[Spiritual Conflict] Job 1:1-12 | "Does Job Fear God For No Reason?"
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· 427 viewsSunday, January 30, 2022. Job 1:1-12 | "Does Job Fear God For No Reason?" This sermon continues a preaching series collected around the theme of Spiritual Conflict. In this series, we're looking first at the three places the Devil speaks in Holy Scripture, knowing that our enemy is repetitive, not creative, so we are not ignorant of his designs. The Devil spoke first about God in the Garden of Eden to the woman. "Did God actually say...?" His voice is heard again in this Wisdom book of the Old Testament named Job. Here the Devil speaks, not to Job about God, but to God about Job. What makes Job a fascinating case study on Spiritual Conflict is that Job is not part of this discussion that involves him. Therefore, he doesn't have a say in the matter. We'll give thought to what it means to trust God when God leaves us in the dark with unanswered questions. We'll also ask if some spiritual conflict might be unnecessary? Finally, we'll consider how the enemy attempts to control us through possessions and what we can do to guard against this pitfall. This message preaches from Job 1:1-12. It is part of a preaching series about Spiritual Conflict. The title of this sermon: "Does Job Fear God For No Reason?"
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I. The Reading
I. The Reading
A reading from Job 1:1-12. This is God’s Word:
1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
[ Scripture Reading ~2 minutes ]
Say Amen
Say Amen
This is God’s Word. If you receive it as such, would you Say Amen?
Amen.
II. The Exhortation
II. The Exhortation
Does Job Fear God For No Reason?
This is the voice of the Devil once again, in his second opportunity to speak in Holy Scripture.
He asks: Does Job Fear God For No Reason?
This phrase presents in the text as a question, an inquiry..
But this is not a question. It is an attack.
It is an accusation.
An accusation against God and against Job that gets to the heart of spiritual conflict.
Does Job Fear God For No Reason?
Why does Job fear God? Is God worth fearing?
When read in context, Satan accuses Job of fearing God because God has blessed Job.
In other words, Job’s just in it for himself. Job fears God because Job is blessed. Job fears God because he has no reason NOT to fear God.
In walking up and down, going to and fro on the earth, Satan counted at least 11,011 blessings that MUST explain the reason why Job fears God:
Job has seven sons, three daughters, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants (1:3).
10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
Why wouldn’t a person fear God when God gives so many possessions? So much wealth. So much greatness. So many blessings.
No one would trust God if all of these things were taken away!
God is worthy of worship in luxury only, but not in loss. He’s God in gain only, but not in pain. God is merely God when WE decide that He is. If God does what WE want Him to do for us.
You see, God must need us as much as we need Him. If we didn’t fear Him, worship Him, serve Him, pray to Him, and give to Him, then God would no longer be God. And God knows this. So God purchases our praise. God bribes us.
This is the theology of the dog and the cat.
A dog waits for his master to return home. The dog thinks - you love me, you feed me, you give me a place to stay and sleep. You, master, must be God!
But a cat waits for his master to return home. The cat thinks - you love me, you feed me, you give me a place to stay and sleep. I MUST BE GOD!
This accusation of Satan demands an answer of us all —
Why do we fear God?
Why do we worship Him?
A God who sometimes leaves us in the dark? A God who does not answer all of our questions? A God who doesn’t do things the way we want them to be done? A God who has the power to do anything yet allows unspeakable evils and wrongs to occur?
Why do we serve Him?
Why do we trust God?
Why do we trust Him...
(From the view of David)
When He prepares a table before me, in the presence of my enemies? (Ps 23:5)
Why do we trust Him...
(From the view of Mary & Martha)
When our brother Lazarus was sick but there was enough time for Jesus to come heal and prevent his demise, but Jesus delayed and Lazarus our brother died and its been long enough now his body has started to decay? (Jn 11; Jn 11:4)
Why do we trust Him...
(From the view of the apostle Paul)
When...
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
We hear the voices of Scripture: of David, of Mary & Martha, of Paul, and others…wrestling with this question.
Why did they trust God?
The Devil is obsessed with this question.
And it reveals the secret necessary for gaining victory over him and all spiritual conflict:
We cannot engage in spiritual conflict without an unwavering trust in God.
