Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Humility (Spurgeon)

Sermon: "Humility" by Charles Spurgeon
Sermon text: "serving the Lord with all humility of mind" - Acts 20:19

"When a man has seven talents, he must remember that he has seven burdens, and he who has ten, if he has more than others, should feel that he has ten times any other mans burden of responsibility; and therefore he should be bowed down. Let a man feel that he possesses more power than another, more eloquence, more mental acumen, more learning, more imagination, and he is so apt to sit down and say, I am something; I am somebody in the Church.Yes, one may indeed speak with solemnity here. It is so ridiculous for us to ever boast of any talents which God has given us. It is as though the debtor in the jail should say, I am a better man than you, for I am in debt 10,000 pounds, and you only a hundred.The more we have, the more we owe, and how can there be any ground for boasting there?"

"Great success is like a full cup, it is hard to hold it with a steady hand."

"When you have long-continued joys, fear and tremble for all the goodness of God."

"there is not a position in the world where a man cannot be humble if he has Divine Grace; there is not a station under Heaven where a man will not be proud if left to himself; I pray you, never think that leaving one station and getting into another will be any help to your humility. [...] It is not the place, it is the heart. It is not the position, but the Grace."

Monday, December 12, 2011

Forget & Remember to God's Glory

(some of my notes on Piper's auditory biography of Charles Simeon)


Forgetting to the Glory of God
Philippians 3:12-14 "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."


Remembering to the Glory of God
Ephesians 2:11-12 "Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called 'the uncircumcision' by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."
(also consider Ezekiel 16)


"There is a salutary remembering, and there is a destructive remembering. And to the degree that sin is salutary in humbling us and exalting Christ, we ought to remember our sins. To the degree that sin is laming and paralyzing, we ought to forget our sins. That's the mystery of the walk." 
- John Piper (Q&A Session after auditory biography of Charles Simeon)

Getting Through a Hedge

"In April, 1831, Charles Simeon was 71 years old. He had been the pastor of Trinity Church, Cambridge, England, for 49 years. He was asked one afternoon by his friend, Joseph Gurney, how he had surmounted persecution and outlasted all the great prejudice against him in his 49-year ministry. He said to Gurney, 'My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering for Christ's sake. When I am getting through a hedge, if my head and shoulders are safely through, I can bear the pricking of my legs. Let us rejoice in the remembrance that our holy Head has surmounted all His suffering and triumphed over death. Let us follow Him patiently; we shall soon be partakers of His victory' (H.C.G. Moule, Charles Simeon, London: InterVarsity, 1948, 155f.)." 

- John Piper's auditory biography of Charles Simeon.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

God and Suffering (3b): Grammatical and Literary Introduction to Job

In this section, special attention will be given to Job’s symmetrical structure. This will lay the foundation of my later asserted scope and plan of Job. I will also discuss how the symmetrical literary structure of Job relates to the heavenly drama introduced in the prologue. 

Symmetrical Literary Structure of Job
Job’s symmetrical literary structure is a key hermeneutical tool to consider in the pursuit of the book’s purpose. A poetic dialogue (Job 3-42.6) is sandwiched between a prose prologue (Job 1-2) and a prose epilogue (Job 42.7-17). There is also a prose interlude that assesses the preceding dialogic dispute, and validates the proceeding speeches of Elihu, whose speeches are then followed by God’s speeches (Job 32.1-5). The narrator of Job, who has access to the divine counsel of heaven in the prologue, writes in the third person omniscient. With this in mind, it can be assumed that the narrator makes correct judgments when narrating in prose. Thus, the narrator’s prose along with God’s speeches provide a reliable lens through which to properly interpret and judge the speeches of Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu. The symmetry of Job should cause the reader of Job to notice the dramatic similarities and differences between the prologue and epilogue, while considering how the poetic dialogue in the middle plays a role in the dramatic shifts from prologue to epilogue. This section will particularly focus on the symmetrical literary structure of Job as it relates to the resolution of the heavenly drama introduced in the prologue.


God’s Victory in the Heavenly Drama
A drama unfolds in heaven as God allows Satan to question Job’s integrity, seek to subvert Job’s worship of God, and implicitly undermine the glory of God’s perfect and just care of His worshippers. Satan, however, is defeated in the prologue because of Job’s relentless worship of God in his afflictions (Job 1.9-11; 2.4-5, cf. Job 1.22; 2.10). Similarly, in the epilogue, Satan, though unmentioned, is ultimately defeated in his purpose to sabotage Job’s worship of God. Satan is defeated because in the end of the poetic dialogue and in the epilogue Job repents of his ignorant speech, and he submits, once again, to being used as a servant in God’s redemptive purposes. God approves of Job’s submissive worship while in his suffering, and He displays His approval of Job by restoring Job’s health, relationships, and wealth in double portions (Job 42.9-10). Why didn’t God display his approval of Job’s faith and submission in the midst of his suffering in Job 2:10? After all, by this point Job had proven twice that his worship to God was pure, not merely because God had blessed him with possessions, family, and health. Job’s worship of God in his terrible suffering, despite Satan’s influence on Job’s wife (Job 2.9), proved Satan wrong, and thus defeated Satan’s purpose. God may have very well restored Job at this point, as He would later do in the epilogue. Why, then, were Job’s restoration and Satan’s final defeat put on hold for months of misery for Job (Job 7.3)? The poetic dialogue that constitutes most of the book of Job reveals clues to this answer.

