Thursday
Evening Bible Study
August
6, 2015
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Target 3300 words
Video = 75 wpm
Job is going through the worst time anyone could imagine.
He’s lost all his possessions.
His children have died.
His health has failed.
What makes all this even more confusing is that Job is a good guy.
God has decided to allow Job to go through this difficulty because He is
proud of Job, not mad at him.
God wants to show the world what a godly man will do when he is going
through a difficult time.
Keep a couple of things in mind as we study Job:
Sometimes Job is wrong in his conclusions.
Sometimes Job’s friends are also wrong.
They can even say things that are true, but they are just not true about
Job.
Be careful about building doctrine upon some of the things said in the book
of Job.
Neither Job’s words nor those of his friends are meant to build doctrinal
truths on.
They simply show us how people respond to difficulty.
After a series of debates between Job and his friends over trying to figure
out why Job has gone through such difficulty, God showed up.
(Job 38:2 NKJV) “Who is
this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?
God is saying that Job simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
God goes on to challenge Job with a brief look into God’s vast creation and
just who it is that takes care of it all … God.
Job 42 Restoration
:1 Then Job answered the Lord
and said:
:2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours
can be withheld from You.
:2 You can do everything
Lesson
God’s Sovereignty
Often God works in our lives and we are unaware of the extent of His
actions.
Illustration
There was a mother cat, with a baby kitten in her mouth,
trying unsuccessfully to get across a busy New York City intersection. She
would meander timidly out into the traffic and then dart back to the curb when
nearly hit by a passing car. A traffic policeman in the center of the
intersection, seeing her plight, thrust up his hands to stop traffic in both
directions. The anxious cat scampered across to the other side and disappeared
down an alley.
The cat had no idea that the authority of the New York
City Police Department had been called upon to enable her to get safely across
the street.
Though we want to blame God for all the bad things in our lives, I wonder
how often He has been working to keep us safe.
God can do anything.
God will do whatever He wants to.
The problem is that knowing this doesn’t help answer the question “why”.
We will talk more about the “why” of trials next week.
Part of us still would like to know why we are going through what we’re
going through.
If we’re not careful, we can misunderstand what God is trying to do
It helps to know that He also loves us.
If we were unsure that He loves us, we might wonder why God seems to be
trying to destroy us.
But the truth is, God does indeed love us.
(John 15:13 NKJV) Greater love
has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
(Romans 5:8 NKJV) But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.
(1 John 3:16 NKJV) By this we
know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.
(Romans 8:35–39
NKJV) —35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? 36 As it is
written: “For Your
sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all
these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am
persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other
created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
So what do we do when we realize that God can do anything, and that He also
loves us?
Our best response is to trust Him.
When Jesus was warning His disciples at the Last Supper
about the troubles up ahead, He said,
(John
14:1 NKJV) “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also
in Me.
:3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without
knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too
wonderful for me, which I did not know.
:4 Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you,
and you shall answer Me.’
:3 I have uttered what I did not understand
Job realizes just how far short his knowledge of God falls.
:5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.
:5 now my eye sees You
I am not sure that Job physically “sees” God, but we use the term “see” as
a metaphor for “understand” or “know”.
If I’m discussing something difficult with you and I ask if you get it, you
might respond, “Oh, now I see”.
Job is no longer a person who has just heard about God.
Now he knows God.
Lesson
Knowing God
God doesn’t just want you to know about Him. He wants you to know Him.
Suppose I was Barack Obama’s best friend and I told you that I wanted to
introduce you to the president. I
wouldn’t just give you newspaper articles to read about Mr. Obama, I’d take you
to him and introduce you to him face to face.
Some of you may still think that just learning about Jesus is what
Christianity is all about. It’s not.
Christianity is not just about doing “religious” stuff. It is not about a list of “do’s and
don’ts”. Christianity is about knowing
God. It’s about knowing God through His
Son Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that our sins have kept us from knowing God, and that Jesus’
death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins so that we can now come to
know God. Jesus said,
(Revelation 3:20
NKJV) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and
opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
Dining with a person paints a picture of
relationship. God wants you to know Him.
Lesson
Knowing God through trials
God never answered the “why” questions that Job was asking.
Job didn’t need answers, he needed more of God. He found more of God through the tough times
he experienced.
We get to know God better through the humility that comes in our trials.
