Slippery Slope

Obadiah 1:10-14

4 Levels of Mistreating a Brother
1. Allowing Evil
2. Supporting Evil
3. Benefiting from Evil
4. Participating in Evil

For those of you who weren’t here last week, we looked at verses 3-9 and the issue of pride. Obadiah is written about the Edomites. They were going to be judged by God because of their pride and their sense of self-sufficiency. They felt that there allies were strong, there walls were strong, and they themselves were strong. With all these strengths they didn’t feel they needed God anymore. They felt He was unnecessary. They felt they were self sufficient. And they were very wrong. Judgment loomed on the horizon because of this false sense of self-sufficiency.

Today we are going to look at the second major sin which the Edomites were committing. In fact, this is the sin that takes center stage in the book of Obadiah. It seems to be the focus. THe judgment against Edom would come in response to their wrongful treatment of their brother Israel. We see that in verses 10 through 14.

But first let’s get a little background on this blood relationship between the Edomites and the Israelites. The history of the relationships is actually quite fascinating.

The founder of the Edomites was a man named? You guessed it: Edom. Long time preacher Ray C. Stedman once said that, “Every nation in the Bible is a lengthened shadow of its founder.” Well this is certainly the case for the Edomites. Do you remember the story of Edom, or as he was originally named, Esau? He was a twin. His brother Jacob and him were very different though. Esau was an outdoorsman. He was his father’s favorite. Jacob was more of a TV watcher. He liked to stay inside. He was his mommas boy. Since Esau was the firstborn he had the right to his fathers birthright. But if you remember Jacob tricked him and ended up trading him a bowl of red stew for the birthright. After that point Esau was called Edom which means red. He ate red stew and his name became Red. Maybe that’s where we get the phrase “you are what you eat.”

So Edom had made a stupid trade and could no longer look forward to receiving the best of what his father had to give. Esau, obviously, became very angry with Jacob. This anger was passed down to his children. So let’s fast forward a little bit to when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Remember when they finally got out and walked along the bottom of the sea. And then the Egyptian army drowned as they tried to catch them? If you remember the Israelites then journeyed toward Canaan. ON their way they ran into the Edomites. Their long lost relatives. But the Edomites didn’t like the Israelites. Esau’s hatred had probably been passed down to them. They wouldn’t let the Israelites journey through their land. SO israel grudgingly had to go all the way around.

But eventually they got payback! Some time later the Isrealites finally did arrive at their destination and they soon controlled all Canaan and established a kingdom. Their first King, Saul harasses the Edomites. The Israelites must have still been mad about not being allowed to cut across the Edomite land. Their second king, David, tries to exterminate the Edomites. Their third king, Solomon, exploits them. Obviously the Israelites and the Edomites don’t have a good relationship.

And you guessed it. The Edomites eventually get payback on Israel once again. The Lord begins to punish His people for their lack of obedience to Him and the Assyrians rise up and overrun Israel. Do you think the Edomites have sympathy for their old brothers? Of course not! In fact the Edomites are quite pleased with Isreal’s misfortune.

Many scholars believe that it is at this time that the book of Obadiah was written. Right as Israel is suffering and Edom is gloating. Right as Israel is being judged and Edom is once again beginning to thrive. But God has an important message regarding the Edomites: they too will be judged by God!

Now that we have a good background to this adversity between the Israelites and the Edomites we can look at what God’s message is in this great book called Obadiah. This is a message of judgement! Who would God judge? When would He judge them? Why would He judge them? How would He judge them? These are the questions we will start to pick away at.

There were four levels to Edom’s mistreatment of Israel. I suggest to you today that these four levels are a process. If you fall into the first level you’re on a slippery slope to the second level. If you remain on the second level you’ll soon find yourself on the third. And if you’ve made it to third base, it’s pretty easy to try to steal home. Thus, there can be no compromise if we wish to avoid this evil. As we look at these four levels, search yourself to see if you have compromised in any of these areas.

The first level of mistreating a brother involves ALLOWING EVIL. The Edomites neglected to help their brothers the Israelites when an enemy came upon them. Verse 11 says that In the day you stood on the other side. The Edomites stood and watched as Israel was attacked. They watched Israel fall. They didn’t come to their aid. They didn’t have any concern. They just watched.

Do we ever find ourselves allowing evil? You may remember a long while back a woman named Kitty Genovese from New York City. She was tortured and murdered on the street. People didn’t want to get involved. They ignored it! We probably don’t stretch the issue that far, but the same disease impacts us when we ignore sin around us in the workplace, at school, or even in our homes. God seems to associate indifference as a sin. He seems to put allowing evil and putting up with evil in the same category as the evil itself. He says at the end of verse 11, Even you were as one of them.

The second level of treating a brother wrongfully goes from allowing evil and begins to SUPPORT EVIL. Look at verse 12, you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity (that is allowing evil, it goes on to say) Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of their distress. Edom didn’t just sit on the sidelines and watch. They were entertained. They would have paid for admission. They enjoyed seeing Israel fall because in many ways they hated their brother Israel.

