You're listening to Mountain View Church Audio, Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City, Whitehorse, Yukon. Here's this week's message. I'll be reading from Job 42, 1-6. We finally arrived at our fourth and last week in the book of Job. My only regret is that we've run out of time.
We've barely scratched the surface of the book, but now we have to move on to our conclusion. We've looked at who Job was, and we've looked at what his three friends had to say about him, and we even looked at what he had to say for himself. He got to a place where he said some harsh things about God, and we saw that even though Job was wrong, God refused to turn his back on him. Yes, rather than leaving Job to his misery, God speaks directly to him. But what God has to say completely changes Job's outlook, although not in the way we might expect. God's answer is something that none of us see coming.
The question for us today is whether or not we can, with the same information Job had, come to the same conclusion about his suffering that he did. So let's start by taking a look at what God's reply to Job was. As much as I'd love to go into great detail, we simply don't have the time to work through everything God says. God's reply is almost an uninterrupted monologue that lasts four chapters, and it is incredibly powerful. In response to all of the questions and accusations Job threw at him, God does something unexpected.
In his four chapter reply, God doesn't actually answer Job directly about anything. And he doesn't really even confront the accusations that Job made. Instead, he does two things. He asks Job a series of questions and makes a bunch of challenges. And these aren't simple questions or easy challenges. God asks questions that Job could never hope to answer. And he challenges Job to do things that he could never hope to do. Here's just one example. In chapter 38, verses 31 through 35, God asks him all of this. He says, can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead the Maseroth in their season or can you guide the bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of heaven? Can you establish their rule on the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, here we are? I mean, this is just a tiny sample and it's all incredibly overwhelming for Job. God asks questions about the natural laws that govern the stars and constellations. And he also asks about laws that govern things here on earth. And afterwards, he continues by challenging Job to do things that are clearly impossible for a person to do.
Job, for his part, stands there in awestruck silence. We might not think that God's reply makes any sense at all, but let's look at what he's really doing here. God is saying all of this because he has a perfect grasp of what Job had done in his heart and his mind. Job had used his logic and all of his natural senses to make hasty conclusions about his situation. Motivated by his pain, Job speaks as though he totally understands spiritual matters like divine justice and the nature of God. But here, God expertly demonstrates to Job that his natural senses hadn't even provided him answers about the natural world around him.
And the point is this, if Job couldn't rely on his senses and logic to explain the natural world, how could he realistically rely on those same senses and logic to explain the spiritual world? So rather than outright telling Job all the things he was wrong about, God helps him to see the limits of his own understanding. And it's again important to note that in all of this, God never once explains to Job why he has faced suffering and trials. According to God, Job didn't need to know why he had suffered. According to God, Job's pain could be addressed without answers.
So what do you think? Is that totally unsatisfactory? The whole journey of Job's situation seemed to be leading to some big reveal, didn't it? And yet, Job's question of why am I suffering isn't actually answered. So how does Job take it? It might surprise us, but it was exactly what he needed. We can look at his response in chapter 42. Starting at verse 2, he says this. He says, I know that you, talking to God, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Job stood there stunned as God went through the exceedingly long list of challenges and questions. As he was listening, he realized something. These questions weren't just meant to make Job realize that he didn't have the answers. They revealed that God does. God has answers to all the questions he posed to Job. And God can do all the things that he challenged Job about. And in an instant, Job is far less concerned with his own situation and is completely overwhelmed by who God is.
As Job is listening to everything God is saying, he realizes that God has answers to questions Job has never even considered. And also God is currently doing things that Job didn't even know could be done. And as he's trying to wrap his mind around all of this, it becomes clear to Job that whatever version of God he had put on trial and accused was not actually the God of the universe. The God that confronted him from the whirlwind is a far, far greater being than he had ever imagined God could be. And then he goes on to say this in verse three. He says, I have uttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. After everything he said, Job finally hits his moment of regret for speaking so foolishly. He was confronted with both his own limitations and God's vastness in one moment. And the only thing he can say now is, I didn't know what I was talking about. Job realized that his pain had blinded him to the wonder and beauty of the world that continued to exist alongside his suffering. And more than that, he realized that there is a depth of beauty and wonder to God that he had never known before.
Rather than tell Job that he didn't know as much as he thought he did, God brought Job to a place where he realized it on his own. Job was looking for answers, but he didn't get them. In place of answers, he got far more questions, even more questions. And the questions didn't help him make sense of his specific, unique, painful situation at all. Instead, those questions hammered home the reality that there was a great deal to life and existence that he didn't understand, and that there was a great deal he would never understand.
