Bridge Church May 7, 2017
Chris Green I Am Done Series: I am Disillusioned - Job 3
How many of you have been in a black-owned barbershop? Bucketlist item for you – make it happen…little known fact about me, I’m a licensed barber, aka tonsorial artist – I don’t cut anymore – it’s been a long time since I have worked in a shop – but some of you know the value of having a good barber…am I right? The scariest time in most AA men’s life is finding a New Barber – for real. Now, I only experienced that as young man because I have been cutting my hair since I was 12 – I’m 40 now – so – do the math. However, I remember when I used to cut hair before I was licensed by NC Board of Barber Examiners – where I’m from you call that bootleg barbering. I was cutting everybody’s head and in the 90’s the hairstyles were just as crazy as they are now – look at the NBA…the guy the Weekend (somebody put a cat on their head – and instagrammed – Nailed it.) I had a flat top that was no joke myself, a baby fro…I participated.
Regardless of the style, guys are generally concerned that it looks good and is fresh –the edge up, the blend, the shape up (this is serious)… equipment makes all the difference in the world. I became THE neighborhood barber esepecially when I got better equipment and had better lighting. Even skilled barbers on their best days using bad equipment and bad lighting will do more harm than good.
I will never forget the time I cut this dude’s hair at his house under a garage with bad lighting – I saw him the next day and asked it he had tampered with it – because it didn’t look like my work.
It didn’t LOOK the same as it LOOKED the night before. I was disillusioned about my work….I felt like Picasso the night before, but his haircut looked like Picasso had enhaled all the valium from the paint –Make no mistake how you perceive things, the way you SEE things, impact your reality.
What we believe impacts how we perceive things.
Today, we are going to look at a popular bible figure – our dear brother Job. If you are unfamiliar with Job …. He is often associated with the epitome of pain, suffering, fear, why pain, suffering,, and feat – and also redemption. Even secular rapper Kendrick Lamar references Job on his recent project – so as old as this story is – it continually draws even modern attention.
Job was a BLAMELESS and UPRIGHT man, He FEARED God and he SHUNNED evil. He had 10 children (so we know he had an amazing wife - it takes a pretty amazing woman to work and raise 10 children!) He owned lots of livestock and had tons of servants. He was well-known by everyone in the Land - not just WEALTHY, but also very WISE, AND KNOWN AS A GODLY MAN.
He was also very priestly – not only did he pray for sins his children committed, but prayed for secret sins they may have committed in their HEARTS against God – Job was beast and sounds like the kind of BOSS, DAD, HUSBAND, and UNCLE that we all wish we had.
Now he was blameless and upright BUT he wasn’t sinless (while we don’t see any sinful behavior noted early in this account)– I could see Job getting upset when people would pronounce his name wrong – “Hey Job, can you help me get a job in your company. It’s Job, bruh – the O is long, not short like the chances of getting hired by me homeboy – “forgive me Lord…but he the 10th one this week!”
Well, everything makes a dramatic turn when God asks Satan, the Accuser –
I don’t have time to go into a lot of depth explaining our enemy and his schemes. But I can tell you this:
- He hates ALL of us – not just Christians.
- He constantly ACCUSES all of us.
- He wants to KILL you, or STEAL from you or DESTROY you (sometimes what’s worst than killing someone is destroying everything around them).
- He masquerades (hypocrites) as an angel of light. (not hot red spandex or yelling in blue spandex w/ a pitchfork in Cameron indoor) as a angel of light…which means he uses people,places, and things to accomplish all the above – he will even use God’s word (wrongly) to do this.
So God said, have you considered my servant Job! He is blameless and upright servant (before you get caught up in what happens here – I don’t want you to miss what God says and thinks about you today – blameless and in right standing – not because we are good – but because he took the blame and put us in right standing – Job is Job because God is God –keep that in mind for later).
So basically, God was saying– You can’t bring an accusation up against my son Job – we are in covenant together.
Satan gets upset and says – that covenant is only good because you have literally protect his family and business…if you take that away – he will curse you. In other words, if his circumstance is cursed, he will curse you.
God said, no problemo Diablo – all that he stewards – his family, his business – take it – but don’t touch him. Notice, God sets the limit of power, not Satan.
So, Satan orchestrates the destruction of all these things, his business is destroyed, his workers are slaughtered, and his family tragically loose their lives…and he gets all this bad news back to back (I hate it when bad news, comes and brings alongs company).
