Sermon: Job 42 Restoration: Job's Conclusion

And they all lived happily ever after. Everyone likes a happy ending, whether it’s at the panto, a Disney film or a fairy tale. The heroes triumph, the villains are caught or punished, and everything is ironed out before the curtain falls or the credits roll, or the book is closed.

So when we come to Job 42, is this just another fairy tale ending? Does God do fairy tale endings? Let’s review the story so far. Satan has accused Job of loving God only because God has blessed him, so God permits Satan to take away his children and possessions, and then to inflict him with sores. All that happened right back in the first two chapters. Since then, Job has been lamenting his circumstances and debating back and forth with his three so-called friends. When their arguments were done, another man, Elihu stepped in (but we didn’t look at him as God doesn’t mention him in the end either). Then suddenly God intervened and spoke to Job directly.

Job had been asking questions about how God ran the universe, so God asked Job some questions of his own. ‘How to Rule the Universe for Dummies’. Basic stuff, but Job couldn’t answer even one question. Back in 40, God asks ‘Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.’ Job’s initial response was to say no more: ‘Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand upon my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.’ (Job 40:1-5) But that wasn’t enough. God continues asking about Behemoth and Leviathan, a picture of Satan’s chaotic power.

It is the awareness that God has power over Satan (while Job has none) that eventually brings Job to this closing chapter in the book. Not the happy ending we expect, but God working for his glory in the lives of Job, his friends, and his family. As we look at the chapter, we’ll do so under three headings: Repentance, Rebuke, and Restoration - seeing in turn God’s power, God’s mercy, and God’s vindication and blessing.

First up, repentance. Throughout the book, Job was asking why had all these bad things happened to him. After all, he was righteous, and didn’t expect bad things to happen to one who was trusting in God. Despite the friends’ accusations, Job remained steadfast, and even suggested that God may be in the wrong in how he was running the universe. That was until God spoke and demonstrated Job’s ignorance, weakness and powerlessness. How does Job respond? Through repentance. He realises that he has gone too far, said too much, spoken about things he didn’t know. It would be like a normal toddler trying to write a PhD dissertation. Out of his depth.

Instead of asking all those questions, it’s enough for Job to be reminded of who God is - his holiness expressed in his sovereignty. ‘I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’ (2). God is on the throne - that must be enough for us. As Job sees God on the throne, sees clearly who God is, Job despises himself, he thinks back on his attitude, his words, and he ‘repents in dust and ashes.’ (6). Job started on the ash heap lamenting his calamity, and he ends on the ash heap in repentance. As he says in 28:28 ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’

This isn’t quite what we expect, if it’s a fairy tale ending. Job is presented as the main protagonist, the hero of the book, with his story being presented and his words being recorded. We expect our heroes to be all conquering and not apologising - Shrek rescues the princess (with a little help from his friends). But then Job isn’t the hero of the story - God is.

Are there things that we need to repent of - yes, even Christians, when we fail to trust God’s sovereignty or think we could do a better job? Job is helping us to see ourselves in perspective - not at the centre of the universe, but with a proper perspective of God who is on the throne. Job’s repentance - and God’s power.

Next, we come to another unexpected element of a happy ever after story. The villains normally get it. Think of the robbers in Home Alone who keep getting caught up in sticky situations - we laugh because they deserve it.

But that’s not what happens in Job’s story. There are villains, yes - Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are addressed by God, and told ‘My anger burns against you... for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.’ (7) Are they going to get it? Will they be destroyed by the blast of God’s anger? Well, no.

In God’s rebuke of the three friends, we also see God’s mercy. God’s anger burns against them, yet it is God who takes the initiative to turn aside his anger. God provides the means for them to be reconciled to himself - ‘Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.’ (8-9)

Do you notice what their fault was? Twice it is identified in the Lord’s words - ‘You have not spoken of me what is right.’ They were misrepresenting God, not speaking what was right, but more than that, not speaking of God what is right. As they accused Job, they also accused God, taking his name in vain as they blamed God for Job’s miseries (and not Satan). They painted a wrong picture of God - creating an idol in their own image.

What a marvellous picture of the true God and his mercy, as he provides them with pardon through the actions of his servant Job. There are four sentences in what God says, and each one contains ‘my servant Job’. We who are Christians have one who prays for us, one who turns aside God’s anger and wrath, and as we trust in Christ, we can be confident that the LORD accepts Jesus’ prayer. Rebuke reveals God’s mercy, as Repentance displayed God’s power.

We turn now to the final verses of Job 42, to the section that may seem most like a happy ever after fairy tale. In summary, ‘the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends’ (Job even forgives those who had accused him...). He’s given twice as many sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys as we found in 1:2, and he has another seven sons and three daughters. And the whole town turns out for a party - like the big happy scenes at the end of a fairy tale story: ‘Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.’ (11)

(I want to be asking - where were all these people when he was going through the hard times? They all turn up for the party at the end...)