In the dialogue, Satan is not mentioned, but his influence in the teachings of Job’s three friends is evident. If Job would subscribe to their teaching that God had sent suffering to Job to punish some past sin of Job, then Job would also follow their solution that he should pursue God with pleas for mercy for some past sin, for which God was not punishing him, for the purpose of being restored to his past comfort and riches (see Job 5.8-26). If Job followed this advice, then Satan would have proven to be correct in asserting that Job’s devotion to God was solely for materialistic, self-seeking purposes (Job 1.9-10; 2.4). At the same time, Satan’s influence is apparent in Job’s confusion of God’s friendship and justice, which he doubts in the dialogic dispute with his three friends (Job 16.9; 19.11; 31.35), and of which he repents at the end of God’s poetic speeches (Job 42.1-6). Job, though clearly in good standing with God in the prologue as the best man on earth, is shown to be a man at best in the poetic dialogue, during which time his suffering prolongs with no relief. Job’s disposition before God changes for the worst as he argues against his friends’ false accusations, and as he becomes increasingly self-righteous in his pursuit of vindication. Job brazenly subpoenas God to a court hearing as One who has unjustly punished Job (Job 31). Satan’s plan of subverting Job’s pure worship and ultimately undermining God’s sovereign care for His worshippers (Job 2.3) is almost realized in the dialogue.

Thus, a divine intervention is necessary to restore Job’s pure worship and defeat Satan’s plan. This divine intervention is first provided through God’s spokesman, Elihu, and then provided by God Himself (Job 32-41) (see footnote "Satan's influence on Job's Wife and on Job"). Without God’s merciful rebuke of Job, Satan would have triumphed in Job’s losing all faith in God’s perfect rule of the universe.

God could have restored Job to his health, family, and possessions in approval of Job’s unadulterated worship in affliction in Job 2:10. However, God’s prolonging of Job’s suffering through the dialogue allowed for God’s mercy toward Job and God’s redemption of Job’s three friends to be realized, along with many other characteristics of God that are displayed in the speeches of Elihu and God. If the book of Job had alternatively ended directly after Job 2:10, with God approvingly restoring Job to his former comforts because of his perseverance in his trial, then the hero of the story of Job might be Job instead of God. Job does not sin in the prologue, and it is thus not apparent that Job is in desperate need of God’s mercy. Job does sin in the dialogue, however, and realizes his propensity toward improper reflections of God that lead to a sinful attitude of self-righteousness. Job, the imperfect worshipper of God, realizes his desperate need for God’s mercy in light of God’s revelation of His perfect power, wisdom, justice, and control over the whole universe (Job 42.1-6).

In the epilogue, Job finds himself restored to fellowship with God and service to God in His redemptive purposes (Job 42.7-9), finally culminating in the outward proof of God’s approval of Job’s humble submission in his suffering (Job 42.10-17). Although Job’s humility and faith is to be admired in the prologue and epilogue of the book of Job, God mercifully rescues him from succumbing to Satan’s strong influence in the dialogue. God, who defeats Satan’s attempt to subvert Job’s worship and consequently diminish God’s glory, is the hero of the story. (see footnote "Not Dualism")

Footnotes:
 "Satan's influence on Job's Wife and on Job"
It is worth noticing that Job’s wife speaks on behalf of Satan, or as influenced by Satan, in the prologue when she says to Job, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” (ESV, Job 2.9). Elihu, on the other hand, speaks on behalf of God near the end of the poetic dialogue when he necessarily rebukes Job for his self-righteous presumption of God’s injustice (Job 32-37). Also, Job responds to his wife in the prologue by saying, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (ESV, Job 2.10) In saying this, Job does not condemn his wife as being a foolish woman, but he rebukes her for succumbing to a foolish resolution due to her improper view of God in her suffering, which Job corrects by his rhetorical question. Ironically, Elihu later rebukes Job’s sinful presumption of God’s injustice by saying, “he [Job] answers like wicked men.” (ESV, Job 34.36). Elihu does not deem Job to be a wicked man, as Job’s three friends had done, but he rebukes and corrects Job’s improper view of God in his suffering. Both Job and his wife are proven vulnerable to Satan’s influence to doubt the care and worth of God in their suffering. God graciously restores both Job and his wife in the epilogue despite their shortcomings.

