Call to worship Psalm 143 v 1&2
Old Testament Lesson Job Ch 42 vs 1 to 6
New Testament lesson Galatians Ch 5 v 16 to Ch 6 v 10
Often in our world today we see many organisations, charities and governments who seem to be in pursuit of charitable acts and good works based on Humanitarian grounds, aid to suffering people in third world countries celebrities giving their time to plead the causes of victims of disasters.
These are in human terms good deeds, acts of kindness we are giving the best of our human nature as we see it. Sadly and yet consistently today this becomes more and more necessary.
Our Lord himself was no stranger to the suffering of mankind in all its impoverished states was he? . He had a great concern for those he came to Minister to. Doesn’t scripture show us Just how he felt for those who had physical infirmities or needs. Didn’t he feed the 5000 rather than send them away hungry? , What about the man possessed with demons, the centurion’s servant, or the woman who touched the hem of his garment, or the widow’s son that he raised from the dead.
Yes our Lord truly Ministered to the needs of the people in every sense of the word .Ive heard it said and it could be argued that he came to Minister to the people spiritually, to bring about the means of Salvation through his Grace, but I feel that our Heavenly Father knew about mans physical needs and his state of physical suffering too. After all no man ever suffered like he.
I’ve spoken before about the war between the physical and the spiritual and I don’t aim to be forever the cynic when I make the statement that the world we live in today seems to be going full speed towards fulfilling some destiny of a physical nature, man perhaps proving himself the wiser and all the time pushing the word of God to one side ignoring our Spiritual destiny, and its going to cost us dearly some day.
The two passages of scripture we’ve read earlier will I hope be seen to point us in the right direction as we keep in our minds what I have already said.
If I am to adopt a text then perhaps it ought to be this; straight from that passage from Job ch 42 v 5 the Lord reveals something of his will and understanding to Job and as a result he makes this startling statement of faith, recognition and deep understanding. “ I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee “.
To begin with what of this passage, Paul’s letter to the Galatians? . The key statement is “ Stand fast in the liberty that Christ hath made us free ”. Some people argue that Christianity is not liberty but that it prevents us from living a life to the full; they say it restricts us and puts moral restraints upon us. That is of course not true, look around you do we see much enjoyment and I add, lasting fulfilment, when we shake off Gods supreme words and will for us? , The results can be seen look on the television and in the newspapers even today. Chaos and wanton destruction. No rather our Liberty is in Christ our freedom is within his laws; to do his will and to reap a satisfaction from a spirit filled life that this world can never match.
The Galatians had had the message of salvation through Faith in Jesus Christ alone preached to them, by Paul himself and they had believed and acted on it, but then others with different doctrines came, teaching them to look to the law, customs and ceremonies, circumcision and actions rather than faith in the word and person of Jesus Christ. They begin to have doubts and to waiver.
So Paul sets forth his credentials as an apostle not of men but of Jesus Christ. He is telling them that his teaching is not of man, not even of one of the other apostles but that it is a message sent by God.
Our works as human beings are merely works of the flesh. Since the fall of man as documented in the book of Genesis we have all inherited a sinful nature. Before the fall there was no law, man was free to do as he would, there was no need of laws as mans heart was clean and his nature was to please and glorify God.
We have all inherited that sinful nature of the fall let no man tell you any differently; we can see it around us as well as set out for us in this chapter. The works of the flesh Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred, Variance, Emulation’s, Wrath, Strife, Sedition’s and Heracies, Envying, Murder, Drunkenness, Revelling.
Do these apply to us here today? , If not in actual deeds then what about our thoughts, do we think along these lines? . You know as well as I do that we all do, scripture tells us about the heart of man. Take a look at the world around you.
The liberty we’ve read about comes in to play so to speak when we walk in the Spirit, that is when we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our lives then we no longer trust and work for ourselves but for him.
