Beware Bitter Roots and Birthrights

Sermon transcript

Please remain standing as we turn in the scriptures to our passage this evening which is taken from the book of Genesis chapter 12. We’re continuing our series in Hebrews chapter 12 this evening starting in verse 12 through verse 17. This is God’s word from Hebrews chapter 12. 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 then 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. Then 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. Let’s pray. Father in heaven we thank you that you have given us this your word which is a light to our path. It is life to us. Lord we ask that you would send your spirit because without your spirit we are dead to this word. We ask that you would send your spirit in the preaching that you would open our hearts. Believe it, receive it. You might empower the words that I speak. It might be from you and have your blessing and power. We pray these things Lord Jesus in your holy name. Amen. May be seated. When 2011 22 year old Derrick Rose exploded on the NBA scene as the youngest MVP in league history.

He was electric, a fearless drives to the basket, impossible finishes, lightning-quick cuts that left defenders grasping at air. The Chicago Bulls rode his athleticism to the top of the standings and the future seemed limitless but beneath the highlights warning signs were flashing. Throughout the MVP season and the next Rose battled a string of nagging injuries, sprained toes, twisted ankles, pulled groins, back tightness. His hyper explosive style placed enormous strain and stress on his joints and stability. Yet he kept pushing, playing through pain on a relentless schedule and then came game one of the 2012 playoffs. With the Bulls comfortably ahead late in the game and victory already secured, Rose drove to the hoop one more time. His left knee buckled, jump stop, no contact, no foul. What looked like a sudden tragedy was actually the inevitable result of ignored fatigue and overload.

These minor injuries had quietly eroded his foundation until the big collapse came. Rose missed an entire season recovering, returned briefly, then tore the meniscus in his other knee. Chronic setbacks followed. The explosive MVP never fully returned. He played respectively in later years but as a shadow of his former self, retiring far earlier than anyone expected. A trajectory towards all-time greatness was forever altered in the heat of the race. Friends, Derrick Rose, his story is an urgent warning in Hebrews that our author gives us tonight from chapter 12, especially verses 12 and 13. Don’t ignore the spiritual drooping hands, the weakening knees, the root of bitterness or the unaddressed sin. Strengthen them now through prayer, repentance, fellowship, and God’s grace before a minor limp becomes a disqualifying collapse. Tonight we’ll walk through three headings. Number one, stabilizing joints, straightening paths from verses 12 and 13.

Number two, pursuing peace and holiness from verse 14. And number three, growing bitter roots and treasuring birthrights from verses 15 through 17. Number one, stabilizing joints, straightening paths. We start out in our passage with an exhortation to take care of frail body parts that are in danger of further injury. Look again at verses 12 and 13. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. This imagery of weak knees and lame feet fits with the way that the author had started chapter 12 with the analogy of running a race. Last time in our series we looked at the author’s digression in which he addressed the issue of suffering and the Lord’s loving discipline.

In addressing the Lord’s discipline the author focused his exhortation on his audience as individuals, but in our passage this evening focused back to his audience as a group. As we consider verses 12 and 13, it doesn’t take long to realize that he’s speaking metaphorically. While it would be beneficial to watch over and care for our physical bodies, that’s not the passage. It is intended as an analogy of spiritual health. The author of Hebrews is not calling you to go see a physical therapist or a chiropractor. Although that might be a good idea. But the language actually comes from a passage in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 35 which we read earlier in the service, especially verses 3 and 4. Isaiah 35 verses 3 and 4 it says strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.

Be strong, fear not. Behold, God will come to you with vengeance. With the recompense of God he will come and save you. In the prophet Isaiah the poetic parallel to strengthening weak hands and knees is speaking words of comfort to anxious people. So we can assume that the author of Hebrews might have something similar of a proposal in view. And this makes even more sense when we remember that the scriptures often call the people of God the body of Christ. If you are around Christians for even a short length of time you will often hear them speaking of the body. Most often they’re referring to the group of believers together and united to Christ by faith since that is the way the Bible talks about it in many places. In 1st Corinthians chapter 12 we find an extended discussion of this imagery which fits what we are talking about in Hebrews chapter 12.

Look with me briefly at 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verses 14 through 26. This is a little bit of a longer passage which is an important foundation for this concept of weak knees and hands which need strengthening as being members of the body. But for the sake of time I’m only going to read a few selections of 1st Corinthians 12 14 through 26. Verse 14, for the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say that would not make it any less a part of the body. Verse 17, if the whole body were an eye where would the sense of hearing be? Verse 19, if all were a single member where would the body be? And going on to verse 24, but God has so composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it.

