1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,520 We're talking about God's choice, God's choice. 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:08,280 I don't know about you, but one of the potentially most 3 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:13,360 traumatic experiences of my growing up was every time we 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,040 were picking teams for something every anyone else find that 5 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:18,880 traumatic when they were growing up? 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,680 I I was never never is probably a stretch. 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,240 I I had a wide array of friends. It was unusual if I was ever the 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,920 first pick, very, very unusual. Most of the time I was just 9 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:36,560 hoping not to be the last person picked and it because what, what 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,760 are there 2 criteria? When you're choosing up teams as 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,080 kids to play whatever you're going to play, the people doing 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:48,160 the picking have one of two criteria who can friendship and 13 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:49,480 skill. Friendship. 14 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,840 There are those team captains are like, I don't care if my 15 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,600 friend can hit, kick, throw, run, whatever. 16 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,640 They're my friend. I want them on my team. 17 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:00,280 And then there are those kids that are picking her like I'm 18 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,120 going to win this game. I'm going to get the best people 19 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,319 on my team, even if it's my worst enemy. 20 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:11,600 Friendship and skill. We're going to see today from 21 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,920 through the story of Jacob and Esau, how God blows all of that 22 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,240 out of the water when God chooses, when God chooses. 23 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,880 So have you ever heard the term primogeniture? 24 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,720 It's, it's an old word. It's a, it's a scholarly word. 25 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:31,640 It's not, It's one that's difficult to work into the 26 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,520 conversation when you're hanging out with folks at the restaurant 27 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,560 or the bar on Friday evening. It's just tough to work it in. 28 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:40,640 Can I guess? Sure. 29 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:45,000 First in the family, Yes. Yes. 30 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:48,960 The law or custom at the time of Jacob Deesaw, probably more of a 31 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:53,920 custom than a law, was the right of the eldest, usually the son, 32 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,520 to inherit the entire estate of one or both parents 33 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,640 primogeniture. And this was law or custom at 34 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,520 somewhere depending on. We don't know exactly when 35 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:10,039 Abraham lived. If he predated a hammer Robbie 36 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,680 then it was probably just custom. 37 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,640 If he post dated a hammer Robbie, it might well have been 38 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:21,360 law at the time that Jacob and Esau were born that the first 39 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:27,400 born son inherited it all. And there were some socially 40 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,240 useful reasons for this. You didn't want families 41 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,280 literally going to war after the death of the patriarch and 42 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,680 matriarch to divide up the spoils. 43 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,520 You wanted a peaceful transfer. You didn't want the chaos or the 44 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,760 cost of that. And if everyone just agrees, or 45 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,000 if the law says that the eldest son gets it all, and it's the 46 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,760 responsibility of the eldest son to provide for all of the 47 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:55,720 siblings, then that makes things smoother and simpler in matters 48 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:57,960 of inheritance. There were reasons for it. 49 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:02,120 Whether those reasons justify, we'll talk, but there were 50 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:04,240 reasons for it. That was the rule of prime and 51 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:10,520 generature, and that was the very rule that God ignored with 52 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,160 Jacob and Esau. And that wasn't the only time 53 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,720 that God ignored it. But with Esau and Jacob, God 54 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,280 violates the cultural custom and tradition of prime and 55 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,400 generature before they were born. 56 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:27,400 God said to Rachel, the older will serve the younger blowing 57 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,440 it out of the water. The older will serve the younger 58 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,840 Now since that and it wasn't the only time that it happened God, 59 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,480 it was shadows of this with Cain and Abel when God accepted the 60 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,960 offering of the younger brother but not the offering of the 61 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:43,640 older brother. God was even more dramatic with 62 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:48,240 this with David when when David, the youngest son was chosen to 63 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,400 be king over all of the older sons wasn't exactly this since 64 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,200 that wasn't inherited. David's dad wasn't king, but it 65 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,760 was very close but but but God often blows up these kinds of 66 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:04,080 customs and and traditions and laws and says that's not what 67 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,360 we're doing. That's not what we're doing. 68 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,000 God violated the cultural custom and tradition of primogeniture, 69 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:16,640 and people since then have been asking why, Why, Why did God do 70 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:18,519 this? And folks have looked for all 71 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:21,160 sorts of rational, reasonable explanations. 