The Subtlety of Self-Righteousness Pt 2
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Hypothetical situations in a movie or a book. Usually the protagonist is put in a crazy situation and is asked by a supporting character, “Do you trust me?” And the protagonist of the story replies something like this, “What guarantee do I have that you will keep your word?” and how does the supporting character respond? “None, you are just going to have to trust me.”
One of the main purposes of Job is cause us to ponder the question, “Can we trust God?” Even when everything in life, all of His blessings are taken away, is God still worthy of my worship and trust?
Satan is betting the answer to that question is no.
8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
The other main purpose of the book of Job is to show that retribution theology is false. God is not obligated to reward good with blessing in this lifetime. Sometimes God allows the righteous to suffer. This is something that Job and his three friends have really struggled with. For almost 30 chapters Job and his three friends have debated this one single topic. And with little success. Now Job is through debating his friends.
In chapters 29-31 we have entered a courtroom with Job as the defendant and God as the judge. Job is now pleading his case before God Himself. These three chapters are what scholars call Job’s avowal of innocence or his oath of innocence.
Here we see Job struggling to make sense out of two issues
1). Retribution theology no longer works
2). Can I still trust God even though he has taken everything away from me?
Ultimately what Job does is allow a self-righteous attitude to creep into his heart.
1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.
Ultimately Job ends up falling to the temptation of self-justification or self-righteousness
And I believe that in these three chapters we find three warning signs that will help us as NT believers determine if we have fallen into the subtlety of self-righteousness.
Warning Sign #1
I. A Longing for the good old days
I. A Longing for the good old days
Do we do this kind of thing today? How?
Parents- remember when we only had one child how easy life was?
Sickness, loss of a loved one, old age, added responsibilities
What are we really implying? That somehow my life is messed up. It was better before and God has made a mistake by allowing my life to get this hard. I know what is best. It is an attitude of self-righteousness or self-justification.
Warning Sign #2
II. A Loathing of our present circumstances
II. A Loathing of our present circumstances
What was the cause of Job’s loathing?
A. He was an object of scorn (1-8)
A. He was an object of scorn (1-8)
Remember in order to understand Hebrew poetry two important things are required.
#1. We must understand the imagery that is being presented.
#2. We must understand the emotion of the poet
I want you to try to feel the emotion of Job in this poem.
Also I want you to listen for truth. I want you to determine if what Job is saying is true or false. I know Job believes it to be true, but we have more information than Job does. We were privileged to see in to the heavenly courtroom and he was not. So I want you to pick up on places where Job is believing a lie.
21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited,
And kept silence at my counsel.
22 After my words they spake not again;
And my speech dropped upon them.
23 And they waited for me as for the rain;
And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
24 If I laughed on them, they believed it not;
And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
25 I chose out their way, and sat chief,
And dwelt as a king in the army,
As one that comforteth the mourners.
Job 29
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision,
Whose fathers I would have disdained
To have set with the dogs of my flock.
Job was mocked by the lowest elements of society (1-8).
The mockers are young (Note: respect for elders in this culture). (1)
Our culture is different, think of the respect you show for those that are in their 80’s or 90’s.
The mockers’ ancestry was poor.
2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me,
In whom old age was perished?
The fathers of the children that now mock him are weak.
3 For want and famine they were solitary;
Fleeing into the wilderness
In former time desolate and waste.
They are malnourished, they are wanderers (homeless)
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes,
And juniper roots for their meat.
They eat a virtually inedible plant (dumpster diving)
5 They were driven forth from among men,
(They cried after them as after a thief;)
They are unwanted in any community
6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys,
In caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed;
Under the nettles they were gathered together.
6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys,
In caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
They live where nobody else wants to live
8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men:
They were viler than the earth.
Job 30.8
Children of base men, lit. “sons without a name”
The Book of Job a. The Mockers (30:1–8)
they are men without a name, i.e., they have no honor. Since people in ancient times believed that a name defined its bearer’s essential nature, whoever became nameless had sunk to the lowest level of infamy. Such depraved creatures are viewed as lower than the ground.
(Hartley, 398)
OK, is Job speaking truth in these verses, or is he believing a lie?
B. He was the subject of shame (9-15)
B. He was the subject of shame (9-15)
What is the definition of shame again?
Generally speaking, shame “is the deep sense that you are unacceptable because of something you did, something done to you, or something associated with you. You feel exposed and humiliated”
9 And now am I their song,
Yea, I am their byword.
He is the subject of their humiliating song.
Beyond Suffering: Discovering the Message of Job Reflecting on past and Present (Job 29–30)
“Who hides his sin under wealth’s fine robe, Belongs on the dunghill with old man Job!”
