“Stumbling Blocks to God”
Obadiah 1:1-21
An old American Indian tale recounts the story of a chief who was telling a gathering of young braves about the struggle within. "It is like two Stumbling Blocks s fighting inside of us," the chief told them. "There is one good dog who wants to do the right and the other dog always wants to do the wrong. Sometimes the good dog seems stronger and is winning the fight. But sometimes the bad dog is stronger and wrong is winning the fight." "Who is going to win in the end?" a young brave asks. The chief answered "The one you feed." In our Scripture today, Obadiah tells us there are two dogs inside us and they attack from within, eat your future and suck the joy out of life.
Most people haven’t read Obadiah because it is tucked away in the back of the Old Testament. It’s the shortest book in the Old Testament. The name Obadiah means “Servant of Yahweh” which is interesting because he was called to speak a prophetic message to a people who were not being faithful to God and their faith. We don't know who Obadiah was. The reason is that this is a book of prophecy and prophecy never focuses on the messenger but only the message and the giver of the message, God. Obadiah’s message wasn’t popular because he had to tell a nation, the country of Edom, who were Israel’s neighbors to the East that judgment was coming. The book as written around 586 B.C. after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Edom was sitting on the sidelines and watching and thinking they were safe because they lived in a mountainous area. But what God sees in Edom are two stumbling blocks which guarantee their downfall. Here’s why this is so important to you and me - because the story of Edom can become our story and their stumbling blocks within can become ours.
The first stumbling block is pride. A man arrives at the gates of heaven. St. Peter asks, "Denomination?" The man says, "Methodist." St. Peter looks down his list, and says, "Go to room 24, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." Another man arrives at the gates of heaven. "Denomination?" "Lutheran." "Go to room 18, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." A third man arrives at the gates. "Denomination?" "Presbyterian." "Go to room 11, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." The man says, "I can understand there being different rooms for different denominations, but why must I be quiet when I pass room 8?" St. Peter tells him, "Well the Baptists are in room 8, and they think they're the only ones here.”
In Proverbs 6:16-19, God lists the things He hates and at the top of the list is pride. James 4:6 says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” There are 2 types of pride and one of them isn’t bad. There’s the pride you feel when your kids do the right thing. That’s normal and healthy and really what we’re experiencing is joy. There’s pride that you feel when you do something good like graduating from college or finishing a difficult project and that feeling is more about self esteem. But then there’s the pride where you need to prove you’re self worth and that’s about insecurity. You need to beat others down to elevate yourself. It’s kind of like crabs in a bucket. So often we end up trying to prove our self worth by playing the comparison game, you know, comparing yourself incessantly with others and criticizing them to make yourself look better and feel superior. We compare our marriages, our careers, our homes, our cars, our clothes, our grades, our body, and on and on. We do this because we believe that someone couldn’t love us just for being you.
Nothing good comes out of comparing yourself with someone else! Comparing does one of two things: you either get depressed because you don’t measure up or you fill up with pride because you think you’re so much better than the other person. Neither serves you or the purposes of the kingdom. Paul writes in Romans 12:13, “Don't cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you all.” I love that phrase: “A sane estimate” which means, you recognize your strengths and weaknesses and realize what you’re good at and what you aren’t and how God has blessed and gifted you. Like I think I’m good Bible teacher but am I the greatest to ever open his mouth. No, but I think I’m good. That’s a sober estimation. Beware of the people who will try to act humble, but aren’t. They say, “I’m not very good. I can’t believe anyone listens to me at all.” That’s pride because people they’re really just fishing for a compliment. They fake humility just so people will say how awesome they are.
The problem with pride is that it poisons your perspective. Edom was proud because in the face of Jerusalem falling to the Babylonians, they felt their capital “Petra” was impenetrable. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d2LAsWC6lp8/U9Z6lnB_oGI/AAAAAAAB1Ag/Rn4Ze1xapaQ/s1600/DSC_0121.jpg Petra is built in the rock mountains and the opening is only 40 feet wide at its max and 12 ft. at its narrowest. This is why they said it only took 20 men to guard the city of Petra because they could hurl down boulders from atop the rocks on any attacking armies. You see they thought that what happened to Jerusalem could never happen to them. Paul warns, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” 1 Corinthians 10:12 But Edom did eventually fall to the same Babylonians that conquered Israel. “ In Jeremiah 27:2-6, God calls Babylon “My servant” because God used them to defeat Israel when they wouldn’t repent and turn back to Him. And Edom didn't either and so Obadiah prophesizes that Edom will fall too. How many people were filled with pride, like the Edomites, thinking, “No economic downturn can touch me?” How many banks and companies said, “We’re too big to fail!”? Pride keeps us from being dependent on God and instead places our trust in ourselves, our abilities and our resources. Pride says, “I don’t need anyone else because I can make it on my own.” And when that’s the case, God can’t bless you. Because if He does, you’ll think that you’re the reason for the blessing. Pride keeps us from understanding who we are in God. Do you know why God opposes pride? Because it robs you of what you can become.