72 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,760 Why did God choose Jacob rather than Esau? 73 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,840 The one that I've heard most often has to do with generally 74 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:30,720 has to do with character. And folks try to make the 75 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,800 argument that that God being God, could see that Jacob was 76 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,880 higher character, better suited to be the new patriarch than 77 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:43,200 Esau was because Esau didn't value his birthright enough. 78 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,880 Esau clearly didn't have great value for his birthright. 79 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,160 But Esau was the older. We were told that when he was 80 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,200 born he was hairy. And not just that, he was 81 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,040 apparently born back hair, arm hair, chest hair, everything. 82 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:57,960 Hairy baby. That'd freak me out a little 83 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:04,520 bit, but you know, hairy baby. And Esau was a man's man Esau. 84 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,120 Jacob loved her or Isaac loved his son. 85 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,240 Esau, he saw, was a hunter. He was out in the fields. 86 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,600 He worked with the animals and, and, and he was the favorite of 87 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,560 his father. Jacob was clearly a mama's boy 88 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:19,960 by every definition. He didn't like to go out in the 89 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:21,640 fields. He didn't want to go hunting. 90 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:23,680 He wanted to stay home. He learned to cook. 91 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,920 He hung out in the tents. He hung around with his mom. 92 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:30,080 And one day he saw came back from a hunting trip and he was 93 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,720 hungry. You would have thought, I mean, 94 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:34,920 you know, you would have thought he would have learned enough 95 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,560 cooking to at least, you know, kill a rabbit and cook it over 96 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,120 and open fire. But but apparently he saw knew 97 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,080 nothing about cooking. He gets back. 98 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:45,960 He hasn't eaten for days. And he says to Jacob, who just 99 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,760 finished a big pot of Stew, I'm hungry, give me some food. 100 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,040 I'm going to die. And Jacob says, I'll give you a 101 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:52,920 bowl of Stew if you give me your birthright. 102 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,600 And he saw made the worst deal in the history of deals and he 103 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,520 sold his birthright, his inheritance for a bowl of Stew. 104 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,680 He was they were very rich. It was a dumb move, but he did 105 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,440 it. He did it and people say, well, 106 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:11,800 you know, how could God have given the blessing of Abraham to 107 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,240 someone like that who didn't even value that blessing and 108 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,840 that birthright enough? Clearly Jacob had higher 109 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:21,480 character. Now, clearly Jacob did not have 110 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:25,720 higher character than Esau when they were when their father was 111 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,800 very old and had gone blind. He'd already Jacob already 112 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,760 gotten the birthright, and then he stole the blessing, which was 113 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:34,520 Blessings were more than just words. 114 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:36,760 Blessings made an impact on a person's life. 115 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,040 They had an actual effect on the future. 116 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,800 When someone in in Isaac's position gave a blessing, he 117 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:45,320 couldn't just give it to everyone. 118 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,520 He gave a blessing to a specific person. 119 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,160 And Jacob, with the help of his mother, disguised himself as 120 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:55,800 Esau. He did it by taking goat skin 121 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,360 and gluing it to his hands. That's how Harry Esau was. 122 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:04,040 His father felt goat fur and thought, oh, that's my son Esau. 123 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:05,960 He was that. That's a hairy dude. 124 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,280 I have no idea why the Bible was so intent on telling us how 125 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:11,240 hairy Esau was, but there you go. 126 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:17,440 And Jacob pretended to be Esau and Isaac gave Jacob Esau's 127 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:22,040 blessing and and and Jacob just stole it. 128 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,400 He just flat stole it. Jacob manipulated his brother, 129 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,280 took advantage of his brother, stole from his brother, then 130 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:31,960 later on manipulated and took advantage of his uncle. 131 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,720 Jacob did not have higher character than Esau did. 132 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,120 Why then why did God choose Jacob? 133 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,440 Was it wasn't? Was there something about him 134 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,680 personally, or would he somehow deserve it more? 135 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,040 Had he earned it in some way? Let's take a look because Paul 136 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,400 discusses this in his letter to the Romans. 137 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,040 And the letter to the Romans, just so you know, is often used 138 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,400 as a guidebook on how to be saved. 139 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,240 One of these days we'll preach through Romans. 