Twisted Scripture - Job (Greg Boyd)

well I hope you're only good mood this morning if you're not a good mood consider the fact that while you were sleeping 15,000 people on the planet died and you were one of them so smile it gonna add six feet under a dust of the wind you got something to be happy about so we're here and it's good it's good so I'm Greg Boyd I'm a teacher pastor will the hills Church and it's just it's great to worship with you and have to be in the presence of God and then now to crack open his word we're in a series we're calling twisted Scripture as about Scripture that we believe has gotten largely twisted as it's been kind of repeated and believed out in the broader evangelical Christian world and so we're looking at these passages being when we put them in context we're finding that very frequently the meaning of a passage means the opposite of what it's taken to mean out in the general populace it's always important to put things in context so last week we dealt with Romans 9 which I believe is the single most misunderstood passage in the Bible today we're gonna be looking at the book of Job and a certain passage in chapter 1 which is in my opinion a close second to - Romans 9 in terms of its misunderstanding fact my ass conviction is that the book of Job is the single most misunderstood book in the Bible and I'm going to be trying to show that here this morning before we get into it let's let's pray father I just thank you for everybody in this congregation for your love for them and the way you've been working in their life from from from the get-go and that's brought them to this point and I thank you for all of our pod Rishon heirs I pray blessing on them whatever they're doing whatever part of the world they're in I just pray God that you'll use this word to instruct inform inspire motivate maybe convict them and Lord now what you infuse this word with your authority to help us understand this scripture and Holy Spirit use it I pray most importantly to purge from remind any residue of any any suspicion any hint that you are less beautiful than your revealed to be in Christ and that your love is is is less beautiful than it's revealed to be in Christ and Lord just deepen our relationship with your commitment to you are surrendered to you as we sang here this morning that we might be pouring out our all for you as you poured your all out for us we pray this in Jesus name and all of God's people said amen okay so the context is this as a lot of you know in the book of Job job gets hammered by Satan and hands up losing his seven sons they all die and it's three daughters they all die and gives all his possessions wiped away all of his cattle everything the only thing that remains is his wife and that was not a blessing jovis think we do a trade here i and one of my sons for my wife she's the one who says curse God and die job a great great great great asset there so um this is this is a nightmare situation and then we have this response to the part of job chapter one they're running the aisles this morning I'll tell you ah then Joe burrows and Tory has robe and shaved his head and Phillip on the ground that's that standard ancient near-eastern way of grieving and and worshiped and he said naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return the Lord gave the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and all this job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing is it the case that were to believe that every blessing we have is the Lord giving but every loss we have is the Lord taking this passage is usually quoted in times of catastrophe I remember about 1213 years ago maybe you recall this is on the Pioneer Press and the headlines where the Lord gives the Lord takes as a photograph of a man speaking at a funeral on was a funeral of his five children and what had happened is his wife had gone into some kind of postpartum depression or craziness or psychosis and he had had drowned the the five children in the bathtub remarkably I don't understand this but she was tried as a sane adult and is now serving life in prison but the husband coming out of the background in theology that he came out of industry Norrell he says the Lord gave us these five beautiful children and now the Lord has taken these five beautiful children immediately I'm thinking well then why isn't God on trial if the Lord is one who did it why blame the woman does that it was an appropriate use of this verse is that what is a verse telling I said this is what we should believe in what we should say there's a lady I knew a number of years ago now and and she gave me this testimony that she and her husband had trouble conceiving of a child for years and years they a try and the doctor said it's very unlikely that impossible for you to have children's based on some biological things but just at the point where they're about ready to give up on this they Braxley conceives and she goes everywhere and testifies to everybody about how God had answered the prayer and we're actually giving her this baby and then in the process of giving birth to this baby that baby was breech and the cord was wrapped around its neck and there's a number of complications that led to the baby being stillborn and so this lady's question of course is why would God do this it was her belief at the time and she goes to the doctor of theology at local college here and asked why would God take me to the pinnacle of joy and supernaturally answering this prayer and then drop me to the pit of hell by taking the baby in the process of childbirth why and his answer was the Lord gives and the Lord takes I'm blessed to be the name of the Lord and everything the Lord does is good and wise and so we must just praise Him because this was good and wise and perhaps there's a lesson that he wants to teach you out of this and as a result of that counsel she walked away from