Thanking God, No Matter What

Earlier this month we began looking at The Book of Job…

We started by talking about what it means to seek God when we are in pain…

That feeling of "Why me?' that sometimes overwhelms us…

Then we saw how we can encounter God only when we recognize that
we are not the center of Creation – God is…

We heard the story of Job as one of transformation; a story of relationship with God who does not abandon us even when we abandon God…

Today we begin to understand what it means to be truly thankful to God, no matter what is going on in our lives…

Let us pray:

Loving God, I thank you for the blessing of those who have taught me how to worship, trust, and be grateful. Help us, even when we are hurting or have lost everything, help us to hold on to the deep mystery of your love. Prepare our hearts now to hear your words. Amen.

Throughout the story of Job, conventional theology has called for Job to repent of the sins that caused him to be punished by God…

But, as we have discussed previously in this series, the story of Job challenges this Divine Retribution view of God…The idea that God rewards the faithful and punishes the wicked is blown apart in this story….

We know too many instances where the good suffer and the wicked prosper….

By the end of the story, Job does indeed repent…

The thing we need to notice is that Job doesn't repent of supposed sins that caused his misfortune…

He repents of his attitude toward God…

He asks God to forgive his arrogance and acknowledges God's great power and sovereignty.

Listen to our own sin when we speak in anger to God: "If you are in control, if you are so mighty and powerful, how could you let this happen to me?"

Therein lies the real sin…Blaming God for our misfortune…

God does not cause us to be in pain;
God does not take people away from us;
God does not punish us by making bad things happen to us.

However, when these things do happen in our lives, God can find ways to help us get through them and to learn valuable lessons from them…

It's not that God deliberately tests us or teaches us a lesson by these circumstances…

It's that God can take any situation and use it for our good; even when it is painful and we don't understand what's happening….

The lesson of Job is that we must give God sovereignty over our lives and trust that God knows best how things are going to work out…

This is the true nature of being thankful – trusting that God will work everything out according to God's plan and thanking God that we get to be part of what God is doing in the world.

Remember Paul's letter to the Thessalonians…

[1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]

No matter what happens, God wants us to be thankful for Jesus Christ who suffered more than we can ever imagine…

There are a lot of things in life that we do not understand…

But, we can understand these words from Paul:

It's not that God is so insecure that he needs to hear our constant thanks;

The point is – when bad things happen to us, it doesn't do any good to gripe or complain or feel sorry for ourselves, does it?

No. That only makes things worse.

When bad things happen we need to realize that there is an enemy out there who wants to steal our faith, our peace, and our joy…hasatán

Scripture tells us to resist this enemy and remain steadfast in our faith…

Giving thanks, no matter what, is a powerful way to resist the powers of evil
that come against us.

Even when we don't feel particularly thankful for the circumstances of our lives,
we can always be thankful for the love of God and
what God did for us through Jesus Christ.

Job was a person of faith who lost everything and wound up finding God more mysterious, intimate, and deep than ever before.

That was Job's miracle.

In the end, God restored Job's blessings two-fold.

There are times in our life simply to give thanks to God for God's deliverance
and the blessings on loan to us.

I read a story this week about a missionary who has spent a lot of time among impoverished people in Central America.

What's remarkable is their ability to worship and give thanks to God even in the midst of their poverty and hunger.

These people share their sorrows and their praise of God.

This missionary gives thanks because the people have allowed her to be transformed by their hospitality and worship.

What we learn from Job, and from these poor people in Central America, is that we should give less of our energy to the stresses of life, and more energy to celebrating God's goodness.

We all have times of pain and suffering; yet, these times are more tolerable when we are already in the habit of thanking God and praising God for everything we have.

Even Job began this story praising God in the midst of his misfortune; it wasn't until he began to listen to his friends' bad advice that he fell into the pit of total despair by crying out against God.

When we face devastation, we discover that all we have is God; and God is all we need.

What has come before is no more, but God endures.

And God will help us endure.

We know that one day God will heal us and restore us.

Until then, let us embrace the gift of discovering new, deeper meaning under the rubble of what we have lost.