We never do that though. We never get enjoyment over watching a brother fall do we? Maybe we do sometimes. Maybe we get jealous of a brother in Christ and then when something bad happens to him we almost feel good about it. Maybe we’ve slipped past the level of just allowing for evil and we’ve actually started to support it!

But it doesn’t end there. There is a third level of mistreatment of one’s brother. Past allowing evil and supporting evil there is a level of BENEFITING FROM EVIL. Verse 13 mentions again how they should not have gazed on their brother in their distress, but it also says, Nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. The Edomites even went to the level of benefiting from the evil that had happened to Israel. They went into the camp after the attack and took what the enemy had left behind. They looted the Israelites.

That’s always a temptation isn’t it? We see people taking advantage of a bad situation and we’re tempted to do the same. I remember growing up in school there were always some kids that were too scared to say no when asked for answers to the homework or answers to a test. And I would watch bully’s and the like take advantage of them. And it was always a temptation to get some answers myself! Are you ever in a similar situation? You see someone taken advantage of and instead of speaking up against this evil you take part in it!

And finally, there’s a fourth level of wrongfully treating our brothers. This is the one we most willingly recognize as an evil. It is the most obvious. This is what the actual enemy to Israel was guilty of. It is the level of PARTICIPATING IN EVIL. Verse 14 says, You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped. Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress. The Edomites went beyond sitting on the sidelines amidst evil. They went beyond paying admission and enjoying the evil. They even went beyond gambling on the game to make a profit off of the evil. Edom eventually actively participated in the evil. There had been some Israelite survivors and the Edomites hunted them down and killed them. They stood at the crossroads and waited for fleeing survivors.

I would guess that most of us don’t ever get to this stage where we’re actually the one’s directly doing the evil to our brothers. But we must recognize that this whole thing is a slippery slope. If you start allowing evil, it won’t be long before you start supporting evil. If you keep supporting evil, it won't be long before you’re benefiting from evil. If you continue benefiting, you’ll eventually participate in evil. It’s a natural progression. Let’s not fool ourselves.

There’s been a lot of talk recently in baseball about players using steroids and other drugs to enhance their performance. Some ex-players are saying that more than half of the ball players nowadays are using these enhancements. I’m not sure I believe that, but how do you think steroid use got so widespread in the major leagues. It probably started with just a few guys. Their teammates found out, but they allowed it. They didn’t speak up. Then they saw that maybe it was helping the player perform better and they said, “Hey, if it works for him and he’s comfortable with that, it’s fine”. Then they noticed that the team started doing better because more players were using the steroids. They were benefiting from it and they liked the fact that steroids were helping. Eventually they decide that since everyone else is doing it and the team needs every player playing well they might as well decide to take it themselves. That’s how things escalate. It’s a slippery slope!

It’s scary to consider that’s probably the same way that men addicted to pornagraphy become sexual offenders. Woman addicted to soap opera’s decide to cheat on their husbands. This slippery slope is alive in well in every little sin that we can imagine. Sin always finds away to drag you down into worse bondage.

God said His judgement would come against Edom for their rotten treatment of Judah. And make no mistake, God’s judgment did come. It was fulfilled in part about 100 years before Christ. But it will be fulfilled completely on the judgment day. He will judge all who continue in treating their brothers wrongfully.

Is there any other way? Is there any compromise that can be made between hatred and love? I started out today talking about the history of the Edomites. And we stopped at the time where God was promising to judge them for their pride and lack of love. Now let’s fast forward a bit to the days of Jesus. Do you remember Herod? The Herod who questioned Jesus before Pilate eventually sentanced Christ to death. The great historian Josephus tells us that Herod was Idumean by descent. Idumea is the Greek way of saying Edom. Herod was a descendant of the Edomites. And here was Herod, representing pride and hate standing face to face with Jesus Christ the perfect man full of humility and love. Sin and Sinlessness face to face. Was there any compromise that Jesus would make? No! Herod questioned Jesus and had him mocked. But Luke 23:8 tells us that Jesus Answered him nothing. There was nothing Jesus would say. There was no compromise for sin.

Earlier in Jesus ministry he had referred to Herod as a fox. A fox is weak, but it uses cunningness and deceit to get out of trouble. Herod the deceitful fox against Jesus the lion of Judah. Well, Jesus can not be tricked. He cannot be scammed. He knows exactly what is going on. He knows that we are sinful. He knows that we have had times of pride. He knows that we have had times where we didn’t love our neighbor as ourself. He offers us forviveness if we repent, but without repentance there is no compromise for sin.

If we want recognize the beginnings of hatred and bitterness in our hearts there’s not much we can do about it on our own. We know the answer is to replace hatred with love but we have only a vague idea of what love is. And we’ll never find true love apart from Jesus Christ. God is love. He is perfect love. Jesus Christ ended this cycle of hatred by saying nothing. He died on the cross for Edom and for you and for me so that we could love as He loved. Let me close by reading 1 john 4:7-21.

One of the reasons we constantly remind ourselvess of how God loves and how God forgives is b/c it is not natural for us to be like Him. Only through learning about God and having His Spirit dwell inside of us do we begin to understand and put into practice the compassion of our loving Lord. Psalm 103.