Needed: An Advocate

Trust - Born wired to expect things ought to be fair in this world.

One of the best-known songwriters in the Christian world today, is Matt Redman. We sing several of his songs here, including the one we sang this morning: “One Day”. “Blessed Be Your Name,” “The Heart of Worship”. Matt is one of the most influential voices in modern Christendom. Yet, for all the uplifting words in his in his repertoire of songs, the Englishman understands that not everyone enters a spiritual setting ready for praise songs.

“There’s that Psalm that says ‘rejoicing comes in the morning,'” Matt says, “and for some people, it’s not morning yet.

“I think Eugene Peterson (who penned The Message) says that if you look at the Psalms, 70 percent are laments, written from that dark place, crying out to God, asking, ‘What are You going to do about this situation?’ I want to honor that; I don’t want worship that’s escapist. I don’t want to write songs or lead worship that’s quick to gloss over people’s hurt, with some ‘you know, we’ve covered that bit, now let’s move on. Cheer up; everything’s going to be OK.’ That’s not the experience of many people’s lives.”

And, Matt admits, that’s not always been the experience of his life. He was born in Watford, near London, which must have something special in the water, since that hometown has also given us Elton John, George Michael and Ginger Spice.

When Matt was 7 years old, his father committed suicide, although Matt didn’t discover the cause of death until he was about 10. “It’s interesting,” he says, philosophically, “seasons like that either propel you toward God or away from Him. I think when times like that come in your life, you either go down the path of bitterness and complaint, or you choose to trust God. Even at that age, I knew enough about God to know that-well I don’t understand this, but God is good, and God is real. So I actually chose to get more plugged into Him at that young age of 10, after hearing Luis Palau speak at a large rally in a football [soccer] stadium.”

When Matt’s mother married again, he says his step-father “turned out to be quite an abusive guy. I’ve thought a lot about that Psalm that says, ‘God’s a father to the fatherless’ (). I would lean on that a lot, when I was 13, 14, 15, and there was a lot of terrible stuff going on at home. It made me lean on some of those things that I knew to be true about God. It’s a funny thing, because you never want those things to happen. No one asks for a painful time, but looking back, you can see how God made me to be fruitful in the land of my suffering. Being a worship leader now-writing songs-I look back, and I can see that that solidified my walk with Christ, that time.”

Second Comforter comes onto the stage in Chapter 8, with Bildad the Shuhite. The first of Job’s 3 friends, Eliphaz, started off gently. He was polite. He sees Job. He sees this man suffering. He knows he’s lost everything. He’s watched his life - he has seen him carry himself with nothing but the utmost integrity. This is a good man - Eliphaz knows that. Anybody can see that. He must have done something wrong to bring about all of this devastation in life .... Oh but he knows that he’s never seen anything but good from Job’s life. So he tries to encourage him to think where he possibly could have taken a wrong step.

After hearing the gentleness of Eliphaz and Job’s response to him - he hears Job’s lament - in chapter 7:15-16 - “I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. (16) I loathe my life; I would not live forever.” “I don’t even want to live anymore in this pain.” And Bildad has had enough. He can’t contain himself any longer. So he launches in, with words of his own, at the beginning of chapter 8. He doesn’t waste any time in niceties … he gets right to the point in v. 2:

“How long will you say these things and your mouth be a great wind?” (not exactly a compliment nor a nice thing to say). He’s saying, “Stop being such a WINDBAG, JOB!” “You’re going on and on about your suffering and how innocent you are - and it’s all ridiculous!” And in verse 3, Bildad gives his argument.

Q (not exactly a compliment nor a nice thing to say).

Verse 3, "Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?" - - - What's he saying? Bildad is a little more brash (likely younger than Eliphaz) - - - . He is saying that God is just. And the reason you are suffering is because of the standards of morality in the universe working themselves out.”

“There is an order in the universe - - and do you think the Almighty God sets aside that order just for you?”

What is that order? It’s the order that E has already described: "You reap what you sow; you get out of life what you put into it - no more, no less" Bildad’s theology is this: “The righteous are blessed and the wicked are punished. No errors; no exceptions. And if you see any exception to that rule - just wait a minute … justice is on the way. It’s coming quickly and any appearance otherwise, will be reversed any minute now.

What is that order? It’s the order that E has already described: "You reap what you sow; you get out of life what you put into it - no more, no less" Bildad’s theology is this: “The righteous are blessed and the wicked are punished. No exceptions. And if you see any exception to that rule - just wait a minute … justice is on the way. It’s coming quickly and any appearance otherwise, will be reversed any minute now.

