One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field and said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stew–I’m starved!” Jacob said, “Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn.” On oath Esau traded away his rights. Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. Esau ate and drank, got up and left. (Genesis 25:29-34, The Message Bible)

We have a wonderful birthright from God in Christ. We are God’s children and heirs, temples in which His Spirit dwells, priests and kings who reign with Christ. Sadly, we are more like Esau than many of us care to admit because we’ve traded our birthright for even less than a bowl of stew.

Evidence that we have traded away our birthright can be heard in what we say. For example, how often do Christians refer to church buildings as the “house of God” even though the Bible teaches us that we are God’s house and that “God does not live in houses made by men” (Acts 7:48 and Acts 17:24)? It should have been clear that God abandoned, vacated, departed, left the temple in Jerusalem when He tore the curtain between the Holy of Holies where He resided and the Jewish priests who served Him in the courts of the temple. And if the invitation presented by the torn curtain wasn’t clear enough, Jesus told the Jews when He left the temple for the last time “behold, your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23:38). Since the day of Pentecost, God dwells, abides and lives in believers. That’s right. We are God’s house now. Sadly, most believers seem to prefer keeping God at a distance by consigning Him to a church building.

Another way in which Christians have traded their birthright is the forfeiture of their priesthood to become the ‘laity’. Reduced to laymen, Christians often look to their ordained minister as the only genuine priest and view him as their intermediary before God. That’s the symbolic set up of most sanctuaries; the lay people seated below, the priest ministering on the platform between the lay people and the altar. That’s not new testament, that’s old testament temple worship re-incarnate.

Many believers hesitate to do what God asks them to do until they receive the minister’s permission. Others look for someone who is perceived to be more spiritual to pray on their behalf, as if they’re afraid to approach God for themselves or that He listens to some but not others. Yet in Jesus we are all priests and He is the only intermediary we ever need. In fact, Paul writes because of what Jesus has done for us, we can boldly approach God’s throne (Hebrews 4:16).

Fear is such an emboldened, brazen thief. Fear’s partner in crime is ignorance. Fear and ignorance have convinced us that our inheritance is something we can’t possess in this life, but only after we die and go to be with Jesus. Yes, Jesus is our ultimate reward for faith in Him, but the inheritance He gave us is meant for us to enjoy while we’re in this life. In the here and now. An inheritance by definition is a gift left by a departing loved one for their surviving family to use and enjoy. I don’t know about you, but I intend to possess and enjoy Christ’s inheritance in this life. For example FREEDOM, about which Paul wrote: Christ has freed us so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. Therefore, stand firm and let no one put you under the yoke of slavery again. Galatians 5:1. Yes, that’s the scripture I read at the end of every podcast episode. I’m a son, I’m free, and I intend to live free. I’ll let you in on a little secret: slave traders HATE free men. If you doubt me, just ask Demetrius what he thought about Paul.

Freedom is Christ’s answer to the yoke of slavery. Yet how often do we trade away our freedom for slavery? Consider the words of Jesus who replied “the sons are free” when He was asked about paying the temple tax (Matthew 17:24-26). The so-called “two drachma” tax that paid for temple maintenance and upkeep, and religious services conducted on their behalf. How often today are the sons of God taxed to pay for yet another man-made temple and the services of the professionally religious? The early Church didn’t build temples, they met in believer’s homes and their offerings were used to meet the needs of the saints, such that they could boast “there were no needy people among them”. You’ll find that in Acts 2:45 and Acts 4:34. The Church today can’t boast like that because the unending expense of buildings, programs and salaries for the professionally religious enslave believers and leave little or nothing to help the saints. How frightening it will be when Jesus judges the world for whether or not they fed, clothed and provided shelter for His brothers (Matthew 25:31-46). “For when I was hungry, you fed me”. Uh, sorry Jesus, but the church needed a new van. If ever you have time on your hands and want an eye-opening about the incredible waste of man’s church system, search a certain popular video hosting site with the term “abandoned church” or “abandoned mega church”. They’re everywhere.

As for man’s wasteful ways, one of the more insidious ways fear, ignorance and deception have stolen from the saints, is through man’s tithe lie. The gist of the old testament tithe was to bring food to the temple for the priests, a practice abolished with the new covenant in Christ, the destruction of the temple and obsoletion of the Levite priesthood. The modern tithe doctrine replaces the destroyed temple in Jerusalem with the modern church building, and the obsoleted Levite priesthood, with the modern clergy. Shouldn’t Biblical substitutions be made instead if tithing is still for today? It’s not, but for the sake of argument, let’s be Biblical in the substitutions we make. What if I showed you from scripture that YOU are the new priesthood, and YOU are the new temple? So if the tithe is brought to the temple for the priesthood, and that’s YOU, YOU’RE the temple and YOU’RE are the priesthood, why are you giving the tithe instead of receiving the tithe? That’s what they did in Acts 2 and 4 – believers shared the offerings of the Church to meet the needs of ALL. Likewise in 2 Corinthians 9, Paul talked about the collection taken up FOR the saints, not FROM the saints; FOR the saints. So what happens to the money you drop in the offering plate on Sunday? Do the saints ever see any of it to help with their needs? Like they did in Acts, or the people in Corinth did for their brothers in Judea? If what happens in churches today happened in a business, they’d call it embezzlement.

At one time or another, we have all traded our birthright for stew. Isn’t it time we traded up for the fattened calf and a seat at our Father’s banquet table?