Job is restored, and given long life to enjoy it. Job, God’s servant, has been vindicated - he doesn’t trust God for what he gets out of it, but has held firm through hard times as well as good. Job is an illustration of the Lord’s parable: ‘One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much’ (Luke 16:10). He has been tested and his faith is genuine (cf 1 Peter 1:6-7). Job is rewarded for his faith, restored which demonstrates God’s vindication and blessing of his servants.

But how do we apply this? Can we jump straight from Job 42 to today and say as some would: God wants you to be wealthy, healthy and happy. Do you know what? When I was typing my sermon, I Googled that, and this book popped up straight away. At $22 perhaps it’s only the author who will be wealthy... So if you’re going through tough times, just have faith, buy the book, and you’ll get all you want and more? Another website promised to make you a millionaire for Jesus. Is the Christian life all singing, all dancing, happy ever after?

God vindicates his people, and blesses his people. That’s what Job 42 is teaching us, but we can’t always expect it in this life. Job was described as my servant - another one who was the Servant of the Lord endured excruciating pain, mocking, shame, and taunts of what the Lord’s will was for his life - ‘He saved others, let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!’ (Luke 23:35). God’s will is for you to be wealthy and healthy and happy? Ask Jesus, the Chosen One, the servant of the Lord. His way of obedience led to the death of the cross - and he was vindicated by being raised to life on the third day. (Acts 3:18-21 - link to vindication and restoration).

Why would it be different for his followers? If you’re going through difficult times now, I can’t say to you ‘name it and claim it’ like the prosperity prophets. God will vindicate his people and bless them - but it may not be in this life. That’s why we long for the return of the scarred Saviour, the one in whom we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

I can’t promise you a fairy tale ending for your suffering here and now. The bad guys don’t always get it, and the righteous aren’t always wealthy and healthy. We await a Saviour from heaven ‘who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.’ (Philippians 3:21) When Jesus returns, all will be restored. All sorrow for the believer will end. Joy will be ours for eternity.

In Job’s story, we see repentance (through the Lord’s power), rebuke (and the Lord’s mercy), and restoration (as the Lord vindicates and blesses). Our vindication is sure, but it’s no fairy tale ending. In fact, it’s so much better: ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Cor 2:9 quoting Isaiah 64:4).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

This sermon was preached in the Out of the Storm Lent midweek series in Aghavea Parish Church on Wednesday 16th March 2016.

Sermon: Job 38-41 Out of the Storm - Job's Confrontation

Have you ever wished that God would speak to you? In our church prayer diary, it’s something that we regularly pray for - that God would speak to us, as we gather around his word. Hopefully it’s what you pray as you sit down to read your Bible at home as well, recognising that this isn’t like any other book you might sit and read; that this is God’s word; that God will speak to you as you read it.

But I wonder if you’ve ever wished that God would speak to you, audibly, clearly, and directly. Wouldn’t it make things so much easier, you’re trying to make a difficult decision, and a voice from heaven tells you who to marry, or what job to take, or which car to buy. Or perhaps you want God to speak to you, to explain himself for what he’s doing in the world, or in your life. To hear why you’ve gone through such a difficult time recently; why this happened or that didn’t happen. A word directly from God, that’s what you’d want, and everything would be better, or at least more bearable?

That’s what Job thought, and what Job wanted. Throughout his conversation with his comforters, Job has maintained his innocence, and repeatedly expressed his desire to confront God. He wishes there was some way of having his day in court; of charging God with unfairness; of appealing his innocence, and receiving vindication. And when you remember Job’s story, you might think he’s justified.

Job was a wealthy man, the greatest man in the East. Camels, livestock, you name it, he had it. But suddenly, like a number of dominos falling, disaster struck. His livestock were killed or captured. His ten children all perished. And as if all that wasn’t enough, he then suffered ill health. Sore sores all over his body. Job maintained his innocence, but his three so-called friends knew there must be some secret sin from which he needed to repent. So the conversation goes back and forward between Job and his three friends. Eventually in chapter 31, Job finishes his plea, and then a younger man, called Elihu speaks up (ch 32-37). But we didn’t look at him, because he doesn’t really add anything new, and he’s ignored in the rest of the book.

In chapter 38, Job gets his wish. ‘Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ God is speaking to him, directly, but it’s not quite what he expected. You see, Job thought that he would get answers to his questions; but instead, God has some questions for Job. It’s as if Job wanted to get God onto the TV programme Question Time, to get answers from him; and Job finds himself on Mastermind - with a ‘pass’ for every question he’s asked.

Now, sometimes when I’m asked why it’s raining or cold, I joke that I’m in sales, not management; I’m representing the Lord in the world, not running the whole world. But that’s what’s going on here. Job thinks that he would do a better job of running the world; he thinks he would be fairer, would be better at being God than God, so God asks a few simple questions about how the world works.

‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.’ (38:4). ‘Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place?’ (38:12). ‘Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail?’ (38:22). God even gets a little bit sarcastic in verse 22: ‘You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!’

God then goes into specifics of the management of his creation. He talks about the stars and constellations (Pleiades and Orion - 38:31-33); clouds, rain and lightning (38:34-38), lions, ravens, mountain goats, wild donkeys, wild ox, the ostrich, the horse, the hawk and eagle (38:39-39:30). It’s like an entire series of David Attenborough programmes, and even then, you wouldn’t have the insight God wonders if Job has.