140 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:04,880 We'll get there eventually. It is not so much about how to 141 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,720 be saved, but who can be saved, who can be in the Kingdom of 142 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,520 God. And this is a key part of what 143 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,920 Paul says about that. Yet before the twins were born 144 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:19,240 or had done anything good or bad, there was no known 145 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:25,400 characteristics about them. There was no moral behavior, no 146 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,600 way to earn anything either by having certain characteristics 147 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,240 or behaving better than the other, before they done 148 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:34,000 anything, good or bad, while they were still in their 149 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,280 mother's womb. In order that God's purpose and 150 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:42,520 election might stand not by works, but by Him who calls, She 151 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:44,400 was told. The older will serve the 152 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,520 younger, just as it is written. Jacob I have loved, but Esau I 153 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:52,000 hated. What then shall we say, Is God 154 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,560 unjust? Not at all, For he says to 155 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,080 Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. 156 00:08:57,480 --> 00:08:59,720 I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. 157 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:06,600 It does not therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on 158 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:13,160 God's mercy. God chose Jacob to demonstrate 159 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:18,360 that God could choose Jacob. It's like when our kids say, 160 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:20,440 Mom, Mom, why do I have to do that? 161 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:25,160 Because I said so. Dad, Dad, why can't I do that? 162 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,800 Because I said so. God, God, why did you choose 163 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,120 Jacob? Because I did. 164 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:32,880 Because that's the answer we get. 165 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,800 It's a most unsatisfying answer from where I'm sitting. 166 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,600 I would like to know the reasons, right? 167 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,120 What if we know the reasons? Then we can imitate Jacob and 168 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,160 try to get God to show favor to us. 169 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:48,480 This is why God doesn't give us the reasons or why It simply is 170 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:54,800 the reason God chose Jacob, to demonstrate that God can choose 171 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:59,440 whomever God wants, whomever God wants. 172 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,960 Trying to explain or justify God's choice of Jacob is a waste 173 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:08,280 of time, and it misses the point because the point is this. 174 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:13,200 God's choices supersede our customs, our traditions, and our 175 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,400 laws. God is not bound by the custom 176 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,640 or the law of primogeniture. Now here's an interesting thing. 177 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:30,920 Primogeniture was made a law for God's people through Moses. 178 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,600 Book of Deuteronomy says the first born will inherit, first 179 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:41,000 born son will inherit, will inherit, and God is telling. 180 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:48,040 God is giving us an example in Scripture clear as day can't be 181 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,480 erased, can't mean it's this is a big part of the main storyline 182 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:53,320 in the Bible. This is not some little side 183 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,520 quest. This is the main storyline and 184 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:04,880 God blows up his own law. It is so important for God, for 185 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:09,640 to God, for us to know that God is in charge, that God says you 186 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:14,240 can't even hold me accountable to the laws that I've given you. 187 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,000 Here's another way of saying it, God saying I don't want you to 188 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,400 worship the Bible. I don't want you to worship the 189 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,480 law. I want you to worship me, God. 190 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:33,840 Follow me, God. That's the point, that God is in 191 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:39,040 charge, that our task is to follow God, not to take things 192 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,760 God has said or done in the past and craft them into laws and 193 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,560 philosophies that we now then enforce on ourselves or others 194 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:53,160 and expect God to enforce to. It was so important to God for 195 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:57,920 his people to understand this, that he did it repeatedly and he 196 00:11:57,920 --> 00:11:59,760 did it. He did it very early and he did 197 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,360 it often throughout the Scripture to say I'm in charge 198 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,760 and we'll talk about why that's so important in just a minute. 199 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:12,480 I want to talk about I entirely, completely, horribly mislabeled 200 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,680 this slide because I've got 4 bullet points under here and 201 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:19,840 none of them are practical. It's theology, it's doctrine. 202 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,120 There are some practical things I'm going to pull out when we 203 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,360 get there, but the bullet points themselves are not practical. 204 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,480 I apologize. I need to do a better job of 205 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,680 labeling my slides. First one here is this, that the 206 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:36,080 Kingdom of God is not based on what humans assign value to life 207 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:38,280 in the Kingdom. When we're praying, God, your 208 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:42,160 Kingdom come, your will be done here on earth just like it is in 209 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,680 heaven. God's Kingdom, God's society, 210 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:48,400 the culture that God is creating is not based on what humans 211 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,000 assign value to. Now there's a technical word for 212 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,640 that, like there is your primogeniture. 213 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,400 And the word for this when we're talking about cultures and 214 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,280 societies is ascriptive societies. 