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Finding God in a Challenging World 3: Blessed Be Your Name - Job 1
By Steve Jeantet | April 26, 2007
<Context> This is the third of a three message series entitled, Finding God in a Challenging World, delivered at a weekend retreat for a college/young adult group.
Part 1: Obstacles to Finding God || Part 2: God Reveals Himself in Christ</Context>
Illustration
- Broken Down Car on New Year’s Day
- Transmission blew – knew it was going to be expensive to fix
- This was supposed to be our “good carâ€
- Got upset at God – where was money going to come from, etc?
- Blessed Be Your Name running through my mind
- Tension between car breaking down and song
- Tension between life and what I believed
Transition
- Tonight look at that tension – what life and faith collide
- When what I believe and what I do have to intersect
- Song from 1st chapter of Job – about life (”Blessed Be Your Name” by Matt Redman)
- Take a look at what happened in Job’s life that lead to this
Recap
- This weekend we are looking to find God
- Want to recap how we got here – b/c not just isolated steps I’m prescribing
- The path tonight only works if we know it’s only by God’s grace
- Talked about the obstacles that keep us from finding God
- Then we talked about God wanting to be found
- So He sent Jesus to reveal Himself to us
- To make it possible for us to be reconciled to God, Jesus went to the cross
Job 1
- Job is God-fearing and shuns evil (vs 1)
- 1st thing we learn about Job is that he loves God
- many of us are the same – we love God
Job is blessed – “land that is plentiful†(vs 2-4)
- 7 sons and 3 daughters
- 7000 sheep
- 3000 camels
- 500 yoke of oxen
- 500 donkeys
- large number of servants
- greatest man among all the people of the East
Satan’s conversation with God (vs 6-12)
- Case of our enemy fighting to keep us from God (per last night’s talk)
- Satan bragging about his power over people
- God points out Job – he is “blameless and uprightâ€
- Satan says that is only b/c God has blessed him so much
- So God gives permission to Satan to take it all away from Job
A Really Bad Day (vs 13-19)
- 1st Messenger (vs 13-15)
- oxen and donkeys carried off by Sabeans
- servants killed
- 1 escaped to tell Job
- 2nd Messenger (vs 16)
- arrives while first still talking
- sheep burned up in fire from sky
- servants killed
- 1 escaped to tell Job
- 3rd Messenger (vs 17)
- arrives while second still talking
- camels carried off by Chaldeans
- servants killed
- 1 escaped to tell Job
- 4th Messenger (vs 18-19)
- arrives while third still talking
- sons and daughters have dinner party together
- house collapsed due to heavy wind and killed them all
- servants killed
- 1 escaped to tell Job
- Recap
- Lost all his possessions
- Lost all his children
- Lost everything that mattered to him
Job’s response (vs 20-22)
- Friends/wife told him to curse God and die, but he wouldn’t do it
- Instead, his response demonstrates his belief in God’s sovereignty
- Here, his life and his faith collided – and he responded incredibly
- Worship
- In spite of losing everything, he worships God
- declares “may the name of the Lord be praisedâ€
- Obedience
- Job “did not sin by charging God with wrongdoingâ€
- Recognize God’s Authority / Control (Submission)
- Everything he has is from God – it’s God’s to take back if He wants to
- “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken awayâ€
- deep faith in God’s provision
Worship (vs 20)
- Anybody can praise God when it’s going well
- But it’s tough to praise God when your world is falling apart
- But, this is a powerful witness to the world – they can’t understand this
- Opposite of complaining / yelling at God
Obedience (22)
- It’s tough to be told you need to obey
- But that is the challenge – to obey God in all things
- To do what is right and trust that He is right to require that of you
Recognize God’s Authority / Control (Submission) (vs 21)
- We know we should give over our life to Christ
- But often try and keep some part for ourselves
- Time – How do you use your time?
- “God, I’ll give you Sunday if I get Friday nightâ€
- try and negotiate with God to protect a little piece of our schedule for ourselves
- spend all week doing the right things (church, Bible study, etc)
- but then on Friday night we go to a club, get drunk and hook up with someone
- Money – How do you use your money?
- Maybe your give your time to God, but want to keep your money for yourself
- The way you use your money betrays what is really valuable to you
- So question is, what message does your spending send?
- Are you giving to your church? Go to small church, they need it
- Giving is part of your worship
- Giving financially is part of giving your life over to God’s control
- As you give financially, you are trusting God to provide for you
- Secret Sin – Are you keeping a pet sin for yourself?
- Is there any sin in your life that you won’t let go of?
- For many, it’s internet pornography
- Or maybe it is something else
- But if there is a secret sin, find someone tonight to confess it to
- Those secret sins keep you from God
Peace
- In Colossians passage from this morning, read that he made “peace by his bloodâ€
- In John 14, Jesus says “Peace be with you. My peace I give youâ€
- What is this peace? This is not a question of salvation
- But the peace Jesus offers by his blood can only come as what we believe (faith) and what we do (life) come together
- What life and faith complement instead of collide
- What the life we live and the faith we say we believe are in harmony
- So, do you feel at peace with God?
- If not, it’s b/c there is some part of your life not in harmony with your faith
- Maybe you aren’t worshipping in difficult circumstances
- Or maybe you aren’t being obedient to God’s word
- Or maybe you are trying to keep control of some area of life for yourself
- Whatever is it, you can’t have peace with God until you surrender this to Him
- What area of life do you need to give over to God’s control tonight?
Conclusion
- Set up 15 minutes of silence
- Have something special for you tonight
- In Psalm 46:10 it says “be still and know that I am Godâ€
- Give you a chance tonight to be still with God
- Encourage you to use this time to ask 2 primary questions
- Am I at peace with God (why or why not)?
- What area of life do I need to give over to God tonight?
- God wants to be found – He promised us that
- So tonight, and each day of your life, turn to Christ in worship, obedience and submission
- For in Christ we have found the God that we have searched for with all our heart
Topics: Job |