the faith for eight years when I had met her I'd spoke at a different church and and she was just trying to come back to the faith and but her question to me was what would the my response be to this and see if the picture of God this presupposes I mean just enter into this God gives you a baby oh the joy supernatural Wow and then just as you're about ready to give birth to this child he takes it nope I take it back why because there's a lesson you're supposed to learn I'm not going to tell what the lesson is what kind of pedagogy is that it's I'm going to kill your kid to teach you a lesson and you got to figure out what the lesson is meanwhile all sorts of ladies who don't want children over on crack cocaine or whatever they get to have babies but you don't because there's a lesson you're supposed to learn and so figure it out this is an El Capone picture of God but you can see why he seems to come from this verse the Lord gives the Lord takes so the question is how are we to interpret this thing well I I'm going to suggest you that if we put it in the context of this whole book is another example of a passage which is meant to mean the opposite of the way it's taken I put it into Brazil context it's not advocating that this is a theology that we're supposed to believe it's the books telling us this is a theology we're supposed to reject okay doctor I'm going to overview the whole to make this point to put on your think caps hang with me it's going to be intense it's going to be an adventure so here we go first thing you got to ask as the part of the biggest context is to say what kind of book are we dealing with what kind of literature are we dealing with because you don't interpret political cartoons the way it triggered a legal document or read a historical narrative now you have to look at the kind of literature you're dealing with most scholars argue that the book of Job is under the genre of an epic and ancient epic dramatic poem ancient epic dramatic poem if you read the book of Job and look at how the people talk there it's not the way people normally talk - it's very poetic it's very lyrical it's very dramatic it doesn't mean that it's not anchored in historical events it very well may be but that's not the important point the point is how what lesson is the author teaching us by dramatizing these events putting it in this poetic form I like many ancient epic poems Joe has a prologue maybe these works have a prologue you find a slide an ancient trade Greek tragedies and the prologue is there to set up the storyline and the way that the prologue and job sets up the storyline is it lets us in on a secret that the characters in the book don't know about we learn about this conflict between God and Satan and the characters in the book never do and that's important because we'll see here that one of the most fundamental points of the book of Job is to teach us how much we don't know we're we are like the characters in this in this book we don't know why why this happened to JoVE they never they never find that out and highlighting our vast massive ignorance is one of the main points of this book okay so this is the main point of looking at this genre is this given the kind of literature it is it's important it's like a parable pay attention to the main point that's being made and don't get bogged down in the details the details are just there to make the main point and so in the prologue for example it's important to ask what's the main lesson we're learning here we know something that the people in the narrative don't know but I wouldn't draw the conclusion as some have drawn that because in this prologue Satan has to get permission from God to a flick job sometimes well then Satan always has to get permission for whatever he does so then you get a picture of Satan going up before God all the time saying hey can I have this little girl raped me yes you can do that okay then they happens can I let this family die in a car I want to protect them can I cross these people to be gas in the gas chamber yeah yeah you can do that well can I here just prevent this person for getting a parking station no I want them to have that parking space and so everything that Saints doing it's like a mother mae-eye contest kind of do this kind of this which puts God in the position of being the the gifts or no person who then he's implicated in all the evil of the world it must be because he wants it to be done and I I think you just reading too much into this that the narrative doesn't say that this is what always happens it's just setting up the storyline in this case look at you don't have to ask out for permission for every particular thing you do good or evil you've got eccentric artblock permission because you got free will it's in your power to go this way or that way there's your permission but it's not a specific mother mae-eye and certainly is in the case that God wants you to do the bad stuff you do know that's on you well it seems far more powerful than you so I think that he has to get this specific permission for everything he does so look at the main point of the storyline and and don't get bogged down in the details we'll see there's a number of other things in this prologue which if you are taking it literally and getting looking at details it would screw up your theology in some massive ways so here's what the prologue says starts with this there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came with them the sons of God is just a Hebrew concept for the angels that are in God's court you read about his heavenly counsel a lot in the Old Testament God is something like a council meeting with his his his coworkers who are there to carry out his will these are the sons of God but Satan also came and that's implying that Satan wasn't one of these good angels that show up in God's heavenly court no he's a renegade who just happens to be there