#1
Some words from Jesus to begin with.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
What a beautiful invitation from Jesus.
#2
What a solace those words have proved for so many of us over the years who have found ourselves in pain of some kind or just ground down. Just to know that we can find…
Understanding…
#3
and care…
#4
and relief…
#5
from what’s weighing on us - in Jesus. It is just… so comforting!
‘He gets me, he’ll be gentle with me, he’ll alleviate my suffering in some way.’
It’s a beautiful invitation – and it’s no wonder so many of us are delighted to accept it.
Amelia is a single woman,
#6
but being on her own at this stage of her life was never part of the plan. She has her work; she has friends. But still it’s painful each day as she goes home to that empty flat.
Every time another engagement is announced by someone she knows, she wants to be able to celebrate with them. But it feels like just an act. Because all she’s really thinking is: when’s it going to be my turn?
How precious those words are to Amelia.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Frank has a different issue. The thing that causes the deepest pain for him is not a future that hasn’t arrived yet, but a past he can’t shake off. He’s not been specific about the kind of abuse it was that he had to endure all those years ago. But even after all the counselling, the trauma of it continues to cast its shadow over so much of his life.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened – come to me Frank! – and I will give you rest.
For Lizzie, it’s more about friendships – or rather lack of them. Other people seem to have no problem in that area. It seems to come naturally to them. They know what to say in terms of small talk getting to know someone, and sharing appropriately as things develop, and reading the dynamic right, and growing into real, deep, fun, supportive friendships. But not Lizzie. All these things, the way she’s wired or whatever it is, it all just feels like a foreign language. And the result is: she’s simply lonely.
28 “Come to me, Lizzie – all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
I could have mentioned Ahmel, who is grieving a loved one; or Mia, who is struggling to reconcile her sexuality with her Christian convictions; or Noah, who is experiencing mild long-term depression and struggling to get motivated about anything - or any number of others.
They’re all people in our church community here.
I’ve changed names and details of course. But those issues – and so many more – are real right now for them. If you’re a visitor with us this morning, please don’t be under any illusions here. Christians are not immune to these kinds of pain. And we do find ourselves thirsting for what Jesus offers there in that invitation.
That understanding, that care, that relief.
But here’s the thing about that offer from Jesus: the way he delivers on it, as often as not, is through the words and actions of other Christian believers.
#7 [blank]
It turns out, we are the hands and feet of Jesus to each other. We are the mouthpieces of Jesus to each other. We are together – quite often - those who deliver on that offer of Jesus.
Which begs the question: how good are we at that in reality? How effective are we at delivering God’s comfort to those who are weary and burdened?
Our Bible passage this morning introduces us to the most famous comforters in the whole Bible.
#8
Their names are Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar, but you’re more likely to know them as simply ‘Job’s Comforters’.
Job is certainly one who is weary and burdened, as we’ve seen in previous weeks.
• In chapters 1 and 2, we saw him lose all his possessions, his livelihood, his family and his health.
• In chapter 3 we heard him react to that loss. The whole chapter felt like one long cry of pain. It was very dark.
• But for the next 20 chapters or so, his three friends attempt to say to him what they think he needs to hear. First Bill, then Eli, then Zo – as we’ll call them. With Job replying to each. Then they go round again, And then for a third round too.
And what we’re going to do this morning is to drop in on that conversation right in the middle of it, in chapter 11, which is Zo’s first go with Job. And we’ll maybe skip forward and back a bit just to get a sense of the wider conversation too.
We want to learn from them, where there are lessons to learn about conveying God’s comfort, but at the same time we ‘re actually going to do a kind of mini-ofsted job on them.
#9
See if we can assess their performance as comforters in some way.
So there are two questions we’re going to be asking.
• One is how helpfully do they engage with Job? Their manner, their approach.
• And the other is: how accurate is the understanding they have which informs what they say. Their theology, their worldview.
#10 [blank]
Let me pray and then we’ll hear the chapter read to us.
Pray
Read
#11
Well, the style might feel a bit alien, and the language is obviously quite poetic, but how about we have a crack at asking those two questions I mentioned of Zophar here.
Our first question, you remember was: how helpfully do they engage with Job?
#12
Now, spoiler alert: I don’t honestly think we’re going to be that impressed with them. But it is possible to learn as much from poor models as from good ones. Don’t you think?