We cannot engage in spiritual conflict without an unwavering trust in God.
Southside Baptist Church, we must all trust God especially when we don’t know what God is doing.
Southside Baptist Church, we must all trust God, regardless of how many possessions we do or do not have. God gives and God takes away.
Southside Baptist Church, we must all trust God, for no other reason than God is worthy of our trust.
This is the key to victory in spiritual conflict.
In Job, the the Scriptures reveal the trust of a great, religious man being put to the test.
III. The Teaching
III. The Teaching
Look with me at verse 6 —
1.6
1.6
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
The nature of this encounter and the way it is communicated to us in Holy Scripture, makes it clear that the conflict begins before Job is aware of it.
Job doesn’t know about this meeting.
We would not know about this meeting unless God revealed it in His Word.
This seems like a minor, obvious statement worth glossing over, but it is so fundamentally important to the book of Job and to our knowledge of God and to our victory through spiritual conflict.
We aren’t going to know everything about the conflict we are engaged in. The conflict likely began before we knew about it.
We are going to have to trust God in the unknown.
The first time the Devil spoke in Scripture, he spoke to a human being, to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
But here, humanity is not involved.
The Devil is not speaking to a human being, but he is speaking to God ABOUT a human being.
Job is not part of this conversation.
Job is left in the dark, not as a result of anything Job has done.
If anything, the text leads us to believe Job has done everything right!
He rises early, and continually offers burnt offerings for his children on the chance that they might have sinned and cursed God in their hearts during their feasts.
In the early 1960s the CIA coined the term “plausible deniability” “to describe the withholding of information as a form of protection from an illegal or unpopular activity.
A person would be caught up in a matter but when asked about it, they didn’t know the key details. They had “plausible deniability.”
(Wikipedia, “Plausible Deniability” accessed 01 27 2022).
What is happening to Job is a form of plausible deniability, but we might call it “Providential Deniability.”
God is withholding information from Job as a form of protection. God is protecting Job’s witness and worship by NOT letting Job know about what is taking place behind the scenes.
What might Job think of God, in his heart, if Job had known that GOD was the one who started the conversation about the suffering Job would endure for 37 chapters?
Is it not better that Job doesn’t know what is happening behind the scenes?
We think our trust in God would be strengthened if God would just clue us in to what He’s about to do.
“If God would just tell me how I’m going to suffer and why I’m going to suffer before I suffer, then I will trust Him and endure to the end.”
But in reality, if God told us how we’re going to suffer and why we’re going to suffer before we suffer it, then most of us would question why God would allow such things to happen in the first place? Our trust would be eroded, not strengthened.
God protects us in the faith by not revealing everything to us.
There is an inherent fogginess to faith. Not everything is made known to us, and that is for our good. That’s why it is called faith. That is why we must trust.
Faith is not what we know.
Faith is not what we see.
Faith is what we receive.
Faith is what we receive from God, His revelation, His Word. And God’s Word is good, true and sufficient. We don’t need to know all that is happening behind the scenes.
Verse 6 tells us that this meeting did not involve Job as a participant.
And by this God reveals His sovereign involvement in conversations and activities and in places that we do not know about, that we are not aware of, that’s none of our business!
And by the time the conflict arrives, we can know that it’s been known to God first.
We do not need to know, we may not want to know, and we do not have the capacity to know the wondrous workings of God behind the scenes.
This is important to our theology concerning God’s revelation. And this is essential for us to remember in any spiritual conflict.
We are armed with what God gives us for the conflict, and what God gives us is not everything, but it is enough.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
The “sons of God” are angels, created by God to serve their Creator.
And on a day known to them and to God, they came to present themselves before the LORD.
But there was a stranger in this gathering.
The text says: “and Satan also came among them.”
Notice how the sons of God are not named, but God and Satan are named.
The word “LORD” in all capital letters, is the name Yahweh. This is God’s personal, covenant name.
When the Hebrews read the Scriptures, and come upon this name, they won’t speak it out of reverence for THE LORD’s name. Instead of saying “YHWH” they pronounce “Adonai.”
The LORD is named.
But also - Satan is named.
