Sermon Tone Analysis

Quid Pro Quo

 

     I don’t know about you, but I have found life to be pretty unfair sometimes.

There have been times in my life where I believe the saying, “When it rains, it pours” was coined just for me.

I find myself comparing myself to others with the thought, “Why is all this happening to me.

Fred over there doesn’t care a lick about God, or anyone else really, and he’s as happy as a clam.

Everything seems to just ‘work out’ for him.

I try to do the right things, and to live a life that would be pleasing to God, and my world is falling apart.

I just don’t get it.

It’s not fair.”

How many of you have felt this way before?

When you feel this way, what do you do?  How do you handle the situation you’re in?

The “churchy” answer is, “Pray”, which is DEFINITELY the appropriate answer, but WHAT do you SAY in your prayer?

In the midst of everything you’re going through, what do you SAY to God?  Do you blame God; telling Him that it’s not FAIR?

If God is REALLY in control of everything, then what you’re experiencing really IS God’s fault, right?

As a follower of God, He is supposed to protect me from harm.

*READ Prov **1:33** *(/But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm./)*;

Psalm 91:9-10 *(/If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home./).

Therefore, because I am experiencing these difficulties, God must be punishing me for something I’ve done.

*READ Psalm 31:23 *(/Love the Lord, all you godly ones!

For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but he harshly punishes the arrogant./)*;

Prov **3:11**-12 *(/My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you.

For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights./).

What do you think?

These verses are not taken out of context; they speak of God protecting the faithful and punishing those who do wrong.

So, where does this leave us?  Live a life that is pleasing to God, and you’ll experience His protection and blessing.

Live a life according to your OWN rules and desires, and receive God’s punishment.

Do I have this right?

Beyond the Psalms and Proverbs, we see this truth exemplified in the nation of Israel.

All throughout the Old Testament we see God blessing the nation of Israel when they are living obediently to God’s laws, and experiencing God’s wrath when they refuse to listen and obey Him.

Do you see where this leaves you when YOU’RE going through some traumatic times?

In today’s legal terms, it’s called quid pro quo: Latin for, “One thing in return for another.”

In other words, if you obey, and are faithful, God will bless you.

If you disobey, you will be punished.

Therefore, if you’re suffering, you’re being disobedient to God in some way.

So, you pray and you soul-search trying to find out where you’re out of line, yet you find no answer.

You come to the conclusion that there must be SOME reason you’re suffering the way you are, but you just can’t figure out what it is.

*VIDEO*.

The mother in the video has come to a similar conclusion.

She may not feel like she’s being punished, but she HAS concluded that there must be SOME reason she and her family are suffering.

She also made two very wise statements: 1) She has to put ALL her trust in God, not just some.

2) God sees the whole picture, but we don’t.

I would imagine that every one of you can relate, to some degree, to what we’ve been talking about here.

Some of you are walking this road right now, so this is more than a hypothetical scenario.

You are right in the midst of a trial that is pushing you to the breaking point.

You feel like you’re all alone.

You feel like God isn’t listening to your cries for help or relief.

From the depths of your heart, you cry out, “WHY!!?”.

Are you with me?  Can you relate to this?

As followers of God, what are we supposed to do; how are we to respond to these times in our lives?

I started out this series by telling you that the Old Testament is more than genealogies and Law; it is full of the realities of life and how those realities are tied to our relationship with God.

The texts we looked at earlier were deliberately taken from Psalms and Proverbs because we learned a few weeks ago that Psalms addresses the highs AND lows of life, while Proverbs provides us with the wisdom we need to live a life pleasing to God.

We saw, in the lives of David and Solomon, the blessings associated with obedience, and the consequences that accompany disobedience.

These books help you and I to see both sides of the coin: God’s actions and humanity’s response; good or bad.

What we’ve been talking about this morning is addressed in the bible as well.

The psalms of David are probably the most well-known cries for help and deliverance, as well as cries of “why”, but there is an entire book devoted to this topic: Job.

Job is known for its tragic content, and is considered by many as a very depressing book to read because of all the suffering Job encountered.

What better resource could there be for people who feel like God is punishing them or just plain not listening to them?

Let’s pick out some major points from the book.

*READ Job 1:1-3 *(/There once was a man named Job who lived in the //land// of //Uz//.

He was blameless-a man of complete integrity.

He feared God and stayed away from evil.

He had seven sons and three daughters.

He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys.

He also had many servants.

He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area/.)

Job is not only the wealthiest man around, he is “blameless- a man of complete integrity.”

He took his relationship with God VERY seriously.

In fact, he went as far as to offer sacrifices for his kids just in case they sinned unknowingly as a result of their many parties they liked to throw.

*READ Job1:5 *(/When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children.

He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them.

For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.”

This was Job’s regular practice./).

Job was TRULY devoted to God.  *READ Job 1:13-19*.

In one day, Job lost everything; his job, his wealth and all 10 children.

“Bad day” just doesn’t seem to cut it, does it?

Job’s response: *READ Job 1:20-22* (/Job stood up and tore his robe in grief.

Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship.

He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.

The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away.

Praise the name of the Lord!”

In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God./).

Job fell to his knees and worshiped in the midst of his anguish.

Then, as if that weren’t enough, Job breaks out in boils over his entire body.

*READ Job 2:8-9* (/Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity?

Curse God and die.”/).

How’s THAT for encouragement?

Job’s response: *READ Job 2:10*.

(/But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman.

Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”

So in all this, Job said nothing wrong./).

Obviously, considering the magnitude of everything he has experienced, Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, come to comfort him.

For the next 34 chapters, we find the dialog between Job and his three friends.

We can’t look at all of them, but we CAN look at the key themes from each of them.

*READ Job 4:7* (/“Stop and think!

Do the innocent die?

When have the upright been destroyed?/).

Eliphaz argues that the innocent don’t perish and the upright are not destroyed.

In other words, innocent people don’t suffer.

*READ Job 8:4*.