When Righteousness Hurts: The Cross-Shaped Life in a Crooked World

Text: Job 15–21 Main Point: In a world that misunderstands suffering, the righteous are called to cling to hope in God's justice, even when it feels like everything is unraveling.

Introduction: The Pain of Being Misunderstood

It’s one thing to suffer physically. It’s another thing entirely to suffer unjustly. But maybe worst of all is suffering righteously—when you know you’ve walked with integrity, and yet you're hit with calamity... and your friends assume you’ve brought it on yourself.

Have you ever been told something that was technically true—but cruelly timed and poorly delivered?

Mom and the building inspector

That’s the space Job occupies in chapters 15 to 21. He’s been shredded emotionally, spiritually, and socially. And now Eliphaz comes back with another round of "friendly fire" in chapter 15—this time with sharper accusations. Eliphaz basically says, "Job, your words reek of arrogance. Only the wicked suffer like this."

Like the first cycle of speeches, the second cycle follows the same alternating order, with each of the three friends speaking followed by Job’s responses. In this cycle the dialogue becomes more strained and caustic. The three friends must have sounded like belligerent prosecutors determined to bring Job down. They move speedily from friendly persuasion to vehement indictment. They constantly parade before Job extended portraits of the wicked and hold them up to Job like mirrors for him to see himself as they see him and as God sees him.

This feels painfully relevant. Think about people in our own time—like the Christian businessman falsely accused of fraud, or the pastor imprisoned in a closed country for preaching truth. We assume suffering means guilt. Job shows us otherwise.

Historical Insight: Wisdom and Retribution in the Ancient World

The prevailing worldview was the Retribution Principle: the idea that good people are always blessed, and bad people are always cursed. That’s the framework Job’s friends are locked into. They believe suffering must mean sin. And Job’s refusal to confess, to them, is proof of his guilt.

But as Tremper Longman notes, “The friends of Job are not simpletons—they are deeply informed by their culture’s dominant theology. The tragedy is that their theology is too small for the mystery of God's justice.” —Tremper Longman III, Job, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms.

Sermon Point 1: Eliphaz Accuses – When Righteousness Feels Like Rebellion (Job 15)

Job 15:2 “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?”

Eliphaz launches into a biting critique. He says Job is not only wrong—he’s arrogant. He accuses Job of undermining the fear of God. Why? Because Job refuses to admit fault. To Eliphaz, silence would be pious; Job’s protest is blasphemy.

The vocabulary of the first six verses centers on the notion of speech: “answer,” “counsel,” “argue,” “useless talk,” “words,” “say,” “language,” “your own mouth condemns,” and “your own lips testify.” According to Eliphaz, Job’s speech belies his sin; Job is condemned by his own testimony.

In verses 7–16 Eliphaz begins by asking Job if he thinks he is the epitome of wisdom (vv. 7–9). The wisdom teachers of old are on our side, Job, Eliphaz says in verse 10. He then somewhat equates his counsel to Job with that of “God’s consolations” (v. 11). Your anger is “against God,” not me, Eliphaz states in verses 12–13. In the final subparagraph, verses 14–16, Eliphaz concludes that even God’s “holy ones,” presumably angels, are not pure in God’s sight, much less all humans, who deserve only divine judgment; how much more so then will one who is “revolting and corrupt” be deserving of God’s judgment?

But here's the irony: Eliphaz assumes he’s defending God's honor, but he’s really defending a false theology of retribution. He can’t see that Job’s cry of “why?” is not rebellion, but relationship—a wrestling with God that reflects real faith.

Truth without Compassion Is a Weapon (Job 15)

Eliphaz begins his second speech with sharp sarcasm, accusing Job of speaking “windy knowledge.” He implies that Job’s protest is both foolish and irreverent. In verses 20–35, he launches into a portrait of the wicked man—clearly trying to draw a connection to Job.

What’s the issue here? It’s not that Eliphaz’s theology is completely off—Proverbs also teaches that wickedness leads to ruin. The problem is the timing, tone, and target.