There is a built in humiliation that comes with trials. It’s not the coolest thing in the world to
have the world watch as your life falls apart.
Some people allow their hearts to grow harder through tough times, but in
Job’s life, his pride fell apart and he humbled himself.
God draws near to hearts that are humble.
(1
Peter 5:5b NKJV) …Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed
with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
We get to know God better through the process of suffering itself.
(Philippians 3:7–10
NKJV) —7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for
Christ. 8 Yet indeed I
also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as
rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is
from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
Paul didn’t want anything to keep him from knowing Jesus
more closely. He found that part of
knowing the Lord better involved the “fellowship of his sufferings”.
Jesus is close to those who are going through trials. We find we know Him better when we endure
suffering.
Jesus suffered and when we learn how to endure suffering,
we’re beginning to understand the heart of Jesus.
Illustration
Gordon MacDonald in his book “The
Life God Blesses,” tells about a Chinese pastor who spoke at a conference
in England. This pastor had spent eighteen years in
prison for his faith. He recalled for
the audience his prison experience: “My
friends wonder what kind of work I did in the labor camp to keep me physically healthy. I answered them that life in the labor camp
was very, very hard. The authorities in
the camp put me to emptying the human waste cesspool. Most of the prisoners were afraid to approach
the cesspool, but the authorities were aware of my background—I was
well-educated, from a well-to-do family—and especially because they were
atheists and they knew I was Christian leader.
So they enjoyed putting me to work in the human waste cesspool. But they did not know in those years how I
enjoyed working there. It was more than
two meters in depth and two meters in length, filled with human waste collected
from the entire camp. Once it was full,
the human waste was kept until it was ripe and then dug out and sent to the
field as fertilizer. Because the pit was
so deep, I could not reach the bottom to empty it, so I had to walk into the
disease-ridden mass and scoop out the successive layers of human waste, all the
time breathing the strong stench. The
guards and all the prisoners kept a long way off because of the stench. So why did I enjoy working in the
cesspool? I enjoyed the solitude. In the labor camp all the prisoners normally
were under strict surveillance and no one could be alone. But when I worked in the cesspool, I could be
alone and could pray to our Lord as loudly as I needed. I could recite the Scriptures including all
the Psalms I still remembered and no one was close enough to protest. That’s the reason I enjoyed working in the
cesspool. Also, I could sing loudly the
hymns I still remembered. In those days
one of my most favorite was ‘In the Garden.’ Before I was arrested this was my
favorite hymn, but at that time I did not realize the real meaning of this
hymn. When I worked in the cesspool, I
knew and discovered a wonderful fellowship with our Lord. Again and again I sang this hymn and felt our
Lord’s presence with me. ‘I come to the
garden alone/While the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear falling on my ear, The
Son of God discloses. And he walks with
me, and he talks with me, And he tells me I am his own, And the joy we share as
we tarry there None other has ever known.’
“Again and again as I sang this hymn in the cesspool, I experienced the
Lord’s presence. He never left me or
forsook me. And so I survived and the
cesspool became my private garden.”
Most of us haven’t been through difficulties like that, but we do find
ourselves in our own little cesspools.
This brother learned to love his cesspool. It’s where he found himself getting closer to
the Lord. We know Him better through
trials.
:6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”
:6 repent in dust and ashes
What had Job done that required repentance?
Keep in mind that God considered Job a righteous man. Job isn’t admitting to the kinds of sins that
his friends had been accusing him of. But Job is realizing that he has had
problems in other areas of his life.
I think Job is repenting from his bad attitude.
:7 And so it was, after the Lord
had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord
said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two
friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.
:8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My
servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job
shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to
your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My
servant Job has.”
:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the
Naamathite went and did as the Lord
commanded them; for the Lord had
accepted Job.
:7 against you and your two friends
God is upset at Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
There is no mention of Elihu.
Perhaps Elihu was a good guy.
Perhaps he didn’t merit attention.
:7 you have not spoken of Me what is right
As we’ve mentioned each week, the things that Job’s friends have not all
been correct.
Some of the things they’ve said contain truth, but they are not the truth
about Job.
For example, Eliphaz said,
(Job 5:17 NKJV) “Behold,
happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
The writer of Hebrews even quotes this when he talks about
how God disciplines us. (Heb. 12:5)
(Hebrews 12:5 NKJV) —5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to
sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
But Job was not being “disciplined” by God.
He had done nothing wrong.
