Sermons
The Sins Of Distrust & Disparagement
Series: Endurance In Days Of Extremity - The Journey And Journal Of JobTHE SINS OF DISTRUST & DISPARAGEMENT
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / March 12, 2017
In Job 9:32-33, Job yearns for an umpire, an arbitrator, an advocate - - someone to mediate between him and God.
Elihu appears on the scene, having listened patiently as Job and his three friends argued back and forth.
But he finally reaches the point where he can no longer remain silent. cf. Job 32:4-5 & 7
Although Elihu is a younger man, he speaks boldly and with authority. In Job 32:8-10a he states - -
‘The breath of the Almighty gives (men) understanding. The abundant in years may not be wise,
nor may elders understand justice.’ So I say, ‘Listen to me, I too will tell you what I think.’
It is my contention that Elihu is God’s answer to Job’s prayer.
Elihu is not a heavenly angel, he is simply but significantly a man with a heavenly message.
Elihu’s words were God-given words (God-breathed words - - given by inspiration).
Elihu makes a confident claim in Job 33:3-4 - - My words are from the uprightness of my heart; and my lips
speak knowledge sincerely. THE SPIRIT OF GOD has made me, and THE BREATH OF THE ALMIGHTY gives me life.
Soon God Himself (Job 38-39) will speak to Job. Had God broken onto the scene immediately after Job’s friends
had ceased talking Job might have been un-done (like Isaiah in Isa.6:5). As a godsend, Elihu bridges the gap between
the false accusations and the empty solutions offered by Job’s friends and this final discourse delivered by Jehovah God.
Job is not without fault. He has committed transgressions. His wrongdoings are not the many
slanderous false charges leveled by Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, but they are serious sins nonetheless.
Elihu has strong words to say to Job, words that will help to bring about Job’s restoration.
In Job 32:2-3, we noted previously that Elihu’s anger burned against Job’s friends…and AGAINST JOB.
This morning we want to focus on ELIHU’S REBUKE OF JOB.
Elihu speaks the truth in love as he provides guidance to Job. His rebuke is stern but it is wrapped in compassion.
And, once again, I feel confident that we can rest assured that Elihu’s words of instruction are wisdom from above.
Open your Bible to Job 32-37
Two weeks ago I asked you to read carefully chapters 32-27 in an effort to ascertain, “What Is Job’s Problem?”.
In using the word “problem” I do not mean to minimize the seriousness of Job’s disposition.
Job has a flawed view of himself, which causes him to have a flawed view of God. This leads to multiple sins.
Job was not suffering because of his sinning, he was sinning because of his suffering.
This is not just a cute saying that provides a nifty quote - - it is a profound observation about Job’s real issue.
For most of her adult life Jim McGiggan’s wife was afflicted. Jim was a prominent professor, author and debater
and in high demand as a gospel preacher. He has traveled far and wide teaching and preaching the gospel of Christ.
While Jim has labored in God’s work, his wife was essentially homebound because of her chronic illness.
When others would inquire of her condition, brother McGuiggan would respond saying, “She suffers well”.
This is a noteworthy expression of faith and trust that few of us have truly grasped.
In a nutshell, this addresses Job’s problem. Job had come to the point where he wasn’t suffering well.
When Job was first afflicted (chapters one and two), he responded with remarkable faith and trust.
Job 1:21 / The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Job 2:10 / Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?
But as his sufferings linger, Job becomes hindered and he evolves into one who was not suffering well.
While we can sympathize with Job’s plight, we cannot deny that Job’s behavior is less than admirable, indeed sinful.
Job’s circumstances remind us of the words of Paul written to the churches of Galatia (Gal.5:7) - -
You were running well; who (what) has hindered you…
I am told that Mark, Jeannie’s youngest brother, used to cry out, “Moooom, Tim’s hindering me.”
So what was hindering Job?
We can only imagine the inner struggle that Job battled while his almost unbearable heartache and pain persisted.
It’s one thing to have our lives turned upside down with pain for a little while, but there’s an added agony that
comes when the bad things loiter - - when our hurts and heartaches hang on and are not quickly resolved.
Job was not afflicted because he sinned. Job’s calamity and suffering were not punishment from God.
His sin came as the result of the way that he failed to handle his ongoing affliction.
Sometimes it is not the problem itself that brings our downfall, it’s the way we mishandle the problem.
This is often the case in failed marriages. Serious conflicts arise but most all of them are seldom insurmountable.
Marriages often crash and burn because of the lack of conflict resolution - - a failure to handle problems in a good way.
Mean words are spoken that deepen the damage and harmful deeds are done that widen the road to reconciliation.
In these chapters (32-27), wherein Elihu speaks to Job, we are able to discern Job’s sin.
One key passage is Job 33:8-12 (New Century Version).
Elihu says to Job - - I heard what you have said; I heard every word.
