Wisdom’s Master Class Kenwood Baptist Church Sermon Series: The Way of Wisdom Pastor David Palmer November 3, 2019 TEXT: Job 1:1-22 Good morning, beloved. We continue this morning in our fall series, The Way of Wisdom. We have been on this journey together as a church family looking at the four books of the Bible that are called wisdom books: Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. We looked at the practical wisdom of a father to a son in Proverbs. We looked at the mystery of falling in love in the Song of Songs. We looked at the wise warning against worldly ambition in Ecclesiastes, and this morning, we enter wisdom’s master class. The book of Job deals with the question of the suffering of the righteous. The book of Job deals with those times in our lives that are difficult, hard, painful, great loss, beyond our understanding, and it is important to note right at the beginning that this topic is addressed in Scripture. It's a topic that we all encounter in varying degrees, and yet we need God's wisdom for this topic as well. We’ll look at the book of Job together over the next three weeks, and I want to encourage you right at the beginning to read the book of Job in its entirety. There are three big movements in Job. This week, we will look at his situation, what happens to him in the opening chapters. Next week, we will look at the large central section of Job which is filled with the bad advice of his friends. When you go through hard times, people come willingly, and sometimes unwillingly, solicited, and unsolicited, to interpret that situation for you. That is the central section of Job, the cycles of counsel of his friends. We will look at that next week. In the final week, the rising tension of Job, his experience, his interaction with his friends and family, finally resolves when God Himself comes. It's the third week of Job in our study that's the most important of all. It’s when God comes and explains what's happening; it's when God gives to Job more of Himself than he knew Page 1 of 9 before. I want to encourage you as we go through these next few weeks as a church family. This might be the only time in your Christian life that you'll hear a set of sermons on Job. It's not often preached; we often avoid it, and yet this is the most frequently raised question about the Christian faith. We need the whole book. Job is best read, heard, listened to in its entirety, and I want to encourage you to let this book wash over you and answer this question in your own heart so that you're ready to answer it for others. We begin this morning in Job 1:1. We are introduced to the figure of Job: “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil .” We don't know exactly where Uz is. You may have noticed it in Lamentations 4:21: “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz;” This is the only other reference of this place. Edom is in the South. It's really outside the borders of Israel, and that is significant to notice. Uz is the home of Job. The name Job is attested in other ancient near Eastern texts, and we are first told about Job that he is a man of godly character. This is listed and described for us very clearly. Job is described as a man who is blameless. This is the language that is used of the sacrifices: without blemish. It is a term when applied to people that is often translated as integrity. Job was a man of integrity; he was upright; he was a man who feared God. That's lesson number one of the wisdom literature, that “the beginning of wisdom is to fear God.” That was the climax of Ecclesiastes: “The end of the matter was to fear God and obey His commands.” Job fears God, and not only does he fear God, but he turns away from evil. It's not enough to say: “I revere God,” but Job turns away from evil. He is introduced as a man godly character, as a blessed man with a large family. In Job 1:2, we read: “There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.” Ten children! A large family, great blessing! In Job 1:3, he has not only a large family, but he is a man of great wealth: “He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.” Seven thousand sheep, that's a lot of shares in a mutual fund; 3,000 camels, that's a few apartment complexes; 500 yoke of oxen, that's a small construction company; 500 female donkeys, that a transport business; and very many servants. We're told that Job was the greatest of all the people in the east, meaning he was a man of status and stature; he was blessed; he was a godly man; he had a large family; and he had flourishing businesses. Sometimes when people are wealthy, with large family, sometimes those homes have a lot of Page 2 of 9 drama. That's why we’re so interested in the Royals, what's going on in the imperial Caesar's household, because usually those families have big problems. Job's family, his big family, wealthy family, actually had great relationships. Look at Job 1:4: “His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.” “His day” is the Hebrew idiom for their birthday, so whenever the sons had a birthday, they would send and invite their three sisters and eat and drink with them, and they would have parties together as a family. So this is not only a big family, a wealthy family. They actually really like each. They get along well. They are celebrating together. But, the most important window into Job's person, his character and soul, is in Job 1:5 where we see that Job was a devout man: “And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all?” Not only does he have a proven godly character, but he is a devout man. At the end of the festival times, Job would send and he would consecrate them, in the ESV, he would actually make them holy. He would rise early in the morning, and he would offer burnt offerings according the number of his family. This was an act of devotion and delight in God and confidence in God and a willingness to keep the slate clean between himself and God and his children and God. He was concerned to have nothing separating him and his family from God. He even wonders that it may be that they have sinned, and it might even be that they have sinned in their hearts. You may have heard this passage interpreted in various ways. I am going to share with you how I heard this passage preached the first time, and the only time, I've ever heard it preached. I hope you've never heard this before, and then I’m going to ask you not to believe it! Okay? I was taught as a new Christian that Job's offering for the sin of his family was a reflection of Job's fear or that he had sinned and that this was the key thing that he actually did wrong. You’re all looking at me with blank stares, so that means you've never been taught that. Praise God. Job’s devotion in this passage is not a lack of faith; it is an extreme confidence of faith. The picture of Job, in other words, that we are given from all these angles is that this man is righteous; he is blessed; he is devout; he has a regular practice of morning prayer, of offering atonement for sin as God commands to be done. That's the picture: a righteous man, a blessed man, a man to be admired. The next scene in Job is one that Job does not see. It's critical to notice that this next scene is something that we see as readers of Job, but Job does not see. In Job 1:6, we read: Page 3 of 9 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” The sons of God is the Hebrew idiom for the angels. The Septuagint translates the bene-Elohim as angeloi, or the angels. Some English translations will render this idiomatically as angels. The NIV, for example, says “the angels came” to make it clear that’s who we’re talking about. It’s a heavenly court, and in the heavenly court, the angels come before God, and all of a sudden our view is shifted from looking at Job, this righteous, devout man, and suddenly, by access of the Word of God, we’re standing in the courts of the Lord God Almighty.