Hebrews: Consider Christ
Ministry Associate Calvin Chu preaches from Hebrews 12:3-17, read for us in Spanish. Discussion points: God’s discipline in our lives is evidence of his love and adoption of us, suffering can make us more holy and more like God, we actively redirect our attention to Christ to stay on his path.
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Scripture reader: This is Hebrews chapters 12 verses 3 to 17. [Read in Spanish]
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: Morning everybody. Good to see you all. It's, spring's in the air. So like, I'm from here, so like, you know, we talk a lot about the weather. So I just I feel like every time I come up here I have to talk about the weather.
Actually, the main, the main thing I really wanna say is that there's so much here, you guys, on this, this morning's passage. I'm so excited for it, but it's like, oh, like where do we kind of focus because last week, Pastor Fletcher, yeah, he, he was here and he like kind of give us this whole, sermon talking about ways that we can grow our faith, and the last part he's talking about was like talking about enduring this race, right, to run this marathon of a Christ-centered life by casting off our sin, removing every like thing that constricts us and ensnares us. Which is like really great because it's like it focuses on like looking to Christ and that's kind of like the last thing we talk about there and then you know what we have here is that this this this concept that our our faith grows this is something that was said last week our faith grows when we feast on the knowledge of God.
And then obviously we just read what we write here and and the author starts this next section in this way that's kind of an interesting way it it sort of says now we're starting to really focus in on, on that reality of focusing in on God and so like why, why does this, this, this, the author do this in this way it's because. To be honest, like. It's sort of saying like, listen, buckle up because what I'm about to say to you, the author is saying this to the original readers here, what I'm about to say to you is we're gonna need to understand this deeper theological insight, of, of this idea of enduring, like running this race, running this marathon of following Jesus, we're gonna need to understand what that means because we're gonna talk about how life is hard.
And it's like both surprising and unsurprising to most of us, if not all of us, because it, why is it like unsurprising? I mean, duh, like life is hard, right? I mean you, you just take your pick internationally, like globally, nationally, domestically, locally, personally, internally we can all see many different ways that life is difficult, yeah, and,. All of those areas, anxiety and frustration can come about, right? Brokenness and mourning, pain and suffering. And you know, it doesn't require you to have like an advanced degree to sort of understand that that is our reality.
And so that that's like sort of the unsurprising part, then, then why is it sort of surprising? Well, I think it's because for those of us here who are Christians and certainly if we've kind of grown up in the faith a little bit more, than, than, than, you know, something that's particularly newer to the faith, we might be in this space where we sort of expect that following Christ means that the resulting change of that means that the journey with Jesus is somehow painless and pain-free. Right, that, that, that because we've been made a new, because our sins are taken care of, because we have this faith that one day we'll be with Christ fully restored, fully glorified with him in the new heavens and the new earth.
And all these passages that talk about that there's like this newness and this redemption. We sort of, we sort of think, OK, well then I guess this life should somehow be easy, right? And, and, and don't get me wrong, there are parts in the scripture, plenty of parts in the scripture that say that there's like new life, that there is elements of following Jesus is like will bring about peace, right. But I think it should be really, really important and really, really clear that a pain-free life and following Jesus is actually never promised, right? And, and, and there are, passages that have been misconstrued and misunderstood, whether deliberately or unintentionally to sort of promise this idea of we were, we were gonna get health and wealth and prosperity in this life. And I would say the folks who live in that space tend to focus solely on those things, and again, whether they're intentionally or unintentionally misunderstanding the scriptures, they kind of plant there.
And I think that can get us to the place where sometimes we go. I don't know. Am I, am I living this Christian life? Am I following Jesus the wrong way? Because I kind of thought it was going to be easy. I kind of thought recognizing my need of a savior was going to make things smooth, and then here I am going through suffering, going through difficulty, going through pain. And I think that it's like. You know, we, we, we have this deep insecurity that somehow we're doing something wrong in following Jesus.
Well, I'll say that our passage this morning shows us that, that's simply not the case. If anything, the difficulty we experience should be expected. Right, and so it's not a if but a when. And the key is to understand why it happens. And I think for many of us, and perhaps more importantly or just as importantly, how do we endure it? So we're looking at our passage today, but before we jump into, the word kind of a little bit deeper here, let me pray for us one more time.
