"Making A Difference"

(Genesis 25:19-34, Romans 5:6-11)

Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

INTRODUCTION:

I'd venture to say that in our country, in most of the small towns like Joshua, folks are known more by the people to whom they are related than by their position. This is especially true of the older generations. Or what some folks refer to as old-timers of the community. They say things like, "Oh, you're one of the Joneses from over near Egan," or "Say, isn't that Joe Green's boy?" In small towns, in areas were there is a strong sense of community folks want to know about your people.

That's not the case in the larger cities though. There you're known by what your profession is and sometimes by who you know. They'll say things like, "Oh, your that Doctor with the office up the street, right?" Or they'll say, "Oh, you work with Frank Smith. He's a great guy and they say he's a pretty good lawyer, too.

And worst of all, sometimes, you're not known at all. Today, we're a rootless society. We move all the time. In an average year in America, some 40 million people move. If you look at that another way, every ten years, between 40 and 60 percent of an average American town's population leaves. Consequently, we have lost much of the connectedness and values of our rural heritage. We have become a mobile, nomadic society.

We are closer, now, to the nomadic existence of Abraham than we are to the rural America of the late 19th and early 20th century. In a way, we have to carry our sense of identity with us just as they did. Abraham's people always knew who they were in spite of their existence as wanderers. It wasn't simply because Abraham was their father, but because they felt a real connection with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That gave them their identity.

We claim that same heritage. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is our God through Christ Jesus. That's who we are. We are God's people. God's children. We are God's family. One of the things we all know is that sometimes it's not easy to live in a family.

There was a father and his youngest daughter who sat looking at some family photos together. The little girl noticed she wasn't in the pictures. "How come I'm not in this picture?" she demanded.

Dad said, "Oh, you weren't born, yet."

"`I wasn't born yet', What's that mean?" Dad was at a little bit of a loss for words, but gave what he hoped would be sufficient explanation for a three-year-old. However, it wasn't nearly enough for THIS little girl. She listened quietly and attentively and then bluntly asked again, "Then how come I'm not in this picture?" With a little less of a smile, Dad said, "Because you weren't born yet."

"If I wasn't born yet, then where was I?" Before Dad could think of an answer to that one, she asked again, "How come I'm not in this picture? I see Mommy and Daddy and brother and sister, but I don't see me. Why? And don't tell me I wasn't born yet!"

Just barely restraining himself from shouting, Dad said. "But that's the answer to your question! You just hadn't been born yet!"

You know how sometimes things can escalate from normal to out of control before you know it? Well, that's exactly what happened. This little girl stood up and screamed: "Well, where was I if I wasn't born yet?"

"You were in heaven!" shouted the frustrated Father.

The little girl pondered that answer for awhile, then she calmly closed the album, climbed off Dad's lap, took the album and put it away. On the way back to her room, she stopped and glared at her father and said, "Well, I'm sure not there now!"

Sometimes family life gives us a glimpse of what heaven must surely be like. And then there are the other times. Times when, like the little girl, we know for sure that we're not in heaven.

I. ABE'S BOYS:

A. You know, it's hard being a parent. Parenthood is one of life's most challenging and complicated tasks. That's why Joshua Pharmacy has a Father's Day special on extra-strength Tylenol. Our kids don't come with any instruction manuals or any warrantees. There's no place we can go to get a replacement if we happened to have gotten a defective model. As much as we would like to at times, we can't trade them in on this year's sportier model.

They are ours even when they give us grief.

Parents know just how Rebekah felt when she was carrying Jacob and Esau. Talk about a rough pregnancy, they struggled so much in her womb that she was ready to end her own life. Through prayer, God helped her to do otherwise. Unfortunately, the struggle had only just begun. Jacob and Esau were as different as night and day. If the Biblical stories give any clue to their relationship, they fought like cat's and dogs.

