Sermon: It's Not Fair (Job): Pastor Tito Dizon

[This sermon was first preached on July 29, 2012 at Folsom Community Church by Pastor Tito Dizon]

Job
It’s Not Fair.

How would you advice or comfort a Christian brother, a former well to do friend, who lost his business just like anyone else due to economy, have to his house foreclosed and has rent instead, and on top of that got a failing health because of old age and is having a relationship problem with his wife.

Did this thing somehow happen to you? You are a committed Christian, who never misses church, attends Bible study, contributes and helps in the ministry of the church, gives your tithes and volunteers in projects. But then, in spite of that, negative things happened in your life. That is hard to explain. The company downsized and you received the pink slip, at the same time your car broke down, and needs a transmission repair, the bills are piling up, and children are acting up or out of control.

Suffering In the world touches many levels-personal, the next door neighbor. In the Philippines, during the typhoon Ondoy – many people lost their house and everything in them. Some lost their business or livelihood. A few even lost their loved ones;

1. The Purpose of Job

Job answers the question: Why do the righteous suffer if God is loving and all powerful?

How can His attributes be reconciled with His actions, especially when those actions appear to run counter to all He claims to be?" "How can a God who elsewhere in Scripture is described as the very essence of love and grace initiate or even allow suffering in the lives of His saints? God inspired this book to reveal answers to questions that arise from God's nature and His ways with human beings (us).

Specifically, what is the basis on which God deals with people? Elsewhere in the Old Testament we find God typically repaying good with good and evil with evil, but that is not how He dealt with Job.

These two questions will be dealt with in the book of Job.

First, lets have a General Observations on the life of Job

2. The Life of Job

A. Job’s Character (1:1-5)
¹There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.

He was an exceptionally admirable person because of his character and conduct. "Blameless" (Heb. tam) means complete. The word usually describes integrity and spiritual maturity. When Job sinned, he dealt with his sin appropriately, an evidence of his blamelessness. Job was not sinless (cf. 13:26; 14:16-17).

² He had seven sons and three daughters.

³ He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants.  He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.

Job was wealthy (1:2-3). v.3  Evidently there were several other great (wealthy) men in that part of the world in his day,  but Job surpassed them all.

⁴ Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them.

⁵ When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children.  He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

". . . the meaning is apparently that the seven brothers took it in turn to entertain on the seven days of every week, so that every day was a feast day. "

Job demonstrated the proper spiritual concern for his own family members as well as interest in their physical and social welfare. Evidently he offered sacrifices each week for his children in case they had committed sins in their merriment.  (cf. v. 8; 2:3) Job was no ordinary man. He was not even an ordinary good man.

God chose to test an extremely righteous man so all of us could see that it was not Job's personal goodness that formed the basis for his relationship with God. If Job suffered being righteous, righteousness must not preclude suffering or guarantee God's protection.

So what’s the basis? ... We’ll see later on…

Satan’s thinking about Job: What will happen if Job suffers?

Job’s Calamities
God permitted Satan to test Job twice. The first test touched his possessions, including his children (1:6-22), and the second his person (2:1-10).  The writer takes us behind the scenes (peek view) (1:6-2:10) so we can know why Job's calamities befell him, the very question that Job and his friends debated hereafter.

The first test (1:6-22)

⁶ One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them.
⁷ “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”
⁸ Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”

God allows us to experience temptation from other sources for our welfare (James 1:2-4, 12). The primary sources of our temptation are the world (1 John 2:15-16), the flesh (James 1:14), and the devil (Job 1—2).

Here we can learn the enemy’s schemes: Satanology 101 Satan is real, The Devil’s lie…we don’t believe that he exists.

v.6 Another Satan’s name: Accuser…do you hear that always in your ears, heart, mind or conscience …
v.7 In “Roaming”  mode, even here right now….
v.8 God is very proud of Job. Job was righteous in God's estimate as well as in the eyes of his fellowmen (vv. 1, 8) What is our reputation? Before men? Before God? We  seek the commendation of people here many times. We can be good looking outside but rotten inside. The greatest Test- what do our children, wife think of us? Our neighbor- or closest to us, our enemies? But even them, we can fool…. But not God….A lot get away in this world, but not with God.

God knows us, everything about us, whether we’ve been bad or good (Not Sta. Claus) When experiencing pain (suffering), God knows us, our past…

⁹ Satan replied to the Lord,   “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God.

¹⁰ You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does.  Look how rich he is!
¹¹ But reach out and take away everything he has,  and he will surely curse you to your face!”

v.9-10 Satan accused God of bribing Job so he would act piously (vv. 9-11).  This idea, that the relationship between God and man rests on retribution—we always reap in kind during our lifetime what we sow—is one that Job held. (godliness results in prosperity) Are people only religious because Of what they can get out of it?

Is your faith in God dependent only on the good you think it will do to you? Extrinsic use: A person’s religion is for such a person a social status symbol, or a set of rituals for alleviating anxiety. Why do we serve God? Is it just for what we can get out of it? Or (Intrinsic) is ours a faith rooted in the reality of a personal communion with God himself.

The distinction can be expressed by saying that for some people their faith in God serves as a means to some other end, whereas for others, God is seen as an end in himself.

v.11 Satan determined to prove that Job would not obey God if he got no blessing in return. Satan’s taunt- Goodness cannot survive in the real world of human pain.