Jennifer Graves, Duke Divinity School student

 

No matter what?
I'm supposed to seek God, no matter what
I'm supposed to find God, no matter what
I'm supposed to thank God, no matter what
It's difficult to see in the midst of what
GODISNOWHERE
seeing the forest of hope through the trees of what
hearing the voice of love through the din of hate
tasting the breath of life in the stew of death
GOD IS NOW HERE
No matter what!

 

No matter what happens, always be thankful to God.

Culture Re-defined

Jesus spent his life re-defining culture in God's image. This has always been a hard lesson for humanity to learn. When we are truly servant leaders, our convenience is not the priority. We do not cash-in on a promise to live a comfortable life when we begin to follow Jesus. Rather, we agree to put ourselves out so that others might be comforted.

Psalm 139 reminds us that God knows everything about us...better than even we do...particularly the desires of our heart. The psalmist also asks God to search our hearts and test our devotion to God. Life isn't about us; it's about what we do as children of God to be faithful to God's image in us.

When we honor God first in all that we do, we are assured of our ability to do what God wants for us. If we seek to honor ourselves, we will always fail.

Amen.

It's Friday...

Let's state the obvious - Today is Friday. What an astute observation. Coming at the end of this particular week, however, it is a welcome revelation of the obvious. The week is coming to a better end than it began. Spirits are higher, work is completed, and plans are being made. There will even be a relatively calm weekend.

Today I will finish my Sunday school lesson and rehearse Sunday's sermon - not terribly taxing. Then, this afternoon, we will attend a memorial service for a local gentleman who passed suddenly this week. Saturday is a planned day in and away from the world. We will cook and clean. We will read and relax. We will be ready for Sunday and will begin the new week refreshed.

I hope everyone enjoys such a day this week and that you are also refreshed and re-energized for whatever you encounter next week. May God bless you mightily.

And so it goes...

I just finished the first semon in my series on the Book of Job: "Seeking God, No Matter What." I am happy with it, though I know that God will have the final word on what I actually say come Sunday morning. I am seeking God in this process because I believe we have so much to learn from Job. It's about faithfulness, hope, and integrity. It's about God's passionate love for us; God is so passionate that we are never alone in the midst of our suffering - God is with us. We may not have the whirlwind visitation that Job sees, but we are visted...no matter what. For what it's worth, here is the manuscript version of this sermon. Obviously, the actual spoken word will be somewhat different and it will be posted next week. Pray for me that I hear God's message in my heart and that I faithfully preach God's Word.

MANUSCRIPT:

“Seeking God, No Matter What
No matter what? - #1
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
World Communion Sunday

During the month of October the Lectionary offers us the opportunity to confront a difficult text.
The Book of Job…
A challenging book of prose and poetry that cries out in the midst of human struggle, pain, and grief…
It challenges us to examine our image of God and our relationship with God, no matter what.
It is a text that ultimately leads us to an image of God that demonstrates faithfulness, hope, and integrity.

I have struggled this week over whether to embrace this opportunity and find a way to preach this text
with care, or to simply avoid it and move on to the Gospel readings.
I confess that I am tempted to take the second, simpler option.
God has a different plan and so we will explore the timeless story of Job in a series of three sermons
that ask the question – No matter what?

Let us pray:
O God, we come today seeking your face; we come seeking your hope and grace in the midst of an ungracious world. Faithful God, give us a higher degree of faith that will remove doubt and fear. Bring us to your message today and allow me to faithfully speak what you place in my heart. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

[Set the stage by story-telling Job 1:1 – 2:10]

The story of Job truly is about the presence of God in the midst of unimaginable pain, suffering, and injustice…
It isn’t really about why bad things happen to good people, though…
That is one of many common misunderstandings of this Book

Hebrew word: hasatán = “the satan,” not “Satan”; this is not a proper name, it is an office;
this is not the Devil of the New Testament
Not the story of the battle between good and evil; it is about God’s relationship with humanity.
If we focus only on the “why do bad things happen to good people” theme, we miss the more important question: “What is the nature of faith – how are we supposed to relate to God?”

The prevailing ancient theology centered on “divine retribution” – if you do good, God will bless you; if you sin, God will punish you.

That is far too simple for Job and so he struggles to figure how to approach God; how to seek and encounter God.

Job seeks to reach a faith that will discover God in the midst of fear and chaos.