Father God, I just thank you for this word. I know that I feel like I need it, and God, if, if I need it, I suppose, in a room with this many people, maybe someone else here needs it too. And so Lord, I pray that you would continue the work that your Holy Spirit has been doing in our lives leading up to this point. And we'll continue working on our hearts and our minds, and our perspectives when we leave here as well. Thank you that you hear our prayers and pray that this is in Christ's name, Amen.
So, so why does difficulty, why does hardship, why does, does the struggles happen in our lives, right? Well, to be, be just laid it out there very, very clear, it's discipline. God is disciplining us, and, and that is a sign that we belong to God, right? The very presence of God's discipline in our lives is evidence that we are loved by Him. It's a sign of sonship. It's a sign that we are a child of God, a full heir. Let me read verses 3 to 8 here to kind of really highlight where this is coming from, verses 3, verse 3.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
You have to remember that the context of Hebrews that the letter was written to encourage this group of discouraged believers, right? They actually were going through quite a bit of persecution, quite a bit of difficulty, and so again, the, the, the author is not writing this on like knowing that like they, they, the writer of this knows it very, very clearly, right? But the experience of the persecution was blurring their picture of Jesus and what it meant to follow him. It meant that some people were drifting away from their faith. And they're they're, they, they, they, they weren't understanding the right way to live and the right way to think of following Jesus. And so then the author here comes in with this section and says, you know, the persecution that you're facing. It is discipline, right? They, they went through harsh conflicts. They were publicly exposed to abuse and oppression. There were times imprisoned. They had their belongings stolen. And then for this author to come in and say that is discipline from God and that is good.
If you're tracking along and maybe you're projecting your own life and your own struggles and you're thinking, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That sounds horrible. How would that be encouragement? The difficulty that I'm going through and then my spiritual leader is coming in and saying the stuff you're going through, it's good. God is disciplining you. And I think the reason that we struggle with that is actually kind of like a linguistic thing, right? It's like kind of a semantic thing because when we hear discipline, we tend to think like receiving punishment for wrongdoing, right?
So here, let, let me, let me show you. This is, this is, this is tough, and I think there's levels to it, but, but listen to what I'm gonna say and, and, and, and pay attention to, to how you react to the things that I say, OK. Every time my kid messes up, I need to discipline him. Every time my kids are on the receiving end of injustice I need to discipline them. Every time my kid feels pain I need to discipline him. Every time my kids do something right, I need to discipline them. If you hear that you're calling, you're calling the Department of, of, you know, Children's and Family Services, right? Like what do you, what do you mean? What are you doing right now? Disciplining your kid for getting things right? I mean, maybe you have an argument of doing something wrong, but when they're doing things right, you're, you're gonna discipline them. And, and when they're experiencing in they're on the receiving end of injustice, you're gonna discipline them. What is wrong with you?
But the word here discipline is not correction for wrongdoing. The word here for discipline is probably better of instructing, coaching, upbringing, raising. And so the reason that every single time my kid messes up and I need to discipline him is I need to show him, help him raise him, tutor him, coach him so that if he can figure out ways to help him avoid that situation in the future, he can't. So if my kid messes up when they're on the receiving end of injustice, then I'm gonna make sure that he knows how to move forward, navigate their feelings, learn what they can and cannot control. And when my kids do something right, I discipline them so that they know how to move forward, balancing, feeling fully proud of their accomplishments as proud as I am. But doing so with a sense of hunger, not quitting until they feel they've achieved what their goals and their, what their goals are and with a sense of humility and not building their self-worth around performance or the opinions of others.
Nothing in there is about correction for wrongdoing. It is coming alongside them, showing them the way. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not, not, I'm not perfect at this, very much far from it. And, but I know it's complicated. I know my, I know my kids think it's complicated because every time I come alongside them they're like, this is a stern dad talk. That's what they call it. They call it a stern dad talk. But hopefully if they, they can hold that memory there, that, that phrase there, they know they're not being punished. They know that dad is is loud, they know that dad is intense sometimes. But it's never out of a place of frustration or at least sometimes sometimes it's out of a place of frustration. Never is a place out of anger, never out of a place out of like, like I need to make sure you do what I want for my sake. It is, I'm teaching you for your sake. I'm training you for your sake so you can navigate this life that is full of pain, full of suffering, full of difficulty.
And I hope that one day they look back on the times that my wife and I, we sat them down, we gave them the these talks and helped them, and that they can look at even though they hate it, they don't like it, they feel like they're in trouble, they feel like they're being punished because it's just, it's, it's intense to have some of these conversations of how we can be better and that there's a reality that there's pain that's sort of awaiting them and that we're trying to train them up now before it's too difficult later.
