Job 1 – 2, Why Do You Serve God?

Woodland Hills Church of Christ

Job 1-2 Why Do You Serve God?

Introduction: Job 1:13-20. There is no way that any of us have suffered like Job’s suffering described in this text. And yet, the full extent of his suffering is to come.

The most important thing we can do right now is relate to this moment in Job’s life. Maybe you do that by picturing how something this bad could happen to you. [story of El Cajon friend]

Now, would you have questions you would like to ask God? Would you be full of confusion and beyond the ability to even feel or have sense of reality? “This just cannot be! What is going on!”

Following this, Job would be struck with boils (“loathsome sores”) from his head to his feet. He would sit in an ash heap, covering the boils with ashes and using a piece of broken pottery to scrape off the puss from his sores.

It is apparently months before his friends arrive, long enough time that when they arrive they do not recognize him. He has become so thin from the disease and lack of nourishment that his bones are sticking out (chapter 29). So bad was Job’s condition that they could not even speak to him for a whole week because they saw that his suffering was very great. [by the way, there is no medication!]

Warning: A trial is coming! You and I need this book!

1. Introduction to Job
   1. The book of Job is typically neglected. Of course, chapters 1-2 and 42 are not neglected, but there are 39 other chapters that are. Is that not scary? It ought to be. God is giving us wisdom to prepare us for our trials and we simplistically say to ourselves, “Well, it’s tough, and then it gets better!” Wow. That like knowing a little karate, having just enough knowledge to be dangerous to yourself.
   2. Primarily, this book teaches us about God more than it ever gives answers to our suffering. In other words, when suffering comes, it is God we need to understand. In the speeches of Job and his three friends, most of the conflict lies in their collective misunderstanding of God. That, more than anything else is what we need when we are suffering.
   3. First major point: God wants us to see the righteousness of Job (1:1, 8).
      1. Verse 8 gives us one of the beautiful glimpses of God. Just look at how God speaks of Job. He calls him “my servant” and boasts of his righteousness. Isn’t that great motivation for us?
      2. We are to see Job’s righteousness because we are to learn that living rightly before God does not exempt him or anyone from the worst of trials. If Job is not exempted, neither are we.
      3. If there is any question about Job’s righteousness, consider Ezekiel 14:13-14, “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.”
      4. Further, Job’s righteousness is highlighted because we humans often attach foolishness and sin as the reason for tribulation and suffering. Certainly, poor choices, sin, and foolishness are reasons for suffering as is indicated in Proverbs, but it is not the only reason.
   4. The conclusion we are to learn from the introduction is that suffering is not always a result of sin and should not be the default conclusion when you or others suffer. Chapter 2:3 reinforces this point: “Job was afflicted without cause.”
2. Design of the Book
   1. The book is written with a combination of prose and Hebrew poetry
      1. Ch. 1-2 Written in prose, we are given a historical introduction which informs us of the background needed to understand the discussion that will follow.
         Seven of the eight persons in the book are introduced to us: Job, the Lord, Satan, Job’s wife, and the three friends. The only person not introduced is Elihu, a bystander who listens to the debate between Job and his friends and then responds beginning in chapter 32.
      2. Ch. 3-25 The main body of the poem in which Job and his friends debate the cause of his suffering.
      3. Ch. 26-31 Job’s final speech to his friends.
      4. Ch. 32-37 The speech of Elihu in which he seems to introduce God.
      5. Ch. 38-42:6 God’s speeches to Job and Job’s responses to the Lord.
      6. Ch. 42:7-12 Epilogue: written prose, summarizes the vindication of Job.
   2. Concerning Elihu:
      1. He is the only “friend” who is not rebuked by God in the end.
      2. Job never answers Elihu, though Elihu pauses to give Job a chance to object to any of his answers. Elihu offered a fresh approach to the debate on suffering and rebuked both Job and the friends on the way they spoke of God.
   3. The Question before Us – is the question repeatedly asked by so many, whether believers or unbelievers. How can God, who created us and the world and could know that mankind would deal with horrible suffering, bear to look at the suffering of his own creation and not rescue them? Is this a God filled with all goodness, holiness, and righteousness? How and why would we trust and serve such a God?