Question after question. Pass after pass. The Christian author JB Phillips once wrote a book ‘Your God is Too Small.’ Even five minutes with these questions helps us see the almightiness of God, how big, powerful, and wise God is. God increases in size, and we are aware of how small, powerless and insignificant we are in God’s great universe. That’s the conclusion Job comes to at the start of chapter 40. ‘Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.’ ‘Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.’

You’d think Job has learnt his lesson, but God knows he hasn’t. And so, ding ding, round two. Here, the issue at stake isn’t who rules; but who saves. Is Job able to save himself? (40:14) God gives two case studies; two examples of mighty, fearsome beasts, and the simple question is this: could you save yourself from them? Could you control them?

The two beasts are the Behemoth and the Leviathan. Behemoth on the land, and Leviathan in the sea. Now, the commentators are divided about what exactly is being talked about here. Behemoth sounds a bit like a rhino, or a mammoth; some think it might be a dinosaur. Whatever it is, though, the description is fearsome - but look what God says about it: ‘Behold Behomoth, which I made as I made you.’ God made it; God has control of it. ‘Can one take him by the eyes, or pierce his nose with a snare?’ (40:24). Not likely!

And then we come to Leviathan. Again, we’re not sure - it sounds like a crocodile, with its rows of shields on its back; its power, its terror. And look at the questions about it (41:1-8). Will you put him on a leash for your girls to walk? Will you make him your servant? Now, if that’s a crocodile, then the answers are no, no no! But there’s a fair chance that the Leviathan is even more terrifying than a crocodile - that this may well be the devil being described (because of other references to Leviathan in and outside Job). Either way, God is saying that he is powerful; that he has the devil on a leash; that God is in control. The devil may be hostile; may be fearsome, but God has him on a leash. Your God is too small? Hopefully not after all those questions.

So Job did have God speaking to him directly. But it wasn’t at all what he expected. Rather than receiving any explanations or any answers, God only had questions for him. Questions which showed Job just how small he is; how much he doesn’t know; and therefore how little he really would understand the workings of the universe. God didn’t even say, here’s what’s been happening, just a wee chat between the devil and me.

Perhaps you’re still wanting to have God speak to you; to explain to you what’s going on. What God seems to be saying here is that we may not get the answers we want; we certainly don’t know how the universe works; but that we know the God who does. Can you trust God Almighty, confident that he is indeed Almighty God, and he is in control?

This sermon was preached in the Out of the Storm Lent Midweek series in Aghavea Parish Church on Wednesday 9th March 2016.

Sermon: Job 19: 1-29 Holding on to Hope: Job's Confidence

In so many ways, our funeral service is built on the words that we find in the book of Job. You might have recognised the words from chapter 14 that we heard in our reading. ‘Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.’ (14:1-2). And, when you think of it, those words are entirely appropriate for a funeral service.

They were uttered by a mourner at a wake. Job is sitting on the ash heap, mourning the loss of his ten children (as well as his wealth and his health). They sum up so perfectly what life and death is like in this world. Especially when we gather at a funeral, the words resonate, no matter how long the deceased had survived. Life is short, and hard. Words of pain, words of mourning, words from the mouth of Job.

But they’re not the only words from the mouth of Job which we hear at a funeral. And if those words from chapter 14 are words of realism and mourning, the other words are entirely different in form. They are words of hope, words of confidence, words of faith. It’s not that one set of words trump the other; it’s not that we have to choose one set or the other; but it’s important that we don’t just have words of realism, especially at a funeral. We also need those words of hope.

Even in chapter 13, we heard those remarkable words from the lips of Job: ‘Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.’ So how could Job, enduring such unbelievable suffering, keep holding on to hope? Why was he still hoping in God, even if God slayed him? That’s what we’ll discover as we focus in tonight on chapter 19.

Now, as we’ve already seen in the series, after Job’s lament of chapter 3, Job’s three friends have been taking it in turns to answer him and argue with him. Last week we listened in to their words, their useless, uncomforting, accusing words. Their basic premise was that you get what you deserve, so if Job was suffering so badly, he must have sinned really badly. To have heard that once must have been hard enough, but by chapter 19 he’s heard five of these speeches. And they’re really getting to him. No wonder he bursts out in chapter 19 with: ‘How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?’ Who ever said sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never harm me?

What follows in chapter 19 is the full weight of what everyone has been doing to Job. His friends, his God, his family. Let’s look at each briefly in turn. His friends, well they have cast reproach upon him (3). They’ve magnified themselves against him, made themselves look good, bigged themselves up against this terrible man Job and his terrible sins (as they imagine).

The main thrust, is what God has done. That comes from verse 6. God has put me in the wrong, caught me in his net. Job calls for help and against ‘violence’, but there’s no answer, no justice (7). Look how verses 8-13 begin, each with a ‘he’ or ‘his’. All of them God’s acts.

8. Walled up my way - like the Roadrunner cartoons where Wile E Coyote bricks up the tunnel. Darkness on my paths. Job doesn’t know where to turn; he can’t advance. He’s stuck.

