Imagine a good and upright man who has enjoyed immense success in his career, is blessed with a wife and many children, has perfect health and is faithful to God. Without warning this man loses most all of what he has, even his health. What would you say to him? What can be said about how God is relating to this individual’s life? Is God cruel? Unjust? How would God respond to these questions? The Book of Job is an investigation into this very scenario.
In July we will be doing a sermon series on the Book of Job, doing an overview of the key passages and looking into the questions this unique book presents. The Book of Job falls into a category of scripture called “wisdom literature”, which is focused on conveying ways of understanding and coping with daily life. Principles are taught in wisdom literature, often casting the ways of the fool over and against the ways of the wise. The Psalms, Ecclesiastes and the Book of Proverbs also fall under the genre of wisdom literature.
Doing series such as these allows us to focus on parts of the Bible we traditionally do not spend much time on during worship. Job is not an easy book to read, given its style of verse called “poetic prose”. The sermon is always the place where we hear God’s word as a community and together reflect on what God is telling us. Job offers us a way into some important issues.
Typically when acquainting one’s self with a book in the Bible, a review of the where and when the book came from his helpful in understanding it. Job’s origins are remarkably elusive. Estimates vary as to who wrote it and when. I find this makes the book all the more intriguing. Nonetheless, here is an overview of the Book of Job:
Author: Perhaps Job or a contemporary of his.
Date: takes place in the early days of Israel, the age of patriarchs, ie Moses. The final form as we have it today comes from the six or fifth century BC.
Places: The land of Uz, east of Canaan.
People: Job, his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu. God.
Purpose: Even though we suffer in this world, God shows he is our redeemer.
Themes: People suffer in this broken world, often due to no fault of their own. No one can justify him or herself before God, but God accomplishes his righteous and good purposes amid and through suffering.
Notable verses:
Job 1:21 Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job 2:10b “…Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?”
Job 19:25 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.”
Job 38:1-2 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”
My main goal for the sermon series is that we acquaint ourselves with how the Book of Job deals with the question of suffering and where God is in our suffering. In the process we will see how the Book of Job is not afraid to be critical of simplistic “Sunday school” answers to complex theological questions. The Book of Job even raises questions about the adequacy of “religion” (in the general, traditional sense of the term) to give an adequate explanation of why we human beings suffer as we do in this universe with God at the wheel.
Not everyone who reads the Book of Job loves this book. I’ve had good and faithful people finish the book only to run up to me to register a “complaint”, expressing disappointment about how the book resolves the questions it raises. Such a point-of-view is not without merit to the conversation. I suspect there will be others who will agree with this assessment when we finish the series in August. But in the process we will see the depth and richness of how the Bible seeks to raise the questions that arise for those who believe there’s a living God working in their lives. The Book of Job provides answers that are neither trite nor simplistic. Furthermore, God is not finished with the conversation. Ultimately Jesus Christ provides the answers to Job’s questions about suffering and God. I look forward to hearing Job and spending some time with him. In the process God will enlighten us and our relationship with the creator will be deepened…..if we’re willing to take some time and stop and listen.
Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:11
Yours In Christ,
Pastor Jason Talsness
Posted July 2, 2012 by Amazing Grace Lutheran Church | Pastors Corner | Permalink |
