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Pulling Out the Thorns of Bitterness (Hebrews 12:15)
41 Plays2 years ago
In this part of South Texas we have to be careful about walking across the yard barefooted because of grass burrs. There are several different kinds of burs down here such as the Bur Clover, Field Sandbur, Lawn Burweed, Khaki Weed or the very painful Goat Head. These stickers can be tricky just removing them from your shoelaces much less pulling them out of your foot.
Today we address the thorns of bitterness. Have you ever known anyone whose life was marked by unresolved anger that devolved into resentment? Hebrews 12:15 was written as a warning for followers of Jesus Christ not to hold on to emotional hurts from others. This one verse will help us examine just how destructive bitterness can be if left beneath the surface.
1. Diligent with a Continual Glancing over Life for Bitterness
“See to it…”
2. Drawing upon the Perennial Grace from the Lord for the Bitterness
“…that no one fails to obtain the grace of God…”
3. Dissatisfaction with an Emotional Grudge’s Load from Bitterness
“…that no root of bitterness…”
4. Dismay over the Natural Growth from the Letdowns of Bitterness
“…springs up…”
5. Damage from the Brutal Grip Leftover after Bitterness
“…and causes trouble…”
6. Defilement of a Social Group’s Links due to Bitterness
“…and by it many become defiled.”
Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church 1700 Milam Street Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Personal Story and Theme Introduction
00:00:44
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace. I'm Victor Morrison, a senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas. You know, down here in South Texas, we have to be careful whenever we're walking across the yard, especially if we're barefooted, because we have what's known as grass burrs. Do you have any grass burrs where you live?
00:01:06
Speaker
There are several different kinds of grass burrs down here. Sometimes it's a bur clover, sometimes field sand burr, land burr weed, khaki weed, or it could be the most painful of all, goat head. Oh my goodness. These stickers can be tricky. Just removing them from your shoelaces, much less pulling them out of your foot.
00:01:29
Speaker
I used to have to get the needle nose pliers to pull them out of my dog's paws. We had a Cocker Spaniel and she had some very fluffy, hairy paws. And boy, was it tricky getting those grass burrs out of there.
The Dangers of Bitterness
00:01:45
Speaker
But today we're going to address the thorns of bitterness. Have you ever sort of ingested bitterness? Have you ever had it down in your heart?
00:01:56
Speaker
Well, maybe you've known somebody that is in your life that also is marked by unresolved anger, and it just seemed like it got worse and worse, and it turned into resentment. Well, Hebrews 1215 was written as a warning for followers of Jesus Christ not to hold on to emotional hurts from other people.
00:02:21
Speaker
Whenever we do that, it's something like drinking poison and hoping your enemy dies. It just doesn't work that way. And so what I want us to do is to look at this passage and see how destructive
00:02:38
Speaker
bitterness can be just below the surface. And so I pray that God will use this message. It's only one verse long. And so there's not a lot there. But when you break it down, just sort of phrase by phrase and word by word, oh my goodness, it really does have a lot to say to the way that we sometimes are tempted to live.
Self-Examination and Vigilance
00:03:00
Speaker
So let me read that. It says, see to it.
00:03:04
Speaker
that 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.
00:03:19
Speaker
Boy, bitter fruit, a poisonous root. Deuteronomy 29, 18 spoke to something similar when it said, beware, lest there be among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware, lest there be among you a root
00:03:49
Speaker
bearing poisonous and bitter fruit. That sounds a lot like Hebrews 12.15, doesn't it? That's what I thought, and I thought, wow, I wonder if whoever the Holy Spirit inspired to write this, perhaps they knew that verse in Deuteronomy 29.18,
00:04:06
Speaker
as well as the verse that they were writing, Hebrews 12 verse 15. So what I'd like to do is just sort of walk around the root of bitterness, and let's just look at it. And I hope that it will inspire you. I want to give you a heads up that the first three observations are going to be more on the how can we avoid this prevention side.