John Calvin observed that “Eliphaz speaks like a theologian in a lecture hall, not like a friend at a funeral.” There's no empathy. No listening. Just rigid application of general truth to a unique situation.

“Truth that is not seasoned with grace becomes a tool of judgment, not healing.” – Tim Keller

Who in your life needs your presence more than your propositions? Be a wounded healer, not an armchair theologian.

Sermon Point 2: Job Responds – Lament Is Not a Lack of Faith (Job 16–17)

“Surely now God has worn me out… my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.” (Job 16:7,19)

Job's reply is not a polished theological treatise—it’s raw lament. But don’t mistake lament for unbelief. Job appeals to a heavenly witness—foreshadowing Christ as our Advocate (1 John 2:1 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” ). He’s saying, “Someone in heaven knows the truth.”

Job says that whether he speaks or remains silent, his suffering remains unabated (v. 6). God’s judgment has exhausted Job—shriveled, torn, and harassed him (vv. 7–9). Like a helpless animal thrown to a pack of wolves, Job feels God has “seized [him] by the scruff of the neck” and handed him over to the wicked. Job describes his predicament as being handed over by God to archers for target practice. As if a warrior had attacked and broken through Job’s defenses, he is helpless before the onslaught (vv. 10–14). Job’s personal experience with suffering gives him something of a new perspective on God. Some of the images Job uses to describe God include an enemy, a ruthless taskmaster, a spy rather than a protector, a hunter rather than a healer, one who harasses humans, and a destroyer rather than a sustainer of order (6:4; 7:1–8; 9:5–13; 10:8–17; 12:13–25; and 16:9–14).

Turning to his miserable condition, Job speaks of his “sackcloth” and burying his “strength in the dust” (v. 15). Though he mourns his plight, he maintains his innocence once again: “My hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure” (v. 17).

Christopher Ash writes, “Job is not rejecting God; he is throwing himself upon God in desperation. It is a deeper faith than anything his friends offer.” —Christopher Ash, Job: The Wisdom of the Cross, Crossway.

R. Laird Harris translates 17:13–16: If I have hope, Sheol (the grave) is my house. I will spread my couch in the darkness. I have called corruption my father and the worm my mother and sister, Where then is my hope? and who will see my hope? When my hope goes down to Sheol (the grave) and we descend together to the dust. (“Doctrine of God,” 175)

In summary, Job’s response in these two chapters is set to the same melancholy tune as previously. After upbraiding his friends for their unkindness toward him (16:1–5), he describes his situation as deplorable (vv. 6–16). However, he continues to maintain his innocence and appeals to God’s righteous judgment from the unrighteous censures of his friends (vv. 14–22). In chapter 17 Job reflects again on the harsh censures from his friends and appeals to God to appear and declare him right in the face of his friends who have wronged him (vv. 2–7). He hopes that his condition, though a surprise, will not be a stumbling block to good people who see him abused (vv. 8–9). Job reflects on the empty hopes his friends had offered and states that his days are numbered and, along with his body, all his hopes would be buried in the dust of death (vv. 10–16). His only comfort is the grave (Henry, Job to Song of Solomon, 75, 78).

Where do you turn when you have lost all hope? Like Job, do you feel like a prisoner in your own dungeon of hopelessness? Hope for you is a mirage in the desert. You feel as if the drapes have been pulled closed forever on hope. But hope is not a bedraggled prisoner of circumstances. It is a strong soldier who marches side by side with faith. Only in Jesus do we find hope. Christian hope is not optimism based on what I see around me, but it is confident expectation of what I know is above me, regardless of the circumstances I see around me. No wonder Jeremiah could say, “The person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed” (Jer 17:7).

Peter encourages us: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. (1 Pet 1:3–4)

Just like Job, you and I need to be reminded that our hope in Christ is grounded in the resurrection of Christ. We have an inheritance that awaits us that is death proof (“imperishable”), sin proof (“undefiled”), and time proof (“unfading”)! We have victory in Jesus!