That there may be no division in the body but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers all suffer together. If one member is honored all rejoice together. The Bible doesn’t portray Christians as mere individuals who show up once or twice a week to sing, pray and hear a message. Maybe give in the offering plate. When someone puts their faith in Jesus Christ they don’t just become part of him but they become part of the body of believers. You get a whole new identity which is rooted in a new community and the church is called Christ’s body with Christ as the head. No community posits such an intimate relationship with their God because all of them are counterfeits. Distortions of the God who created all things and who called a people into fellowship with him through repentance and faith.

Christians have a unique bond with each other that transcends even this life and lasts forever because it is rooted into their connection to Jesus Christ. And so the exhortation in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 12 and 13 is to care not only for ourselves but to be mindful of the others in the body. Therefore lift up 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. This exhortation is not so much focused on figuring out what your personal spiritual bad knee or weak ankle might be. This is less about introspection and more about outrospection. Looking around, looking out for the people around you who may be struggling. Last time was about each person considering their own personal discipline from the Lord but in our past now the author is telling us to look around, pay attention to others who might be struggling.

In the body don’t let the body get taken out by a weak ankle, a bad knee, a fragile wrist. Not an individual activity but something we’ve got to do together just as our physical bodies could never run races or even walk without multiple parts of the body all working together. The church won’t work if we ignore or leave behind believers who may be struggling. We need to understand this because sooner or later all of us will be an injured knee, a throbbing elbow, a wobbly ankle and we will need the care of others. From the context this these weak and wobbly body parts are struggling with faith. They are reconsidering whether their faith in Christ is worth the hardship and pain that might come with it. We see this also because of chapter 3 verse 10 we saw that unbelieving Israel is said to always go astray in their hearts and thus in verse 13 the author says thus make straight paths for your feet.

Don’t go astray in your hearts and don’t let those who are going astray in their hearts continue. Going astray meant failing to continue in the faith and so making a straight path means persevering and continuing in the faith. Imagine helping someone with crutches to walk. Are you going to leave all kinds of junk in front of them to navigate around and hop over? Of course not. You’re going to get everything cleared out of the way to help them get through so they don’t injure themselves worse. The danger of weak body is not only though the danger that they pose to themselves but it’s to the entire community. My father-in-law got knee replacement surgery a few years back and he stayed at our house while he was recovering. I was so surprised that the day after he got home from the surgery the physical therapist had him trying to walk around and bend his knee right away.

He said that that was to promote the proper healing. If the knee had stayed locked in one position it would heal wrong and sometimes we need a little gentle prodding and encouragement spiritually so that we will continue in the faith. We need people asking how we’re doing, whether we’re reading our bibles, whether we’re spending time in prayer, worship and we need to be those that ask those of others about their spiritual life in a spirit of encouragement and not judgment since there is just as much grace for others as for our own. But we need to do it because there are serious consequences at stake and this leads us to the next thing that the author addresses in verse 14. Number two, we see pursuing peace and holiness. Look at verse 14, strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

We start off with a word that resonates with the prevalent running imagery. The word translated strive is dioko in Greek which means to set into quick motion or to pursue. In other passages of the Bible it’s used to describe persecution and the idea is that peace and holiness must be urgently pursued within the church. As with verses 12 and 13, this is not merely an individual endeavor. This exhortation flows directly out of what we saw in verses 12 and 13. One commentator says the previous verse concluded with an exhortation to make straight paths for your feet and the author will now explain how that is done. In a word, the paths are the paths of Christian fellowship. The peace and holiness the peace and holiness which are to be pursued are must be done in community and they don’t happen automatically.

Peace is something that lots of people are thinking about this time of year because it’s famously what the angelic messengers told the shepherds was coming with the birth of Jesus. Jesus’s work, what he was going to do by dying and rising brings us peace with God but even more than that his person who is God and fully human also brings us peace with God. Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 5 connects some of the dots of peace and holiness as concepts in the Christian experience. Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 5 therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and through him we have also obtained by faith access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God but not only that but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Peace with God leads to sanctification in our lives according to God’s fatherly discipline as we saw last time in Hebrews 12 4 through 11 and even though Paul doesn’t use the word sanctification the concept is present here as he moves from the peace that we have with God to the formative power of suffering which is what sanctification is. From Hebrews we’ve seen that the holiness of the outcome is the outcome of Jesus priestly ministry Hebrews 9 14 10 10 10 14 and 13 12 and the heavenly father’s molding of his children Hebrews 12 10. Peace and holiness are something that God has given us and therefore we should make every effort to see it manifested in our community. Peace has manifested but what seems most in view in verse 14 of Hebrews 12 is members.