Job's friends believe every suffering is a punishment. They are not weak-kneed, emotion-driven liberals: they believe in God, that He is sovereign, that He punishes. They believe that He punishes. So these are not cowardly, sentimentally driven liberals.

Calvin - in mid 16th century Geneva. Very first sermon: "There is a key that unlocks the book of Job. Job's friends have a very bad case, but they argue it extremely well. Job has a very good case, but he argues it extremely badly."

Job's friends believe every suffering is a punishment. They are not weak-kneed liberals: they believe in God, that He is sovereign, that He punishes. They believe that He punishes. So these are not cowardly, sentimentally driven liberals.

So here comes Bildad: "everybody else lives under the rule of the universal order - you reap what you sow. God created that order in His almighty power. Do you think that God would set aside His created order - His rule - just for you?!" Do you see his point? You are suffering - God is just - THEREFORE - you must be guilty of something.

Bildad goes on and to utter some of the harshest words in this entire book - in Verse 4 - “If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression”. Job has just lost every single one of his 10 children. At our distance from Job in space and time, its easy to think of Job’s kids as a THING - one faceless group - nothing more than a possession that belongs to Job. Remember that they are much more than a soul-less blob … these are 7 young men and 3 young women - each one of them has a name, a face, a personality .... Job loved his kids - prayed for them, sacrificed for them .... he was the most righteous man alive in his day - do you think he loved each one of them any less than we love our kids today? Put yourself in Job’s place. And now, your supposed friend Bildad comes along and says, “Your kids are dead because God is just and they got what they deserve”.

And then he goes on to expound his theology - “Obviously your kids sinned worse than you did because they’re dead. You still have life, which means you must not have sinned as badly as they did. You still have a chance to make things right with God.”

Verse 6 - "If you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation." “If you are blameless, like you say you are, Job - then God’s going to bless you.”

The fact that Job's habitation is not being restored .... the fact that he is continuing to decline in health and suffer pain ....

… well, it's all evidence that the judgment of God is upon him. And the only reason that the judgment of God could be upon him - is because he has sinned .... somewhere in his life - maybe it was in the distant, foggy past - but somewhere along the line - there MUST have been sin. It's the law of the universe! It’s a mechanical, merciless law.

Verse 8 - Bildad explains where he finds the authority for his beliefs: “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.” “It’s tradition! The smartest minds of the past have found that this is the way the world works.”

To support his point, Bildad takes an Illustration from the world of nature he knew, in verses 11-19 -He points to the way papyrus grows. In the swampy areas of the warm climate of the Ancient near east - papryus was a valuable plant - used in for all kinds of practical things from boats to baskets and writing paper. Papyrus grows fast and tall - gets up to 10 feet tall. And it looks so stately, straight and tall, waving gently in the breeze.

But no matter how impressive and healthy it looks - if the swamp it’s growing in dries up - if its water fails, it will wither overnight. And immediately - it’s lost all of its value.

“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water? While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant. (13) Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.”

That’s you Job - you’ve forgotten God. You grew rich - seemed to have it all together - but you’ve forgotten God. You must have forgotten God - there’s no other reason why

Drop to end:

v. 20 - "Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers."

Suffering is instant retribution - every time and in every way. God will not reject a godly, a righteous man. Job claims to be that kind of godly man. But all the evidence points to Job not being rescued - he clearly has been rejected. So Job, therefore, must be a liar, on top of being a sinner: must misunderstand. His comforters see things clearly: "You reap what you sow, every time and in every way".

So here again is the cash-register understanding of justice that Job’s three friends all share: You get what you deserve. This is Bildad, holding onto a religious system. There is no grace here. There is no comfort.

Calvin - in mid 16th century Geneva. Very first sermon: "There is a key that unlocks the book of Job. Job's friends have a very bad case, but they argue it extremely well. Job has a very good case, but he argues it extremely badly."

Job’s friends get it wrong, right where many of us get it wrong when we try to help a brother or sister when we see them in need: We want to get them back on track with God - so we want to apply God’s word to them. That’s crucial. That’s ministry. But - ministry isn’t just about the all-important task of proclaiming the truth of the gospel .... not standing back and pointing her to God from far off … REAL MINISTRY means pointing her to the one, true God, for sure … but it means doing that while you sit on the ash heap beside her, listening to her real, honest feelings and fears and struggles. It’s about ministering where she is.

