Where is your interest?

6 Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. 7 Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock. 8 So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.

Genesis 36:6-8

In the busy world, Where is our interest?

We live in a busy world. A good example of  how busy our society is can be seen in The Good Samaritan Experiment.

Good Samaritan Experiment

In the 1970s, two behavioral scientists, John Darley and Daniel Batson, were interested in studying the psychology of prosocial behavior. In other words, they wanted to find out why people do good things for others.

To examine this question, they decided to study students at the Princeton Theological Seminary. (And you would expect students who were studying to become professional ministers would have a good handle on helping others, right?)

The study took place on the Princeton University campus over a period of three days in the Fall. The participants first were asked to fill out a survey that asked whether they were motivated to be religious for internal or external reasons. (In other words, did they mostly seek to do good in the world, or did they mostly want to get into heaven themselves?) Then, they were each asked to prepare a sermon on the subject of the good Samaritan which was to be given in another building. Then, the researchers randomly gave them one of three possible pieces of information as they sent them off to the chapel building to preach. They were told that either:

1. They were early, and didn’t need to rush.
2. Or that they were on time, but had better go immediately to avoid being late.
3. Or that they were already late, and needed to really rush over.

On their way to the chapel to preach, each person encountered a “stranger” on the side of the road who seemed to have been attacked by a robber and fallen down in an alley.

The results of the study were pretty interesting. Darley and Batson noticed that it wasn’t religious motivation (helping others) that caused study participants to stop and help, but rather how rushed each person felt in their given task. 63% of the “early” participants, and 45% of the “on-time” participants stopped to help. But only 10% of the “late” participants took an extra minute to help out, even though the subject of each participant’s sermon was to be on exactly the subject they encountered on the street: the good Samaritan. 

From this study, we can see that even seminary students who should love their neighbors more than anyone else actually did not really care about their neighbors if they felt like they did not have time. 

This experiment was done forty-four years ago, and we now live in a much busier society than at that time.

Jesus summed up the entire Old Testament Law and Prophets by instructing us to love God and our neighbors. In Korean, we can say that a related term for Love is 관심. This means interest, attention, or concern for.

Are we interested in God and neighbors, as Jesus says?

What are the characteristics that appear in our lives when we are not interested in God and our neighbors?

Today, let’s examine our own faith through the story of Esau’s descendants in Genesis 36.

When you are not interested in God, you abandon your faith.

Genesis 36:1-3

1 This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite — 3 also Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

Esau was not interested in the God of his father, Isaac. He did not accept his father’s faith. In fact, his attitude about this was revealed through the fact that he married Canaan women who had no faith in God. He sought the values of the world that the Canaanites pursued instead of faith in God.

Do you remember Isaac’s attitude toward the Canaanite women in Genesis 28?

Genesis 28:1; 8-9

1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.

8 Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; 9 so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

At that time, Esau realized that his father was not happy about his marriages, so he took Abraham’s granddaughter, Mahalath as his wife.

However, Esau’s motivation to do so was not for the restoration of his faith, but rather to gain favor with his father who had the power to bestow blessings on his children.

So he was still selfish and pursuing the values of the world in his heart, even though externally he did what might be considered the “right” thing. He regarded God’s blessing received through his father as just another worldly prize. 

Esau was not interested in serving God. So he gave up on his father’s faith.

He only sought to be blessed for personal reasons.

When you are not interested in God, you leave the place of worship

Genesis 36:6-8

6 Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. 7 Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock. 8 So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.

Why did Esau leave Jacob and move to the country of Seir?

In the text, it is explained that their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock.

But we must also remember that God gave Jacob the land of Canaan where Esau stayed.

Genesis 33:18-20

18 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. 20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.

The land God gave Jacob became a place to live his life in worship to God.

In fact, Esau would probably have had a hard time fitting in with Jacob, who had a deep faith in God.

Actually, Jacob realized this fact before his brother did. Previously, when Esau had offered to accompany Jacob after they met on the road, Jacob turned him down because he knew that their lifestyles and leadership styles were totally different.

By the grace of God, Jacob and Esau were able to forgive each other and talk together again.

But in the realm of faith in God, the brothers remained totally different from each other.

This pattern of one man entering into the place of worship with God, and another man leaving the place of worship is repeated in other places in the Bible as well. It’s the same story with Isaac and Ishmael, and Abraham and Lot.