Injured joints are more likely to pull away to try to isolate and have wounds fester. One comment the author’s description represents the organic connection between one one’s relationship with God and one’s relationship with people. Apostasy from God manifests itself as alienation from and conflict with God’s people. Pursuing peace means it won’t always come without uncomfortability or at least awkwardness. Peace doesn’t just happen it has to be chased down. It requires an active approaching of those that we might have problems with intentionally talking to those we might not like with the intention of reaching understanding or at least greater unity and loving confrontation of problems head-on is the only way to find true resolution to strong disagreements. It’s always easier to see people as completely defined by their one or ten worst traits when we don’t interact with them and that’s why the author says we’ve got to pursue peace we can’t just sit around hoping that it will happen that’s what i’d prefer to do just ignore it and hope that peace somehow happens but that’s not how peace happens in the body of Christ and it’s not how holiness happens holiness is also a community project that doesn’t mean you just make it your business to highlight everyone’s sin whenever you see it i’m thinking more of how you can’t by yourself see all the ways that you aren’t living like a christian just like how you can’t see your whole self ever in a mirror you can’t see yourself spiritually either sin is inherently blinding and even as believers we’re still not free from his presence there’s a corporate aspect to this pursuing holiness just like the author mentioned in chapter 10 verses 24 to 25 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near we’re called to pursue holiness by encouraging one another to stay involved and to keep using the means of grace to grow individually and and our passage the importance of pursuing peace and holiness is emphasized by a warning against the alternative but this is underscored by his final warning in verses 15 through 17 15 through 17 so number three destroying bitter roots treasuring birthrights look at verse 15 as we come to the climax of this passage see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of god then no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled the exhortations that we’ve seen strengthening weak knees making straight paths pursuing peace and holiness all build to this urgent warning having just said that without holiness no one will see the lord the author now a community where grace is missed bitterness takes root and many are defiled first let’s consider what this root of bitterness is referring to now it’s easy to hear bitterness and think of personal grudges or unforgiveness he certainly guards against that but what this phrase the root of bitterness is actually a reference to deuteronomy chapter 29 verses 18 through 19 i’d encourage you to take a look at that deuteronomy chapter 29 verses 18 through 19 let’s go back and take a look at this phrase in its context deuteronomy 29 18 beware lest a man or a woman or a clan or tribe in israel or tribe whose heart is turning away from the lord our god to go and serve the gods of those nations beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit one who when he hears the words of this sworn covenant blesses himself in his heart saying i shall be safe though i walk in the stubbornness of my own heart this will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike this is near the end of deuteronomy and moses is warning the israelites here about the possibility but contagious apostasy the bitter root here is not about unforgiveness towards others but about turning away from god and so it makes perfect sense why the author of hebrews would be referencing it here this is another way of saying what he’s already been saying that you have to nip apostasy in the bud both privately and as a body don’t let apostasy grow as though it were harmless when we look closely at deuteronomy 29 we see that apostasy grows out of the soil of presumption verse 19 describes someone who tells himself that he doesn’t need to worry about judgment even though he’s unrepentant there have always been individuals who are part of the community of god and thought that their public corporate identity would keep them safe if weren’t changed the author of hebrews is concerned that the same kind of dangerous presumption could be present in the community that he’s writing to presumption spreads dangerously in our own lives and in the lives of the community of god and in the end it leads people to think that they might not even need the larger community either if you don’t personal heart change to be saved from hell why do you need to actually identify as a christian especially when it might be uncomfortable or cost something the author of hebrews moves on with an illustration to drive home his point the tragic story of esau look at verses 16 and 17 then 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 now at first we might be puzzled by the introduction of the mention of sexual immorality especially in terms of esau but when we realize that in the old testament god constantly compares idolatry to sexual immorality to sexual unfaithfulness it makes a lot more sense we don’t have a record of flagrant in sexual immorality he did marry hittite women who were unbelievers outside the covenant community which was wrong but he was not known for sexual immorality so most likely the author of hebrews speaking figuratively about esau’s abandonment okay and then it describes him as unholy the word unholy is sometimes translated by other translations as worldly this worldliness of esau led him down a dangerous path so that he knew the things that are inherently valuable he saw a bowl of stew as more valuable than his birthright very likely you remember the story esau came in hungry hungry from hunting and asked his brother for the stew that he had made jacob not very upstanding himself drove a hard bargain hard bargain demanding the birthright of firstborn which he had missed personally by a few minutes instead of haggling esau handled it over with hardly a moment’s thought jacob did take advantage of the situation esau revealed his own disregard of his birthright not only was esau foolish in terms of physical inheritance but even more so because of what this represented spiritually spiritually the birthright represented the inheritance of faith that god had promised abraham and esau treated god’s covenant blessing as worth nothing more