If you’ve got round to doing Partnership Course yet – that’s our kind of onboarding package for new members of the church family – you’ll have heard me give some guidance on sharing your testimony, your spiritual story. And the way I often do that is to share my own testimony - deliberately badly! And then get people to spot the failures and bounce from them to some more helpful ways of speaking.
You know the kind of thing, I’m sure
And I suspect that might be the path we travel in this chapter. But let’s have a look.
Strip off the poetic language, and you’re left with 6 things that Zo seems to want to say to Job.
Number one. Job, you are a fool. (v1-2)
In the world of the wisdom books – Proverbs and so on – one of the clearest ways that a fool shows his foolishness is by the quantity and the quality of his words. His talk.
So it’s very clear what Zo is doing in verse 2 when he refers to Job as a ‘talker’, and then comes back in verse 3 to his ‘idle talk’.
In the chapters before this, Job has been engaging with what the other friends have said. And he clearly disagrees with them. But what Zo seems to conclude is that: because they disagree, Job must be stupid.
Now that’s not a great move to make if you’re trying to help someone, is it?! We disagree, therefore you’re an idiot. Although look down threads on X or your social media of choice, and you see just how commonly that move is made.
But how about we try and avoid that one as we seek to help our brothers and sisters?!
Job is a fool, says Zo
Number two. Job, you’re self-righteous (v3)
In verse 3, Zo summarises what he’s heard Job saying:
You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless
and I am pure in your sight.’
Now to be fair, if Job had said that, then he might have needed a bit of a rebuke. But the truth is: Job has never actually said that. Not quite. Zo is exaggerating. He’s joining the dots in a way that makes sense to him. So he’s actually straw-manning Job – giving the worst representation, a caricature, of what he says.
Again, worth looking out for any tendencies we might have in that area.
Number three, says Zo: you’re in need of God’s rebuke.
Verse 5:
Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
that he would open his lips against you
Well, that is interesting. Because at the end of this book, we’ll find God will indeed speak. But when he does, it won’t be to rebuke Job, but Zophar and his friends!
But it’s not a great line, is it?
This evening, in our Side by side course, Helen Thorne Allensen is going to be helping us to think through how to bring what God says to bear on the lives of other believers. Do come if you possibly can. I’m guessing she might have a slightly different approach to this one: ‘you need God’s rebuke!’
Number four. Job, you deserve even worse than what you’ve got (6)
I feel like this may actually be the low point. It’s hard to believe a friend would really say this but there it is at the end of verse 6.
Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.
Job has lost everything – absolutely everything. His life has been ripped apart. And here is his friend – his friend – saying he deserves even worse. ‘If God hadn’t forgotten some of your bad behaviour, you’d have an even worse punishment. That’s what you really deserve.’
Again, it wouldn’t be a great line at the best of times, would it? But what makes it particularly frustrating for us readers is that we know the truth from chapters 1 and 2. Which is that – yes – God is behind this state of affairs, but it’s not a punishment. On the contrary, Job gets this treatment because of how upright and blameless he is.
On to number five: Job, you’re as obstinate as a donkey (12)
Well, this is just rude, isn’t it? Verse 12.
But the witless can no more become wise
than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.
No prizes for who he’s referring to as the witless!
Can I suggest if you are trying to help somebody who’s in a pickle, even if they have brought it on themselves in some way, insulting them is possibly not the most winsome way to make your point.
And then finally, Number six. Job you just need to repent. (13 to end)
This is the whole of the final paragraph I suppose, from verses 13 to the end.
13 “Yet if you devote your heart to him
and stretch out your hands to him,
14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand
and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
15 then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
you will stand firm and without fear.
Everything will come good, says Zo, if you’ll just stop doing what you’ve been doing and make a new start with God.
That’s quite a thing to promise. It certainly fits the worldview of the friends – as we’ll see in a minute. But is ‘just stop it’ really the thing to demand of someone, when there’s no evidence of something that needs stopping? And what’s more, can you really offer that assurance that all will go well as soon as a spiritual u-turn is made?
No, I’m not sure this whole approach of Zophar would merit an ‘Outstanding’ in the Ofsted report when it comes through. But astonishingly, it is quite consistent with what his friends have been saying.
Eliphaz had been the first to reply to Job – back in chapter 4. And straight off the bat he began to lay into Job.
