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Maintaining Good Health (Part 6)By John W. Ritenbaugh
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During my previous sermon we saw that Esau's major character flaw was revealed through the medium of eating. We saw there were twin sons, different in physical appearance, both physically strong, but with a clear contrast and expression of personality in them.
Esau could almost be described as back-woodsy. He was kind of a frontiersman. The Bible describes him in one phrase as "a man of the field," meaning outside the boundaries of what would normally be considered to be civilized. In other areas we find that he was a generous person, magnanimous, impulsive, kind of lovable, living for the moment, but as I mentioned, also somewhat of an air-head. He was careless, lacking in vision, and he also very much lacked strong principles.
I think it's good to understand though that Esau was not what we would consider to be a vile person. Today he would be labeled as a common ordinary good neighbor and citizen. He was simply worldly. His interests were not the same as God's, and so he paid little or no attention to the things that interest God. He is, in the Bible, one of the Bible's major verbal portraits of a worldly person.
By contrast, Jacob is described as a man having a quiet temperament. He was plain. He was persevering and almost dogged in his tenacity, preferring to use clever deceit and inventive strategy to achieve his ambitions. There can be no doubt from the pages of the Bible that he was a creative man. He was a man who did look ahead. He didn't merely live for the moment. He was always planning on how he could get the upper hand and the best of the deal so that he could always come out on top. Therefore he got ahead, if I can put it that way, through shrewdness. He was clearly not above lying to get the things that he wanted. He was persistent in persevering, and over the long haul of a lifetime he became by far the better man of the two.
I've mentioned that this story of these two men is much like the myth of the race between the tortoise and the hare. Jacob, like the tortoise, through much plotting persistence succeeded, while the more colorful hare—Esau—failed, because in the end Esau beat himself. One man desired immediate gratification; the other deferred gratification to achieve his ends.
Jacob too was his own worse enemy, but he never despised or turned his back on the hallowed things of God. With the help of God and his calling he was able to overcome, and in the end to be measured as one of the great men in the history of Israel. And in the end he was not labeled as worldly, like his twin, but was truly a man of faith like his father and his grandfather before him.
Turn now to Genesis 24:32 because I want to go through what is clearly given in the Bible as a contrast to Esau. This occurred whenever Abraham sent his top servant to find a wife for Isaac. If you would read all through the story you would find that Abraham was very specific in pointing out what he wanted the man to find, and that the servant was very careful to make sure that he did exactly what Abraham wanted him to do. The reason I bring this up is because eating came into the picture.
And the man came into the house; and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat [food] before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat until I have told my errand. And he [either Laban or Bethuel] said, Speak on. (Genesis 24:32-33)
He was determined to get this thing accomplished before he took care of his own immediate need. The story goes on how he reiterated exactly everything that appeared earlier in the chapter. We'll pick up the story in verse 50.
Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceeds from the LORD: we cannot speak unto you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her, and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the LORD has spoken. And it came to pass, that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, [but not till everything was over] he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night: and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. And her brother [Laban] and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD has prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. (verses 50-56)
He was determined to do exactly what his master said to do. What we have here is the sharp contrast between one who deferred immediate gratification in order to accomplish the end that God wanted to be accomplished. He refused food and water, as well as the persistent appealings of Rebekah's family.
There are other examples of this in the Bible. Jesus did not give in to the appeal of food at the time of the Temptation of Christ. A little bit later, in Jesus' ministry, in John 4, when He was conversing with the woman at the well, the disciples wanted Him to eat, but He replied that His food was to finish the work that His Father gave Him to do, clearly asserting again that His immediate need was secondary to the situation.
One of the major principles that we can learn from these episodes is that our most severe temptations and trials are going to be found in common everyday circumstances. We might like to fancifully picture ourselves giving our life for Christ before a firing squad, or maybe even sawn asunder as Isaiah was reputed to have been, or perhaps holding fast our faith while imprisoned in a concentration camp. But that kind of thing did not happen to very many in the biblical story. Most of the temptations and tests occur right in the midst of everyday commonplace events like eating, conducting our business affairs, or relating within a family or community.
Jacob had vision, and he looked ahead. Esau may also have looked ahead, but the immediate was more important to him. He couldn't control himself and patiently wait on the Lord, because he did not value highly the things of God. He despised them. He treated them contemptuously. He lacked proper vision and self-control. All of those are tied together in the one package.
Things that are valued highly are treated with affection. They are considered to be precious by us, and they are treated with respect and honor. They are treasured. They are polished. They are handled with care, and they're put into a safe place. Things that are not honored are treated as common. They are kicked around and just thrown into the corner whenever they are not needed.