Satan suggests that: Job's relationship with god is merely a contract which has benefits both, for Job in terms of prosperity, (He believed selfishness prompted Job's obedience rather than love).  And, for God, in terms of his illusory  belief that he has evoked a real response from Job. (God would not get worship from Job if He stopped blessing him).

AP : Are Satan’s Theology and Our theology the same? We believe God will withdraw his blessings if we will not attend church, pray….Our attitude sometimes is that God owes us… because Of what we’ve been doing for him, if not,”Tampo sa Diyos”-Tantrum. Satan accused God of something: Playing Santa Claus, but if He is no Santa… they’ll be gone from the Church

¹² “All right, you may test him,”  the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

v. 12 Satan had to ask permission to take Job’s wealth, children and health away. Satan was limited to what God allowed (limited in power and authority) We must learn to recognize and not fear Satan’s attack because Satan cannot exceed the limits that God sets. We must remember that the contest is not between equals. Also, You are more powerful if Christ is in you.

AP: Don’t give him much power in your mind as if he is omnipotent, omniscient... You are more powerful if Christ is in you…that’s why we can cast out demons…unless we are not walking in the light…

"From the outset, the writer reminds us that, no matter what happens in this world and in our lives,  God is on the throne and has everything under control."

13-19 Successive Trials/ Suffering

¹³ One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house,

¹⁴ a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys  feeding beside them,
¹⁵ when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

(Pause) What was Job thinking?

¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

(Pause)

¹⁷ While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: “Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

(Pause)

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home.
¹⁹ Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

What will be our reaction after these successive trials? (pause)

Job’s response: Not why me? Not why God? Not why my ungodly neighbor

v.20 Tearing one's robe typically expressed great grief in the ancient Near East. Shaving the head (v. 20) evidently symbolized the loss of personal glory.  Job apparently fell to the ground to worship God (v. 20). Job grieved but worshipped. These two activities are not incompatible. He saw God's hand in the events of his life.

His first instinct is to react Godwards – worship. How few of us find that worship is our first reaction even at the best times. Would that we could learn to make that our first reaction to crisis- to pray.

v.21 Job's recognition of Yahweh's sovereignty was a key to his passing his test. Underneath he knew God was his sovereign. This conception of God is one that Job never lost, though many people who go through trials do.

"Job's exclamation is the noblest expression to be found anywhere of a man's joyful acceptance of the will of God as his only good. We should have a deep-seated joy no matter what happens to us knowing that we are in the Lord's hands and that He has permitted whatever happens to us. (Phil. 4:4).

"Anybody can say, 'The Lord gave' or 'The Lord hath taken away'; but it takes real faith to say in the midst of sorrow and suffering, 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.'"

A man may stand before God stripped of everything that life has given him, and still lack nothing."

He had a proper perspective on his possessions. When everything is stripped away, we are to recognize that God is all we ever really had. Job learned that when nothing else was left, he had God and that was enough. Through suffering, we learn that God is enough for our lives and our future.

v.22 Integrity – Hold on, did not charge God or blame God. Results of Suffering to Job: hindi sya nawala sa church, mas um-attend. Praised God honestly… Not - Acts of God but by men

Ondoy- floods, garbage everywhere, patayo ng bahay sa bawal na lugar, binulsa paglilinisp ng mga canal. Flashfloods (Luzon, Vis, Mindanao): cut all the trees.

2. The second test (2:1-10)

Why a 2^nd round? Will the result be different?

⁴ Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life.

⁵ But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

v.4 Satan insinuated that Job had been willing to part with his own children and his animals (wealth) since he still had his own life (skin, v. 4). "Satan implies that Job, by his doxology had only feigned love for God as the exorbitant but necessary fee for health insurance."

⁶ “All right, do with him as you please,” the Lord said to Satan. “But spare his life.”
⁷ So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.
⁸ Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.

v.6 Satan could do nothing to Job without God's permission.

v.7 -8Having received that, he went out to strip Job of his health.

In view of the symptoms mentioned later in the book, Job's ailment (vv. 7-8) seems to have been a disease called pemphigus foliaceous or something similar to it, perhaps elephantiasis.

·         2:12 friends could hardly recognize him;  
·         7:5 5 My body is covered with maggots and scabs.My skin breaks open, oozing with pus.;
·         16:16;  my face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes;
·         19:20 I am nothing but skin and bones;
·         30:17 night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest,
·         27 The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me,
·         30 My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever;
·         33:21 His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his bones, once hidden, now stick out).
·         7:3 It have afflicted Job for several months (I, too, have been assigned months of futility,
    long and weary nights of misery.).

Job's illness resulted in an unclean condition that made him a social outcast. He had to take up residence near the city dump where beggars and other social rejects stayed.

He had formerly sat at the city gate and enjoyed social prestige as a town judge (29:7). The change in his location, from the best to the worst place, reflects the change in his circumstances, from the best to the worst conditions.

⁹ His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”
¹⁰ But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

The person that could hurt you the most are the people closest to him: his wife. If you were Job’s wife, what will be your reaction? Formerly living in comfort, with children around her, partying almost every day because of prosperity. Then suddenly losing everything…..home, children, now husband in very bad shape. It is so hard to live near to someone who is suffering and to be utterly unable to do anything. Our own frustration is often turned to irritation with the one who is in pain or caused the pain: we blame the suffering person for causing us such discomfort. She gives evidence in the text of being bitter toward God.

Job’s  wife  suggests that he is as one already dead: why not cut the remaining suffering short by cursing God and provoking Him to strike Job down. Or to end her misery too.