You said, ‘I am pure and without sin; I am innocent and free from guilt. But God has found fault with me;
He considers me His enemy. He locks my feet in chains and closely watches everywhere I go.’
But I tell you, YOU ARE NOT RIGHT IN SAYING THIS, because God is greater than we are.
My first observation is to say that Job could have benefited from Isaiah’s words (Isa.64:6 - - which were not yet written):
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.
Paul’s words (Rom.3:9-10) would have also given Job pause / all are under sin; there is none righteous, not even one.
Job’s self-righteousness attitude is his first sin, but, as is so often the case, this sin soon leads to others.
In asserting, I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m innocent (a paraphrase of 33:9), Job implies that God should bless him.
Job thinks that he should be receiving God’s blessings and becomes angry when God allows his afflictions to continue.
In other words, Job assumes that God is denying him JUSTICE by denying him THE BLESSINGS HE FEELS HE HAS EARNED.
This is an encapsulation of Job’s faulty theology.
Like Job, many of us (and lots of others) have the notion that if we live a good life, God is OBLIGATGED to reward us.
So when life doesn’t go the way we expect, we irreverently and falsely accuse God of being unjust.
We glibly and falsely conclude: when bad things happen to good people, it’s because God is UNJUST and UNFAIR.
Job’s journal allows us to painfully witness Job’s response to his sufferings. What starts so well becomes bad.
Job’s ever-fermenting bad response is not at all well-received by Almighty God.
Speaking God-given words, Elihu calls him out, saying: You are not right in saying this (about God) / 33:12
In the New Testament Job is set forth as a model of endurance (Js.5:11).
The story of Job is going to end on a high note, but at this juncture Job’s future is hanging in the balance.
How he receives this sobering admonishment from Elihu will make all the difference.
Another passage that illustrates Job’s sin problem is Job 34:5-10 & 12 (New English Bible & NCV) - -
This is Elihu speaking directly and frankly to Job - - Job has said, ‘I am innocent, but God has deprived me of justice
(God has taken away my “right” (NASV); He has falsified my case; My state is desperate, yet I have done no wrong.’
Was there ever a man like Job with his thirst for irreverent talk, choosing bad company to share his journeys, a
fellow-traveler with wicked men? For he says that it brings a man no profit to find favor with God. But listen to
me, you men of good sense. GOD CAN NEVER DO WRONG! IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE ALMIGHTY TO DO EVIL…
TRULY GOD WILL NEVER DO WRONG; THE ALMIGHTY WILL NEVER TWIST WHAT IS RIGHT.
Elihu is telling it like it is to Job.
Job is suffering, but in his suffering he has come to be guilty of dis-trusting and disparaging Almighty God.
Job’s response to God is one of scorn (34:9 & 35:3): What good does it do me to do good,
I might as well indulge in sin, because God doesn’t reward me when I try to please Him.
We all know that it is a great virtue to TRUST God. The flipside of this truth is that it is a serious sin to DISTRUST God.
Sometimes while we are facing trials, we witness ungodly people prospering and enjoying life.
Like Job, we are tempted to think similar scornful thoughts and make similar charges against God.
While Job has not rejected God outright, his distrust and disparagement of God has put him in an extremely
precarious position. Job is on the brink of denying God and thereby facing consequences with eternal ramifications.
Once again in Job 36:22-23, Elihu lets Job have it with both barrels: God is great and powerful; no other
teacher is like Him. No one has planned His ways for Him; no one can say to God, ‘You have done wrong’.
In Job 37:5 & 23, Elihu adds - - God’s voice thunders is wonderful ways; He does things we cannot understand.
The Almighty is too high for us to reach. He has great strength; He is always fair and never punishes unfairly.
In my hurt over loosing my four-legged friend, Siggy, I have joked with others saying, If I make it to heaven, one of my questions to God is going to be to ask Him, ‘why do turtles get to live to be 100 and dogs only get about 12 years or so?’.
This study in the book of Job has convinced me and convicted me that I ought not talk this way, not even in jest.
It is never right to question God’s immutable (never-changing) sense of justice. Who am I to question God’s wisdom?
As we read Elihu’s extensive words to Job we can hear an echo of that ancient declaration of Abraham (Gen.18:25) - -
Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?
When (not “if”, but “when”) we face great trials and the deepest of heartaches, we must TRUST God Almighty.
It is not a minor offense to distrust God - - it is SINFUL! Thankfully, as the psalms and so many other Scriptures bear out,
God is patient and long-suffering with us as we mature in our faith in coming to terms with this challenging truth.
When we are overwhelmed by troubles and suffering, we must not disparage God by accusing Him of being unfair.
Let us hear again the wise words of Isaiah (Isa.64:8) as we close in prayer - -
But now, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You are the potter; All of us are the work of Your Hand.
