Foretold / Prophets of the Bible | Part 8

Going through this, if we were just to just right now read through Obadiah, you would probably, maybe even rightly say, wow, the book of Obadiah is completely irrelevant to me in my life right now. Yeah. In many ways. However, let's keep in mind what scripture says about itself.

Allow me to read. It'll be on the screen and it's in second Timothy chapter three verses sixteen and seventeen. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for Bill Bush throat punches, and training in righteousness.

Verse 17, it says, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. If you're a follower of Christ, how many would say, I want to be thoroughly equipped for every work God has for me. All scripture will help to serve towards that end.

So to me, these verses say all scripture is relevant. Though, if we're gonna be honest, there are times when you're gonna read something and go, that's not relevant though for my situation. And so what we're gonna do with Obadiah is we're gonna ask a few questions.

In fact, I would suggest these are some great questions to ask yourself when reading scripture, trying to dig in a little further, maybe even in a small group setting. These set you up for some great conversations.

They're not on the screen. You might wanna write them down or type them in your phone. The question number one is, when reading scripture, ask yourself,

what does this text teach me about God? What is it revealing to me about his nature, his character, his personality, his heart? What's it teach me about God? And then another question is, what does this text teach me about people? Just in general. What what what about our being human is common?

Third question is, what does the text teach me about myself? Is there something here that kind of unveils my propensities and my desires in life? A fourth question, which I think is always good when reading the Bible is, is there a command to obey?

Is there an imperative here that God's saying, now that you know this, go and do blank. Then the fifth question, which is fabulous, is who can I share this with? Who can I how like, how can I take what I'm learning, what God's showing me, and bring it into my everyday relationships for conversation?

And what we're gonna do is we dig through this obscure, small, little book in the Old Testament. We're gonna try to answer the first three questions. What's it teach us about God? What's it teach us about people? And what might it teach you and I about ourselves?

So before we get into it, I wanna give you a little bit of a historical context. It's just necessary for this because if we don't have some background information, we're gonna read through some of these verses, and we're gonna be going, gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, what what what what. That's

what's gonna happen. So allow me just a few minutes. Let's go Sunday school for just a few minutes. Who gives me permission? Raise your hand and say, okay, I'm cool. What's that? Alright. Little historical background. We're gonna start Genesis one.

Some of you guys are going, no, dude. Don't break out the baby pictures. Take me to the teenage years. At least, let's fast forward. But it's important. Genesis one through 11, in general, reveals to us the origins of humankind and creation. But then in Genesis 12, scripture pivots,

and it starts to reveal to us the origin of the nation of Israel. And it seems like from Genesis 12, the Bible continues to unfold that story in the fulfillment of what God says to this man named Abram in Genesis 12. Abram, what was what who does Abram eventually become? What's his name changed to?

Abraham. Alright. Four people. You got it. I'm with you, man. Help me out here. So Genesis 12, real quick, here's what happens. God reveals himself to this man named Abram, and you read it later, verse one through three. And he says to to Abram, leave your country, your father's household,

your people in your father's household, and I'm going to make you into a great nation. What does that nation eventually become? Israel. He says, I'm gonna make your name great. And he says, I'm gonna bless you. And God says to Abram, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.

Keep that in mind when once we get to Obadiah. And then he says to Abram, he says, and I'm going to, through you, bless all nations. Why is that? God sets apart this small band of people, making them a little nation called Israel. He gives them these rules, these regulations,

and he's saying, I want you to look distinctly different than those around you because I want you to stand out and stand apart, and I want to reveal myself to you as Yahweh, the God of creation,

Genesis one through 11. And I want to ultimately reveal myself through you to all nations because it's through you as a people, the Messiah is gonna come, the savior of the world, and his name is Jesus. Okay? So if you're still with me, Abraham has a son named Isaac. Isaac

has some sons, one named Jacob and one named Esau. Everybody say Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau are like this, a lot of siblings. They they don't do very well together. In fact, funny as it is, I don't know why, but scripture describes them a little bit and says that Esau was a hairy man,

and he was like a hunter gatherer type, an outdoorsman. He was a Bass Pro Shops kind of guy, and a hairy man. And then it says about Jacob, he was the opposite. He's an indoor guy. He's kind of stayed in the house and, you know, for fun, he was coding in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. That was his passion.

