Sermon Brief
Date Written: December 29, 2009
Date Preached: January 03, 2010
Where Preached: Oak Park (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Series on Job
Sermon Title: Choosing FAITH over Suffering
Sermon Text: Job 2:9-10 [HCSB]
9 His wife said to him, "Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!" 10 "You speak as a foolish woman speaks," he told her. "Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?" Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.
Introduction:
In this sermon, I am going to ask you to take a look at 3 things choosing faith WON’T do for someone who suffers, and THEN I want us to look at 3 things that choosing faith WILL do for those who are suffering: Before we get started let’s take a look at an overview of what we are going to look at this morning:
FIRST… I want us to understand that when we CHOOSE FAITH in the midst of our suffering it is NOT going to:
Take away the pain of the situation; the pain will still be there!
Stop our mind from asking all those difficult questions or others from asking questions, but finally when we choose faith in our suffering we need to realize that it is NOT going to:
Bring us to a logical reason for our suffering… in other words it won’t answer the ‘why me’ question!
Now as depressing as that MAY sound, I want us to also look at what CHOOSING FAITH in the midst of suffering will do for us:
The first and most important thing it does is that it reminds us that God is the One in control,
The second thing that choosing FAITH in our suffering is that it is a rare gift to God from us… which leads to the 3rd thing I see and that is that it…
Is going to bring you closer to God when you choose FAITH in the midst of your suffering!
Commentary on our passage of Scripture for the morning!
We know that Satan is our enemy and he tries to get us to fall into sin… to destroy our witness and our lives, but what I want to tell you this morning is THAT is not what is happening here in the book of Job.
Job was a faithful servant of God in all aspects…but Satan believed he was only obedient because God was blessing him so he asks God to allow him to take away those blessings and surely Job would curse God.
In our passage this morning we find Satan attempting to tear Job down thru his wife, and by the time we reach our passage Job had lost EVERYTHING that was considered by the world to be worth anything and in the eyes of the world he was DONE… finished… his life was over!
His wife simply was the voice of the rest of society around Job… Job had not only lost his worldly possessions but he had lost his health as well, as he was covered from head to toe with sores… it was a most disgusting sight.
Now you may not be sitting in ashes and you may not be covered with sores from head to foot, but have you ever been where Job was? Has the downturn in the economy ‘stole’ from your nest egg and now you don’t know how you are going to make it?
Has a disease or sickness caused you to believe that your life is OVER? Have you ever been to the point in life when you want to strike out at God because of what sickness or disease has done to you or a loved one?
I believe that we all have been there at one time or another, but one thing we have to remember is that God did not bring sickness or disease into this world, but it entered the world when humanity sinned against God and turned its back on God in the Garden.
Another aspect of this is seeing how God has dealt with his children throughout history when it comes to suffering. God has always been there for His children and has never left them… some may have thought God had abandoned them because of the severity of the storm in their lives… but in reality God was right there with them. Also, as difficult as it is to understand, we also know that God uses trial and suffering to mature and grow His children.
But even in the middle of all his suffering we find that Job doesn’t shake his fist at God but is humbled. It is NOT Job but his wife that is discouraged and troubled. I have found that when loved ones are suffering, there are many who get angry with God for ‘allowing’ this suffering, and they begin to make demands of God!
But in this situation, Job’s wife doesn’t strike out at God directly, but she goes to Job and ridicules him for his faith by telling him to curse God and just DIE… I believe that Job’s wife was so very frustrated and upset over seeing her husband suffer… and in her mind, Job WAS going to die, so he might as well get it over with… and if he would just curse God… God would take his life!
I believe in this situation we find that it is not really Job’s wife who is the problem, but it is the enemy who brings Job’s wife to her knees by planting doubt and despair into her mind… and so Job’s wife becomes a source of DIScouragement and trouble to Job!
This is nothing new for Satan, he planted seeds of doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve and led to their fall from innocence. AND, even today we know that Satan is STILL the enemy of God and he is still is trying to draw believers away from God!
