There’s a type of boat called a hydrofoil that has actually been around for over 100 yrs. The secret lies underneath the hull, where there are basically underwater wings. Once the boat reaches enough speed, it actually lifts out of the water and “flies” with only those wings in the water. Hydrofoils are used all over the world. Our military built some, and they were especially useful in chasing down drug runners. A boat hull creates drag when it’s in the water. Once the hull lifts out of the water, it can travel 4X faster. It’s a simple principle – the shallower it runs, the faster it can go. Sound familiar?
In order to go faster, we get shallower – superficial.
Quote - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the 20th century.
Why doesn’t a temporary tattoo last? Because it’s only on the surface, a real one has to go below the skin surface to last.
Why do celebrities crash and burn? It’s because they’re generally people who are focused on the surface. That’s what everyone cares about, so that’s where they devote their energies.
Quote - Deep down, I’m pretty superficial. - Ava Gardner
Superficiality – lacking depth of knowledge, thought or feeling.
Being superficial, in many ways, takes less work: no study, less energy, no long-term emotional commitment, no plan, no meaning to drive you, no purpose to figure out. You just go through the motions and what happens, happens.
What’s so bad about it? After all, look what it has accomplished through the years:
It’s what enabled Nazi death camp workers to slaughter millions.
It’s what enables an entire free nation to sanction the killing of 48.5 million unborn children in our past 34 years.
It’s how My-spacing and chatting and texting on a cell phone replaces actually sitting and talking with someone who has your attention.
It’s what enables people to enter into relationships that are selfish and physically-centered.
It’s what’s exhibited when a society exalts sports to a multi-billion dollar industry.
Superficiality. The conclusion of it is that life is pointless…or maybe it all starts with that.
In general, we’re living life too superficially. Compare the amount of time you spend on the way your outside looks compared to the amount of time you spend on improving your inside. So, if you’re bored, if life seems pointless or frustrating, I have good news for you: there’s a cure! There is! Come back next week and I’ll tell you what it is.
In a few words: We Need To See God. Why? How does that help?
To help us, today, we’re going to look into another changed heart and changed life. We mentioned him last week. His name is Job (not “job”) and his story is found right near the middle of the Bible.
Job is a man who went from being familiar with God to seeing God, and it forever changed him.
Consider Job and we’ll recognize that we need to see God in order…
I. To Rightly Understand Suffering
Now, if you’ve ever experienced suffering, or ever watched someone else go through it, and you didn’t have any struggle with it, you probably aren’t too worried about this. But, if you’re like me and everyone else sitting around you, you realize that we all could use some insight when it comes to understanding it.
C.S. Lewis - “We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ’’Blessed are they that mourn.’’”
God gave us this account of Job’s life to help us understand suffering. We don’t have time this morning to review all 42 chapters, since we’re focusing on the last few. Take some time this week to read it, and you’ll see that…
1. Job was a “good” man to begin with
Charles Dickens starts out A Christmas Carol with these surprising words: Marley was dead: to begin with. That’s how Job kind of opens. Job was good: to begin with…
Job1:1
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Those were the very words God used to describe him. So the man we’re looking at is someone God praised as a good man in his day…to begin with. Then, in the same first chapter, within minutes, Job lost everything he owned, and lost all his children, and he remained a “good man.” It’s important to check the end of the story too, because there God says to Job’s friends,
Job 42:7
…you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Job was a good man.
2. Job approached his suffering with a right heart toward God
Job 1:20-22
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
It’s more evidence that job was a good man to start with. Then, he must have cheered up, because, well, it got worse. In the 2nd chapter, after everything else is gone, Job loses his health too. And he still kept his integrity. Even when his wife gave up, Job didn’t. It didn’t mean he wasn’t struggling, but, overall, Job had a right heart toward God.
3. Job’s friends didn’t
Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz, Job’s 3 friends, came to give him some encouragement in the midst of all of his suffering. They could see he was hurting, so they all took a crack at helping Job understand his suffering. How did they do? Let’s let Job give a review:
Job 12:2
Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
Job 16:2-4
I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all! Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.
Job 19:2-3
How long will you torment me and crush me with words? Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.