Satan is not called “the serpent” here, because God knows who he is. Satan cannot disguise himself before the LORD as he did before Eve in Eden.
The LORD is aware of Satan’s presence among the sons of God, and The LORD is not fooled. Both are named. Our enemy has a name.
This does not him equal with God, but instead highlights his opposition to God.
Satan’s name means “adversary” - to oppose, obstruct, or accuse.
And that’s what the enemy does.
Revelation 12:10 calls him “the accuser of our brothers.”
This past Halloween our family went to a local restaurant to eat after church. Our waitress was dressed up as a Devil. Red horns, a pointy red tail. A Sunday surprise.
But our kids thought she was dressed up as an animal. A bull with horns and a tail. They asked her laughing with excitement - are you a cow?
And we said…no kids, we’ll talk about this later.
But as children are, they didn’t know how to let it go. Every time the waitress would come to the table my kids laughed and made a comment about how the waitress was dressed up as a red cow. They had never seen anything like it.
Finally, I told the kids as firmly as I could to stop and that she wasn’t dressed up as a cow and that they shouldn’t talk about a woman dressed up as a cow even if she is.
They asked: “What is she dressed up as?” And I said - she dressed up as the Devil. And I watched as the confusion set in on their faces. My children didn’t understand why anyone would dress up as the Devil, because they know the Devil is the enemy.
Yet we’ve desensitized ourselves to him. We disguised him so that we ignore his true, evil intentions.
God, the LORD, calls him by name in His Word.
“Satan - adversary, opposer, accuser…From where have you come?”
1.7
1.7
7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
1.8
1.8
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
In view of how this chapter begins, notice what God features about Job.
God does not say to Satan “Have you considered a man in the land of Uz who name is Job, who has seven sons and three daughters, possessor of 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys and very many servants?”
God does not speak anything about Job’s possessions in consideration of Job.
What does God say?
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
What does God desire for us? What is God pleased with from us?
Not what we have, but who we are in relationship with Him:
Blameless, upright, God fearers who turn away from evil.
“Have you considered my servant…?”
Brothers and Sisters, that’s what matters the most. Are we servants of God? “Well done, good and faithful servant...”
Are we servants of God? Or are we servants of ourselves?
A person can have great abundance and riches and still be a servant of God. Abraham was. Job was...
But most are not. For many who have great wealth become enslaved to their possessions and deceived into thinking like the Devil that they must be God.
Wisdom prays —
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
The LORD initiates Job’s conflict, by pointing out a man who willingly does what Satan himself refuses to do — to worship God.
1.9
1.9
9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
Again, this is not a question. It is an accusation.
Satan is accusing Job of impure motives before God!
As if Satan can see the heart of Job. As if Satan knows what Job will do and why.
Satan is not all-knowing. Satan cannot see to the heart. He does not speak the truth but can only lie, cast-doubt, and accuse.
But God —
God does see as far as the heart. God IS all-knowing, God knows what Job will do and why.
And what we miss in this story, and in our own story in conflict, is that what God starts, God finishes. When God allows, God sustains.
God initiated Job’s conflict with Satan, and unknown to Job at the time, God will also finish it. God won’t let Job fail.
“Does Job Fear God For No Reason?”
It’s the same as accusing Job of ONLY SERVING GOD for a reason - For what Job himself has to gain according to the world. For what Job can get from God.
But Satan wasn’t listening to what God said.
Look again at what God said of Job:
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
Don’t miss this — The book of Job could end right here in verse 8.
God says WHO JOB IS in verse 8.
God knows WHO JOB IS in verse 8.
God sees WHO JOB IS in verse 8.
There is none like Job on the earth.
Job is a blameless and upright man.
Job fears God.
Job turns away from evil.
And if Satan had listened and believed God’s Word as true, he would have never sought to put God to the test and accuse Job.
Because WHO Job IS, as God SAYS Job IS, does not change — even through 37 chapters of conflict and suffering.
Oh Church, Brothers and Sisters, we ARE who God SAYS we ARE. And in Christ that never changes.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Our victory is guaranteed the moment we receive and believe who God says Christ is, and who God says we are in Christ.
Is it possible that some of the spiritual conflict we experience is of our own making, because we do not know or fail to believe what God has already said?