Job’s friends get it wrong, right where many of us get it wrong when we try to help a brother or sister when we see them in need: We want to get them back on track with God - so we want to apply God’s word to them. That’s crucial. That’s ministry. But - ministry isn’t just about the all-important task of proclaiming the truth of the gospel .... not standing back and pointing her to God from far off … REAL MINISTRY means pointing her to the one, true God, for sure … but it means doing that while you sit on the ash heap beside her, listening to her real, honest feelings and fears and struggles. It’s about ministering where she is.

It is so much easier to keep our distance, like Job’s 3 lousy comforters - to point to the textbook - without engaging in the questions that your suffering friend has.

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2 JOB’S RESPONSE

So how will Job respond to the counsel of this, second, ‘friend’? Job responds to Bildad in chapter 9. Here he sits. He has been sipping from the seething cup of suffering - drinking it to the dregs - Now he pours out his heart:

Verse 2, “Truly I know that it is so; but how can a man be in the right before God.” Job is saying, “You don’t have to persuade me that God is the All-Powerful One who created the order of this world.” “You don’t have to persuade me that God is a God of Justice”.

But I can’t change the fact that I haven’t done anything.

There is nothing like the feeling of being alone; or being the tiny little cog in a vast universe, that you cannot understand, let alone control: You are a prisoner and you've been falsely charged; you are a widow, life has been difficult and has dealt out a difficult hand; you are the victim of a vicious attack;

v. 33: "There is no (or would there were) arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both."

He says that he has a legal case - he has a case and there is God, the Judge - but Job has nobody to represent him - he has no legal counsel, no lawyer. Less a question, more a wish - a longing from the depth of his heart.

“Would there were an arbiter … and advocate.” There is no worse feeling in the world than feeling alone -

There is nothing like the feeling of being alone; or being the tiny little cog in a vast universe, that you cannot understand, let alone control: You are a prisoner and you've been falsely charged; you are a widow, life has been difficult and has dealt out a difficult hand; you are the victim of a vicious attack;

you are a single person who longs to be married - longs for that soul mate - but days and months and YEARS go by … there is nobody. Where is God in all of this?

.... a multitude of other possibilities. Whatever the specifics of your story - you find yourself asking, “Where is God in all of this?”

... and you say: "I wish there was someone to stand between me and the sovereign God - to represent me; to plead my case."

Drop down to v. 33: "There is no (or would there were) arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both."

Drop down to v. 33: "There is no (or would there were) arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both."

He says that he has a legal case - he has a case and there is God, the Judge - but Job has nobody to represent him - he has no legal counsel, no lawyer. Less a question, more a wish - a longing from the depth of his heart.

“Would there were an arbiter … and advocate.” There is no worse feeling in the world than feeling alone -

God is sovereign and He is Just - - Job gets that. But the question Job has is this: "IS God GOOD?" Not just, 'Is he good in general, but is he good toward me?"

God is sovereign and He is Just - - Job gets that. But the question Job has is this: "IS God GOOD?" Not just, 'Is he good in general, but is he good toward me?"

Behind this question is Satan - - insidiously planting the idea - - that God is NOT good. He cannot be trusted. His justice may work one way with one person and another way with another person - but there is no standard, no consistency to it?

- "... how can a man be right before God?"

Job's problem is not his sin - he’s not saying that he is a sinless human being. He is just standing firmly on the fact that he hasn’t brought this total devastation on himself because of sinful rebellion against God. - - He has a problem with the justice of God. How can it be fair, how can it be right - -- that God should visit a righteous person and inflict on that person, pain and suffering and disease? How can you ever find justice with God?

May know someone in that position: someone who has been violated, horribly ... and the guilty party has never been brought to justice - never been caught, never been punished.

Look at the verbs in chapter 9 -

V. 3, "If one wished to contend with him ..."

V. 14, "How then can I answer him (argue with Him; make a case to Him), choosing my words with him?"

- this is a court case - - Job is trying to choose the right words to make his argument in his case ...

v. 15, "Though I am in the right, i cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser."

Though Job is in the right - God isn't speaking to him. So, where will he find justice? Job believes in the sovereignty of God - He believes in a BIG God - who is other, transcendent, outside of creation.

v. 32, “For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to TRIAL together.”

So, "How can I plead my case? How can I get a hearing?!"

These are all legal words - these are ‘lawyer’ words. this is the language of the courtroom.

Job is saying, “How can I possibly approach God? How can I address God - how can I make my case to Him? In my despair, in my darkness, in the heaviness of my condition - how can I expect that He will ever listen to me? How in the world can I ever expect to get justice? I need an advocate. I need a lawyer.” “I need somebody to stand between me and the God Who is sitting on the bench as my Judge - somebody to make the case for me.”

