Job 1

Here is a post I recently wrote for Calvary Church's Jr. High blog:

Job 1
A Re-Introduction of the Book and Exposition of Chapter 1

Job.  Such a well-known piece of work but at the same time so ambiguous.  A couple months ago I was in Guatemala serving at an orphanage outside of Guatemala City.  One day I was working in one of the houses and noticed one of the more unruly boys reading his Bible.  Later that day at dinner I asked him about his reading.  This boy didn’t know much English and I don’t know all that much Spanish.  I asked him what he was reading and he responded by saying that he was reading from his favorite book of the Bible “Hope.”  Well, I had no idea what he was talking about because to my knowledge there is definitely not a book in the Bible called “Hope.”  After a few minutes I realized that he was saying “Job” but with the Spanish “J” sound (H) and a thick accent on the rest of the word.  

When I think back on this encounter I immediately chuckle over the confusion that the language barrier caused.  However, this story carries with it a greater implication.  The boy said that the Book of Job was his favorite book in the Bible.  This came from an orphan boy in a third-world nation.  If anyone has the right to ask the question “why do bad things happen to good people” it’s him.  This speaks volumes to the fact that Job appeals and speaks to all people in all situations.

Now, it’s been a long time since this series was started by Evan Loveless so if you haven’t read his introduction you should go check it out because when approaching Scripture it is so vitally important to come with a background of knowledge of the work.  This allows us to read the writing for what it says and to read it on its terms and not our own.

The book of Job teaches us truth about God, Satan, and suffering.  As God controls the natural world, so he controls the moral world.  As the infinite and powerful creator, he is able to govern the moral world righteously, even though his way is hidden from men.  This work leads readers to two very important questions.  First, “Is there such thing as disinterested righteousness?”  This means would it be possible to want to choose the Christian life if there was no individual benefit for doing so?  Secondly, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  

There is so much that happens in the first chapter of Job.  Right off the bat Job’s credibility is established.  If the question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” is going to be asked, it has to be proven that Job is a good person.  If Job is to lost his possessions and wealth, it has to be shown that Job is a wealthy person.  Verse 2 says that Job had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, etc.  In those days a man’s wealth was shown by how much livestock, land, and servants he possessed.  Not only did he have a lot of possessions, but Job had a large family:  7 sons and 3 daughters.  

Job was such a righteous person that he would offer sacrifices to God in the form of burnt offerings.  For a full description of the types of sacrifices you can read Leviticus.  But basically, Job was making sacrifices for sins of his children unknown to them.  He was offering sacrifices for sins that were unintentional.  How often do we only ask forgiveness from God for actions for which we feel guilty?  Job recognized the continual importance of repentance.  

Scene two
Enter all of God’s servants.  This most likely means all the angels came before God.  Along with them came Satan.  Often when we read this we slip up on the words.  Wait!  Why on earth is Satan with the other angels in the presence of God?  

Satan has access to God and is hostile to God's will and his people.  The term "Satan" means "adversary."  Although he may plague God's people, he is under the sovereign control of God.  Satan himself is not a deity but a creature whose work is limited according to God' will.  Outside Job 1-2, Satan is mentioned only in 1 Chronicles 21:1 and Zechariah 3:1.  Hence, Satan and his work is primarily a New Testament revelation.  Whenever something bad happens to persons in the Old Testament, they hold God accountable (see Job 1:21). 
God and Satan have a conversation.  It’s almost as if God and Satan have a little bet going on.  God asks Satan from where he came.  Satan replies that he had been roaming the earth.  God asks Satan if he has noticed how upright Job is.  Satan responds telling God that of course Job fears the Lord and lives righteously.  God has protected him and blessed him.  Satan believes that if all Job’s wealth and blessings were removed that he would no longer have faith.  At this, God tells Satan that he has permission to test this theory of his on Job but he can’t hurt Job’s health.

This is a common questions asked by unbelievers.  I remember one day reading a tweet by someone on Kurt Warner’s twitter page.  It essentially read “It’s easy to be a Christian when you have the life that you do.  You make millions of dollars by playing football…what a tough life.”   Kurt Warner responded by saying “I was a Christian before I made my millions when I worked fulltime at a grocery store.”  

Scene 3:

Taking the bet, Satan attacks Job’s possessions and family.  Overnight Job loses everything.  All of his family (except for his wife), all of his animals, all his wealth.  Everything.  There is an expression that says “when it rains, it pours.”  This is an understatement in Job’s case.   Have you ever lost a family member?  Job lost all of his at once.  

Yet, Job’s response was unexpected.   Think how you would react if this happened to you.  Your mom dies unexpectedly.  An hour later you hear that father has been killed.  Right when you are hearing this news you get another message telling you that all your siblings were in a car accident.  Would your initial response be the same as Job’s?