I hope they appreciate it. In the same way that I appreciate the way that my mom was, because my mom, I didn't call them this, but my mom gave me a lot of stern mom talks too, so I guess it's a genetic thing. But I hope they appreciate it. Because my mom would say to me in Cantonese, like, [Cantonese phrase]. If you were my, if you weren't my child, I wouldn't even pay attention to you. And it's like I didn't get it then and like yes gen I wish she would have applied the gentle parenting kind of like loving words of it but she was from Hong Kong so like she didn't really have that built into her DNA. So like of course that is, I wish that was true, but at the end of the day I can look back and appreciate it because I know that this was something that she only did for me and my sister. For her children. She didn't do it with anyone else, she didn't have the time and energy and love to raise anyone else's children in this way. It's an exclusive relationship for me as her son. And for my sister as her daughter.
And let me tell you Bro, me too, I don't have the energy to raise anyone else's kids the way that I raised my kids. I might have, I might temporarily for a short term step alongside some family or some friends, some community members for like a very brief period, but I'm not, I'm not giving my whole effort into anyone else's kids like I do mine. Cause it's not my, that's that's not the relationship we have and that's not my responsibility. And what we read here is that God does this for us exclusively. But unlike our earthly parents, he does this perfectly for our good. So that we may share in His holiness through his discipline through though painful at the moment, it helps us experience greater peace and righteousness.
Verse 7 to 11, or one more time. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he, God, disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Friends, brothers and sisters of Christ, do you believe that? Do you believe that the difficulties you caused yourself, the ones that others caused against you, the ones you could control, the ones you have no control over, do you believe that the evil in this world that was not brought on by God but can be actually be used by him for our good, do you believe that? Please don't instinctively react. Like, really ask yourself, do I really believe that? I don't want you to jump and say yes oh yeah yeah yeah yes Calvin I do believe it because if you move too quickly and you you react like you actually believe it when you really don't, you're like Peter who said I will never I will never reject you I will never turn my back on you Jesus and he did it that very night. So I don't want you to say I'm, I'm, yes, I'm going to, and then when life comes and the difficulty comes, you don't.
But neither do I want those of you who are thinking, There's no way Calvin, if you knew my suffering. You would know that there is no way that this evil. Which is so great. Could ever be redeemable in any way, shape or form. And I get it. If that's you, I want to be clear. I'm not invalidating your suffering. I fully recognize that some people in this room have gone through things that would absolutely wreck me. They would destroy me. And if I were in your shoes having experienced what you experienced, I would be in these seats louder, angry. I probably would have already stormed out of here in a rage.
So please do not, your pain is very much real. The impact on your life is real and honestly it's, it's probably incredibly intense and it goes very, very deep. I understand that. I'm not trying to minimize your pain. I'm trying to maximize our view of the power of our savior. Because he experienced the greatest injustice this world has ever seen. Jesus did nothing wrong yet was falsely accused, brutally beaten, publicly humiliated. He was abandoned by friends, exploited by powerful leaders, condemned by a corrupt system of justice. He always spoke the truth, always considered others, always did good, and he was crucified for it. Yet God used that very act for our redemption. The greatest evil the world has ever known became the means of the greatest good the world has ever received.
So friends, if God can redeem the cross, he can redeem the struggles in your lives. We may not always see the good right away. But this passage tells us that God uses these things as training, as a father trains his child, so that we grow stronger and learn to share in his holiness, so that our character can be reshaped to increasingly reflect his character. So that we may look more and more like our father every day.
Which is great. I can, I can leave here and it's like, OK, cool, like I know this thing, theological knowledge advanced, you know, we get one, you know, stat point up in theological understanding. But knowing this intellectually, theologically is like great, but it's doesn't always break through, right? Like. Head knowledge doesn't always apply when, when, when it really, you know, rubber meets the road, right? And so even when we know the truth, like that hardship can still overwhelm us, and there are many people who believe that God works through suffering, yet when it actually happens, they, they still struggle. So, so. What, how do we kind of navigate this, right? How, how do we actually move from theological understanding, which is important, which is foundational, gotta do that. What do we actually do to kind of navigate this in, in real life?
