Author: Jinson Thomas

Good morning, church! Hope you’re well. As you all know, it’s Baby Jason’s dedication today, and as a church, we couldn’t be more thrilled for Vijay, Sharon, and Jason. The dedication will happen a little later, but the occasion of a dedication gives us a good opportunity to get some instruction on family life.

So today we’ll take a pause from our Job series and try to answer this question: Why does God place us in families? What is God’s purpose in family life? Specifically, what’s God’s purpose in parenting?

Because when you look at the world around you, it’ll give a wide range of answers. When you talk about family life and children, a lot of people will tell you that it’s because of social expectations. You’ll hear things like “You’ve been married for a few years, so when’s the baby coming?” It’s social pressure or social expectation which makes us think about having children. If we don’t have children, then that’s going to invite a lot of questions from people around us.

Another reason that was true of our parent’s generation was that they saw their children as an investment. They would invest heavily in their education, giving them the best that they could with the hope that their children would one day become really successful and repay the favor. This investment that they’ve made in their children would reap multiplying dividends.

And then there’s a reason that is more common to our generation which is viewing children as a means to prove our self worth. I’m going to raise my children as a personal project of mine so that at the end of the day people will recognize and appreciate me for being a standout dad or mom to my kid. I’m proving my self worth through my children. The worst thing that could happen to me is for my children to make me look bad in front of others.

There could be many more reasons that you’ll find on why people choose to have families, choose to have children. But there could also be reasons to not have children which is increasingly becoming the case among people living in urban cities.

One of the reasons is financial strain – “How can we take care of another human being in such an expensive world? We only have enough for ourselves, and if we have children, that’s going to add a financial strain in our lives.” Another reason is the fear of losing our freedom – “Right now there’s a lot of freedom & space that we experience as a couple. That will be taken away from us the moment we have children. It’s too much of a responsibility”. So children are viewed as a burden rather than a gift to the family. 

Where am I going with this? I want all of us to take a minute to analyze what we think is the purpose of a family? Some of us are already parents here. Some others would be parents sometime in the future. If you’re neither of these two, you definitely know someone who is a parent right now. It’s something that all of us can relate to: What’s God’s purpose in parenting?

That’s what we’ll try to address this morning as we look at Psalm 78. Before we proceed, I’d love to pray for us.

Pray

This Psalm was written by Asaph who was a worship leader in David’s time. He wrote 12 Psalms and some were songs that were sung by the whole congregation. In fact if we see the caption under the title of this Psalm, it says a “maskil” by Asaph. It was probably a note or a scale on which the song was being sung. Almost like it was saying “to be sung on E minor”.

This was most likely a song that was regularly sung by the congregation. For us modern day believers, this would seem like a strange, unusual worship song. It probably wouldn’t make it to our worship setlist. Why? Because a lot of it, especially the latter part of Psalm 78 talks about sin, rebellion, God’s judgment.

We’re not used to hearing these themes being preached, let alone singing about it during worship. And yet in David’s time, they had no such problem. Singing songs during worship wasn’t about feeling good or experiencing an emotional high. Singing songs of worship was a time of instruction where their hearts were being instructed on how to be faithful to God.

The context is that this was an instructive, warning worship song. Within this instructive, warning worship song, it addresses the question: Why does God place us in families? What is God’s purpose in parenting?

1. Parents are God’s instruments to reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord (V1-4)

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
    that our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
    but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.

The Psalm starts out by Asaph calling for people’s attention in V1. He’s urging people to pay careful attention to what he’s about to say. There’s an urgency to what he’s saying. This is absolutely critical for God’s people to know. He’s basically telling them “You need to drop what you’re doing and pay close attention!”

In V2, it says that he “will utter dark sayings from of old”. What are these dark sayings? When we use the word “dark” we refer to subjects that are sinister or evil or disturbing. But that’s not what is referred to out here. It’s referring to “difficult to understand” subjects, perplexing topics that when God’s people spend time talking about it, it will prove to be beneficial to them.

And in V3, he clarifies that this isn’t “brand new information”. This is not “breaking news”. These are stories about God which their forefathers have considered to be so important, so significant that they have delicately passed it down through generations.

In V4, Psalmist is saying that it’s not just relevant for our generation, it’s relevant for the next generation as well. That’s why we are not going to keep this hidden from them. The next generation ought to know this. What is that?

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

    and the wonders that he has done.

Notice it doesn’t just say “deeds of the Lord”. It says “glorious deeds of the Lord”. The deeds of the Lord that He’s performed for His people are nothing short of glorious. These are praiseworthy actions. These are astounding feats. As you look through OT history, these are unbelievable deeds that God has actually done. Parting the Red Sea so that His people could walk on dry ground. Feeding His people with manna from heaven for 40 years every single day.

It goes on to say “and his might, and the wonders that he has done”. The glorious deeds of the Lord reveal His might and power. If we all read the miraculous accounts in the Bible, we would be left with only two choices – either it’s all a lie – too good to be true OR it’s actually true and that the God of the Bible is all-powerful, almighty God! One of the amazing stories in the Bible is that God made the sun stand still for an entire day so that God’s people could defeat their enemies. For 24 hours, the sun didn’t go down. Either it’s a lie or it’s true and the God of the Bible is the all powerful, almighty God. Josh 10:14 – that passage ends by stating “Surely God was fighting for Israel”.

But what does this have to do with parenting you may ask? Parents have a unique calling to be used as an instrument of God to reveal these glorious deeds of the Lord to their children! Take a moment to allow this to sink in. It’s not the Sunday School teachers role, it’s the parent’s role to reveal these glorious deeds of the Lord to their children so that they can step back and be amazed and at wonder thinking about the God of the Bible.

When was the last time we saw our children amazed thinking about the God of the Bible? When was the last time we saw wonder in the eyes of our children as they thought about the God of the Bible? Oftentimes our children aren’t amazed, because they don’t see the amazement and wonder in our eyes as parents. They probably see more excitement, more amazement, more wonder in our eyes for a great sportsperson or celebrity or businessmen but they simply don’t see that when we talk about God.

And so this is deeply convicting because we need to acknowledge that we are sometimes the barrier in keeping God’s glorious deeds from our children. Our confession and prayer should be this “God, would you please help me stand at wonder and amazement at glorious deeds first? Help me to be so amazed by it that comes through as I tell my children about You”.

Not only are Parents are God’s instruments to reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord but

 2. Parents are God’s instruments to set children’s hope in God (V5-8)

5 He established a testimony in Jacob
    and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
    to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.

V5 & 6 tell us that it’s not only the glorious deeds of the Lord which need to be taught to our children, it’s also the commands of the Lord which needs to be taught to them. By teaching them the commands, we’re giving them a picture of what it means to be in relationship with Holy God. We’re communicating to our children who is the real boss of our home – are we the boss or is God the boss? We’re revealing to our kids whose approval matters the most in our home – does our approval matter the most or is it God’s approval?

As believers, we’re not obeying God’s commands and teaching our kids to do the same to get God to love and accept us. No, we’re already fully loved and accepted because of the best, perfect work that Jesus did for us. But we obey God’s commands out of loving service. Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands. “He is my Master and I love Him” – that’s why we obey Him & that’s why we teach our kids to do so as well.

And what is the Psalmist saying will be achieved by teaching commands to our children? V7. They would set their hope in God. Parents cannot save their children, only the Lord can save their children. But what parents can do is prepare the soil for children to have ample opportunities to place their hope and trust in God. When parents out of obedience make radical choices for their families which seem crazy to the rest of the world, it’ll prepare the soil for their children to have ample opportunities to place their hope in God.

This time of the year is a little tough on our kids because they see their friends participating in many activities revolving around idols. It’s hard on them because they feel like they are missing out but at the same time it’s opening up many opportunities to have conversations with our children on why we can’t participate – it’s because we love and worship our God. We believe that somewhere deep in their hearts, God will use this to prepare the soil to have ample opportunities to put their hope in God.

And the Psalmist goes on to say “and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

Psalmist’s main concern is forgetfulness and how that translates to gradual unfaithfulness. His concern is that if the parents don’t consistently remind their children of God’s glorious deeds and commands, that they would forget the Lord and gradually become unfaithful to Him. The history of Israel actually revealed that so clearly. Psalmist gives many examples of this in the following verses:

9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
    turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant,
    but refused to walk according to his law.

11 They forgot his works
    and the wonders that he had shown them.

Have you ever considered how dangerous forgetfulness is to your & your children’s spiritual life? Maybe initially, there was this zeal and priority that was placed on God and the things of God. But then, as life gets more complicated, busier, more stuff is added into our schedule, which now competes with our time with God and the things of God. And next thing you know is forgetfulness – where we forget the promises of God, the work of God that He did for us, we forget the call of God to live a holy life, we forget the people of God and eventually that leads us to forgetting God Himself.

So what’s the antidote? God knows that we are forgetful so He’s given us so many means of grace by which we can remember Him. He’s given us His Word. He’s given us our church family. He’s given us the Lord’s Supper by saying “Do this in remembrance of me”. These are all means of grace to keep us from forgetting and being unfaithful to the Lord.

Parents, make sure those guard rails are put in place for yourself and your children so that you are fighting the tendency to forget God and the things of God. We are God’s instruments to set our children’s hope in God.

Brothers and sisters, as we studied today, it’s such a huge calling and privilege to be chosen as tools and instruments of God in the lives of our children. God’s purpose in using us is is two fold:

• To reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord
• To set children’s hope in God

Is that easy for us to do? No. If we’re honest, both of these are impossible to do on our own strength. We know how our own pride and selfishness keeps us from being used as God’s instruments to our children. So we need grace – Grace to first be able to acknowledge our helplessness (parents tend to think they are self sufficient). Grace that makes us run to Jesus for forgiveness (because we will mess up often). Grace to surrender ourselves to God’s purpose in parenting (our tendency is to follow our own purposes. )

Good morning everyone! Hope you’re doing well this morning. If you’ve been tracking with us, you’re probably aware that as a church we’ve been going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job. Interestingly, we’ve been journeying through this book for the last 6-7 months. Before I start, here’s a quick question for all of us this morning. If you could use one word to describe the series so far, what would you say? And let’s try to be as honest & candid as we can be. 

One of the feelings that we might be experiencing through this book is “frustration” – frustration in the manner in which Job is having this debate with his friends and with God.

What’s frustrating is that even now neither party is willing to budge, neither party is willing to give way. Job’s friends continue to say that his terrible suffering is caused by some secret, hidden sin in his life. Job continues to deny any hidden sin & instead protests against God, saying that He’s being a bully.

So we’ve reached this point in Chapter 31 where Job is frustrated with his friends, his friends are frustrated with Job, Job is frustrated with God and as we read, we too are frustrated with Job and his friends.

But apparently we’re supposed to feel this frustration – that’s how the book was written – so that we can appreciate God’s response in the later chapters. God is not a “miserable comforter” like Job’s friends and neither is God “unjust” as Job portrays him out to be. So I’d ask us all to be patient as the story unfolds over the next few weeks.

But you may ask “God will reply later, but what about today’s passage?” What we’ll see today is Job’s final, last, concluding appeal before God. Even at the end of chapter we see this – “the words of Job are ended”. He is not going to say anything more after this. This is his last, final attempt to prove his innocence.

This is like a tense courtroom scene where the defendant makes his concluding remarks. And what does Job do to prove His innocence?

He takes an oath of clearance. What was it? In the OT, once the accused exhausts all the usual means of showing proof to clear his name, then he turns to “an oath of clearance”. That’s his last resort.

Here the accused will need to list out all the things they have not committed and swear before God. Which means that if the accused is found guilty of having done all the things they said they didn’t do, then God’s curse would come upon them.

But if indeed they didn’t do the things that they said they didn’t commit, then they would be spared by God.

So the oath of clearance was a risky, dangerous thing to do, because it would bring God into the equation. And that’s precisely what Job wanted! By taking the oath of clearance and listing all the things that he has not committed, he is asking God to either bring the curses of the oath if he’s guilty or to spare him and declare him innocent. So the stakes are really high!

Let’s look at Job’s oath of clearance. These are the list of things that Job says he didn’t commit:

1. Lust (V1-4)

1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
    how then could I gaze at a virgin?

The NIV puts it in this way: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. I find it interesting that Job doesn’t say “I’ve avoided looking at young women lustfully”. He says that he’s made a covenant with his eyes to not look lustfully.

Covenant meant a serious commitment. It was a binding agreement, a contract that parties would make with each other in ancient times. Breaking a covenant would result in serious repercussions.

And it’s interesting that that’s the kind of resolve – a covenant type of resolve – that Job made when it came to the subject of lust. He didn’t take lust lightly. He didn’t downplay lust by saying “Oh, I’m just an admirer of beauty”. He didn’t just say to himself “Technically I’m not doing anything wrong to anyone. I’m just entertaining certain thoughts about the person. It’s not affecting that person, it’s just in my mind”.  He didn’t have that kind of casual approach toward lust. He understood the seriousness of it & made a covenant with his eyes to not look lustfully at a woman.