"Not Dualism"
It may be necessary to comment here that the book of Job does not propose a dualistic view of God and Satan. God’s absolute sovereignty is over all of His creation, including Satan, who appears before God along with the other created angels, or “sons of God” (Job 1.6; 2.1). God is not principally compelled by Satan to ordain Job’s sufferings; instead, God focuses Satan’s attention on Job so as to provoke Satan to provoke God to afflict Job (Job 1.8; 2.3). Thus, when God indicts Satan for inciting God against Job “to destroy him [Job] without reason” (ESV, Job 2.3), God is revealing Satan’s motives, not God’s, to destroy Job and taint God’s glory. God, who is omniscient and sovereign (Job 38-41), ordains for the heavenly drama between Satan and Himself to unfold in such a way as to reveal multiple facets of His nature, namely His redemptive purposes for mankind (Job 42.7-9), His mercy toward suffering worshippers of God (Job 42.7-17), and His power over evil, which is especially displayed in the implied defeat of Satan in the epilogue of Job.

God and Suffering (3a): Grammatical and Literary Introduction to Job

Grammatical and Literary Introduction to Job
In this section, I will make mention of the grammatical peculiarities of Job, and I will give a brief overview of the literary genres employed in the book of Job. In "God and Suffering (3b)", special attention will be given to Job’s symmetrical structure. This will lay the foundation of my later asserted scope and plan of Job.

The Language and Grammar of Job
Job is known as a difficult book to translate, study, and understand. The original language of Job is usually taken to have been classical Hebrew, but some scholars suggest that it could have been written in Arabic, Aramaic, or “some other related Semitic dialect or language” because of some peculiar grammar, syntax, and orthography within Job that are Arabic and Aramaic in flavor (NET 794; Harris 160-162; Gaebelein 845). Harris adds that Job “also evidences touches of Mesopotamian language and clearly shows similarities to the old Canaanite dialect of Ugarit” (162; Gaebelein 845). The book of Job contains the most hapax legomena—words that only occur once—of all the books of the Old Testament, and it abounds in “unusual grammatical constructions” and “cryptic” phrases (NET 794; Harris 158). For this reason, much attention was given in this analysis to comparatively reading the ESV, NASB, and NET translations of Job, reading the NET translation notes on Job, and conducting numerous word studies.

Literary Genres in Job
The book of Job is widely accepted as one of the major books of wisdom literature in the Bible. Job’s genre has been classified as a “poetic drama” (NET 794), “both an epic and a wisdom disputation” (Hartley 66), and even a dramatized “lament” (Westermann 53). The book of Job, however, cannot be classified in only one literary category because it uses various genres: laments (see Job 3; 19.13-20), hymns (see Job 26.5-14), proverbs, or wisdom instruction, (see Job 12.7-12), and oracles (see Job 36.1- 15). Gaebelein notes, “the Prologue [Job 1-2] has the stereotyped forms and expressions of an old epic tradition” (844). The dialogue in between the prose prologue and epilogue is in Hebrew poetry format (Job 3-42.6). A dramatic framework and legal metaphor are also apparent throughout the book of Job, and both of these literary features play roles in the reader’s sympathy for Job in his suffering and concern for Job in his changing disposition before God.

Dramatic Framework in Job
A dramatic framework is evident in Job. Dramatic tension is used in the prose narration when Job fears God and is blessed, and then fears God and is afflicted (Job 1- 2). Job laments in silence (Job 2.11-13), and then in an outburst (Job 3). Dramatic tension also rises between the retribution wisdom of Job’s three friends and Job’s anti-wisdom rejection of their doctrine (Job 4-27), which culminates into Job’s hymn that expresses the need for wisdom that both sides of the debate claim they have, but are clearly lacking (Job 28). Throughout the dialogue, there is dramatic tension between Job’s cry for a chance to plead his case and to hear God’s case concerning Job’s suffering (see Job 10.2; 13.20-22; 31.35-37), and God’s silence. Job also accuses God of injustice (see Job 24.1,12; 30.19-21), and is later rebuked by Elihu and God who prove that God is sovereign and just (Job 34-35; 40.8). When Elihu speaks in four speeches (Job 32-37), he confronts some of these dramatic tensions, exposing Job to the redemptive and instructive purposes of a non-silent God in suffering (Job 33,36).