215 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,920 We're ascriptive value, where human beings ascribe assigned 216 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,960 value to certain things that are generally immutable 217 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,160 characteristics, characteristics we can't change, have little or 218 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,560 no control over, and we assign value on them. 219 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:16,360 Like when we say that somehow the son is more important than 220 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,160 the daughter, or the first born is more important than all of 221 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:21,600 the others. We can't change. 222 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:23,040 Well, you can change the first born. 223 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:25,280 People would do that when younger brothers would kill 224 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:27,200 their older brothers. Oh, now I'm the first born. 225 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:35,280 But you can't change the birth order and, and, and when we 226 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,600 assign value, which is what the cultures in those days did, they 227 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,240 assigned greater value to being a son and greater value to being 228 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:44,040 first born. There are still some cultures in 229 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,000 this world. I mean, most cultures still, 230 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,160 whether they openly admit it or not, tend to value males over 231 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:56,320 females, men over women, Not every, you know, things are 232 00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:58,160 getting better, but there's still work to do. 233 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,800 But there's some cultures that still openly and clearly value 234 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,760 men over women. And having sons is a much better 235 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,960 thing than having daughters. Why? 236 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:15,280 This is very arbitrary to me. It's, it's, I mean, I've, I've 237 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,040 heard philosophical justifications for it, but 238 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:20,080 they're, they're, they're all these, they're, they're 239 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,760 philosophical justifications made by men to explain why we 240 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:25,200 need to keep this in place, right? 241 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,200 It's arbitrary. We're justifying an arbitrary 242 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,600 decision. First born is even more 243 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:33,440 arbitrary. You know, sometimes a first born 244 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,160 is a knucklehead. Why do you want to make the 245 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:39,800 Because it was simple and it was easy and it greased the wheels 246 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:44,320 in ways that, that, that, that you know, but it was assigned 247 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,400 value. Assigned value. 248 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,160 Skin color has been an incredibly significant assigned 249 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:55,320 value, at least for the past 400 years, maybe longer, but at 250 00:14:55,320 --> 00:15:00,520 least for the past 400 years, that people were more valuable, 251 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:05,040 literally more valuable if they were white skin as opposed to 252 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:10,520 brown skin. And and God is blowing all of 253 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:14,960 that out of the water saying whatever you assign value to 254 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,440 doesn't bind God. You can't bind me with that. 255 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:21,480 The New Testament makes it very clear when God says in Christ, 256 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:25,360 when we are in Christ, when we are in the Kingdom of God, there 257 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,600 is no Jew or Greek, there is no male or female. 258 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:32,360 You're all one in Christ Jesus. This business of assigned value, 259 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,160 whatever you human beings are doing with that, whatever 260 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,240 arbitrary things you decide about some people, you're 261 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:40,560 height. Height is a weird one. 262 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:46,600 I can't remember the numbers, but something like 90% or 95% of 263 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,480 Fortune 500 CE OS are over 6 feet tall. 264 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,840 Somehow we value tall people over short people. 265 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,720 I don't get it. Society has yet to figure out 266 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,240 that bald is better than Harry. But you know, I'm still waiting 267 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:05,040 for that assigned value. Now that we do that, we get 268 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,640 whatever we do. God says I am not bound by that. 269 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:14,760 I'm not I'm not. Kingdom of God is not based on 270 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,880 what humans assign value to. The flip side on this too is 271 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,080 which is the other type of society. 272 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:26,760 That, or the other aspect that that many in society pursue with 273 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:31,120 with great intensity is that the Kingdom of God is not a 274 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,240 meritocracy either. It's not. 275 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:40,160 There is no sense in which Jacob merited the birthright and the 276 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,360 blessing more than Esau did. None. 277 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,840 And Paul makes that clear. The Holy Spirit speaking through 278 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:51,240 Paul, there was This was not a question of Jacob being gooder 279 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:55,880 than Esau was, of Esau somehow being morally bad and Jacob 280 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,880 being morally good. It was not about that God chose 281 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,600 Jacob and it had nothing to do with merit. 