"Wealth Lost; No Mercy"
[Obadiah 5-9]
March 4, 2007 Second Reformed Church
Where do you put your trust? What is the one thing or person that you would hold onto to the end? If it is anything or anyone but Jesus Christ our God, you have no hope.
The prophet Obadiah was prophesying around 586 BC, shortly after Israel was taken into captivity by Babylon with the help of her neighbor, Edom. Now, remember that Israel and Edom were brother nations: Israel were the descendants of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and Edom were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s older brother, whom Jacob had tricked into giving up his birthright and blessing. And there's the rub.
We saw last week that the generations of jealousy and anger of Edom against Israel for this deceit between their fathers, had caused Edom, which was located in the mountain country to the east of Israel, to become prideful and arrogant, because of their superior location in times of war. They boasted of who they were and how they could survive an onslaught, even as God told them that all of the nations around them were now turning on them and planned to destroy them. And God, Himself, promised to bring them low. Still, they laughed and asserted their invincibility.
In this morning's text, we learn that the Edomites were very wealthy, and they had put their faith in their wealth. They believed that their location would save them, and if it didn't, then their money -- their wealth -- would save them. They believed they could buy their way out of anything. After all, everyone has their price, right? Don't you? And Edom had the cash.
But they didn't consider the fact that the Almighty God didn't need their money. If the Almighty God was waging war against them, if He was bringing them low, their money would be of no use. It would not save them.
YHWH said, "If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night -- how you have been destroyed -- would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures searched out!"
God told them that if their hope and security and faith was in their wealth, they could easily be destroyed. If their money was stolen in the night, if their crops were harvested and stolen by bandits, it would not merely be a sorrowful thing, it would be the destruction of Edom. And God tells them that they will be robbed, they will be pillaged, their treasures will be sought out and found and taken away from them -- and then what? What will be left of them?
Would you and I survive the loss of our stuff -- of money, our possessions? Or would we be crippled -- might we even die -- because our things are gone? We have had two fires in this church in the past two or three years. Thank God they were put out quickly and only minor damage was done. But what if they had not been put out? What if we had lost our church building? Would that be then end? Would we lose all hope? Would we give up and go home, or would we hold fast to our God and rebuild in His Name and for His Glory?
Edom lost their stuff, and they no longer exist.
"All your allies have deceived you, they have driven you to the border; your confederates have prevailed against you; those who ate your bread have set a trap for you -- there is no understanding of it."
Do you have friends, trusted colleagues? Do you have people in your life that you trust implicitly? Are their people in your life who you believe could never betray you -- people with whom you would trust your life and family and possessions? Do you share meals with them? Do some even meet you at the Lord's Table, confessing the same faith, receiving the same elements?
Judas betrayed Jesus. Brutus betrayed Caesar. Edom's allies betrayed Edom. Every human being fails to live up to what is expected of him, because all human beings are sinners. And then there are those who have pretended to be our friends, pretended to be our colleagues, pretended to be our fellow Christians, risking the terrors of not discerning the Body rightly in the Lord's Supper, to earn our trust that they might betray us later.
If our hope and faith is only in our allies, we shall be disappointed, and we may find ourselves the fool and destroyed. Edom's allies turned on her and stole her possessions, and ran her out of the land. And Edom was shocked, dumbfounded -- "How could this happen? You're our friends -- we're allies?"
Edom lacked godly wisdom. Edom had placed her trust and faith and hope in her things and those she believed to be her friends. And then they were gone -- their things and their land. They hadn't had the wisdom to put God first, to trust in God first, to seek out His Wisdom and His Treasure.
"On that day, says the Lord, I will destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau."
On that day, God promised to show them that their wisdom had been nothing but foolishness, and they hadn't understood a thing. They had built on things that don't last -- and we can be sure that the truth of everything and everyone will come to light on our final day. Where have you put your faith? Where is your hope and trust located?
"Your warriors shall be shattered, O Teman, so that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off."
And here, the translators of our text have shoved part of verse nine into verse ten, where it doesn't belong -- verse nine literally reads: "Your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, your men will be cut off of Mount Esau by being slaughtered [mi-qetel]" (my translation).
YHWH God is not just going to chase the Edomites off of the mountain, God is going to make sure they never return to the mountain, because each and every one of them will be slaughtered in the ensuing war.
So much for their wealth and what it could do for them.
King Solomon, perhaps the wealthiest man who has ever lived, had this to say about wealth and what it is good for: "There is a previous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a previous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover all the days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.
"Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also whom God has given wealth and possession and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil -- this is the gift of God. For he will not remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
"This is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him the power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a previous evil. If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good -- do not all go to the one place?" (Ecclesiastes 5:13-6:6).
What is Solomon telling us?
First, he is telling us, that we are all the same: were are born with nothing and we take nothing with us when we die.
Second, he is telling us that if God has blessed us in this life, we should enjoy those blessings, not try to hoard them away. Now, he's not saying that we shouldn't be wise with our money and things and other blessing -- he's saying --
Third, that we shouldn't hoard everything away for the future, because we may die before that day comes, and then all the blessings that God gave to us will be given to others -- blessings that we should have enjoyed.
Now, keep those things in mind and hear what Jesus said: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:19-24).
Our lives, our hope, our faith, is not to be found in our wealth, our money, our blessings -- those things will pass from us as we leave this earth. They can be stolen; they can be lost. And if they have become our god, they will always be too small. Do we understand?
How much money do we need to be comfortable -- stable -- in this church? If we had five hundred thousand in the bank? Seven hundred and fifty thousand? One million?
Jesus gives us the reason to trust in Him and to enjoy the blessings that we receive: it's only the treasures that we lay up in heaven that will last. It's only belief in Him, Salvation in Jesus Alone, that will endure -- everything else will be lost, burned up, like hay.
Yes, we should be wise. Yes, we should live within our means. But we ought also to trust that the God Who didn't spare His Own Son will give us everything we need with Him to carry out the good works He has planned for us. If our God is the Almighty God, Obadiah's God, YHWH, then He has and will shower down blessings upon us, and we ought to enjoy them, and we ought also to be hard at work in storing up treasures in heaven. We ought to be about knowing God better through His Word, desiring the Word and the Sacraments and the fellowship of fellow believers -- all the more. That's what will last.
Our stuff? Let's enjoy it. Let's be wise with it. But let's also remember, God can take it away, and it can be taken away when our friends and allies turn on us.
Let our hope, our faith, our future, be in Him Who will never leave us or forsake us.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the blessings that You have given us, as individuals and as the Church. We thank You that You allow us to enjoy the blessings that You have given us, and we ask that You would help us to know how to wisely enjoy them. Keep us from making Your blessings to us a god. Forgive us for neglecting the joy You have for us and hoarding away Your blessings to us, as if we could take them with us beyond the veil. Revive Your Church; raise us up in joy, in trust, and in hope. And may it be to the Glory of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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