The dramatic tension continues into the epilogue (Job 42.7-17), when God condemns Job’s three friends who had claimed to be correctly speaking on God’s behalf (see Job 4.12-21, cf. 13.7-12), and then uses Job as His restored servant to intercede on behalf of his friends-turned-enemies (Job 42.7-9). The dramatic tension between God and Satan, concerning the integrity of Job, is set in the prologue (Job 1-2), and resolved in the epilogue (Job 42.7-17) when God restores Job to a double-portion of his previous riches for speaking of God “what is right” in his repentance and for interceding for his estranged friends (Job 42.7,8, cf. 42.1-6). The dramatic framework of the book of Job reveals the difficulty of Job’s struggle through his trial, allowing the reader of Job to sympathize with him in order to be likewise corrected and instructed concerning the character and nature of God as revealed to Job in his suffering.

Legal Metaphor in Job
A legal metaphor is clearly used throughout the book of Job as well. Satan falsely accuses Job of insincere worship that is motivated by self-preservation (Job 1.9-10; 2.4- 5. Note that Satan is elsewhere in the Bible referred to as an “accuser” of genuine worshippers of God (Rev. 12.10). God seems to commit an injustice toward Job in the prologue by permitting Satan to inflict Job with terrible suffering (Job 1-2). Job responds by worshipping God and refusing to “charge God with wrong” (Job 1.22). Job’s friends who originally come to comfort Job (Job 2.11-13), are so disturbed by the nature of Job’s suffering (Job 2.12-13, cf. Job 6.21), and by his opening lament-curse (Job 3) that they falsely accuse Job of some previously committed crime that he must repent of and for which he must plead with his Judge for mercy (Job 4-5, 8, 11, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25). Job denies the validity of this indictment from his friends (Job 6.29; 13:4-5, 12; 27:5), proclaiming his innocence and longing for vindication before them (Job 16.20-21; 19:21-27; 27.6). Job also pleads with God to appear in court to listen to Job’s case (Job 13.18; 23.3-7), the proclamation of his innocence as the defendant; he also pleads with God to present His case (Job 10.2; 31.35-37), God’s indictment against Job that would justify God’s actions as the plaintiff. Job goes so far as to charge his Judge (Job 9.15; 23.7) and Adversary (Job 16.9; 19.11; 31.35) of injustice (Job 10.2-3; 27.2), for which reason Elihu defends God as God’s attorney (Job 32.18; 33.3-4; 36.2), while also giving Job hope of restoration as Job’s advocate (Job 33.29-33).

God finally appears as in court, but does not defend or explain His ways to Job as Job had pleaded for Him to do. Instead, God, as the perfect, sovereign Judge of the universe uses His creation to reveal His perfect wisdom, understanding, power, and just rule over everything (see bottom note "Not a Theodicy"). God’s indictment of Job is that he spoke ignorantly during the dialogic dispute and condemned God in pursuit of his own justification (Job 38.2; 40.8). God asks Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it” (New American Standard Bible (NASB), Job 40.2). Job cannot vindicate himself in court against God because he lacks God’s perfect knowledge, power, wisdom, and righteous judgment (Job 40.14). Job pleads no contest in that he vows to no longer state his case before God (Job 40.4-5), and after God’s second speech, Job completely retracts his lawsuit (Job 42.1-6). Job then submits to mediating God’s redemption of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who were found guilty by God for their incorrect speech concerning God, but shown mercy by their Judge through Job, their mediator (Job 42.7- 9).

Reitman states that the legal metaphor of Job serves to illustrate “Job’s changing disposition before God,” which grows bitterer as his suffering continues (52). Job begins by not charging God with wrong, but he then becomes obsessed with being vindicated before his friends who falsely accuse him. Job’s fallacious indictments against God, particularly his charging God with injustice, reveal Job’s need for mercy before his Judge. The legal metaphor in Job, then, ultimately highlights God’s merciful and redeeming purposes in forgiving Job of his false accusation of God, and reconciling Job’s three guilty friends to Himself.


Footnote:
Not a Theodicy


Because God does not explain nor justify His actions in His two speeches to Job in Job 38-41, I do not take the book of Job to be a theodicy as many consider it to be. A theodicy seeks to reconcile the idea of a good and just God with the reality of the unjust sufferings of the righteous and the prosperity of the unrighteous (Hartley 76-77). Job is greatly disturbed by the reality of his own innocent suffering and the prosperity of the wicked, even to the point of accusing God of injustice. Job seeks a theodicy (Job 10.2; 21.7; 24.1; 31.35-37), but God does not give it. Job’s answer from God, and His spokesman Elihu, is one that re-directs Job’s focus to trusting in a perfectly wise and sovereign Creator who executes justice, but who needs not reveal nor defend all of His inscrutable ways to man. Job is left to repent of his foolish assumptions concerning the nature and purposes of God in his suffering (Job 42.1-6), and to submit to serving his God who proves to be redemptive, merciful, and incomprehensible (Job 42.7-9)