Somehow, some way - Job responds with mourning and worship (which further indicates his relationship with God was– blameless and upright – wise and mature)…never cursing God. ..How do you know if a many is Godly, you take everything from the man and he knows he still has God.
Satan is infuriated (so yes, Satan is upset when you don’t let your circumstances change your devotion to Jesus)…Satan, the Accuser – last resort is to ask to take over his body – he thought that it’s one thing to take away a man’s possessions, but another problem altogether to take away Job’s control of his own body.
God again allows Satan limited power to control his health, but not his life. Job is now unrecognizable, stricken with SORES from literally his head to his toes. Job’s wife, ignorant of Satan’s limited power, wants Job to blame God and deny his existence. He rebukes his amazing wife (who has lost a lot too – they are childless, broke, and now her husband is looking like his days are limited. – but Job still worships God and didn’t sin against God with his lips.)
He suffering now isn’t just emotional, it’s physical too. As we jump into the text – we will here from Job’s spiritual side which is also suffering…he handled what was taken from him, he handled his own control of his body being taken, but now his faith is being challenged.
Remember – faith is a substance, it’s real , of things HOPE for, and the evidence of things that are not seen….all Hope and what is not seen is being challenged….so let’s hear our brother in his struggle as he in his own says, “I am Done.”
As we can see - this is not worship God despite my circumstances Job or the Imma praise him anyhow Job...or the I’m blessed and highly favored Job, this is the RAW Job, the Bleeding Job, the Job that wishes he never was born...a suicidal Job - God wanted us to see this reality of a righteous person. Suffering begins with Shock, Grief, now Despair leads to Disillusion. Often we talk about the patient, worshipful Job….today we will see a Job that felt Defeated, Depressed, Discouraged…he has not spoken for 7 DAYS AND HIS FRIENDS HONOR HIM BY MOURNING WITH HIM IN SILENCE (eventhough they had thoughts, they waited to hear from Job first)….he speaks, but he sounds Dissillusioned.
I LOVE THAT GOD WANTS US TO HEAR OUR BROTHER JOB! Some people get caught up on WHY God allowed this to happen to Job, but I marvel at WHY God allowed us to read HOW Job really felt….God wanted us to see and feel what it is like for our family to have a deep, dark moment - as we are reading this I hope you know that God wants you to be honest with him about how you feel and then LET HIM Speak the TRUTH over you.
Job 3
1] After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. [2] And Job said:
[3] “Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
[4] Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
- GOD SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT IN GENESIS 1:3...JOB IS SAYING THE OPPOSITE - LET THERE BE DARKNESS
[5] Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
[6] That night—let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months. (HE WANTS IT COMPLETELY OFF THE CALENDAR!)
[7] Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
THAT NIGHT, PEOPLE WAS THE NIGHT HE WAS CONCIEVED, HE WANTS TO TAKE THE JOY BACK THAT HIS PARENTS AND OTHERS HAD ONCE THEY KNEW HE WAS GOING TO BE BORN. DO YOU HEAR HIS PAIN?
[8] Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
THIS IS INTERESTING - DON’T HAVE TIME TO BREAK THE LEVIATHAN DOWN - BUT GOD DOES IN CHAPTER ??? -( IN FACT, GOD USES THE LEVIATHAN LATER TO HELP JOB PUT THINGS IN THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE) THE POINT IS THE LEVIATHAN REPRESENTS A CREATURE THAT IS PRETTY MUCH UNSTOPPABLE, THEREFORE REPRESENTING JUDGEMENT - HE BASICALLY IS SAYING HE’S READY TO BE JUDGED AND BE DONE. - I AM DONE...
[9] Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see the eyelids of the morning,
[10] because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
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[11] “Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
[12] Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
[13] For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
[14] with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
[15] or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
[16] Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
[17] There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at rest.
[18] There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
[19] The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.
(HERE JOB BEGINS TO ASKS QUESTIONS THAT HE BELIEVES HE ALREADY HAS THE ANSWER TO - HE RELATES TO THE WICKED, THE WEARY, AND EVEN THE SLAVES - THINKING - DEAD PEOPLE ARE BETTER COMPANY THAN HIS PRESENT SUFFERING - DO YOU SEE HOW HIS SUFFERING CONTINUES TO BLIND HIM AND HARM HIS THINKING?