B.v.9 She evidently concluded that God was not being fair with Job. He had lived a godly life, but God had afflicted rather than awarded him. She had the same retributive view of the divine-human relationship that Job and his friends did, but she was "foolish" (v. 10, spiritually ignorant, not discerning).

Though many people today conclude, as Job's wife did, that the reason for suffering is that God is unjust, this is not the reason good people suffer. (Colorado Massacre)

v.10 Job calls her foolish…WHY?... simply refuses to accept that good people can and do get suffering. 1. Bad things happen to good people. 2. That God is not unfair

The third result of Job's suffering was his fresh submission to God. Even though Job did not understand why he was in agony, he refused to sin with his lips by cursing God.

This response proved Satan wrong (v. 5) and vindicated God's words (v. 3). 1.22, 2.10  Job’s fear (reverential trust) of God ran deeper than Satan realized.

Why does God allow Satan to test believers? He allowed Satan to test Job, to silence Satan and to strengthen Job's character. God permitted Satan to afflict Job to demonstrate and to purify Job's motives for worshipping God and for living a godly life (cf. James 1:2-4).

Conclusion
Jesus and Job were the most extreme example of bad things happening to good people. Where is God? What is God doing in all this? What comfort can faith offer now?

The author has skillfully brought us face to face with the unchanging perils of

·         War – the attack of the sabeans
·         Destitution – the loss of sheep, cattle, camels…
·         Humiliation – the riches to rags
·         Bereavement – the loss of children
·         Sickness – the sores from head to toe
·         Depression – just read chapter 3.

Then consider Jesus:

·         Loss of Heavenly Environment,
·         Poor- Carpenter, In Ministry: support of women
·         Humiliation- sentenced as a criminal, died with criminals on both side,
·         Injustice- mistrial and kangaroo court,
·         Persecuted- bodily and politically,
·         Death by the most painful way- Cross

We may experience what Job and Jesus experience. Even though God has disclosed to us much more of his purposes, there is hidden world of divine purposes of which we know only a part. Faith is learning to trust god in the dark, in unknowing, in apparent failure. Faith is what God gives us to help us live with uncertainties.

Job (his character) is important because this book reveals that the basis of the relationship between God and people is essentially God's sovereign grace and our response of trust and obedience.

The book of Job deals essentially with man's relationship with God, centering on two questions:

Question 1: Why does man worship God?  Why do we (you) worship God?  The basis of the relationship between God and his people is essentially God’s sovereign grace.

Question 2: How will man react to God when God seems unconcerned about his problems? Our response of trust and obedience.

Sermon: Jesus Takes a Detour (Luke 8:26-39): Tim Lewis

[This sermon was preached on July 15, 2012 at Folsom Community Church by Tim Lewis]

Jesus Takes A Detour

Luke 8:26-39

Introduction

In the movie The Hunger Games, 24 teens are selected to fight to the death, a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts. In District 12, it is the boy Peeta and the girl, Katniss. For me, one of the most compelling scenes, they are discussing what to expect, since one of them must die. Peeta says, “I don’t know how to say it exactly. Only…I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense?” … “I don’t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not.” – taken from the The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, chapter 10, page 71.

Peeta was worried that somehow the world, the expectations of those watching and those people running the “games” would be able to manipulate him so that at the end of the process he would not even recognize himself—he would become a “monster” When I heard that, I could sympathize with his fear. There are many people who would want to give me instructions—how to raise my kids, how to raise my tomatoes, how to eat, how to live, how to love, how to laugh. If you stop and think about it, it is really quite invasive. Sometimes they call it a law. Sometimes they call it advice. Sometimes they call it wise. But all around us—just like the audience and game masters—is a world with an opinion about you.

And it is not always outside of us. Some of these voices we have actually invited inside of our heads, a sort of jury box with whom we go over each of our decisions, mentally anticipating their thumbs up or thumbs down. Maybe it is your Mom (like me) who, even though I haven’t lived with her for 25 years, I sometimes mentally look for her thumbs up or thumbs down. Or my grandfather, Waldo, a godly man who has been dead these 15 years. Maybe it is a teacher, or an older classmate, or a boss, or a hero. Each one of us accumulates a jury box who we give mental permission to pass judgment on our plans and mistakes. To some, we look for approval. For others, we are afraid of their negative opinion.

But, there is yet another level where we give up our own voice. We let go and another dictates our actions and behaviors, maybe to avoid getting hurt, maybe out of desire for something or maybe out of hopelessness. The Bible describes this spiritual condition-a sort of spiritual “loss of willpower” as demonization or (less precisely) demon possession.

Now, in the 8^th chapter of Luke, one of the four biographies of Jesus found in the Bible, we see Jesus encounter a man in this very condition. It is one of the strangest episodes in Jesus life and yet, at the same time, is revealing as to what is at stake when Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, insists on the kingdom of God is coming to earth. This episode will show us what Jesus sees, what drives Jesus and what he expects will happen, not just for one troubled man, but for all of us. Why would Jesus take a detour?

Jesus Takes The Detour…Will You?

Maybe you heard the story this week about Bob Russell. Forty-two years ago, when he was a college student in Philadelphia, he returned home after a date with his then-future to find that his 1967 Austin-Healey sports car had been stolen. Reported to the police, there was no hope. Every time he saw a car that looked like his beloved lost vehicle, he checked closely, hoping he could recover it.

