This is a recording of my message on Obadiah & Nahum for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group.
Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along.
INTRO:
Who likes a story of kings and queens?
We like royalty and it is this cool other thing because we don’t have kings and queens anymore. But I want you to imagine that we did have a king and his castle was in westlake. And we went there for a visit.
Would anyone in this room think of sitting on his throne in front of him and his royal guard? Or walking and insulting him and saying that he is a bad king or not your king?
That would be ridiculous wouldn’t it?
SPOKE: (BibleProject)
What are some dominant themes in Obadiah?
Watch: Book of Obadiah Summary: A Complete Animated Overview
HUB: Pride’s Lie
The problem with pride is that no one is the greatest person in the room or the universe.
No one person is greater than another and no one is greater than the God of the universe. In fact we’re all pretty small compared to him.
Obadiah 1:21 Yahweh is the King
So proud people are spitting in the face of the king of the universe. They are not recognizing that he is king.
SPOKE: Pride Says: I don’t need God
Explanation/Exhortation/Exaltation:
Nahum 1:1-11 Making God your Enemy
The first problem with pride is saying that you don’t need God. Exalting yourself against him.
Nineveh had done that. They had rejected God and his reign and rule. They had pretended he didn’t exist but the problem is that he does. So to say you don’t know God is to fly in the face of reality. It’s to deny the truth. Ultimately it is to be utterly foolish
“Wise people are always humble, because arrogance flies in the face of everything we know about how the world works and how people are”.
Famous movie scene where they anger this super powerful person.
“You’re gonna regret the day you made me your enemy”
That’s what Assyria did with God.
And the truth is that is what every one of us does with God. We reject him. We try to do life without him. Secular Philosophers think they can find the meaning of life without God. Secular scientists think they can understand the universe without God. Secular rulers think they can rule without God and bring peace or change.
But we are all helpless before him.
We’re like a little kid that is trying to lift a bookcase and the parents are offering help and we say no thanks.
It doesn’t stop there.
SPOKE: Pride Says: Your loss is my gain
Explanation/Exhortation/Exaltation:
Obadiah 1 Mistreating Subjects of the King.
The second problem with pride is that it not only encourages people to reject God but it encourages them to mistreat his subjects.
Proud people think they don’t need to have grace or mercy on anyone else.
Everyone else is a threat.
You know the paranoid royalty type?
The queen of hearts “off with his head”
There is no grace or mercy only my needs over yours and if you get in my way you’re dead
Chad Moore: Grace flows through the channel of humility.
People who recognize the world doesn’t revolve around them and recognize their need are also able to recognize that although other people are not perfect no one is and that’s ok
QUESTIONS?
Humility Says:
Conclusion: Gospel & Jesus
Gospel of Grace
As much as people might say they don’t need God the truth is that they do.
History shows that people are broken, sinful, and hateful and not getting any better on their own. We need God to intervene
Pride says I don’t need God and other people’s loss is my gain but the truth is we all need God and we’re all lost.
And the good news is that God knows that and he cares.
2,000 years ago the God of the universe didn’t sit up in pride and gloat at our failure or tell us to figure it out ourself.
He was the only one with the real right to demand we pay for our crimes. But he didn’t.
The God of the universe humbled himself. Took on the form of a servant and being found in human form. He humbled himself in obedience to die on a cross.
He showed us what humility looks like. And the truth is humility is not thinking less of yourself: “I’m worthless. I’m a nobody”. That’s not what humility is. That’s false humility and actually still pride.
True humility is thinking of yourself less because you are busy thinking of others and ultimately of God more. The reason Jesus could be humble is because he knew the Father and how great he is. And he loved humanity enough to value their needs over his own.
The only reason there is hope in Obadiah
Nahum 1:15 Beautiful Feet
Our Savior
The restoration that the end of Obadiah and Nehemiah point to has begun in Jesus.
He has opened the invitation to everyone no matter who they are to come to him. He has begun the long and slow process where God’s kingdom is coming and he will excercise his rule and justice over every evil and prideful person, ruler and nation.
He’s gonna take care of the world’s bully problem once and for all.
He will bring justice on the proud who have rejected him and mistreated others and exalt the humble who have recognized their need for him and the need to extend grace to others..
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
It is the character of God that we take comfort in. The truth is that God has always been slow to anger and great in power.
If he were a king like the queen of hearts no one could stand before him.
But he is a God who is good. He won’t let evil and pride have the last word. He will make things right in our world. He’s not giving up on earth and zapping us out of here. He is making a new heavens and new earth. Where might doesn’t make right but humility and love are the greatest value.
QUESTIONS?
Let’s pray!
Small group Questions:
Lesson Discussion: 15 mins
What stuck out from the message & video? (Respond to, Affirm, and Develop Observations)
Is there a proud person in your life that mistreats you or rejects God?
What is a way that you have shown your own pride to live without God or be the most important person?
What shows us the gospel of grace in Obadiah/Nahum?
What points to Jesus in Obadiah/Nahum?
Prayer Requests: 5 mins
High and Low into free talks: 10 mins
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