B. Esau was a Daddy's boy. He was the rugged outdoors type who liked to hunt and fish and run with the guys. He was on all the sports teams. He was Captain of the archery team as well as the hand to hand combat squad. Esau probably belonged to the Hebrew equivalent of the FFA, the FSI (Future Shepherds of Israel). He took all the vocational type courses in High School like woodworking, metal shop, sheep sheering. It wasn't that he was dumb or anything. Esau wasn't dumb. He was very smart, but he was also a man of passion who was impulsive and swayed by the moment's desire. He had very little self-control or self discipline. Not only was he impulsive, but even worse, he was gullible.

Jacob was just the opposite. He was a Mama's boy. Jacob was the indoors type. He was a thinker and a planner. He was very self-disciplined. He probably graduated as valedictorian of his High School. He wasn't really into sports unless he could play them on Ninetendo. It wasn't that he couldn't play sports, he could, and he was physically able. He even liked to wrestle and was good at it. But Jacob really liked to compete on a deeper level. That's why he was probably the Captain of the chess team. He liked to think ahead and plan all the right moves and lay the traps that would set him up as the victor. You could probably say he was a conniver.

Jacob and Esau were so different that Isaac and Rebekah really had their hands full raising them. And then it came to the time of this passage. Esau was born first but Jacob coveted his brother's birthright almost from birth. As scripture says, "Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob." (GEN 25:26) The name Jacob means "Grabby" or "one who grasps" or "one who deceives." Jacob coveted Esau's birthright and inheritance from day one.

Esau on the other hand must not have thought too much of his birthright. By right of birth, by right of being the first born son, Esau was entitled to half of all his father's estate: lands, money, herds, everything. The rest of the children, the rest of the heirs would divide up the remainder equally among themselves. But somehow, this birthright didn't impress Esau very much. He came in that day, smelled the stew Jacob was cooking and swore he was starving. True to his nature, Jacob connived and plotted and deceived. Jacob knew how his brother was. He had probably just been waiting for just such an opportunity.

He was probably chuckling to himself when Esau asked for some of that stew. "Sure, I'll give you some of this delicious stew with all your favorite things in it, like lentils and onions and other veggies. Doesn't it look good? Doesn't it smell good? Would you like a taste? I've got fresh bread to go along with it, too. I'll be glad to give you as much as you can eat or want, brother. But first you have to sell me your birthright."

Now Esau had been sitting there smelling that stew, seeing Jacob stir it in the pot, and smelling the fresh bread. His senses could hardly take it anymore. He was hungry and he wanted some of that stew. And he was a man of passion who acted upon his wants and desires without much thought to their consequences. So he says, "Birthright? Birthright? What good is a birthright when you're starving to death. I'll give you anything you want just give me that stew." And so Jacob served Esau for the very last time. The younger son took the status of the elder and Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of stew.

II. BIRTHRIGHT:

A. Esau didn't think very much of his birthright did he? Why? I may be reading more into than there really is, but one of the reasons I think Esau despised his birthright is that Dad, good old Isaac, may have taken the stand that I hear a lot of parents now days taking: "I'm not going to make my child go to Church and Sunday School because I want him/her to grow up and make up his/her own mind about faith issues and about God."

I've heard that time and time again from well meaning parents. But in my opinion, that's an abrogation of parental responsibility. If we don't see to it that they are exposed to the faith, if we don't live it for them, how are our youth and children supposed to know the difference between what is true and what is false; what is really of God and what only mocks God; what is faith and what is a cult?

How are our children supposed to decide the faith issues for themselves if they have nothing to use as a measurement, as a plumb line, level or yardstick. Will our children wind up selling their birthrights for a bowl of stew? Or another fix or another bottle or another illicit affair? Will they so despise their birthright that they will give it away at the drop of a hat?

B. A Sarasota, Florida couple made the newspapers a while back. They earned this publicity by instructing their teenagers on the ins and outs of the family business. The family business happened to be armed robbery. This couple was thoroughly schooling their teenage sons in such tools of the trade as AK-47 assault rifles, using police scanners to evade the police, escape routes, surveillance and survival gear, and effective disguises. They carefully taught each of them hand-to-hand combat. And the teenagers were expected to memorize police codes and map layouts. After each robbery the

boys were debriefed and their mistakes were spotted and corrected.