00:04:32
Speaker
But the
Seeking God's Grace
00:04:33
Speaker
last three are like, oh my goodness, this is going to be a wake up call if you get down into there and you see this happening in your life.
00:04:42
Speaker
So let's run it through in slow motion. It says first, see to it, see to it. You know, it's actually a Greek word that's called episcopeo. Have you ever heard of Episcopalians? They have like bishops. It's sort of the idea of someone who looks over, who oversees. Epi is to intensify the verb and the verb here in episcopeo is scapeo.
00:05:12
Speaker
And so it means to give your attention to, to observe. And so what I want you to picture in your mind is, I need to be looking constantly at my life. I need to have a diligent, continual glance over the scope of my life, lest bitterness somehow start growing in my life.
00:05:38
Speaker
You know, I have to watch out with my yard because if I don't keep a good close eye on it, well, dandelions could pop up. Or one or two years since I've lived here, mushrooms just started growing in my yard. And so we have to keep watch. You know, if you were to go back in this chapter,
00:05:57
Speaker
It tells us what our gaze should be focused on. What should we look at the most intently? Not bitterness and not sin and all those kinds of things. It says, therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus.
00:06:26
Speaker
the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.
00:06:49
Speaker
So you see, our gaze should be on the Lord Jesus Christ as we're walking through life, as we go through life. But there's no way that we're going to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and never get emotionally hurt or socially wounded.
00:07:06
Speaker
There's just no way it's going to happen. So we're going to not only keep our gaze on Jesus, but we're going to put our glance to make sure that we're not letting those little jabs that sometimes people could say or those pokes just stay with this whole idea of something prickly.
00:07:25
Speaker
We're going to let our glance be for those kind of things like bitterness. We don't want those, so we're going to have to be diligent. We're going to have to be vigilant to make sure that we're watching our life carefully. The other thing I want you to do is secondly, to draw upon the perennial grace from the Lord for the bitterness. You know, it says, see to it that no one fails
00:07:54
Speaker
to obtain the grace of God. So, if I'm daily going to God for grace, then I'm not going to come short of it. You know, that word, come short of there, is hysterio. It means to come too late. You missed it. You're not going to go far enough to reach it. You're fall back. Something is missing.
00:08:16
Speaker
You know, that's exactly the same word
Dealing with Bitterness Effectively
00:08:19
Speaker
that Jesus's mother, Mary, in John chapter 2, Jesus and his disciples and his mother were at a wedding feast in Cana. And John chapter 2 verse 3, Jesus's mother says, son, they've run out of wine. And so that was an emergency situation at that feast.
00:08:41
Speaker
But that same word, hysterio, is not only used in John 2, it's used in Luke 15. In Luke 15, verse 14, Jesus is telling the parable, the parable of the prodigal son. And the prodigal son rebels, runs away, thinks life is better in the city than out there on the father's farm. And so the prodigal, it says, found himself in need. Some things were missing.
00:09:10
Speaker
So that's the same word. You know, there was a rich young ruler in Matthew 19-20 who wanted to follow Jesus. And Jesus said, come follow me. But then the rich young ruler, he says, lacked one thing.
00:09:25
Speaker
Same word, the same word, hysterio, in Greek, it means to come short. You're missing something. You're not going far enough. You know, Romans 3.23 is perhaps the most famous use of this word, hysterio, when it says, you know, all of us have sinned and we fall short.
00:09:47
Speaker
of the glory of God. Same exact word. But I got good news for you, because where we fall short, you know what God has that will make up the difference from whatever it is where we're falling short? If we'll just cry out to Him for His grace, then that's going to make up the difference. You know, in 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul says,
00:10:11
Speaker
He had a thorn. He had a thorn that was in the flesh, and I don't know if the thorn was bitterness or what it was. It doesn't explain what it was, but it says it was a messenger of Satan that was harassing him to keep him from becoming conceited. So three times, Paul says, I just kept praying, asking the Lord about this, that it should leave me. So he said, pull out the thorn, Lord, please pull it out.