So two different kinds of guys. Well, Jacob, with his mother's prompting, goes to Isaac, his father, and deceives him into giving his blessing to himself other than his older brother Esau. What's that all mean? Maybe that's a different conversation, different time. Well, that immediately creates a rift between Esau and Jacob,

and Esau is really ticked off. Though it seems they kinda come back together later in the book of Genesis, for generations Esau's offspring or family line is bitter towards Jacob. Greatly bitter. What happens is Jacob becomes the nation of Israel

and Esau becomes this little nation of Edom. Everybody say, Edom. You with me? I'm almost done through the Sunday school part. So whenever you read the Old Testament, it talks about the people of Jacob, it's talking about the nation of Israel. Edom is from from Esau's family line.

Edom is just South of the Dead Sea. Everybody in the Dead Sea? Anybody? Floated in the thick salt water? And you look up and it's all these mountains around there, kinda a little bit, if you were to try to picture it, if you've not been there, like Superstition Mountain Range.

And there's a body of water out there that's like 55% salt kinda thing. And Edom has built its city in those rocks, up on the in the mountains, so they're very impenetrable. They take a lot of pride in their city, like, look at us. No one can attack us. We are awesome. And they're very intellectual, very educated,

and they have a lot of pride in who they are. They're still bitter though against Israel, and their spats go on. If you've been here for a while, we've talked about Babylon. These prophets are talking about how Babylon comes in, destroys Jerusalem, takes the Jews captives, etcetera. Edom allows Babylon to come through Edom

to attack Israel, their extended family line, and Babylon ravages Jerusalem. Not only does Edom allow Babylon to come through and not warn Jerusalem, Edom goes in behind Babylon while they're down, while they're out, and they pick up the rest. They pilfer what's left behind. And then,

they hide out when the Israelites, these Jews are displaced through this this war and trying to find a place to survive and live. Those from Edom hide out and they they actually, they they they take them captive. They grab them on their way out, and they and they hand them over to Babylon.

It's horrible what they're doing to Israel. That's what's going on and that's what's happened. This gets us to the book of Obadiah. If you're ready, say okay, I'm ready now. Okay.

Go to Obi Wan Kenobi verse one. I mean Obadiah. The vision of Obadiah. This is what the sovereign Lord says about Edom. We have heard a message from the Lord. An envoy was sent to the nations to say, quote, rise, let us go against her for battle. Who is her? Edom.

Verse two, see I will make you small among the nations, you will be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, Edom. You who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground? Verse four,

this is kinda like Edom's brochure at the hotel that they say about themselves. It's not God. It's what they say. Though you soar like the eagle, may it make your nest among the stars? From there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. Go down to verse 10.

Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, that is Israel. Right? Because of your violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame. You will be destroyed forever.

On the day that you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. God is saying to Edom, because of your indifference towards Israel, you were just as guilty as the ones who did the the act. Verse 12.

Edom, you should not gloat over your brother, that's Israel, in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.

Verse 13, you should not march through the gates of whose people God says, of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives,

nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. And then it gets peculiarly peculiarly interesting. Try to say that. Right? Verse 15, it tends to it pivots. It's almost as if God is saying, the way Edom is treating Israel is a micro example of a macro human problem.

And he says in verse 15, the language changes. It says, the day of the Lord is near for, doesn't say just Edom, he says the day of the Lord is near for all nations. And then the next statement is familiar to those of us who read the New Testament. As you have done, it will be done to you.