And the reason he made that covenant with his eyes is because of V2-4.

2 What would be my portion from God above
    and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
    and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
4 Does not he see my ways
    and number all my steps?

There was a fear and an awareness of God watching Him and knowing his most private thoughts and intentions. He knew that there is no hiding before this God. There is no denying before this God. There is no downplaying before this God. There is no justifying before this God. This God knows everything. He knows his most private thoughts. Job had a fear and an awareness of God.

And fear doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing all the time. It can sometimes be a healthy thing. Sometimes fear protects us from getting ourselves into dangerous situations. If we’re in a jungle and we see a bear approaching, fear would make us run toward safety. Similarly, it was a healthy healthy fear of God & an awareness of God that made Job make this covenant with his eyes.

And that should instruct us to long for this kind of healthy fear and awareness of God. Our prayer should be “God, would you please give me a real awareness of Who You Are? God, would you please give me this healthy fear which will guard me from lusting after others?”

Lust was the first, the other thing that Job said he didn’t commit was

2. Dishonesty (V5-8)

5 “If I have walked with falsehood
    and my foot has hastened to deceit;
6 (Let me be weighed in a just balance,
    and let God know my integrity!)
7 if my step has turned aside from the way
    and my heart has gone after my eyes,
    and if any spot has stuck to my hands,
8 then let me sow, and another eat,
    and let what grows for me be rooted out.

In these verses, Job is saying that he steered clear of dishonesty both in his words and actions. V5 uses two words to describe dishonesty – falsehood and deceit. Falsehood is the practice of telling something that is not true – telling lies. “Oh, it’s just a white lie – it’s not harming anyone”. “Lies are okay as long as it’s helping someone”. No, that’s still falsehood.

Deceit goes a little further – it is a deliberate act of distorting the truth with the purpose of misleading; it’s being cunning; it’s being manipulative; it’s changing facts to suit your convenience.

Then we see the oath of clearance displayed here. Job is saying that if he is found guilty of being dishonest in his words and actions, then let God take whatever he’s worked hard for & hand it to someone else. If he’s in the wrong, then someone else should enjoy the fruit of his hard work.

The next thing that Job said he didn’t do was

3. Adultery (V9-12)

9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
    and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
10 then let my wife grind for another,
    and let others bow down on her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
    that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
12 for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,
    and it would burn to the root all my increase.

Job is saying that he didn’t entertain thoughts of adultery. He didn’t entertain thoughts of cheating on his wife. And if he was found guilty for doing that, then (oath of clearance) let his wife be taken away and given to other men!! Let everything that Job has burn up in flames.

V11 and 12 shows how he viewed adultery – as a heinous crime (very wicked thing, something that’s twisted). Something that needed severe punishment and something that deserves fiery destruction – ancient times they had named the place of destruction “Abaddon”! In other words adultery is destructive! 

And yet when we look at the world around us, adultery isn’t often pictured as a heinous crime. In fact some movies glorify adultery.

At most it’s something that people are embarrassed by, and people will explain it away by saying things like “because they experience neglect in their marriage relationship, hence they were forced to confide in someone outside marriage”.  But no, it should be called as it is : a heinous crime! Something that is wicked. Something that is so destructive.

But not just that, he also didn’t commit

4. Oppression (V13-15)

13 “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
    when they brought a complaint against me,
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
    When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
    And did not one fashion us in the womb?

Job said that he never rejected any grievance brought to him by his servants. He gave his servants and subordinates freedom to approach him with their complaints even if it was against him.

Though he had the power and influence to suppress their complaints, he never did because he recognized that there is a superboss in heaven whom everyone reports to. What will Job do when his servants escalate to the superboss? And this superboss in heaven doesn’t show any partiality.

When we become powerful, when we have the power to hire someone else, when we become bosses (it could be at work where you’re a manager or at home where you’ve got house help) , there’s often a tendency to be abusive because we feel that our authority allows them to get away with abuse. And yet passages like this and others in the NT tell us a different story:

Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. (Col 4:1)

Another thing Job said that he didn’t do was:

5. Ungenerous (V16-23)

16 “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
    or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
    and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,
    and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),
19 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
    or the needy without covering,
20 if his body has not blessed me,
    and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
    because I saw my help in the gate,
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
    and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
    and I could not have faced his majesty.

The most vulnerable of people which Job’s friends accused him of abusing: the poor, the widow and the orphan, Job is saying that this same vulnerable group of people was given special attention and shown extreme generosity by him. He looked after the poor, the widows and the orphan with the wealth that he had.

The reason he did that was not as a CSR activity, it was not to get a tax deduction like many people do today, but because of V23 – out of a real fear of God. He knew that he would face judgment if he took advantage of this vulnerable section of people. After all they have a special place in God’s heart.

But not just that, Job also said that he didn’t commit:

6. Idolatry (V24-28)

24 “If I have made gold my trust
    or called fine gold my confidence,
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant
    or because my hand had found much,
26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone,
    or the moon moving in splendor,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
    and my mouth has kissed my hand,
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
    for I would have been false to God above.

Don’t you find it interesting that the man who was known as the greatest in the East is saying that he didn’t look at his gold, his treasure, his bank balance to find his confidence and security in them? (His sense of security didn’t come from his gold and bank balance)

The richest man of the East says that he didn’t look at his great wealth and say “I’m happy and joyful because I have all this great wealth”.

Neither did he look at the created things of the world like the sun, moon, animals, the gadgets, the clothes, the shoes, the house, the holiday destination, a position of prominence, or certain people and worshiped them instead. We see that in his response since tragedy hit him. Don’t you find it interesting that not even once does he ask God to return back what he lost? Oftentimes we become aware of our idols only when we end up losing them. Job is saying that he kept any form of idolatry far away from him.

Why? V28 – Because that would be false to God above. In other words, that would be being unfaithful to God. And he wasn’t okay with that. He saw everything in relation to God. Isn’t that amazing? The reason why Job didn’t end up worshipping his wealth or anything else in creation was because he didn’t want to be unfaithful to God. “How can I do this against my God?” – that was the question he constantly asked himself.

Not just that, he also said that he wasn’t:

7. Revengeful (V29-30)

29 “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
    or exulted when evil overtook him
30 (I have not let my mouth sin
    by asking for his life with a curse),

Even as Job’s enemies (those who hated him) were facing misfortune, Job didn’t see that as an opportunity to gloat and enjoy seeing their misery. He didn’t see that as an opportunity to curse them because of how terribly they’ve treated him.

And then Job also said that he wasn’t

8. Unwelcoming (V31-32)

31 if the men of my tent have not said,
    ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

32 (the sojourner has not lodged in the street;
    I have opened my doors to the traveler),

In ancient times, there weren’t that many inns and hotels available & so travellers would often be at the mercy of kind hearted people who would open up their homes to them. And Job is saying that his servants went out welcoming travellers so that they would have adequate food & shelter. In other words, he’s going out of his way to be hospitable and welcoming.

Not just that, Job said that he wasn’t also:

9. Hypocritical (V33-34)

33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do
    by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
    and the contempt of families terrified me,
    so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—

In these 2 verses Job exposes the sin of hypocrisy which is to behave a certain way on the outside but be totally different on the inside.

On the outside there’s a very holy exterior, but on the inside there’s a very unholy interior. And he exposes it to say that the reason why people are hypocritical is (v34) because they fear man. It is because they want to please people all the time. It is because they are enslaved to people’s affirmations. It’s because in their hearts – People are Big but God is small.

And the final thing Job says he didn’t do is:

10. Exploitation (V38-40)

38 “If my land has cried out against me
    and its furrows have wept together,
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
    and made its owners breathe their last,
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat,
    and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.

With the kind of wealth that Job had in those days, he would have been buying and investing in land day in and day out. And yet, Job is saying that he never did that by exploiting anyone. He never achieved success at the expense of other people. And then in V40 again – oath of clearance – if he’s guilty, then let all of his land be destroyed immediately.

And so Job has made his final attempt to prove his innocence. He’s invoked the oath of clearance telling God – “Now you decide. If I’m guilty of any of these things that I said I’ve not committed, then you curse me and destroy me. But if not, then clear my name and declare me as innocent”. That’s what he desires.

And in the coming chapters we will come to God’s response to him but what I wanted us to think about is this: what if we had the chance to make an oath of clearance for the same 10 things that Job said he didn’t commit? What would the result be? Would we be found guilty or innocent? Let me list out the 10 once more:

Lust, Dishonesty, Adultery, Oppression, Ungenerous, Idolatry, Revengeful, Unwelcoming, Hypocritical, Exploitation

Some of us may say “I’m guilty for some things in this list, but for others I think I’m okay. Don’t I get passing marks?”

James 2:10: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

So what’s our hope? We have someone better than Job who came for us. Someone had come 2000 years ago who was more righteous than Job. Even with Job’s integrity, he was still a broken sinner who needed redemption which is why he himself says in Job 19 “I know that my redeemer lives”.  He knew he needed a redeemer himself.

This redeemer was none other than God’s own Son Jesus Christ. Every place where we failed, Jesus succeeded. Have you failed the fight with <>? Jesus has succeeded. And then Jesus went up on the cross to pay the penalty for all our failures. He paid the price for our guilt. He died on the cross for us, was buried and rose again on the Third Day so that whoever repents of their sins and puts their faith in Jesus would miraculously be declared innocent and not guilty! How come? How did this come about? It’s because Jesus has transferred His successes to us.

So let the list not lead us to despondency, but drive us to be more aware of our desperate helplessness & our great help which has been provided in Christ Jesus. He only can remove our guilt, He only can make us innocent & He only can transform us into children who live like innocent children in this broken world.

Good morning, church! Hope you’re doing well this morning. As we turn to God’s Word this morning, I want all of us to ask ourselves, “What am I expecting God to do through His Word this morning?” Hebrews 4:12 gives us a great place to start from:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This passage reminds us that the next 30-40 minutes isn’t about a feel-good message, but allowing the living and active Word of God to pierce our hearts & expose hidden areas that don’t align with God’s character and will.

The reason God’s Word does that is not to condemn us, but to convict us and bring us to repentance. So I would urge all of us to have this expectation above every other expectation & let’s humbly ask God to use His Word to pierce our hearts, expose our hidden sin, and bring us to repentance.

If you’ve been tracking with us, you would be aware that we’ve been going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job. And as we arrive in Chapter 28 this morning, we know that what should’ve been a consoling, comforting conversation between Job and his friends has turned into a long, frustrating debate.

In fact, so frustrating was this debate that it seems like Job interjects Bildad in Chapter 25 and doesn’t allow him to continue. Zophar, the third friend in the conversation ,doesn’t speak again. The debate has reached its most frustrating point, and yet in the middle of all this, Job suddenly begins a poem on wisdom.

Now why does Job suddenly introduce a poem on wisdom out of nowhere? It’s not because he wants to distract from the main topic of the debate. It’s not because he’s suddenly feeling philosophical. Let’s remember that Job is still grieving the unbearable loss that he’s experienced.

After all, he’s lost his health, his wealth, and his family. And he experienced this unbearable loss after being faithful to God all his life. So he is in this place where he’s still trying to make sense of what just happened to him. Questions of how and why are still lingering in his heart. And that’s why he’s searching for wisdom, he’s looking for wisdom, he’s on the quest of finding wisdom.

So if you’re in this place today, where questions of how and why are still lingering in your heart, if you’re thinking in your heart, “I wish I had the wisdom to navigate through the difficulties and hardships in my life today”, then know that you’re not alone, God’s people through history have had similar struggles, and God’s Word has something to speak to us.

How do we find wisdom? Let’s try and figure this out verse by verse.

1. Wisdom can’t be found by human strength (V1-12)

The first few verses almost seem like Job’s giving us a science lesson by talking about mining and precious metals. But why is Job talking about this? He’s trying to show how humans are ambitious beings. They will go to any extent to try to get hold of their desires.

1 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
    and a place for gold that they refine.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
    and copper is smelted from the ore.

These were precious metals in Job’s day as much as they are considered precious today. All of these metals were much sought after. They were in demand because of their value.

3 Man puts an end to darkness
    and searches out to the farthest limit
    the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

Mining or extracting precious minerals and metals from the earth is no easy job. The first big challenge is to locate where these metals are at (which are usually at unfamiliar, unvisited locations), then the next big challenge is to have the right equipment & have the willingness to put your life at risk to be able to mine metals.

We still have the benefit of technological advancement today. In Job’s day, they didn’t have that benefit and so one could only imagine how much tougher & extreme it would have been to mine for these metals in those days. And yet people did that – because they desired these metals and their ambition didn’t stop them from doing that. In fact the verse says “man…searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness”.

4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
    they are forgotten by travelers;
    they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

Again referring to the mining illustration where shafts or vertical tunnels are sunk into the ground in order to excavate minerals or metals. Same theme again, going far away from the town, doing labor intensive work, taking huge amounts of risk in order to get hold of these precious metals.

5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,
    and it has dust of gold.

