Paul is saying: you used to live with a bowl. You used to live from urge, to urge, to urge, to urge, to urge. You used to live that way - but now I want you to live for the birthright. Will you live for the bowl; or will you live for the birthright?
The huge part of this is that: forgiveness is not the issue. Does God forgive sexual immorality, impurity, greed, lust, malice, slander, anger? Does God forgive all those things? Yes.
Jesus said: every sin a man commits will be forgiven him - except for unforgiveness, and blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Of course He forgives him. It's not a matter of forgiveness; it's a matter of: your birthright or your bowl.
It's a matter of: are you living for your best life. Will the story of your life read: my life was defined by my destiny; or, my life was defined by my bowl?
Hebrews 12:16-17 mentions Esau again:
“See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is Godless - like Esau”.
Esau was really just an honest, hardworking guy, who made one bad decision to eat stew - and he sold it for his birthright. That's all he ever did.
Hebrews 11 is that list that we call the Hall of Faith - heroes of the faith. Abraham gave his wife to Pharaoh's harem; Isaac did something similar. Samson was sleeping with prostitutes on his wedding night, because he got depressed, because his best man stole his wife. Jephtha sacrificed his own daughter on an altar he created, because of a rash vow.
David committed adultery, got the woman pregnant; and then to cover it up, decided to kill her husband. In trying to kill her husband, he ended up killing 17 men in one day, trying to kill one to cover up a sin he did. He made it into the heroes.
Moses, a premeditated murderer: I looked this way and that, and seeing no one: I killed the man, and hid him in the sand - hero of the faith.
Somehow they all worked it out, to where they were heroes of the faith; but then you've got a guy who was an honest, hardworking guy, who just came in one day, and was so hungry he thought he would die without the 'edom, 'edom.
He traded his birthright for one bowl and now everybody picks on him: See to it that no one is Godless like Esau – who, for a single meal, sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.
Afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind - even though he sought it with tears!
The word ‘Godless’ there, we also translate ‘profane’, or ‘despised’, in the Old Testament. He's saying: why did they hate him so bad?
These other guys, they made awful mistakes; but in their hearts, they were men after God. You could be a man after God, and make a horrible mistake, but what they say about Esau is this: in his heart, he lived as though there was no higher purpose for his life than a bowl.
What good is my birthright to me? Are you kidding me?
In other words, there's no higher purpose in my life than my urges. Nothing else matters, except for my urges.
1) Do we live as though there's no higher purpose, profaning our destiny?
If you were to do an honest self-assessment of your life today, do you live for the birthright; or do you live as if there's no higher purpose than what you want and feel like doing today?
This is some pop psychology man, I'm telling you, I'm a trained psychologist, and I have heard psychologists tell clients: you don't have to do anything you don't feel like doing.
Hello! How's that going to work? Put that into a marriage: Wife, you don't have to do anything you don't feel like doing. Husband, you don't have to do anything you don't feel like doing. Of course, they only tell the wife that one; Men just have to suck it up!