and the Lord said to Satan where have you come from and Satan answered the Lord Oh from going to and fro on the earth from walking up and down on it now notice this Satan shows up it's clear he's not one of the sons of God because not only is he not under God's Authority but God has to ask him where he's been now don't draw the metaphysical conclusion that Oh doesn't God know where everything is the rather to like a parable it's there to a show that Satan is a renegade gods he got far from being under God's Authority he's just doing his own thing God doesn't even know where he's been and the way Satan answers that confirms that where you been he basically says none of your business I'm going to and fro I'm walking about doing my own thing cause I miss just where I live so it's like you've got no authority over me that's gonna that's the basic gist of this and the point to note about that is this Satan just crashed the party it wasn't part of some plan God didn't plan him to be there God didn't know where he came from he just shows up this wasn't person cosmic plan and so all the things that ensue from the instance encounter all of Jobe suffering it wasn't part of some cosmic plan and that already tells you that this isn't just a matter of God saying oh I'm gonna ordain that I give it to you and I take it away no this is a random thing saying just chooses to show up and crash this party for reasons we'll see here in a moment there was a random thing and that's part of the point of the book random things free agents in this in that spiritual realm do things cause conflict that can sometimes have catastrophic effects on us and we never saw coming and we never know about it random stuff it just happens stuff happens and and and we being ignorant little human beings we don't ever know about it and that will become very important for us to remember here in a little bit and once Satan just shows up crashes this party a kind of spiritual warfare ensues god brags on Jobe what a righteous guy job is and and it's kind of flaunting the righteousness of job in the face of Satan's evil but then look what Satan says because do you think that job fears you for nothing honors you reverences you for nothing have you not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has apparently been a hedge of protection that God's had her own job and why is that hedge there well because Satan is running to and fro location has been a hedge of protection and then he says you blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land but uh but if you put forth your hand now and touch all he has destroy all he has he will curse you to your face the folks saying here's throwing down the gauntlet because what's going on here is he's making a charge against God's character this God it's not surprising that job honors you look at all the benefits he gets and what's at stake in this is the question does anyone worship God because he's God does anyone worship God for free and most importantly is God a Machiavellian control freak it's got a manipulator it's got just moving us around like little puzzles you know the little puzzle pieces I strung our little benefits here and and warnings over here so it Corral us into doing what he wants us to do so now there's a character assault on God in the heavenly realms as before the entire angelic host which is why Satan crashes party it's a public slander you are a Macha villian control freak now in the context of this literature how can this question be answered before the angelic host and now before the audience because we're in on a secret the question is is God in fact a mock abelian control freak it does anyone worship God for free are human beings free do we really make choices are we just being manipulated now how can a question be answered in the context of this prologue if God was to just incinerate Satan well that would totally prove that Satan was right he is the Mokka villian control freak look what he does to the opposition if God was to just ignore him with that would at least leave the question open and we kind of give the impression that maybe is telling the truth he is remarkably alien control freak in the context of this narrative the the question the challenge can only be answered by being put to a test let's see let's let's play this out what happened when job loses everything now Satan wants God to do it you put forward your hand and touch all he has but God doesn't do that he's not that kind of God what he does is he lifts that hedge of protection it's an unfortunate necessity given the verbal cosmic warfare that's going on here but he has in this in the context of this pro like no choice but to lift the hedge of protection but he says he's in your power they reach everything has is it behold it's in your power which means it's on you this is what you want to do anyways that's why the heads was there you're trying to get him now I'm gonna let you do what you want to do but it's on you it's not on God only upon himself is health you can't put forth your hand so Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and did all this so notice it's not God is doing the taking this is the same thing it's on him in fact far from God doing the taking Satan has to go out from the presence of God to do his nasty stuff now don't draw the metaphysical conclusion that God isn't everywhere isadora thought God was omnipresent remember the kind of literature you're dealing with it's just there to show to put a distance between God and his presence in the heavenly realm and the disaster that that happens to job so it ends up being this job is is becomes the unfortunate victim caught in the crossfire of this cosmic battle where God's character is at stake though he doesn't know that and he's suffering precisely because he's righteous precisely because he was the most righteous person in land he now is going to suffer and never know why