There is a conflict here between the flesh and the spirit. Do you ever feel that personally day-to-day? , Sometimes there is a short cut from what we know is right, sometimes we can get away by stretching the truth, don’t we call this white lies? , We do a bit less than we should or could, that tale we tell that’s not very nice, or some nasty comment we overheard that were just repeating. Subtle things to start us off down a slippery path, and once were on it its hard to get off. Works of the flesh do any of them sound familiar?
The works or fruits of the Spirit what are they Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, and Temperance. This is the true liberty indeed, those who are in Christ walk in the Spirit and these fruits are found to be manifest in them.
Are we saying that when we become Christians we will be perfect? , No not at all, Paul sets forth here an account of what we should be aiming, for Love thy neighbour as thyself. He tells us how we should deal with those amongst us who fail or stray. Those who are Spiritually able should help to restore the lost having a Spirit of meekness and being wary lest they fall into temptations themselves.
In one of my Bible reading notes I came across this, I would like to share it with you.
Everyone hurts somewhere, often people’s mistakes are constantly on their minds, so learn to forgive them and give them another chance. That’s what our Lord did, and he was hard on those who wouldn’t forgive. Listen: don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticise their faults, unless of course you want some of that same treatment yourself.
To remember is to understand and to understand is to forgive.
A good Judge always remembers being a young Lawyer; a good Editor always remembers being a struggling Writer; a good Parent always remembers what it was like to be a Child.
Before you say anything, criticise or shout for discipline, ask God to remind you of what you once were what he lifted you up out of, and what he saves and keeps you from returning to each day. Then extend some of that great Grace to others.
How do we look in that light? . We are reminded here by Paul not to be full of ourselves. If we want to compare ourselves to any other then let us look to the supreme example of Jesus Christ.
In his crusade to Southport some years ago Dick Saunders quoted from Isaiah ch 64 v 6 something I will never forget the quote was that our best deeds are as filthy rags in the sight of Almighty God Just think about that for a moment, those are our best deeds, what I ask you are our worse?
In the early chapters Paul sets forth his credentials as a man sent by God whose teaching is not of man but that of God, his teaching is of course Salvation through Jesus Christ and Justification by Faith in him and him alone. Through him we can be Justified because through him alone we can not only have our sins forgiven, but also we can have Christ’s Righteousness put to our account.
Our works therefore become works or fruits of the Spirit if we truly maintain our walk with him.
At the end of this chapter we have a call to bear one another’s burdens, to behave, as Christians should, not to be full of ourselves but to be humble and not to be weary in our daily Christian deeds. “ For he that soweth to the flesh shall reap corruption, but he who soweth to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting, as we have opportunity do good to all men “.
When I started to prepare this sermon based on Paul’s letter to the Galatians, it wasn’t long before this Old Testament book of Job and this particular chapter and verse kept cropping up, I simply couldn’t get it out of my mind. I must say at first I didn’t understand why it was, or what the connection was, but after I studied and prayed about it then things became clear.
One of the most important things to remember is that Job was a real person, some may discount this as just as poetical work or a poetical illustration, but that’s simply not true. How can we make such a bold statement? , Look at Ezekiel ch 14 v 14, to discount the person of Job you have to discount both Noah and Daniel too. For they are all mentioned here in the same verse
Yes its important that he isn’t just an illustration, but rather he is real, why is that so? , Because the book of Job deals most importantly with suffering, not least is the difficult question of why do God’s people sometimes suffer? .
Just recently in my family someone was throwing out some old books, now I’m not yet in the league of The Rev H.Lister or the late Rev H.V. Briggs, but a couple of books were rescued. One of those books some of you may have read and is titled He Is Able by W.E. Sangster. In his book is a chapter when worn With Sickness. It tells a tale of when as a young boy he was allowed to go on a holiday with his friends, he ran out of money, he had understood from a previous conversation with his father that should this be the case the some funds would be sent to him. When none came he was supprised, several of his friends offered their reasoning, one said his father had obviously forgotten him another that his Father was obviously too busy to bother what happened to him. Sangster recalls that he knew his father and he knew that none of these things were true. The truth was he didn’t know why but he replied to his friend’s I will wait until I get home then I shall ask him myself. No he didn’t have the answer just then but he knew that those other answers were not true. He goes on to relate the tale of his sister a child who tragically lived only nine years, and most of that undergoing painful and disfiguring surgery until she had to be hidden away because of her appearance. He recounts on her death some looked and said there is no God while others offered the most comfortless and shallow explanations. Ultimately he says he gave to those people the same explanation that he gave to his friends so long ago. He didn’t know why this should have been so but he knew that those other answers were not right, he knew his Heavenly Father well and so he knew that these other answers were not true, and so the reply I will wait until I get home and then I shall ask him myself.
