More Joy
After yesterday's worship service with its focus on "Joy" I find that I can't seem to get it out of my mind. In Bible Study this morning there were even references to it in the book of Job. In Job 8:21 "Bildad the Shuhite" (sometimes referred to as the shortest man in the Bible...get it? "Shoe-height?") tells Job that if he acts righteously he will be rewarded by more blessing that he had ever had before. In this he would find "joy." In Job 9:25 Job replies that since his sufferings began joy has eluded him completely. It is not joy or prosperity that he desires but justice...some explaination of why this suffering has come upon him. Later, in 10:20 Job wishes that God, who he believes is the source of his suffering, would just leave him alone he might experience some measure of joy again before he dies.
We pondered this exchange for a while until it dawned on us that Job was not a Christian, but an Old Testament Jew living under the covenant law of Moses. The Law promised blessings in return for obedience and the witholding of blessings for violation of the covenant commands. In otherwords, as Irna pointed out, a quid pro quo. "You get what you deserve" is the way that Job understood his relationship with God.
According to the New Testament gospel of Jesus, however, the whole point of the Law was to teach us that we could never ever be obedient or good enough to "earn" God's blessings. According to Genesis 12:17 the "fruit" of disobedience is death. Since "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) we all deserve to die, no matter how good we might try to be or think we are.
Jesus and the Christian faith answers Job in this way: Obeying the Law does not "earn" us the right to life, health or prosperity. Often, according to Jesus, being obedient to God will bring just the opposite...unjust persecution and suffering. Suffering comes with being human. It is the inevitible consequence of sin permeating the world. "Job," Jesus would say, "although bad behavior often has bad consequences, in your case you are not suffering because of anything you have done. The very fact that you are still alive should be evidence of God's mercy at work. Trust in God. He sends his rain on the just and the unjust equally (Matthew 5:45) and, remember those men who died when the scaffolding fell the other day while they were repairing the Jerusalem wall? (Luke 13:4) Were they greater sinners than any of the rest of you that they deserved to die? Was this man born blind because he had sinned? Or because his parents had sinned? (John 9:1-3) Of course not! God is a God who creates, not destroys; who heals, not inflicts disease; who makes the lame to walk, the blind to see and the dead to rise! A weak man can tear down a house. It takes a strong and patient man to rebuild it again from the rubble."
Only God can save us from sin and death. "By grace you have been saved through faith, and not by works, lest any one should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Job, of course, never got the clear answer from God that he demanded. Why did he deserve to suffer so badly? In Jesus we understand that we all deserve to suffer for our sin. But thank God we have been saved from our sin. And our Savior is Jesus. That is why we can have "Joy" in all circumstances...even in suffering.
Thinking about this again today has brightened me considerably. Not all the issues I have to deal with each day are happy ones. But my sense of joy remains full and undiminished. Because of Jesus. For me that is very good news. What about you?
We pondered this exchange for a while until it dawned on us that Job was not a Christian, but an Old Testament Jew living under the covenant law of Moses. The Law promised blessings in return for obedience and the witholding of blessings for violation of the covenant commands. In otherwords, as Irna pointed out, a quid pro quo. "You get what you deserve" is the way that Job understood his relationship with God.
According to the New Testament gospel of Jesus, however, the whole point of the Law was to teach us that we could never ever be obedient or good enough to "earn" God's blessings. According to Genesis 12:17 the "fruit" of disobedience is death. Since "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) we all deserve to die, no matter how good we might try to be or think we are.
Jesus and the Christian faith answers Job in this way: Obeying the Law does not "earn" us the right to life, health or prosperity. Often, according to Jesus, being obedient to God will bring just the opposite...unjust persecution and suffering. Suffering comes with being human. It is the inevitible consequence of sin permeating the world. "Job," Jesus would say, "although bad behavior often has bad consequences, in your case you are not suffering because of anything you have done. The very fact that you are still alive should be evidence of God's mercy at work. Trust in God. He sends his rain on the just and the unjust equally (Matthew 5:45) and, remember those men who died when the scaffolding fell the other day while they were repairing the Jerusalem wall? (Luke 13:4) Were they greater sinners than any of the rest of you that they deserved to die? Was this man born blind because he had sinned? Or because his parents had sinned? (John 9:1-3) Of course not! God is a God who creates, not destroys; who heals, not inflicts disease; who makes the lame to walk, the blind to see and the dead to rise! A weak man can tear down a house. It takes a strong and patient man to rebuild it again from the rubble."
Only God can save us from sin and death. "By grace you have been saved through faith, and not by works, lest any one should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Job, of course, never got the clear answer from God that he demanded. Why did he deserve to suffer so badly? In Jesus we understand that we all deserve to suffer for our sin. But thank God we have been saved from our sin. And our Savior is Jesus. That is why we can have "Joy" in all circumstances...even in suffering.
Thinking about this again today has brightened me considerably. Not all the issues I have to deal with each day are happy ones. But my sense of joy remains full and undiminished. Because of Jesus. For me that is very good news. What about you?
posted by Bird of Paradise at 11:45 PM
<< Home