Food, vegetables and fruit is easily accessible on the earth – they are all found on the surface. But these precious metals and stones are located in the depths and need to be dug up.

7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

8 The proud beasts have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.

When it comes to mining and finding these precious metals and stones, animals have absolutely no idea. Animals don’t care as much as we do. Mining and finding these precious metals and stones is a uniquely human ambition.

9 “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.

It doesn’t matter if it involves breaking hard and tough rocks. It doesn’t matter if a mountain needs to be overturned. If humans have something to gain from it, they’ll go and do it.

10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

Humans will go on relentlessly breaking and cutting through the rocks until they find these precious metals and stones. Whatever is stored deep inside the earth, humans will find a way to bring it out.

This is true not just of the mining industry but also of knowledge and technology. We live in an age where AI tools can be accessed on our phones at any point of time. Technology that was once considered unknown a decade ago has now become the norm for many of us.

So when you think about it – it almost seems like whatever humans want to find, they’ll find a way to get it. No matter how difficult it might seem, humans will find a way to get hold of it. That’s their ambition. And yet look at V12

12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?

Despite all human effort and ability, despite all the experience with mining and searching and finding whatever they want to find, they can’t find true wisdom. That’s the point Job is trying to make. Human ambition and human effort and human strength cannot bring you to true wisdom. 

But not only can wisdom not be found by human effort but

2. Wisdom can’t be compared in its value (V13-19)

13 Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in the land of the living.

The problem is not only that we can’t find wisdom with our human efforts and ambition. The problem is that we can’t estimate the value and worth of wisdom. This wisdom that is spoken of in Job, we can’t comprehend how valuable it is in reality.

14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

One reason why we can’t comprehend the value of wisdom is because it’s not found in the natural world around us. It’s not found on earth, nor is it found in the sea. So we’re already getting a hint here, that when Job is talking about wisdom, he’s not referring to worldly knowledge – things that we can learn by observing and studying the world around us. This is a different sort of wisdom which is being described here – something that’s not found in this world.

15 It cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.

In these verses, Job is comparing wisdom with the most precious earthly treasures and then says that none of these treasures put together can come close to its value because it’s so much more superior in value and worth. V17 sums it up so well – it says “nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold”. Even if we take all of our jewelry, empty out our bank balance and sell all our possessions, we’ll not be able to buy this “wisdom”.

Let’s remember that these are the words of someone who used to be known as the greatest man in the East – someone who was very wealthy. All these precious stones and metals, in all likelihood, he used to have all of them in his treasure chest until tragedy struck. And yet, he’s the first one to declare that all this is nothing compared to the value and worth of true wisdom.  

Not only is wisdom not found by human effort & not only is wisdom incomparable in its value but

3. Wisdom can’t be perceived by human ability (V20-22)

20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

This brings it to the crux of the problem. The crux of the problem is in V21 that this wisdom is “hidden” from us. It is “concealed” from us. It’s kept a “secret” from us. In our natural state, we simply don’t have the capacity to perceive “wisdom”.  It’s similar to what Paul says in 1 Cor 2:14:

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Unless God gives us discernment, unless God gives us perception, unless God opens up our spiritual eyes, we won’t have the capacity to perceive wisdom.

Sometimes when me and Angie want to talk about some subject that we don’t want our kids to be listening to, we’ll switch to another language. A language that they’re not familiar with or comfortable in. We’re concealing our conversation from them.

But if our children need to be involved in that conversation, what will need to be done? Either they learn another language or we reveal it to them – we translate it to them. In the same way, unless God reveals to us or gives us the capacity to discern, we won’t be able to perceive “wisdom”.

Let this truth humble us this morning – we are utterly helpless when it comes to perceiving and receiving and understanding wisdom.

Not only is wisdom not found by human effort, not only is wisdom incomparable in its value and not only is wisdom not perceptible by human ability but

4. Wisdom can only be found in a relationship with God (V23-28)

23 “God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.

In contrast to humans who cannot find wisdom, God knows the way to wisdom. He knows exactly where wisdom is kept. How does He know where wisdom is?

24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.

It’s a reference to God being all-knowing all the time. There is nothing that is unknown to God. There is nothing that God is ignorant about. There is nothing that God is unsure about. There is nothing that is kept hidden from him. He knows everything at all times. In other words, He is the all-wise God.

25 When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.

The God who determined the weight of the wind, the God who determined how much water should be in the seas, the God who commands the rain, lightning and thunder, He is the One who saw wisdom, declared wisdom, established wisdom and searched wisdom – examined wisdom completely. In other words, God knows wisdom from the inside out.

What Job is telling us is that – if we need to find wisdom, the only place we can only find that is with God. Nowhere else.

28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

I know we’ve spoken so much about wisdom. But what is wisdom after all? Is it what we learnt from our schools and colleges – is that wisdom? Is it what our parents & elders have taught us – is that wisdom? Is it what we’re picking up from social media – like a viral clip?

Is it what celebrities, successful businessmen or great sportspersons – when they share their inspiring stories and lessons of life – is that wisdom? All of that can be clubbed as worldly knowledge. Not to say that all worldly knowledge is bad, some might be helpful as well. However, that’s not true wisdom.

So then what is true wisdom?

It’s the skill of making godly decisions in life. It’s the skill of applying biblical truth in your daily lives. It is a God-given God-centred biblical way of living your life.

By this definition we can see that it’s not just about making godly decisions on a Sunday but it’s about making godly decisions throughout the week. It’s not just about hearing God’s word on a Sunday but knowing how to apply that through the week.

True wisdom is trusting and obeying God’s Word in our everyday situations and relationships. In other words, it’s something that every believer in Christ is empowered and called to do at the same time.

So somebody could be very intelligent and successful in life, but still not have wisdom. They could still end up making terrible life decisions & making a mess out of their relationships – which is often the story of a lot of famous people. Why? Because they don’t have wisdom.

But how do we obtain this kind of true wisdom? V28 By having the fear of the Lord.

This fear is not being scared of God or dreading His presence. Why? 1 John 4:17 says “perfect love casts out all fear”. Because Jesus came for us and died in our place taking on our punishment and wrath, hence there’s no need for us to be scared of God.

But if it’s not being scared, what is this fear of the Lord? It’s a reverential, holy fear of God knowing that He is Holy, Just and Righteous. It’s having the awareness that God hates sin – not only in unbelievers but also in the life of the believer! There is no condemnation for believers in Christ but God still hates sin within us.

And therefore the fear of the Lord means approaching Him with that reverence. Let’s look at a few other verses in the Bible that talk about the fear of the Lord:

Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always,

    but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. (Prov 28:14)

Fearing God in this context shows sensitivity toward sin. It means not having a “chalta hai” attitude toward sin. It means not having a casual approach to sin.

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:28-29)

The first part of the verse talks about grace – where we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Did we do anything to deserve that kingdom? No, it was just a gift of grace. What should that grace enable us to do? Should it make us have a casual, indifferent attitude toward God? Does that make us have a lower view of God’s holiness?

In fact, it’s the opposite. It makes us more aware of God’s holiness because now we know what it cost God to grant grace to us.

Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

God’s character doesn’t change even though we’ve become believers. He responds differently to us now that we are His children, but doesn’t mean that God is no longer a consuming fire.

And that’s why the second part of Job 28:28 is a right response. and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Having a sensitive, repentant, yielding, submissive heart is one that is wise. We started today’s sermon by talking about desiring wisdom in the midst of hardships, so how do we tie this together?

This passage tells me that true wisdom shows itself by not using hardship as an excuse to sin against God. God still desires for me to fear Him and have reverence for Him in my hardship.

“But God didn’t answer my prayer the way I wanted Him to? Though I was faithful to God, He still allowed this difficult thing to come upon me.” Yes, that’s true but still not an excuse to sin. Why? Because God’s character hasn’t changed. Neither has our calling changed. We are still called to revere, fear, obey and turn toward our God.

So if you feel like your heart has wandered away this morning? God is calling us to repentance.

Good morning, church! Hope you’re all doing well. If you’ve been tracking with us, you’re probably aware that we’ve been going through a bible series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job.

As we arrive in Chapter 24 today, it seems like the conversation or rather debate, is reaching a point of frustration. Both Job and his friends are not seeing eye to eye at all. His friends are continuing to harp on the same theme that Job’s experiencing this great suffering because of a deeply sinful and wicked life.

Job on the other hand is continuing to say that he’s been living a righteous life and God’s being unjust and unfair toward him. And as we come to this chapter, we can sense that their debate is hitting a dead end with both parties getting more frustrated with each other.

I was reading one commentary which said that it almost seems like the writer of Job also wants us to also experience that frustration as we’re reading this. Because it’s the same tune that we’re hearing again and again.

So if you’re sitting here today frustrated with this ongoing conversation or debate between Job and his friends, you’re not in the wrong place. That’s exactly the tension that we need to feel.

And yet this same “frustrating text” finds itself as part of God’s Word. This isn’t a piece of fiction. This isn’t simply a piece of history. God has intentionally put this passage in here to teach us something powerful and personal.

As God’s children, we humbly come to God’s Word today, acknowledge our challenge in reading passages like these & ask Him for help to understand and show us what this means for our lives today. Would you join me in prayer as we seek God’s help with this passage?

(Pray)

Before we jump into today’s text, I think it’s important to take note of what was spoken right before this – because this is part of an ongoing conversation. Back in Chapter 22, Eliphaz made some serious accusations against Job. He accuses Job of taking advantage and mistreating the most vulnerable of people – the poor, widows and orphans.

Chapter 22:5: For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

    and stripped the naked of their clothing.

9 You have sent widows away empty,

    and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

From the OT, we realize God’s heart for the most vulnerable people. God’s got a special place in his heart for them, which is why the OT law had some serious laws to protect these people.

Ex 22:22-27

22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

So we can see that God deeply cares for those who are vulnerable. In fact, God stands up to defend the defenseless. And so Eliphaz is using this truth to say what he’s been saying so far, “Job, you’ve mistreated the poor, widows, and orphans, and now you’re getting what you deserve”. Without providing any proof or facts, Eliphaz makes these heavy accusations.

And so this chapter is Job’s reply to those accusations. But he responds in a very different way. He doesn’t go on the track of giving a line-by-line reply proving his innocence with how he treats the vulnerable because he knows that all those accusations are baseless and unfounded.

He instead uses the subject of the vulnerable people to talk about God’s apparent slowness in justice. That’s the theme of our sermon today, “When God’s justice seems slow”.

So the same subject of vulnerable people is being used by Job’s friends to blame Job. And the same subject of vulnerable people is being used by Job to blame God.

Let’s look at Chapter 24

1 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,
    and why do those who know him never see his days?

It doesn’t get more direct than this. According to Job, God doesn’t keep track of time when it comes to delivering justice. God is very slow when it comes to giving justice. It’s an unending wait for those who are waiting for justice. It’s like the slow justice system of our country, where some cases take years or decades before justice is delivered.

And then Job goes on to give examples in the following verse:

2 Some move landmarks;
    they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
    they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the poor off the road;
    the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

It’s always the vulnerable people who end up getting the raw end of the stick. What we learn is that this is not a recent thing; it’s been going on for ages, where the powerful prey upon the vulnerable people.

5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
    the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;
    the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field,
    and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

It’s a terribly tough life for those who are vulnerable. Their situation forces them to go into the worst of places to put food on their plates. Worse, they find themselves looking for help from wicked people who use that as another opportunity to take advantage of them.

7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
    and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
    and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

Absolute destitution! When we talk about the poor, we’re not talking about people who just don’t have as enough as everyone else. The poor described in these verses don’t have access to basic things that are needed for survival (food, clothes, shelter).

9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
    and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
    hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;
    they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

Again, another example of how their vulnerable condition makes them an easy target by oppressors. They are constantly used by the powerful to do things for them, while they themselves don’t get the basic things needed for survival.

12 From out of the city the dying groan,
    and the soul of the wounded cries for help;
    yet God charges no one with wrong.

That’s the accusation that Job has against God. The weak and vulnerable keep approaching God, asking for justice with “groans and cries”, but God remains silent. God does nothing. According to Job, God turns a blind eye. The wicked and the ones who are responsible for doing such evil are roaming free with no accountability.

13 “There are those who rebel against the light,
    who are not acquainted with its ways,
    and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises before it is light,
    that he may kill the poor and needy,
    and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
    and he veils his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
    by day they shut themselves up;
    they do not know the light.

17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
    for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

The impression that Job has is that there’s a typical time for evil and wickedness to thrive. He feels that it mostly happens at night when there are fewer people on the streets, guards are down because most are asleep, and there’s a better chance to get away with stuff.

Murderers, thieves, and adulterers are all up to something at night. And why is Job saying this? Another example where God does nothing, or at best is slow to respond.

18 “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
    their portion is cursed in the land;
    no treader turns toward their vineyards.

Job is now quoting what his friends have said earlier: “Didn’t you say that only bad things happen to wicked people? I’m going to challenge that thinking once more”.

