Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Anger
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Analytical
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Conscientiousness
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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How many in this room today have had an experience like this—you found yourself in a storm—something beyond your control and entirely unexpected has happened to you and you’re devastated.
You can’t sleep.
You can’t eat.
You can’t make sense of anything, but you spend hours grappling with trying to understand what is happening, why its happening, and why its happening to you.
This storm has totally shaken you and its even shaken your faith.
Then some well-meaning Christian comes along, sees what you’re going through—and then they open their mouth and say something like...
All things work together for good.
This is all part of God’s plan for you.
I know it’s bad, but just remember that some people have it much worse than you do.
I hate that you’re going through this, but you always reap what you sow.
You just need to get over it and trust God.
Don’t those phrases make you feel all warm inside?
Aren’t those things exactly what you want to hear when your world is falling apart?
No!
In fact, if you’ve been through something difficult and someone has said those words to you, I’ve just brought back a terrible memory and you might—at this moment, be struggling with anger.
Why?
Because well-intentioned people tried to help, but actually added to your suffering.
What you experienced was the power of words.
Then, there are some listening to this message today who haven’t had to weather any kind of life-altering storm.
But, you’ve watched people you know and love go through one—and you wanted to reach out and say something—anything—to help.
But you didn’t know what to say, so you stayed present but silent.
This morning I want to answer this question: How do you know what to say when people you know and love when they are going through a storm?
Today is the fourth message in the series, Storm Warning and we are learning lessons from the life of Job.
Throughout this teaching we are guided by a basic, fundamental truth--the purpose of storms is not to destroy your view of God, but to deepen your trust in God.
The reason we are in the book of Job is to show you from God’s Word how to prepare for a storm, how to trust God in the storm, and how recover after a storm.
You see, Job was a man who went through a sudden, violent, life-changing storm.
In a very short period of time Job lost his livestock, his wealth, his servants, his 10 children, his reputation, and his health.
His wife even told him to just “curse God and die.”
When your wife is saying it would be better for you if you would just die—you know things are really rough.
Then, while he was sitting in ashes, scraping the boils on his skin with broken pieces of pottery—looking for just a little relief from his suffering, Job’s three friends came and paid him a visit.
They sat with Job in silence for seven days.
Then Job spoke and we saw last week that his words revealed that was in the depths of despair.
From chapter 4 through chapter 37 the book of Job is a dialogue between Job and his friends.
Our passage for the message this morning is one of Job’s responses to the words of his friends and through it we are going to learn an important truth:
Friends support friends.
I think Job expected to received some comfort and support from his friends.
I also think it’s pretty clear that he did not get what he was expecting.
Job did not feel loved and supported by his friends.
Basically Job said, if we switched places, I would say the right things to you.
I would support you.
I would help you.
I would comfort you.
I would encourage you.
To be fair to Job’s friends I think we need to understand that they didn’t really know how to approach Job or help him through his suffering.
Let me explain.
One of the things you’ll see when you read through these conversations is that Jobs friends spoke a lot of truth.
They spoke truth about God, about the attributes of God, about the sinfulness of man, about creation, about the relationship between God and man, and much more.
Not only did they not understand how to help—but they didn’t know what was going on.
The curtain has been pulled back for us—we get to read this entire event knowing why Job suffered.
But they were trying to make sense of the entire episode armed only with what they knew.
Their failure came because they thought what they knew was sufficient to explain why Job was in the middle of such a horrific storm.
As a result, they said a lot of hurtful things.
They made a lot of foolish assumptions and accusations.
They did not help Job, they just hurt him more deeply.
That is why Job said...
Miserable comforters—that’s what everyone wants to hear, right?
This is the Old Testament equivalent of, “With friends like these, who needs enemies.”
Let me tell you what Job was saying—instead of offering help and support, you all have become a source of personal difficulty for me.
Instead of making things better, you really are making them worse.
You see, instead of offering comfort to Job, they offered condemnation.
When you read what they said you will see...
They did not teach Job anything.
They provided no usable information or advice.
They only aggravated Job and they made the situation worse for Job.
But through their mistake and Job’s words in chapter 16, we can learn not only the truth that friends support friends, but also how to speak to help and comfort those who are going through a storm.
One of the things we need to remember when we see that someone is suffering is that we should...
1. Speak with Restraint - vs. 2
Do you see the phrase, “I have heard many things like these”?
When I see the phrase, “like these” I wonder what Job was talking about.
Well, he was referring to all that his friends had said up to that point.
Let me tell you, they said some unhelpful things.
Eliphaz was the first friend to speak to Job and his message was pretty direct—you sinned and you are being punished by God because innocent people don’t suffer and you are just reaping what you’ve planted.
Eliphaz wasn’t done.
He continued to tell Job that he should appeal to God and learn his lesson.
Why?
After Eliphaz spoke, Job told his friends that his suffering was real and undeserved.
Job didn’t do anything to deserve the suffering he was enduring—before his world fell apart God said that he was an upright man.
After his world fell apart he still refused to curse God—instead he worshipped God.
So, hearing his friends say that his pain was his fault had to have been difficult for him to bear.
In fact, in chapter six he basically asks his friends to be kind to him.
In response, Bildad decided that Job needed to hear what he had to say—and his message was pretty simple—Job, you’re full of hot air—God is not unjust.
Then Bill gives Job a great example—your children are dead because they sinned against God (8:3-4).
If you were right with God he would defend you and bless you.
The fact that all of this is happening to you is proof that there is some sin in your life.
Repent!
Anyone ready to kick Bildad?
Then Zophar gets into the action.
Zophar was the most harsh of the three (hard to believe).
He used insults and slander to try to get Job to stop talking and realize that his friends were right—he brought this tragedy on himself.
More than that, Zophar wanted to Job to understand that Job deserved worse and that God has mercilessly given him less than his guilt deserves.
But Job was too stupid to understand..so Zophar got a bit sarcastic:
Not to be outdone, Eliphaz spoke again—pointing out Job’s issues:
You don’t fear God.
You’ve sinned with your words.
You’re ignorant and arrogant.
The wicked always get what they deserve.
This is what some today would call “piling on”! Can you imagine what Job was thinking and feeling at this moment?
He was sitting with men who had great knowledge but no compassion.
He was listening to men who knew truth about God, but misapplied the truth to Job’s situation.
He was enduring men who did not seem to understand the power of their words.
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