and that's part of the point of this book as well it's challenging this ancient wisdom or supposed wisdom that's still around very much today that says if things are going well that's because God is favoring you and things are going bad that's because God is judging you and that's been around since day one at this book this profound book I think I've read this book every year at least once sometimes up to four or five times the last 23 years and is so profound it is taking that ahead on it's challenging that in fact it's going to turn all of this head because now we're gonna have a guy who suffers precisely because he's righteous and what's at stake here well job is being called to vindicate the character of God before the heavenly realm to prove that human beings are free and we worship God not because we're men because we're he's manipulating us but just because he's God we could but he doesn't know that which tells us that things can happen in the spiritual realm that affect us greatly and a whole lot can be at stake far more than we know and how we respond to those situations because we human beings are vast ignorant of this now here's the thing you got to know that there's two competing theologies that are at play here in the book of Job on the one hand we just saw satan's theology god is a maka valiant manipulative control freak a puppeteer God and then we have God's theology that he gives at the end of the book of Job we'll look at both of them Satan's theology is actually shared by both job's friends and job they both assume in different ways that God is pulling all the strings Joel jobs friends believe it this way they think that God's pulling all the strings but God is just and if God is just and that means job is being punished and throw throughout the book of Job they're always saying job your do you deserve this own up to it there's some sin in your life and God's punishing you and job's always push him back on that and so we read throughout this book things like this one friend says the job early on hey think job come on now reflect a little bit here whoo that was innocent ever perish and who and where were the upright ever cut off as I have seen those who plow iniquity and so trouble reap the same and by the breath of God they perish and by the blast of his answer they are consumed that's what's happening to you job I think about this I mean this is the kind of thing that comes out of the mouth of these friends all the time and actually folks it sounds all to evangelicals sometimes and it where have the innocent ever perished well you know I can think of a few examples like like every kid that ever got killed or had a disease of cancer before the age of 9 or so that'd be the innocent for someone piercing where the upright ever cut off well Jesus comes to mind as all the Apostles in fact sees the righteous people get cut off quite a bit so what planet is this guy from where is his head buried in the sand but see it Ellis traits how selective we can look at the world when we really really really really really want to believe something badly it jaundice is our perception of the world this is the most inaccurate statement you can imagine and yet this guy's living in a lala land because that's the land he wants to live in job in Chapter six accuses his friends of speaking out of their fear cuz you're speaking out of your fear and he's right see they want the security they want to believe God's pull all the strings but they're righteous and since they're righteous nothing bad will ever happen to them and they can feel good about all of their blessings they have because they come right from God and and and so if job is righteous and suffering the fear is that what happened a job could easily happen to them if this is really a random thing then no one is safe can happen to us and so we want to grab onto these formulas that will protect us if I just believe this if I just say this if I just do this if I just avoid this scent well then God will bless me and I'll have a hedge of protection and might noting that whatever happened my kids but if we grab on these formulas thinking that we have the right key the righteousness or whatever - to hold on to this but seeing doing that we just indicted everybody who ever has anything bad happen to their kids if I if the reason why I'm safe is because I'm righteous well then the reason why your kid died was because you weren't so formulaic theologies always indict people that's why when God shows up and the end and we'll see this later on he's really really mad at job's friends he's ticked off about this but this is they're holding on the other self-serving theology they want to believe this now their theology is all jacked I hope you see that you know you know it's it's wrong because it Jesus who is the central revelation of God he refutes it at every turn in his ministry Jesus is always confronting people who are in pain people who have diseases and are blind and have infirmities and never once did he ever suggest that God's doing that to them never once did he suggest that these people deserve this he treats people as casualties of war and it reveals the character of God by coming against this stuff God's not on the side of the disease he's on the side of the healing and then there's a point in Jesus ministry and Luke 13 where he see these people got killed by this tower that fell on 18 people got killed and Jesus says the crowd do you think that they were worse sinners than you or anyone else in Jerusalem no but here's what you ought to be worried about if you don't repent you'll all perish and you're simply saying don't go trying to read the character or will of God on the basis of life's tragedies like some kind of tea leaf thing know what you ought to be worried about is your own relationships with God so that refused completely refused this idea you can know who God God is punishing by how bad