In studying for this passage, I came across two, the time, God's timing is this mwah chef's kiss. It's so good because, in, in, in preparing for this, I discovered two, interesting, illustrations here. So on March 1st in Atlanta, Georgia, there was the US Track and Field Half Marathon championships. Some of you may have known it, some of you may not have. And Jess McLean, she was, she was a, a runner. She's been struggling for a number of years. She's come in like 4th place in a number of half marathons. She just missed out on Olympics and just missed out on like the world championships, recently because she just couldn't get there. And so this year, I don't wanna say that she was like they were like almost at, at the end of it. They were, she was leading by like a pretty large margin. And, and she's, she's running and, she's, she's looking to win her first national championship ever which if she wins she automatically qualifies to represent the US in the world championships, which is again as a runner wants to do this, but yeah, with less than about less than 2 miles left from the finish line, she and like 2 or 3 other runners went down the wrong course.
Yeah, and so what had happened was there was like an accident like one of the police officers who was kind of like a part of the course, they got, they crashed and so they like they like redirected traffic temporarily, but they didn't like redo the cones and so every race like this again I'm not a runner at all like I actually hate running. But I try to do it to, to stay alive longer, but the, the, the each of these races have a called a pace car or, you know, basically a car that sort of draws the course for everyone so if you're at the front, you're following this car and so what, the, the pace car, didn't realize was because when the, the police officers kind of redirected traffic, they didn't put the, the clear put where they're supposed to go and so they took left instead of took a right and they were supposed they went left instead of going right.
And so, with less than a minute later, the officer like assigned to the race returned to the intersection. The police officer ran up, just like flying up to go get those like 3 or 4 racers. He's like, hey, you gotta turn around, you gotta turn around and send them back onto the course. It took about 1 minute, but they had basically in that minute they had run an extra 1000 m. And, Jessica McLean, who was going to win the race, like very handedly, was actually, by about 50 m of what they had assumed, she ended up in 9th place. This whole controversy, you can Google it later, it's very interesting. And so, so that, you know, because she was following the pace car or the, the course car down the wrong path, she got off and had to turn around and make up.
Funnily enough, a week later, the LA marathon, I don't know if you heard about this one, there was a photo finish for the LA marathon. It's like you, there was the person that was in the lead, and they were kind of like running, definitely tired. They're definitely the one that was trying to like push kind of further, and then there's this person just kind of sprinting at the end, and the, the second place person came and crossed the finish line, just beat them up by like 0.1100 of a second. It's like the like the shortest window of a win like ever supposedly again, not a runner. And, and, and the, the, the, there's like, oh my gosh, what a finish, what a finish, and like that was all the buzz and then what it come out like in the days that followed was that. The leader originally at around mile 26, a marathon is 26.2 miles if you do not know, at mile 26, the leader was actually thrown off course because a fan ran in front of him with like a flag, like cheering him on, like representing him, like hey, go you, yeah, yeah, yeah, and the fan ran and so again there was a divider. And so the fan ran what was on the actual course and so the runners, seeing, oh, the the fan is going on the course part, went on the part where the fans were and then they went here and then the, the, you know, they, it wasn't, it wasn't like 1000 m or anything they're like, hey, you gotta turn around, you gotta turn around, it's over here. And he's he's like, he's like, huh, huh? And then he goes and he goes around and they, they timed it and they said it's about 7 to maybe 9 seconds of difference. But that 7 to 9 seconds of difference is a lot more than the 1/100 of a second that he lost the race by.
Why am I bringing this up? This passage is telling us that where our focus is is critical. Where we're looking, what we're following is incredibly significant, critical, essential. So what does this passage tell us? What's our pace car? What's our course car? Let's look at verses 3 and 4 here. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
See weariness often comes when our focus narrows only on our pain. When we're looking at the wrong car. We might go down the wrong path. When suffering becomes the only thing that we see, it begins to consume us. And so then the author tells us, consider him. Consider Christ. The word consider means more than just like briefly remembering Jesus, it means to deliberately turn your thoughts towards him and reflect on his life and suffering. And when we read these verses, especially verse 4, we could sort of say like, see, your suffering is nothing compared to Jesus. Stop complaining. You didn't, you haven't shed blood in your suffering. Jesus did. Stop it. And we can try to guilt ourselves or guilt other people to try to endure through sheer willpower.
And yes, there's an element of perseverance in the Christian life. Yes, there's an aspect where we can, you know, work hard, dig deep to keep going, but that's not the full point of this passage here. We could also say look at what Jesus' death and resurrection has done for us. He makes us new so we can withstand struggles. And yes, Jesus' death and resurrection do make us new, and yes, they, we can now go through those difficulties because of his sacrifice, absolutely. But again, not the full point of this passage. I think the author's not telling us to look to Christ so that we may feel guilt for our shortcomings, nor is he saying, look at what we, what good Jesus has earned for us.