We must remember that our world is far removed from the world of Job’s story.

The “heavenly court” doesn’t fit with our image of heaven;
The epic catastrophes that strike Job seem exaggerated to us;

We must read this story with one eye on our own world…we must see Job’s story through the lens of our pain and the pain of those we lovewe must try to hear Job’s troubles in the chaos of our own lives we must ask ourselves if the words Job speaks have ever come from our mouths

The catastrophic events of Job’s life could just as easily be seen in our own lives when we change the words to be: unemployment, debt, depression, betrayal, illness, and death

From within our reality, Job cries out, wanting to know: “Where is God and how may I approach him?”

The story of Job challenges us with three basic questions:

1. Can God lose control and be influenced by hasatán?
   
2. Does God allow intense suffering, just to settle a bet?
   
3. How does this square with our belief in a compassionate, just God?
   

• We must remember that the story of Job is not taken from Israelite tradition; it comes from ancient Near Eastern folklore that does not share the Hebrew faith. The poet has appropriated the story to make a point of faith to the Jews in exile – suffering the loss of everything; living in the ghetto and forced labor.
• The original folktale comes from a multi-god culture where the strongest god ruled in a heavenly court surrounded by lesser gods. For the Israelites, these lesser gods become God’s messengers – angels – and hasatán is a sort-of prosecuting attorney who acts on God’s behalf…for “the state”…this is not God’s nemesis; it is his advocate…the District Attorney.
  

Job is a pre-Mosaic character who lives in an area outside of Palestine – Uz, possibly Edom.
Though a non-Jew, Job is portrayed as being faithful to Yahweh, the God of Israel. This is not unheard of in the Old Testament – hear Caleb, Rahab, and others.

At the end of this part of the story, Job does not understand his calamity, yet he accepts it. In his exchange with his wife he is clear that we must take the good with the bad…This is the nature of faith.

It isn’t until later in the story, when his friends begin to give him bad advice that Job starts to wonder and seek God for answers. This is where we hear the “divine retribution” theology that was common for the Israelites and debunked by Job’s evidence of a blameless life.

[Job 23:3-4, 8-9]

Often, when we find ourselves struggling, in pain, facing catastrophe, or navigating grief – we ask: “Is there some purpose behind my pain?”

We assume that our pain is part of God’s benevolent plan – to teach us something, to make us stronger, to accomplish a greater good…

The first two chapters of Job explode this kind of thinking…

Because Job suffers as the result of a silly, cosmic wager – We hear the poet saying: “Don’t look for any reason behind your pain; it just is! It can’t be understood.”

And in the midst of this suffering we hear a word of hope…God says to hasatán: “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on earth?”

God passionately loves Job and talks about him as any proud parent would…
God passionately loves us too, and sees us as a proud parent would…
Only a God who loves us so completely can speak to us in our pain…
Only a God who parents us, forgives us, and knows us so well, can wipe away our tears

The Lord’s love for Job ultimately produces a whirlwind visitation – pretty remarkable considering the curses Job hurls at God from the ash heap…

Then, of course, we see God’s passion for us produced the greatest visitation of all – the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ…

In spite of the insults and curses we have thrown at God, he loved us so much that he sent his only Son – you know the rest.

Job is being led to a spiritual cross and his cries of despair strike deep into God’s heart…
God will not leave Job, nor will God leave us hanging there alone.

[Jeremiah 29:11-13]

Sermons on Job

I am working on a sermon series called, "No Matter What?" that follows the lectionary readings in the Book of Job. The messages are: "Seeking God, No Matter What," "Encountering God, No Matter What," and "Thanking God, No Matter What."

This text can be challenging to engage and it is doubly so given the current state of our world and the recent news that brings grief to our congregation. I covet prayer as I prepare to preach God's great good news in the midst of suffering.

No matter what?
I'm supposed to seek God, no matter what
I'm supposed to find God, no matter what
I'm supposed to thank God, no matter what
It's difficult to see in the midst of what
GODISNOWHERE
seeing the forest of hope through the trees of what
hearing the voice of love through the din of hate
tasting the breath of life in the stew of death
GOD IS NOW HERE
No matter what!

Times of pain...