things are going in in someone's so Jesus refutes it God also refutes it when he shows up at the end he doesn't it all suggests that you know what I can do whatever I want I'm God and and so I can just meet out however I want and since I do it it must be just and you just got to grin and bear it he doesn't suggest that what he does and we'll see this explicitly here in a little bit is he just asked a bunch of questions that reveal job's ignorance I or anyone else knows about what is going on and and and he got refutes it by chastising the three friends he says this here's God's refutation because my anger is stirred up against you talking to LFA is one of the friends and your two friends because you have not spoken about me what is right so what they said was wrong much of the book espouses their theology it records them espousing their theology but it's not meant to be something we're supposed to believe it's something we're not supposed to believe because it's wrong no that just mean everything they say is wrong because some of the stuff they say is right this book is far too profound it just paintings in black and white terms some of the friends say and some what job says is right but it's mixed in with a bunch of stuff that doesn't reflect the true theology it reflects the Makaveli and Satan theology because they're tributing everything to God and therefore blaming the victim so job also shares this assumption everything that happens is is God's doing but he will not agree that he is more sinful than his friends or anyone else and so the only conclusion he could draw is that God is cruel God as arbitrary God is unjust he's pulling all the strings they see at first he says it very nicely very piously the Lord gives and the Lord takes busted be the name of the Lord so all God's doing but we're gonna see here now as his pain increases as it intensifies as his despair sets in on him he says that same thing the Lord gives the Lord takes but now whereas initially he didn't charge God with any wrongdoing he begins to charge guy with a lot of wrongdoing so for example in chapter 9 he says the Lord crushes me with a with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause the Lord takes but now stop so pious is it without cause he's copies charging God with Ronnie and then he says he destroys both the blameless and the wicked he's easy amoral he's got no sense of justice at all that's not very nice to say about God when disaster brings sudden death he mocks at the calamity of the innocent really is there are we supposed to leave that God mocks the calamity of the innocent the earth has given into the hand of the wicked he covers the faces of its judges if it's not he then who is it now look at this here Joel can't even consider the possibility that the judges themselves have made themself wicked and don't judge justly he assumes that if the faces of the judges are covered if they can't see justice well then it must be God doing it he's holding to the mock abelian view of God God's the puppeteer pulling on the strings only now see as job's pain intensifies he gets more and more ruthlessly logically consistent with that assumption if God in fact is pulling all the strings the God is unjust evidence of it is that the judges don't judge justly and so the innocent fight themselves out on the street so God must be mocking the innocent laughing at them because he's the one who did it is that stuff we're supposed to actually believe I don't think so a little bit later on he says this does it please you God to oppress me to spurn the work of your hands while you smile on the plans of the wicked are you again are you enjoying yourself up there as you're tormenting me and approving of the wicked because you're the ones who are the one who's making that way and then it goes on to say your hands fashioned and made me and now you have completely destroyed me the Lord gives the Lord takes only now it's not so pious and then he says you hug me as a fierce lion and again you display your power against me that phrase there in Hebrew can actually mean you repeat your exploits against me he's portraying God is this lion hunting a prey who will not kill the prey quickly he toys with it torments him then finally kills him you bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger against me leave me alone when he finally says that I may have a little comfort now see and so is this stuff we're supposed to be approving of taking out of context this is the Word of God God said it I believe it that settles it for me so we should just say you know have a servant hey you guys let's all pray God leave us alone so we can have a little comfort no we're not supposed to be approving of businesses this is bad theology in that right theology and who after all is the roaring lion who roams the earth seeking whom he may devour Joe beer is seeing God as Satan who's just tormenting him and and and playing with him like a little prey and then he goes on to say his anger is torn me and persecuted me he has Naste me with his teeth my adversary locks his eyes on me just gazes and to get to get this out job is picturing God which is perfectly appropriate if God is doing all this he's absolutely right if God's doing all this but see neither he nor his friends know about this heavenly battle and and and so they just attributed all to God and I found in my life that to degree that people don't take saved and evil of others seriously they end up a charity to stuff to God because what other alternative is there he's he's portraying God is Satan the adversary my adversary locks his eyes on me with his eyes of hate gnashing his peace is a monster this is a monster God and then he goes on to say this who is the Almighty that we should serve Him given the character of God why should we ever serve Him he's got a point if God is this Macha billion God and what would we gain if we were to pray to Him