Your deeds will return on your own head. Last two verses in this book we're gonna read. Verse seventeen and eighteen. God then says, but on Mount Zion, that's Israel, Jerusalem, but on Mount Zion will be deliverance. This is the hope

that he has for them. It will be holy and Jacob will possess his inheritance. Basically, God's saying, I know what's going on right now is really bad

and it doesn't seem like there's any hope, but I want you to know that I will fulfill my promises and you will possess this land. And he says Jacob will possess his inheritance, Jacob will be a fire, Joseph a flame, Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esau,

the Lord has spoken. That's the book of Obadiah. Aren't these old testament prophets just

radical? I mean, this is some pretty sobering kind of stuff. And you know, just reading through that, This obscure little 21 verse book where the pages stick together because you've never opened it. What does it teach us about God? Think about it for a moment. What does this story, this account, this this this reading

show us about who God is? His character, his nature. Here's what it here's what it here's how it speaks to me.

When you mess with God's covenant people, you mess with God. You can see that there? And what's interesting about the book of Obadiah is that when people will look to those of us who are Christ followers and say, you know, you're the God that you've conjured up in your mind, that's a really violent, angry, blood filled,

blood lust kind of God. I mean, you read the Old Testament and it's that's nasty. And they'll also point out in that debate the book of Obadiah and say, read that. Look what God wants to do to these people. He wants to utterly destroy them. Let me ask you a question. Was God unjust in his thoughts toward Edom?

Considering what they had done, is he unjust in what he's saying?

If I'm out in the courtyard after the service, hanging out, we're talking, and you and I are standing there talking, and somebody, one of you guys comes running at me with everything you've got, totally blindsides me. I don't see it coming, and you slam me to the ground. And then you rub my face in the concrete.

Nine times out of 10, I would hope that my response would be to stand down. Not just because I'm a pastor and I have this image to portray, but because the older I get, the wiser I get. I would hopefully get back up and say, let's talk about this. What's going on? What in the world was that all about?

What's going on in you that would make you wanna do that? Nine tens out of 10.

10 times out of 10, if you were to do that to one of my kids,

I'm coming in swinging.

I might be small, but you'd feel it, and then I would outrun you because I'm faster. If you were to sit there and see that scenario unfold, where that happened to one of Scott's kids, would you sit there and go, pastor Scott is a blood lusting, evil, wicked human being. Or might you sit there and go,

that dude had what was coming to him. Is God really unjust in what he's doing here or what he's saying?

I think that we see in this that that God says, hey, if you mess with my covenant kids, you mess with me. Which by the way, we just read or talked about that. Genesis 12, God said to Abram, I'll make you into a great nation. I will bless those who bless you and I will Okay.

It's one of those tough things that we see here. God's gonna stand up for his kids. What do we learn about people though? What do we learn about just basic human nature going through this this book of Obadiah?

Well, one thing that kinda hits me is how easy it is, for us to forget where we come from. Edom is in the family line of Abraham. I mean, they are part of the the covenant

family of God. They're gonna be they're gonna be blessed. God said, will bless you. I will bless you. I will defend you. I will provide for you. And through their bitterness, that the bitterness that passes on for generations, that's a whole different conversation. They are always fighting with one another.

But they're in the lineage. They're in the family line. They forget where they come from, and they allow Babylon to come in and like savages overrun Jerusalem. And they passively let it happen. And then they participate by coming in behind them and picking up the scraps, exploiting them when they're they're most vulnerable.

So it it kinda shows me like, man, how easy it is to forget where we come from, but it also shows me what we're capable of as human beings. We're we're just simply at our most primal state. We're pretty capable of some pretty savage things. Right? I mean, we don't have to really think about history as much as

look around today. I mean, it's just human nature. We can be pretty bad in so many ways. That's kinda like, what do I learn about people in that? I mean,

then it brings me to the third question. Okay. Well, know, I can't just be judgmental and say that's everybody else, but what is what is this book of COVID-nineteen teach me about Scott Rogers?

