Protecting your spiritual birth right

Speaker: Pastor Delroy Bryan (15.4.18) Genesis 25:20-30 - In the Jewish tradition the birth right was a very precious and special thing, it fell to the firstborn son. It meant that that son would inherit the majority of his father’s wealth. In the highlighted passage, Esau was the firstborn and as such the birth right was gifted to him. - Esau gave away his birth-right for short lived and short term pleasure without realizing that impulsive decisions lead to harmful long term consequences. Esau clearly did not have much knowledge of spiritual things. He gave up something so precious for a plate of food. - He was not thinking about his future. As Christians our inheritance is the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and though many of us are not Esau we treat our relationship with God and the things of God just as lightly. We risk despising our spiritual birth right and children of God by satisfying the flesh rather than living Godly lives. Hebrews 12:16-17 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birth right. 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. 1. Be careful of the choices we make - In life we are constantly making choices, we choose which schools we attend, what clothes to buy, who to marry , where to work; when we made good choices we reap good rewards, but when we make bad choices we reap the consequences. - We must not take our relationship with Jesus lightly. Salvation does not come easy to those who are slaves to their sinful nature and as such we should consider it precious that we have escaped that bondage to walk free on the straight and narrow. - We must be careful that we do not give up our birth right for temporary things. When we make decisions we should take time to evaluate the long term consequences of our actions. - What can we do to ensure that our decisions are protecting our spiritual inheritance? a. Watch the friends we keep - If you do not keep Godly friends then it is easy for you to be led astray. b. Be careful of where we go - Are you spending time in places where God is being glorified? c. Be careful of what we spend time doing - Are you doing things that are taking away from God’s time ? d. Watch the idols in our lives - What is distracting you from spending time with God? - What are the idols in your lives? e. Be careful of the relationships we have - Are we making wise choices when it comes to persons who are close to us and who influence us. - When looking for marriage partners we must choose carefully, as women we must choose men who are committed to the Lord, who are subject to the authority of God, who will commit to his family and raise up children in the right way. As men we must not chase “the pretty face” or “the hot body” as sell ourselves short in categories of integrity and character. f. Be careful of the jobs we have - As children of God we must choose jobs that will glorify God, our job cannot be something contrary to the will of God. - We must choose jobs that allow us to still play our part in the kingdom of God. We cannot put our livelihood before God. Mark 8:36(ESV) For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Luke 9:25 (ESV) For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 2. We must do everything to protect our inheritance - Are we committed to doing all that we can do to protect our inheritance? - We must persevere and do anything to preserve our inheritance and relationship with God. - In order to persevere we must be adequately equipped, we cannot be adequately equipped if we do not know the Word because without it we have no shield, no defence. - We cannot exhaust the fuel in the word of God, it is ever renewing and is always revealing to us new ways to cope, fight on and to persevere. - If we do not do all we can do to protect our inheritance we are like Esau who flippantly gave up his cherished gift without a care. Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. Challenge: Do you have a birth right? Are you being careless with your birth right? Scripture references: Genesis 25:20-34 Hebrews 6:4-6 1 Thessalonians 5:8 Mark 8:36 Luke 9:25 Hebrews 12:16-17