The book of Job is very intriguing and enjoyable for me. I love the theology, the battle and struggle, the deep issues, and when God speaks, it calls for nothing less than worship. Recently, I have been studying through the book and Lee has made mention of it in his sermons, focusing my attention on the book. Tonight I want to examine a passage from the last chapter and look at one of the major themes of the book.
But before we get to the passage, I do want to make this disclaimer. Like any of the books of the Bible, the book of Job is filled with truths to talk about and consider. Obviously, you cannot cover it all in one night. And so my disclaimer is this: if we bump into questions that arise from the book (such as did Job ever sin? In what manner can we question God? Who is Elihu?) and we do not answer them, see that only as a challenge to your personal Bible study. Again, I cannot answer all the good questions, for there are so many, but I do want to look at our specific passage and answer the ones that it addresses. With that in mind, we can move to our text.
In order to answer, I want to first suggest a couple of things they did not do wrong. I think the friends often get a bad rap and so I want to clear up some false accusations against them.
First of all, the friends were not haters of Job. Look at Job 2:11-13, where the friends first come to Job. The text tells us that when they saw Job, they wept, tore their robes, and threw dust on their heads. This is not a sign of false friendship. It appears in the text that the friends cared deeply about Job and truly were suffering along side of him. We often want to view them as schemers and liars and terrible friends, but this is not the case. Their folly was not that they did not care for Job, it lay elsewhere.
Second, the friends were not haters of God. If you look at the speeches of the three friends you will hear them talk of the greatness of God and His power. You will hear them talk of God’s control over the universe and His relations with men. They do not claim in any way that God does not exist or is not in control. They are not atheists and much of what they say concerning God is true. So, the question remains: what is their folly?
Well, the text answers the question clearly. In verse 7 God says to Eliphaz, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.” In verse 8 He repeats His charge, “You have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” God accuses the friends of speaking falsely about Himself. They have not denied Him altogether, yet they have not spoken the complete truth altogether either. The ideas they have claimed about God are not correct. Because of this, the wrath of God burns against them. It is a serious charge to speak falsely concerning God. God does not take this lightly. So, the next question to ask becomes obvious.
Again, we cannot say that everything they said about God was wrong, but we can get specific about what they said that was wrong. In short, it can be stated this way: they claimed that the righteous are always blessed and the wicked are always punished. This is an idea that can be called double retribution. There are numerous passages that deal with this. Let’s look at a few. First, in 4:7-9, we see Eliphaz’s claim that the innocent do not perish and that wicked men are punished by God. In 18:5-21, Bildad also condemns the wicked and speaks of how they will be punished.
So what are they saying to Job? Because they hold that God punishes the wicked, then obviously they believe that Job has committed some terrible offense. Job cannot be innocent as he claims, for God would never punish a righteous man so severely. They even go as far as to accuse Job of being guilty with his wealth in 22:21-27. They call for Job to repent and admit his guilt that God may deal with him in mercy. To them, it just does not make sense that God would punish a man who is righteous. According to their view of God this could never happen. Therefore, they conclude that Job must be guilty and that God is simply punishing his sin.
But, in the end, they are wrong. Their accusations against Job are not validated. And why is it wrong? Because they begin with a false idea of God. Their idea of double retribution is not true. Thus, in the end, God’s wrath burns against them for speaking falsely about Him, for He is behind the storm and He does have a purpose behind the suffering of a righteous man. This is one of the ideas that God is teaching us through the book of Job, but it is exactly what the friends miss. We must understand that God is in control of all, that He is just to bring rain on the righteous and the wicked, for as God proclaims in 41:11: “Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.”
It is a theological question that the friends get wrong. They begin with false ideas of God and are led to false conclusions about Job. So now the question becomes: Where did they go wrong?
Let me offer three guidelines that we learn from the friends that I think can keep us on the right track:
First, speak what you know about God, nothing more and nothing less. Within this first guideline, let me give some more practical help. First of all, just let the God of the Scriptures be God. I know that sounds simple and trite, but it is the key. Whatever God has revealed about Himself in Scriptures is what we know and that is enough. We need not edit the revelation, it is perfect and right and all that we will ever need.
Another practical step within this first guideline is to defend God only in the way in which he defends Himself. Look at what Job says to the friends in 13:7-12. We do not need to make up defenses for God out of our reason and logic. God has defended Himself. He is truth and He has made Himself known in a perfect way, through the Scriptures and, ultimately, through the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are not to cower in front of a condemning world who says that our God is ridiculous and irrational. No, we are to stand on the revelation which He has given us concerning Himself and proclaim Him through His Word that He might convict men of their sin and show them the error of their ways. Obviously, this will involve argumentation and apologetics, but never these apart from Scripture, for then we only stand with ‘proverbs of ashes’ and ‘defenses of clay.’
The last practical step I want to mention under the first guideline is to simply be careful with your conversations. It is important as Christians that we are aware of what we say about God in our everyday conversations. A prime example of this is the situation surrounding the events in New York. As Christians, we must seek to speak the truth of God in a manner that is loving and right. It is not enough to just claim that we love people. We must truly love them with grace and truth, especially when it is hard and difficult. The friends cared for Job, but he needed truth just as much as he needed tears. We, in our relationships, need to be about that as well. May we present an accurate picture of God in all that we do.
The second guideline follows the first. If we are to speak what we know about God, no more and no less, then we have to know the God of the Scriptures. It has been said a million times, but that’s only because it is that important and often that overlooked. We have to labor in the Word. We have to beg God to make Himself known to us. We have to pour over Scripture and when we are done start over. How will it ever spill over into our conversations unless we have meditated and spent time with God? Only a man who knows his God can proclaim “Blessed be the Name of the Lord” when his whole life has been shaken. May we know our God in that way. May we simply spend time before Him with His Word, begging that He make Himself known.
The friends completely missed it on the idea of double retribution. Are there ideas that we hold about God that completely miss it? May His Word tell us and correct us.
A third guideline is to begin by knowing that God is a God of grace. Look at what God says to the friends in verse 8 after commanding them to offer a sacrifice and telling them that Job will pray for them, “For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly.” Although God does accuse the friends of speaking falsely about Him, He does offer them forgiveness and grace. If this were not the case, I would never preach another sermon out of fear of speaking falsely. It is the grace of God that allows a sinful, unworthy man to teach theology. I cannot even begin to recant concerning the things I have taught falsely about God. As we walk and learn and teach and strive may we hold fast to the grace of God in our lives.
In conclusion, I want to address one more often troubling question: Why do we labor in this so much? Why do we spend so much time dealing with theology and doctrinal issues? Why don’t we move on to another subject? Is it because we want to be academic? No. That is not the point. Is it because we care nothing for the practical? No. In fact, it is just the opposite. We focus on theology in our teaching and learning because when the world walks in my office and asks, “Why this? Why this hurt, this pain, this suffering, this life?” I want to be able to answer that question by speaking truthfully of my God. We focus on theology because as a friend I want to love people with truth and grace, because, as the body of Christ, we want to worship the true God of the Bible, because, as mothers and fathers, we want to raise our kids in the hope that He has planned their days, because in the end, when all the questions have been asked and all the struggles have been brought before us, God answers with Himself. And may we, like Job, realize that He is exactly what we need, that our greatest joy is not in having all the answers but in knowing God, that we exist for His glory which is our great good. To that end we labor. And let us begin by avoiding the mistakes of Job’s friends, seeking to speak correctly of our God.