00:10:38
Speaker
But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, Paul said, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ
00:10:57
Speaker
Then I am content with weaknesses. And get this next one. Insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for when I'm weak, then I'm strong. You see, sometimes our bitterness, it can be toward God.
00:11:14
Speaker
We can be bitter toward God. He didn't answer us. We're going through hardships. Or maybe someone else has insulted us. Maybe something like that has happened. Don't hold on to it. Don't keep it down within. Let it go. Remember Jesus? You know, Luke 23, verse 34, there he is. He's got nails in his hands or his wrists. He's got nails in his feet. He's been whipped. He's had a crown of thorns placed upon him. He's got people making fun of him.
00:11:43
Speaker
So is He vindictive? Is He full of bitterness and resentment and anger and so forth? No, He's not. He says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That's amazing, isn't it? You know, I don't know of anyone else that can pull out the thorn of bitterness but Jesus Christ, and that's because He already did it. He overcame all those thorns.
00:12:08
Speaker
You know in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 30 to 32 it says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
00:12:21
Speaker
and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Man, that's
The Story of Esau
00:12:37
Speaker
what I'm talking about is drawing grace
00:12:41
Speaker
drawing the grace that I need, and it's perennial. You know what perennials are? If you do any work in your yard, there's a big difference between those that are perennial. I mean, they keep coming back, right? Well, that's how God's grace is. There's always enough grace there. But there's something that I think we have to come to a point where we're dissatisfied.
00:13:05
Speaker
with bitterness. He says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness. I think right there we need to reach a point in our lives, if we're nursing this grudge or this bitterness, we need to come to the place where we say, you know, Lord, I am so tired.
00:13:27
Speaker
I'm so dissatisfied with the load from this emotional grudge that I'm carrying around every single day. The thing about a root is it's underground, right?
00:13:41
Speaker
But when he uses this whole metaphor of a root, when he's describing bitterness, I think what he's trying to get to is, what's the source? What's the cause? What's the reason? It's this grudge. It's this bitterness. The word in Greek is pikria. It's like something very pointed or sharp. It's something bitter or painful.
00:14:06
Speaker
You know, we have to reach that point where we say, you know what, this bitterness, it really hurts. And so it's all a result of not forgiving. It's all a result of having unresolved anger that we've internalized.
00:14:22
Speaker
You know, the next verse, if you were to go down into Hebrews 12 verse 16, just the very next verse, it brings up a man that I think dealt with bitterness, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
00:14:45
Speaker
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." So I got to thinking about how Esau felt when his brother Jacob deceived him not once, twice,
00:15:05
Speaker
He deceived him twice. He first stole Esau's birthright, but then he stole the blessing that the father was gonna place upon Esau as the firstborn. And so whenever Esau heard his father say, I just gave your blessing to your brother, he tricked me. He made me think that you brought me that meal, but it was really Jacob that brought me that meal.
00:15:32
Speaker
And you know what it says about Esau? It says, with an exceedingly great and bitter cry. You know why he cried out? He cried out because when people do things like that, it hurts. And so if we internalize the hurt and we don't turn that hurt over to Christ, if we don't say, Lord, please pull out the thorn of bitterness,
00:15:55
Speaker
then it's going to stay there and it's going to get worse. It's going to hurt worse. As a matter of fact, that's what the next three closing points I want to make are. See, the fourth observation that I have about bitterness is that it's going to cause dismay, dismay over the natural growth from the letdowns of bitterness.
00:16:17
Speaker
Yup. You know, Proverbs 13, 12 says, Hope deferred makes the heart sick. Oh, Esau came in there with a delicious meal for his father, thinking his father was going to bless him. But instead he found out Jacob had beat him there to the punch and Jacob received the blessing, not Esau.
00:16:40
Speaker
And so hope deferred made his heart sick. But it goes on to say in Proverbs 13, 12, a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. And so what a difference it makes whenever something you wanted to happen happens. But that doesn't take place whenever we're talking about bitterness. Bitterness is never gonna be a tree of life for you.