I have often thought that one of my ministry strengths was to help families navigate the grieving process. Today, I am faced with going through it with them. I remember in seminary that we talked about the "ministry of accompaniment" - of being with a family during the process of dying, death, and saying goodbye. It was as if this process were removed from us personally, as pastors; we are there to support, lift up, aid; we are not there to grieve. We are challenged as pastors to recognize ourselves as transients with our congregations; ours is an itinerant ministry - we come and go and simply pass through the lives of our churches. If we become too attached we risk relationships that are torn when we move to the next appointment. How realistic is this?

I have faced before, and will again, what I now face - someone I love is dying in my church. We are not related, except as members of the Body of Christ. We are not life-long friends, only 3 years in this appointment. We are not in any of those relationships that one associates as warranting deep personal grief. This is a relationship that cries out for sincere, measured, and thoughtful pastoral care. I am called to this ministry of accompaniment as a pastor, not as a participant. Who then will offer pastoral care to me? Where will I find the time and place to grieve and cry? "I lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help." My help, my pastoral care will come from the greatest pastor in the universe - my God...Father and Creator, the Lover of my soul.

What is our crisis?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21, NIV)

We talk a lot about faithful living around here; we talk about making choices, decisions, and commitments that serve to move people toward God. One of the most important choices we make is how we will distribute our income. It’s no secret that our economy has been challenging for many people this past year. We all have to make difficult decisions. We are responsible to pay our bills and provide for our families; we are required by the government to pay taxes; sometimes we even want to go out to dinner, a movie, or go on vacation. Each of these activities forces us to make choices and decisions about how we will use the money we have available. You may have noticed in this list that God is not mentioned; giving to the church doesn’t come into this picture. I did this on purpose to remind us all that we sometimes place God at the bottom of our financial priority list rather than at the top. We too often give God what’s leftover at the end of the month, rather than giving God the “first fruits” of our labors as the Bible mandates. It is tempting to think that God will understand; “he knows the tight spot we’re in and he surely doesn’t want my kids to go without something they want. God wouldn’t want us to delay our vacation, would he?” Maybe we should remember that God’s ways are not our ways and that we have only to look at Scripture to discern what God is thinking.

The economy is a challenge for all of us; you need to know that the economic downturn has affected the income our church receives from its endowments and other investments. We are not immune from the difficulties everyone faces. Since the stock market and banking industry difficulties began last year, this church has lost a large portion of the income we depend on to provide maintenance and other items for our buildings. It is also important for you to know that overall giving from our church members is down significantly from last year. In fact, we are seeing a nearly 10% drop in weekly giving this year. I suspect that some of this change is due to the challenges we all face in today’s economy and the fear that things are going to get worse before they get better. We have less to work with and we tend to give less to God so we have more to use on other essentials in our lives.

There are two ways we can respond to this change. We could “face reality” and recognize this financial shortfall as something we simply cannot control. We could pull back on the missions and ministries we offer to our church members and to the community. We could use the facilities less and put off doing needed maintenance and upgrades. We could listen to the voices of this world and keep a low profile until all this blows over. In other words, we could shrink our faith to fit into the world’s tiny box and then watch as our ministry shrinks and withers.

I prefer Option #2: We will do as Scripture tells us – we will step out in faith and trust that God will give us everything we need to expand our ministry. We will not shrink from the challenge – we will embrace it. We will continue to make choices, decisions, and commitments that serve to bring more people into a relationship with God. We will continue to plan for new mission and ministry opportunities; we will not delay or delete our programs. We will not listen to the voice of Satan trying to get us to stop doing God’s work; we will increase our profile and be God’s church no matter what.

I want to be very clear…I fully understand the financial challenges we all face. I also know all about choosing to pay the world first and then pay God. There was a time in our lives when we left God until the end of the month and only gave him what was left; the thing is, there was almost never anything leftover for God. When we changed our priority and gave freely to God FIRST, we always managed to have enough to pay everyone else too. Isn’t it interesting how God works in our lives? Go’s ways are not our ways…I guess that’s the point.
Please remember that God wants our “first fruits” not our “stale leftovers”…Give to God what is God’s – If you do, you will always have plenty to go around. Help us live according to Option #2 – give generously so that the ministries of this church can continue to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

God bless,

Pastor Don