Fourth Sunday in Lent

Welcome and Announcements

Prelude

Entrance

Opening Prayer

Call to Worship:

L: We gather to share in our love of God.

P: Lord, open our hearts and let us share your Good News.

L: We gather to share our witness to God’s goodness.

P: Lord, let our lives bear witness through service to your people.

L: We gather to praise God whose love is eternal.

P: Lord, open our hearts today to sing your praises. AMEN.

O For a Heart to Praise My God

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Children’s Message

Job 9:1–20 (NIV): Then Job replied:

2 “Indeed, I know that this is true.

But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?

3 Though they wished to dispute with him,

they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.

4 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.

Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?

5 He moves mountains without their knowing it

and overturns them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth from its place

and makes its pillars tremble.

7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;

he seals off the light of the stars.

8 He alone stretches out the heavens

and treads on the waves of the sea.

9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,

the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,

miracles that cannot be counted.

11 When he passes me, I cannot see him;

when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?

Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

13 God does not restrain his anger;

even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.

14 “How then can I dispute with him?

How can I find words to argue with him?

15 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;

I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.

16 Even if I summoned him and he responded,

I do not believe he would give me a hearing.

17 He would crush me with a storm

and multiply my wounds for no reason.

18 He would not let me catch my breath

but would overwhelm me with misery.

19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!

And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him?

20 Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;

if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.

Sermon: “But I Didn’t Do Anything”

Job’s friends had told him to confess his sin. They just knew his current situation was a result of something he had done to anger God. They knew how God worked. Do good and you are blessed. Do evil and watch out for the lightening. And in a lot of ways, this makes sense. I mean isn’t that the way it works in our world, most of the time. Or at least the way we think the world should work.

If I do a good job at work, I receive a raise or a promotion. If I do poorly, I will soon be looking for a new job. If I’m a good student, I get good grades. If I spend too much time playing around and goofing off, I end up in the principal’s office. If I preach well, I receive compliments. If I tell jokes, I’m told to stick to preaching. It just seems like our world works that way. Do the right thing and you are rewarded. Do the wrong thing and reap the consequences.

3.If you had asked him a few days ago, Job would have wholeheartedly agreed. He could have stood at the front window of his home, looked out at the fields and flocks. Looked over the homes of his sons and daughters, aware of the love of his wife. Feeling strong and able to attack the day. Believing that his well-being was a blessing from God for doing good.

4. His friends even suggest that Job in being sought by others for words of wisdom had given to those who suffered the same idea. Do good and you will be blessed. Do evil and God will bring punishment upon you. He too had thought this way. He also had believed this.

5. Which is why he was struggling so much now. Not only has he lost everything, his family, his material possessions and his health, but his whole world has turned upside down because he knows that he knows that he knows that he hasn’t done anything which deserves God’s punishment. Perhaps those 7 days of silence were days in which Job had reflected on his life and asked himself the question, “What did I do to deserve this?” And the answer he had was “nothing.” I didn’t do anything to deserve all this.

6. And while the friends spend their time reminding Job of the way God works, blessing good, punishing evil, Job will repeat over and over again, “I’m innocent. I didn’t do anything. I have nothing to confess.” And eventually, he gets tired of his friends. While they came to support him, all their empty arguments frustrate him. They aren’t getting it. They aren’t understanding. They aren’t comforting.

7. Which side are you on? Some of you like Job, may be struggling with life’s circumstances. You may be experiencing some real difficulties and feel like, “God, why is this happening to me?” Still others of you may be like his friends. You think you have God all figured out. You know exactly how God works and if your friends would ask you, you could tell them exactly why these things are happening. You are willing to tell them exactly what’s wrong, or what they did.

8. And yet, neither side yet seems exactly right because it still doesn’t answer the initial question. Is God fair? Is it fair for God to punish Job when he really didn’t do anything? Is it fair for Job’s friends to see Job so poorly? Is it fair that God doesn’t always bless those who do well and curse those who do evil?

I Won’t Move