He can do this thru our circumstances in life and by suggesting hard and bad thoughts about God and God’s intentions! But we HAVE to remember that Satan is a liar, and there is NOTHING that Satan does that is based in truth! He is the father of all lies and his recount of God in our temptation is nothing but false and we cannot fall to that falsehood.
And we can see that in our passage this morning that Job was faced by Satan’s attempts to make him fall away from God and curse God. But we also find that Job did NOT fall prey to this temptation and that Job DID resist Satan!
And ultimately after MUCH travail, Job DID finally overcomehis very difficult trial and temptation. Job was a man who God saw as righteous, he was a man who strove to serve God in all he did…
Now I believe that there is NOT a soul here today who has faced the sudden and tragic nature of Job’s trials. We have all had to endure difficult times and hard trials in our lives, but NOTHING like Job’s. There are many people in this world who face very difficult times and suffer greatly at the hand of some disease or other circumstance out of their control, such as being laid off, without work or prospects of work, or financial stress and problems. And these same people may wonder WHY God would allow such devastation and hurt in this world!
But when we read Scripture it is clear as to WHY… the Bible tells us that we are ALL sinners. And because of that sin we have fallen out of the perfection and innocence God created us for… and when sin entered the world it brought with it, sickness, disease, pain, suffering and death.
So when trouble comes our way… laying the lay blame on God is really not something that we can do, since He did not bring these things about… it is sin that brings death, destruction and devastation to all it touches… If we believe that God is cruel to allow this to happen, then we believe that we are immune to God’s law and the punishment that comes along with that disobedience.
Key Illustration, Part I:
38-year-old Carlotta Bennett was riding out Hurricane Katrina in her attic with her family. The winds had blown her house was off its foundation, and the rising water was threatening to flood the house to the roof and drown the five people in the attic.
Outside the house, 2 huge pecan trees had fallen around the house, one in the front, the other in the back, and they had wedged the house in place and somehow kept it from collapsing.
That’s when her 4-year-old daughter decided it was time to pray. Carlotta said sometime later, “You know, I’ve never been so scared in my life, but that’s when my daughter said, ‘Mama, you’ve got to calm down. Let’s pray.’”
When they finished praying, the water actually started to recede and eventually the family was able to work their way down the attic stairs and into their house. They found that every exit was blocked by the trees that had wedged their house in place and had actually saved their lives the night before.
Carlotta’s husband, took his family by the hand and led them through a window, and all five members walked the few blocks they had to walk to reach a local Middle School that had become a rescue shelter. This is where they would be staying for the next 10 days.
At the middle school, more than 350 people, many of them injured, lived without running water or electricity for the next week and a half. The families would bathe outside from a water spigot. Only later did they find that the water was contaminated.
Inside the school, toilets refused to flush, and conditions became dangerously unhealthy and after five days, most of the families moved outside, where they lived on the parking lot for five more days.
With their world in disarray, and the world seemingly falling down around them, the Bennett’s and other families began to pray for a miracle. In the face of such a disaster, it was the only thing they knew how to do.
(Note: illustration is completed as the conclusion of the sermon.)
People have been dealing with the destructive power of hurricanes and earthquakes and tornadoes as long as humans and the forces of nature have been around, but the fact of the matter is that even when the storm is finally over, the battle is NOT… another rages on.
The battle I speak of is the battle of the heart! You see most will people feel it necessary to ask the important question of “WHY?” Why would the God who created us allow us to go through so much suffering? Why would God all this to happen to me?
Today I am here to tell you that God is NOT afraid of the tough questions! God does not turn a deaf ear to those who are suffering and enduring suffering. In our passage this morning we find one of the oldest stories in recorded history and it is an anchor within the Bible.
This story reveals a man named Job who undergoes so much suffering that even still today, the name Job carries with it the distinction of suffering and affliction! But this story is not a great story because OF the suffering!
This story is great because of the way Job dealt with his suffering! We will NEVER forget Job as he has been a source of strength for many people ever since people began searching the Bible for answers.