Like, me. Let's pick on Scott for a second and see if you can relate to this. How this might expose some of the things in my heart or our hearts. And here's really the big idea for the conversation. It's this, that pride is natural, humility and compassion are intentional. Allow me to explain.

For me, pride is a natural thing. I don't have to work hard at being prideful. It just happens. And sometimes it happens when I I really I forget what God has done in my life.

You ever have the If you're a follower of Jesus and you you've You can look back and see a season in your life or a situation in your life where it was clear it was the goodness of God that brought you through. Anybody have that in your story? Yeah. I mean, it is vividly clear that was God.

And some of the stories I've had the opportunity to share here, I look at how I got through it. I'm like, that was God. No question.

But then what happens, it happens as time goes on, what was vividly clear kinda begins to fade, and I I kinda have more of my memory going, yeah, but I put in a whole bunch of work in that situation.

I had to go through a lot of steps and take some risks and walk with faithfulness and and all this stuff, and and we start to I start to be look at more of my self sufficiency than my dependence on God and and and how I remember the story.

Maybe you're in a situation where you're You went through a really tough season of marriage, and in desperation, you're crying out to God like, God, can you save our marriage? And not only did God save your marriage, you did a miracle. Not not that you're together, but that you just like one another.

You're like, man, not only we make it through, we actually like being together now. That was God. But then as time goes on, and he acts like a jerk, it's easy to go, yeah, gosh. Thinking back through all that, I'm you know, I was the first one to forgive.

I was the one that brought up, we should get some good marriage counseling. That was the one that drove the whole thing home, and then we start to get a little prideful, and we forget where we come from, and we forget what God has brought us through. Maybe it's the same for for your business, if you're an entrepreneur

or a business leader. Where remember, if you can, if you're a follower of Jesus back in the bootstrapping startup days, or you're sucking rug and pleading with God. God, if we don't get through, we're going under.

And you've put all that capital out there. Maybe you mortgaged your home to seed that thing, and you're putting all the work in, and you're like, God help us. God bless our business. God, show me what to do. God, get us through. And and you get through, and you stabilize. As And time goes on, you actually become profitable.

And now maybe perhaps you're doing well because of it. And time is going on and sometimes what God has done in that story back here, we forget and we remember. Well, yeah, you know though, in those startup days, those first five years, I was working sixteen hours a day, man. I was putting in the work.

Then most of you business owners are going, Scott, hold on. You know it's seventeen hours a day, not sixteen. Right? I did I I did all the headaches with the the HR stuff, and I put in the work. We forget, man, we're on our face before God saying, God, would you bless my business? We can get a little prideful.

So if if that's you, and you're anything like me, here's how I think we combat pride and we take on a posture of humility and compassion. With humility, it's intentional because here's how I here's how I try to walk in humility. Because we all know that the opposite of that pride, scripture says pride comes before a yeah.

And here's here's what I do, and this isn't just a statement. This is literally an action step that I encourage you to incorporate into your life. That when pride rears its ugly head in your heart, say this to yourself, Jesus is the hero of my story, not me.

And just remember who he is and what he's done. In all the work that we all do, in all of the risks that we take, and even the courage that's necessary at times for you and I to do what we do and all that kind of stuff, who get who gives us the breath in the morning when we get out of bed? He does.

Who gave us the grace to walk through that season with hope in our heart that we could make it through? He does. Who gives us the strength to face these struggles and at times beat those odds? He does. Let's just remember if you're a follower of Jesus, he's the hero of our story, not us.

And whenever I do that, it just it it like immediately gets me back into this place of humility. You think about Jesus himself. He embodied humility. Read this later, but in the New Testament, in the book of Philippians in chapter two, there's a thing that we call, in theological terms, we call it the kenosis.

And the kenosis is the process of divinity becoming humanity. The process of God becoming man in the person of Jesus Christ. And it says that Jesus in that process humbled himself and became one of us. It's intentional. And he is the epitome of what humility looks like. May we as his followers walk in that. Let's be humble.