00:17:06
Speaker
It says it's going to spring up. It's like a seed germinating. It's like whenever you plant something in the garden and now it breaks through the surface of the soil and the ground. And so now it's starting to grow. It's starting to sprout. Well, what was that?
00:17:25
Speaker
I think for sure you would have said, well, for Esau, it would have been discouragement. This guy was so depressed. But then for the father, Isaac, it was probably something like disappointment.
00:17:38
Speaker
But just don't let bitterness stay in there because if there's one thing the scriptures teach us about bitterness, it will not stay small. It's going to grow. And whatever it has to do to come up through the surface of your life, it's going to do it. It'll produce discouragement like it did for Esau, or it'll produce disappointment like it did for that daddy, for Isaac.
00:18:05
Speaker
But I want you to know that this bitterness is something that we shouldn't want to play with. We shouldn't entertain it. We shouldn't permit it to stay in our lives. I'll give you a fifth reason why. Because of the damage. The damage.
00:18:20
Speaker
that the brutal grip from the leftover of bitterness, oh, let me tell you, it's like it gets a hold on us. You know, as a pastor, a lot of times I shake hands with people whenever they're leaving the service. And I'm telling you, I never knew there were so many different handshakes.
00:18:38
Speaker
I mean, young people have some fun ones, right? But some of the men, I've shaken hands with some that I would nickname the crusher because boy, do they ever have a really tight grip and they can crush your hands. I've shaken hands with some that it was like they thought my hand was like a milk, a milk cow or something. And they would squeeze it repeatedly over and over again. And I'm like, this doesn't feel right, you know?
00:19:07
Speaker
and then some were like you know you're sawing a tree and you got a two-handed saw there and they're sawing one way and then you're sawing another way and back and forth we go together anyway a lot of different kind of handshakes but do not do not shake hands with bitterness i'm telling you
00:19:26
Speaker
You're going to be in store for some trouble.
Impact of Bitterness on Relationships
00:19:29
Speaker
As a matter of fact, that's what it says next. When it springs up, what does it do next? Well, it causes trouble. That word there means to disturb, to harass with crowds. It means you surround. It actually can mean to grip tightly. It's like a mob or it's something that annoys you.
00:19:51
Speaker
Well, I got to thinking about what happened just after Esau allowed bitterness to enter into his heart. You're not going to believe what you're going to hear that's found in Genesis chapter 27. In Genesis chapter 27 verses 41 to 46, here's what it says about Esau.
00:20:13
Speaker
Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself, the days of mourning for my father are approaching. Then I will kill my brother Jacob. But the words of Esau, her older son were told to Rebecca. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you.
00:20:41
Speaker
by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran, and stay with him a while until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you've done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?
00:21:11
Speaker
And then Rebecca said to Isaac, I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be? You know, when I got to thinking about the damage that was being done, I heard words in that passage right after Esau became so bitter on the inside, I heard words like these, hatred, anger, sorrow, or grief, fury,
00:21:42
Speaker
the desire to kill someone, being bereft, loathing life itself. Oh, let me tell you, bitterness will always cause trouble, tremendous trouble. Don't fool with it. Wherever you are,
00:21:58
Speaker
If you're in a car, if you're at the gym, if you're listening in your home, why don't you just take a moment just to ask God to take it out of your life? It's what's causing trouble. The Lord will replace the bitterness with blessing.
00:22:14
Speaker
But if we have bitterness in our lives, it's going to block the blessing that God wants to give us. So we definitely do not want to have this trouble, but there's one last thing that you need to know about bitterness, and that is it will defile others. That's how it ends. It says here, it'll cause trouble, and by it many become defiled.
00:22:39
Speaker
Can't you picture Esau when he sits around the table and tells all of his friends how underhanded his brother Jacob had been?
Practicing Forgiveness
00:22:49
Speaker
What did he just do? He transferred the bitterness that was in his heart and all of that anger that's in his heart, and now he's injecting it into his friends. What if a man sits down and runs down other people to his children or to his wife? Then they also get all riled up on the inside.