We find when we read the story of Job that he responded to his great suffering with an even greater faith. His stories, and his response, leave us with a very important question that we must ask ourselves and that is:
How are YOU going to respond when it seems as if your world is caving in? Are you going to strike out in ANGER? Or will you dare to choose faith over anger? Now choosing faith OVER anger in the midst of your suffering is NOT an easy thing to do and I realize this!
Our story this morning reveals that as well, but we find that even IF we are willing to make the choice of faith over anger in our time of suffering… that it does not mean the battle is over! But what we realize is that when we choose faith over anger in the midst of our suffering… we can find that the battle we have with our suffering can be far from over. Just because we have faith in God… this does NOT mean all our trials, tribulations and suffering will end…
Scripture teaches us that suffering and those trials and tribulations that we face in life are like that water-logged family from Biloxi, MS during Hurricane Katrina! There are going to be times when the biggest battles come after the storm has passed.
This morning I have a very simple outline. I want us to take a look at 3 things that choosing faith over anger in our suffering won’t do for someone, and 3 things that choosing faith over anger in your suffering WILL do for the believer.
1. Choosing faith in suffering will not eliminate the pain.
Job was nearly crushed by the pain of suffering. He tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to the ground when he heard that his children had died (Job 1:20). His physical ailments were so painful; he used broken pottery as the instruments in his homemade surgery (Job 2:7).
And yet in the midst of such pain and heartache, Job issued some of the greatest statements of faith ever heard. Let’s look Job 1:21…and Job 2:10
Job 1:21 - "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."
Job 2:10 - Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
How is it that a man can choose such great faith, and still feel such great pain? How else could it be? If we take the risk of loving those around us, the grief will be tremendous if those we love are taken from us. The alternative to grief is to never love at all, and Job simply would not take that alternative.
Illustration: A preaching professor at Harvard University tells the story of the year his 5-year-old son was working on an art project in his kindergarten class. It was made of plaster, resembled nothing in particular, but with some paint, sparkle and time in a kiln, it was ready to be wrapped as a gift. He wrapped it himself, and was beside himself with excitement. It would be a gift for his father, one three months in the making.
Early in December, when the child could hardly contain the secret, the last day of school finally came. All the parents arrived for the big Christmas play, and when the students left for home, they were finally allowed to take their ceramic presents home.
The professor’s son secured his gift, ran toward his parents, tripped, and fell to the floor. The gift went airborne, and when it landed on the cafeteria floor, the shattering sound stopped all conversations. It was perfectly quiet for a moment, as all involved considered the magnitude of the loss. For a 5-year-old, there had never been a more expensive gift. He crumpled down on the floor next to his broken gift and just started crying.
Both parents rushed to their son, but the father was uncomfortable with the moment. People were watching. His son was crying. He patted the boy on the head and said, "Son, it's OK – it doesn't matter."
His wife glared at the great professor. “Oh yes, it matters,” she said to both of her men, “Oh yes, it does matter.” She cradled her son in her arms, rocked him back and forth, and cried with him.
In a few minutes, the crying ceased. “Now,” said the mother, “let’s go home and see what can be made with what's left.” And so with mother's magic and a glue gun, they put together from the broken pieces a multi-colored butterfly. Amazingly, the artwork after the tragedy was actually much more beautiful than what it had been in a pre-broken state.
At Christmas, the gift was finally given, and as long as he taught at Harvard, the professor kept the butterfly on his desk. It was a constant reminder that grief is real, and that loss hurts. It was also a reminder that from great loss, great beauty can eventually emerge.
2. Choosing faith in suffering will not stop the questions:
In the book of Job, two chapters of great faith are followed immediately by 35 chapters of great questions. Job wasn’t alone with his questions. Jeremiah couldn’t preach without weeping, and constantly questioned how God could have allowed such despair.
David wrestled with questions for years, especially while hiding from Saul and wondering if he’d even live to see the reign the prophet had said would be his. Remember how he began his Psalm 13?
