Sermon for 3/11/2007
Blessed Be Your Name
Job
Introduction:
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains- it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
WBTU:
A. Everybody goes through wounding experiences in life.
B. So what do we do when we are wounded? Worship. It’s the antidote to our pain.
C. Job is a great example of this. He lost everything- his wealth, family, friends, and health- all in a few days. In a few days, Job goes from a hero to a zero.
D. Throughout the book of Job we see a man who is deeply wounded: physically, emotionally, and relationally. Yet the book also tells the story of how Job worshiped God instead of becoming bitter.
E. How do we do that? How do we connect with God during a crisis in our lives?
F. Many of us had a crisis this week. Others have been carrying around wounds our entire lives and have not been able to get rid of them.
Thesis: To worship in the midst of pain, we need to do 5 things.
For instances:
1. Grieve.
A. Tell God exactly how we feel. We need to unload all of our feelings. When we share our feelings with God, when we trust Him with our pain, we are worshipping- even when those feelings are negative.
B. Job expressed his pain to God. (Job 1:20 NIV) At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship
C. In the ancient Middle East, this is what people did when they wanted to express frustration, anger, or deep grief- they tore their clothes.
D. God did not make our bodies to handle negative emotions. God never designed them that way. When we swallow our emotions, our stomach keeps score.
E. Throughout the book of Job, we see that Job expressed his complaints to God. Every time that Job speaks in this book he expresses his heart in honesty and humility. (Job 2:10 NIV) In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
F. But isn’t it a sin to express doubts, frustrations, and anger to God? Is it not a sign or rebellion and faithlessness? No, the Bible encourages this. Portions of the Bible are devoted to laments. Laments express grief and deep regret.
G. Every major Biblical character from Abraham to Paul can be heard praying to God by means of lament. If laments are faithless or rebellious, why does God preserve so many of them in His Word?
H. Let’s put it this way: People like Job, David, Jeremiah, and even Jesus show us that prayers of complaint can still be prayers of faith- because they are voiced as a stubborn refusal to let go of God when He seems absent or uncaring. If this is true, then a lament is one of the most intimate moments of faith, not a denial of it.
I. A lament is supreme honesty before a God I know I can trust. He is a God who encourages me to bring everything to Him as an act of worship: my disappointment, my frustration, even my hatred. Lament brings me face to face with God, without pretense, in a desperate effort to understand God’s heart.
J. Job displays a brutal honesty with God in an effort to be authentic with God. (Job 7:11 NIV) "Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
K. Then he says, (Job 7:20) If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?
L. Job’s relationship with God is stretched to the limit. Yet he wrestles with God through lament, clinging to God and pressing Him for the meaning to it all.
M. Protesting and even accusing God is really an act of faith. The lament of faith does not deny the existence of God. Rather, it appeals to God on the basis of His loving kindness, in spite of the conditions that suggest otherwise.
N. Job simply will not let go of God- in spite of death, disease, isolation, and a fear that God has abandoned him. Job’s friends attempt to explain God’s behavior. His wife pleads with him to “curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). But Job holds on, insisting that he will not be silent, even when God seems to be silent.
O. Listen to what Job says in (Job 13:3 NIV) But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.
P. Job continues to offer up to God all his suffering, confusion, and hurt- even his deep disappointment with God. He has come to the understanding that there is no other place to take these things but to God. Despite his heartbroken and heartbreaking accusations against God, Job sees with clarity that only suffering provides: He simply has no place else to go.
Q. Isn’t that what faith is? If God is real then we express ourselves to Him even the ugly things of life and we hold onto Him? If God is not real, then why bother?
R. The first thing we do when we experience pain in life is confess it to God. Tell God we don’t like what happened- it stinks! God is God and he can handle it.
2. Praise God.
A. Hear what Job says after these things happen: (Job 1:21 KJV) Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Sounds like a song to me!
B. After we grieve, praise God in spite of the circumstances. Don’t thank God for the problems, but thank Him in the midst of the problems.
C. Job’s story is in the Bible for one question. Will I worship God if everything goes wrong in my life? Would we? It’s easy to worship God when everything is going our way. It’s easy to be a fair weather believer.
D. Praising God turns our attention off of ourselves and our problems and turns it to God. After we have expressed our frustration to God, in the course of those laments, something jogs our memory and calls to mind the times when God was faithful, when He showed up just in time and saved the day. This forces us to wake from our forgetfulness of God’s grace. When we remember, we must continue to praise God!