282 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:09,079 That's also in the New Testament when God says in Christ, not 283 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:12,440 only is there no Jew or Greek, there's no male or female, 284 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:19,079 there's also no slave or free. Being a valuable, significant, 285 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:23,359 high achieving, powerful human being does not make someone any 286 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:27,640 more valuable to God than if they have none of that. 287 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,960 It's not about those things. The Kingdom of God is not based 288 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,440 on what we assign value to, and it's not based on what we can 289 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:40,120 achieve or the achievements that we assign value to, which is the 290 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:42,360 other, you know? Well, I don't go too far down 291 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:46,960 that rabbit hole. We, the Kingdom of God, neither 292 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:55,360 assigned value nor earned value. Meritocracy, the Kingdom of God. 293 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,800 Well, not getting our preference is often a sign of God's will 294 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,960 being done. It's a very different concept, 295 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:04,960 but we're going to tie all of these three together before we 296 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:09,200 get to the 4th 1. So you know the Lord's Prayer, 297 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,680 our Father, let's say it together, our Father, which art 298 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:17,320 in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come. 299 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,680 Thy will be done. We'll stop there. 300 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,360 Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done. 301 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:27,040 God, when we pray that we're praying God, we want your will 302 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:31,320 to be done. The implication every time we 303 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:36,320 pray that is we're saying, God, please don't do what I want to 304 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,520 be done. We're praying for our will not 305 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,280 to be done. We want God's will to be done. 306 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,000 Jesus prayed both sides of it in the garden. 307 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:51,800 God, thy will not mine be done at one of those times in my 308 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:53,760 life, adult life, that I was whining. 309 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:55,720 I I'm a whiner. I admit it. 310 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,680 One of my moral failings, character flaws. 311 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,440 I'm a whiner. I was whining to a pastor friend 312 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:08,080 of mine and he said, you know, Scott, if, if, if what you want 313 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,520 is being done, there's a really good chance that that's not 314 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,880 God's will. But if what you don't want is 315 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,400 being done, then there's a good chance that that is God's will 316 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,920 because that's what you pray that I will not mine be done. 317 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:24,600 I hated that. I still hate that. 318 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,840 That is so irritating. I want God to want what I want. 319 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:31,960 I want God to value what I value. 320 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:38,800 I want God to reward me based on my merits and kind of, you know, 321 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:46,040 overlook and forgive my flaws. When we're not getting our 322 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:51,560 preference, there is a much greater chance that God's will 323 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:56,360 is being done than ours. Let's tie this together and, and 324 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,280 make this actually practical instead of just theoretical. 325 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,120 There are two times in the history of the nation of Israel, 326 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:08,320 the nation of Israel back in the ancient days, they got, they got 327 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,360 this stuff wrong. They got the assigned value 328 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:15,080 wrong and they got the meritocracy wrong, and they 329 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:19,960 began to believe not only that they were God's chosen people, 330 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:22,880 which was true. God made that clear. 331 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:26,400 I chose Abraham, I chose Isaac, I chose Jacob. 332 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,400 I've chosen their descendants. You are my chosen people. 333 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:32,680 I chose to rescue you from slavery in Egypt. 334 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:39,600 I chose to give you land in, in around the Jordan River and, and 335 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:41,480 that is the land I have promised you. 336 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:44,800 It belonged to other people. I give it to you now your land. 337 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,160 I've chosen you. And they took that being chosen 338 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:54,920 by God and said God chose us. It must be because we're better. 339 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:57,360 Why else would God have chosen us? 340 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,240 And they assumed they were in a meritocracy. 341 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:08,080 And since God had chosen them, that made them better. 342 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:10,920 They merited being chosen by God. 343 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:12,760 They'd earned being chosen by God. 344 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:18,000 Or they would have said, you know, God values us more than 345 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,600 God values other people otherwise would. 346 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,280 God wouldn't have chosen us. God has assigned us value that's 347 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:26,160 greater than value of other people. 348 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,560 And we're better either way you slice it, we're better. 349 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:35,000 And that's why God has chosen us. 350 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,880 And because God has chosen us and because we're better, God's 351 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,520 going to protect us and God's going to care for us. 352 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,120 And, and God has to do that because that's the promise that 353 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,040 God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 354 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:49,200 That's the promise that God made to David. 355 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,520 One of your descendants would sit on the throne forever. 356 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,440 That's God's bound to do those things. 