And you might be looking at all of that, feeling entirely unsatisfied with God's response. You might feel that God owed Job more than that. If you were waiting for a clear answer at the end of it all, I can understand how you might feel disappointed. You might even feel like this entire study strung you along and that ultimately I strung you along too. But however you may feel about God's response, we need to look at Job again. God's response completely changed his perspective. Why? How can that be?
I believe the key to understanding his transformation is in the following words. He continues in verse five. He says, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. This statement shows us what changed everything for him. He says, before I had heard, but now I see. And there is a major difference between hearing things about God and seeing God active in your life. Facts about God don't really help us, but a heartfelt relationship with him does. The source of Job's healing can seem elusive, but it's actually really simple.
Finding answers to our questions about why things have happened exactly as they have doesn't actually heal us. Only a personal transcendent experience of God can do that. It's not what Job expected to find at the end of his journey, but once it happened to him, it was impossible to ignore and it changed everything. And I can only imagine what he was feeling. His heart would have been so full of so much in that moment. His pain didn't just disappear, but he found a way to experience it without being consumed by it. His pain was no longer his master. Alongside the pain in his heart was peace and hope.
There was joy in knowing that God had not forsaken him. And at the same time, a deep, profound regret for having said such awful things about God. So with a full heart and a completely different outlook, Job repents. And it's not that Job's friends were right all along, okay? That Job's suffering was the result of punishment for sin. It's not that at all. Job simply acknowledges that the way he spoke and felt about God was wrong and he turns away from it. In keeping with Job's character as a man who hated evil, he recognizes it in himself and he rejects it. And honestly, the story of Job's life could end there.
It can end with Job getting a whole new perspective on life and on the Lord. For him, it would have been enough. He could move forward from that experience with the freedom of knowing that he didn't have to know everything to know peace. That's truly the core principle that we need to draw from the book of Job. You don't have to know everything to know peace. You just have to know God. I'll go right ahead and say it. This may be the hardest battle you ever fight in your faith. You are going to experience pain, loss, and suffering, and you're not going to know exactly why. And you'll be desperate to answer the excruciating question, why is this happening to me?
But have you ever stopped for a moment to wonder why you desire that answer so desperately? It's not because that answer will actually fix you or heal you. It's because sin has convinced you it will. Sin desires everything that we don't have. Sin looks at everything outside our reach and convinces us that we've been cheated if we can't have it. Sin looks at the one thing we don't have and drives us to put all of our effort into obtaining it, even as we ignore everything that we do have.
Sin promises that if we could just have that thing, then everything would be okay, our life would be fulfilled, we would be at peace, and our story would finally have a happy ending. Often, we desire things that we can touch and taste, things that we can literally put our hands on. We obsess over the new thing we want to buy or the meal we're going to eat way too much of or the money we're going to make. Sometimes we desire other people in a variety of ways that are totally poisonous for us. We desire their approval, their admiration, their love. We desire these things so much that we'll lie, cheat, boast, and steal to get them.
We'll do whatever we can to get whatever or whoever we're longing for. And we'll convince ourselves that we can't feel joy or peace without it. And then one day, at long last, we get it. But sin made promises that it had no intentions of keeping. It's like that with the things we buy. So often the things that we own end up owning us. Like how that new computer or new car that we needed so bad was amazing until we bought it. Then we have it and it seems like we probably could have gotten a better deal if we had waited. Or maybe we should have got a bigger one with more features.
In fact, come to think of it, maybe we kind of got ripped off. But now that we have it and we know better, we know enough to be sure that the next time we buy one, oh, we'll get the perfect one. It'll be different. It's like how the big house we always wanted feels empty when we finally have it. Maybe we just need to fill it with stuff. Or maybe we need to renovate the kitchen and put in new appliances. Or maybe we need a different house. Or maybe we need to landscape the yard. Maybe we need to go on a vacation. Maybe it's our neighbors. Maybe it's the neighborhood. Maybe it's the city. You know what? We just need something. Then we'll be satisfied. And it's never, ever enough.
It's one of the most tragic stories of humanity. And it's a story as old as time. Your heart will scream at the top of its lungs that you're just one thing away from true joy. But the moment it's in your grasp, it turns out to be a fleeting feeling. It vanishes like smoke in the breeze. Hey, but it's okay, right? Because just over there on the horizon is the new thing. It's heartbreaking. And the question for you is, do you think it's any different with answers? Do you honestly think if you had a clear answer to why something happened, it would fix the pain?