“Somebody to argue my case, somebody who knows the truth about me; somebody who will argue my case with wisdom and with passion. I need somebody to fight for ME!” That’s what Job is saying here. And he’s saying it because he has lost faith that God’s plan for him is good. He has a hard time believing that God has any blessing left for him.

Do you ever feel like that? "How can I get a hearing?" What do you do? You pray - that's how we communicate with God. But you know the times when your prayers seem to simply bounce off the ceiling. When it seems that God is not listening, that the door to heaven's courtroom is locked up tight.

At the heart of this book - is the nagging suspicion on Job's part - that God cannot be trusted. One of the pastoral issues in dealing with hurts, pains, abuse. This is the point where God may be distrusted. He answers the prayers of others - but he doesn't answer mine.

Some people pray for 30, 40, 50 years - and there is seemingly no answer.

Verse 12 of chapter 9: “Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ Who has the right to go to the God of the universe and say, “What are you doing?!! My life situation seems so unfair. What are you doing with me?”

Who has the right to go to the God of the universe and say, “What are you doing?!! This situation seems so unfair. What are you doing with me?”

Job has no problem with believing in God’s sovereignty - His power. He is in control of everything.

Verses 4-6 ........ He talks about mountains and earthquakes and stars and constellations. God is sovereign and powerful beyond all imagination ...... and in the face of a God like that, you feel helpless, insignificant - you are a nothing.

Then what can you do? Where can you turn? , "If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times."

"What if I did get through to him - and He spoke back .... then what would I say? How could I, a measly man, answer the sovereign God of the universe?!"

v. 4, "He is wise in heart and mighty in strength - who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?

He believes in the wisdom and power of God - - - a twist here - "i might rise up against God and protest that his ways aren't fair - - who has ever succeeded in that?"

v. 5, "... he who removes mountains and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger ..."

V. 24, "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges - if it is not he, who then is it?" Even in this world that so often seems dominated by sinful powers and rebels against God - - even here, God is in control - He covers the faces of its judges ...." Even here, God is sovereign. Job knows God's rule - even here, even now.

V. 12, "Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?' Who can question God? You say that to someone doing something silly. How can you ever say that to the Sovereign God of the heaven and earth - the God of earthquakes, tornadoes and thunderstorms.

v. 13 - "God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab." In ANE - certain myths about creation. Job is familiar. One of them is about the influence of Rahab - an ancient NE religious belief. Same with Leviathan - part of one.

Doesn't mean Job believes in them - he is simply speaking the language of his culture.

He's saying: "Even your imaginary gods - what help are they here? What help can they be?"

CS Lewis - elements of these myths are true - they've just been twisted.

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Job: "Who can stand up before the Biblical God?" You feel helpless, insignificant.

V. 20: "Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse." God would make me look foolish and evil - even though I know I'm innocent here.

"The Message" here - - "Isn't it time to call it quits on my life? Isn’t it time to call it quits on my life? Can’t you let up, and let me smile just once Before I die and am buried, before I’m nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground, And banished for good to the land of the dead, blind in the final dark?”

Can’t you let up, and let me smile just once

Before I die and am buried,

before I’m nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground,

And banished for good to the land of the dead,

blind in the final dark?”

Have you ever said that? If not, be thankful. Praise God you have never been there. But there are people, right here in this room - who have been here. Right here. And truth be told, there may be someone that there right now.

Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary language (). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Have you ever said that? If not, be thankful. Praise God you have never been there. But there are people, right here in this room - who have been here. Right here. And truth be told, there may be some that are here right now.

There are terrible things that happen in life .... things that don’t happen that you are desperately longing TO happen.

You have put the horror of what happened to you into a little compartment and you’ve tucked it away .... You come to church, you still sing the songs of praise; you still open your Bible and do you devotions, even. You listen to the sermon, you help around the church - - you’re here every week. But it’s not real anymore. You just do it. It’s habit. You’re trying to keep up appearances - to yourself as much as to anyone else. You aren’t trying to be deceitful - oh no … you are trying to persuade yourself that everything’s fine

.... but when you are alone … at night, in the quiet of your own thoughts - there are those nagging, haunting questions: “Maybe God isn’t just, after all. Maybe He’s unfair. Maybe His love is not really FOR YOU!”

Do you think that?

“I need an advocate. I need a lawyer for the defense - I need a lawyer for me.”

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what HE’S going to say.

I need someone to speak FOR me.