19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
    so does Sheol those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them;
    The worm finds them sweet.
they are no longer remembered,
    so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

Job is saying to his friends, “according to you, wicked people’s land is cursed, lives are miserable, and they will vanish from the face of the universe. 

But is that actually what you see around you? Is it based on facts? Or are you just saying things to win this debate?”

21 “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
    and do no good to the widow.

22 Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
    they rise up when they despair of life.

The wicked, the oppressors, the powerful – they do all these terrible things to the most vulnerable people but God gives them a nice, long life.

23 He gives them security, and they are supported,
    And his eyes are upon their ways.

According to Job, it in fact seems like God is giving the wicked people protection. They live in safe, secure environments – physically, emotionally, and financially – everything is comfortable for them.

Up to this point, as I was reading, it almost seemed like Job was accusing God of participating in wickedness, but he stops himself from going there and then says this in V24.

24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
    they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
    they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
    and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

As Job ends this reply, we see that he acknowledges God’s justice happening at some point, but it’s just too late, according to him. God delivers justice, but too slowly for his liking. Sometimes that’s our complaint with our justice system: they eventually give a verdict, but it’s just too late.

And this delay further encourages wicked people to play with the system & continue to do wrong. It is no longer a deterrent for them. And that’s what Job is saying about God. God’s delays in delivering justice simply enable the powerful & hurt the vulnerable and defenseless.

And Job is not just saying this to win an academic debate with his friends. This is not like a TV debate where people just say things to win the argument. When Job says this, he’s saying this out of deep sorrow and pain.

Let’s remember that he’s just lost his health, his wealth, and most painful of all – his family – he lost all of his precious children. So he’s telling God, “I’m the weak, vulnerable, and defenseless one here. And God – why are you slow in delivering justice to me? Why is it that the wicked seem to be enjoying life out here?”

Have any of us ever been there? Have any of us in our sorrow and pain ever thought to ourselves, “I know God is good and that He is Just and will give me justice eventually, but why is God so slow in doing that? On the other hand, why is it that those who rebel against God are sitting comfortably? Why is God slow in giving justice?”

1. God’s delay of justice is not ignorance but mercy (Romans 2:4-5)

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

This passage tells us that God holds back on giving instant justice (immediate judgment and punishment) not because God doesn’t care but because God wants to bring unbelievers to repentance. Although in our human eyes, it sometimes feels like God’s is soft toward the unfaithful & harsh toward the faithful but that’s not the case in reality.

God’s showing extreme patience, extreme kindness, extreme tolerance desiring that the unfaithful and the wicked repent. Many times we can’t comprehend the great extent of God’s kindness where He defers His judgment so that it gives people a chance to repent.

So when we see our colleague at work use crooked means and always gets that promotion and recognition, it’s not because God is being soft on our colleague. God is exercising extreme kindness so that they come to repentance.

When our family or friend keeps saying insulting things to us and gets away with it, it’s not because God is being soft on our family or friend, it’s because God is exercising extreme kindness so that they come to repentance. 

Some of us will still think “No, but God should not be showing that kind of kindness and patience to them. They don’t deserve it.”

Okay, but did we deserve it then? We sometimes forget that if God enacted the same expected instant justice towards us, none of us would survive. We ourselves are examples of God’s extreme patience, kindness and tolerance.

Every time we share our testimonies, we should always add this one line – “Till date I can’t believe how God puts up with someone like me, and yet He continues to show me extreme kindness in Christ Jesus”. 

2. God’s seriousness about justice is revealed on the cross (Romans 3:23-26)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Just because God’s speed of justice isn’t as fast as we would like, it doesn’t mean that God’s not serious about justice. God’s seriousness and commitment to divine justice is beyond what we can imagine.

The proof of His seriousness was shown on the cross. God loved us so much but He couldn’t let us off the hook. If He did that, He would be unjust. So what He did was take our punishment and place it on His own Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on that cross in our place.

We deserved to be on that cross, not Him. But He lovingly exchanged that place with us – suffered and died for us & rose again on the Third Day so that God could be shown as Just and the Justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.

Would God have put His Son Jesus in your place if He wasn’t serious about Justice? If you’re wondering today if God is Just and will continue to be Just? Look to the cross – that’s the proof and evidence to show not only how much God loves you but to the extent God can go to deliver Justice.  

3. God’s certainty of justice helps us to patiently wait (James 5:7-11)

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,[a] until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

The book of James was written to suffering believers who were going through extreme hardship and persecution. And rather than promising them about instant justice, it’s interesting that James encourages them to wait patiently because the Lord’s coming and His ultimate Judgment is certain.

And look at the way James describes Jesus’ second coming – He is standing at the door. He’s right outside. He’s going to come anytime and so believers – you can be assured that justice will be served, every wrong will be made right and you will be fully restored as God planned for you.

So until then, what will you do? We will wait patiently. The last verse is one of the most encouraging ones – what will we get to know about the Lord as we wait? That He is compassionate and merciful.

In some ways as we wait for justice to come through, God’s using this time to help us understand our Savior’s heart. We will be able to understand Jesus’ compassion and mercy up close which will increase our love and dependence on Him. Wouldn’t you want that?

How does a child understand that his or her parent is compassionate and merciful? It’s not when they are having fun and playing together but rather when the child messes up & bruises himself or herself. That’s when the parent has an opportunity to show compassion and mercy and that’s when a child gets to understand it up close. Could it be then that God uses our waiting period of suffering to help us understand truly how compassionate and merciful is our Lord’s heart?

Good morning church! A warm welcome to all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As a church we’ve been going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job. For many of us, this series title seems like an unusual one because we’re not used to hearing blessing & suffering in the same sentence.

We either say that we’re blessed when things are going great for us & on the other hand we say that we’re suffering when things are going really bad for us. It’s simply not natural for us to say that we’re blessed especially in the face of tragedy.

And yet the Bible from Genesis to Revelation tells us something quite different. It portrays suffering as a good thing in the life of the believer. Suffering is the expected norm for believers.

And if suffering is the expected norm & if suffering is truly a blessing, then we desperately need to be instructed on how to respond to suffering in our lives and in the lives of others. If you’re like me, I need a lot of help in knowing how to respond to suffering in my own life & in the lives of others.

And that’s why we’re glad that we’re going through the book of Job because it’s gradually beginning to unravel God’s blessing in suffering. So we’re going through it chapter by chapter – and we’ve arrived at Chapter 12 today. But before we proceed, I’d love for us to pray and ask God to help us with this.

Let’s recap the context to Chapter 12. How did we get here? In the first couple of Chapters we understand that Job who was a faithful, committed man unto the Lord is met with the most extreme kind of personal tragedies that we wish wouldn’t happen to anyone.

On a single day, he loses everything that he had – his thriving business, his enormous wealth, his health & worst of all his precious children.

We get to know that this extreme personal tragedy was not caused by something that Job did, but a result of a conference that took place in heaven where Satan challenges God & tells God “If you take away all that Job possesses, everything that is near and dear to him, he will be left with no option but to curse you to your face”.  And so what follows for the rest of the book is an examination to see whether Job actually curses and abandons God.

And as Job’s processing this extreme tragedy, his 3 closest friends – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar come to meet him & comfort him. But instead of comforting him, they resort to condemning him & are in this desperate attempt to prove that Job’s suffering is directly caused by his own or his children’s sins. 

Last week we read through Zophar’s speech and that was probably the most brutal & harshest of the three friends. He said Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves (Job 11:6) – In other words, he is saying that Job deserves more suffering for his sin. It’s only due to God’s mercy which is why he is suffering what he is suffering. Otherwise, he deserved much more according to Zophar. And so today’s passage is Job’s response to what Zophar said.

As it has been our practice, we’ll first try to understand it from Job’s perspective verse by verse, and then in the end we’ll try to bring it together with a fuller, complete biblical perspective which will be our takeaways from today’s passage:

1. Job’s rejects his friends’ condescending approach (v1-3)

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “No doubt you are the people,
    and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you;
    I am not inferior to you.
    Who does not know such things as these?

V2: Job is basically telling his friends “you guys think that only your perspective matters, you guys think that only you have wisdom and hence have pronounced final judgment over my suffering”.

V3: Job tells his friends “But even I’ve got understanding just like you. Even I’ve got a mind. I’m not inferior or lesser to you when it comes to wisdom”.

As you can see here, the problem in Job’s friends was not just what they said but also how they approached it. The problem was not just in their  content speech, but also in their approach.

They’ve been condescending & patronizing toward Job. They’ve been snobbish in how they’ve broached the subject with Job. While speaking to Job, they’ve had this air of superiority. Almost like they’ve already figured out everything in Job’s heart & life & hence, they’ve pronounced judgment on him saying that he’s hiding some secret sin which is why this severe, intense suffering has come upon him.

And there should be an instruction here for us as well. One of the most unhelpful ways to approach someone who is suffering, is to approach them with unsubstantiated assumptions about their situation & then force down those assumptions without seeking any clarity from them. There are a couple of dangers in doing this:

• We will inappropriately & immaturely position ourselves in the place of God as though we’re all knowing – as though we know everything about another person’s life & situation
• We build a wall in our conversation with the suffering person because they’ll easily sense us being condescending & patronizing. Even if we’re saying something that’s right and true, it won’t go through to the other person because we’re approaching it with condescension.

But not only did he reject his friends’ condescending approach,

2.  Job rejects his friends’ theology of convenience (V4-6)

4 I am a laughingstock to my friends;
    I, who called to God and he answered me,
    a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
5 In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
    it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
    and those who provoke God are secure,
    who bring their god in their hand.

Job’s point in V5 is that it’s simply convenient for those who aren’t experiencing suffering (those who are in a comfortable place in life) to pass snap judgments and despise those who are going through suffering. In other words, Job is telling them “it’s easy for you to say all this, because you’re simply not suffering”.

It’s convenient for them because of their comfortable situation but not just that, it’s also convenient for them because they are not willing to wrestle with the dilemma of suffering that exists in the world. V4 & V6 describes that dilemma. V4 – Job talks about how the just and blameless are made a laughingstock. Job who lived a faithful life has now become the joke among his friends, he’s become the joke of the town. On the other hand, in V6 Job talks about how the wicked are safe & secure. They spend all their time rebelling against God but they seem to have no problems at all.

Job’s friends were not willing to deal with the question of “Why do bad things happen to the faithful?” & “Why do good things happen to the unfaithful?” They’re not willing to deal with this dilemma of suffering. They would rather stick to a theology of convenience which says “good things happen to the faithful, bad things happen to the unfaithful”. Job rejects this theology of convenience.

Job started by rejecting their condescending approach & their theology of convenience & now he moves on to proposing a couple of things in his case against God.

3. Job proposes creation as a witness to God’s sovereignty (V7-12)

7 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8 or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;[b]
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words
    as the palate tastes food?
12 Wisdom is with the aged,
    and understanding in length of days.

In V7 & 8, Job is telling his friends to inquire of animals, birds, plants and fishes (every living creature), and they’ll all bear witness to the fact that it’s God who governs and controls everything that happens in this universe.

V9 – Job asks a rhetorical question if there’s any creature who’s not aware of God’s sovereignty? Sovereignty means “God does as He pleases”. And so Job is basically telling his friends that if they want to know A to Z in the theology of God’s sovereignty, pay close attention to animals, birds, plants and fishes & you’ll see how God governs and controls their lives. 

Jesus says something similar in Matt 6 when he refers to birds : 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Birds don’t have storage cabinets & drawers like us but yet they are faithfully taken care of by God.

In V10-12 – Job is telling his friends that everything that happens in our lives is held in the hands of God. And he’s asking his friends why they’ve not yet understood or accepted this aspect of God’s sovereignty yet? He’s basically telling them that all other creatures understand and accept, but why are they struggling to do so?

So the first proposal is how creation itself witness to God’s sovereignty, but also there is a second proposal

4. Job proposes an unlimited scope to God’s sovereignty (V13-25)

In the next 12-13 verses, Job goes on to explain to his friends how there’s no limit or boundary to God’s sovereignty. “God does as He pleases and there is no limit or boundary to that”. Job’s friends have only spoken about God’s justice & God’s wisdom in a very narrow manner so far, and Job is basically telling them that they’ve not even scratched the surface.

13 “With God[c] are wisdom and might;
    he has counsel and understanding.

God is omnipotent (all-powerful) & omniscient (all knowing). And we can add omnipresent (present everywhere) to the list & that’s the combination we’re talking about. Who can stand against the power of this God? Who can advise God and tell him to do things differently?

14 If he tears down, none can rebuild;
    if he shuts a man in, none can open.
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

That’s the unbelievable power of our God. Whatever God’s determined will happen exactly in the same fashion as He’s determined and in the exact time as He’s determined.

16 With him are strength and sound wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.

It’s not just those who are deceived, God’s sovereignty is so far reaching that even someone who is actively deceiving and rebelling against God is also governed and controlled by God.

Though God is not making them deceive or sin – that’s their own responsibility but yet in some way God still governs them. We see that right throughout biblical history where unbelieving, pagan rulers doing terrible things have been governed by God.

