Rev. David Holwick Book of Job series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 29, 1998
Job 1:1-11
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I. The leading of God.
A. I prayed about whether I should do a series on Job.
1) A tough book.
2) Long. Old Testament.
3) People ignore 95% of it.
B. Confirmation from people in church.
1) Several said it was their favorite book.
2) Others had trouble understanding it.
a) (I kind of put myself in this group.)
b) Everyone knows the first two chapters and last two.
1> What about in-between stuff?
2> Lots of repetition (till you dig deeper).
3> What is the main point?
C. Personal experience is the clincher.
1) Youth group to Creation '98, car poops out in 3« hour
traffic jam.
2) Starts OK on Friday, only to stall - twice.
a) No-go at Texaco gas station.
b) Celeste takes group home, I stay overnight.
1> Hours spent at gas station.
2> Backyard mechanics have five solutions...
3> Motel has no pool, cable TV, air conditioner, even
toilet paper.
4> Owner uses a walker, is almost blind, and is too weak
to run the VISA machine across my card, so I can't
yell at her.
5> Umpteen calls - no one can fix car till Monday...
3) Celeste drives from New Jersey to our rescue.
a) She never makes it.
b) Hours later, calls up in tears - transmission in other
car has failed.
D. It could be worse.
1) Job's trials come in three's.
a) Like a Vege-matic commercial: "But wait, there's more!"
b) I drive rented car with trepidation - which truck will
hit me?
c) Then I realize - I'm not going to be hit by a truck,
but by a huge repair bill.
2) Losing everything puts life in perspective.
a) My trials are nothing compared to Job's.
1> He lost all possessions, children, health.
2> You may have experienced worse things than me,
but not worse than Job.
b) For Job, his trials were a test he passed. Barely.
II. Who is this guy?
A. He is not from Israel.
1) East of Israel - Edom? Area of Jordan/Arabia today.
B. He is not a Jew.
1) Outside of Jewish covenant.
a) Similar to Adam.
1> Some see him as a parable, but rest of Bible refers
to him as a historical figure.
b) Proverbial for his wisdom. Ezekiel 14:14
c) Proverbial for his perseverance. James 5:11
2) Period of patriarches (= Abraham).
a) His wealth is measured in cattle and sheep.
b) He is a personal priest for his children.
1> He is concerned for their inward and outward purity.
C. Job is a great guy. Really great.
1) God calls him "blameless and upright."
a) Doesn't mean he is sinless or perfect.
b) He is innocent of gross wrong-doing.
1> (His innocence is a key theme in book.)
2) God is proud of him.
a) Job is the best a man can be in the natural world.
III. The unseen contest.
A. Satan comes back from patrol.
1) He is not yet in hell with a pitchfork.
a) Paul calls Satan "the god of this world."
2) Here he is living up to his name, which means "the Accuser."
a) Satan is challenging God.
b) In a way, God is on trial as much as Job.
B. Satan's challenge.
1) God protects Job from bad events. 1:10
a) Protects him.
b) Protects his family.
c) Protects his stuff.
2) God has prospered Job. 1:10
a) God not only protects Job, but gives him more.
3) Job has a vested interest in believing.
a) He doesn't believe "for nothing." 1:9
b) Turn things around, and he'll curse God.
IV. Job speaks to the ages.
A. His book reveals is a personal struggle with faith.
1) Ecclesiastes speaks to our mind.
2) Job speaks to our heart, our experience.
a) Doesn't really answer question, "Why do we suffer?"
b) More at, "Why do you believe?"
1> And, "What KIND of God is God?"
B. Everyone has disasters.
1) We just have to live long enough.
a) Only escape is to be born dead, which he wishes for.
2) Raises ancient dilemma.
a) If God is all-powerful, why does he allow bad things
to happen to nice people?
b) God can be all-powerful, or he can be all-loving, but
can he be both at same time?