We’ve known from the very beginning of the book:
(Job
1:1 NKJV) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and
that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
So, we need to be careful when we take some of these “truths” from the book
of Job, and keep in mind what God says about these men.
:8 go to My servant Job
God wants Eliphaz and his friends to go to Job and ask for forgiveness.
Lesson
Apologize
Sometimes we make horrendous errors in our judgments and criticisms about
other people.
We need to learn to humble ourselves and apologize.
Jesus said,
(Matthew 5:23–24
NKJV) —23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember
that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the
altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and
offer your gift.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because you’ve apologized to God,
that you’re done.
If you’ve offended someone else, you need to go to them and ask for their
forgiveness.
:10 And the Lord restored
Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
:10 when he prayed for his friends
Lesson
Praying for offenders
When we’ve been the one who has been misjudged, we can continue to carry a
grudge for years, and those grudges continue to cause problems.
Our grudges can even affect others who are watching us.
The answer to the bridge problem was for one person to
“bow” in humility so the other could crawl on their back.
It seems that when Job takes the step to pray for his “friends”, things
around in his life.
Pray for the people that bug you.
Don’t pray for God to wipe them out. Pray for them the way that you would
want them to pray for you. Jesus said,
(Matthew 5:44 NKJV)
But
I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those
who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
This may not be the magic bullet that ends your trial, but I have a feeling
that even when the difficulty you’re going through ends, your trial isn’t going
to be truly over until you learn to pray for the offenders.
Lesson
How to end my trial
Be careful about looking for a formula of how to end your trial.
Be careful of thinking, “Well if I just do this one thing, then everything
will magically be changed!”
You have to be careful to keep from comparing your life to the lives of
others.
You don’t always know what they’re going through or what it’s like to be in
their shoes.
Job’s trial was over when God said it was over.
Job not only had to endure the loss of his family, his wealth, and his
health, he had to endure those 35 chapters of endless arguments with his friends.
If you set your hopes on finding the magic formula to end trials, you are
going to be disappointed.
(Proverbs 13:12
NKJV) Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it
is a tree of life.
Lesson
When restoration happens
God promised Israel:
(Joel 2:25 NKJV) “So I will
restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…
God promised to pay them back for all the years of trials.
When God restores, He will give us back much more than we’ve lost.
(Mark 10:29–30 NKJV)
—29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no
one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or
children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold
now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and
lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
Sometimes the restoration happens in this life.
Sometimes it will happen in heaven.
God will restore
(2 Corinthians
4:16–18 NKJV) —16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is
perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are
eternal.
Sometimes the “payback” is through internal things, when
the “inward man” is renewed.
Sometimes the “payback” is going to be in the eternal
weight of glory that we’ll experience when we get to heaven.
Whether it’s now or later, God ALWAYS gives us more than we’ve given up.
:11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his
acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they
consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one
gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.
:11 all his brothers, all his sisters …
I wonder why it took so long for all these folks to show up?
To be honest, sometimes when we go through the greatest of trials, some
people are afraid to show up.
I wonder if some people think you’re “bad luck”.
Others just don’t know what to say.
For others, circumstances in life just keep them from being there.
Perhaps the gifts these folks bring form the basis for the restoration of
Job’s wealth.
:12 Now the Lord blessed the
latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand
sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female
donkeys.
:12 the Lord blessed the
latter days of Job
In vs. 10 it said the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
One of the measures of a man’s wealth in ancient times was the size of his
herds.
When you compare what Job had at the beginning of the book (Job 1:3)
7,000 sheep were replaced by 14,000 sheep.
3,000 camels were replaced by 6,000 camels.
500 yoke of oxen were replaced by 1,000 yoke of oxen
500 female donkeys were replaced by 1,000 female donkeys.
:13 He also had seven sons and three daughters.
:13 seven sons and three daughters
Before his trial he had seven sons and three daughters.
(Job 1:2 NKJV) And seven
sons and three daughters were born to him.
Why didn’t God give Job twenty more children?
Because He still has the other ten, but they are just in heaven.
He now has twice as many children.
:14 And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second
Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.
:14 Jemima – Y@miymah –
“day by day”, or, “handsome as the day”, or, “dove”
When here sisters had children and she became an aunt, she became known as
a great cook and was particularly famous for her pancakes J
:14 Keziah – Q@tsiy‘ah –
she was named for a cinnamon-like spice, “cassia”
:14 Keren-Happuch – Qeren
Hap-puwk – “horn of antimony”, or, “flask of color”.
