The Sin Of Slander

Terry Siverd
02/19/17 - Sun AM

Series: Endurance In Days Of Extremity - The Journey And Journal Of Job

THE SIN OF SLANDER

Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd

Cortland Church of Christ / February 19, 2017

We are pretty much united in agreeing that the book of Job can be somewhat intimidating.

 The prologue (chapters 1-2) and epilogue (chp 42) are both written in prose and is easy to read.

The difficulty comes with reading chapters 3-41.  Ancient mid-eastern poetry can be challenging to modern readers.

For this reason I have urged you to read from a more modern translation, perhaps even a paraphrase.

This morning I want to discuss THE SIN OF SLANDER.

Job’s “friends”, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, came to comfort him but their counsel is filled with false accusations.

Their faulty theology (bad things only happen to bad people) drives them to make slanderous assumptions about Job.

Last Sunday we touched on this issue with a sermon titled:  With Friends Like These (Who Needs Enemies).

Job is on the receiving end of their numerous rebukes, and he is not pleased with their unjust charges against him.

In Job 16:2, Job declares, sorry comforters are you all.

The central issue here is not that Job is too thin-skinned , “on edge”, and unwilling to heed sound advice.

Granted, Job is suffering terribly, but he knows that in his heart of hearts he is not guilty of their unfounded claims.

When we come to the end of the story, we read of God’s reprimand of Elizphaz, Bildad & Zophar (Job 42:7-9).

God’s anger is kindled against Job’s three friends and He says to them, you have not spoken of ME what is right… (vs.7b).

God directs them to offer up burnt offerings for themselves while Job prays for them (vs.8).

The focus of God’s denouncement of Job’s friends points out that they have been guilty of misrepresenting HIM.

But, according to Elihu (Job 32:2), an important character in this story, Job’s friends are also guilty of slandering Job.

(Elihu’s) anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

While Job is not without fault (we will speak of Job’s sin next Sunday), the accusations hurled at him are slanderous.

Slander has taken its toll on many good characters.  The Scripture tells us that - - Joseph was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife … Moses was falsely accused by the throng in the wilderness … David was falsely accused of

trying to dethrone Saul … Nehemiah was falsely accused of rebuilding the wall so as to become king himself …

Paul was falsely accused of being an illegitimate apostle … Jesus was falsely accused of blasphemy.

One of the Ten Commandments (Deut.5:20) is - - you shall not bear false witness

In Prov.6:16f we read - - There are six things which the Lords hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocence blood, a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that run rapidly to do evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.

}}}  Slander is the utterance of defamatory statements injurious to the reputation and well-being of a person.  |||

This morning I want us to comb through chapters 4-31 and take a tally of the charges leveled against Job.

I have used the Today’s English Version (a paraphrase) for much of the following.

Accusations Made By Eliphaz

4:7/non-righteous …

5:7/bringing trouble on himself … 5:11-13/ pride … cunning & scheming … 5:17/insolence or stubbornness

15:1-2/vain … 15:5/wicked & hiding behind clever words … 15:25/shaking fist & defying Almighty God … 15:34/godless

22:5/is not your wickedness great and your iniquities without end? 

22:6-10/wronged brothers … refused to give water to the tired and food to those who were hungry …

misused power to take over the land … refused to help widows … robbed and mistreated orphans …

22:15/determined to walk in the path that evil men have always followed

22:23/put an end to all the evil that is done in your house

Accusations Made By Bildad

8:4/children sinned … 8:20/unfaithful & evil

18:1/wicked … 18:21/evil

24:15 & 22/wicked

Accusations Made By Zophar

11:3/mockery … 11:4/impurity … 11:11/worthless … 11:13/bad heart … 11:14/household evil & wrong

20:2/insulting … 20:5/wicked … 20:15/stealing … 20:19/oppressing & neglecting the poor … 20:20/greediness

27:13/wicked & violent

Note Job’s declaration in 29:12-17 (TEV) in response to the accusations made by Eliphaz.

When the poor cried out, I helped them; I gave help to orphans who had nowhere to turn.

Men who were in deepest misery praised me, and I helped widows find security.

I have always acted justly and fairly. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me (TEV).

 My justice was like a robe and a turban. (NASV).

I was eyes for the blind, and feet for the lame. I was like a father to the poor and took the side of strangers in trouble. 

I destroyed the power of cruel men and rescued their victims.

Sometimes we miss one of the primary points of instruction in the story of Job.

Yes, it is about how Job deals with sorrow and suffering.

And, yes, it deals with theodicy - - the vindication of Divine justice of God in the face of the existence of evil.

But we must not underestimate a third thread of important instruction:

How should we as Christians serve as comforting friends and counselors to others living in times of extremity?

A few of us may face struggles that approximate those of Job.  If some we can be encouraged

by Job’s patience and perseverance and we can learn from Job’s faults and shortcomings.

Most of us, however, will find an equally real relevance in the story of Job as we seek to rise to

the challenge of learning how to be good, compassionate and wise comforters and counselors.

In this regard, this ancient story of Job (and his friends) is not only informative but also indicting.

Some of us might be categorized as sorry comforters, as Job candidly described his friends (Job 16:1-2).

In 1940 C.S. Lewis wrote his first popular book on Christian doctrine, The Problem of Pain.

It was an effort to examine the question of why we suffer from a theological and theoretical point of view.

It was a reasoned treatise aimed at satisfying the human intellect, but it did little to address the emotions of suffering.

Around the time when Lewis published this book he met a Christian poet and novelist named Charles Williams.

They became good friends and Lewis invited him to join a literary discussion group, the Inklings,

which included J. R.R. Tolkien and a number of other prominent authors and scholars.

On one occasion Lewis and Williams engaged in a lively discussion of the book of Job.

Williams pointed out that God permitted Job to boldly, even angrily, question HIM.

Williams pointed out that although Job’s understanding was flawed and limited, that God

never reprimanded Job or punished him for asking tough, painful questions about suffering.

Instead, God displeasure was reserved for Job’s so-called comforters, his three friends who

attempted to answer Job’s heartache by offering simplistic answers, the sort of people,

Williams added with an accusing stare, who try to write books on the problem of pain.

Williams was joking with Lewis, needling him in a good-natured way, but he was also making a serious point:

Suffering is much more than an intellectual problem. 

It’s an experience that engulfs the body, mind, and soul of the suffer.

Those who try to provide neat theoretical & theological answers to the problem of pain are of no help to the suffering.

And their arguments are made worst yet when they are laced with all manner of slanderous accusations.

Twenty years later (after writing The Problem Of Pain), Lewis wrote another book, A Grief Observed.

It was a book filled with painful, angry questions.  It reads a lot like the book of Job.

Lewis wrote A Grief Observed after watching his wife of three years die of bone cancer.  Her name was Joy.

(The above has been extracted from, Let God Be God, by Ray Steadman, pgs.69-70)

It’s easy to offer simplistic answers to our suffering friends.

But it takes courage, honesty (and faith) to admit that there are no easy answers to the problem of pain.

It also takes willpower to resist making slanderous statements against another in an effort to explain their pain.

It takes genuine love to stand by people when they are suffering, to simply be present with them

instead of offerings a lot of empty platitudes or self-righteous accusations about hidden sins.

My lesson this morning is not to tell you how to be a good friend and wise counselor.

Each of us must study God’s word diligently to learn these all-important lessons.

It will mean more to us when we ourselves discover these instructions from a serious and constant study of The Word.

We will explore some of the “how tos” on a Sunday evening coming soon in March.