C. Job had his doubts.
1) He struggles with God on a gut-level.
a) At times he borders on blasphemy.
2) The best of believers can give in to this.
a) C. S. Lewis, greatest Christian writer of this century.
Unshakable faith - till his new wife got cancer.
b) Leon Wells, a Jewish witness at the Eichmann trial,
describes how the Holocaust made him lose faith in God.
c) A day will come when your faith will be tested.
1> Will you say with Job, "The Lord giveth and the
Lord taketh away"?
V. Why do YOU follow God?
A. Many are the product of heritage.
1) It's in the family. Many of you were forced to attend church.
2) If your family had another religion, so would you.
B. Many believe in God because it has worked.
1) A specific prayer has been answered.
2) Your life has gone well for you.
a) You also see it in others: churchgoers vs. druggies.
b) You enjoy the fellowship, the benefits of having friends.
3) Almost a definition of American Christianity.
a) Believe in God, obey Ten Commandments, have a house in
suburbs.
C. Job had to believe when it didn't "work."
1) Big difficulty of Job is that we agree with much of
what his friends say.
2) It is usually correct.
a) Evil people finish last.
b) It is good to be good.
3) But in Job's case, they are dead wrong.
a) Could your own confidence be misplaced?
b) Is your good fortune deserved, or a fluke?
c) And if your fortune isn't good, what does it mean?
VI. Having something left when calamity hits.
A. In the end, Job gets back what he lost.
B. God humbles him, but speaks to him.
1) God wants to speak to you, give you a faith that endures.
C. Our hardships are not the ultimate tragedy.
Don Saunders and Buddy Stride planned to be gone only a couple
minutes.
Like most Friday nights, Feb. 20 was family time at the little
stone house where the two Baptist ministers lived with their
wives and Stride's four children.
They were inseparable friends, and had been since high school.
On that drizzly night, family time meant running out for
chocolate doughnuts and a videotape or two, then sprawling
in front of the TV with the kids.
After making sure Stride's 2-year-old son was snug in his car
seat, the men got into the car and headed to the local grocery.
Legally, Louis Serianni Jr. shouldn't have been near an
ignition key.
His license was first revoked in 1982 after the state labeled
him a "habitual offender."
But Serianni, 39, a mechanic in Bucks County, kept driving.
He'd forged an insurance card and racked up so many moving
violations that his record runs 18 pages.
He wasn't due to get his license restored until 2019.
Serianni was steering his 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible
in and out of traffic on a busy four-lane road, doing an
estimated 60-70 mph in a 35 mph zone.
His headlights were off and his blood alcohol level was more
than twice the legal limit.
At 7 p.m., witnesses told police, the big Olds crested a hill
and slammed broadside into a small white car turning left.
Lois Stride, feeding dinner to her three girls, wondered what
was taking the guys so long.
At 8:30 the police arrived.
The first thing they said was, "The little boy's OK."
As for Don and Buddy, the police just kept saying the situation
was "very serious."
By that time, both men were dead.
"It's just perfectly appropriate," Lois said.
"It seems like God put them together for a purpose, then took
them for another."
Both had gone to Bible college and married within a year of
each other.
Both got their doctorates together and preached in the same
church.
On the day they were killed, they'd received word they were to
be formally installed as Bethany's pastor and assistant
pastor.
Lois Stride says she can't even imagine feeling anger.
"I don't know all the whys, but I do trust in God," she said.
"It seems odd, because they were doing such a good job.
But it's just one of those unanswerables - God thinks beyond us.
And if anyone had to die, she's comforted it was Buddy and Don,
whose eternal lives she's certain of.
"I can't speak to Mr. Serianni's soul," she said.
"The guys would say that they were glad he's still here for a
second chance."
#4301
[Daily Record Newspaper, Parsippany, NJ; "Widows Recall 2 Who Lived For
Lord," by Jeffrey Brodeur, Associated Press, page o-6, March 8, 1998]
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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