take take that out of context hey you guys here's a sermon there's no purpose to prayer prayer does nothing go home don't pray no no it's in the Word of God but not because we're supposed to believe this and finally he says this from from the city the dying groan and the wounded cry out for help but God charges no one with wrongdoing he's an amoral God how could he charge any with wrongdoing when he's the one doing it he binds the judges so the innocent can throw it on the street and the dying are groaning and God does not give a rip I said it was finally but this is the finally chapter 30 with great power God crushed me by the clothing he binds me like the cut by the colour that my tunic is choking me basically saying he chokes me then he flees me into the mud and I've come to resemble dust and ashes God you have become cruel to me with the strength of your hand you attack me Lord gives Lord takes only now there's a lot of wrongdoing he's charging God with which is perfectly consistent if you believe that God's doing all the giving and taking he's being consistent with this but see folks that refrain over and over again we find it with more and more harsh terms vicious terms even calling God Satan is because we're not to be believing that refrain that's the refrain that gets refuted in this book and so we see it refuted in the Ministry of Jesus as I just said never once does he charge anyone does he say that God is behind their suffering or does he blame them and it gives various teachings that show that you just can't he collapses that that line of thinking that says all suffering is the hand of God he rather diagnoses all these sufferings that's coming directly or indirectly from Satan and demons and things like that and when God shows up he refutes this theology they never suggest job I I have the right to do all this that see if God did that which is a whole lot of people interpret this book he would be confirming the accusation that got this whole thing going he would be saying I am in fact a Makaveli and manipulative control freak what God does instead is he simply exposes job's ignorance he starts by saying in 38 who is this that darkens counsel without understanding job do you know anything did you know what's going on and he talks about the creation just talks about us all these different questions he just exposes job's ignorant job you don't know what's going on around here and then see job gets it because job ends up repenting of this theology he says he says I added words I did not understand or things that were too wonderful for me to understand I repent in dust and ashes so job himself repents of the stuff he said so clearly this isn't the theology we're supposed to be accepting this is the theology would be should be repenting of and the point of the book is to expose the error of that theology how tragic how tragic that the model of God that comes out of the mouth of Satan he's just the manipulator giver and Taker the book that was meant to refute that is largely come to be known as the book that endorses that so we find a father singing it over his five killed killed children after funeral it's just tragic they get asked the question how does job then vindicate the character of God if his theology is to a large degree Jack like his friends are how does he vindicate the character of God how does he end up winning that's the point of the sleeping right that God is not this kind of God and this brings us to one of the most beautiful remarkable things about this book I quoted the past before when God reams out the friends saying you did not speak about me well about me what is right what I now add is this God then goes on to say verse 742 7 right after job repents in verse 6 God says you didn't speak about me well but he is right like my servant job did now the word right is the Hebrew word kun and it means to align with its core meaning is to align with or to be straight in this context it can't possibly mean you are aligned with accuracy or truth his job just repented of it and God just rebuked him for it and it completes with the Ministry of Jesus but a rather means in this context is you spoke to me straight from your gut you aligned with what was true about you and what God is saying here is he vindicates the character of God because this guy stayed honest where his job's friends fall back on their fluffy religious talk and self-serving theology that indicted job and that makes God really mad job was honest with God he kept the lines of communication open throughout the whole book he never just shut up about God shut him away or whatever he kept on talking with God pleading with God railing against God and see here's what it says about the character of God God sees that language as bad as it was as almost blasphemous as it was as vile as it was as an Orthodox as it was as wrong as it was God sees that he's speaking from the gut and God loves that if see he's being faithful to his heart he's not pretending here and God adores that this reveals a God who loves honesty over accuracy even though accuracy is important what God wants most of all is honesty he wants an honest relationship with honest people who choose to be in relationship with him and then is a beautiful characterization a mock abelian deity would never do that a Machiavellian DeeDee would be putting up a little carrot for you to chase after or threatening here so that your behavior is the way the behavior was but he doesn't care about what's going on the inside but this is a God who cares more about what's going on the inside than anything that's on the outside he just wants reality God who just loves reality he's the opposite of this control freak manipulative Machiavellian dee dee it puts God's character on display and that's how God is vindicated and though the final confirmation of this reading of of Jobe is look at what God actually says when he shows up in chapters 