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

It is so important to remember that we deserve nothing.  Everything we have is a blessing from God and to be used for His glory.  I feel that so often we feel that we are entitled to the American dream life.  I think this is the major sin that American Christianity needs to forsake.  The American Dream and the Christian life are mutually exclusive.  They cannot co-exist.  As Jesus says “You cannot serve both God and money.”  What happens when you lose the life you have so carefully tried to establish?  What happens when the Job story becomes your story?  

1 Samuel 15:10-11

"Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 'I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.' And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night."

Firstly, this is not a biblical exegesis on these two verses.


Samuel cared so much for the people around him, the people he served. This started me thinking "when was the last time I was so distressed about another's situation that it caused me to lose sleep and cry out to God all night?"

Other people's situations seem to affect me more so than my own, but never to this extent. I think we are frequently content with allowing something to move us, praying once about it, and then moving on. Samuel cried out all night!

Consistency

Does being consistently inconsistent count as being consistent? If so, I am the most consistent blogger out there... well, probably not. I'm sure there are thousands others who start blogging with the same good intent that I do, but like me fail miserably.

With that being said, I find the idea of failing to be an extremely interesting one. We measure failure by the absence of success. Failing is subjective and completely dependent upon the measure of success. Yet, even in its dependence, we magnify that which is dependent over that which is independent. In our own lives if failing could be defined as "missing the mark" (which incidentally enough is the literal definition of sin), then what is the mark? What is success? What does a successful life look like? It's funny; we know what a failed life looks like, a life that is defined by lacking something, a life that's dependent upon the lack of an idea. But, we don't necessarily know what a successful life looks like.

Just a thought.

Response to Author Anne Rice's Leaving Christianity

On July 29, 2010, widely read author, Anne Rice, publicly renounced her dedication to her Roman Catholic faith, yet remaining committed to Christ, on her Facebook page stating:

"For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else."

then over the next few hours proceeded to post:

“As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

"My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become."

"My commitment to Christ remains at the heart and center of my life. Transformation in Him is radical and ongoing. That I feel now that I am called to be an outsider for Him, to step away from the words, "Christian" and "Christianity" is something that my conscience demands of me. I feel that my faith in Him demands this of me. I know of no other way to express how I must remove myself from those things which seek to separate me from Him."

_____________________________________________________

How sad is this? Even within the Church, Christianity is still known for what it isn't rather than for what it is. How does she think she can maintain faith in Christ while not remaining a member of His Church? This is so absurd. Without Christ, there is no Christianity. Ms Rice says that "Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be." THE TWO ARE INSEPARABLE. This is not a debate of religion, but of the heart and mind. To leave the Church is to reject Christ for the Church is God's chosen instrument for relationship with Him. And, to further state that she feels that her "faith in Him demands" this action. Wow. Ms Rice needs to read what 1 John says about leaving the community.

This is why it is so desperately important to develop an understanding of why the Church is so important. We are to love, serve, protect, and cherish the Church, faithfully remaining pure as a body until the day Christ returns to receive His bride.

Observations on the Culture's Outlook on Marriage

Throw whatever divorce rate statistic you want at me. As depressingly startling those outrageous numbers are, it's not the rate that gets me worked up. Nor is it the fact that the divorce rate within Christianity is the same as that of outside. It's situations like the following two:

Awhile ago, I was sitting in a local BreadCo working on some studies. A few tables away there was a group of men and women getting ready to begin a meeting. Before the meeting began, I overheard a lady from the group talking to a coworker about a man they both knew and his marriage. She said, "I just think it's great how he's been able to manage to stay married to the same woman for as long as he has. And the weird thing is that they actually seem to be happy."

A few days later, I was at church setting up for a wedding. The groom arrived several hours early. I was actually pretty impressed that he was the first member of the wedding party on scene. As I passed him in the hallway he looked at his watch and made a comment to the extent of "I still have time to run." An hour or so later as I was mopping a floor one of his groomsmen made a joke to me saying, "hey man, you could have it worse today than mopping floors-- it could be you getting married today."

There is so much that could be said here, but this is why the divorce rate is so high. It's not completely because of the problems that come up in marriage, but the attitudes people have towards it.

Camp

So I work for Calvary Church in St. Peters, Missouri and we just returned back from senior high camp down at Table Rock Lake in Shell Knob, Missouri. The week was truly great for so many ways but I think some of my freshmen guys iterated the time the best: "This week has been so much better than jr. high camp. Yeah, there's more 'fun' things to do there but here it has just been so spiritually amazing." I was amazed to hear these words echoed by 14 year old boys. God truly moved this week and I was blessed to be a part of the experience.

How do we carry the week of camp over to our daily normal lives? Camp covers 1 out of 52 weeks of the year and I would be willing to bet that for many it covers almost all of the intentionally spiritual encounters with God by most attenders. What does that life truly look like? More importantly, what does that life look like to other people? Life doesn't slow down for us so that the camp life just happens to exist back home. Actually, life speeds up. A lot.

Drew Brees is a Stud