Each man clearly revealed the areas of life that he gave the highest priority to. One succeeded. One failed. And the eating, or the attitude toward eating, or the attitude toward food and meeting an immediate demand was more important to Esau, and that was the showcase for the one who failed. He would rather eat than sacrifice for achieving a very great reward.
The idea, the concept, that there is one personality type that is better than the other in the eyes of God is not the issue in this case. Esau was a lovable person. He was kind and generous. If anything, Jacob was the one who looked as though he was the bad guy, but it didn't turn out that way in the end.
The issue that is of the greatest value to us in these stories lies in the answer to the question: Why did Jacob succeed and Esau fail? It was not a personality thing. Why did Jacob value certain things more aggressively than Esau? Is it possible Jacob had a distinct advantage that gave him an edge over Esau?
Perhaps it is Paul who most vividly and aggressively uses the lesson that is of greatest value to us here. I want you to turn to Romans 9. The context here begins all the way at the beginning of the chapter, but we begin to get into the meat of the issue for us when we get to verse 7.
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall your seed be called. [That is, those who descend from a spiritual promise.] That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. [They are the real sons of Abraham.] For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children [Jacob and Esau] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls.) (Romans 9:7-11)
Election and calling are synonymous in this context here. Even though calling more strongly would indicate an invitation, and election a choosing, he is using them [election and calling] here as though they are inextricably linked as being inseparable. Election and calling. Calling usually occurs later on in life. We were called, but in the secondary sense we were also elected; but Jacob was elected from the very womb, and in that sense he didn't have to be called. That's why Paul linked them together so that we can understand this and make an application.
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. (verses 12-16)
Herein lies Jacob's advantage. Jacob had God's election, or selection, or we might say calling from the womb by God that gave him a very decided edge, ...an advantage that Esau did not have. Jacob's election, his edge, had nothing to do with anything genetically inherent within either one of them. It had nothing to do with what either one of them had done that could add an advantage to themselves, because they had done nothing. They were still in the womb. It had everything to do with what God chose to do, and did. He gave Jacob the edge. Now it took a while, but Jacob eventually responded correctly.
What's important to us right now is that the Sovereign God exercises His right to make moves and to use people as He designs. Now this is Paul's point as he begins here in Romans 9, and herein lies the major lesson for you and me. God's moves, ...that is, what He elects to do, ...are not matters of emotion, but of will. He didn't like Jacob better than Esau. He just willed it, that's all, because they had done nothing to gain God's favor.
You see, in our case we can do nothing to gain God's favor before the calling. That's not the issue, because if our calling was based on that, He owes you and me something. The whole point is to show He owes us nothing but death. He owes us nothing but death. Now whether we think that God's choices are right or wrong, fair or unfair, doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Was God unfair to Esau? We're going to see in a minute that Paul says, "Don't you even think it!" It doesn't amount to a hill of beans. It doesn't matter, because first of all, God is Creator, and He can do whatever He pleases. It's His creation. Secondly, what He does is always right anyway. He never makes mistakes.
Right now my concern is that we understand, as Paul says in that context, that God is never unfair, and we cannot allow an attitude of being a victim of His to creep into the picture. I'm bringing this up partly because brethren, I don't know whether you know it, but this is a big thing in the church right now. I don't mean the Church of the Great God. I'm talking about the whole church, and it comes out in interesting ways.
Go now to John 3:22.
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John [the Baptist] also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you bare witness, behold, the same baptizes, and all men come to him. (John 3:22-26)
They were beginning to feel a little bit victimized because their hero, their leader, was being shoved as it were into a secondary place, and this new guy who was rising up on the scene—one Jesus, the cousin of John the Baptist—had the people flocking to Him. They were feeling a bit offended for John, for their leader. Now listen to John's reply, because it really shows the man's understanding of this issue.
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. (verse 27)
In other words he is saying, "God is giving these people to Jesus. God is withholding them from me."
You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. (verses 28-29)
What a man! He says, "I take pleasure in this occurring that Jesus is getting all the attention and the respect from people.
He must increase, but I must decrease. He that comes from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth: he that comes from heaven is above all. And what he has seen and heard, that he testifies; and no man receives his testimony. He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him. (verses 30-36)
John the Baptist had come to grips with this concept that Paul is later expounding upon there in Romans 9. He understood that his role in the vast scope of God's purpose was limited by the overruling wisdom of the Creator, and so he just carried out his purpose for himself.