Then recently he was scouring on eBay when he saw one. Sure, the paint was faded, the hard top broken down and the interior worn down, but after comparing the vehicle identification numbers, sure enough, he had found his car. Some work with the car dealer selling it, who had no idea of its history, and after forking over the $600 impound fee he was reunited, 42 years after he lost it. His goal now is to completely restore it to its former glory.[1]

Forty three years ago, Jesus lost one of his children: me. But he didn’t give up on me. Instead he kept looking for me and, when he found me, he had paid the price so that I could be returned to him. Now he is in the process of restoring me to the glory in which he had originally created me.

When Jesus went looking for this man, he really took a detour. In order to rescue this one man, Jesus had to overcome at least six different obstacles. He never gave up. Let’s look at the six.

1.     Comfort Barrier. Jesus’ ministry was doing well. He was drawing crowds everywhere he went. In fact, according to verse 40 of this chapter, when Jesus went back, his whole fan club was there waiting for him. In order for Jesus to rescue this man, he had to set aside what was comfortable and even what was working, to do what God wanted.

2.     Physical Barrier. Jesus had to cross the lake and through a storm to get to this man.

3.     Cultural Barrier. These people were not Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. They raised pigs. Jews thought pigs were dirty. Jesus could have said, “They aren’t like me. They don’t look like me. They don’t talk like me. They don’t eat like me.” Instead he made the first move.

4.     Religious Barrier. In the Jewish religion, you cleaned yourself often. If you touched something or someone that was religiously dirty or “unclean” you became dirty yourself and were excluded from society and even public worship. This man lived in the graveyard. And the “evil” spirit (vs. 29) in the Greek is really “unclean” or dirty. Inside and out, he was defiled. But Jesus reached out to him, in a way no synagogue, church or “religious” person would.

5.     Social Barrier. This guy wasn’t exactly easy to get along with-he runs up to Jesus and starts shouting at him at the top of his voice (vs.28). And he’s naked. And he’s violent. No one in town till deal with him. But Jesus will.

6.      Spiritual Barrier. This man’s problem is a spiritual issue. He has given away his self to not just one demon, but many. The term “legion” typically consisted of 5,000 Roman soldiers.

Jesus took a detour from Galilee and conquered every barrier, even if there was just one man to rescue and believe. My friends, that is exactly what he has done for you. Jesus took a detour for you—from heaven to earth, from glory to the shame of the cross. You didn’t deserve it. He had every reason to turn his back on you, but he didn’t. The Bible says:

⁷Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. ⁸But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:7-8 (NLT)

Jesus overcame every obstacle. Will you cross the street? Will you cross the room? Will you open your mouth? What excuse have we used to explain why we can’t go to the people God has called us to reach.

Jesus Sees The Person…Will You?

But why did he do it? He did it for us because he loved us and he could see us-really see us.

Everyone looked at this man and saw a wreck. Homeless. Out of control. Violent. Unholy. But Jesus saw that inside that rotten man was someone worth saving. From the trash heap of this man’s life, Jesus knew there was someone worth saving. Someone whose life, if redeemed, would change the face of eternity.

C. S. Lewis once said: “It is a serious thing…to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations … There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”[2]

We were all made in the image of God, but it is a failed, distorted image. But Jesus sees that when we are re-made in the image of Christ, we can be the people we were meant to be, not just the be people we have become. He saw that and gave this man hope. Do we see the people around us? Or do we see problems? Or do we see resources?

I think that up to this point, the man had lived in fear of demon. Up until this day, the spirits to whom he had opened the door of his life were the most powerful that he knew. But somewhere inside that naked, violent, vile, out-of-control man was someone desperate for hope—but paralyzed by fear.

Then something happened: the demon was afraid. Twice during the conversation, the demon begged Jesus not to hurt them (vs. 28, 31). The man was afraid of the demon, but the demon was afraid of Jesus. And that Jesus was reaching out to help.

Right now, we are living below our potential in Christ because fears rule us. But think…everything we are afraid of is afraid of Jesus. And fortunately, Jesus is more powerful and more loving that our fears. So replace what you are afraid of with the One who loves you. He doesn’t worry about who you are or what you have done—he worries about where you are going. He knows the heavy burden you bear, but you bear it unnecessarily. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Look around you, Folsom Community Church, at a community bearing the burden of fear, yearning desperately for hope, flailing blindly in the vain hope that the American dream will save them, when only Jesus can. Can you see?

Jesus Breaks Down Barriers…Will You?

Strangely enough, in this story, there is one obstacle that Jesus himself could not overcome.

The demons rush out at Jesus command into the herd of pigs nearby and the pigs promptly commit suicide of the edge of a cliff into the Sea of Galilee. The people from the town hear about it and come out to see for themselves the pig mass-murderer. One man. Thousand dead pigs. There’s the former naked wild man, dressed and sane. But the pigs! Sure the guy seems ok. But the pigs! Sayang ang lechon! So they ask Jesus to leave (kind of like the reaction of the demons). Jesus was too scary for them.

Jesus could reach the man, but Jesus could not reach them.

But watch what happens next:

³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus could not reach them, but that man could. And Jesus can’t reach Folsom, but we can. We can proclaim throughout the whole city how much Jesus has done for us. I’m guessing he’s done something for you, or else you wouldn’t be using up your Sunday afternoon.

