Sermon in Minneapolis 27.08.2017

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us begin our service this morning with opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, this morning we wish to thank you for all of your goodness which you have bestowed upon us, and that we can enjoy His temporal gifts in this life. But above all, we thank you for this, that through the merits of your Son, Jesus Christ, which we can own by faith, through grace we can be heaven acceptable, one of your own and a member of your kingdom here on this earth.

So we ask that you would be present again this morning and bless our services so that we could be comforted and consoled on this narrow way of life, and uplift us and carry us and especially feed us with your everlasting gospel word. All of this we ask in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Before reading a text, we want to announce the upcoming wedding of Bernice Hilluka and Glenn Ryuta, which will be on Saturday, the 23rd of September, 2017, and I'm assuming in this church. I have part of the wedding invitation, but the location is not on it.

Let us pray. Lord, if thou do not build a house, they labor in vain who build it. Build, Lord, for them a home in which faith, hope, and love prevail. Amen. Amen.

Today is the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. And I always thought I would read an Old Testament reading set aside for this Sunday, which is from the book of Job, its last chapter, chapter 42, verses 1 through 6. And the words are heard as follows in Jesus' name.

Then Job answered the Lord, and he said, I know that thou can do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is it that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not, things too wonderful for me which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, and I will speak. I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

So today's theme is self-examination, and I'm assuming that the theme for this text ties in with today's topic based on the last verse, where Job says, I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes.

I'm sure many of us have made flights on an airplane, and it happens so often that while we're in the airplane and taxiing down the runway, getting ready for takeoff, the flight attendant comes on and makes an announcement and gives safety instructions. For us, at least for me, it's such old hat. You've heard it so many times that you may pick a magazine out of the pocket in front of you and begin reading it, or some other reading, or listen to something that you have on a recorder that you have, or maybe it's a good time to take a nap. You don't even hardly pay attention to what the announcement is.

But then, when we're in flight, sometimes it has happened that the plane experiences turbulence. Maybe there's an air pocket, and the plane begins to be tossed to and fro. And then you get alarmed, and maybe you grab that piece of safety instruction that's between laminated pieces of plastic and wish you had paid closer attention to the safety instructions because you perhaps began to be a little fearful.

So, many of us have experienced turbulence in an airplane, or maybe we have experienced turbulence in our life in one way or another.

If we read the book of Proverbs, for example, it's a book filled with wisdom, but in many ways it's a book that's kind of black and white. There's someone who prospers, or another one who loses, one or the other. One may experience a blessing, or another person may experience a setback. There may be a person who is favored in the eyes of God, and another person who may be cursed in the eyes of God. There may be some individual who is healthy, and there may be others who are diseased. So, in many ways it seems it's black and white. It's one or the other.

So, our reading for this morning was from the book of Job. And of the books of the Bible, Job is considered to be a piece of literature called wisdom literature. There are books of history, and there are books of prophecy, and so forth. This is called one of the books of wisdom. And it's written in a poetic form, Hebrew poetic form, so it's also called a poetic book.

It's an interesting book, for nowhere in the book is there any mention about the history of Israel, or the law that was given to the nation of Israel. And also, Christ is not mentioned in that book, at least specifically by name. There are messianic references, however.

There is no agreement about when this book was written. Some people say that perhaps it was written during the era of the patriarchs. Other people assume that perhaps it was written during the time of Solomon and David. And other scholars have said that perhaps this is one of the youngest books of the Old Testament era.

But this we know: that the book was passed from generation to generation in oral transmission. It went by word of mouth until at a later time it was finally written down.

The prophet Ezekiel makes reference to the book of Job, and also there's a couple of references to the book of Job in the New Testament. James in his epistle refers to having the patience of Job.

We don't know for sure who the author of this book was, and it's a pretty valid assumption that it wasn't the main character of the book or the book whose title is Job. Job was not the author. Very likely it was someone else.

And the setting of this book is situated in an area called Uz. And nobody knows for sure where Uz was. There are assumptions that maybe it's in the area of Edom, kind of the southwest corner of the Dead Sea. So these are only assumptions and there's no valid proof for any of this.