9 Stripped from me my glory. Taken the crown from my head. Job’s power and prestige has gone. It’s not so much rags to riches, as riches to rags.
10 Breaks me down on every side. Hope pulled up like a tree. We nearly saw some trees uprooted today in the storm. How serious to have hope, deep rooted hope, pulled up.

11-12 Kindled his wrath against me, counts me as his adversary. Besieged me with his troops. Job is surrounded by this hostile army, no one can get in or out, no one can come near to help.

This leads us from what God has done to what his family has done - He is completely isolated, cut off, estranged. No one wants to know. No one answers his phone. No one texts him. No one writes on his Facebook. Brothers, relatives, close friends, guests, maidservants, wife, siblings, it doesn’t matter. Everyone has abandoned him. no one cares. No one helps.

Verses 20-22 sum up his suffering at this low point. ‘My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. [That’s where that saying comes from!]. Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?’

What a haunting cry. Abandoned by everyone. Left all alone. And his three last friends are no help. But remember that we know more than Job does. We had the glimpse behind the curtain in chapters 1&2. We had access to the heavenly throne room. We heard the conversation that Job and his friends never heard. Job thinks that it is God’s hand has touched him to bring this suffering.

And while that was what Satan wanted: ‘Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has... ‘ (1:11) ‘Stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh...’ (2:4). But both times, God says ‘Behold, all that he has is in your hand...’ (1:12). ‘Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.’ (2:6). Job thinks it is God doing the smiting, but it is Satan’s hand which has afflicted him (under God’s power).

But to get to a place so low, so isolated, so lonely, Job’s next words are so amazing. Even in the lowest of places, Job is holding on to hope. So let’s look at them, to find the reason for the hope.

Isn’t verse 23 quite ironic? ‘Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribe in a book!’ Oh, that’s what they were - for us to be able to read them tonight, so many thousands of years later. But then Job thinks that a book wouldn’t be permanent enough. ‘Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!’

These are important words, words that Job wants preserved. You see, for all Job knows, these words could be among his last. He doesn’t want these friends to be the ones to define his legacy. He doesn’t want the people already listed in the chapter to spread their rumours of him. He wants his own words to be read, preserved, and held onto. So what does he want recorded? What is so precious?

‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!’ (Job 19:25-27)

Notice that this is something Job knows. This isn’t an uncertain guess. This isn’t wishful thinking. This isn’t a last gasp gamble. I know. What does he know? My Redeemer lives. The Redeemer is the family kinsman, the one who buys back people from slavery, the one who rescues from poverty. If you’ve read Ruth you’ll know that Boaz was her redeemer kinsman. Job is certain that he has a Redeemer, but more than that, that he lives. That he is alive. That he is active. That he will act.

At the last, the Redeemer will stand on the earth. The Redeemer will endure. But look at what Job says about himself. ‘And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.’ My Redeemer will stand, and so will I. I will see him, face to face, in my own flesh.

So far back in the Old Testament, Job catches a hold of the hope of the resurrection. He doesn’t know every detail; he hasn’t got the fuller picture we enjoy this side of the first Easter, but he knows enough. He knows that a living Redeemer will cause him to stand face to face with God, through the resurrection.

How much fuller we can claim Job’s words! Jesus is our Redeemer, the one who died, but was raised to life. My redeemer lives. And because he lives (not breaking into the Gaither song...) we too will live. As Paul puts it in 1 Thes 4:14 - ‘For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.’

In the worst of days, Job was able to hold on to hope because he held onto the truth about his Redeemer, the one who could buy him back, rescue him from slavery and bring restoration. How amazing that he grasped this before the cross. Let his words be your words. Let his hope be your hope, except if his was in black and white, ours is in full technicolour, made certain through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I know that my Redeemer lives. These are the words of Job, words of hope, spoken at every funeral. Words of comfort and reassurance; words pointing us to the future with confidence as we trust in the Lord Jesus, our Redeemer. I know that my Redeemer lives. And because he lives, we too will live. Let’s pray.

This sermon was preached at the Lent Midweek series Out of the Storm on Wednesday 2nd March in Aghavea Parish Church.

Sermon: Job 4-27 With Friends Like These... - Job's Comforters

What do you say to someone who is suffering? That’s the question which the book of Job asks us tonight. When you meet with someone who is going through a hard time, what do you say?

Tonight we’re thinking about the contribution of Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. They say that a friend in need is a friend indeed, but I wonder is that what Job thought of these three. At the start, they were friends in need and indeed. They came together, they sat with Job, and they kept quiet. True friends. It’s only when they open their mouths that they start causing problems.

In our readings, we heard a little bit from each one of them, but it might be useful to remember how the book of Job is structured. Chapters 1&2 give us the split screen of heaven and earth - in heaven, God and Satan’s conversation about Job, and Satan’s permission to test Job’s faith, by unleashing disaster after disaster - taking away his wealth; his children; and his health. On earth, we see how Job responds, with faith and confidence in God. Chapter 3, which we looked at last week brought Job’s lament, the cry of suffering, and it’s that which prompts the three friends to intervene, to begin speaking. And the pattern continues - Job speaks, then one of the friends, then Job, then the next friend, round and round until chapter 31, Job’s final defence.

