JOD PARADOX

JOB PARADOX

The God who is actively inactive

Good morning first church! I am glad for another day, in which we (you & I) can come together and worship God freely! Pastor Joshua was open and candid last week, while sharing his struggles early on in his marriage and desires for children. This week I will share some of my struggles in my early 20’s. But not about children, rather my hero’s in the pop Christian music era of the 80’s. Who died early on for their age. Now stick with me here, and you’ll see where I’m going with this!

Now I’m sure some of you do Not know of a Christian artist named Keith Green. Does anyone here know of Keith Green? He was a charismatic singer and speaker. He was one gifted individual who learned piano at an early age. When he gave a concert (which I went to) it was just him and a piano, that’s it! He was soft spoken when he shared and preached. You know back then, then actually did that back then! Plus, they had an alter call as well! Hmm wonder where that went to nowadays? Going to a Christian concert meant someone hearing a gospel message, not just smoke/ light show, or selling merchandise. Oh well I digress! Keith really touched my heart as a young man, I loved to sing of course. But back then, the songs conveyed a true message about God and His love for us. Back then you played long playing records! (LP’S) LP’s. His were also quality Lp’s as well. You couldn’t buy them in a record store. But you got it straight from the artist.

Some of the songs were named: So, you wanna go back to Egypt, You put this love in my heart, or Oh Lord, your beautiful (worshipful song) I can cry hearing that song. Keith was gaining a following of young people wanting Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. Remember I shared about alter calls at his concerts? Keith was married to Melody Green and had a ministry called Last Days Ministries. They sent out monthly newsletters to which I received them. There is no internet back then (smile).

He was turning Christian music in the 80’s a to reach millions of people. Simply because he sang and shared about Jesus at concerts or Christian radio if there was such a thing back then. Lol.. As I said he was married and had 4 children. He would take two of his children with him on a plane trip, which would tragically crash on July 28, 1982. Back then this tragedy rocked the Christian world, so much that I heard one famous Christian preacher would actually go to the crash site and pray for Keith to come back to life. He would later say that Keith would have said, “why would you want me to come back here, when I’m in heaven”? In My opinion back then, I would say Keith died before his time. I cried about it for a long time, plus listened to more of his songs, and worshipped. Yes, even a 20-ish man could worship back then!! (SMILE)

Now let me ask you if you have heard of Rich Mullins? If you sing the song “awesome God” then you are singing a song of his. Anyone heard of the song “Screen door” on a submarine? Rich was another Christian music artist who was bringing Christian Music to the forefront.

Now Rich was around the in the late 90’s Just to give you a timeline. I would travel to visit my family up in Illinois many times, driving and singing rich Mullins songs. His songs made you really think. Anyways he was driving with his friend in a jeep, on the highway that I drive on regularly (BTW). On September 19, 1997, he would crash and both he and his friend would die unfortunately so. Again the Christian world of music was shaken. I was too! He was having people come to Christ at his concerts too. Back then I would say he died too soon!

Have you ever asked God why did this happen? I have! Why has this been allowed to happen? Why is this happening to my family? What is the purpose of this pain? Who is responsible? Whether we are forced to watch the suffering of others, or experiencing suffering in our lives, We desperately want to know WHY?

Why does God stand passively by when there is so much suffering going on ALL the time? Why does He criticize OUR tendency to walk on by the …...OTHER side of the road when WE see people in need, when he Himself sees all the suffering and yet chooses to do nothing? Does God not care? Does God not understand? Or perhaps He is incapable of stepping in? Gods deliberate policy of NOT fixing things when we are suffering highlights one of those universal paradoxes- we believe that God is active and powerful, so if he does not intervene, we are forced to conclude that this God is actively choosing to be passive.

In times past this issue of suffering was precisely the thing that drove people to look for higher forces to whom they could appeal for help? Now though, it has become as important extension to the “WHERE IS GOD” question.

The question of Gods whereabouts during crisis haunts believers and non-believers alike, especially when we hear about another bloody war, another natural disaster or another school massacre. There will come times in our lives when we watch or experience suffering close at hand, when the apparent absence of God will challenge everything, we have come to believe and make it impossible to worship him. That’s why we must not shy away from the need to wrestle with this problem.

So how do Christians seek to reconcile the existence of suffering and God’s apparent passivity?

Unlike atheist, we believe that the inevitable question “WHY” is in fact crucial evidence that we intrinsically believe things don’t happen by chance, that someone is in control and that things don’t have to be this way.

It seems counter intuitive initially, but when we ask the question “WHY” we reveal that we believe there is a God, and not just any God, but a God who could and should be powerful enough to make things different, and who might care enough to want to both answer our question and make things better.

The question “WHY” reveals that none of us can escape the paradox that we believe in a powerful and loving God, albeit we don’t understand how we can reconcile this with a broken world replete with injustice and suffering.