Do you think that W.E.Sangster understood the reasoning behind any of these things? , He says that often he does not in his book. Do we understand today any more than he did the often seemingly mysterious will and way of Almighty God? I personally doubt that we do don’t you? . Ah but what about Job in this chapter? , Can this shed any light on the subject?
If we read this book I think we must come to the conclusion that Job does come in to an understanding of the reasons for his suffering, but this is by virtue of the fact that the Lord reveals something of himself to him.
This comes clearly to us in this statement Job makes here it is again “ I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee ”.
We can see in the earlier chapters that the Lord reveals himself to Job in a series of questions, who can do all these things but God? . Who laid the foundations of the world? , Who commands both morning and dawn? , Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? , Or have the gates of death been revealed unto you? , Where were you when these things came in to being? .
Job through these questions realises the ultimate sovereignty and purpose of God in all these things. Yes Job was a good man ch 1 v 8 “ have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and escheweth evil ”.
Let’s not forget that Job too was a sinner just as we are. In ch 29 v1 – 25 Job speaks of I and ME and MY some 50 odd times and he was in this respect falling into a trap of self-righteousness about his own personal state, you see it is not ours to question Almighty God on anything.
Job was trying to reason with God he had never truly looked at himself until the Lord revealed this to him. We do this today; we look for answers and explanations that aren’t ours to understand. Psalm 139 v 6 “ such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it ”.
It took this vision of God to bring him to recognition. Listen to Gods words to Job “ shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? Have you an arm like God? , Or can you thunder like him? , Can you abase the proud? , Or tread low the wicked? , If you can do these things then shall I say that your own right hand can save you ”.
Isn’t this what Paul was saying to the Galatians? Aren’t these the things that he speaks of? . Looking to our own works, to self, the flesh. These things won’t bring about our Salvation. Didn’t Paul say his message was not from man but from God? .
Whose words are those we’ve read questioning Job? . Whose words indeed make Job realise what he is, what he has done, whose is the wisdom behind the suffering of Job?
God’s words, Gods wisdom. God kept dealing with Job until Job came to the end of himself. Let’s take a look at that again. Job ch 42 v 3 – 6 “ therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes ”.
A good friend of mine often tells me that he is not religious but tries to do his best for others, he considers himself a good person and humanly speaking he’s right, but spiritually he’s missing out he’s missing the point if he looks to himself, or compares himself to the best of the rest of us, for I’ve already said that in the eyes of God his best deeds are no better than filthy rags.
So often we look to others and compare ourselves favourably we may see ourselves as good people, but when the Lord reveals something of himself to us then we realise just what we are, just how filthy we are.
Paul was teaching this to those Galatians in his letter, and he teaches us today to look to Salvation by Faith alone and not to look to works of the flesh but rather the fruits of the Spirit filled life of a follower of Christ.
What if we suffer as did Job? . We must realise that we have no right to question Almighty God or his wisdom. One day we shall have all these answers, but for now we are but children of God, in the words of a child we must wait until we get home and then we can ask him ourselves. In the meantime we must walk by faith in him alone.
Friends that’s hard I’m not going to say how easy it is or tell you any great stories to help you overcome what may well be before you, but look to the story of Job, to Gods promises and their fulfilment, ultimately his great Saving Grace.
In the word of a child one day you shall be able to ask him, one day you shall know as you are known, when your feet land safely, then you shall ask our Heavenly Father and indeed you shall know.
May the Lord richly bless each one of us as we think upon these things?
AMEN