Jesus told his followers this same lesson shortly before he died, when he said:

¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. – John 14:12

 I’m sorry, but Jesus couldn’t be here in Folsom today. Instead he left Mary, Max, Brian, Tito, Vergie, John and the rest of us to do his work because he knew that, with some help, we could do the job, even a better job. Look what Jesus said next:

¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-the Spirit of truth…

Conclusion

Maybe you’ve heard the proverb: “Give a man a fish, feed a man for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for the rest of his life.” But there’s another one: “Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”[3]

You may laugh, but there is some truth to this. God doesn’t just want to build us a fire, he wants to light us on fire for him—ablaze for the rest of our eternal life. Because our life was not designed to be maintained, our life was designed to be spent for God.

²⁴Those who want to save [preserve/maintain] their lives will give up true life. But those who give up [spend] their lives for me will have true life – Luke 9:24

Jesus saw the man. He cared. He moved. Can we see? I can’t.

 [Picture 1]: All of Folsom. I know, in my mind, that the 400,000 people within 25 miles of this spot are hurting and crying and dying without Jesus. But somehow, I can’t see it. But that picture is made up of so many individual lives  [Picture 2]: One house (Beardsen Ct.)

I drive here almost every day. Why don’t I care? Why don’t I move? Am I the only one? Next Saturday, 10:30am I will be up here at the water tank on top of this hill to pray. It is as close as I can get to the view that God has of Folsom. And I am going to beg him to let me have his heart for people here. Frankly, I am afraid of what I will see and feel and have to do. https://maps.google.com/?ll=38.652346,-121.105932&spn=0.005698,0.012392&t=h&z=17

Jesus crushed every barrier. No excuses. My excuses are for my convenience, but convenience is not in God’s vocabulary when it comes to rescuing people’s souls for eternity. There are people I don’t talk to because I don’t like them, or they aren’t my type of person. How about you? Am I the only one?

Jesus sees the future for you. He has put you in this time and place. We could spend all of our time wishing we could leave (just like the man) or wishing our circumstances are different. And, in doing so, we miss seeing the reason God put us here. I am not here by accident. I am not with you by accident.  Can we commit to find out what that reason is, together?

Jesus took a detour for you. Maybe today, fear is holding you back. But God is bigger than your fears, and certainly Jesus is more living.

Jesus took a detour for you. Now, will you take a detour with him for others? He was a gate-crasher, a detour-taker, a barrier breaker, a risk-mismanagement-through-the-storm, take-on-your-cross sort of guy. Will you be one, too?

No excuses.

---

[1] Texas Man Finds Stolen Car 42 Years Later, ALON HARISH, ABC News (Jul 11, 2012), retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/texas-man-finds-stolen-car-42-years-later-203003133--abc-news-topstories.html on July 12, 2012

[2] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

[3] Terry Pratchett, Jingo (1997), p. 181

Sermon: God, It's Not Fair (Psalm 73): Pastor Tito Dizon

[This sermon was preached at Folsom Community Church on June 24, 2012 by Pastor Tito Dizon]

Psalm 73        “GOD, IT’S NOT FAIR!”       The Suffering of the Righteous and the Success of Sinners

It’s all perspective!

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad.

" "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh Yeah" said the son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father. The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a swimming pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, dad, for showing me how poor we are." It’s all perspective!

Our friend Asaph was ready to quit. He was ready to throw in the towel and just walk away from God. However, he learned to look at things, not from a faulty human perspective, but from the perspective of God.

Asaph - a Levite, a leader of David’s choir. 1 Chron.25 He wrote a dozen Psalms, 50 & 73-83. The Psalms are refreshingly honest.  Ex. Asaph & David (They tell it like it is!”) They do not give the false view that if you’re a believer, life will be trouble-free and you’ll go around saying, “Praise the Lord!” all the time.

True, the Psalms are full of praise to God and they teach us that we should be people of praise. But they are very realistic in showing that such praise does not come without a struggle. The psalmist here admits that he almost slipped (73:2).

But he shows us how he worked through his problem of questioning God’s fairness in light of the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous.

OUTLINE: Psalm falls into two halves:

1.      Asaph shows that there are many times when it seems that life isn’t fair, because the wicked prosper and the godly suffer (73:1-14).

2.     His conclusion at this point was that he was wasting his time trying to live a godly life, because all he experienced was trouble (73:13-16). 

3.     Then (73:17-28) he shows from his  own hard-won victory that the way out of the “life isn’t fair” pity party is to gain God’s eternal perspective on these matters.  

INTRO:

Vs.1 - the Key to the whole Psalm. What a wonderful affirmation of faith! EYES ON GOD!

¹ Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure.

In this first verse, we see Asaph standing on Solid Ground. He has been taught about the goodness of God. He has been taught that the Lord is nothing but good. He has been taught two great truths...

A. God Blesses His People

B. God Blesses The Pure . (Msg- good –hearted)

Asaph had learned the truth about God, but what he experienced in life seemed to contradict what he had learned. This brought him to a place of confusion and doubt concerning God.

² But as for me, I almost lost my footing.  My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.

Here we have “Spiritual Slippage” at its finest! We see Asaph standing on Slippery Ground. The problem for Asaph is the same problem we all face from time to time. We misinterpret the goodness of God! We often think that goodness translates into blessings. Why not ask Job about the logic of this? …not always…(my next message) However, in the end, he had been brought closer to the Lord and he was blessed by God for his faithfulness!

For too many years, a kind of "health and wealth Gospel" has been preached in our churches. People have been led to believe that if they live the right kind of lives and do the right things, then the Lord is obligated to bless them and give them good things. My friends, that kind of teaching is a lie! God is not obligated….