The second stumbling block is hate and anger because they distort Your decisions. Edom hated Israel because they were the descendants of Esau. To understand that, go back to the story of Abraham who had a son named Isaac. Now Isaac had twins - Esau and his brother Jacob. Esau was born first and thus the rightful heir to his father’s estate. Jacob stole that blessing by pretending to be Esau to his blind father and then being blessed by his father. As a result, Esau vowed to kill Jacob. Now many generations later, there was still this tension between the descendants of Jacob (Israel) and the descendants of Esau (Edom). In fact, when the children of Israel left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land (Num. 20), Edom said they couldn’t pass through Edom on their way.
So when Jerusalem was facing destruction at the hand of the Babylonians, Edom laughs, mocks, gloats, and boasts. Where do you have to be in life when you see someone else beat down to the point of losing their life and you’re happy? That’s what anger and hatred does. Instead of weeping because their brother was being defeated, they laughed. Instead of examining themselves when God allowed Babylon to conquer Israel, Edom mouthed off. Instead of helping Israel, they took advantage of Israel and stole from those who were fleeing destruction. The main road that connected Africa and the Middle East is called “The King’s Highway”. http://www.generationword.com/devotions/photos-diagrams/pics-images/feb-photos/Moses-transjordan-1250.jpg The Hebrews took that road out of Egypt in 1450 B.C. and 3,500 years later it’s still there. On the King’s Highway, you could get anywhere. If the people of Jerusalem made it to the King’s Highway, that meant they escaped Israel and would have been free. But what did these refugees encounter on the King’s Highway, none other than the people of Edom who stole what meager belongings they had. How does someone do that? When hate and anger rule.
The result of these two stumbling blocks is that they forsake your future. Where is Edom today? It’s gone. Ever met an Edomite? The prophet Jeremiah tells us that God used the Babylonians to discipline Israel for their lack of faithfulness and that God eventually used the Babylonians to wipe out the Edomites because of the sin in their hearts. The stumbling blocks in their heart influenced and eventually determined their actions and threatened their future. But most importantly, it impacted their future with God. The life you lead, the decisions you make, the way you treat people, the attitudes you hold and your actions or lack thereof impact your relationship with God and sometimes even your future. This is why one of Wesley’s favorite Scriptures was “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” because there is so much on the line. It’s not just about believing, it’s also about living out your faith for James says, “be doers of the word and not just hearers.” God did not have His son die on the cross so that we could sit around, soak up inspiration and then do nothing. God saved us so that through us He could engage others and the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have an eternal impact.
Far too often, we are like the Edomites and allow the stumbling blocks of pride and anger and hatred to determine our actions. We haven’t allowed our faith to transform our minds, our attitudes and our feelings. Paul calls us in Romans 12:2 to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." For the Israelites, the heart and mind were one. So for your actions to change, it begins with a change in your heart and mind. Wesley saw a connection between how one was doing internally, that is, in one's soul (heart and mind), and what one did externally, that is, your actions. For ''A tree is known by its fruit.” Luke 6:44 God not only wants to do some great things in your life, but God wants to do some great things with your life. That means there are times when I might not like you or am angry at you but that doesn’t mean I still shouldn’t love you as Christ has loved us.
The book of Obadiah is not only a prophetic warning to the Edom but to us as well. But prophecy is never just about judgment. There is always a word of hope. Babylon attacked Jerusalem, utterly destroying the city. They burned the temple, the place they gathered as God’s chosen people and the symbol of God’s presence amidst the people of Israel, and they demolished the walls of the city, which provided safety and security. They then kidnapped all of the educated, religious, political, scientific and financial leaders of Israel and took them to Babylon. They now find themselves in a foreign land, taken from their homes, families, land and Temple and in their minds, completely separated from God. Where is God? Why did He allow this to happen? Are we still God’s chosen people? Amidst of these questions, Obadiah pronounces a word of hope.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You can come home, home to God. John Killinger tells the story of a man who is all-alone in a hotel room in Canada. He was in a state of deep depression, so much so that he can’t even bring himself to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. He is a powerful man, the chairman of a large shipping company, but at this moment, he is absolutely overwhelmed by the pressures and demands of life… and he laid there on a lonely hotel bed far from home wallowing in self-pity. Filled with anxiety and completely immobilized by his emotional despair, he moans out loud: “Life isn’t worth living this way, I wish I were dead!” And then, he wonders, what God would think if he heard him talking this way. Speaking aloud again he says, “God, it’s a joke, isn’t it? Life is nothing but a joke.” Suddenly, it occurs him that this is the first time he’s talked to God since he was a little boy. He is silent for a moment and then he begins to pray, just talking out loud about what a mess his life was in, and how tired he was, and how much he wanted things to be different in his life. And then he heard a voice say, ‘It doesn’t have to be that way!’ The man sat straight up and turned around… he laughed at myself. He thought he must be hearing things. But then he was absolutely certain that he had heard those words: ‘It doesn’t have to be that way!’ He went home and talked to his wife about what happened. He talked to his brother who was a minister and asked him: “Do you think it was God speaking to me?” The brother said: “Of course, because that is the message of God to you and everyone of us. That’s the message of the Bible. That’s why Jesus Christ came into the world to save us, to deliver us, to free us, to change us… and to show us that ‘It doesn’t have to be that way,’ … You don’t have to be anxious or depressed or selfish or hopeless. Jesus Christ can turn your life around. If you will welcome Him into your heart, He will make you a new person.” A few days later, that man called his brother and said, “You were right. It has really happened. I’ve done it. I’m a new man in Christ, He has turned it around for me. I’ve come home to God.”