Let’s take Pharaoh for example. See what it says in Romans 9:17-18:

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Pharaoh was no believer. Throughout his lifetime, he was known to be an incredibly powerful & cruel king, and yet he was a pawn in the hands of God accomplishing God’s purposes. He was raised up by God to be an example of God’s judgment over wickedness, and Israel became an example of God’s mercy and salvation.

17 He leads counselors away stripped,
    and judges he makes fools.
18 He looses the bonds of kings
    and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
19 He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings deep darkness to light.
23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
25 They grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

It’s the same repeated theme in these verses. All those who are considered to be wise & strong can be reduced to nothing by God. And so that’s the unlimited scope to God’s sovereignty. God can truly do whatever He pleases.

So far it seems like Job’s on the right track because most of what he says is true about God’s sovereignty. God is indeed infinitely powerful and infinitely wise. There isn’t a limit or a boundary to what He can do.

But here’s where I think Job gets it wrong, he’s saying all these things about God’s sovereignty not out of worship to God. He’s not saying these things because he marvels at the infinite power and wisdom of God.

He’s saying all these things about God’s sovereignty to back his claim of God being a bully toward him. Although God is sovereign, Job feels that God lacks care and purpose in the way in which He exercises it.

It almost seems like Job’s saying “God, You’re sovereign but not caring. God, You’re sovereign but not purposeful. Your ways seem harsh & erratic”. Job views God like this megalomaniac king who wants power and control and uses it for His own self interests. In Job’s mind, God’s ways appear to be arbitrary, random and fickle like many of the pagan gods of ancient times. But who has the guts to question God? Who dares to challenge God?

And even as I say this, I know that this is not just a feeling that is limited to Job. Many times when we feel like God’s not answering our desperate cries for help, we can struggle to believe that God cares for us deeply.

“Though God has all the power in the world, why is God not giving me relief? Maybe God doesn’t care enough”. Those are the feelings in our hearts. How do we navigate through this?

Romans 8:28-30

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

This is a very loved passage but we often forget that this passage is actually written in the context of suffering. It’s written to encourage suffering believers. Just a few verses earlier in V18, Paul says that these earthly sufferings we experience are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed when Jesus returns.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good

The “good” in this context doesn’t not refer to earthly comfort but conformity to Christ (v29), closer fellowship with God, bearing good fruit for the kingdom, and final glorification (v30).

God’s sovereignty isn’t random, arbitrary or fickle. It’s carefully thought out and planned since eternity past, couched with love and care for those who are called by God. Christians can be assured that all things work together for good.

Matt 10:29-30

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?[i] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Sparrows were the smallest of creatures and the penny was one of the least valuable Roman coins. And yet God faithfully rules and cares for these sparrows which are insignificant in the eyes of the world. And if God does that for sparrows, will he not care for His own people? If that’s not enough, Jesus tells us that God even knows and keeps count of the number of hairs that we have on our heads! God cares deeply for us.

Good morning, church! I wanted to welcome you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we turn to the Word this morning, let’s ask ourselves how we are approaching the Word this morning. Are we viewing it as a pep talk to get us charged & motivated for our next week? Are we viewing it as entertainment filled with quips and jokes to keep us engaged for 45 minutes? Or are we viewing it as a seminar where we’re being trained on the latest bible information? What are we looking to get out of this time with the Word?

The words of Paul to Thessalonians in 1 Thess 2:13 should inform us on this:

13 And we also thank God constantly[d] for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

The expectation should not be a pep talk, or entertainment or a seminar. The expectation should be that this is God’s Word – where God is directly speaking to each and every one of us through the preached Word. And so knowing the seriousness and utmost importance of this time for all of us, let’s ask God for attentive hearts to receive all that he wants to give us this morning. Would you join me in prayer?

Pray

As a church we’ve been going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering in the book of Job. And what we’ve seen so far in the life of Job is that blessing and suffering are not two opposite ends for a believer. Why? Because everything that happens in a believer’s life has God’s purpose behind it. Everything that happens including seasons of tremendous suffering and pain has God’s hand behind it. God is doing something in the background which we won’t be aware of while we’re actually going through the suffering. And that’s why we’ve chosen the title as God’s blessing in suffering.

Today we find ourselves in Job 10 where Job is in the middle of an ongoing conversation with his friends & with God. What’s interesting is the language that’s being used in chapters 9 and 10. It’s legal language used in courts. Let me use a couple of examples from the previous chapter:

“I must appeal for mercy before my accuser” – Job 9:15

“[32] For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. [33]  There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” – Job 9:32-33

Although this conversation is happening at Job’s home, it almost seems like Job is in the middle of a legal battle having to prove his innocence all by himself. His closest allies – his dearest friends have heavily criticized him & judged him.

He’s left all alone to prove that he’s innocent and that he’s done nothing wrong to deserve this incredible suffering that has come upon him. It’s like one of those cases where the victim is having to prove his innocence.

But more than that, there’s something more unsettling in these last couple of chapters. In the last couple of chapters, Job accuses the Judge of turning on him. According to Job, the Judge who is supposed to hear his case has already made up his mind to go against him.

He’s accusing the justice system of being rigged. That’s a huge problem right? Because if the Judge and the justice system is against him, then what hope of justice can he really have? That’s the question that we’re going to tackle this morning. And it’s not just with Job, when we go through seasons of suffering, we can sometimes feel like God’s not on our side. We can feel like God’s not for us. Justice feels like a far fetched dream. As God’s people, how are we going to be assured that God’s on our side? How do we know that God’s justice will come through? And so today’s passage will deal with those questions and hopefully give us some direction on this. Let’s proceed verse by verse.

[1] “I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

“I loathe my life” – why is Job saying this? Isn’t he supposed to be grateful for his life? Let’s remember that this is being said in the context of massive loss. It’s been a week since he lost his beautiful children. He lost his prosperous business, wealth and property. Not just that, he’s lost his health – he’s covered in painful sores from head to toe.

And that’s why he says “I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul” – Because of his great suffering, he’s going to cut loose, he’s going to remove all filters, he’s not going to hold back his pain anymore. He is going to be brutally honest with God. And that’s the beauty of a relationship with God is that he allows us to do that. Isn’t it amazing that we don’t have to go to God with a pre-planned script? He gives us space to be brutally honest with him.

[2] I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.

Job’s asking God to not condemn him – not to declare him guilty without first telling him what he did wrong. He’s telling God that he at least deserves a chance to know where he went wrong.

He is trying to make sense of his suffering. He is trying to understand why God is treating him in this way.

[3]  Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

Job is questioning God’s justice system. Instead of rewarding faithfulness and punishing wickedness, Job feels like God’s doing the opposite. He punishes faithful people like himself & rewards wicked people. According to Job, God’s justice system isn’t working.

[4] Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? [5] Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years, [6] that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, [7] although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?

In these verses, Job is questioning God’s ability to examine the hearts of people. He’s questioning God’s ability to look into the depths of our hearts and see sin that’s within. As humans we don’t have that ability. At best we are able to see the sin that’s on the surface, the sins that are visible and out there but none of us can see what’s underneath the surface of people’s hearts.

And so Job is asking God why He’s behaving like a human who doesn’t have that ability to examine people’s hearts. Even though Job has been faithful and devoted, why is God desperately trying to probe and find out something that’s not right in Job and then use that as leverage to punish him? “and there is none to deliver out of your hand” – Job is expressing his helplessness. Once God has made up his mind to punish Job, how is Job ever going to escape or get out of it?

 [8]  Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. [9] Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? [10] Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? [11] You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. [12] You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. [13] Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

In these verses, Job is questioning God’s care toward His own creation. Job describes the intricate way in which God created him. God “fashioned him” – shaped him like the work of a sculptor. In V9, he says that God made him like clay – personally moulded by the hands of God. V10 he says that just liquid milk is made into curdled cheese, in the same way God took time and effort to create him. V11 – just like the work of a master clothes designer, God personally clothed him with skin and flesh and then knit them together with the bones in our body. V12 – And then God breathed life into him, showed him steadfast love and with great care preserved him.

So Job is saying that his body and life isn’t some random thing in God’s junkyard. It’s something that God took time, effort and care to make and so it’s not making sense why God sees no purpose in Job and suddenly decides to throw him away like trash? V13 – it’s not making sense to Job why God is hiding these facts, suppressing these facts treating Job like he doesn’t matter?

[14] If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. [15]  If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. [16] And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. [17] You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.

In these verses, Job is questioning God’s intentions. If he sins and is guilty, God’s not going to let him loose. God will indeed punish him for his sins. On the other hand, even if Job’s found innocent, Job feels that God will still shame him and bring him down on his knees.

V16 – Because God is God, He will use His power & all the resources at his disposal to hunt him down. V17 – Even if Job is innocent, God can still prove him wrong by raising witnesses to speak against him. In other words, it doesn’t matter if Job is doing good or evil, God’s out to get him. Job feels that there’s no winning against this major bully. That’s the crux of what Job feels at this point – he sees God as a bully who’s out to get him. Although there’s no fault or reason for doing that, God still wants to shame him. And because of this Job feels insecure. He feels that God’s not on his side. And he feels all alone.

[18]  “Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me [19], and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

[20]  Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer [21] before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow, [22] the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”

As Job finishes his venting, he ends in a very dark, despairing note. Job is questioning God’s purposes in giving him life. If this was God’s plan all along – to bully & shame him, then why did God allow him to be born in the first place? Why couldn’t God have ended his life before anyone ever saw him?

In V20-21, Job’s final plea is that God would simply give him a breather. Since he doesn’t have many days left to live, he just asks God to let him be. He’s not asking for wealth or pleasures or anything else, he just wants to be left alone because the way he sees it, once he passes away, it’s anyway going to be gloom and darkness.

In other words, Job just wants God’s bullying to stop. After we read all this, we can sympathize with Job, understanding all that he’s been through. But was God actually bullying Job? No, if anything, God was honoring Job in the heavenly courts – in front of all the angels – God was delighting in Job, but all this wasn’t known to Job at the time.

So what do we do in seasons when, like Job we end up questioning God’s justice, God’s examination of hearts, God’s care, God’s intentions and God’s purposes? Is venting the only answer for us? When we boil down all of these questions, I think it comes down to trusting God’s intentions for us. Is God really for me or is he not? Let’s remember that Job didn’t lack knowledge of God.  In fact V8-13 reveals deep knowledge that he had of God’s creative purposes – how God shaped and fashioned us. It’s not like he had to go to seminary and learn about God’s justice, God’s examination of hearts, God’s care and purposes to truly trust God. No, he already knew of it. He was just struggling to trust God’s intentions for him. He was struggling to believe that God is for him.

And when we go back to the Garden of Eden, that was exactly Satan’s modus operandi. In Gen 3, it’s interesting that Satan doesn’t start his conversation by telling Adam and Eve to Eat the fruit. He asks them a question “Did God really say that you can’t eat of any tree in the Garden?” And when Eve tells him that God forbade them from eating of the tree in the middle of the garden or they’ll die, Satan’s response is “You shall certainly not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be like God knowing good and evil”.

So he’s planting the seed of doubt of questioning God’s intentions. Does God really want the best from us or is he keeping the best from us? And we know what happens after that. And the whole of biblical history is God pursuing His people and telling them again and again that He always has the best intentions for them.

Isa 54:10: For the mountains may depart

    and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

    and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”

    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Lam 3:22-23:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[b]

    his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

The amazing thing about these statements of assurance is that they were not said while God’s people were faithful and living godly lives, many of these promises are made by God in the midst of rebellion. And yet God tells it to His people.

And then we come to the New Testament and we understand the fullness of God’s intentions through the coming of His Son Jesus Christ.

John 3:16-17: 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Romans 8:32-34 : 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

The question that’s being posed to us is if God didn’t hold back His own Son when it came to saving us, is there any reason to doubt that God always has His best intentions for us?

Charles Spurgeon’s quote sums it up perfectly for us: “We cannot always trace God’s hand, but we can always trust God’s heart”

Good morning church! Hope you’re well. If you’ve been tracking with us, you’d be aware that we’re going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job.

This might seem like a strange title to many of us because blessing and suffering are generally understood as opposite things. Even when we refer to the seasons of life, we’ll say “we’re going through a season of blessing” or we’ll say that “we’re going through a season of suffering”. We’ll usually never say “I’m going through blessing and suffering at the same time”.

So that’s the dilemma of this book. Why are we calling it “God’s blessing in suffering”? It’s because everything that happens in our life has God’s divine purpose behind it. Even when we’re going through tremendous, unbearable suffering, even that has God’s long term purpose behind it. And that’s what we’ve been discovering through this book.

This morning we’re picking up our study from Job 7. And  heads-up for all of us: some of the things that we’ll read and hear this morning might shock us, it might be a little intense. And it might also leave us wondering if brother Job has crossed the line and said things that he shouldn’t be saying.

But let’s understand that Chapter 7 is part of an ongoing conversation between Job and his friends and between Job and God in the aftermath of him losing all his 7 precious children, losing all that he had and being covered with a severe physical affliction from head to toe. A lot of what he’s expressing is a venting out of his heart – the pain is so unbearable that he can’t keep it inside, he has to let it out.