God made those who had no concern for him leave the land of promise, the place of worship.

When you’re not interested in your neighbors, you live a disconnected life.

Genesis 36:31-32

31 These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned: 32 Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah.

In the early days, Esau’s descendants formed a clan society, and several chiefs appeared among them. Over time, they took the form of an early nation. They then elected a king to rule the land of Edom and established a monarchy. The kings of Edom built a city and cut off relations with their neighboring countries. We can recall the city of Enoch, which Cain built in this regard.

Genesis 4:16-17

16 So Cain went out from the LORD`s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.

Cain was guilty of killing his brother Abel.

He went out from the Lord`s presence and built a city to protect him instead of depending on the Lord for protection. In the same manner, his descendants left God, elected kings, and built walled cities to protect themselves. But the main problem with walled cities isn’t that it kept them safe inside, but that they were cut off from their neighbors who remained outside. They only cared about the safety and development of their own country.

Later, when Israel escaped from Egypt and tried to enter Canaan, Edom refused Israel’s request to allow them to pass through their land and mobilized troops to stop them.

Isn’t it just logical? When you are not interested in your neighbors, you will live a life that is disconnected from, and even hostile to, your neighbors like the Edomites.

The people of God do not build walled cities to protect themselves. The people of God open themselves up to their neighbors, to bless them and be blessed by them.

When you are not interested in your neighbors, you only pursue your own achievements.

Genesis 36:40-43

40 These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they occupied. This was Esau the father of the Edomites.

The names in the text are of the Edomites. The names of their tribes became the names of their nations. They named the cities they built and the land they stayed in after themselves. This was how they thought to celebrate their achievements and make themselves famous.

But this method of naming a place stands in stark contrast with Jacob’s method, who called the name of the place where God spoke to him “Bethel” which means “the house of God.” Jacob chose to celebrate and make famous the name of God rather than his own.

We often see people hustling and pushing hard to reach their goals.

Sometimes we envy and admire their amazing achievements.

They seem to succeed without God and live a life of sustained personal growth.

The world idolizes these people and elevates them to fame and fortune.

This is exactly what was happening with the Edomites in the text. They gained the land of Seir and had many descendants without God’s blessing. And they had already established the kings of Edom before the king of Israel ever appeared. The future of the Edomites seemed to have no obstacles in sight. It was almost as if they had become gods themselves.

But we must remember the destruction of the Edomites. Some time later God declared their destruction through the prophet Obadiah. And according to God’s sovereign will, the Edomites completely disappeared when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.

This is the ultimate end of those who have not been interested in God and their neighbors.

The prosperity of their land and their offspring that has all been gained by human achievement alone will totally disappear. But the blessings of the land and descendants promised and delivered by God will remain forever.

What is Jesus interested in?

Matthew 22:37-40

37 Jesus replied: “`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.` 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.` 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Earlier in the sermon, I reminded you that Jesus summed up the entire Old Testament Law and the Prophets by instructing us to love God and love our neighbors. This is the passage where he did so. And I also told you that another term we can use for love in this context is 관심 in Korean, which means interest, attention, or concern for. This means that we should be interested in God and our neighbors as disciples of Jesus. We should pay attention to them, and show concern for them both.

We have already discovered where our interests lie in a busy world. People generally don’t show interest in God, their creator, because they’re just too busy. This causes them to abandon their faith, like Esau and his descendants, and leave the place of worship. People also don’t really show interest in their neighbors because they are too busy. This causes them to live a life that is cut off from others and is only focused on their own achievements.

But this lifestyle is sinful. This is not a true Christian life.

Jesus always has a deep interest in (and love for) God, his father.

He also always has a deep interest in (and love for) his chosen people.

If Jesus had not cared about us, we would not have been able to escape the judgment of sin that leads to death. Jesus’ interest in, and concern for, us has saved us from death to life!

Do you care about your brother and sister, or your neighbor?
Your little interest can save a person’s life. It will be the power of Christ in the community, and bring the peace of God within it.

If you don’t care about God and your neighbors like Esau and his offspring, there won’t even be a whisper of your memory when you disappear from history.

But if you care about God and your neighbors like Jacob, you and your family will be eternally honored before God in heaven.

Jesus instructed us through the Word that the interest and love for God and neighbors is of great benefit to us. I hope that we will experience intimacy with our God and our neighbors this week.