So what we’re looking at tonight is just a bit of what they say. But even that little bit is quite shocking. They get worse, the more they go on. Can you imagine sitting down with someone at a wake and telling them to their face that they’re only getting what they deserve? That they have no right to complain, and should just suck it up?

Yet that’s what they do. In terms of pastoral sensitivity; in terms of decency, it’s ridiculous. You want to squirm in your seat. You can’t believe that they’re coming out with it. That’s shocking of itself. But as I read what they said, there was a bigger shock. I found myself agreeing with quite a lot of what they said. They talk about universal sin, about the need for repentance, and God’s great mercy for the one who turns to him. Those are all things that we sign up to and agree with and preach.

So what’s going on? How can we grasp what’s happening? And how can we discover the truth from what’s being said?

I think it’s helpful to remember a couple of things before we dive in to look at chapters 4-5. The first is that God’s word is true, but not everything in the Bible expresses truth. What we have here in these speeches are the opinions of the three men. They’re recorded in the Bible, but they may not be true, in the way the words of Jesus are absolutely and perfectly true. God’s verdict of these speeches is found in chapter 42: ‘My anger burns against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of my what is right, as my servant Job has.’

The second thing to remember is that Job is blameless. God has affirmed it several times. Now that doesn’t mean that Job has never sinned, but it does mean that this suffering is not linked to his sin. He maintains it throughout, but his friends don’t believe him. They reckon there must be some serious secret sin for him to suffer in such a way.

With that introduction, let’s look at Eliphaz’ first speech. With truth and untruth mixed together, let’s see how not to speak to the sufferer. First of all, he accuses Job of hypocrisy and inconsistency (1-6). Job had been a counsellor and advisor to other people (3) but now that bad times have come to his own door, he has changed his tune. Now he’s impatient and dismayed. Yet he should have confidence and hope, because of his integrity and his fear of the Lord.

Eliphaz’ worldview is summed up in verse 8. You reap what you sow. (7-11). So, Job, if you’re suffering, it must be your own fault. If you’re reaping trouble, then you must have sowed it. After all, ‘who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?’

He then turns super-spiritual with his night vision asking that question: ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?’ In other words, we’re all sinners, so we deserve to suffer. That observation carries him through to 5:7 - ‘man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.’

So what does Job need to do? ‘As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause.’ See this as a warning, as discipline, as an opportunity to repent, so turn now while you still can. Then you’ll know God’s blessings. The end of chapter 5 sums it up: ‘Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.’

Do you see what I was saying? It sounds right. There’s much that we would agree with. In other contexts it would be right, except, here it’s not. He’s too quick to take a general principle, the observation you reap what you sow, and turn it into a universal principle. Eliphaz wants to see life as black and white, as clear cut, when it’s a lot more grey, a lot more messy. Job is not suffering for his sin.

When it’s Bildad’s turn to speak, he majors on history and ancient wisdom. He affirms God’s justice, but then applies it insensitively by saying that maybe his grown up children got what they deserved. He then looks to the learning of the past, the lessons of long experience, which show that reeds wither without water, and that’s what happens to people who forget God. That must be what has happened to Job, he’s like a suddenly snapped spider’s web. He just needs to return to trust in the just God - ‘Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.’ (8:20).

Zophar goes even further. He says that Job deserved even worse! (11:6) Job needs to realise that he can’t know himself deeply, that God really knows what he is really like, and that therefore he needs to repent. And so the cycles go on. Job maintaining his innocence, his friends calling him a liar, calling him to repent, and so on.

Well, with friends like these, who needs enemies? It’s no wonder that Job calls them miserable comforters (16:2). So what can we learn from them? How can we speak to those who are suffering?

We need to learn to speak the truth (the whole truth, and nothing but the truth), but to do it, as Paul says in Ephesians, in love. Speak the truth in love. Ask, is this helpful and upbuilding and for their benefit? Ot am I using truth like a hammer or machine gun?

We need to acknowledge that we can’t know everything perfectly. The friends have their particular worldview, and everything must fit into how they see things. But as we hear (rightly) of God’s majesty and power, we need to be aware that we aren’t God; that we can’t know everything perfectly. As someone said, the best thing the friends did was to keep quiet!

We need to also see God at work in our world - not as the God of karma who waits for you to do something good or bad and then to pay it back to you; but the God of mercy and grace, who intervenes in our world, who takes the initiative to rescue sinners. Job’s comforters couldn’t have got their heads around the cross - an innocent man suffering in the place of sinners. The answer to Eliphaz’ question: ‘who that was innocent ever perished?’ Jesus.

As RC Sproul said, ‘why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and he volunteered for it.’

We who are aware of our own sin, who recognise that we do indeed deserve the wages of sin - death - in the face of Jesus Christ and his death for us; how can we pontificate about what other people deserve? In the face of grace, we bow down and worship. Let’s be slow to speak; slow to judge; and swift to offer the grace we have received to others as well. Let’s pray.