How do we make sense of passages like these? How can God’s people be instructed through these passages of “venting”? Many of the other passages in Scripture are almost like “classroom or seminar” teachings for us where Paul or Peter or Moses are instructing us on “Who God is? What are we supposed to believe? and how are we supposed to live?”

But passages like Job and some of the Psalms are more like “counselling sessions” where the people involved are expressing their grief and pain and confusion. And as people who are listening to them, we’re not called to form a bible doctrine out of this, or mainly emulate them at this point. We’re called to listen patiently (even through some of the shocking things they will say), and then at the end of the counselling session filter them out with the truths of Scripture. 

So that’s what we’re going to do over the next few weeks. We’ll try and understand what Job is saying, and then at the end of the sermon we’ll close out with some practical application points for us to take back with us.

The title of today’s sermon is Expressing grief and complaints to God. In today’s passage we see it done in 4 ways:

1. Expressing hardship (V1-5)

[1] “Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?

[2] Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,

Due to Job’s immense suffering, he views human life as one where we are assigned or appointed into hardship or forced labor or slavery. When we think about forced labor or slavery, images of oppression, tiring work under the hot sun, painful struggle – that’s what comes to mind.

Another comparison he uses is one of a hired servant. He views his entire lifetime as one of a hired servant. Someone who is bound to work until he receives his pay at the end of the day (daily wage worker) or at the end of the year. This is coming from a person who at one time had so many hired servants working under him.

And in V2, just like a forced laborer / slave who longs for the evening shadow – for relief from the heat once the sun goes down, just like the hired servant anxiously waits for his payment to be handed to him, Job waits for not a joyful, expectant reward but the end of life because that’s what he feels will give him relief and escape from his present unbearable suffering.

[3] so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

In his mind, Job’s life has been ordained to be empty and useless. God has allotted months (a long time) of emptiness and uselessness. Many nights of misery & weariness have been assigned to him.

[4]  When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

In this verse, we see that he struggles with sleeplessness and insomnia. He tries to lie down to sleep, but he spends the entire night tossing and turning on the bed. There’s a lot of anxious thoughts running through his mind. There’s a lot of sadness and grief that he’s carrying in his heart which makes it difficult for him to sleep at night.

[5] My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.

If we go back to Job 2, we understand that he was also afflicted with loathsome sores all over his body. These were extremely painful boils and ulcers on his body.

And the effect of that is what we see in chapter 7:5 which tells us that his body was covered with worms or some other versions say maggots and dirt. And his skin formed scabs and open wounds. I know some of this is hard to hear and even think of but this gives us a picture of the extreme hardship that Job experienced. It wasn’t just his emotional and mental trauma, it was extremely physical as well where his every single moment could only be described with pain and suffering. 

But not only did he express hardship, but he also

2. Expressing hopelessness (V6-10)

6] My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope.

Weaver’s shuttle is a tool used while weaving with a loom. It’s passed back and forth quickly while weaving and Job says that his days on earth pass away more quickly than that and come to an end without hope. Again he’s talking about the end of his life. He’s not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel.

[7] “Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.

The NIV translates it as Remember O God. So we know that this is a conversation that he’s having with God. He’s telling God “Remember that my life is so short lived that it is like a mere breath”. 

And yet Job is convinced that in this short life, this tragedy is beyond repair and cannot be redeemed. He thinks that he will never again see anything good. NIV says that he will never again see happiness.

[8]  The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.

[9] As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;

This is how quickly he anticipates the end of his life. Just like how clouds don’t last forever, they dissipate or vanish (some within a few minutes and some might take a few months), Job’s expecting his death soon after this.

[10] he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.

Once a person goes to the grave, he’s not coming back to the house in which he’s lived all his life. That’s not going to be his permanent residence anymore.

That is a true fact. We spend so much of our life trying to build a beautiful home to live in. Trying to make it as comfortable and luxurious as it can be only to realize that this is simply a temporary residence. Once we go to the grave, then the reality is that we won’t ever get to go back to our home again nor will it continue to be our permanent residence.

In these verses, we can sense the hopelessness that he’s experiencing and expressing. But not just that, he is also

3. Expressing heartache (V11-16)

[11] “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

And so because Job sees his life in its final chapter with nothing more to look forward to, he’s going to not remain silent but has decided that he’s going to vent out his grief. He’s not going to hold back anymore. He’s going to pour out his great pain. He is going to open up on his deep dissatisfaction and discontentment to God.

[12] Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?

Job is asking God “God, are you viewing me as a terrifying sea monster or a terrible character which is why You’ve put me under surveillance? Why have You put up barriers on all sides so that I’m made to feel like a fearful terrorist or dreadful criminal?”

[13]  When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’

[14] then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

It’s a medical fact that good sleep significantly helps to reduce stress, anxiety and also boost our mood. God has designed rest for that purpose, and so Job expected that at least getting some rest on his bed would give him some comfort and relief but that was not the case. He was getting nightmares instead.

[15] so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. [16] I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

This is obviously a very dark thought which has come up in his mind where he’s been sleep deprived for many days after all that he’s lost and all that has happened to him. All of this makes death more desirable to him over having to survive each and every day.

Not only is there hardship, hopelessness and heartache, he is also

4. Expressing the feeling of harassment (V17-21)

[17]  What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him,

[18]  visit him every morning and test him every moment?

[19] How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

When we read V17, it sounds very similar to Psalm 8:4

[4]  what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Where the Psalmist is amazed and praising God for his mercy over insignificant beings like us. But that’s not what Job is saying here. When Job is saying this, he’s not saying it out of amazement and praise, he’s saying it out of frustration. He’s telling God “why are you after me? Why are you visiting me every day only to punish me? Why don’t you leave me alone for a single second (till I swallow my spit) ?”

For Job at this point, God’s presence is no longer comforting but seems like a punishment because everytime He thinks that God is coming close to Him, he feels that God only wants to punish him.

So he’s questioning God’s goodness and his character. We see how Job’s view of God is impacted by his own personal experience. His personal experience is now coloring the way He looks at God’s goodness rather than viewing God on the basis of what He knows to be true of God.

[20] If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?

[21] Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

Job’s dilemma seems to be trying to understand what he did to deserve this suffering? If it is a sin issue, then why doesn’t God clearly tell him what is the sin that Job has committed against God? He wonders why he is being targeted? Why is God treating him like a giant burden?

And if sin is the reason behind this suffering, then Job’s question is why doesn’t God forgive his sins and cover his guilt?

But the thing is that because God is Holy and Just, He can’t just overlook the sin and simply forgive it. It’ll be like a Judge who just pardons a terrorist because he apologized. That’s not justice. Some payment would need to be made equal to the offense committed for it to be called justice.

Now we know from Job 1 that there was some understanding of burnt offerings for sin where he offered it for his children. But he didn’t have the benefit that we have as believers in Jesus on this side of the cross. We know how seriously God viewed our sin because He sent His one and only Son to sacrifice Himself on the cross so that our entire mountain size debt could be paid and through that we could freely receive God’s forgiveness and pardon.

So yes, in this entire chapter Job openly expresses his hardship, his hopelessness, his heartache and his feeling of harassment. So where do we go from here? How do we apply this passage?

1. God permits us to express our grief and our complaints to Him. He gives us the space to come to Him and honestly express our grief and complaints. God could very well tag a lot of these complaints of Job as disrespectful and demeaning and shut the door on Job.

He could also threaten to consume Him in anger because he dared to accuse God. But it’s interesting that God doesn’t choose to do any of that, but instead like how God says in Isaiah, he says “Come reason with me”. What a wonderful privilege you and I have?

2. Expressing grief doesn’t give us the license to take matters into your own hands. That’s the other thing we need to understand clearly as we read into the dark emotions and thoughts of Job. Job is venting out his grief and complaints to God, but he’s not using that as a license to actually take his own life or for that matter to abandon God because God hasn’t lived up to his expectations.

That’s not the purpose of these chapters. We need to honestly open up to God and God gives us that space, but that doesn’t give us a license to act upon those dark emotions and thoughts because we’re still acknowledging God’s rule over our lives. 

3. We need God’s church to help us navigate & filter through our grief and complaints. When we go through extreme unbearable suffering and express it, sometimes we can sound like unbelievers where our responses may shock ourselves and others.

But that’s why we have the blessing of our church community to help us filter our complaints, grief and doubt & weigh that with the truth of God’s Word. What suffering people need the most is to know the truth of who God is which will help them to trust God in those moments. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God – (Rom 10:17)”.

4. God’s purpose in our suffering can be much more bigger than what we can think or imagine. We have the benefit of knowing the background story that Job and his friends weren’t aware of at that point. He thought God was purposely punishing him, when the truth was that God was honoring him above all. Spurgeon once said this “I would be quite content to take Job’s afflictions if I might also have Job’s grace, and Job’s place in the Church of God.”

There are things that happen in the background which we have no idea about. Who knows if God is using our suffering with some big long term purpose that we’ll only understand in eternity?

Good morning church! Happy Resurrection Sunday to all! We’re so glad that you’ve joined us this morning & our desire is that our lives would be radically changed as we humbly listen to God’s Word this morning.

Today is obviously a special, anticipated Sunday in churches all across the world. Just out of curiosity, I wanted to understand what was the general perception of Resurrection Sunday or Easter in India and so I checked up a few news articles and this was I figured:

1. It’s one of the most attended services in the year. People typically come in large numbers dressed in white.
2. Food: In a lot of traditional churches, Resurrection Sunday comes after 40 days of observing lent where they have abstained from eating meat or alcohol. And so Resurrection Sunday is the “joyful break” from abstinence where you’ll have dining tables filled with all kinds of delicious meals & sweets.
3. Family Gatherings: It’s also one of those times of the year when extended families come together and have a massive celebration.

One of the contributors to one of those articles put it this way “Easter for us is not just about the resurrection of Christ, it is about togetherness, gratitude and sharing love through food”. According to many, resurrection Sunday is not just about Jesus, it’s Jesus + a lot of other things.

On the other hand, I wanted to understand if people in the US felt differently about Resurrection Sunday. And interestingly most Americans believe that Jesus rose again from the dead on that first Resurrection Sunday. They are just not sure it matters much.

So be it in the US or India, there seems to be a common thread where people may celebrate Resurrection Sunday as a festival, they may even believe that Jesus rose from the dead but they simply don’t see any relevance for their daily lives.

And in a stark contrast to how people perceive the relevance of Resurrection Sunday, today’s passage tells us that the Resurrection of Jesus opens the door for God’s incredible grace to come to us. It’s not to say that food, family gatherings and services are bad things.

But if that’s all that comes to your mind when you think about Resurrection Sunday, then you are missing out on so much more. You are missing out on receiving the most incredible gift that God intends to give you. So don’t settle for anything less.

Why is it “God’s Incredible Grace”? Why not just say “God’s grace”?

1. Because of our desperate need for grace – Because of how much we needed that grace  (v1-3)

[1]  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

The apostle Paul doesn’t mince his words. That’s because he knew that we need to fully understand the bad news before we arrive at the good news. It’s like going to a doctor who’s done a comprehensive diagnosis of your health. Before he gets to prescribing the medication, it’s critical that he tells you what’s exactly wrong.

Paul starts by telling us that we were dead in our sins. Note that he doesn’t say that we were bruised in our sins, he doesn’t say we were badly injured in our sins. He says that we were “dead” in our sins. We were lifeless corpses spiritually is how he put it.

On the outside, we might be walking, talking and breathing but on the inside we are spiritually dead meaning that we don’t have a desire to please God. We really don’t want to live under His rule and to be frank we don’t want anything to do with Him because we want to sit on the throne seat of our lives.

It’s interesting that he uses two different words to describe sin – trespasses and sins. Trespasses refers to deliberate sins, willfully crossing the boundaries that God has set. Sins on the other hand is a broad, umbrella term which means missing the mark, failing to meet God’s standards & the unfortunate part is that that is our default setting. Everything that we do by default misses the mark & fails to meet God’s Holy standards.

And so we’ve already hit a roadblock in V1 because from what it seems is that our problem is not just that we every now and then willfully cross the boundaries that God sets for us (that’s trespasses). Our problem is that “sin” is our default setting – by nature everything that we think, say or do misses the mark – it fails to meet God’s Holy standards.

And then V2 takes it one step further. It tells us that “we followed the course of this world” meaning that our only ambition in life was to live for this temporary physical world assuming that there is nothing eternal to look forward to. “khaao, piyo, maze karo” – “You Only Live Once” – that was the motto of our lives.

And then it says “following the prince of power of the air”. Who is that? That’s Satan. In other words, it’s saying that we were directly controlled & influenced by Satan. How does he do that? Through deception and condemnation – that’s how he controls and influences us.

It goes on to say that Satan is “the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” – He plays an active part in the lives of unbelievers by making them stubbornly oppose God’s will. Nobody is on neutral ground. If we’re not under King Jesus’ rule, we should have no doubt that we are under Satan’s rule! There is no neutral territory.