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
Some believe that Paul wasted two years in a prison cell in Caesarea, right in the middle of his best church-planting days, but maybe that’s where he learned that the Holy Spirit would take over his desperate prayers, when he had run out of painful words.
Romans 8:26-27 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searched our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."
The questions about suffering even reached the mouth of Jesus, as He genuinely wrestled with the internal agony before the crucifixion. “Must I really do this?” he asked, under such stress that blood vessels popped in his forehead. “Is there no other way, Father?”
Even when we make up in our minds to choose faith over anger, the questions are STILL going to be there…questions from OUR mind as well as questions from our friends and loved ones!
Choosing faith over anger in the midst of suffering will NOT remove the pain and it will NOT stop the questions and I can see one other thing it will NOT do…
3. Choosing faith in suffering will not create a “logical” reason for your suffering:
The book of Job presents one of the most unusual pictures in the Bible. The God of the universe entertains an audience with Satan. The subject of their celestial conversation is a nearly flawless man, and how he might be tortured.
It’s a test fit for the Roman Coliseum, and God Himself takes a seat to see how much of a beating the overpowered man can take. If you are like me, YOU don’t like anything about this story! First I don’t like the fact that God would even entertain an audience with Satan. Second, I really don’t like when I think of God watching from the sidelines. Nothing about this story seems to make sense, and it certainly isn’t satisfying.
But when I began to study and pray about this subject of suffering… I realized that that IS the point! You see, ANY suffering doesn’t make sense! The more natural expectation in life is spelled out in the first paragraph of Job.
As humans, we want for every new baby a good family, a good childhood, a good education, eventually a fulfilling and well-compensated job, a good home, and a retirement set against the sunset of a perfect life.
It is our desire to want the first paragraph of Job… that paragraph tells us this man was blameless, upright, righteous, and the greatest man among his people. He was a man who did without something we’d all like to do without. He was a man without suffering.
Our expectation of such a life soon collides with reality. Suffering comes well armed, with grief, hardship, misfortune, illness, crisis, tragedy and more. It pays no attention to age, sex, nationality, or the size of one’s bank account.
In the midst of such any suffering and hardship, faith is a valid and necessary option for the believer! Even when it appears that choosing faith over anger is just illogical.
Choosing faith in the midst of suffering, like Job did… to many it may look like insanity. Job’s friends tried with all their reason to find logic in this situation, while on the other hand they looked at the illogical comparison of great faith, and great suffering.
Job’s wife certainly didn’t think highly of her husband’s nonsensical faith. Her only lines in the book? "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (2:9)
But when we come to think about it, there is a lot of things about choosing faith over anger that does NOT make sense to those outside the circle of faith. IN our story we eventually discover that God worked His greatest triumph thru what appeared to be Job’s greatest loss.
Likewise in Christ,God worked His greatest gift thru what appeared to be His greatest loss… when Christ hung on the Cross of Calvary! 1 Cor. 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,” Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Despite all of the reasons why Job might not have chosen faith in the midst of his suffering, he chose faith anyway. By doing so, he made the better choice, by far, and survived his season of grief.
Now as we look BACK on Job’s choices, we can also see how these choices serve to illustrate the wonderful things that choosing faith over anger in the midst of suffering WILL do for you! The 1st thing I see that choosing faith over anger in the midst of your suffering WILL do for you is…
1. Choosing faith in the midst of suffering WILL remind you that God is in control
What a tough choice! When we choose faith, we must trust the very God who allows the difficult circumstances in the first place. However, when we look carefully at Job’s story, the only being in complete control of all events, is God. Throughout the entire event, God is always in control. Choosing faith doesn’t allow God to be in control – it only reminds us that this truth has always been, and will always be… and that is that GOD IS IN CONTROL of all things, at all times!
I want you to go back and read this passage in your quiet time and I want you to study the conversation between God and Satan. Job would have struggled with such a conversation as much as we do.
To Job it wouldn’t have made sense to him. But there’s no doubt that the conversation was crystal clear to God. God wasn’t tricked by Satan. He didn’t misunderstand. God carefully weighed the options, considered the ramifications, and made a choice. At no time in this matter was God out of control.