God's purpose in responding to Job the way that he did was to reveal that. Sin will do with answers what sin does with everything else. Crave them and consume them and then convince you that you still don't have the truth. You still don't have what you need. Your sin will do the same thing it did to Adam and Eve. Convince you that God is holding out on you. That he has something really good and amazing and wonderful behind his back just outside of your reach. And if you let it, your sin will trick you into trying to go around God to find fulfillment instead of going directly to him.
And God's loving response to Job was to simply say, I'm not going to let that happen. I love you too much to let you chase a lie. Job underestimated God. We all do. On this side of heaven, we will never stop underestimating God. I wish we didn't. I wish we were perfect and sinless, just like Jesus. I wish we never thought, said, did, or even wanted anything wrong in our journey through life. Unfortunately, however, we do. We perpetually underestimate God and forget about his goodness. And seemingly without fail, the harder our lives get, the easier it can be to forget.
When times are hard, your heart will always lie to you and say, if God would just give you an answer, this wouldn't hurt anymore. That isn't true. The book of Job teaches us that more than anything, we need to be reminded of what we do know and what we don't know. God's solution to our pain is not to answer all of our questions, but to remind us of what's important. In each of our last three sermons, we've emphasized what's important. We have emphasized God's goodness in spite of Job's challenges. We've considered how Christ's love can and does shine through in our lives, not to erase our suffering, but to give us the strength to face it.
But today I'd like to remind you of something else, something that is very easy to forget. To close our series, I'd like to remind you that you belong here. Even if you haven't given your life to Jesus yet and you're just looking for answers about who God is and what the Bible teaches, you belong here. You're not just welcome to stop in and say hi. Because of what Jesus has done, our local community of faith can be your home. We're a messy family and we don't get everything right, but we're committed to doing our best to show Christ's love, no matter what season of life you're in or what you're facing.
When Job realized that despite what he was facing, he still belonged to God, his life completely changed. Belonging is vital for our hope and our faith. And one of the primary calls on the church is to be a place where we can belong to Jesus and belong to each other in a growing community. Jesus knows us so well. He knew that the challenges of life would constantly take our attention off of the things we know and trust about him. We're fallen. And one of the biggest ways we fall short of God's glory is by simply forgetting all of the miraculous things he has done.
As a powerful reminder for us, Jesus did something profound the night before he was crucified. He began a sacred tradition that we, the church, have carried on for 20 centuries. For 20 centuries, Christians from all over the world, from all different backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities have joined together in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Communion is a time where we take a moment to pause and reflect on the price Jesus paid so that we could belong to his family. We're going to move to a time of communion now. And I just want to say, if you're new to Christianity and you haven't made the decision to follow Jesus, I just ask that you observe the process.
Communion is a sacred, special moment where followers of Jesus declare that they belong to him and remember the great price that he paid for us. So, if you're at home, you can go ahead and pause this video now and prepare some bread and wine or juice, whatever you'd like. We'll be reading the communion passage out of 1 Corinthians chapter 11, but first we'll pray for the bread, which represents Jesus' broken body on the cross. Heavenly Father, we want to take a moment to acknowledge what your son went through. Lord Jesus, what you went through on the cross, what you suffered for our sake, that ultimately you gave your life so that we could have life. Your life was precious. You were perfect. You were sinless. You didn't deserve an ounce or a shred of what you experienced on the cross, and yet you willingly took it all so that we could be redeemed. You took our punishment. We just take a moment to acknowledge this great work and thank you for it. Now we'll start our reading in verse 23.
This is Paul writing, reminding the church. He says, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And next we'll pray for the cup, which is a symbol of Christ's innocent blood that was poured out for our salvation. Jesus, we come to you and acknowledge that you are precious. Everything about you is precious. And every last drop of blood that you shed for us is precious.
We understand that it's not just that you gave us a new start when you gave your life and paid for our sin, but you also wash us clean. Because you spilled your blood, our sins are forgiven. And now we get to stand before a holy God justified, loved, and seen as perfect, blameless representations of you. And it's kind of a mystery, Jesus, how in a short time, your death. could pay for an eternity of suffering on our part. And yet you did. As we behold the mystery of your crucifixion, as we consider the wounds you face, the nails in your hands and feet, the stripes on your back from the lashes, the crown of thorns on your head, and lastly, the spear thrust into your side, as we consider it all, we recognize that you poured out your blood for us so that we could be seen as perfect. And we thank you for it. And we remember it.