38 through 42 he shows up in the whirlwind talks to Jobe he talks about two things first he talks about this unfathomable creation he doesn't say I can do whatever I want because that would just play confirm what Satan had alleged against him he talks about the creation and put a chides job for two chapters read it's just it's almost playful he says job you know do you know anything what's going on around here did I consult you when I put the stars in the sky do you even know what those things are about or let's make it a little simple here do you know where what happens to the dew in the morning how about the rain where's the rain come from how about the wind you understand where the wind comes from do you understand any of the ordinances of how much the world was established and what about those animals all these lovely animals do you know why they do what they do why the birds fly when they fly where they fly do you have any idea about this creation and the answer is no job you don't and so what God is saying is job if you don't know the first thing about creation maybe you ought to be a little less quick and a trigger to accuse me of wrongdoing there's a whole lot going on around here that you don't aren't aware of and that's the point of the book and then he turns to talk about Leviathan and behemoth these two creatures now if you read these these creatures in chapters 40 and 41 read about them there are not any natural creature you'd find in the world I mean either they're tall a cedar tree they breathe fire they smoke comes out of their nostrils you know they got these these iron plates on them it's what we know is for meeting other ancient years the literature of the time is that these are monsters that everyone in the that time believed in that they believed threatened the earth their cosmic monsters it was their way of portraying evil their way of portraying Satan and God is going to speak the language that that Jobe understands so he's going to talk about these forces of evil by talking about Leviathan and behemoth and what he does with Leviathan behemoth just what he did with the creation he asked you a lot of questions Joe do you think you can do a better job than me and holding these forces of chaos at bay these forces that threaten the earth that you know about do you why why don't you go out there try to tame Leviathan good luck with that one why don't you go out there and try to packer behemoth with your spear well that's right he eats iron he says you think you can do a better job than me and running this universe do you know anything about the these cosmic beasts are you any more powerful than me at keeping the forces of chaos at bay and the answer of course is no and so what God is saying here is this until you walk a mile in my shoes Joe running this thing putting back these forces of chaos maybe I ought to be a little less quick and a trigger of accusing me of wrongdoing and even though God never tells job and his friends about the warfare that led to job's problems and trials being cosmic he never lets them know about that because that's part of the point of the book we never find out the side of heaven why things happen the way they do but he tips his hand a job saying job I'm not the one who's pulling all the strings here there are forces of evil that I'm fighting against he says about behemoth you couldn't take him on even the gods fear him only his maker can approach him and even he uses a sword so he's saying these are ferocious beasts that have to be tamed and that means that this world's going to be somewhat of a chaotic place that we're caught in the crossfire of this cosmic warfare and so at the end he's saying a job job you don't know all that's going on here your friends don't know all that's going on here but what you've got to know is that what you don't know no your ignorance no there's a whole lot more going on in creation in the spiritual realm that affects you that it affects how things come to pass but you never know about it just know this I'm not the one pulling all the strings here and so don't be a charging me with wrongdoing and job's friends don't be charging job with wrongdoing and this is the point of the book we are ignorant human beings living at a very mysterious unfairly complex creation that's torn apart in war and we don't see more than the molecule on the tip of almost infinite iceberg we have very little understanding about anything and see if we forget all that we don't know and forget all the variables that affect things we'll start charging God with everything alleging God with everything or if we think that God's pulling all the strings that is just we'll start judging other people oh you're being punished for your sin and the whole point of the book of Job is saying this we're if we remember our ignorant will then not charge God with when we won't judge God is job did and we won't be judging people as job's friends did and that's the point of the book of Job don't judge know what you don't know know what you don't know which is almost everything but what you do know is so important the one thing we do know is this what God reveals about himself and it reveals himself in Jesus Christ what we do know is that God looks like Jesus Christ dying on the cross out of love for the very enemies who crucify him what we do know is that while this world can be cruel God is never cruel while this world can dish out nightmares God isn't behind the nightmares while this world can can take away precious loved ones God isn't the one who takes away precious loved ones while the world can the world and Satan and demons and fallen human beings can just a lot of crap your way God isn't the crap dealer okay God is a life Giver praise God is on the side of the giving amen but you won't know that by trying to discern the character of God from this warzone world we live in you only know that by keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ which is why Jesus says if you see me you see the father why then do I show us the father keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and see as we do that whenever we mix up the muck of the world with the character of God it pollutes our picture of God and therefore puts our relationship with God and then when tragedy happens we often operate the way job did it we push God away we think that he's the one taking our kids the one who is causing the disease or whatever but if we understand the true character of God dare to believe he said be as beautiful as he's revealed to be in Christ this resolve that then when tragedy happens we can invite God in on it knowing that he's on the side jesus's have come to give life in life to the full the enemy comes to kill steal and destroy but i come to give abundant life God's always on the side of abundant life saying in demons and people they can be on the side of kill stealing destroying but God's not the killer the stealer or the destroyer he's the life giver was pushing back and Leviathan and be hanging off the killer the stealers and destroyer so we invite him in and he starts to bring life into our disaster however dark it may be however dark it may be it begins to breathe life into that he's a man Serio bringing good out of evil and and success out of failure and holiness out of sin he's a master at bringing creating a work of art out of the worst thing that happened to us and that we had with my do to others if we just surrender to him be honest with him be honest however dark you spot you may be in however far from God you think you are whatever terrible things you've done or have been done to you if you just keep talking with God keep honest with God he has your heart and he could be good to influence that heart and heal that heart and mend that heart and transform that heart that's all I ask for is your innermost heart and so we invite him in and watch him do he promises that turn all to our advantage we may not see that until the kingdom is fully come but we can know that he's at work for the good never for the evil the final thing is folks is that the best news is that we know now while this world right now random things happen that affect us we can never know why this kids healed why that kids not healed why that family was spared in a car wreck and that family was killed we just got to say three is so important words for Christians to learn I don't know I don't know we've got to get very good at that we don't know we're merely humans it might have something to do with what happened in the 13th century BC for all we know you know the world's so interrelated we don't know but what we do know is God God is always on the side of life and good and beauty and health and we bring that to the situation and the good news is that it won't always be like this this war zone world this is this is preparatory this is preliminary the promise of God is that the love of God will triumph in the end and all who are on the side of that love will triumph with him and then they'll be no more Leviathan and behemoth and and and people are getting caught in random nightmares like happen in this world the hope of the New Testament isn't that everything is going wonderful now because it's not like and if you just believe in Jesus well then everything's you'll be protected and all this kind of stuff no we have the same vulnerabilities as everyone else on this planet the good that the promise of God is that in the end his love will win and it will be more than worth it incomparably worth it for all to stay true to him amen that is the good news and it's good news all right so when tragedy happens please everyone here in this messy I pray do not say the Lord gives and the Lord takes let's me the name of the Lord not in that context for sure rather say the Lord gives I'm sorry this was taken and I don't know why maybe who knows spiritual it's too complex but I do know that God looks like Jesus Christ in the cross and then offer that to the person who's in the nightmare the beauty of God that eventually heals all wounds rights all wrongs praise God as a closing prayer I want to ask the prayer team to come forward and if you have any need whatsoever that you'd like to have prayed for come up here and pray with these folks or if you're not a follower of Jesus you're not surrendered to him I encourage you to do that this morning why wait just come up here and talk to these folks and I'll tell you about what it's how to get started as the life of a disciple we just stand and I just want to seal this on our hearts father because the power of your spirit continue to purify our picture of you to dare to believe you're as beautiful as you revealed in Jesus Christ and Lord helps to be a people who don't ever indict others with self-serving theology but rather humbly offer your love that all people in all situations inviting you into every every single situation of our life and help us guide to always keep the lines of communication honest and open with you our loving Savior in Jesus name and all of God's kingdom people said amen god bless you guys going love in the world

Channel: The Narrow Gate

Views: 24,204

Rating: 4.7065635 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Satan, Sin, God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Bible, Christian, The Gospel, Truth, Lord, Salvation, The Word, Preaching, Study, Sermon, The Father, Faith, Hope, Love, Apostle, Disciples, Heaven, Hell, Demons, Angels, Prophets, Saints, The Cross, Calvary, Crucified, Born Again, Scripture, Prophecy, Holy, Justification, Sanctification, Regeneration, Soul, Church, The Blood, Prayer, New Covenant, Grace, Christianity, Martyr, Pastor, Messiah, Savior, Atonement, PRAYER, repent, Greg Boyd

Id: J8TsP_i-k4g

Length: 43min 3sec (2583 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 10 2014