We must come to understand that this is why salvation is called or spoken of as being free. It is free, because God is not bound to show mercy to anybody, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and all too often we forget that the invisible God is working things out according to HIS purpose, not ours. It is GOD who is free to do as He pleases. He owes nobody anything. He is the one who is free. If He gave us what we deserved, we would die.
On our part, salvation is extremely costly, because it cost the life of the Creator for it to be given, and secondly it cost our life to accept it. So from a man's point of view, salvation is not free, except that God is free to do what He good and well pleases. That's the way salvation is free. It's free on God's part.
As we continue to pursue this thing, it's going to begin to tie into spiritual gifts, which Martin spoke on last week. Go now to I Corinthians 4.6.
And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who makes you to differ from another? And what have you that you did not receive? (I Corinthians 4:6-7)
Even the very life that we have came from God. He's the One that makes our lungs work. He's the One that makes our heart beat. He is the One who is ultimately responsible for whatever we are. Whatever gifts we have been given, they have come from Him.
Perhaps if I can explain this well enough, you'll understand what I mean. When I worked in the steel mill we were constantly repairing used machinery that they used in the mill to do the work that had to be done there. If we weren't doing that, we were probably constructing a new building or something into which new machinery was going to be put.
In order to do the jobs, we had to make from time to time things that we called jigs. A jig is nothing more than an instrument or a tool that is made to carry out a specific job so that the man can do his job a little bit better. Very frequently, all a jig does is hold something in place while you're doing something else, so therefore what you're doing won't move until you're ready to put it in permanently. Often times a jig is a tool that you make right on the spot in order to do the job, because the ordinary tools that you would use wouldn't do the job, so you make one for yourself.
Every man who makes a jig empowers that jig to do what it's supposed to do. He gives it every, shall I say, gift for it to carry out its function. Nine times out of ten, when the job is over, it gets thrown away. It's just scrapped. If the job is going to be repeated, then it's likely that the man will stash the jig somewhere so that when that job comes up again he can go get that jig. It's already made, and he can proceed and do the job more efficiently.
The man creates the jig. I'm putting the man in place of God. God creates people to carry out functions for Him, and He empowers them with those functions. What we've got to begin to do is understand that He has empowered EVERYBODY to carry out functions within His creation as He leads it toward the conclusion of His purpose.
"What do you have that you have not received?" Let's not get too far from Jacob and Esau. God empowered both of those men to carry out a function that becomes a lesson for all of mankind, and one, as we say, made it, and the other we say didn't, because he gave in to immediate gratification. This is not to say that he is lost forever. God used him for that time. God used Pharaoh. He said, "I have MADE you this way." Pharaoh couldn't see even as far as Esau could! But God made him that way in order for the circumstances to be produced that enabled God to be glorified in the releasing of Israel from Egypt.
Go now to I Corinthians 12 to see where this principle is applied to the church just in a general way.
Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? (I Corinthians 12:27-29)
Of course not. But Paul's purpose in this chapter is to show that God has empowered, gifted people, to carry out functions within the church.
I mentioned in some ways it's a problem in the greater Church of God because people begin to get feelings of jealousy because somebody seems to be more prominent than they, and they begin to think that this person is better, or this person is not as good or whatever, and offense begins to arise. That's the very thing that Paul was battling here in I Corinthians. He said, "Why should you be puffed up? What do you have that you have not received? And what does it matter to you if God made this person the way He did, and has made him more prominent than you?"
This is very interesting, because whether these people realized it or not, they were calling God into account. They forgot about the Creator who was creating this body that He calls "the body of Christ." Now this gifting does not make anybody any better, but it does make them responsible for carrying out a function that God wants them to carry out.
Let's go back to Luke 12 and I want you to see this, because God is wonderful in the way He runs things.
And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:47-48)
God evens everything out in His judgment. There is no respect of persons in God's judgment. Those who have been given much have a higher standard to meet. Those who have been given little do not have to meet the same standard as those who have been given much. So God judges a person based upon what he does within the parameters of the gifts that He gave to them, so that everything is evened out in the end. He couldn't be more fair. There is no respect of persons in God's judgment. What He wants us to do is fulfill our responsibility, and if we do, ...great!
Let's go to I Corinthians 3:8.
Now he that plants, and he that waters are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. (I Corinthians 3:8)
I want you to look at that word one. "Now he that plants, and he that waters are one." If you look in the Revised Standard Version you will find that word "one" is translated "equal." They are equal. They bear equal responsibility within the framework of the gifts that have been given. God does not expect too much (if I can put it that way) of those who are less gifted. He only requires of them that they grow within the framework of the way that He gifted them.