[20] “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
[21] who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
JOB IS SAYING THAT DEATH IS LIKE A HIDDEN TREASURE
[22] who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
[23] Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
[24] For my sighing comes instead of my bread,
and my groanings are poured out like water.
[25] For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
[26] I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”
JOB ADMITS THAT HE IS RESTLESS - SUFFERING HAS A WAY OF MAKING US RESTLESS - MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY -
Going public about your faith still is necessary and effective – you have too much power through you to hold it in. …besides, if Jesus died 1,000 times – why would it matter if we never told anyone. Faith comes by hearing….and how will they hear without a preacher! If living a godly life was enough – Jesus could have been quiet his entire life about his faith because he was
2 questions I want to entertain:
- What RIGHTS will the enemy use to prevent you from coming to faith?
- What RIGHTS will the enemy use to keep Christians from sharing their faith (lives) with others?
- He uses the same tactics to accomplish both missions for unbelievers and the believers….it’s the curse of entitlement.
- He constantly lies to all of us…He was the first to lie – he is Lie’s baby daddy.
If you were like me in my past, at one time – I didn’t know Jesus and people that don’t walk with Jesusbelieve a lie….from the most moral upright person you know to the most evil person you can think of. I know….that’s hard to hear. I heard Matt Chandler (Texas preacher) say it like this –
“There is no middle ground. Either you live your life TRUSTING God or you are trying to BE God.”
If you believe in God –you TRUST him with everything, your heart, your eyes, your wallet, your time, and your lifeOR you are doing your own thang….which ULTIMATELY makes you God.
- You define him, instead of allowing your CREATOR to define you. You listen to your heart, you have control of your eyes, your wallet, and you live the life you want to live.
In America – we call those RIGHTS. Everybody has RIGHTS, even my 9 pound dog (Squirl- don’t judge me) has more rights than my father had in the earlier part of his life ….ask Michael Vic.
The chapter you read was – “Our rights are Killing Us”…. I would say that as humans, we have been Cursed with Entitlement.
but I am saying that if you don’t understand that you live in a world that is broken and fallen because of sin – you will NEVER understand why you NEED hope that prepares you for this WORLD and the next.
Well, what do we deserve? This is the question we ask especially when someone does us dirty right? What did I do to deserve this? I guess nobody ever been hurt, lied on, cheated, got thrown some shade, stuff stolen from youor hurt by those close to you? Nahhh – that doesn’t happen nowadays….
- ….How about this? You were the one who did the dirt, did the lying, cheating, threw the shade, and justified hurting someone close to you – hmmmm.
The Enemy uses ALL OF THIS to keep us blinded from what God has been trying to SAY to us in the midst of our pain and hurt. Our enemy is clever.
ALL of US are SLAVES. If you listen to us talk long enough, you will hear who OUR Master is. Who/what makes us happy, what we spend most of time on, what drives us, where our passions are – you can hear it.
Pain and suffering really bring our masters out. As the author of this chapter expressed how difficult it was to understand God’s goodness when his son died….he said,
“My son was not a right for me to hold on to, but a blessing given to me by a good God.”
One of the greatest misconceptions that WE have (Christians especially) is entitlement….it permeates throughout our culture.
The author said that the greatest obstacle to the Great Commission is this very thing – ENTITLEMENT.
Listen.
You’re either blinded by Ownership (RIGHTS) or convinced of Stewardship (BLESSINGS).
See – Ownership/rights says, “I don’t belong to God, nothing I have belongs to God, in fact I DESERVE all that I have because I worked hard for it and I answer only to myself.” (ex. Money in Air),
•Ownership convinces YOU that YOU always have the final say – YOU are the voice of reason – YOU are self-made – YOU wake yourself up every morning, YOU are in control because YOU believe that – YOU…. Are…. Ultimately God.
But Stewardship/Blessings is demonstrated because it implies that there is someone beyond YOU, it says, “I belong to God, everything I HAVE belongs to God, in fact I don’t deserve ANY of this – it is a gift FROM God, because I am the Lord’s steward.”
•A Good steward knows that everything on this planet will spoil. A Good steward realizes we will have to give an account with what God has given us; “To whom much is given, much is required.
No of us were born placing our confidence in Christ. None of us were righteous; we all were born into the SLAVERY OF sin.
Do you realize the first time you inhaled oxygen freely outside of your mother’s womb – you began the natural progression to presume upon God’s grace. I ACTUALLY THINK I HAVE A RIGHT TO TALK.