The crazy part about all this is that these parents were far more serious about training their boys for armed robbery than many Christian parents are about teaching their children about life and God. These two misguided parents knew that their children needed very definite guidance if they were to succeed at armed robbery. They didn't send their boys out unprepared for the things that they faced. They even made sure that the teenagers learned from their previous mistakes. That kind of care and instruction by crooked parents should make most Christian parents cringe in shame at their own half-hearted efforts.

How well are you doing at teaching your children about the things of God and a faith filled life?

III. THEY NEED FAITH:

A. One of the greatest need our children have is to learn about the love of Jesus Christ. If they know that love, we won't have to worry that they will be dragged down by temptation and despair later in their lives.

That is why Sunday School and worship are so important, but they are only a beginning. I believe in Sunday School. I cannot imagine any parent not taking their child's attendance in Sunday School just as seriously as they take attendance in the public schools. Still, even that is not enough. How can one hour a week compensate for all of the other influences in today's society? Devoted parents must live out their faith in front of their children and talk to their children about God.

We have to tell this great story, as our own, to our children and the children of every nation. Without it they will fall. Without it they will wander like lost sheep. We need to tell them and live for them this great message of God who is greater than we are, greater than our puny, measly wants and desires; greater than our inconsistencies; greater than our smallness of mind; greater than our sinfulness.

This God loves us. This God whom we love, whom we are so hesitantly following, so inconsistently serving and so sporadically loving, is our goal and our ideal. We are trying to live this ideal, and though we fail at times, still there is reconciliation through Christ who died to show us just how much God really does love us. Our children need to see and experience this God of love and grace.

How dare we keep this from the world! How dare we leave it up to our children to decide if they want to hear it! Do you leave it up to them to decide whether they will use drugs or drink? Do you leave it up to them whether they will go to school or not? Of course not, yet this which has eternal consequences is so often left up to them to decide.

Would you rather have your children form their opinions of faith on what the media represents as the Christian faith? On the scandals and such that have rocked the Church? Or would you rather they witness the truth of Christ and faith in Christ in your life and in a vital congregation at worship?

B. Dr. Charlie Shedd tells of an experience he had on a plane, flying to Los Angeles. He was seated next to a well-dressed man who was absorbed in an article, graphically illustrated with pictures of teenagers on drugs. When he finished reading, the young man closed the magazine and stared into space. Apparently forgetting those around him, he half spoke, half whispered what seemed to be a prayer. "Oh God, I wonder why! I suppose nobody knows." And then he added quickly, "But if a father can make the difference, I sure want to make that difference!"

Dr. Shedd began to ask this young man questions. He learned that he was a successful businessman who was burdened by the demands of his career. He had a wife and three children, and nothing was higher on his agenda or his list of priorities for the years ahead than to be an effective father, a father who WOULD "make the difference."

CONCLUSION:

We CAN make a difference. Out of the intimacy, caring and togetherness of our family life, we can and we should expect certain lasting results in the lives of our children. We also need to know that they may not happen. Our children might choose to give up their birthright or to set it aside for awhile. But that's not the issue. WE are called to teach them what's in Romans 5:6, how at just the right time, Christ came into the midst of our confusion, our sinfulness and helplessness to die for us. Do you remember the vows we take with the parents when they have their children baptized? WE are called to give our children and all the children in this Church, a foundation upon which to build. We're called to instruct them in the building process by living out OUR OWN FAITH before them.

I read about two young men who were toying with doing something wrong that would be disapproved of by their Dads. One of them finally decided he just couldn't go along. The other young man asked sarcastically, "What's the matter, are you afraid your dad will find out and hurt you?" Quietly the response came, "No, I'm afraid he will find out and it will hurt him."

We CAN make a difference. On this Father's day, let us pray that God will help us to provide our children with the nurture and care that will help them develop with a strong sense of who they are and, even more importantly, whose they are. May our children claim their rich birthright of faith in Christ. And may they be known for their faith and their faithfulness.

This is the Word of the Lord for this Day.