But I think what it's telling us is that when hardship comes, the Christian response is not just to let it happen. Looking and waiting until our situation changes. It's to actively redirect our attention to Christ. I think practically it means that we remember the cross, we remember what happened, we reflect on what Jesus endured and are reminded that suffering is not foreign to God. Jesus suffered in ways that we will never understand, far deeper than anything we could, but rather than pushing us to guilt, we just know that we have a God who is familiar with the furthest extremes of what we're feeling.
Second, I think we remember what what God has, how God has worked through that suffering. The cross looked like defeat in the moment. His enemies cheered. His followers and his family and his friends mourned. It became, but it became a means of redemption. That reminds us that what we see today may not be the final outcome.
And finally, we remember that Christ is present with us now. The one we consider, right, consider him is not just a historical figure who once suffered, he's a living savior who understands suffering and walks his people through it. We have a Holy Spirit within us so that we know we never walk alone. And so when we deliberately return our thoughts to Christ. And when we rehearse his story, reflect on his endurance and his victory, victory, our suffering may not immediately disappear. That's not the promise here. But it no longer has the power to consume our entire vision. Consume our entire attention, drawing us off course. Like a wrong car.
Instead of being trapped in our pain, we begin to see our lives through the larger story of what God has done through Christ. So with all this in mind, we should be encouraged. But encouragement is not meant to make us complacent just because you know that this happens for a reason, just because we know kind of the the way in which we can kind of navigate these struggles does not mean, OK, great. So it's like going through a race, getting knocked down, picking yourself up and like, OK, I'm gonna go walk to Dunkin' and get a large iced coffee now. No, it's saying for us to go forward, get moving again.
Which is what we see here in verses 12 and 13. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Again When I run, like I'm always, my hands are always drooping. You know what I mean, like, like my, I, I, my knees are always weak, you know, I'm always, and it's like I like, I like barely, barely get started. And so I can kind of relate to this, but I think that runners here probably go a lot further. I'm sure there are a lot of runners here. I feel like we've talked about people have talked about running here before, but when we, we, we, what we see here is this folks who are exhausted, right? These are the, these are the signs of people who are exhausted. They're tired, and the author who wrote this says strengthen yourself, get your footing again. But again, not to walk off the course. But to keep running.
And we know this because the passage says to make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may be healed. Make straight, has more of a meaning of like make level, like, like level it out, clear it out, removing the obstacles in your life that trip you up. Right, it could, it could be sin, it could be distractions, it could be patterns that, that again knock you off that course and then clear those things away. Because if the path remains unlevel, what is already weak can become worse, right? As you know, so rather what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed, right? So that, that word out of joint actually in ancient texts actually had the it was the, the term they used for dislocated. Right, so when you run on a path that's not clear what is weak is going to break, is gonna be dislocated, it's gonna get injured, so you should make sure that you clear things out so that you can run better, run clear so that you can get healthier.
So we're called to follow the Lord's path, this level path of holiness. So that our current spiritual condition will result in healing rather than injury. So in other words, if you don't just accept stumbling as normal. That's not the point. As you face difficulties, take steps to realign your life to keep moving forward. In our Western American Christian perspective, we could leave here being like, OK, great. I'm gonna do this by myself. I'm gonna go to work on Monday. Where I don't work with any of my, you know, friends who are believers here. I'm gonna go to, you know, Trader Joe's and buy, you know, my individual meal that I can heat for myself so I can eat, get all the nutrients that I need, go to sleep, maybe scroll some, you know, social media. And then I'll wake up and do it over again, until Sunday comes, I hear another message. And rinse and repeat.
But the other parts of this passage, which we're going to conclude here, really talk about how we're really to run this race in community, run it with other people. Verse 14 and 15 say. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which, without, without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. Again, all this text that leads up to how we're supposed to live our own lives, live the right way, and then it comes and it sort of pivots here. Strive for peace, it doesn't say strive for peace internally. Though I suppose that is true, it focuses specifically strive for peace with everyone. And see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. There is an external communal nature of this race. Christian living as a community sport. Built into Christian community to be should be working towards peace and holiness and as you run look out for your fellow runners in the faith.