But the book of Job is considered a classic in literature. It does talk about the theme of love which is deep as the sea, and it does talk about death which is a great majesty.

I haven't been to Jerusalem but apparently in the city of Jerusalem there is a statue depicting Job and it shows a man experiencing great amount of suffering. His face is contorted and you can see things are not going well with that individual.

So this book called the book of Job talks much about the topic or theme of suffering, and suffering as we know is always a timely subject. It's not something that's fit for one period of time and not for another. It's a subject or it's a theme which is experienced by all people during all periods of time.

So in this book of Job it wants to tell us that God is righteous and He is just, and what God does goes above all of our reason and understanding. So our carnal mind, our temporal earthly mind, is not able to always comprehend and understand the reasons and the ways of God our heavenly Father.

When we go to the beginning of the book of Job to the first chapter, our selection is from the last chapter, from the 42nd chapter, but if we go to the very first chapter it gives a very explicit testimony of Job that he was a good man, he was honest, and he was God-fearing, and he was one who avoided evil.

And so this isn't from the author of this book but these words are stated by the Lord God Himself, so it's a testimony directly from the heavenly Father.

He was richly blessed in a temporal sense in very many ways. He had a large family; he had ten children, seven boys and three girls, and I'm sure he loved all of them very dearly. And in the book of Job it says that he often offered sacrifices on behalf of each one of them individually.

In a temporal sense, Job was very wealthy, very rich. He had seven thousand sheep. Even in today's standard, a person who has seven thousand sheep has a very, very large herd. He had three thousand camels.

So what were camels used for in those days? They were used for transporting goods. So he had a large transportation firm. We could assume he also had five hundred pair of oxen, and he had five young asses. And baby asses are often used for milking, so he probably had a little dairy business as well.

So you can see he was very prosperous in the outward sense. He also had a large household with very many servants, but he also had a very good position in society, and it says that he was the greatest man of the east.

So was he a prince or a king of some sort? Somewhere in the book of Job it says that he was so respected and revered that when he stepped through the door people became silent and stood up on their feet before him. So he was kept in awe by the people in this sense.

So even though he was so well blessed in a temporal sense, it is stated that it didn't go to his head but he remained obedient and humble before the Lord.

But then there is an interesting dialogue. If we can go to the beginning of the book of Job to its first chapter, then there was a group of sons of men who were gathered together, and one person who's well versed—believe me, a man who's well versed in the Old Testament—he says when it's referring to the sons of men were gathered, it's referring to the angels were assembled.

And then into that group came one who was Satan. And then God had a dialogue with this Satan who was the fallen angel and said, Have you taken note of this man who is Job? And again God gives this testimony that he was God-fearing and he was honest and he avoided evil.

But then God gives, for some reason, and this is where it goes above human understanding, we can't find a reason for it, but God gave Satan permission to test or to try Job.

So Satan is telling God that Job is so upright and so pious and doing so well because you have put a protective wall around him, you have shielded him. But Satan says if you take down that wall, things will change.

So God gives Satan permission to test or to try Job, and here it goes one by one, so little by little then Job begins to receive very trying messages.

And I don't know if there's this saying in the English language. I know it's very common in the Finnish language where they talk about Job's mail or Job's postage. If you talk about receiving Job's mail or Job's postage, it means you're receiving a message which is an unwelcome message, a message that is full of bad news.

And so Job now begins to receive messages one by one. And the first message is, remember he had all of these possessions, all of these animals, and we could say that this was his 401k plan in modern terms. This was his bank account. This is how he survived and supported himself.

And so the first postage or mail of Job is this: that your oxen were plowing and the asses were feeding beside themselves, and then enemies called the Sabians attacked and they killed those animals and the servants, and only I escaped. That was postage or mail number one.

And just as soon as that first one stopped delivering his message, he gets a second piece of mail, piece of postage, and while he was yet speaking there came another who said the fire of God fell from heaven and has burned your sheep. Remember he had 7,000 sheep. That's a lot of sheep gone in an instant, and also the servants that were watching over the sheep were consumed, and I only remained. That was postage number two.

