, earthly possessions, and
 accomplishments.

When you leave this world all that will matter is what you've done with God and for God.

 There's nothing wrong with the material but the spiritual is what's
 important.

8. What is important to you?

 Are you like Esau, someone who takes lightly the things of God
 and the blessings of the Lord?

Do you consider spiritual matters and spiritual blessings of little value and profit in your life?

 There may come a day in this life, certainly in the next life, when
 you'll realize that the eternal is more important than the present
 and the spiritual is more important than the material.

Why not realize that NOW, and serve God.