Continuing on, in verse 25, Paul writes, in the same way also he, Jesus, took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Heavenly Father, we want to take a moment to just rest in your goodness. Father, help us to be courageous enough to admit that we don't know what we don't know and to be okay with that. Help us to accept that there are mysteries in this life that you have chosen not to reveal us. And sometimes those mysteries are very personal to us. We don't know why we're experiencing something. We don't have answers for those that we love. And that's just true. But Father, help us to not fixate on that and rather to fixate on you and your goodness. Father, protect us from our own sinful inclinations to go after the one thing we don't have and just ignore all the beautiful things that you've given us, all the beautiful answers you've provided through the scriptures, through the testimony of the eyewitnesses.
Help us to not forget all of that stuff because we're not sure why in this moment we're faced with what we're faced with. I pray that if anybody's struggling right now, God, you would reach into their life and you'd reveal yourself to them in a powerful way. That like Job, they'd be overwhelmed by how vast, loving and kind you are. And they'd be less concerned with their situation. They'd see eternity in the proper light with you. And they'd understand that yes, life is hard, but this temporary suffering that we face now is not worth comparing to the glory that'll be revealed when Lord Jesus, you come back.
Help us to found our faith in that, our hope in that, and to live out of that hope and faith every day. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us at Mountain View Church today. If you'd like to know more about Jesus or our church, or if you'd like us to pray for you, go ahead and click that Connect link, text Connect to the number on the screen, or fill out a Connect card.
If you'd like to make a one-time tax-deductible donation, you can go to our website at mountainview.church and click give or text give to the number on our screen. If you're in-house, feel free to use a donation envelope found under the seats in front of you and drop it off at the box in the back. Thanks again for joining us. Now before you go, we have a few more updates and announcements, followed by this week's discussion and prayer focus. Hey senior youth, it's Ruben here with a quick reminder for you all. We have youth tonight from 6 to 8 at the church. We'll start off with some good old-fashioned dodgeball. We'll play a bunch of different versions besides the classics. So be ready, because even your youth leaders will be playing and we stretched.
So it's going to get serious. Afterwards, I'll be leading a devotional focused on what we do when things don't go our way. So what do you think? How do you respond when things don't go your way? What about at school? In sports? Or at home? In these moments in life, do you think God has your best interest in mind for you?
I'm not going to spoil everything on this topic, but I'm excited to explore this with you all and see what the Bible has to say about it. Pumped to see you all tonight. See you then. Hey, Mountain View. This was our last week diving into the Book of Job, and so I want to give you a heads up on what the next few weeks are going to look like around here. First off, we've had the same recording studio for a long time. This backdrop and setting have served us well, but it's time for something new. Now, this means that while renos are being done, we will not be recording anything in the studio, which in turn means that there will be no Mountain View Online for three weeks.
So if you watch online, this message is for you. There will be no studio filming from February 26th through March 19th. If you can make it to Mountain View during those three weeks, that'll be great. We'll be having our regular gatherings on location. Otherwise, you can catch audio recordings of the live Sunday sermon on the Mountain View podcast.
We apologize for this inconvenience, but the changes to the studio require this break, and we want to have it all done in time for Easter. Next, Pastor Jeremy is away on vacation for this coming week, but when he gets back during the three-week period that we won't have the studio up and running, Pastor Jeremy will be preaching an in-house series called Stop Going to Church. Wait, that can't be right. Stop going... Oh, oh yeah, okay. Stop going to church. Start being the church. Over three weeks, we'll be unpacking the six core values of Mountain View Church connected to being the church instead of just being an intender.
The church is not a building. The church is you and I. The church is the body of the followers of Jesus. And Jeremy will unpack what it looks like to be the church beyond just showing up on Sunday morning. Then after three weeks, it'll be Palm Sunday. We'll have the recording studio up again and running in time for Easter. Thank you. And we'll see you soon. Thank you again so much for joining with us this week. I know that the study of Job is a unique study and everyone's got their own stuff in their life that they're dealing with. And so for each of you who has followed along online with us, the way that you learn and the way that you process this stuff is going to be different.
The question I want to ask today relates really to the entire study. The question I want to ask today is simply, how does your reaction to God's response compare to Job's reaction? And lastly, if you could pray, please pray for the wisdom and peace that comes from seeing God the way that Job did. Thank you again so much for joining with us. I hope you have a wonderful week.
If you prayed to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City of Whitehorse Seacon.