than a bowl of stew instant gratification over long-term value and this is where presumption will take us all if we’re not careful presumption upon god’s grace means taking it for granted those who are trusting on christ for salvation should be able to rest on god’s grace for them rest on god’s grace for them rather than constantly questioning it but those who are truly resting on god’s mercy and salvation are equally aware that they do not deserve it and this drives them to repeated repentance when they act according to the sin nature which remains in them presumption on the other hand is counterfeit assurance it begins to wonder if grace really was so undeserved after all and it feels less and less of a need for repentance presumption is more likely to find loopholes and excuses for why we can’t be expected to live perfectly after all instead of repenting and turning to god for mercy the people of israel generally had major problems with repentance with presumption throughout their history and when john the baptist showed up this presumption was still very strong in order to shock them out of their presumption as native israelites that they had an inherent right to god’s favor john the baptist says this in matthew chapter three verses nine through ten he says do not presume to say to yourselves we have abraham as our father abraham is able to raise from these stones to raise up children for abraham even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire their presumption had led them to completely disregard god’s law and so they assumed that they were fine the pharisees they started out dead set on obeying god’s law completely and setting israel on a path of reform and yet somehow along the line instead of regularly repenting for their sin they began to make excuses for their failures and exceptions for themselves and exceptions for themselves they started presuming upon god’s favor on the basis of their own superficial self-righteousness so whether dismissing god’s law outright or studiously exempting oneself from the difficult parts of god’s law presumption at its heart leads to a lack of repentance and this is precisely what we see in esau look at verse 17 for you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no chance to repent though he thought it with tears esau’s bitter root of presumption had grown into full flower as he pursued temporary fleeting pleasures of sin until it was too late there does come a time when it is impossible to repent now it certainly comes at death for all of us as hebrew says it is appointed for man to die once and then comes judgment but in terms of before death i don’t think that we can easily say when that might be for ourselves or even for others the bible doesn’t call us to make that judgment call it simply calls us to repent esau serves as a warning to us all not to test that limit don’t presume that you’re in control of tomorrow’s grace esau lived his life thinking that he could simply repent whenever he wanted and he was presuming that he was in control but when he saw the consequences when he had eaten his fill of sin he thought he could just flip the switch for himself and he was wrong repentance always has been and always is a gift it’s part of his grace because it requires not merely seeing the consequences of sin as fearful but to see sin as repulsive in and of itself it doesn’t take special grace to find everlasting torment terrifying it does take supernatural grace for a sinner who loves sin and hates holiness to turn completely around into a person who finds sin repulsive and god delightful and that’s the kind of miracle that god does every day that’s why this warning was written down preserved translated read and preached to you this evening so that by hearing this warning about esau you wouldn’t waste another moment thinking that you can repent later whenever you want but you would ask god right now god’s not looking for perfection asking you to turn your life around before coming to him to ask for help in fact the less you do without him the better because anything you do in your own strength any righteousness you try to or think you accomplish in your own strength is worthless is worthless even insulting to god esau’s solution to isaac’s displeasure was to double down on his sin genesis chapter 28 eight and nine describes this so when esau saw that the canaanite women did not please isaac his father esau went to ishmael and took as his wife besides the wives he had mahaleth the daughter of ishmael abraham’s son the sister of nebaiath don’t tumble down repent even better ask god to help you repent and then believe in the free gift of great of grace from god that covers you in love don’t presume upon it but do rest in it trust it to hold you and trust brothers and sisters hebrus 12 has hit us hard tonight let’s review briefly stabilize the weak drooping hands strengthen feeble knees clear straight path we run together because one limping member slows down the whole body pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the lord chase them hard because they won’t come easy and destroy the bitter roots of presumption before they destroy us that hidden presumption while i live in rebellion poisoned esau he traded his press his priceless birthright for stew and then wept when repentance was gone forever so don’t ignore the warning signs until the collapse act right away lift the weak pursue peace and holiness uproot presumption treasure your birthright in christ the inheritance that never fades god isn’t waiting for you to get it together come weary limping empty ask him tonight to grant you repentance to hate sin and love him more and ask him to knit us together so that no one misses his grace and then of course rest boldly rest in the savior who holds you fast and gives his spirit to carry us all home to see him face to face amen let’s pray our father in heaven we thank you for this sobering word tonight lord we ask that you would give us tender hearts not like ethos but that you would give us the grace of a changed heart like you gave to jacob though he did not deserve it though he sought to deceive and lie to his brother yet you came to him and you granted him repentance that he did not you granted him repentance that he did not or we pray that you would tenderize our hearts you would knit us together as and you would watch over us by your spirit we pray these things in jesus name amen let’s conclude with the singing hymn number 400 let’s stand as we sing number 400 gracious spirit dwell with me

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