As soon as that person finished speaking, then he gets the third piece of mail, and there came yet another and said the Chaldeans, another group of people, came in three bands and they attacked the camels. Remember he had 3,000 camels and carried them all away and slew those servants that were watching over the camels with a sword, and I only remained. So that was the third piece of postage or mail.

Now he yet receives a fourth piece of mail, and while he was yet speaking there came also another and said your ten children, seven boys and three girls, were eating and drinking in the house of the oldest brother, and a great wind came and smote the house and it fell upon all of those individuals in the house, and they are all dead, all ten children in an instant.

And what does Job do? I'm sure most human beings would begin to murmur and complain and maybe even bicker against God, but Job says in this way he breaks out and says, Naked I have come out of my mother's womb. I didn't have anything when I was born into this world, and also when I leave this world I can't take anything with me.

Basically he didn't have anything at this moment any longer. His 401k was empty and his bank accounts were dried up and his children were gone. What does he say? The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away, but in the end blessed be the name of the Lord.

In the midst of these great trials he has the strength to sing that song of praise unto God the heavenly Father.

Many of us are married and we have our dear spouse, and as it said of our dear spouse, it's our helpmate on our way and on our journey. Job still had his spouse remaining.

So his helpmate, his spouse, comes to Job and gives advice, and I don't know if this is the best piece of advice that Job would want to hear or receive in this instance, but anyway she said, Why are you still clinging to your integrity or piety? Why don't you just curse God and die? That was her advice.

What to do in that situation? I'm sure as a human being we would be bitter. I'm sure I would be very bitter over what has happened, and we become bitter over even much smaller things. You miss the bus or miss the train or you're late for work, you have a flat tire, so on and so forth. We begin to murmur and bicker and complain.

For all of us it would be nice to have the faith of Job, but we would like to be shielded or protected from all of these trials that he was experiencing.

But then Job had some friends, and I read in one statement that if you had friends like these, who needs enemies?

Well, let's see what the friends say. They heard about his trials and difficulties, and so they had sympathy for him and so they wanted to come and try to console him.

So the three friends came, and when they saw Job—well, before this Job was stricken with boils, so he had lost all positions, he lost all of his children, and then God allowed him to be filled and covered with boils.

So the second time God had a dialogue with Satan, and the first time God said to Satan that you can try Job but you can't touch him, but in the second dialogue he tells Satan that you can touch Job but don't take his life.

And that's when Job was covered with boils, festering boils from the crown of his head to the heel of his foot, and he was so uncomfortable that he took a piece of pottery and probably broke it, and so he had a sharp piece of broken pottery and he began to scratch the itching wounds covering his entire body.

And then his wife gave the advice that she gave, and then now the friends wanted to come and console him or have sympathy with him.

So when the friends approached, they saw that he was so sickly and so uncomfortable that they couldn't believe their eyes that this is the same man that they had known.

So then they ripped their robe, which was a sign often done in the Old Testament time, and then they began to weep, and they sat down and they were silent. They didn't say a word for seven days. They just stood there and they were speechless.

So then Job was the first person to speak up, and he began to talk to his three friends, but then the three friends began to give advice one by one, and their names were Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

And their advice was this, which was very common, very typical in the Old Testament times. For example, if you read the book of Judges, considering the nation of Israel, when they were obedient then things went well, but when they were disobedient then things did not go well and God punished that people.

But then when they repented, then their situation got better again. So this cycle in the book of Judges repeats again and again: if you do good God blesses you, if you do something bad or inappropriate then God will punish you.

So if you're receiving any form of punishment, it's a sign that you've done something bad, because only if you've done something bad will something bad happen to you in your life.

So if a person lives piously and avoids evil, then God will reward you and he will give you a temporal blessing, and if you don't it will be just the opposite.

So this was the mindset of these three friends who were now coming to visit him.

So Eliphaz, the first one, says in this way that when has it ever happened that an innocent person has suffered? If you're innocent there will be no suffering in life, plain and simple. Therefore Job, you must have done something evil and bad in your life.

Bildad, the second one, basically says you won't admit during all of this that you've done something wrong or bad. Therefore God is going to keep on sending you more of this that you have received. Admit it already.