Sermon Point 3: Bildad and Zophar Double Down – The World Will Preach Retribution (Job 18, 20)

“Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.” (Job 18:21)

Bildad and Zophar return, not with comfort, but with warnings. To them, Job is a cautionary tale: "This is what happens when you walk away from God."

Exalting Jesus in Job (Complaint against Job (18:1–4)) “Who do you think you are, Job? Do you think God will alter the course of nature just for your benefit?” For Job to be right, in Bildad’s mind, the moral order of the universe would have to be overturned.

Exalting Jesus in Job (Description of the Wicked and Their Fate (18:5–21))

Bildad offers a description of the fate of the wicked. The light in the tents of the wicked will be extinguished. There will be no light and no fire, symbolizing no prosperity (vv. 5–6). The ungodly are tripped up by their own schemes (vv. 7–11). Bildad uses six words for “trap” in verses 8–10 (“net,” “mesh,” “trap,” “noose,” “rope,” and “snare”), emphasizing that no matter which way Job tries to run, he will be caught. His strength is depleted, and disaster causes him to stumble (v. 12). Diseases were sometimes known as “death’s children” because they serve death’s purposes (v. 13). Verses 14 and 15 depict a nomadic tent-dwelling encampment, where evildoers and their possessions are removed from the security of their tents. In verse 16 Bildad uses the metaphor of a decaying tree with roots dying from lack of water and branches withering. The name and memory of the ungodly perish (v. 17). He is “driven” and “chased”; he has no survivor carrying on the family name where he used to live (vv. 18–19). The fate of the wicked is so calamitous that people everywhere (“those in the west … those in the east”) are appalled (v. 20). Bildad concludes, “Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man, and this is the place of the one who does not know God” (v. 21). Job fits the description of “the wicked,” so Bildad concludes Job is suffering for his sin. No prosperity, no place to hide, no foundation, no name, no children, no friends, no hope in life or in death—this is Bildad’s assessment of Job. Same song, second verse; a little louder, a little worse.

Here’s the danger: when we suffer, even today, the church can sometimes preach the world’s message—"There must be sin in your life.” It's not just wrong—it’s anti-gospel.

Historical Insight: The Pharisees and the Blind Man (John 9)

Remember the disciples asking Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus responded, “Neither… but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:2–3) Job’s story foreshadows this truth.

Sermon Point 4: Job Declares – Resurrection Hope in the Midst of Darkness (Job 19 & 21)

Exalting Jesus in Job Job’s Complaint about God’s Enmity (19:7–12)

Job’s Complaint about God’s Enmity (19:7–12)

Job speaks to and about God. Job feels God has been unjust: “I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but get no response; I call for help, but there is no justice” (v. 7). Job feels God is violating his own rules by how he has treated Job, so Job throws a penalty flag on God! Yet he gets no response from God—just the cold shoulder, as if God were saying, “Talk to the hand, Job; I’m not listening to you.” In the remainder of this section, God (“he”) is the subject of every main verb as Job enumerates ten ways in which God has been unjust in his treatment of Job: (1) “He has blocked my way,” (2) “he has veiled my paths with darkness,” (3) “He has stripped me of my honor,” (4) he has “removed the crown from my head,” (5) “He tears me down on every side,” (6) “He uproots my hope like a tree,” (7) “His anger burns against me,” (8) “he regards me as one of his enemies,” (9) “His troops advance … against me,” and (10) “camp around my tent” [i.e., besiege me] (vv. 8–12).

Job’s Separation from Human Love (19:13–22)

Job laments that all his relatives, friends, and servants have turned their backs on him. Loss of family and social fellowship devastated Job. The list includes “brothers,” “acquaintances,” “relatives,” “close friends,” “house guests,” “female servants,” “my servant,” “my wife,” “my own family,” “young boys,” and “my best friends” (vv. 13–19). Job’s outward emaciated appearance indicates the dire situation he is in (v. 20). The final two verses are Job’s pathetic appeal where he pleads with his three friends: “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God’s hand has struck me.” The repetition of “mercy” in the Hebrew text places particular emphasis on Job’s pleading.