The book of Job addresses exactly this problem. The storyline is contained in only a few lines of its 42 chapters. The narrative zooms in on the life of a good, upright and prosperous man called Job. And his family. Job was a man of unblemished character and was revered in the region. Then the narrator peels back another layer of reality to reveal what is taking place in the spiritual realm. What we find is a form of a heavenly courtroom where Satan is a kind of (un) angelic prosecutor, laying down a challenge to God. Lets turn to the book of Job 1: 1-12 (read verses slowly). 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. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

6 One day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Satan argues that job’s devotion to God is based purely on the fact that he has an easy life. In other words, Job doesn’t really love God, he just loves the life God has given him. In response to this challenge a deal is struck: Job will be a test case. Despite the apparent challenge to His authority, God permits Satan to bring suffering into Job’s life, saying, “everything he has is in your hands, but on the man, himself do not lay a finger”. The essential question that runs through the rest of the book is whether Job will still honor God when all his prosperity is taken from him, or will he curse God to His face. How will Job respond to a full-frontal attack? Satan goes off and destroys Job’s wealth and his family in freak accidents. But Job, unaware of the behind-the-scenes action, responds despite his distress. Read again in 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 21 and said: “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

This is a deeply inspiring declaration of confidence and trust in God despite all that he has suffered, and a real challenge to us.

Job’s confession reveals a commitment to continue trusting God despite his circumstances. Job’s perspective is that life itself is a gift, and so is everything that comes with it, and he will continue to love God for who He is, and not for what He has given to Job.

But this statement initiates phase 2 of the test of Job’s worship. Satan is given permission (again) to afflict Job physically-but he must “spare his life” lets look at Job 2:1-10 On another day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

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.

What follows in the rest of the book is a torturous dialogue between Job and his friends as they wrestle with the question WHY ? From their limited perspectives. The Job paradox gives us some useful, but rather unexpected, clues as to how we can wrestle with that same question, as we gain a rare insight into both the earthly and heavenly perspectives. The introduction to the book of Job resolves some issues for us, but it also raises some very uncomfortable THINKING. 1) we are clearly told that God is in control. He is portrayed as a king of the universe, the rightful ruler of heaven, and earth. Even Satan, who is literally the personification of evil, has to present himself before God and ask permission for his activities. In a book that addresses the problem or suffering there is no backing away from the fact that God is in control. There is no downplaying of total divine sovereignty. We can be assured that the universe is not ultimately a cosmic lottery, filled with outrageous fortune and terrible misfortune. 2). We learn that not all suffering is deserved. Job is not being punished for things he has done, he stands out as a most innocent and blameless person, yet he suffers. He is perhaps the archetype for this predicament, but this is far from the only time in the Bible when this THINKING is addressed.

In an encounter with a man, born blind, Jesus, disciples asked the question everybody had been discussing – was it was a fault of the parents, or the man himself that led to his suffering. Jesus replied “neither this man or parents have sinned. John 9:3

John 9:2–3 ESV

And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Our suffering, according to Jesus himself, is not the direct result of sin. It is true at a macro level that suffering in general is result of sin – the very first thing in the garden of Eden is a trigger for chain reaction of suffering in the universe. But it does not apply at a micro level. The whole world has been damaged by sin, and its effects are not spread, according to as each deserves: the innocent, as much as a guilty, are affected by the far-reaching consequences of sin. 3). We see God specifically allowing something to happen to an innocent person. Satan is permitted to disrupt Jobs, life, which throws us back to the classic paradox: does suffering continue, because God is not all powerful, or because God is not all loving?

The book of Job clearly states that God is all powerful; Satan can’t do nothing to Job without Gods permission! So, the question becomes whether God is all loving. Can we truly continue to believe in a loving God when he allows such extreme suffering simply, to win what appears to be nothing more than to divine wager? As the story unfolds, however, we will see there is more at stake than a cruel test.

I would like to stop at this point, and interject my thoughts on what I have read in the Bible as a part of God‘s will.

He has a perfect will, and he has a permissive will.

These two separate but distinct wills, that shows God has great love and total authority over everything that happens to people on earth. This tells us that the devil has to always ask for permission to do things to God’s children.

Remember he comes to steal, kill, and destroy us.

That is Gods permissive will. We have a God who can take ANY garbage and make something beautiful come from it.

I also believe in Gods will that WE sometimes don’t get what we asked/prayed for because of lack of knowledge or total trust in Gods authority

Gods permissive will also allows for our ignorance's! (Smile and say amen) I hope you get my point?

I’m going to say this, and it’s going to sound sarcastic, but the real suffering in my opinion, in the book of Job is Job’s friends, after they start talking.

I loved them when they sat quietly for a week when Job was struggling. Because that is what a true believer should do. Not open our mouth and destroy all notions of godliness

The book of Job challenges, the premise of the paradox that God is either too weak to stop suffering or too, mean to bother to do so. This book of Job asserts that there are circumstances, when, an all powerful, and all loving God might allow suffering to take place. Acknowledging this point is very difficult to grasp, most of the book of Job argues the opposite case.