00:23:09
Speaker
As a matter of fact, there's just nothing good to say about bitterness. It's going to contaminate. It's going to taint. It's going to defile or pollute or stain or corrupt. It's always going to make such a difference in your social group, whether it's a family, it's a group of friends. All of those links now are going to be so impacted by that bitterness.
00:23:35
Speaker
You know, when I thought about his family, I couldn't help but think about Jacob's family and Esau's family. And I thought, look at that. Here's two brothers that grew up together, probably playing and having a great time. But now what's happened? Well, now you've got a wedge. You've got division between the brothers.
00:23:53
Speaker
And what's going on with the parents? Why does it say that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah, his wife, loved Jacob? Shouldn't they love both sons? So you've got this dysfunction going on between the parents. Maybe that's part of what happened and why this all took place to begin with. It was Rebekah's idea afterwards for Jacob to sneak in there and steal the blessing.
00:24:20
Speaker
But then think about also the distance, the distance for the deceiver. Jacob had deceived his brother. So now what's his mom saying? Well, listen, Jacob, you better get out of here, because Esau says he's never going to forgive you. As a matter of fact, he's going to take you out.
00:24:38
Speaker
And so now there's distance in this family that once were able to be so close and lived right there together. And then think about the distaste within the wounded. Esau's been wounded. Esau's been hurt. You can tell how drastically this hurt him, how deeply it hurt him. And so he's got such a distaste in his mouth. I wonder if maybe he stopped conversations when someone was saying, hey, how's your brother Jacob? He would say, hold it right there.
00:25:08
Speaker
I don't want his name to ever come up again. You see, that's what happens whenever people nurse bitterness. There comes a time when we have to let it go. We have to say, okay, God, I don't want this to take place. I got to thinking about this huge family
00:25:28
Speaker
that Jacob was blessed with once he left home. He went to live with his uncle Laban. And so, I mean, it's amazing, the huge family that Jacob had.
00:25:40
Speaker
But you know what? Jacob and all of his kids and so forth, his wives, they couldn't be around Esau and his family. They couldn't be around Isaac and Rebekah anymore. You see, they're going to be disconnected now. Why are they going to be disconnected?
00:25:58
Speaker
They're going to be disconnected because one man, Esau, chose, you know what? I'm not going to bury the hatchet. I'm not going to forget this. I'm not going to forgive my brother for what he did. He doesn't deserve it. And so they decided, I'm not going to let it go. And so now you've got this disconnection.
00:26:18
Speaker
Well, if you know the story of Jacob and Esau, there is a happy ending, something that only God could do. And I'm thankful that that's in there. But I don't want to spoil the end result there if you've never read that passage. You might want to study their lives to learn more. But today, I just wanted you to know that bitterness, it's not worth it. Bitterness is something we need to ask Jesus. Lord, kill it. Lord, pull it.
00:26:45
Speaker
It's a thorn in my life.
Closing Prayer and Thanks
00:26:48
Speaker
Please, Lord, would you pull that out of my life and out of my heart so that I can be forgiving just like you? You know, if Jesus can forgive those who put him on the cross, which would be me and you, all of us, if he can forgive us,
00:27:05
Speaker
Why can we not forgive other people with the same level of forgiveness that we receive from Christ? Let me tell you, God's love can wash away the bitterness. Why don't we go to the Lord in prayer? Lord, I thank you so much. I know that today's message was a difficult one.
00:27:23
Speaker
maybe today's message, more than maybe past ones, it might sting for someone out there. And so, Lord, I pray that they would realize if it stings, it's not because of the truth, it's because of the bitterness. That's where the sharpness and the stickers are. And so, Lord, please, would you pull out the sticker of bitterness that may be
00:27:49
Speaker
causing my friends out there pain. And please bring healing. I know that you will. I know that your love, your grace, it's greater. It's greater than all our sin. It's greater than anyone's sins. And so please, Lord, bless them, give them joy today rather than bitterness today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:28:12
Speaker
I want to thank you so much again for listening. I look forward to our time together in God's word next time. Have a blessed day. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.