E. But if everything turned sour in our lives would we still praise God? That’s the ultimate test of faith. At some point in our lives, everything is going to fall apart.
F. UCLA alumni and fans made UCLA football coach Pepper Rodger’s life miserable during a season when the Bruins got off to a horrible start. Nobody in Southern California would hang out with him. “My dog was my only true friend,” Rodgers said of that year. “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends. So she bought me another dog.” Rodgers was rigid in the face of adversity. When his players at UCLA were having difficulty adapting to the wishbone offense he’d installed and the school’s alumni demanded that he adopt another system, Rodgers didn’t budge. The wishbone, he said, “is like Christianity. IF you believe it only until something goes wrong, you didn’t believe it in the first place.”
G. Yet there’s a lot we can praise God for even when life is bleak. Rich Warren says, “I used to think life was mountains and valleys- highs and lows. But the longer I live, the more I realize that’s not reality. There’s never a time in your life when everything is perfect. And there’s never a time in your life when everything is bad. Actually, life is more like two rails on a railroad track. One of them is the good things in your life and the other one of them is the bad. You get both all the time.”
H. Job chose to thank God in spite of his pain- and so can we.
3. Ask God for wisdom and strength.
A. When we are wounded, more than anything we need wisdom and strength- to know what to do and to get the power to do it. Throughout his story, Job depended on God for wisdom and strength.
B. Wisdom
1. We can’t think straight when we are wounded. We start thinking goofy thoughts, such as retaliating and getting revenge. I have had some people mad at me for no apparent reason. Only mad at me because I was someone that was there. Preacher, why didn’t you do something! That does not make sense!
2. Job said, (Job 12:13 NIV) “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
3. (James 1:5 NIV) If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
C. Strength
1. Power to do the right thing.
2. (Psa 18:32) It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
3. (Phil 4:13 NIV) I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
4. Gather with others for support.
A. God doesn’t want us to worship him alone. We were never meant to handle our pain alone. If we haven’t learned how to share our pain, we will never get well.
B. Job’s friends did do a very good job of comforting Job but at least Job had friends with whom to gather with for support. He opened up to them!
B. Here’s the problem: When we’re wounded, it is human nature to withdraw. When we get hurt, we put up barriers. We put up boundaries. We put up walls. That’s just stupid. We are never going to get well until we learn to open up again.
C. Richard Patterson Jr. talks about a time when his wife had a bought with depression. Since that time, they have been surprised by how many people, especially fellow believers, have suffered from serious depression. Patterson says, “Whereas before, Sara really didn’t have much to say beyond “I’ll pray for you,” now Sara is much better able to understand, comfort, and encourage others who suffer from depression.” Other people have helped her and now she is able to help others.
D. (2 Cor 1:3 NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,(2 Cor 1:4 NIV) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
E. A recent survey said the 25% of Americans say they have no close friends to depend on. They need to find those people in the church.
5. Keep on Going.
A. I gotta keep on keepin’ on. This is actually an act of worship. Though there’s pain in the offering that is an act of worship.
B. In Job 2:9 Job’s wife suggested that he “curse God and die.” She suggests her husband end his pain by throwing in the towel. But Job refuses.
C. (Job 13:15 NIV) Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.
D. The book of Job has over 330 questions in it. This is more than any other book. Why? Because when we are discussing pain, tragedy and suffering, it leads to many questions. Interestingly enough, the questions of Job and his friends are never answered. Even God shows up in the end but does he answer their questions? No! Instead, God questions Job!
E. Can we really understand all of the reasons for pain, tragedy and suffering in this world? Not really! (Eccl 8:17 NIV) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
F. Why is this so? Elihu said to Job in (Job 36:26 NIV) How great is God--beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.
G. (Isa 55:8) "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.(Isa 55:9) "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
G. If we are seeking an explanation from God for all suffering or tragedy, we won’t get them. Perhaps it’s better to refocus the question away from what is hidden by God to what is revealed about God. Instead of becoming frustrated or angry with God over what we do not and cannot know, it’s better to focus on what we can and do know.
H. Job trusted God and kept going. That is all we can do.
Conclusion and Invitation:
A. What did Job know? Not sure, but we see that he knows something that we know as Christians. (Job 19:25 NIV) I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
B. Any pain we have is short compared to eternity. Hang on by not looking at the here and now but by remembering what God has planned for us in eternity.