This sermon was preached in the Out of the Storm series at the Lent Midweek service in Aghavea Parish Church on Wednesday 24th February 2016.

Sermon: Job 3: 1-26 The Cry of Suffering: Job's Complaint

What do you do when someone is suffering? Maybe they’ve received bad news, and they’re in distress - how do you deal with the situation? Many of us, I suspect want to help, want to provide some comfort, but we just don’t know what to do. We’re afraid of getting involved, because we don’t know what to say, or how to say it, so we back off. Or maybe we get offside fairly quickly, not wanting to have to deal with someone else’s grief.

What if the person begins to speak, and a flood of words comes out - some shocking things, things we’re not prepared for, things we don’t expect to hear. As we come to Job 3, this might be where we find ourselves tonight. Listening in, not knowing quite what to do with Job’s thoughts and feelings and words, caught adrift.

Or what if the struggling person is you? Is it ok to feel like this? Is there a place for doubt, darkness and dismay in the Christian life?

What I propose we do is something we’re commanded to do in Romans 12:15. ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.’ We probably enjoy a party better, yet we’re called to weep alongside those who weep.

Just in case you missed last week - Job was a prosperous man, but in a series of disasters, his livestock were all killed or captured; his children killed; and he’s been covered from head to toe in loathsome sores. Unknown to Job, God had held him up as a model believer, and with God’s permission, Satan has stripped away all he has to prove his faith.

Some commentators have referred to chapter 3 as Job’s Gethsemane. It’s the place where Job is tested, and on the surface, it appears that he is found wanting - complaint and despair rather than humble submission. There are three main features of Job’s lament - his birth day, his desire for death, and his complaint against God.

As we look at these briefly, remember that these are the outpourings of a week of anguish. He has sat silently on the ash heap scraping his sores with thoughts rushing through his mind, the anguish and helplessness building all the time. It’s similar to how we find the prophet Elijah after his great victory over the prophets of Baal, and in response to Jezebel’s death threat, he runs away and prays ‘It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers,’ (1 Kings 19:4).

First, Job laments his birthday. Not in the way some of us lament yet another birthday coming around with increasing age, but the fact that he had a birthday at all. Notice the great raft of curses he lines up against the day of his birth - verses 2 to 9 - let the day perish, let it be darkness, let gloom claim it, darkness seize it, let it be barren, darkness. Why does he wish these terrible things against the day of his birth? Because he wishes he had never been born in the first place. Despite a long and prosperous life with happy times and a happy home, when compared with the previous week of misery, he wishes he had never lived it all.

Despite the longest day of sunlight, the darkness of the night brings despair and dread. Everything fades into black, and all Job can see now is the trouble he faces and feels in his loss and suffering. The gloom of death would be preferable to the pain he now experiences, or so he imagines.

Second, we find Job’s desire for death. From the ash heap, Job thinks that the grave would be a preferable position - longing for death more than for hidden treasures (21). Why is it that death seems such an attractive relocation, so that he would rejoice exceedingly and be glad when he finds the grave (22)? For Job, it appears to be a place of rest (13) and sleep, free from the pains and burdens he currently bears.

Death is also the great leveller. Look at verse 19: ‘The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.’ It’s what one writer refers to as the ‘democracy of death’ - kings, princes, prisoners, slaves, all are there together in freedom and peace. Perhaps this was attractive to one who had been the greatest man in the east (1:3) but had lost everything in a series of cruel blows.

That longing for death is something we see in the movement for euthanasia or assisted suicide. Still the debate rages among our politicians. You sometimes hear of people heading to Switzerland to end their life with medical assistance. Notice, though, that Job never contemplates taking his own life. Suicide is not an option for him. Yet even as Job laments and lays his complaint out, there is a recognition that God is present in his circumstances.

Verse 20: ‘Why is light given to him who is in misery.’ Or again in verse 23: ‘Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?’ Even as Job complains, he’s aware that God is present, that he has been given light and life in the midst of suffering. That remark about being hedged in by God seems to accuse God of being restrictive, almost besieging Job. Yet look back to 1:10 - there Satan accuses God of hedging Job in, being a protection and guard for him. One commentator wrote that the hedge of protection has become for Job a prison wall. Is Job listening to the voice of demons, tormented by the half-truths being twisted to maximum effect?

Job continues in his complaint against God, with sighing and groanings instead of bread and water, signs of his anguish. Indeed, it appears that this is what he had feared all along - verse 25 - that even in the good days, there was a dread of it all being taken away.

Verse 26 is the final summation of his current complaint - where his life is declared to be the exact opposite of how he imagines the grave: ‘I am not at ease (cf v18), nor am I quiet (cf v13); I have no rest (cf v17), but trouble comes (cf v10).’

So what do you say to Job? How do we deal with his words here in chapter three, as the flood of despair is unleashed after the week of silence? Do you want to run up to him and say ‘don’t worry Job, all’s well - we know how it turns out?’ Our advice to keep praying and keep trusting seems almost trite in the face of what he has said. From our privileged position in watching Job we have two advantages - we know how it will end up, and we also know about the discussion in heaven, but Job knows neither part. He is in the middle of it all, saying what he sees.