When you stumble, there should be brothers and sisters in Christ to help stabilize you. When you're ready to run again, make sure that your brothers and sisters in Christ are ready to run too. Helping each other stay in the race, to stay in the path of peace and holiness. And if you follow the passage along, it, it takes this weird left turn. Yeah, like, if you look at 14 through 17, you go, what exactly are we talking about here? It's weird. It took me a while, this one kept me up, and I was like, what is exactly is this saying? What does it have to do with anything else here? Let's here, let's look here.
Let me read 14-17 one more time. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness, holiness, holiness without which no one sees the Lord. See to that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. And by it many become defiled that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal for you know that after when you desire to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. When I first read it, I'm like this is, is this like someone who's trying to teach about like sexual immorality but it feels uncomfortable and just bringing up like a Bible story to kind of like distract from it. It felt, it just felt like disconnected to me.
And I was like, because if you know the story of Esau, it's actually not a sign or an example of sexual immorality. It's like, so if you don't know the story of Esau, basically Esau was out working in the field, and he came back and he was incredibly hungry. His brother Jacob was making some stew, and Esau was like, Oh, I'm so hungry. He's like, Give me some of your stew. And he's like, Yeah, I'll give it to you if you sell me your birthright. And Esau was like, Well, I'm about to die of hunger. Yeah, I'll give it to you, whatever, no big deal. And he did it. And so when he does that, what he's doing here is he's actually giving up this like. God had promised their grandfather Abraham. That he was going to make him. People that would be numerous that would change the world and that this lineage that was gonna be passed on to you know the generations, it was going to be Esaus that was his birthright it wasn't just like a double inheritance it wasn't just like more money it was actually a part of being. In God's, you know, promise of redemption.
And Esau sold it for some stew, for some soup. And what this is telling us here is that God doesn't want us to trade something that is precious and good for something that is temporary and fleeting. Right? And so, when you, when you look closer here, he doesn't lose his birthright because of persecution or suffering. He lost it because in a moment of appetite. He valued immediate relief more than eternal blessing. And in the same way when someone feels hungry. In the sexual sense. They may find themselves in a similar situation. Let's move it further up because it's not just these two situations that this is talking about.
When we find ourselves desiring something in the short term. When we're tempted to give up something precious and valuable. And trade for something temporary, small. And, and, and, and of this world and not of the other. This passage tells us that we shouldn't do that. And a part of that is that we do that for one another. We hold each other accountable. We have the conversations, we ask the questions. Do you think that is a wise decision for you? Do you think that reaction was appropriate? Do you think you're operating in your best long-term interests? And that's the communal nature of this. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, that it may become defiled, that no one is sexually immoral and unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
I would hate for anyone. In the life to come, to be like Esau, begging and pleading, wishing that they hadn't sold their soul. For worldly success, for wealth, for influence. For vanity, for a relationship. I would hate for them to do that and hate for people here to have sat next to that person. Who went to the community group with that person. Went to the working space, went to the worship service, went to the worship night next to this person. And didn't say, hey, Are you striving? Are you working? To fully receive and obtain the grace that God has given to you in your life. Because if you are then I don't know if that decision, if that relationship, if that mentality, if that attitude is best for you, because I feel like you're following the wrong car. And you're going down the wrong path and I hope you can turn around fast enough.
And it's not our responsibility. We don't save people, Jesus does. But God uses us, the community of believers around one another. To help us move and strive to better follow after him, to consider him. So that our focus is fully on him and his work, so that we can fix our eyes and chase after him so that our life at the end of the day we go, we can see Jesus and he says, well done, good and faithful servant. And that's not a solo, you know, experience. That I pray that when we see Christ, he's not saying it to a, a, a single one of us, he's saying it to a collective of us, and that when we look next to one another, we say, hey, yeah, we did it, we did it together. That being said, let me pray for us, and then I'll invite Mark to come and lead us in communion. Let's pray.
Father God, this is not easy. This is tough. God, I, I feel like this is on my shoulders and my head and. And God, I pray that. This breaks through in my life. And God, in the same way, I pray that it breaks through in all of our lives. I pray that we would remove the, the whole root of bitterness. God, I wish I had more time to talk about it, God, so may your Holy Spirit help us understand that, but God, we know, we know that in community all of these things are a lot harder, a lot easier. A lot easier for us to experience. So God, would you spur us on? Would you surround us with people? Would you help us ask the questions of, do people know me? Can people ask me, am I inviting that God? And we know that God, a, a sermon from a flawed, broken man is not gonna break through. That's your Holy Spirit that will do that. And so God, we pray that. We would invite that this week, and in the weeks to come. I pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.