Job’s friends had wrong ideas about suffering. They told Job something must be wrong – there must be some secret sin in his life or something, because this stuff doesn’t just happen to people for no reason. They were wrong. Jesus pointed out in Lk 13 that bad things happening to us doesn’t mean we’re any more guilty, any worse sinners, than anyone else. Yes, sometimes sin in your life directly causes suffering, but not always. In Job’s case, that’s not what was wrong, and his friends didn’t get it.
So, if we’re going to approach suffering the right way, we’re going to need to see God. Near the end of the book, Job is struggling. Through this whole experience he still hasn’t seen God – not quite yet.
When we’re in the middle of hurts, clichés and detached advice aren’t going to get us through. We’re going to need more. I want to suggest that more than anything, We need to see God.
II. To Fully Appreciate Blessings
There have been millions who have successfully learned from and grown through hardship. There have been far fewer to successfully navigate blessings; the good times. It’s true! Or did Jesus just not mean it when He said that it was hard, very hard, for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
Every good and perfect gift is from above. If we’re going to rightly appreciate God’s blessing, we’ll have to see Him.
Job had been blessed. He had stuff. He had a wife and 10 kids. He was the greatest among all the men of the East. And somehow, he managed to keep a handle on how to look at all of it. When his wife just couldn’t take watching him suffer anymore, she was urging him to curse God and die.
Job 2:10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
One of the reasons Job was able to keep his head on was his understanding that the good things in his life were an allotment from God in the first place. They weren’t his own. He had accepted good from God. He was ready to accept trouble too.
Shallow people, who don’t have a genuine relationship with God, can’t appreciate what they have.
1. They don’t understand that it’s not just for self, so they don’t have the joy of giving
Jesus said it’s a greater blessing to give than to receive. People who don’t regularly give are depriving themselves of the gain that comes from giving.
2. They won’t understand that it’s not what life is all about, so they won’t ever have enough
No person who sets themselves to get stuff ever has enough. It’s the law of diminishing returns. The more you return to being greedy, the more your satisfaction diminishes.
3. They won’t have treasure laid up in heaven, so death will be the worst thing that could happen
Shallow people are necessarily people who don’t want to think about death very often, because it’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to them. And, sure enough, it happens to every one of them just the same. It always has!
God has blessed my life. How sad it is for me to fail to fully appreciate what He has done for me. For me to do that consistently, I need to see God.
I also need to see God in order…
III. To Be Able To Speak Rightly of God
I’ve heard a lot of people try to speak for God, and some are not doing a very accurate job of it. I know it’s not accurate because God has already spoken, and I have the transcript to look at right here.
You can misquote me. I probably won’t sue you or try to shoot you or make a Voodoo doll of you in my office. In fact, you can misquote me, and it may not change a whole lot of peoples’ lives. I’d rather you not misrepresent me. I may even come speak to you to set things straight, but it’s not the end of the world if you misquote me.
But claim to speak for God, and it’s another story. Lives hang in the balance. Whether people are going to spend eternity in heaven or hell may be at stake. You have to get this right.
Parents, you’re the first voice of God you’re kids are going to hear. Are you representing Him accurately?
SS teachers, we don’t thank you enough for what you do week to week here. But let me remind you, that when you get up to teach, you’re supposed to be speaking rightly of God. Make sure you are.
Job’s friends blew it. Elihu, who speaks later in the book, seems to have it right. Job has some shining moments when he speaks, and some moments of darkness as well. What’s going to make the difference? What will reassure that you’ll speak rightly of God? You have to “see” Him.
IV. To Be Able To See Myself Correctly
A few weeks ago, the “self-esteem” movement of the past couple decades was called on the carpet. Some top psychologists have started to say that constantly telling kids “you’re special” has produced our nation’s most narcissistic society ever – a generation of shallow, me-centered people whose entire focus is on their outsides. Now, we don’t need the other extreme either. People are needing help being able to see themselves correctly.
At the end of the book of Job, Job’s 3 friends, and the young man named Elihu have all had their say. Up to this point, there haven’t been many words from God. Somewhere, off in the distance, a storm is brewing. As that storm comes, God speaks directly to Job. After all, Job had said,
Job 31:35 Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense--let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
Job was about to go from someone who knows about God to someone who knows Him – from someone who has heard about God, to someone who has seen Him.