But it’s not only that we were controlled by Satan, but we’re driven by sinful passions and cravings.

 V3. among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind

According to this verse, it seems like alot of our time & energies are spent in fulfilling our sinful passions and cravings. A Lot of our investment goes into living a life of indulgence. Mind you this is not just limited to a few rotten apples. This applies to every human being which is why Paul says “among whom we all once lived” – so he’s including himself in this category.

And if we honestly examine our own hearts, we would agree. Why is it that we end up thinking and doing things that we know are forbidden? Why does our mind constantly keep going in that direction? Why do we often find ourselves in regretful positions realizing that we invested so much time and energy into fulfilling our sinful cravings that promised much but delivered nothing? We’re left with only empty hearts and tremendous guilt.

Then the final nail in the coffin – and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind – By our inherent nature, we were children of God’s anger and punishment! It’s a humbling thing to realize that we may have been the apple of our parent’s eyes, we might have only seen praise and appreciation from our friends and colleagues, but that doesn’t change our status of being children of wrath – children who by nature deserve God’s anger and punishment.

This bad news is extremely bad for us because it reveals how utterly helpless we were to deal with sin & its consequences. We desperately need grace, but it’s not incredible grace just because our need is so great. It is God’s incredible grace…

2. Because of His showering of grace – He lavished His grace on us (v4-7)

[4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Though we are children of wrath, God has chosen to deal with us differently than what we deserved or what we expected. It’s because God is “rich in mercy” – He is extremely generous in showing compassion to those who are afflicted or in a miserable state.

because of the great love with which he loved us – The word used for love is agape which is self-sacrificial, unconditional love. It’s an action word not simply a feeling or an emotion. It required self-sacrifice on God’s part to show us that kind of love. We just celebrated Good Friday a couple of days back – and the scandal of the cross is that on that cross, the Son of God was treated as a son of disobedience and a child of wrath. God was making His Son pay the hefty price for all of our misdeeds. 

And all of this happened, while we were still dead in our trespasses. Look at V5.

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

It didn’t happen while we were showing signs of recovery or signs of improvement. Dead people don’t show signs of recovery or improvement, dead people need resurrection. And so while we were still lifeless corpses, God decided to awaken and resurrect us!

People who were spiritually dead would be spiritually awakened or resurrected by putting their faith in Jesus. They would now be given the capacity to please God, to submit willingly under God’s rule and to love Him.

Not only would they be spiritually awakened, but they will also be physically awakened or resurrected when Jesus returns again. They will be given a body that resembles the glorified body of Jesus after He came back from the dead.

 V6. and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

This verse tells us that we will get to reign with Christ in heaven. A certain measure of His authority will be shared with us. It’s like obtaining a VIP seat at the throne and table of God. It’s unbelievable to think that that’s the position that is being shared with us as a result of our union with Christ.

God takes this union very seriously – and so if we’ve put our faith in Jesus, we get to share in all the achievements and privileges of Jesus Christ. It’s like once a couple is married, everything that they own (possessions, achievements and privileges) is now shared with one another. The church is also referred to as the bride of Christ. So God takes that union seriously!

Did we deserve any of this? Absolutely no. If all that God did was hold off His wrath on us, we would be more than happy. None of us would complain because we know where we were heading because of our sins. But to think that God has given us way more than we can even think or imagine is mind blowing. 

Why did God do this?  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  This is God’s way of showing the length and breadth of His grace as He shows it to sinners like us.

Estimates say that the Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant wedding costed about 600 million USD. Now the Ambani’s have great wealth and the extravagant wedding was an opportunity to put their great wealth on display. And it’s almost like God is putting His immeasurable riches of grace, the extravagance of His grace on display by showering, splurging it on people who don’t deserve it at all.

It is God’s incredible grace not only because of our desperate need & God’s showering of grace, it is incredible…

3. Because we are also shaped by grace – He is transforming and changing us by grace

• We are being shaped in humility (v8-9)

[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

One of the repeated ideas in this passage is how we didn’t do anything to deserve or earn what we have received in Christ. It’s all God’s unmerited favor! All we needed to do is take Jesus at His word and trust in Him & His work, and all of this would be true for us.

It’s like the thief on the cross – the most remarkable thing is that the thief didn’t have any time to demonstrate a changed and improved Christian life. Many of our churches wouldn’t have granted membership to the thief on the cross because of His past life and yet, just because He believed in who Jesus is and what Jesus said, we’ll find the thief reigning with Christ in heaven!

And every other person who we will find in heaven is also going to be there not because of their sheer hard work or their self-discipline. They are going to be there simply because they received the gift of God in faith. That’s it.

That in itself eliminates every reason to boast or pride in ourselves because we had nothing to do with it. Our boasting and pride is being stripped away. And in its place, humility is being shaped in our hearts as we are reminded that salvation was all God and nothing from us. Our contribution was zero. That’s what humbles us.

• We are being shaped with purpose

[10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This verse tells us that We are His workmanship – God’s designed products, His crafted masterpieces, Created in Christ Jesus for good works– shaped in Christ Jesus for good works

We are not saved by good works – saved by grace but we are saved unto good works. When people hear us and see our good works, they should be able to lift the label / seal and know that this is God’s branded design. They should know that this is God’s crafted masterpiece which God had prepared and envisioned in eternity past.

The image of God thinking and planning and ordaining what His workmanship would be like before the foundations of the world. So can a believer ever say that his or her life is meaningless? Can he or she ever say that their life doesn’t have any purpose? No, you absolutely do. You are God’s workmanship to point others to the God of incredible grace.

As we sit here on this Resurrection Sunday, we need to reckon with the fact that the bad news of our sin is much worse than we thought. But at the same time, God’s grace is more incredible than we would have thought or dreamed of. From being dead in sins & a child of wrath to being alive in Christ & a child of grace who will one day sit and reign with Christ. This is incredible grace my friends!

Good morning church! A warm welcome to all who have joined us here at the hall and our dear friends who have joined us online. We’re glad that you’re with us & pray that this time would help you know and love Jesus better.

As a church we usually prefer to study books of the Bible – chapter by chapter, verse by verse like we’re covering with our current series from the book of Job. But since it’s Passion Week, we’ll take a short break and pick it back from where we left off the week after Resurrection Sunday.

As most of us know, today churches all over the world would be celebrating Palm Sunday. In some churches, they’d even be distributing palm branches during the service. All over the world, churches are trying to reflect back on key events that took place in the passage that we just read this morning.

And so we’ll also be spending some time trying to understand the significance of those events but also trying to figure what significance does that have for our lives today? I think all of us would agree that we would want something more than just a palm branch in our hands as a take away this morning.  We would want something that would help us deepen our relationship with Jesus. That’s what we’ll try to do & for that we need God’s help to open this passage for us.                                                                 

(Pray)                                      

Sometime back I watched a reality TV series titled Undercover boss. The premise of this series is that business owners / CEOs choose to go undercover in their own companies, taking on low level roles to get a sense of the ground level reality within their company.

And at the end of each episode, there’s a pivotal moment when the business owner / CEO makes his / her grand reveal. And then to the shock and surprise of the ground level employees, they come to realize that the person that they’ve been interacting with the whole time was the main boss! But not just shock, sometimes embarrassment because of the things that they may have done or said in the presence of the main boss. The main boss’s grand reveal has some serious implications on them!

Similarly, as we arrive at this particular point in Matthew, Jesus is making His grand reveal! Until this point, Jesus has been relatively subdued & secretive. Of course he’s performed miracles and healings, cast out demons and preached to many people, but the grand reveal telling everyone that He is the Messiah King that they’ve been waiting for – that has been kept under wraps…right until now.

And so the moment has arrived when Jesus makes His grand reveal – telling people who He is…what kind of King He is…how is He as a King going to treat His subjects…and what kind of reception should be given to Him. All these things are being revealed right now.

Let’s break this down verse by verse.

[1]  Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives,

Now this may seem like a simple statement of facts but Matthew has specifically mentioned these locations to show how we have arrived at the climax of the redemptive story. You may ask how?

Firstly, Jerusalem was the centrepoint & hub of Jewish worship and religious life. After all, the Temple was there! If spirituality could be tagged to a location, then that location would be Jerusalem.

Not just that, anyone who was a spiritual somebody or a spiritual A-lister would be found in Jerusalem.

Interestingly, Jesus didn’t spend a lot of his time out there during His earthly ministry.

Most of his ministry by choice happened outside of Jerusalem. All in all he may have visited Jerusalem three or four times but in secret. So this is going to be Jesus’ first public appearance in the spiritual centrepoint & hub of Jerusalem.

Secondly, leading up to this passage, whenever Jesus referred to Jerusalem, He spoke about it as the place where He’ll face suffering and death (Matt 20:18-19). In Jesus’ mind, this is the place marked with suffering & death.

Thirdly, this passage mentions the Mount of Olives: Again, not a simple, trivial fact. In the book of Zechariah, it was prophesied that this was the chosen place where God would fight for His people against their enemies.

Zechariah 14:3-4 ESV

[3] Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. [4] On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

So Matthew is using all these ways to tell us that the climax is here! Whatever is going to happen after this is going to be a defining point in history!

But then in a sudden change of events, Jesus gives his disciples an unusual, strange instruction in V2-3:

[2] saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. [3] If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

This instruction was unusual and throws up alot of questions. Firstly, why did Jesus want a donkey in the first place?

Donkeys were beasts of burden – they were used to carry heavy loads from one place to another. They were not the ideal choice animal for a King’s grand reveal! It’s like announcing “Presenting to you the richest man on earth” and we’re expecting him to come in a Rolls Royce but he turns up in a cycle. In the eyes of the world, it’s not the best way to make a good first impression.

Secondly, how did Jesus know that the disciples would find an available donkey and colt in the village ahead?

And how was it that the disciples were told to get hold of a colt and donkey which they neither owned nor purchased? Did Jesus make some prior arrangements with the owner of the donkey and colt?

To my mind, this wasn’t a simple instruction for the disciples to follow because they had to fully trust Jesus’ plan and also be willing to answer the embarrassing question of why were they taking a donkey and colt which didn’t belong to them. So they really had to take Jesus at his word on this.

Let’s move on ahead with V4-5 because it does give us an insight into why Jesus wanted the colt & donkey:

[4] This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, [5]  “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

Matthew says that this is a fulfillment of an OT prophecy from Zechariah:

Zechariah 9:9

[9]  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So Jesus wasn’t being random or eccentric. Everything that Jesus did, had a divine purpose behind it. And it’s clear that by doing this Jesus was identifying Himself as the Promised Messiah of the OT. By doing this, Jesus is saying “I am the One that you’ve been praying and waiting for all these years!”

The verse says “Your king is coming to you”. He is the One who takes the initiative to come toward you. He takes the first step in coming toward us. He’s not waiting for us to block an appointment with Him. He’s not waiting for us to reach a certain spiritual level before thinking of coming to us. Your king is coming to you.

But the next question is, “Okay,I get it that Jesus is coming toward me, but how is He approaching me? What does He have in mind as He comes to me? Is He coming to take advantage? Is He coming to punish?

V5…humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

Donkeys were not a symbol of royalty, strength and power like horses and chariots. They were a symbol of humility and servitude. Hard labor, doing the lowly insignificant tasks that no one else wants to do – that’s why they are beasts of burden.

By deciding to sit on a donkey instead of a horse or a chariot, Jesus was identifying Himself as the humble king who lays Himself down to serve His people. As King, He’s willing to go down the hard, uncomfortable road in order to serve His subjects. He’s willing to get His hands dirty in order to humbly serve His people.

This should tell us something – Jesus wasn’t coming to dominate over us or to assert His authority over us or oppress us. That was the baggage that the Israelites carried. They were used to seeing kings come on their mighty horses and chariots to take advantage of them (like the Israelite kings) or destroy them (like enemy kings).

And this was a radically different posture of a king who was entering their territory with the only intention to look out for them and bless them.

Let’s take a moment to pause and ask ourselves – what is the thought that fills our hearts when we think about Jesus the King approaching us? Is it one of anxiety and uncertainty thinking He’s going to take advantage of you? Or Is it one of punishment where you think Jesus’ going to get you for all the bad things you’ve done?

Let this thought sink in – that here’s our humble King who is coming with the attitude to serve us & look out for us.

[6] The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. [7] They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. [8] Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

V8. Very interesting response from the crowd which I think we need to spend a little time on. First thing that stands out is that “most of the crowd” responded by spreading their cloaks and branches on the road. It was not a tiny minority, but a majority of the crowd had a similar positive response toward Jesus.

Secondly, it says that they spread their cloaks & cut branches on the road. Why did they do that? It was a gesture to say that they were honoring Jesus as their king. They were voluntarily submitting to His authority.

There was a similar precedent in the OT where once Jehu was anointed as king of Israel, people in haste took off their outer garments and put on the bare steps, blowing the trumpet saying “Jehu is king”. (2 King 9:13) So it was a way of them acknowledging Jesus’ kingship and their voluntary submission to Him.