Let's not be so arrogant as Edom was. Now think about compassion for just a moment. Pride's natural. Humility is intentional. So is compassion.

When I'm trying to practice more compassion, the way that that has been helpful for me is that when I see you struggling, I try to look at our shared humanity. In fact, here's what I think compassion is. Compassion is seeing in you the humanity that's in me. And this has helped me as a pastor.

When you meet with people, talk with people like, man, this is this, that's that, that's And I sit there, I'm like, oh, I remember when I was in that place. Or I'm feeling that right now. It's just our shared humanity that helps me to take on this posture of compassion. Jesus, not only does he embody, humility,

but he also models compassion. Here's what scripture says in Matthew chapter nine of verse 36. When he saw, when Jesus saw the crowds of people, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Think about that. He sees people harassed,

helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. It's the exact opposite of what the folks in Obadiah from Edom did. They're full of pride. Obadiah tells us they were so arrogant that they were celebrating the destruction of Jerusalem. They were celebrating the suffering that was happening.

You know, the Bible says in first Corinthians that love does not rejoice over evil, but rejoices in the truth. It doesn't celebrate when someone else is down or hurt. In their arrogance, they celebrated what was going on, and then they totally exploited their family line

when they were most vulnerable. When they were down and they were out, and they came in and they took the rest. And then they would ambush him and turn him over to to the Babylonians. Savage behavior. Shame on them. Right?

Here's where we be careful. Let's be careful lest you and I ever find ourselves on this one page in this obscure book called Obadiah. Where you and I would exploit someone else in their suffering.

Imagine that. Someone's down and out, they're hurting, and we take advantage of that. Exploiting them in their suffering. God says, the day for all nations. I mean, let's never be found to be like Edom. As a country, I would suggest, as a community, as a church, of course, and as individuals, let's be people of compassion.

Isn't it isn't compassion the most attractive virtue? I mean, think about that. Helping those who in the moment can't help themselves up. That's a very attractive faith. That's a great witness to the world.

I was, for well, for for a number of years, guess over time, I think. I'm one of those guys who's like, what would I be doing if I wasn't doing what I'm doing right now? Anybody ever wonder that?

Like, what would I be doing? Anybody, raise your hand if that's that's you. Is it just Okay, here's a few. It's like, what would I be doing? Where would I go? What would I do? And of course, your family and all that stuff gives you responsibilities. It limits some of that kind of fantasized thinking.

But I have often thought about, okay, if I just had free game to do whatever I wanted to do, I would probably just run into the arena of humanitarian aid. It's just me. It's just when I see something horrible happening, like Houston getting flooded in Harvey, or Santa Rosa burning up in fire, or Oklahoma

City getting, you know, blocks taken out from a tornado, or people displaced in Somalia, or displaced through political

corruption in Syria, or in South Sudan and wandering around trying to find a place to live or FEMA's coming in setting up all their stuff and just trying to bring relief for the sake of survival. I look at that stuff and I'm like, that's where I wanna go. Like, that's how much more my own conviction?

How much more can you look like Jesus than running into the mess of humanity?

And and I've often wondered like, man, could I could I do Obviously, I haven't, but that's where I'd wanna go. Just run into the mess. And for you and I, it's it's like, okay, take it. Let's take take compassion from a global scale and let's try to bring it down to Monday morning.

I was talking with my, a good friend of mine, his name is Scott Richards, and he told me a story. I had him I was interviewing him on my podcast, and we were talking about the the, the messiness of meaningful work, is what we call our conversations. And Scott and I have a history of pastoral work together,

and he spent a number of years in The Philippines doing a whole bunch of things, and he just recently with his family relocated from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Folsom, California where we live, so we're reconnected.

We're doing life together again. And Scott is an executive director for an organization called Teach For America. And so he's really into, systemic things in the arena of education and and all that. And we're talking about like, were there indicators in our childhood

that would point us, point out that this is what we're gonna do for our vocation? We're just kind of processing that. Where were the symptoms of what we are now as children? And he and he tells this story, which I think is the beautiful picture of compassion.