With that in mind, what are the believer’s options in the midst of out-of-control suffering in our lives?
On the one hand, we could reject the God who allows suffering, and we know that MANY in this world do.
On the other hand, we could trust the only Being in all Creation that remains in control above all evil, and all suffering.
And because the realm of suffering doesn’t make sense to us… then it stands to reason that someone having great faith in the midst of suffering seems to make even less sense! However, when one looks at the evidence, one can come to the conclusion that placing your life in the hands of the only God who can take care of you in this world and the next is ultimately the only logical action a person can ever take.
2. Choosing faith in suffering is a rare gift to God
Most people won’t admit to this but ANYONE can sing a song of praise on the good days we have… And we have ALL had those good days! But it takes a person of tremendous faith, and tremendous spiritual maturity to sing those same songs of praise on the bad days. If you can pull it off, you will give God a precious gift of worship that may be unlike any gift you would ever give Him again.
Job was wise enough to know that God had controlled the good days, and the success of his life, just as surely as God was now controlling the bad days. Beyond that, Job learned a lesson that must be remembered in a time of suffering.
Nothing about your present circumstances – be they good or bad – have changed the first thing about the nature of God. God is still the same today, just as He was the same yesterday, and the same He will be tomorrow. That God is always worthy of praise.
In the midst of the worst of it, when he knew so little that seemed secure, Job hung on to one truth. “I know that my Redeemer lives,” he told his more comfortable friends, “and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” (Job 19:25)
Without the circumstances, we might not have remembered Job’s words at all. Understanding how bad Job had it when he said such a thing is what makes the words memorable to us, and a precious gift to God.
Job wasn’t the last man to give such a gift to the God who allowed terrible pain. Long before he wrote the words “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, ‘Rejoice!’” Paul lived those words. (Philippians 4:4)
On their first visit to Philippi, Paul and Silas were wrongly accused, beaten severely, and thrown into painful stocks in the town dungeon. What were they doing at midnight? According to the history of Acts 16, they were singing their songs of praise to the same God who’d let them go through a Job-like day.
During the midnight song service, a miraculous earthquake came with just enough power to free the men, but not kill them. That single day of suffering, coupled with the way two faith-driven men reacted to that suffering, created a church in Philippi that would help change the world.
It was one of the greatest gifts either man ever gave their Savior. Had they missed the opportunity, they would have never had such a great harvest in that community.
Our ultimate gift to God in the midst of suffering is our faith and trust in Him… it is our worship of His goodness and His care for us!
We can see from Scripture that Jesus struggled with the weight of the cross, the burden of the task, and the unspeakable pain of the crucifixion. Through it all, he committed to the will of the Father, and never let his Spirit be committed anywhere else.
Today if you are here and you are in the midst of suffering, you’re also in the midst of an incredible opportunity to open up your relationship with the Father! Satan wants to keep you downtrodden and disheartened, but you can focus on God and you can give Him your heart and all your worship now! This will be the gift you give to God that may be more valuable than it ever has been, or ever will be again. A gift of faith in the midst of suffering!
3. Choosing faith in suffering will bring you closer to God
Though he didn’t know it yet, Job was on his way to the most intimate encounter with God that he’d ever have in his lifetime. Through the season of suffering that had fallen upon him, he was starting a short journey that would lead to his greatest understanding of who God was. The road of suffering was the only road that would lead him to a more intimate encounter with God.
Unfortunately, not every person comes closer to God on the road of suffering. Some use the road to go in the opposite direction, going further away from God than ever before.
Pharaoh, for instance, destroyed his entire country when he refused to acknowledge God in the midst of the pre-exodus suffering. Most of the kings that would rule the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah couldn’t find faith in the midst of various hardships, and both kingdoms fell as a direct result of their faithlessness.
A rich man, afraid to suffer the loss of his material wealth, missed walking with the Messiah. Judas was overwhelmed by his own, self-inflicted heartache, and he missed the resurrection.