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” (Job 19:25)

Exalting Jesus in Job (Job’s Plea for Ultimate Vindication (19:23–27))

The Hebrew of verse 25 is emphatic: “I, even I, know.…” “At the end” this “Redeemer” will “stand on the dust.” The phrase at the end is actually an adjective in the Hebrew text describing the Redeemer as “the last one” or “he who comes last.” In other words, God will have the final say. The word translated “dust” can also be translated “soil.” Job’s Redeemer is living and will stand on the earth and testify. The Redeemer will have the final word.

This is the high point of the entire middle section of the book. Surrounded by false accusations and physical agony, Job lifts his head and proclaims resurrection hope. “Even after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”

This is no vague optimism—it is gospel anticipation. Job glimpses what Paul would later proclaim: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed… For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–17)

His own perception of God’s injustice kept C. S. Lewis from becoming a Christian for some time. How could there be a God who allowed so much evil in the world? Lewis explained his pilgrimage in his famous book Mere Christianity:

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I who was supposed to be a part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it?… Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too—for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. (Mere Christianity, 38–39)

Illustration: Ukrainian Church Singing in Ruins

In early 2022, a video went viral of Ukrainian Christians singing hymns in bombed-out churches. Why sing in ruins? Because resurrection is not a metaphor—it’s a promise. Job’s Redeemer is ours, and He lives.

Exalting Jesus in Job (Job’s Warning to the Three Friends (19:28–29)) Like Job, who said because his Redeemer lives he will see God after his resurrection, we know that death is not the end. The resurrection of Christ guarantees my resurrection. Whether I die young or live to be a hundred, whether I suffer on a bed of pain or die peacefully in my sleep, either way Christ guarantees my being ushered into his presence for all eternity. Like Job, I know that my Redeemer lives! And, as the song says, … Because He lives I can face tomorrow; Because He lives all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living Just because He lives. And then one day I’ll cross the river; I’ll fight life’s final war with pain; And then as death gives way to vict’ry, I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives.

Conclusion: The Cross-Shaped Life

Little new ground is broken during this second cycle of speeches, as the friends repeat essentially what they said in the first cycle but with a more caustic and condemning tone. They maintain the retribution principle with respect to suffering in Job’s case. Job must be guilty of great sin.

To Job’s friends, theology is a lens through which to examine reality, and for this reason they tend to see only the way things ought to be.… Against the systematic tidiness that Job’s friends try to impose upon this chaos, Job asserts a healthy belief in the present rein of anarchy. (Mason, Gospel according to Job, 232; emphasis in original)

Their focus is single-minded: a terrible fate awaits the wicked, and this will be Job’s end if he does not repent. Job continues to maintain his innocence before God and firmly rejects their calls to repentance. Job’s responses to his friends sometimes contain elements of rebuttal to their logic, but they always express his desire to hear from God. Although God has final veto power over everything Satan does, for the time being God seems to exercise his veto erratically (Mason, Gospel According to Job, 234). At least that’s how Job sees it. “Life is unfair not because God is, or because he is nonexistent. God holds back his fairness for a future dispensation” (Mason, Gospel According to Job, 236).

Job’s friends can’t understand a world where the righteous suffer. But we know one who was perfectly righteous—and suffered not for His sin, but for ours.

Job’s cry and prediction in chapter 16, 19 for a heavenly advocate is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the greater Job. And His resurrection vindicates the hope Job clung to by faith.

Application:

Are you suffering? Don’t be surprised when the world doesn’t understand.

Don’t suppress your lament—God welcomes your honest wrestling.

The gospel does not promise ease—but it does promise resurrection.

Keep your eyes on your Redeemer, who lives, and who will stand at the last.

Discussion Questions:

Why do we often assume suffering is the result of personal sin? How does Job challenge that idea?

How does Job 19:25–27 shape our understanding of resurrection hope?

What does Job’s experience teach us about lament and faith?

How can we avoid becoming like Job’s friends when comforting others?

Prayer Direction:

Pray for hearts that trust God’s justice even when we can’t see it.

Pray for wisdom to walk with others in their pain without judgment.

Thank God that we have a living Redeemer who stands for us.