We ignore God’s Word. We disobey God’s Word. We disbelieve God’s Word. And by doing so, we subject our lives, our families, and our church to unnecessary spiritual conflict…?
Is some spiritual conflict unnecessary as a result of our disbelief and lack of trust?
The rest of Job would have been unnecessary if the Devil had believed what God said is true of Job.
But the Devil doesn’t believe, so he continues to accuse.
That’s what people who don’t trust God do too. They accuse. It’s the Devil’s work. They gossip. Gossip is the Devil’s work.
And the Devil here, even accuses God. Notice the emphasized “You” in verse 10, speaking of God —
1.10
1.10
10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
1.11
1.11
11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
This is where the mystery and questions start to really kick in for us as hearers of the Word.
Because God doesn’t have to do anything. God doesn’t have to allow anything. At this point in the text, still unknown to Job, God could end the discussion, rebuke Satan as a false prophet, a liar, who doesn’t know what he is talking about, and God could cast Satan out of His presence.
And Church - know that at any moment God could end all spiritual conflict by casting the Devil and his demons into an eternal lake of fire, and that will happen.
But instead…and to us with great mystery, God allows there to be a verse 12. God allows this test of Job, without Job’s input.
1.12
1.12
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
At this point, we can only speculate about why God places all that Job has in Satan’s hand. God doesn’t offer an explanation, and we don’t deserve an explanation either.
We don’t deserve to know why God allows what He allows.
But what is clear is that while God subjected all of Job’s possessions to Satan’s schemes, God protected Job.
God gave Satan permission with parameters.
Satan may only touch Job’s possessions but not Job’s person.
If Job only serves God because God gives Job things, then God is willing to allow Satan to take away what Job has, and see if Job fears God for no reason, and show that God alone, without anything else, is worthy of worship and trust.
Southside Baptist Church —
If God were to take every dollar we have away, if God were to take this building away, if we had no more choir, or piano, or organ, if we had no no hymnals, no sound system, no other possession as a church,
Would you still gather to worship God?
Specifically, would you still gather to worship God with this body of believers?
Or would you give up on Southside? Would you go join another fellowship?
I suppose we all ought to answer that question.
Why are we here? What keeps us coming back?
Is it all of these possessions? If we can honestly answer that question and say that it it IS because of the building, or the money in the bank, or the music ministry then we’ll have clarity on our future as a church. We’re not a church. We’re something else.
All of these possessions can increase, decrease, come and go. God gives them to be used for His purposes and glory. God can just as quickly take them away.
But the true Church that Christ is building is protected, and hid in Christ and has proven to be successful even without possessions.
What if God takes all of our possessions away?
Which is better? To have no possessions but have people, or to have no people with great possessions?
Is the Church possessions? Or is the Church people?
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
The [Christ] Conclusion
The [Christ] Conclusion
And this brings us to the Christ conclusion, the only conclusion that makes sense of the mystery of God’s sovereignty and what God allows.
For in Job, TRUST was tested. But in Jesus, trust was perfected.
Job had everything - great possessions, a great reputation, but he would lose it all unwillingly and unknowingly.
But Jesus had everything on a greater scale - greater glory in His Father’s presence, equality with His Heavenly Father, but Jesus would lose it all WILLINGLY and KNOWINGLY.
Jesus was and is unwavering in His trust of God.
And knowing God’s love for the world, and knowing the depths of sin in the human heart, Jesus knew what He had to do to wash away our sin.
Jesus gave up all possessions, and obeyed His Heavenly Father unto the cross. He knowingly offered His body, His person, as a sacrificial offering for us.
God did not answer Satan’s request of Job. God did not stretch out God’s own hand against Job.
But God did answer at a later time. God stretched out His own hand against Jesus - His Only Son.
And God did that so that the totality of our sin might be atoned for.
God raised Jesus from the dead so that by faith in Jesus, we might be forgiven. So that we might answer the Devil’s question —
Does Job Fear God For No Reason?
Do we fear God for no reason?
We have a reason. One reason. His name is Jesus!
With these words God started a spiritual conflict for Job. The LORD asked Satan: Have you considered my servant Job?
Now, God asks each of us —
Have you considered my Son, Jesus?