We'll go to one more place so that you can prove this, because I don't want you to feel that you were standing behind the door when the gifts were handed out. Not at all!
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. (Matthew 25:14-15)
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, you delivered unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. (verse 20)
He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. (verse 22)
Do you begin to see the way God judges? All are not expected to produce the same results, but all are expected to produce equally, faithful to what they have been given. That's the lesson there. Each one there increased by a hundred percent. Now please don't pin me down on the hundred percent thing. I am just saying this is what God has shown us. He judges each equal to the amount of the gifts, the talents, that are given, to what is entrusted to them.
It is very interesting, I think, that the one who was not faithful to what he was given failed to produce on the basis of his reasoning that God was unfair. "You're a hard man, God." He felt he was a victim. So many do today. They are victims. Everybody is a victim in this world that we live in. We're all equal that way to some degree.
I went all through this for two reasons. One, to point out to you that Jacob was not inherently a better person than Esau, and neither are we inherently better than any of us, or of anybody that is in the world. I am sure that this is one of the major reasons why God chose twins to illustrate this. You would think that two fellows who came out of the same womb would be very much alike, or whatever. They had the same mother, but they were not very much alike at all.
Let's make three conclusions here from these scriptures.
We have the same advantage over those not called as Jacob had over Esau. We are not inherently better, but we are "called" and "elected" by God.
Those who judge themselves among themselves are not wise.
Everybody is different. Some are gifted the same way, but even judging that is not wise, because the environments that we came out of and all the experiences we had in the past have formed and shaped us in a way that the judgment is not good. In that same context there in I Corinthians 3 and I Corinthians 4, Paul said to judge nothing before its time, "...until the Lord comes" he said.
Each person bears his own responsibility to edify, to build up the body, according to what each has been given. [Matthew 25]
Let's go back to Romans 9 again, and we'll pick up the context in verse 18 because there is more here that sometimes is a hard nut for some to swallow.
Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. (Romans 9:18)
This is what is hard for some to understand.
You will say then unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? (verse 19)
In other words, the accusation is made against God. "Well, God didn't create this person to be a very good person, so why should God find fault with them and punish them?" Paul's answer to that is, "Who are you to accuse God of doing something wrong?" That's what he's saying in verse 20.
No but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? (verse 20)
Doesn't God have the right to do as He pleases with His creation? This is what I mean about this being a hard nut to crack once in a while, because what we see going on in the world, what we see going on in our own lives, it's very easy to slip and fall on the pity-pot, and the first thing you know you feel like a victim, and without realizing it, the first thing you know, you're accusing God. We all do it.
I am not immune from this at all. Maybe that's why I'm giving this sermon. I see it in myself, and I don't like what I see there. God has every right to do whatever He pleases, just like with John the Baptist. There was a man that Jesus said was as great as anybody whoever lived. Nobody was greater, and yet God was taking things away from him, and eventually he had his head cut off. What a fine kettle of stew that was.
Is God evil because apparently Paul had his head cut off, and John the Baptist had his head cut off, and He allowed the Apostle John to be thrown into a pot of boiling oil? We have to wonder: Has our faith grown to the place where we can accept what is dealt out to us in life without becoming accusative of God, or of other people, and make all kinds of self-justification, feeling like we are the victims of circumstances, that we had nothing to do with it?
Even consider this: What if we did have nothing to do with it? Is God still right to permit, or even to bring bad things upon us that we have done nothing to earn? Did He do it to Job? He sure did. This thing about God's sovereignty is not something to be brushed off, because it impacts on our lives in a major way, and it is around this doctrine that trust forms, that God be trusted in every circumstance in our life. I find that a hard question, and that's what Paul is addressing here.
Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? (verse 21)
That's what He did with Jacob and Esau. He made one of honor, and the other of dishonor, and He had every right to do it. They both came out of the same womb. They both probably were from the same egg, and two different sperm. You know what I mean. Same father, same mother, but vastly different to their approach to life.
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory. (verses 22-23)
Notice that. "He had afore prepared unto glory." It was nothing that they did at all. It was simply that He WILLED it. "I'm going to save these, and not them." Do you understand brethren, this is what He has done with US? He has afore prepared [us] unto glory, ...getting into the area of predestination.
Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he says also in Osee [Hosea], I will call them my people which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. (verses 24-26)
It's with circumstances like these that lead people to stand in judgm
JWR/smp/
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