Two things to immediately remember. First, Job speaks of ‘a man whose way is hidden’ (v23). This could either mean hidden from God, or hidden from himself. Hidden from God, because God doesn’t seem to care any more, God seems to be absent, distant, unconcerned. Yet if it is hidden from himself - if his way is hidden and unknown, then here is the very essence of the believer’s walk: We walk by faith, and not by sight - we don’t know what is around the corner - otherwise it would be sight, and not faith. It is only through the hiddenness, through the afflictions, that our faith is tested and proved. The very fact that we have light and life is the proof that God has not finished with us, that we continue by faith.

But the second, even tonight, is to remember God’s verdict of Job. God speaks of ‘my servant Job’ in the first chapter (1:8, 2:3), and again in chapter 42 when he tells the friends ‘For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.’ (42:8). Job’s outpouring is not counted as sin, and Job’s salvation is not in doubt - even the secure saints may have the dark night of the soul, while being firmly held in the hand of the Lord.

So how do we respond to Job? Next week we will explore the words and help of his so-called friends, Job’s comforters, but what about you? What would you say to Job after his outburst? Perhaps our wisest response in the immediate aftermath is, as Romans says, ‘weep with those who weep.’ Even God’s answer is 35 chapters away yet. And pray for those we know who may be going through such an anguish.

Job asks why - why is light given, why is death not given, why. As we look back from this side of Calvary, we see in Job’s question the words of another, who cried ‘My God, my God, why...?’ The cry of suffering, of God-forsakenness, is shouted in the darkness of the cross. The Lord Jesus has plumbed the depths of our sorrows. He has endured the full weight of trouble, the restlessness of sin, to rescue us and save us.

Because of the abandoned one, we are never alone, as he stands with us as we suffer. As one modern song puts it: ‘I’m forgiven because you were forsaken, I’m accepted, you were condemned... Amazing love, how can it be, that you my king should die for me!’

This sermon was preached in the Out of the Storm series of Lent Midweek services in Aghavea Parish Church on Wednesday 17th February 2016.

Ash Wednesday Sermon: Job 1-2 On the Ash-Heap

Why do bad things happen to good people? When you open your newspaper or turn on the TV, you’re quickly confronted with bad news. And it makes you wonder. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Sometimes we can be very clinical, very philosophical, very detached from the question. It becomes a theoretical plaything, to return to and argue about back and forward. For some it can be a compelling reason to remain an unbeliever - as they point to suffering and say, surely God is either not powerful or not good.

But as we sit with Job, we’ll come to see that there are no easy and quick answers. You see, Job isn’t a casual observer, able to recline on his armchair and consider the plight of others. No, Job is no armchair theologian, rather he is, if you like, he is a wheelchair theologian. Job wrestles with these questions (and his so-called friends) from on top of an ash pit, having been personally afflicted.

The first verses of the book of Job provide us with a fine introduction to the man. What was it struck you about him as the verses were read earlier? Was it his big family (seven sons and three daughters)? Was it his thousands of livestock (sheep camels, oxen, donkeys)? His servants? Maybe it was the declaration in verse 3 that he was ‘the greatest of all the people of the east’. Yet I want to suggest that the most important thing we’re told about Job is found in verse one: ‘that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.’

It’s not saying that Job never sinned. He’s not blameless by being perfect. Rather, he is blameless and upright because he ‘feared God and turned away from evil.’ He is one who fears and therefore trusts God, and turns from evil. Those two words, blameless and upright describe his standing before God - blameless; and his dealings with other people - upright. Job is someone you would want on the church eldership, or to serve on the Select Vestry. A model Christian, a pillar of the community.

Yet in just one day, his world is turned upside down. It’s like a personal 9/11, a day he will never forget, as the devastating blows continue to rain down on him, with the out-of-breath arrivals of four of his servants. One of the events would be tragic, but together, Job has his disaster day. First the oxen and donkeys are taken by the Sabeans. Then the fire of God (thunder?) consumes the sheep. Then the Chaldeans capture the camels. Then the word arrives of the simultaneous death of all ten of his children. What a haunting refrain echoes in his ear: ‘And I alone have escaped to tell you.’ Left with just these four servants, and his wife. Total devastation.

How would you react? Would you do what Job does next? Verse 20: ‘Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped.’ His first response is not to curse God, but to worship God. His security was not in his possessions, but rather in his God.

This is brought out in his words, in verse 21: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ Notice that this isn’t a Stoic kind of que sera sera, whatever will be will be kind of attitude. He’s not saying, well, whatever happens we can deal with it, that’s luck or fate or chance.

No, what Job expresses is a firm, unwavering faith in the face of terrible events. He recognises the Lord’s sovereignty, both in giving, and in taking, and will bless the Lord either way. Remember what Paul says in Philippians 4 - I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Plenty or hungry; abundance or need - ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’

Now as if all that wasn’t bad enough, another day comes soon after, in chapter 2, and Job’s body is covered by loathsome sores. Can you imagine the pain, the misery? It’s so bad that his only comfort is to scrape himself with a piece of broken pottery, while sitting in the ashes.