But for every lost opportunity, the Bible provides plenty of success stories. All of the patriarchs – Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses – suffered for decades before seeing how faithful God could be, to those who simply would not let go of the rope of faith. David became more than a king. He became the most beloved song-writer in the history of faith, and most of his great psalms came straight out of his seasons of suffering.
After the days of popularity disappeared, the disciples knew all about suffering. Thankfully, they also found a life-changing resurrection at the end of the worst weekend of their lives.
To say that they learned more about God through that weekend would be the understatement of history! They found that the Jesus they’d followed was the confirmed Christ, the Son of God … a Messiah who faced great suffering with great courage.
Ever since, those who have suffered and looked for God have been finding hope in the Savior who died for them.
Key Illustration, part II:
For more than a week, the Bennett’s suffered in a forgotten corner of Biloxi. The nation’s focus was on flooded New Orleans. Few reporters had waded the waters of Mississippi to see the damage there. However, one news team finally found the families living on a Middle School parking lot. The pictures and the stories were soon beamed around the country.
Rev. Matt Stacy, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in tiny Pavo, Georgia, decided it was time to act. He arranged for eight busses to pick up the hurricane victims, and bring them to a Baptist Assembly, where 259 people found hot food, comfortable beds, and clean restrooms. Local schools and businesses began donating shoes, clothing, money, and food.
“It was like heaven,” Carlotta Bennett said of her arrival at the assembly in Norman Park. “That’s all I’ve got to say. They had food waiting for us when they got there. They had a wheelchair waiting on me. The next day, I had medicine. We had two beds, and our own bathroom! They took care of us, they really did. We prayed for a miracle, and it came.”
“After this experience, we just changed our lives,” Carlotta said. “We found the Lord – it was time. I saw my life flash before my eyes in that attic, and it was time we did something different.”
Surrounded by the care they received in Georgia, the Bennett’s prayed to receive Christ, and were baptized on Sept. 19, 3 weeks to the day after they first walked away from the hurricane that changed their lives. Carlotta says she’ll never return to her job in a Biloxi casino, and she says the entire family will be committed to Christ, and active in a local church.
You see thru their suffering the Bennett’s came to know Christ. Outside of their suffering and pain, they may NEVER have heard the Gospel or may never have seen the love of God put into motion like that small church in Georgia.
We may never EVER know WHY we have to endure the suffering we have to endure, but believers can rest assured that God is in control and even if we don’t ever find out here… We can know that God was working ALL things for our good!
And for those of you here today who do NOT know God on a personal level… for those of you who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. I know you have experienced suffering… but I also know that God wants to be there for you! I call on you to surrender your heart today…
When we choose faith over anger in the midst of suffering, it is NEVER going to make the suffering go away or the questions stop or give us the answers we think we so desperately need… but what it WILL do is help us to understand, MORE than ever:
1) God is in control…even when the world seems to be flying OUTTA control, God is in control.
2) Us choosing faith over anger and striking out is a rare gift we can give to God, revealing our faith and trust in Him as our keeper…
3) When we take the step of faith… when we make the choice to lean on our faith in the midst of our suffering… and NOT to strike out at God… it brings us closer to Him!
This morning you may be suffering from many things… it could be your health, it could be your finances, it could be your relationships, it could be an addiction… it could be a myriad of problems! You may feel at times that God has abandoned you and that you just need to scream at Him… because He is allowing this to happen to you!
But what I want you to remember is that when we place our faith and trust in Him, he is going to deliver us… it may not be the deliverance we so longed for! But God is going to deliver us! What are you going to choose this morning…
I am going to open up this altar this morning to those who are suffering… it matters NOT what that suffering is about! I call on you to come to God… lay that suffering at His feet! I challenge you to give to Him today!
It is not going to take away the pain or answer all your questions immediately, but it is going to allow you to focus on Him instead of your pain and suffering! And God is going to deliver you… He is going to walk with you every step of the way! As Steven comes to lead us in our hymn of invitation… I call on you to come!