After the big set up scenes involving a wager between God, and Satan, followed by Job’s life being reduced to dust, there comes a very long interlude.

That, of course, is the dialogue between Job and his friends that I just shared with you about. I won’t delve into that discussion, because that is not a paradox rather, it is a degradation of godliness to human, thinking, and trying to figure out Job's sins!

At this point, I would like to share about the discussion between God and Job.

Turn with me if you will to Job 38:1-11

Keep in mind God has been listening obviously to the discourse between Job and his “friends “.

Read chapter 38 :1-11 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

This is an excellent book learning about suffering, as allowed by God himself. Mind you, that Job does ask for an audience with God, and he gets one! Far from there, being any censure on him, doing this, Job’s, request, and the manner of its being answered, is actually a real important truth about the nature of God, and our relationship with him!

Throughout the book of Job, Job does not resign himself to fatalism, he does not picture himself at the mercy of blind physical forces. Job seeks an audience with God, precisely because of his suffering which has not dampened his belief in a personal and powerful God, a GOD who can, and should be called to account. Despite everything that’s happened to him, which he knows is undeserved, is his belief in Almighty God, which has not been diminished. Praise the Lord! Despite the circular arguments of his so-called wise counselors, Job continues to deny that he has sinned sufficiently to deserve this suffering.

The Psalms are full of examples of people pouring out their doubt, grief, guilt, and even anger at God, and then the same wave Job models. What we ought to do when we have a case against God – bring it straight to him. We don’t resolve a problem we gotten anywhere, but with God himself! Amen?

Please don’t miss this next part. When Job finally gets his opportunity to address, God, he does not raise his questions or make any arguments. God knows already what Job is thinking and feeling, of course, but the point is that when Job does come into God‘s presence, he finds himself rather more inclined to LISTEN than speak.

Hmm, What a concept? In fact, he is completely silent as God asked Job a stream of questions.

Job thought he was going to be the one asking the questions, but instead God ask question after question of Job, about who is in control of the universe. What is the point of God asking all these questions? Most of the questions seem hypothetical.

Anyway, God knows the answers, and Job doesn’t. Finally, and crucially God ask Job, “would you discredit my justice”? Jobs credentials for bringing in case before got a question by God himself.

Do you know the constant barrage of questions from God is not designed to silence and belittle Job, but rather to help him to see something of the wonder of the world, as God sees it – to experience a sense of awe. Job doesn’t learn about God‘s perspective on his own suffering, but he does learn about God‘s perspective on the whole world! Job finds himself, knowing God better.

Let’s now look at Job 42:1-6 Then Job replied to the Lord:

2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Verse five and six says it all.

The only answer to the problem of suffering we will find in Job is the example of reflecting on the universe to observe the power, skill and wisdom of God demonstrated in nature. This is evidence enough to prove beyond question that if God is able to create and order the universe, then he is more than capable of over seeing the details of our lives. If God is powerful enough to create the constellations, and yet is attentive enough to watch while “the doe bears her fawn“, then he is capable enough to work out the complexities of our lives

As I begin to finish this message, I don’t want to forget about Jobs “so-called friends“. Jobs, 3 friends had to go and offer a burnt offering for themselves and have Job pray over them. That is God’s grace and forgiveness. It would be after Job’s, praying for his friends, that he would be fully restored by God to have more than what he lost because of Satan. I believe that God is poking Satan with a ugly stick, and showing him who is really in control. But I digress again. Lol.

If you want to do the math from what Job had in the beginning of chapter 1, to what he had by the end of chapter 42, you’ll see that he doubled everything. Job would even live 140 years more after all of that. The Bible says he died an old man who had lived a long, full life.

God is always able to take the garbage in and through our lives and make something beautiful come from them.

That suffering led to something greater, for Job, than what he had before.

That my family is a Job paradox

The book of Job points us to another time, when an innocent suffered, because God‘s honor demanded it. The paradoxes that trouble us in thinking about God’s character coalesce, around what we as Christians believe to be the most important events of human history- the life- death, and resurrection of Jesus.

On the cross, we see the perfectly innocent and blameless Jesus suffering due to no fault of his own. What Job was asked to do involuntarily, Jesus volunteered for. Satan was not allowed to touch Jobs life – Jesus gave up his life.

For God, suffering is not a philosophical question. Suffering is not an illusion or a mistake. For God, suffering was a choice He made to buy our freedom. The same freedom that brought suffering into the world in the first place, led to God in Jesus, giving up his freedom, and undergoing suffering himself.

Ultimately, God has not been passive about the evil in the world; he has actively submitted himself to suffer on our behalf. As we see in the paradox of the cross. It is because of Jesus' death, that sin and suffering of the world, will finally be resolved!

If you have not made decision yet to follow, Christ, and ask him to be your savior and lord. What is stopping you from doing so today? We do not know when our time to leave this planet will happen. Make sure that you are right with God, whether you suffer or not!