This is what suffering can do - - make you cynical. You may believe that the Gospel is true for everyone else - but not for you. God doesn't care about you.

Job is not looking for someone to forgive him his sins. He’s looking for someone who understands him, someone who ‘gets it’ - who can take his case - and take it right to God Himself - and make it eloquent .... and PLEAD THAT CASE WITH EMOTION BEFORE THE HOLY AND JUST GOD. Job wishes he had an advocate - a lawyer - not because of his sins - but because he is in the right.

Verse 33: “There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” This is a difficult verse to translate - notice in the notes of the ESV - there is an alternative translation for this verse. It could read, “IF ONLY there were an arbiter between us ...”. That’s the way the NIV translates it. The New Living has, “IF only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.”

Job is not looking for that here - he is in the right - he needs someone to plead his case

Verse 33: “There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” This is a difficult verse to translate - notice in the notes of the ESV - there is an alternative translation for this verse. It could read, “IF ONLY there were an arbiter between us ...”. That’s the way the NIV translates it. The New Living has, “IF only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.”

When you think about it - you can translate it either way - either as a forlorn statement that there is no arbiter … or as a longing - “If only there was ...” - the idea doesn’t really change much. Job knows what he doesn’t seem to have … he’s crying out in the darkness … way back in the OT … and do you know what Job is longing for? He needs Jesus!

He wants - - “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses ....., but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Does He know what it is to be caught in the dark? Does HE know what it is to recognize that God is in absolute control over your circumstances - knowing that He is in the very center of GOd’s will - - - but having no stomach to take even one more step on that pathway because of the suffering you know it is going to involve?

“Father, if there be ANY OTHER WAY - - please let this cup pass from me.”

As the judgment for MY sin comes down on him with incomprehensible agony … and He cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?!”

Does He know what it means to be betrayed? To be let down by his friends - his closest friends? Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ knows what it means to be in a place that seems to be so unfair! Of course He does.

Oh that there was an advocate!

I think of a woman - - something truly evil done to her as a child - a teenager. Her body was used as the plaything to satisfy the evil desires of another. … all of her life, she has not only carried the wounds of being violated … but she’s also battled with a guilt for even being where she was - for not fighting back harder.

.... of a teenager - unfairly picked on, bullied, belittled, by a parent - the very people who should be your greatest support - Tired of being let down.

.... a widow - life partner gone - facing a future that seems full of darkness, uncertainty - the hollowness of life. You go on and you try to keep doing the things that you’ve always been doing.

.... a family, trying to pick up the pieces after teenage son has taken his life

In all these cases - these are people, trying to figure out how a loving, heavenly Father - who is All-Powerful, could allow this to happen.

Oh that we had an ADVOCATE!

And there is. There is.

And there is. There is.

And there is. There is.

We have a Saviour who heals the broken-hearted. Not talking here about someone to forgive our sins. He DOES THAT TOO. But that's not the point here. This is the place where you are innocent a victim. He needs someone to represent his case before God.

Jesus has been there - a place where there seems to be no justice; where violence is done to him; where he has seen the brutality and injustic of this world - -- where he cried out: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?!"

And He has stepped forward to be our advocate: Jesus Christ, the righteous One.

Bruised reeds .... smoking flax.

The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 Chapter III.—Christ Will Not Break the Bruised Reed

What should we learn from hence, but ‘to come boldly to the throne of grace,’ Heb. 4:16, in all our grievances? Shall our sins discourage us, when he appears there only for sinners? Art thou bruised? Be of good comfort, he calleth thee; conceal not thy wounds, open all before him, keep not Satan’s counsel. Go to Christ though trembling; as the poor woman, if we can but ‘touch the hem of his garment,’ Matt. 9:20, we shall be healed and have a gracious answer. Go boldly to God in our flesh; for this end that we might go boldly to him, he is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone. Never fear to go to God, since we have such a Mediator with him, that is not only our friend, but our brother and husband. Well might the angels proclaim from heaven, ‘Behold, we bring you tidings of joy,’ Luke 2:10. Well might the apostle stir us up to ‘rejoice in the Lord again and again,’ Phil. 4:4: he was well advised upon what grounds he did it. Peace and joy are two main fruits of his kingdom. Let the world be as it will, if we cannot rejoice in the world, yet we may rejoice in the Lord. His presence maketh any condition comfortable. ‘Be not afraid,’ saith be to his disciples, when they were afraid as if they had seen a ghost, ‘it is I,’ Matt. 14:27, as if there were no cause of fear where he is present.