Often, the Lord will allow things in our lives that are hard to bear. He will place loads on our shoulders that will literally break us under their weight. This isn't a pleasant thing, but it is a necessary thing! What we forget is that the Lord is molding us into His image.

At stake in the “life isn’t fair” complaint are God’s goodness and His sovereignty in governing the world. He was really questioning whether God is good and whether He is in control of the world. If He is both good and powerful, then why do good people suffer and wicked people prosper?

When you begin to doubt either God’s goodness or His sovereignty over bad things that happen, you’re on the slippery slope toward doubt and sin. Asaph had learned the truth about God. But, I repeat, what he had learned about God did not go along with what he had experienced in the world.

 As a result, he was confused by several things. Notice what Asaph was confused about:

V. 3 By The Prosperity Of The Sinner - It bothered Asaph that the wicked prospered while the children of God did without.

3 For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.

Asaph looked at his own lack of material goods and at his own troubles, compared himself with the rich and powerful that he saw around him, and thought, “I want what they’ve got!” He desired to get rich, thinking that money would solve his problems

V. 4 By The Peace (healthiness)  Of The Sinner - He watched the wicked live their lives in sin and slip off into eternity with no problems at all. He was amazed at the peace they had in death.

They seem to live such painless lives;  their bodies are so healthy and  strong.

4 For there are no pains in their death; And their body is fat. (NASB)

The Hebrew text insinuates that the psalmist saw the ungodly dying peaceably. They don’t fear judgment, because Satan has lulled them into thinking that God will overlook their faults and reward their virtues. So “they glide into eternity without a struggle” (C. H. Spurgeon).

The reference to having a “fat” body (73:4, 7) in that culture was a positive thing. They didn’t know about heart disease and the risk of diabetes for the overweight. (friends in India, Indonesia) For them, the wealthy were fat because they had all the food they could eat.

V. 5 By The Pleasure Of The Sinner - He was astounded that the wicked could live lives of such sin and do so without trouble. Their good times just seemed to roll on and on!

They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.

 ⁸ They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.

V. 6-11 By The Pride Of The Sinner - Because they live the lives they do, and there is never any opposition from God, they are filled with pride before Him.

They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.

Because they’re successful, they proudly attribute it all to their own hard work and ingenuity. If they were interviewed on Oprah, they would say, “I got to where I’m at because I believe in myself!” Sure, they had to step on a few people to get there (73:6, 8), but that’s life! 

⁹ They boast against the very heavens,  and their words strut throughout the earth.

They’re even arrogant enough to speak out against God (“the heavens,” 73:9): they didn’t need His help. They succeeded on their own. Their attitude toward God, if they think of Him at all, is, (73:11),

¹¹ “What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”

He hasn’t interfered with their climb to success thus far, so He must not know or He doesn’t care.

V. 12-16 By The Progress (wealth) Of The Sinner –

¹² Look at these wicked people— enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

I don’t think that the psalmist envied the arrogance and ruthlessness of the rich and powerful,  but he did envy their easy lifestyle and fact that they had plenty of money to enjoy the finer things of life (73:12). Sometimes things aren’t what they seem! He saw all the “good” things his neighbor had.

But we must realize that what we call “good” isn’t always what God calls “good”!

At such times we’re all tempted to cry out, “God, it’s not fair! Why do You allow the wicked to prosper, while the godly suffer? Why do evil scoundrels live long and happy lives, while Your saints suffer? It’s just not fair!”

EYES ON HIMSELF! (13-16)    When Asaph took all this in, it caused him to become bitter in his heart.

1.He looked at the life he had been living for the Lord, v. 13.

¹³ Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?   Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?

2.He looked at his own share of sorrow, v. 14. 

¹⁴ I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.

He felt as though he had actually wasted his time in serving the Lord. Is it really worth it to be a dedicated Christian? Is it really worth it to be obedient? Especially when we see so many who disobey “better off”? (What great questions!) How many have truly felt that way?

When the trials of life begin to pile up on us, we are tempted to think that we would have been better off living like the rest of the world. That there is no benefit in serving the Lord.

The problem with this line of thinking is that life is viewed from a human perspective. When we look at life and its problems from a human perspective,  we will always focus our attention on self. Everything will always come down to,

"How does this affect me?"

"What problems will I face now?"
"When will I ever have relief?"
"Who cares about what I am facing?"

Natural thinking always results in disaster because it allows you to stand in the wrong place and see things from the wrong angle. If you allow yourself to fall into the trap of looking at life from a human perspective you, like Asaph, will find yourself in a place where you will begin to doubt what you know to be true about the Lord. That is a dangerous place to be! At this point, he wasn’t viewing his trouble by faith in God

We have to join Joseph, who viewed all of the bad things that came upon him as good from the hand of God for a higher purpose (Gen. 50:20). And, with Paul (Rom. 8:28-36), we must affirm both God’s sovereignty and His love, believing that He works all things together for  our good. So by faith, resist the temptation to doubt the blessings of following God.

3.He was afraid to admit how he felt, because he did not want to lead others down the same path of despair he was walking on, v. 15

¹⁵ If I had really spoken this way to others,  I would have been a traitor to your people.

We are responsible, not only to God, but also to one another. What we say can impact our families or those in the family of God or those who are still outside the family of God for good or for evil. If we grumble and impugn God’s goodness in the hearing of our children, we may turn them against following the Lord.

It’s a sobering thought to me that as a pastor, if I were to fall into sin, it would damage many of God’s children who look to me as an example! Although you may not be in a leadership position,

there are those around you who look at your example.

