Sermon Tone Analysis

Obadiah was written ???

After the attack of the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 on Israel.

Accountable Love…

Brothers had issues… growing up I saw him as always looking to get in trouble and he probably saw me as the favored one… I was the baby of the family so I guess he was right

But I was always a little frustrated that he would do things that seemed to deliberately get him in trouble… starting arguments with our parents, doing what they told him not to do… and not hiding it like I did.

We weren’t close by any means, but we were brothers.

When we were in college, we hung out a bit, then on my 21st birthday what began as a celebration, ended with he and I in jail for fighting… each other.

I was having a great night, then something happened and he and I wound up bloody at a road side sobriety stop.

The officer looked in and said.... pull up right over there boys.

I was furious with him for years.

We didn’t speak for some time.

It wasn’t just the fight, it was the things he said before and after the fight that probably cut me the deepest.

Not lies, but hearing the truth from his point of view, stung… I had no intention all those years to offend him… he had no intent all those years to offend me… but we did and it became a burden that affected us in real ways.

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Have you ever found yourself there… I don’t mean in the back of a police car on your 21st birthday, but angry that you were getting what they really deserved?

I mean angry with someone years after the event… unable to move past it, unable to forgive?

I mean envious of the recognition of others; feeling that you should be the one recognized for all you have done… all you have accomplished.

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God has found them guilty and they are about to be destroyed.

The book of Obadiah is a pronouncement against the Edomite people for their sin … and all who sin like them.

But first, let’s look at the back story

If you remember, the story of the Israelites began with a man named Abraham.

“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham...”

God promised Abraham would be the father of a great nation.

He and his wife, Sarah, got tired of waiting so Sarah arranged for him to have a son with his servant Hagar… the son was Ishmael.

But that’s not what God had in mind.

At 90, Sarah got pregnant and had the son God had promised, Isaac.

Isaac at 40 married Rebekah....

The bible says Isaac prayed and she got pregnant.

The babies even in the womb began to fight and she asked God why and God replied:

Came time for the birth, and the first one out had red skin and covered in hair, so they named him Esau.

As Esau came into the world, his brother was holding onto his foot.

They named him Jacob which meant “heal grabber”.

Unbelievable, that he would sell his birthright for soup, Lentil soup at that.

But he did and this was a decision that would shape his future.

That’s what many of our life shaping choices are like.

In the moment they can be described as a casual thing… but when you take time to look back, they have huge impact on our lives.

God would keep his promise to bless the children of Isaac.

In fact, Esau would be blessed.... just as Jacob… yet Esau would always know that Jacob was more favored; Jacob got what belonged to him.

It would be something that he would never completely get over.

But when you think about it, his problem isn’t with his brother Israel.

His problem is with the one who gives out blessings.

That’s how

Lesson 1: God is in control of his blessings

It’s grace

The thing that hinders God from blessing you is you

“You haven’t asked”

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I heard someone say one time, “the one who prevents you from experiencing God’s blessings is you.”

God is in control of his blessings, but he wants to bless his children.

Humble yourself before God and ask him.

Instead, too often we are envious of what others have or how God works in their lives instead of mine… Their church is bigger - Their kids have higher grades, on the travel team, in a better college, make more money - Their vacations are better; - They get to play golf in retirement and I have to work…on and on

Think about it.... God as the creator of the universe.

Decides to bless one more than another… God decides to make one his, and the one not chosen decides to get angry because God chose them.

Then instead of taking their issue to God, they take it out on the one chosen.

That’s a source of much conflict, envy.

Envy is a result of pride.

I’m envious of what they have because I dont’ think they deserve it, in facct I deserve it… I I I me me me ..... Envy is caused by pride.

You see how their story sort of becomes our story.... let’s get back to Genesis...

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Soon after Jacob would leave his father’s family.

He went away to his uncle to find a wife and his uncle tricked him into working over 14 years for him.

He married two of his daughters in the process.

Jacob was very prosperous while working with his uncle, so much so, that he returned to his fathers land.

On the way back he encountered God… in fact scripture says one night he wrestled with God and wouldn’t let go and that night God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.

When he got back, he made amends with his brother Esau.

At least it seemed that way… but apparently not to Esau.

You ever have that happen… where you move past something but they don’t… You never say anything about it and you leave them to stew on it.

Get it… stew… lentil stew… Esau hadn’t forgotten, even though he wasn’t angry any more… he wouldn’t forget.

Esau you see would eventually leave his fathers land because it would be Israel’s.

His descendants would become the Edomites, living in Edom.

Fitting place for a man with reddish skin to settle in a land of red mountains.

The Edomites who lived southeast of Judah, identified Esau as their ancestor and would live in conflict with their brothers in Israel… seeming to take on Esau’s attitude with Jacob and applying it to the people Israel.

Edomites would be enemies of Israel…their brothers for generations.

Numbers 20 accounts when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, it was the kings of Edom who refused to allow the Israelites to pass through their land.

All throughout the reign of Saul and David, there are battles against the Edomites until David captures them and they become his subjects.... just like God told Isaac and Rebekah when the boys were born.

This would go on until the 8th century when Edom would regain it’s independence from Judah through war.

Sometime after the Edomites build their capital city in what we know as Petra.

A city in the red cliffs, that stands today as a beautiful city.

Petra

A city that was rumored to be defensible by only 12 archers because of it’s location in the cliffs.

Petra entrance

This is described by Obadiah in vs 2-4

In those days to have a city so well protected would be something to be proud of for sure.

But what’s the saying.... pride goes before the fall

Lesson 2: Pride is deceptive and dangerous

Pride had convinced them they could do not be reached; their defenses were to great.

But they were wrong.

But that’s what pride does, when we start to believe our own press.

Pride is deceptive and dangerous

Pride reminds us how good things are… obviously we are doing it right… right?

When we look at our lives and see that we have been blessed, instead of just being thankful, Pride tells us that God doesn’t care how we live… how we worship.

Pride tells us that our behaviors aren’t that bad

God is blessing us right, so let’s just put questions marks in scripture where God put periods.

Obadiah goes on to remind the people that when Israel was attacked by the Babylonians, instead of assisting their brother, they raided the city looting it of it’s treasure and handing over captives to Babylon.

We understand how the Edomites disliked Israel, but that doesn’t make it ok to mistreat people.... just because we understand it.

That’s the third lesson we learn from the Edomites...

Lesson 3: God cares how we treat other people

God loves you and knows that bitterness will destroy you - that’s why he teaches us to forgive.

Bitterness is fermented unforgiveness.

It comes as with time.

So maybe you didn’t have a jerk brother like my brother did… or I did.

But for you it’s someone else, a family member, a coworker, a neighbor who offended or wronged you and you’re not over it yet.

Offended/wronged you and you’re not over it yet?