Then the third friend, Zophar, says your sins are so bad that Job, you deserve all of this suffering that you are experiencing.

So they had this idea that if Job recognizes his sins and has them atoned for, then his life will turn for the better.

But Job basically goes on to say that I have nothing special on my conscience that's pressing me or bothering me. We are all by nature sinful, but there is nothing special that was really on his mind that he could think of that he had transgressed God the heavenly Father.

And so these friends were giving these messages, and I remember listening to one sermon by an individual from the old country, and he said basically these friends were quoting different parts or paraphrasing different parts of the books of Moses. They were quoting scripture in a way directly or indirectly.

So what do we think of these friends? Are they unbelievers because of the advice that they were giving, which advice we don't agree with today?

If we would say that, then what would we say of the disciples? Remember when there was a man who was born blind and the disciples asked Jesus, "This man is born blind, someone committed a sin, was it he himself or was it his parents for which he was punished with the state of being born blind?"

Jesus said it wasn't the sin of this man or it wasn't the sin of the parents, but God allowed this person to be born blind so that the works of God could become known and manifest.

So it had nothing to do with a punishment over some evil act or deed.

And likewise there's another instance in the New Testament where they were building a tower, the tower of Siloam, and during the construction phase then it was a miscalculation in the architectural drawings or faulty material, but anyways the tower collapsed and fell upon 18 people and killed them all, the construction workers.

And so the disciples come to Jesus and ask that were these 18 people who happened to be at that spot at that time and were killed by that collapse of that tower greater sinners than anyone else and therefore God punished them by letting them die under the collapse of this tower?

And Jesus said no, these 18 people were not greater sinners than anyone else. We are all before God just as great a sinner.

Then he said to them, "Unless you make repentance you also will perish and die."

But then there is a third friend, a fourth friend, sorry, who is much younger than all of the others, and his name is Elihu.

And he speaks up toward the end of the book in chapter 32, and he begins to speak about God's righteousness and God's judgment and that God is not wrong.

And so he gives a different message. He's not saying that Job is a sinner at fault for which he is being punished.

But then we come to a long dialogue between God and Job at the end of the book, and so there's a storm which rises and sort of interrupts the long speech of Elihu.

And then from the midst of the storm God begins to speak directly to Job, and He had questions for Job.

Basically He gave a long list of questions, and He didn't give answers to the questions. Basically He's saying, Job, I'm now going to speak and you listen.

For example, when Adam and Eve fell into sin there in paradise, then God came and He asked questions, "Adam, Adam, where are you?" Or when Abel was slain, then God came to speak to Cain, "Cain, where is your brother Abel?"

And so God now is coming up with this long list of questions, 60 or 70 of them, that's from chapter 38.

For the next many, many chapters is basically God asking His questions in a long poetic form and passion.

So it pays to read this book of Job in a modern language, and it's a very interesting book and there's much to learn from this book.

So Job, God is asking that who laid the foundations of the earth? Who is the creator of heaven and earth? Who is the one who closed up the sea? Have you, Job, been able to call forth the morning every day, 365 days of the year? Job, have you been able to go to the bottom of the depths of the sea? Job, do you know the inhabitations of light and darkness? Job, who is the one who controls the weather? Job, are you able to combine all the stars together to form galaxies? And Job, who is the one who takes care of all of the wild animals?

So He goes on and on and on, basically talking about God's work of creation, God's omnipotence, and that He is almighty.

And so basically Job sits there and listens and is quiet, even though Job during all of this was murmuring and complaining over his physical pain and suffering, never once during all of this did Job criticize God Himself. So that's one point that Job did not do.

So then we come to our text here which is from the last chapter of the book, and then Job finally, after hearing all of these 60, 70 statements from God about His omnipotence and He being the greater of all and just and so forth, then Job spoke up and he said, "I know that you can do everything and that no thought can be withheld from you. Your ways are above our ways as far as the heavens are from the earth. Who can discern and measure and know the depths of your wisdom and your understanding? Who is he that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered which I understood not."