So before you spout off your complaint against God, stop and face your responsibility as a believer to others.

4. He looked at a life lived for the Lord and it broke his heart, v. 16.

¹⁶ So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!

The psalmist says that he “pondered to understand this.” The answers did not come to him immediately, because he adds that it was troublesome in his sight.

PART 2   EYES BACK ON GOD! (17-28)

III. V. 17-28 WHAT ASAPH ENCOUNTERED

Beginning in verse 17, the mood of the Psalm changes. Asaph moves from the Slippery Ground of a Human Perspective and steps squarely unto Shouting Ground of a Heavenly Perspective.

Vs. 17 – the Answer he found. The lights turned on when he turned to God Himself.

¹⁷ Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,

Roy Clement(pastor of Eden Baptist Church in Cambridge, England): “Worship…puts God at the center of our vision…it is virtually important because it is only when God is at the center of our vision that we see things as they really are.”

When life seems unfair, take time to worship & get your spiritual vision properly focused. Asaph made a trip to the Temple. The psalmist did not get things sorted out until he went into the sanctuary of God. He got his muddled thinking cleared up by meeting with God.

The sanctuary refers to the tabernacle (later the temple), where God manifested His holy presence. It is certainly true that we need God’s Word to get His perspective on how to deal with trials and with the difficult issues of life. There, he talked with the Lord, and he allowed the Lord to talk with him. As he did, he was able to get his eyes off of himself and the problems he faced. He was able to lose his Human Perspective and replace it with a Heavenly Perspective.

Take time to meet with God and His people (73:17). But God’s sanctuary is also the place where His people gathered for worship. Isolation feeds self-pity. Coming into the sanctuary, he saw others who believed in God and walked with God, in spite of their trials. (Opposite of avoidance)

Perhaps he was able to talk with some of them about his problem and gain a fresh perspective. Don’t keep to yourself if you’re struggling with doubt or some other problem. Get to the sanctuary!

We need private time in the Word and in prayer, asking the Spirit to give us understanding in these things. And, we need the teaching of gifted men to help us as well. Take time to meet with God in His holy place.

Notice what became clear to Asaph when he went to the Temple.

A.v. 17b-20 The Future Of The Sinner –

¹⁷ Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. (NASB: Then I saw the whole picture)

He saw “their end”, or “their afterward”, ‘their future” that will unmake everything they have lived for. The question isn’t “Where are you?” but “Where are you going?” He learned that it is not what you own or enjoy…but where you’re going! Then he perceived the end of the wicked, that God will bring them into certain judgment.

¹⁸ Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.

These proud, defiant, powerful sinners thought that they were invincible. But in God’s sovereign time, He sets them in slippery places. Like people who step on a patch of ice and go down, these proud men were strutting along with no problems. The next second, they crashed to the ground, mortally wounded.

¹⁹ In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.                         ( In the blink of an eye, disaster! NASB )

Asaph came to realize that the wicked may have the best here. They may live it up and enjoy life to the fullest, but that dream existence they are living will end when the breath leaves their body! … an eternity in Hell to be separated from the Lord forever. Before we allow ourselves to become too jealous over the lives the wicked are living, we need to consider the fact that this is the only Heaven they will ever know.

Isn't that depressing? They… us…. need to get right with God! We may be enjoying your life today and think that you have it made. In truth, you are living on borrowed time! One day, the clock will run out for us and we will find ourself in Hell. Is that what we really want?

It does not have to end up that way! Jesus died to pay for your sins. If you will call on Him now, He will save you and take you to Heaven to live eternally with Him. What do you want out of life?) It may seem to the godly and ungodly alike that God is now sleeping.

But when He is aroused, these wicked will be “destroyed in a moment,” “utterly swept away by sudden terrors” (73:19).

²⁰ When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning. (We wake up and rub our eyes... Nothing. There's nothing to them. And there never was).

Gain God’s eternal perspective on death and judgment (73:18-22, 27). He sums this up again in verse 27, “For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have them destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.”

Verse 20 shows “how utterly inconsequential the lives of such men really are”. They thought that they were all-important, but God brushes them aside like a dream. So, to get out of the “life isn’t fair” pity-party, face your responsibility as a believer. Take time to think biblically about what really matters before you act. Meet with God and His people.

Gain God’s eternal perspective on death and judgment. Finally, 

B. V. 21-22 The Foolishness Of Self - Now, Asaph confesses the fact that he has been looking at everything through a faulty set of lenses. He deals with the matter of his own heart. (Ill. There are many of God's children who would have to admit that they have looked at life the wrong way. Instead of trusting the Lord and believing His Word, we have been guilty of looking at our circumstances and doubting the Word of God!

²¹ Then I realized that my heart was bitter,  and I was all torn up inside.
²² I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

We have been guilty of saying:

1. God doesn't care!

2. God doesn't hear!
3. God isn't even there!

It is foolish to forget God in the middle of our trouble! Are you guilty of allowing the trials of life to eclipse the face of God? Asaph realizes he was looking in the wrong direction! You can’t look around, or within, but “up” for answers! Asaph also was looking with the wrong perspective!

He was looking at the natural man & not the spiritual man.

He was looking temporal & not eternal.


Good self-awareness.  Asaph finally came to see that the problem was not that God is unfair or that the wicked prosper. His problem was his own self focus and self-pity.  He had become “senseless and ignorant,” like a beast before God (73:22).