He says, man, when I was younger, as a kid, I grew up in a single parent home, and one day after school I went to the community rec center. I went over there to shoot some hoops, and

I'm in there and I don't know anyone else. And there's a bunch of kids in there just shooting the basketball around. Well, one of the rec directors

walks into the gymnasium and says, hey, we're gonna get a game together. Everybody stop. Come on over here, and I'm gonna pick two captains. You're gonna pick teams, and let's play some let's play some basketball. So he picks my friend Scott to be one of the captains.

And Scott noticed while they were just kinda shooting around that there was this one kid in particular that most of the other kids were picking on.

And just being really mean to the kid and probably bullying him a little bit, and you know you know how that goes. Right? We've all seen that, sadly. So it comes time to pick the teams and Scott picks first, who's he pick? That kid. And all the other kids look at Scott like, are you stupid?

You're gonna get your butt whipped. You're crazy. And then the kid, that kid that he picks looked at him with the same look like, are you dumb? You just picked me. Like, I can't play basketball. I mean, was pretty evident.

And Scott says, you know, I I just I picked him out of reflex because I was always the last one picked. And he says, for the rest of the day, that kid loved him. He was his hero. And I just think, that's everyday compassion. Isn't that what it looks like? Isn't that what it looks like in your school?

If we are followers of Jesus, isn't that what the heart of God would say is, hey, why don't you step up and put a hand out and befriend that person and let them know I'm with you. I believe in you. You're important. You are a human being just like the rest of us. I'm for you. I'm not against you.

Isn't that what it looks like in the office? When that coworker who's the biggest jerk in the world comes in and they're visibly hurting and bothered by something? Are we big enough men and women as followers of Christ to put aside

the little bit of rub, personality rub that we have with that person and walk up to them and just see in them the humanity that's in us and say, hey, I notice you look like something's bothering you. Can I help? Simple compassion. That might better reflect who Jesus is than rambling off some bible verses out of nowhere.

Pride is natural. Humility and compassion, I think they're intentional. Let's not find ourselves in this one page ever exploiting someone when they're vulnerable. Let's be agents of compassion. Let me read this verse and pray for us. Matthew seven twelve. This sounds familiar because the wording was in verse 15 in Obadiah.

Jesus says, so in everything do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the Obadiah.

If you're here, maybe you're even online and you've ever been exploited in the midst of your suffering, you know full well how horrible that is. Sorry it happened. It's horrible. And may I, hopefully with humility, just say God doesn't like it either. He sees your pain and he says ultimately there will come a day

when what is right and what is just is fulfilled. In the meantime, your father in heaven cares for you so much that he wants to come to your defense. He wants to heal your heart and any brokenness that happened as a result of being exploited in your suffering. And if you're part of Rock Point Church and that's your story,

reach out to somebody because we don't know unless you say something. You know, what we'll be able to do is say, I haven't walked in your shoes, but I've walked in the shoes of a human being, and I see in you the humanity that's in me. But I wanna encourage you, Jesus can be the hero of your story too.

Can I pray for us? Let's pray. Father God, we we're grateful for you just revealing to us in this obscure book tucked in the middle of the old testament called Obadiah. But God, in this we see that you love your kids. You love us. God, you stand for us. You are our defense, and God, that you are just and you are right.

Lord, we also see in this book this the propensities that we have as human beings doing some really dark things. God forgive us for that, for that brokenness and that sin. And Lord, I pray that you would heal the hearts of any of those within the sound of my voice that have been

exploited while vulnerable and kicked while they're down. God, would you heal any bitterness, heal any unforgiveness from that. And may we God, as followers of Jesus, be agents of compassion in our culture, in our communities, in our office, in our school, wherever we might be God.

And we thank you for this call on our life and this expectation that you have on us. Let's do unto others as we have them do unto us. And we thank you for this in Jesus name. Amen.