Thirdly, it seems like they agreed to the fact that Jesus’ entry was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah. Had they not, their response would have been quite different – it would have resulted in chaos and protest.

But it’s not just through their actions, look at what they were saying.

[9] And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” [10] And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” [11] And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Try and imagine this scene. There’s a massive crowd all around Jesus and they are shouting and “crying out” – “Hosanna to Son of David”. Hosanna means “Oh, save”. In other words, it’s a way of saying “I beg you, please save me!”

Not only are they recognizing Jesus as the person to save them – but they also recognize him as “the Son of David”. They are saying that He was the promised Messiah King who was in the lineage of David.  They recognize royalty.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: They knew that Jesus was sent by God & had God’s stamp of approval on Him. And they were joyfully welcoming Him into their midst.

Hosanna in the highest: “I beg you to save, please extend God’s heavenly kingdom toward me”.

All this is happening, and V11 tells us the whole city was stirred up at Jesus’ entry where people asked “who is this?”. It’s so interesting that Jesus and his disciples don’t answer.

Instead it’s the crowd that came to Jesus’ defense saying that this was prophet Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee. By calling him as a prophet, they saw him as one appointed by God to speak the Word as it is. To heed to Jesus’ words is to obey God, to deny Jesus’ words is to reject God.

It looks like the entire crowd was drawn and attracted to Jesus completely. At this point – at V11 – if you and I were to rate the crowd’s spirituality, we’d probably conclude that these were the perfect examples of Christian devotion.

We’d probably do at least 5 bible studies on how the crowd responded to Jesus and how we should follow in their footsteps. Yet they were the same ones who shouted and cried with the same intensity saying “Crucify him” a few days later.

How is that even possible? Why would the same crowd turn against Jesus just a few days later? It makes no sense, why would they do that?

Though they seemed to have the right reception for a king and though they seemed to have the right expressions for a king, yet the truth was that they didn’t have the right heart to submit to a king.

They weren’t ready to fully surrender their lives to Jesus. They weren’t ready to have their lives turned upside down. They weren’t ready to

experience full scale life change.

Because for that they needed to admit to their sinfulness & moreover they needed to give up on their lifestyle of sin. That was too much to demand is what they felt.

They probably said Hosanna – “I beg you, please save me from the Roman rule”, but they weren’t ready to cry out desperately and say “I beg you, please save me from my sins”.

They were okay with convenience worship which says “I will worship God as long as it doesn’t demand me to make any change to my lifestyle”.

Before we get too critical of the crowd, let’s look inward and ask ourselves if we show the same tendencies as well. The reality is that we all also have the same tendencies too.

Some years back, I remember right after a youth worship set which I thought really came out well, the preacher challenged us to reflect if we understood the words that we just sang.

One of the songs we sang was “This is my desire to honor you. Lord, with all my heart I worship you. All that I have within me, I give you praise”…and he just asked us one question which hit right into my heart – is that really true? Would that be true of you on a Monday or a Tuesday when your church isn’t looking?

The problem is not with the song, but with us who are singing the song. We don’t mind singing the song, as long as we aren’t compelled to do it. What should we do? Do better, try better tomorrow?

To be honest, I don’t think any of us have the strength and power in us to willingly to yield to Jesus’ kingship. So what hope is there for us?

‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

Jesus left His heavenly abode to come to us. He took on the form of humanity and then went up on the cross to die for you and for me. He was buried and rose again on the Third Day so that you and I can joyfully and willingly submit to His Kingship. Not just that, He has also placed His Spirit within us to help us surrender ourselves to His Kingship.

What a wonderful King we serve?

Good morning, church! Hope you’re well. If you’ve been tracking with us,byou’d be aware that we’re going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job.

And I’m aware that for many of us this seems like an unusual title. Because we don’t normally use blessing and suffering in the same sentence. If we walked up to anyone on the street and asked them what they thought was the opposite of the word “blessing”, they’d tell you that it’s “suffering”.

Blessing and suffering are always treated as opposites. They don’t go together. So why are we saying “God’s blessing in suffering”? It’s because everything that God does has a purpose behind it. Including seasons of unbearable, prolonged suffering – even that – as hard as it is for us to believe – has God’s purpose behind it. So as a church we have embarked on a journey of spotting God’s blessing in suffering as we study the book of Job.

And it’s possible that some of us are looking at this series and wondering if this is actually relevant for us right now. Maybe we feel that a series on salvation or holiness or stewardship would be more relevant because we’re not going through a season of suffering right now. Well, let me tell you this, the thing about suffering is that it often doesn’t come to us with a prior booking. It’s usually unexpected!

I’m not trying to scare us this morning but I’m just stating a fact that if we don’t have a biblical framework to think through suffering, we’ll find ourselves hopeless, stuck, not knowing what to do as we come face to face with that unexpected medical report or an unexpected job loss or unexpected loss of relationship or loss of a loved one.

Suffering is a certainty in a believer’s life which is why James can tell us “count it all joy my brothers when (not if) you meet trials of various kinds”. The assumption is that suffering is a reality we can’t run away from.

And it’s not just limited to our own lives. All of us know someone or the other who is going through suffering. And if we’re able to get the right understanding of suffering, we’ll be in a better position to be more sensitive and helpful toward others as they deal with suffering. 

But in order to do that, we have to admit that there’s a lot of unlearning that needs to take place. And so I hope that all of us are approaching this series in this manner – where we’re praying and asking God to help us grow in our understanding & response to suffering. Let that be our prayer – and I think that’s a perfect place for us to begin our time this morning. So would you join me in prayer?

(Pray)

It had been the longest, quietest, agonizing week ever! A week has passed since Job lost his thriving business and his precious children – all in a single day. After trying to hold himself together, Job finally lets it all out in Chapter 3 cursing the day of his birth. So unbearable was his pain that he expresses that it would have been better to not be born than for him to go through all this.

His closest friends are sitting with him and are trying to comfort him with their limited understanding. Eliphaz is the first friend who speaks up but much of his advice is loaded with the assumption that Job must’ve sinned in some way or he’s carrying some secret sin which is what caused this unbearable suffering. Chapter 5 is a continuation of Eliphaz’s advice. Let’s try and break it down verse by verse.

[1] “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

V1 is a rhetorical question where Eliphaz is telling him “Job, you can call out to God, but don’t expect a response because of your secret sin. It’s pointless for you to pray because you’re already disqualified from approaching God”.

Wow, talk about discouragement right? Job’s already weighed down by his immense suffering, and now he’s having to deal with words of judgment & condemnation from his closest friends. I hope we can see here the danger in jumping to conclusions which can lead to unhelpful, discouraging conversations. That’s the last thing that’s going to help someone who is going through suffering.

[2] Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple

Eliphaz seems to have already analyzed Job’s heart. He feels that Job is carrying “vexation” or “resentment” and jealousy in his heart. Eliphaz feels that these two sins – resentment (bitterness, irritation) and jealousy (unhealthy desire for what doesn’t belong to you) is what brought all this suffering upon Job. Now are these sins that God hates? Yes, undeniable.

But are these sins which Job secretly carried in his heart? There’s no evidence of that. In fact it’s clear from the first couple of chapters that the suffering which came upon Job wasn’t the result of his sins but a conference which took place in the heavenly courts where God permitted him to be tested. That’s the background which no one was privy to & so Eliphaz went ahead with his own assumption about resentment & jealousy.

And then in V3-5, Eliphaz proceeds to use an illustration (we don’t know if its a real story or just an analogy). He’s using the illustration to demonstrate what happens to a person who harbours secret sins in his heart.

[3]  I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. (NIV – but suddenly his house was cursed) – it happened unexpectedly

[4] His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

[5] The hungry eat his harvest, and he takes it even out of thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

We don’t know the source of this illustration but the end seems quite similar to what happened to Job’s children and his wealth. So Eliphaz isn’t being subtle here. He’s clearly drawing a relationship between the sins that he thinks Job is harbouring in his heart and his suffering in losing all that he ever had.

Again, we don’t know what was Eliphaz’s intention in giving this illustration but it comes across as almost like kicking someone who is already down and injured. 

[6] For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

In other words, Eliphaz says that suffering doesn’t come out of thin air. It has to have a logical cause and the logical cause for suffering is sin according to him. All suffering can only be explained by personal sin. Nothing more and nothing less.

There are times when suffering is a consequence of sin. If we abuse our bodies with substances, it is going to result in serious health problems. But there are other times when suffering isn’t caused by sin. Look at V7.

[7] but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.

In this verse, Eliphaz contradicts what he just said by saying that we are born in suffering. But this contradiction is actually a biblical understanding.

Suffering is something that comes with the package of being born in a broken world. Sometimes what we go through doesn’t have anything to do with our own sin or someone else sinning against us, it’s just part and parcel of us bearing the effects of a fallen world.

To once again go to the example of the blind man in John 9. The disciples of Jesus asked a question that most of us would have thought about – was it this man’s sin or his parent’s sin which is what caused this? Jesus’ answer surprised them because they were expecting a sin answer but Jesus answered “Neither, this happened so that God would be glorified in Him”. So this should tell us that we should have 2 categories as we observe the world around us: a category for sin but also a separate category for suffering.

[8] “As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause,

Eliphaz moves onto counselling Job with next steps – what he ought to do. He’s telling him “Job, if I were in your place, this is what I would do. I will seek God – I would earnestly pursue God, I would go after God and to God I would commit my cause – I will totally surrender myself to Him. I will be the most devoted guy ever”.

Now at the outset this seems like good spiritual advice. Is there anything wrong with seeking God or surrendering ourselves to God? No, these are good things – in fact critical things which are commanded in other places of Scripture.

But read with me from V9 to 27 to understand what he’s actually saying. A lot of what Eliphaz will say in the coming verses are things true about God which are also backed by other passages in the Bible but let’s try and understand the big picture of this advice.

[9] who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: – True, Our God is a God of wonder without any limit.

[10] he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; – He is the God of providence who looks after His creation.

[11] he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. – He exalts and helps those who are humble and in pain. He is close to the brokenhearted.

[12] He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.

[13] He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.

[14] They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.

He is able to see through the wicked intentions of people and pronounces judgment on them.

[15] But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty.

[16] So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

God delivers the needy, hopeless and helpless. God takes pride and special interest in those who have no protection.

[17] “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.

Hebrews 12 says a similar thing – that when God allows us to go through suffering, He’s actually disciplining us as His children – He’s doing it out of love so that we can grow in holiness. Again, this is something true of God.

And then he goes on to describe the blessing which will follow a devoted life

[18] For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.

[19] He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you.

[20]  In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

[21] You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

[22] At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.

[23] For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

[24] You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

[25] You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth.

[26] You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

[27] Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.” –

So Eliphaz is confident on his theory and practice and now he’s highly recommending this for Job. This is what is going to fix his suffering. This is what is going to reverse his situation.

But what was the underlying message behind his advice? Because he assumed that suffering was caused by our sin & disloyalty to God, his fix was a greater degree of loyalty & devotion to God. Because God’s mad at me because of my sin, I need to do something to get back in his good books.

I need to demonstrate how passionate & committed I am toward Him so that He can start showing His favor to me. What’s this after all? Works based salvation. Performance based relationship. It’s stemming from the idea that God is transactional – He deals with me in the same way I deal with Him.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Two verses that always served as a reminder to my heart telling me how unconditional God’s relationship is with me.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

God didn’t wait for us to love Him first – as a precondition to loving us back. It wasn’t a love that was dependent on how much we loved God. It wasn’t transactional.

It wasn’t “matlabi” love which says I will love you only as long as you treat me and love me as I expect you to.

No, it’s a love where God took the initiative to love us way before we even realized our need for it.

How did he show us this love? While we still sinners, Jesus died for us.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Even before we thought of making our first move to turn back to God, Jesus died for us. Which means that our status was still a “sinner” and an “enemy” of God at the time.

I remember right after 26/11 and when we got to know that the name of one of the terrorists was Ajmal Kasab, he became the object of anger and hatred of the entire nation because he was an enemy after all that he had done. And now imagine that to be the status and name that’s associated with us because of our rebellion toward God. That’s us!

And yet Scripture tells us that while we were still sinners and enemies, Jesus died for us. In other words, Jesus took the punishment that sinners and enemies of God deserved and He paid the price on our behalf so that we could be set free.

He rose again on the Third Day so that we would never again be referred to as enemies by God’s own children. Is God transactional and conditional? No, that’s not who He is. And so how do we comfort someone who is suffering who is searching for answers? 

1. By recognizing that every suffering cannot be always explained by a sin cause.
2. By recognizing that the resolution to suffering cannot be achieved by increased loyalty and devotion to God. Suffering isn’t a direct indication of God’s anger toward us; neither is blessing & prosperity a direct indication of God’s delight in us.
3. However, suffering can be explained by God’s divine purpose. Even though the details (how and the why of God’s ways) might not fully be clear, we can look at the cross and be assured that God won’t deal with us out of spite or cruelty. He always treats us better than we deserve.