Brother Vs. Brother

Brother vs. Brother By Alan Vaughn

Text: Obadiah 1:12-14 (New International Version, ©2011)

12 You should not gloat over your brother

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.

13 You should not march through the gates 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.

14 You should not wait at the crossroads

to cut down their fugitives,

nor hand over their survivors

in the day of their trouble.

Intro: It is absolutely amazing how something that started out as an argument between brothers ended up as a feud between nations

.

Last Sunday Morning we finished our background on Jacob and Esau.

We were led to believe that Esau had forgiven his brother and all was forgotten, however when we get to the prophet Obadiah we find that there is still hard feeling between the two nations.

Remember what was said in the book of Genesis about how the brothers parted.

Genesis 33:4 (New International Version, ©2011)

4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

So how did we come to this hatred between the two nations that seemed to be all but resolved at the time of their reunion?

Or did Esau forgive his brother Jacob?

Genesis 27:41 (New International Version, ©2011)

41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

What we see in the verses of the book of Obadiah is bigger than just two nations at war with each other.

When we read the prophecy and put in the context of the New Testament we see that it is the same struggle that Jesus taught about.

Matthew 16:23 (New International Version, ©2011)

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

The same that Paul preached about in 2nd Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 12:6-8 (New International Version, ©2011)

6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

I. What causes the world to be divided into two groups?

I know that the first thing you are going to say is there are a lot more than two groups of people on this earth and you would be right in secular terms and definitions.

Once again however we can be assured that how we see things is not how God sees thing from heaven above.

Remember how Esau seemed to be the one who got mistreated by the standards of the world.

Remember how we thought that Jacob was the one who didn’t fit in with the way good people ought to act.

What the world thinks and what God thinks are usually two entirely different things.

ILL. Remember how the people talked about Jesus when he was consorting with Tax Collectors.

Matthew 11:19 (New International Version, ©2011)

19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

So as the world sees people, we have at least one group of people in this old world those who are always right about everything! Ha! Ha!

What we know for sure from the scripture is there are two kinds of people in this world.

The first kinds of people are the ones who are prideful and self-sufficient. These are the ones who are intelligent and to well off to have a need for God.

These are the kinds of people that the Edomites were. Let’s take a closer look at what are the characteristics’ of a person from the line of Esau or a person from the country of Edom.

First in order to be from the Nation of Edom, you have to have a prideful heart.

Obadiah 1:3 (New International Version, ©2011)

3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, 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?’