Most every time this happens in Scripture, we find people taking a suddenly changed view of themselves. Moses, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and others fall on their faces. You don’t get a view of God and just think the same as you did before. They see God’s glory and they feel differently - Weak in the face of God’s power; unholy in the light of God’s holiness; foolish in the face of God’s wisdom.
Ill - What we can see as we get closer to God is like a big, well-lit mirror. From a distance, everything about ourselves looks OK. But as you begin to get closer to the mirror, things begin to show up. The shirt has a spot on it. The tie is a little bit wrinkled. The hair is out of place. The closer we get to the bright light, the more we realize our defects. It’s the same way when we get close to God. When we get close to him, we realize how much we need him and how far we are from him. We’re convicted of our sin. Maybe that’s why we resist closeness with God. It makes us look like we really look. Being around perfection highlights our own imperfections.
Watch Job take a different view of himself – Job, who had just been saying, “If only I could have a word with God, to plead my case before Him. If I could just help Him see that I’m innocent and that this doesn’t make much sense…”
“Job, take out a #2 pencil. Number your paper from 1-40. Let’s begin…”
And starting with 38:4, God gives Job a pop-quiz. Question 1 – where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Next question, when I filled up the oceans, where were you? Next question, do you command the sun to rise? Do you have power to overpower the wicked? Next question – have you ever measured the earth? Next question – explain the following briefly: snow, hail, light, wind, floods, rain, lightning, dew, frost, and ice – where do they come from, who decides when they’ll happen. Next question – did you put all the stars in place? (bonus question – do you know all their names?) Then there are some zoology questions: about lions, ravens, mountain goats, wild donkeys, wild oxen, ostriches, horses, eagles and hawks. The last two sections deal with the Behemoth and the Leviathan. They may be a hippopotamus and a crocodile. They may also be dinosaurs still living at that time. Either way, the questions make it clear you wouldn’t just go out and hunt one for dinner or a pet.
“OK, the test is over. Any questions?”
Job 42:1-6
Then Job replied to the LORD: "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ’Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. "You said, ’Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
God’s test may seem harsh. Somewhere in the middle of all that questioning, Job changed from just knowing about God to truly knowing Him. Precursory knowledge of God isn’t enough. Superficial understanding of life won’t do. Job needed, we need, to see God. When we do, like Job, we’ll be able to see ourselves correctly.
Well, if God spoke to me directly from a whirlwind, I suppose that would work for me too. But He hasn’t. What will it take?
1. Perhaps suffering
Job’s experience didn’t just happen there in one rainy afternoon. He’d been suffering for over a week at the very least. He’d experienced losing his wealth, all his children, the support of his wife, the respect of his neighbors, and the sound advice of his friends. He’d wrestled with life and it’s meaning, he’d wrestled with questions about justice and about the nature of God. The road he had traveled is the one we wouldn’t choose, when we have the choice, because it’s hard.
Let’s not write off all suffering as bad experience. It’s hard at the time, but it often puts us in a place where we’re more likely to see God. When life’s too full of other stuff, when it’s too easy to enjoy life without God, there’s less reason to look at Him and to see Him.
2. Contemplation
I find it interesting that in answer to all of Job’s questions, God asks him to consider how he stacks up next to the wonder of creation. I can picture David doing this on a regular basis.
Psalms 8:3-4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You can’t do that without getting out and seeing the stars! You can’t do that without considering Who made them and how amazing it is that God gives us His attention! Talk about a self-esteem builder – the God Who set those stars in place knows how many hairs are on top of your head!
Paul wrote,
Romans 1:19-20
since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
If I can understand things about God by what I can see in creation, then I need to get out and look at creation as a part of seeing God! I want to understand God’s eternal power and divine nature. I want to see God!
The next step is when we take what we see in creation, what we read in God’s word, and we put that all together into a way of thinking and living. I need to see God so that I can see myself the way I should.
Conclusion:
The last way of seeing God I want to mention is through Jesus. Some 2,000 yrs before Jesus was born, in one of his shining moments, Job said,
Job 19:25-27
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
I don’t know how Job had that concept when he did, but it sure was right on!
Do you want to see God?
John 1:18
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
You get to see God through the person of His Son Jesus Christ.
John 14:8-9
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’?
If you want to really know God, you need to really know Jesus Christ. There’s no other way to the Father except through Jesus. That’s how it works. You need to see God. Look at Jesus Christ. Stop living superficially today.