#13
Chapter 4 verse 3
3 Think how you have instructed many,
how you have strengthened feeble hands.
4 Your words have supported those who stumbled;
you have strengthened faltering knees.
5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
In other words: Job, you are a hypocrite. You don’t practice what you preach. You give it, but you can’t take it. You’ve got a long track record of trying to care for and give guidance to others in trouble, but as soon as trouble comes your way, you fail to heed your own advice! You’re just a big fraud.
That’s Eliphaz and his opening gambit.
And you know what? When it comes to pastoral manner, Bildad turns out to be no better.
#14
Look on to chapter 8, and Bill’s opener:
“How long will you say such things?
Your words are a blustering wind.
Or: ‘you’re just full of hot air’ – as we might say.
So at least they’re consistent in their approach – these three – even if it does come across as pretty brutal!
Now we do need to be careful here. There are sensible and thoughtful things they say along the way during these 20 chapters. We’ll come back to that in a moment.
And it’s true, sometimes hard things do need to be said when you’re trying to help someone. We all know that.
And to be fair, they did start well.
#15
When they heard about Job – end of chapter 2 – they responded, they liaised with each other, they came, they sat quietly with him, they grieved with him. It was a really promising start.
But I hope we can all see: as soon as they start speaking, there is something lacking in the way in which these three engage, which - as I say – might be a good warning to some of us.
#16
When we’re speaking to an Amelia, or a Frank, or a Lizzie, or whoever it is: how kindly, and sensitively and generously and courteously, and therefore perhaps winsomely and helpfully do we say things we think need to be said?
What is it that lies behind the lack of sensitivity here? I think the real issue here is probably just a lack of humility.
#17
Isn’t it?
They are so convinced of their own worldview that they don’t feel the need to properly listen and take on board what Job has to say. They care more about being right, about theological correctness, than about really helping the broken man before them.
Look, we can’t afford – as a church – to forget our theology when we seek to help each other. That would be just to mimic the world rather than be the hands and feet of Jesus. But if we took as much note of the brokenness we see before us as we do our own theological systems, Christ Church would be a truly extraordinary community.
Well,, so much for how they engage with Job.
The other question we were going to consider was: how correctly do they speak?
#18
In other words, let’s move on from bedside manner – as it were – to the content of what they say as they speak to Job.
Have a look back to the second part of our chapter. Verse 13 of Job 11. And you’ll notice that Zo has a very simple way of analysing what’s going on when good things happen to you, or when bad things happen to you.
He starts off with the good. Verse 13.
‘If you devote your heart to God’, what? What will happen to your life
Verse 16.
You will surely forget your trouble,
recalling it only as waters gone by.
17 Life will be brighter than noonday,
and darkness will become like morning.
18 You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
That’s what you get if you’re good, says Zo. Good things will happen to you – if you’re good.
What about if you’re bad? Vese 20.
But the eyes of the wicked… will fail,
and escape will elude them;
their hope will become a dying gasp.”
In other words, it’s just the opposite, isn’t it? Bad things will happen to you if you’re bad.
That is the fixed worldview of three comforters of Job. It is that there is an exact, one-to-one correspondence between what you put in to God, and what you get back from him.
And yes, the other two friends have exactly the same view informing their approach to Job.
So back in chapter 4, Eli laid out the positive side of it
“Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Where were the upright ever destroyed? (Job 4:7)
You see the answer he’s driving at: nobody! Do the right thing and all will go well. That’s how God works.
Bill would later lay out the other side of the coin. What happens to the wicked.
The heavens will reveal his iniquity and the earth will rise up against him. The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God’s wrath. This is the wicked man’s portion for God, the heritage degreed for him by God
The wicked will get their comeuppance.
And for all of them, good or bad, this reward or punishment will come quickly and it will come consistently.
Of course this is all very familiar to us from our world today, isn’t it?
It’s the principle of Karma. When something good happens in life, it’s because you did something good. The universe is rewarding you.
Or more simply: you get what you deserve in life.
We’ve got so many so many ways of saying it, haven’t we? Not just: you get what you deserve, but:
• You reap what you sow.
• Actions have consequences.
• He brought it on himself
• What goes around comes around.
And so on.
This is the dominant way of thinking in the contemporary world, isn’t it?