3. Lessons of Chapters 1-2
   1. Satan makes a very important challenge to God concerning Job and all mankind. Satan asks why Job fears God; what is the real motive of his righteousness? This is a critical question.
      1. The question indicates that being a religious person, a believer in God/Christ, is not enough! There is a much bigger issue. It is easy to “believe” in God and even serve God in all the outward forms that God requires. But how much loyalty do you have to God? It is the shallowness of faith that is the greater concern, and that is Satan’s challenge and attack as well as God’s concern.
      2. Can you imagine that every time you tell your child to do something, their response is, “I will do it if you pay me”? Would anyone conclude that your children respected you, loved you, or were in submission to you? In fact, the opposite would be true. If you didn’t bribe your children, they would dump you like a hot potato!
   2. 1:20 In praising God, Job did the exact opposite of what Satan said he would do. Though he ascribes the disaster to God, he makes clear his loyalty to God regardless of his suffering.
      1. Consider your own life. This question is asked of every person who has ever proclaimed their faith in God. Consider the words, “faith in God.” Can God be trusted to do what is right in regard with your life in spite of severe suffering?
      2. Second, is your love for him and faith in him motivated by what he gives you? Or, do you love and serve him because of him? In other words, do you love him because you believe he repays you for your service or because he is your “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace?”
      3. There is a fairly easy way to discern this. How much do you devote yourself to God now? A little bit? When it is convenient? Mostly? Or, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your energy and strength? How you answer that question will tell you whether you serve God for nothing and what you will do when tribulation comes. But you won’t really know for sure until the trial!
   3. 1:21 Growing to a faith like Job’s comes by learning that nothing we have is deserved. Paul addressed the arrogance of the Corinthians by saying, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Cor. 4:7). Everything we have has been given to us by God. Therefore, we have no right to demand that God bless us in the way we are accustomed. He has created us and bought us with the price of the blood of the Lamb. Who are we to talk back to God?
   4. 2:9-10
      1. This may be the most cruel part of the trial. Satan now uses the one person who could have provided some support and comfort in the midst of his pain. Job’s wife is mentioned again further indicating her withdrawal from him:
         19:17, “My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.”
      2. The word translated “curse” is translated “renounce” in the ASV. The word carries the connotation of saying, “Goodbye.” She is not telling Job to actually utter a curse against God, but to abandon his trust in God. In other words, God is of no use to you. If God would let this happen to you, then what’s the point?
      3. This is exactly what Satan was looking for in Job, and was his argument before God. If there is no earthly reward for serving God, then humans will readily abandon him. Job’s wife seems to have lost her faith in the goodness of God. Note: she does not say she is abandoning God, but that if she were Job, she would.
      4. Important Lesson: In a trial, do not expect that everyone will rally to your side and comfort you. Even some with good intentions will say things that are deeply hurtful. Job’s three friends will come to comfort him, but after seeing him, they will do everything but give him comfort.
      5. Now, we need to be careful in how we think of Job’s wife and consider her with compassion.
         1. Remember, she also lost all 10 children in one day. She has suffered everything Job suffered with the exception of his illness. She is also now watching her husband she dearly loves waste away in agony. It is simply overwhelming; too much to watch.
         2. Job does not say she is a foolish woman, but that she speaks as one of the foolish women. Yes, Job rebukes her words. Does she repent immediately? Possibly. After all, at the end of the book she is not called upon to repent, and she has 10 more children.
         3. Primary message to us: when a severe trial strikes one in our physical or spiritual family or even an acquaintance, everyone has just entered the same trial, and we will also be judged on how we respond!

Conclusion: When your trial comes, whether your respond like Job or fail the test, will depend on your preparation and your growth to maturity. Are you doing the work necessary to avoid falling?

Berry Kercheville

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