Antimony is a substance that was used by the ancients like makeup similar
to mascara.
I think she went on to become a Maybelline model.
:15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the
daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their
brothers.
:15 the daughters of Job
The Masons have an organization for their daughters called “Job’s
Daughters” aimed at building character in young gals.
:15 an inheritance among their brothers
This was an unusual thing in ancient days.
Inheritance was usually only passed on to sons, not daughters.
It’s not until the days of Moses that this changed in Israel with the
daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 36).
:16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children
and grandchildren for four generations.
:17 So Job died, old and full of days.
:16 Job lived one hundred and forty years
We’ve talked about Job most likely being alive in the days of Abraham.
Abraham lived to be 175 years old.
If Job lived to the age of 175, then that would mean that this great trial
came when he was about 35 years of age.
:17 old and full of days
You see similar phrases being used to describe the death of others:
It’s used of Abraham, who lived to be 175 years old (Gen. 25:8). It’s used of his son Isaac (Gen. 35:29) who
died at the age of 180. It’s also used
of King David (1Chr. 29:28) who lived to be about 70 years old.
This phrase doesn’t as much mean length of life as much as it does quality
of life and fulfilled purposes in life.
Lesson
Living a full life
Some people think the secret to living a “full” life is about learning how
to do difficult things.
Moses wrote,
(Psalm 90:10–12
NKJV) —10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by
reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor
and sorrow; For it is
soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is
Your wrath. 12 So teach us
to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Moses is telling us that we only have so long to live on earth. Some have suggested that this “seventy” or
“eighty” year thing might indicate that there are things we can do to keep from
shortening our life span.
If a person has “strength”, they might keep from shortening their
lifespan. Some have suggested that we
can see this in modern medicine where we are learning about things to better
our health, like exercising, watching our weight, cholesterol, and so on.
But the question comes, “why bother?”
When it comes to the issue of the length of life, I’ve seen people fall
into several categories.
1.
Unbelievers
There are people who don’t know the Lord – and they’re
absolutely terrified of dying. They
should be.
Some respond by watching their health, others quit trying
and throw caution to the wind.
2.
Scared Christians
There are Christians who ought to know better, and they
are terrified of dying and they too are careful about their health, but only
because they’re afraid of dying.
3. Hurting Christians
There are Christians who have come to understand the truth
that death for the believer is sweet.
(Psalm 116:15 NKJV) Precious
in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.
We know that when we die and are no longer present in our
current bodies, we will be present with the Lord in heaven (2Cor. 5:8)
(2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV) We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord.
But sometimes when the pressures and hurts of this life
overwhelm us, we can find ourselves looking a little too much for death.
We can find ourselves saying, “I can hardly wait until I
die”. I’m not sure this is where the
Lord wants us to be.
4.
Busy Believers
There’s another attitude.
There is a reason why the Lord has left us on this side of heaven after
having come to know Him.
He has a work for us to do. Some of that work involves bringing people
into the kingdom of God. The work isn’t
finished yet.
Illustration
Have you ever been involved in something where you had a
hard time tearing yourself away from the task even though you were starting to
run late for your next appointment?
Some kids (and their dads) have such a great time playing
video games that it’s hard to get them to break away and come to the dinner
table.
Some people I know are late to many things, but not
because they are lazy, but because they try to squeeze five more things into
the next minute before they leave for an appointment.
I wonder if we ought to think about having that same kind
of attitude towards life. I wonder if
rather than wishing we were in heaven, we might have the attitude of, “Lord
would you mind if I was a little late coming home so I could do a few more
things down here?”
We’re only going to get one shot of doing things on earth
for the Lord, we might as well go for as much as we can.
Paul had this kind of attitude:
(Philippians
1:23–25 NLT) —23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which
would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. 25 Knowing
this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of
you grow and experience the joy of your faith.
I think we ought to consider making a push at getting that
extra ten years on life by taking care of our health, not because we’re afraid
to die or because we don’t want to suffer pain in our old age, and not because
we want to spend a few extra years lying on the beach in Tahiti.
I want to say with Paul that I’ve “finished my race”. I want to hear Jesus say to me, “Well done,
good and faithful servant”.
If I have to be a little late in going to heaven to do it,
it will be well worth it.