357 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,160 And they began in their pride and in their arrogance of we 358 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,920 deserve this because we're inherently better or because 359 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,880 we've earned it. They began to do really awful 360 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:11,520 things. And they got so far away that 361 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:16,720 the only way that God could show them that they hadn't earned it 362 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,280 and that they weren't more valuable was that God let first 363 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,760 the Babylonians and then a few 100 years later the Romans come 364 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:31,280 in and destroy their nation and destroy their capital and kill 365 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:34,320 or deport the majority of their people. 366 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:43,040 And somehow out of all of that, their prophets saw and learned 367 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:47,120 and tried to teach them. We got it wrong. 368 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:50,800 We're not better. We're not more valuable. 369 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:56,160 Our destruction was not a sign that God has failed. 370 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:00,880 It is a sign. It is a sign that God's will is 371 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,840 being done. Our destruction is God's will 372 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,640 because we became the sort of people that God did not intend 373 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,240 us to be. We were no longer living out 374 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,080 God's Kingdom. We were living out our own will, 375 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:18,480 believing ourselves to be more valuable than others, ourselves 376 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:23,120 to have merited grace from God that we have not merited, and 377 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:27,800 not getting their preferences. God will redirect us. 378 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,880 I believe God does it in the gentlest way possible to get our 379 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,160 attention. And when we get far enough off 380 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,160 track, the further off track we get, generally the more painful 381 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:41,360 the exercises that we have to go through to get back on track. 382 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,600 Not getting our preferences often a sign of God's will being 383 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,440 done and reception into God's Kingdom and life in God's 384 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:52,520 Kingdom is not a matter of our value or our merit, but of God's 385 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,600 choice. And that's the best news there 386 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,280 can be. Because Jesus is the one 387 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,080 choosing teams. Jesus is the one choosing sides. 388 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:06,160 And Jesus isn't just picking his friends. 389 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:08,800 And Jesus isn't looking for the people that are going to help 390 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:10,840 him win. Jesus doesn't need our help 391 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,720 winning. He's looking for people who will 392 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,040 live in his Kingdom. He picks you and you and you and 393 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,160 you and you and you and you and you and you and you and me and 394 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,400 you and all of they got I want you. 395 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:24,880 I want you. I pick you. 396 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,480 You don't have to earn it. You don't have to have some sort 397 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:33,000 of characteristic that the rest of the world finds valuable, 398 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:38,800 whether it's birth order or gender or skin color or wealth 399 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:40,920 or status or what. You don't have to have any of 400 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,560 those things. Nationality. 401 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,960 I pick you. You're included in my Kingdom 402 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:56,000 because I chose you. I chose you. 403 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,320 That is such good news because if entry in and life in the 404 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,200 Kingdom of God is based on merit, we are all going to fall 405 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,480 at some point. We will all fall. 406 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,800 We will all fail. If entry into the Kingdom of God 407 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,840 is based on some sort of immutable characteristic, then 408 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,760 the vast majority of people will not be included right off the 409 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,720 bat because they don't have that characteristic. 410 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,920 And even those that do have it will likely eventually lose it. 411 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,000 They'll be superseded. They'll be supplanted. 412 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,120 Or the values can change, which they always do in cultures and 413 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:30,240 kingdoms. What's value changes. 414 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,960 But God doesn't change. And God's promises don't change. 415 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:41,680 And God's choice doesn't change. We get to be in the Kingdom of 416 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,440 God. We get to be a part of this 417 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,160 mission, in this ministry, because God has chosen us. 418 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,800 Not because we've earned it. Not because we deserve it, not 419 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,200 because we have. Somehow we're more special than 420 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,880 other people are just because God has chosen us. 421 00:25:55,680 --> 00:26:00,200 It's a very humbling thing and it's a very freeing thing. 422 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,920 We don't have to earn it. We don't have to deserve it. 423 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:08,600 And whoever we are, regardless of our skin color, regardless of 424 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,480 our gender, regardless of our social status, regardless of our 425 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,600 intellect, regardless of what we have achieved or failed to 426 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:20,400 achieve or not even tried to achieve, God says, I want you 427 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:27,120 mighty come on over. And all we have to do is say yes 428 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,680 and receive it and live. It is not easy. 429 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:36,480 There's there's work to do that our, our position in the Kingdom 430 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,600 of God is based on God's promises, not on our merit and 431 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:45,080 not on our characteristics. And that's the hope we have that 432 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,360 it's God's choice. It's God's choice in Jesus name, 433 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:49,240 Amen.