So basically he's admitting that some of the statements that he has said during all of this were said out of ignorance or out of the lack of understanding, and there are things too wonderful for me which I could not even comprehend.

Here I beg you and I will speak. I will demand of you and declare you unto me. I have heard by hearsay things about you, but now my eyes see you.

And therefore at the end he says, "I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."

But then God didn't have very flattering words for the three friends who had come to give him counsel and advice and sympathy.

So immediately in the verse after our red text it says it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job has done."

So He gave rebuke to these three friends of Job.

But if we think of us as believers, as individuals, and perhaps we have been involved in soul-carrying situations where we wanted to talk to another brother and sister in faith about matters of concern, and in retrospect I'm sure when we evaluate what we have said in those situations our words have not always been the best words, the wisest words, and the most constructive words.

But isn't God loving, merciful, and forgiving even in this, and He will forgive us all of our faults and trespasses as well.

So one of the troubling questions of our time, and I'm sure many of us have heard it from even during our school years, I remember in school several different individuals asking that if God is love, why is there suffering in this world?

This is a perplexing question which is on the minds of many, and it's a question that has basically no answer.

If God is love, why are there bad things in the world? Why did the Titanic go down? Why was there that tsunami in the Far East on Christmas Day some years ago and thousands, tens of thousands were killed? Why is there slavery? Why has there been world wars? Why was there the Holocaust during World War II? Why was there the slaughtering of people there in the war of Rwanda? Why did my friend or a relative contract cancer and is now perhaps suffering with cancer and maybe looking death face to face? Why did my friend or relative die at such an inopportune time? We would have wanted to have him or her longer with us in our midst.

So these are many of the big questions in our minds and in the minds of people in this world and this society.

So what does the Bible then say about the matter of suffering? God is bigger than tragedy, He writes, or Peter writes that don't think it's a strange thing when you experience these fiery trials.

Basically isn't the gold of faith more precious than natural gold? And in order in the natural sense to purify gold it has to be brought to a molten stage and then the impurities are scraped off the surface.

So likewise our gold of faith is tried by a fire. We're on this journey of fiery trials as the book by Lauri Bascula states.

So God doesn't shield us from experiencing pain. No, that doesn't happen. Does God make sure tragedy doesn't touch me? No, He doesn't. Does God give us guarantees that He will protect you from any sort of crisis? No, He doesn't.

So we will, and we have all experienced these tragedies.

But then Paul writes to the Romans in this way that many times during these times of trials and difficulties in a way it maybe reveals to us what is the most important in life.

Isn't it this, that we would have faith and be acceptable before God our heavenly Father?

So Paul writes to the Romans in this way that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us.

We carry the cross here for a short time, but one day this cross will be exchanged for a crown. Suffering will end, and then in heaven we will experience everlasting joy.

In heaven I remember reading an article in the old Finnish publication by the SRK. It was written in 1922 and just republished a few years ago in the Finnish version of Christmas in Zion.

And it tells of a believer whose name is mentioned, Jacob Kesty, who was in the hospital there in Helsinki and on his deathbed.

And so it was the middle of the night and the only ones who were awake were the nursing staff on call at that time and the doctor was on call.

And then in the hospital they heard beautiful music, and so the nurses and doctors were going from room to room and opening door after door trying to figure out where this beautiful music that couldn't be replicated was coming from.

And then finally they opened up one door and there was this man whose name was Jacob Kesty was laying on his bed and they could hear that it's coming from this room.

So they woke him up. He was sort of in a half sleep or a trance. "Can you hear this beautiful music?"

He opened his eyes and he said, "Yes, I can hear the beautiful music, but don't you see what I see? The vision that I see is not even comparable to the music that I am hearing. The angels that were coming to carry his soul to the glory of heaven."

He died a few moments later and little by little the music faded away.

So he was able to reach that destination, the destination that we are on the journey toward, which is everlasting life in heaven.

So that's our goal of faith. That's where we hope to be one day by faith. We will make it there through the power of the gospel. It will lift, it will carry, and it will bring us one day to our home in heaven.

So even now you can believe sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood and be of good cheer, and I also believe my sins forgiven.

I wish, I wish in the Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.