It’s too much for his wife to bear. Her solution is simple: ‘Curse God and die.’ But look at how Job responds: ‘You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’

You might be wondering how Job could be going through such a painful period. Why did all this bad stuff happen to him? In popular thinking, there’s the idea of some kind of cosmic karma. What you give is what you get. So do good things and good things will happen to you. Or do bad things and watch out.

But even inside the church we can see this kind of thing - if you pay in, or attend every meeting, or be nice to people, then good things will happen to you. And if something bad happens, then God mustn’t like you - or you must have done something really bad. In later weeks we’ll see this come up in the book as Job’s comforters (poorly named, I know) try to use this kind of prosperity theology against Job. There truly is nothing new under the sun.

So did Job do something bad? Was he a secret sinner which led to his sudden suffering? Is there a simple correlation between goodness and prosperity, between badness and bad health?

It would be so easy if there was. But it’s not like that. We see Christians who go through immense suffering, or who are cut down at a young age, while the wicked go from strength to strength. We see believers struggle to eke out a living on sparse crops while sinners waste more food than they eat.

Behind the scenes, unknown by Job, there is another series of events occurring. We see this in both chapters. It’s as if the TV programme cuts from the earthly scene to the heavenly throne room, then back to earth. One commentator suggests its like stage left and stage right in a theatre play. We see the whole thing, but Job is unaware of what has occurred. Our behind-the-scenes all-access pass helps us to understand more than Job can know, and helps us to see at least a little better how this could happen, and why we sometimes are faced with suffering.

Verse 6 presents us with the heavenly throne room. The sons of God (angels) are present, and Satan is there too. Satan literally means the accuser, and seems to be the DPP of heaven - the Director of Public Prosecutions. His job is to investigate if God’s people are as they should be, accusing them of wrongdoing.

God brings the conversation round to Job, and Satan reacts in fine form. Of course Job worships God - after all, look how he is profiting from his faith. If God is protecting him and giving him so much, then Job would be a fool not to side with God. But Satan’s opinion is that if his wealth was gone, then Job will curse God. It’s a challenging question, isn’t it? Why do we worship God? Are we only in it for what we get out of it? How would your motives stack up? This is the question that runs through the entire book: what sort of believer is Job? Is he genuine, or phoney?

God lays the challenge, and allows Satan to take away all that Job has, but without afflicting Job himself. And so Satan goes off and arranges the day of devastation. Job doesn’t know why it has happened, and yet he passes the challenge - Satan said in verse 12 ‘Touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face’ but verse 22 affirms that ‘In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.’ That would be 1-0 to God, then.

Then the second challenge follows swiftly. ‘Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his own life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ Even with his wife’s provocation, ‘In all this Job did not sin with his lips.’ 2-0 to God.

So even though Job doesn’t know what’s happening in the heavenlies, what can we learn from it? There are three important things to notice here, and to carry through the entire book.

1. Satan has real influence. Satan is indeed the accuser of the brethren, and is heard by the LORD. But let’s be clear:

2. God is absolutely sovereign. Satan and God are not two equally powerful agents who are in constant battle, getting the better of each other as things move back and forward between them. No, God is sovereign - the LORD reigns, and Satan answers to him. It is the LORD who first mentions Job and brings him into view. It is the LORD who invites Satan to consider him. And it is the LORD who sets the limits of Satan’s activity - verse 12 ‘Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.’ Luther called Satan, ‘God’s Satan’ - like a dog on a leash. Yet God in his sovereignty gives a terrible permission. This might just be the most scandalous aspect of Job. God sometimes gives terrible permissions.

3. Job really is blameless. We’ve already noticed this earlier, but it’s essential to mention it again. The LORD affirms the verdict of verse 1 as he talks to Satan: ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?’ Job is blameless, has no unforgiven sin to be punished for, yet these things happen to him. Sometimes in the Bible we do see people suffering for their sin, perhaps even instantaneously - the Israelites grumbling in the desert being bitten by snakes; or Ananias and Sapphira dropping dead after lying to the apostles about the proceeds of the sale of property. But not all suffering is as the result of sin.

Satan has influence, Job really is blameless, and God is truly sovereign. Job doesn’t know why this has happened, yet he remains faithful to the LORD, continues to trust in him. As we begin in Job, let me challenge you to take some time over the next few weeks and read through the book. You’ll find the text challenging, perhaps surprising. But for us to journey with Job, we have to sit with him, listening to his pain, and sharing in his faith.

Perhaps you’re suffering right now. Job is a companion, a fellow sufferer, who points us to faith in the LORD. Job is described as ‘my servant Job’, yet that is no guarantee of immunity from suffering. Isn’t that what we see in the cross? The servant of the Lord, his own dear Son, losing everything, suffering and dying - yet through his suffering we receive healing; through his dying we receive life; through his forsakenness we receive hope and welcome.

This sermon was preached as part of the 'Out of the Storm' series in the book of Job on Ash Wednesday 10th February 2016 at the Lent Midweek service in Aghavea Parish Church.