The approach of Job’s comforters is the template for most of the world today.
But is it right?
Well, again, it’s actually not straightforward.
In many ways it is right.
• God is in control of the world.
• He does run history.
• And he is righteous and holy, so will smile on human righteousness and he will punish wrongdoing.
Thus far, the friends are right on the money. So far so good.
The issue is, though: he may not do it in the timescale we imagine. In fact he may not do it in this life at all.
This is what Job noticed. In chapter 21, he would ask the question:
7 Why do the wicked live on,
growing old and increasing in power?
8 They see their children established around them,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;
the rod of God is not on them.
That is: Good things do happen to bad people!
And of course we observe the same don’t we, don’t we, in the world we know?
Joseph Stalin and Chairman Mao. They were the two most prolific murderers in history. Between them they were responsible for – what? – f100 million deaths. They were butchers. Awful, awful people. Do you know how they died? In old age, in their own beds, surrounded by friends and family, in extraordinary wealth and prosperity.
You see: the principle does not always hold, does it? You don’t always get what you deserve. You don’t always reap what you sow – at least in this life.
What was the mistake of the three comforters? We need to know, because we want to avoid it ourselves when we seek to be a friend to those who suffer!
What was the real issue with their approach? I want to say: it’s in effect a lack of mystery.
#19
They just wanted to keep things simple. They were wanting to eliminate the mystery of God and the world. They wanted to cut God down to fit their crude system of right and wrong, and prosperity and suffering. And it just doesn’t work.
Imagine you were going to your sister’s wedding in New York next week. And your grandma – who’s too old to travel – asks you to take her wedding present for her when you go. It’s the most valuable family heirloom you can imagine. An original Renoir painting. But you find you can’t quite get it into your suitcase, however hard you try. So what do you do? Well that’s easy. You just get a good saw from Screwfix, and hack of about 9 inches of the frame and picture and leave it to one side. Hey presto, now it fits.
But is that really what you do? I hope not!
And here’s the point. Just because the way God seems to run the world doesn’t quite fit our neat systems, our nicely packaged worldview, that doesn’t mean we get to cut God down to fit and get rid of all the inconvenient loose ends. You can’t do that!
It doesn’t fit with what the Bible says. When Jesus came across a man who’d been born blind – this is John chapter 9 – and he was asked whether the blindness had happened because of the man’s sin or his parents’ sin, he said it was actually neither. It’s not that neat. God has more purposes in play when he allows suffering than simply punishing people. We might come back to that next week.
‘You get what you deserve in life’ doesn’t fit with the Bible. And it doesn’t fit with the world we experience all around.
So please, when you come across an Amelia or a Frank or a Lizzie; or an Ahmel, or a Mia or a Noah - somebody in pain - spare them the simplistic answers. Don’t try and box God up into your system and tie up everything with a neat bow. Allow room for mystery. It’s OK to say ‘I don’t know’ – to the why question.
And – I don’t know whether to add this or not, but I think I will. Do be aware: if you have a particular kind of temperament or brain wiring that - you’re aware - makes you attracted to ‘neat answers’ – shall we say – to blacks and whites – you might need to work particularly hard to avoid a mis-step here.
We were commissioning Ray and Lami earlier on, to their role as parents. There’s a famous counsellor to parents and families called James Dobson. You may have read some of his stuff. And he famously once said this: he said: ‘I used to have 4 theories of parenting, and no children of my own. I now have 4 children, and… no theories of parenting.’
You get the point I’m sure. People and life may be just more complicated than our systems allow. So remember humility and avoid over-simplicity. That’s the warning of Job’s comforters.
Well, we must stop, but there’s one last thing that must be said.
The three comforters are obsessed with the justice of God. The idea that God makes sure people get what they deserve. That’s why they’re so impatient with Job: he’s suffering, so he must have done something wrong.
What they’ve missed is that this same God is a god of mercy and compassion. How is he able to hold those two things together? It’s by stepping in to the justice equation himself.
Ultimately, you see, they are right. Justice must be done. You must get what you deserve. Unless someone else gets it for you. But in Jesus, we find God himself absorbing what we deserve in himself. Taking the punishment for us. So that yes just could be done. But still mercy could be shown to you and me.
It’s the mystery at the heart of the Christian faith. But what comfort it brings to the followers of Jesus.
Let’s pray…