Talbert, 155
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me,
And spare not to spit in my face.
Men think it nothing of spitting in his face.
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me,
They have also let loose the bridle before me.
The Book of Job b. The Mockery (30:9–15)
In this metaphor Job compares his body to a tent. Since God has slackened the central cord, the tent sags.
Hartley, 400.
Now Job has become an easy target
Now Job has become an easy target
Job 30.12
12 Upon my right hand rise the youth;
They push away my feet,
And they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13 They mar my path,
They set forward my calamity,
They have no helper.
He was freely attacked where he was once impervious to assault (12a - The right side is the strong side in ancient thought).
He cannot escape the onslaught (12b-13).
14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters:
In the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
Job 30.
His “walls of defense” are so badly broken as to be worthless
15 Terrors are turned upon me:
They pursue my soul as the wind:
And my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
“welfare passed away like a cloud”- A cloud may look like a large and substantial thing, but it has little substance and can disappear.
OK, is Job speaking truth in these verses, or is he believing a lie?
C. He felt abandoned by God (16-23)
C. He felt abandoned by God (16-23)
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me;
The days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season:
And my sinews take no rest.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed:
It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
Physically, Job’s condition was horrible (16-18).
(1) Powerless to combat his illness. (16)
(2) Lack of sleep. (17)
(3) Unceasing pain. He likens it to wearing clothing which constantly gets tighter and tighter. (18)
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me:
I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
21 Thou art become cruel to me:
With thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it,
And dissolvest my substance.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,
And to the house appointed for all living.
God was unresponsive to his pleas (20-23)
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me:
I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
Standing is the posture for making an earnest petition
1 Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
21 Thou art become cruel to me:
With thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
In spite of this earnestness, God treats him with cruelty. (21)
Note the wordplay ‘satam’ – to act hatefully, and ‘satan’. “God has acted so bitterly against him that Job feels that God is his foe, his satan. That is, Job is poignantly accusing God of cherishing animosity against him.” (Hartley, 403).
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it,
And dissolvest my substance.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,
And to the house appointed for all living.
The cruelness described by Job by God.
OK, is Job speaking truth in these verses, or is he believing a lie?
D. He believed that life was profoundly unfair (24-31)
D. He believed that life was profoundly unfair (24-31)
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave,
Though they cry in his destruction.
Job
Even when my life is near the grave and I cry in destruction, God will not stretch out his hand to me.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
Job had similarly called to God on behalf of other sufferers. Now Job’s retribution theology is creeping in. In what way? I was good, I helped the troubled and I grieved for the poor, I don’t deserve my current pain. I should be blessed not judged!
26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me:
And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
Instead God has repaid my good with evil!
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not:
The days of affliction prevented me.
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not:
The days of affliction prevented me.
28 I went mourning without the sun:
I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29 I am a brother to dragons,
And a companion to owls.
30 My skin is black upon me,
And my bones are burned with heat.
Job is psychologically ravaged.
28 I went mourning without the sun:
I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
Mourning- lit. to be dark, devoid of light (what color do you dress in when in mourning? Black) The idea is that Job is darkened without the sun. Cf. v. 30
30 My skin is black upon me,
And my bones are burned with heat.
So here he is lamenting again his present condition. His skin is black, but not because of the sun. What is the cause of his black skin? Sickness. Where does Job believe his sickness is from? God Himself.
29 I am a brother to dragons,
And a companion to owls.
8 Therefore I will wail and howl,
I will go stripped and naked:
I will make a wailing like the dragons,
And mourning as the owls.
The idea is that Job is wailing alone and destitute from civilization. He was cut off because of his disease.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning,
And my organ into the voice of them that weep.
Job is unable to sing any happy tune. He could only mourn and weep.
OK, is Job speaking truth in these verses, or is he believing a lie?
Can I still trust God even though he has taken everything away from me? Is God still worthy of my trust and worship?
Have you allowed your loathing of your current pain to cause you to doubt God, to think Him unfair, to believe the lie that He is no longer worthy to be trusted?
What are some promises we can claim that say differently?
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Phil
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Have you fallen prey to the subtlety of self-righteousness? Have you justified yourself above God? Do you loath your present circumstances or do you rest in God’s goodness, His sovereign-ness, His just-ness? Will you still trust God and offer Him your worship even though everything else is taken away?
Have you fallen prey to the subtlety of self-righteousness? Have you justified yourself above God? Do you loath your present circumstances or do you rest in God’s goodness, His sovereign-ness, His just-ness? Will you still trust God and offer Him your worship even though everything else is taken away?