His focus was on himself. “What did I get out of being pure? Nothing but trouble! Poor me!”

If we do not live in light of this eternal perspective, we are like senseless beasts that live and die without any thought of eternity (73:22).

C. V. 23-28 The Fulness Of The Savior - As Asaph communed with the Lord, he began to see everything more clearly. He not only looked into the future of the sinner and the foolishness of self, but he was able to see clearly the fullness of the Savior as well.

He came to realize that as a child of God, he possessed spiritual blessings that towered above anything enjoyed by the wicked! Notice some of the things Asaph discovered.

1. V. 23 The Presence Of God - Asaph realized that even in the midst of his trials, he had never been alone! 

²³ Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.

Even when he could not see God, the Lord had been holding to his hand. God had always been there. The fact that our Lord is ever wit h His children is a blessing beyond description. It means that we are never alone! It means that in ever valley, ever dark night of the soul, every illness, every situation in life, we have the blessed presence of the Lord to sustain us and comfort us! He is always there.

The fact that he got through it was not due to his strong grip on God, but to God’s strong grip on him.  

2. V. 24 The Protection Of God - Asaph recognizes that even though the storms of life may rage all around him, his life was under the control and direction of God.

²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

He also acknowledges that God will counsel and guide him, and afterward receive him to glory (73:24). The same Hebrew word translated “receive” is used of God’s taking Enoch and Elijah to heaven  (Gen. 5:24; 2 Kings 2:3, 5, 9, 10; also, Ps. 49:15). So I understand the “glory” here to be the eternal glory of being with God. He knew that God would guide him through this life and would eventually bring him home to heaven.

(Ill. Friend, we enjoy the same protection enjoyed by Asaph! While we endure the storms of life.

He knows about our storm, and He allowed, it to come our way. We need to realize that the storms of life, horrible as they may be, can never rip us from the hand of God. He will guide us through them and will bring us into glory when this life is over.  

3. V. 25-26 The Person Of God - Asaph comes to the conclusion that the Lord is all he needs in this life or in the life to come.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.

In the final analysis the only thing that really matters for us is God. He is all we have & all we need. He sustains us here, & afterward he will receive us into glory! Asaph realized that because he had God as his friend, he needed nothing else. He had more than the wicked, & what he had would last forever!

He has forgotten about the pleasure filled lives of the wicked and names the greatest blessing that he enjoys: a personal relationship with God Himself! God's children need to learn that a heart that desires nothing but the Lord is a heart that will never be disappointed! When we get our eyes off the Lord and start to lust after the things of the world, we will become dissatisfied and discouraged.

²⁶ My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Asaph had come to realize that his flesh was weak, but his Lord was strong. Time and words fail me to do justice to the wonderful truth of verses 25 & 26, that God is our chief treasure, both on earth and forever in heaven. I don’t know how many of us can honestly say,

“Besides You, I desire nothing on earth,” but as Martyn Lloyd- Jones states (p. 194), this “is the highest level to which we can ever attain. Indeed, in these two verses we see the goal of salvation.” Earlier, the psalmist’s trouble stemmed from the fact that he was following God for what He could give him.

When he saw that the wicked had more good things than he did, he became disillusioned and thought that he had followed God in vain. But now he comes to see that God Himself is enough. God is the treasure. Yes, He gives us many blessings, but He is the main blessing. If you have Him as the strength of your heart and your portion forever, you have it all.

As Asaph sums up (73:28), “the nearness of God is my good.” Can you say that?

V. 27-28 The Perception Of God - Finally Asaph arrives at the place where he can see things from God's perspective. No longer does he look upon the wicked with envy.

²⁷ Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.
²⁸ But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

Now he knows that they are doomed. Now he knows that the saints have reason to shout even when things look their bleakest. Asaph has come to the place where he knows that Gods way is the only way. He now knows that it pays to be a child of God!

(Ill. My friends, that is the place we must all come to is we are to enjoy victory in the difficult days of life. We have to get to the place where we can see things like they really are, and not like we think they are. We have to come to the place where we lose the human perspective and adopt the heavenly perspective. Basically, it boils down to changing the place where we are standing.

How do we get to this place?

By Worship, By Prayer,  By the Bible,  By Grace,  By Faith, By God’s people

Asaph started w/“God is good”; He ends w/“it is good”.

Q: But how did he get back to this? Draw near! (opposite of vs.27 “far from you”) I have put my Trust in the Lord God! Not in my imperfect vision, not my neighbors, not on myself!

Now what do I do with this info? – 28b Go declare it!

Conclusion: Do we have any Asaph's present today? Sure we do! There are people in this room who feel like giving up from time to time because of the load they are carrying through life. I would like to challenge you this morning to do what Asaph did. Come and commune with God about the situation. Ask Him to give you His eyes so that you can look at things His way.

Ask Him to bring you to the place where you, like Asaph, can say, "I have put my trust in the Lord God." Make the effort today to get the heavenly perspective on your problems, and come to see things the right way: God's way! Some are lost here this morning.

You can get that big problem solved right here right now, if you will come to the Lord and allow Him to come into your life. This altar is open! God is here and He is meeting needs this morning. Will you allow Him to meet your?

To sum up Asaph’s insight on the problem of the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous…The prosperity of the wicked is short-lived and their doom is eternal, but the blessings of the godly are eternal, whereas their trials are short-lived.

Resources   Taken from:  Allan Carr, Brian Bill, Steven J. Cole  &  Bob Deffinbaugh