On that side of Japan, of Jamaica experienced the loss of
the sense of home, a loss of sense of security about their
home. Maybe you have experienced that
as well, some sense where you felt like, I don't feel at home
in my home. I don't feel, what is it we sing
at Christmas. I'll be home for Christmas,
right? And so maybe you're like, I'm
not really looking forward to going home for Christmas because
I've lost my sense of home. Something happened at my home or
with my family or with my parents or in that place.
Something's happened to me and I don't feel like going home or
I'm going and I don't feel like I'm going home because your
sense of home has changed. We're in the dark side of
Christmas. It's called Advent.
It's that part of the Christmas calendar and the Christian
calendar that makes us face reality before we enjoy the
bright lights and all the bright songs and the festivities of
celebrating Christ being born. We are anticipating not the
birth of Christ, though we celebrate that.
We are anticipating the return of Christ.
And why does the return of Christ matter?
Well, if we take a look at how this home doesn't always feel
home, then we begin to notice our longings.
Advent is a time that helps us not rush into Christmas and the
bright lights, but it helps us take stock of the condition of
this world and of ourselves and that we often don't always feel
at home. We're going to look at a man
named Job this morning. He's perhaps very famous to you,
maybe not so famous, but Job is known as the man who suffered a
lot in the Bible. And in the passage that we're
going to be reading from Job 29, we see Job actually speaking up
for himself after he's had three friends sort of rake him over
the coals. He's had enough.
And now he speaks up again. It's called Job's final
discourse. Job has lost his children.
Job has lost his wealth. Job has lost his homes.
And his wife, whom he didn't lose, has just said to him, Job,
why don't you just curse God and die?
You are miserable. Just curse God and die.
Because not only did Job lose all of that incredible wealth
and incredible status and position in his society, he had
now lost his health and he was miserable.
And so here's his discourse. How I long for the months gone
by. For the days when God watched
over me, when his lamp shone on my head and by His light I
walked through darkness. Oh, for the days when I was in
my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house,
When the Almighty was still with me and my children were all
around me. When my path was drenched with
cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
Those were good days, right? He goes on.
In those days. When I went to the gate of the
city and took my seat in the public square, the young men saw
me and stepped aside. The old men rose to their feet.
The chief men refrain from speaking and covered their
mouths with their hands. The voices of the nobles were
hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me
commended me. Because I rescued the poor who
cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to
assist them. The one who was dying blessed
me. I made the widow's heart sing.
I put on righteousness as my clothing.
Justice was my robe and my turban.
I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
I was a father to the needy. I took up the case of the
stranger. I broke the fangs of the wicked
and snatched their victims from their teeth.
What a man, I thought. I will die in my house, my own
house, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
My roots will reach to the water and the dew will lie all night
on my branches. My glory will not fade.
The bow will be ever new in my hand.
People listen to me expectantly, waiting in silence for my
counsel. After I had spoken, they spoke
no more. My words fell gently on their
ears. They waited for me As for
showers and drink in my words as the spring rain.
When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it.
Wow. Job smiled at me.
Made my day better. That's what he's saying.
The light of my face was precious to them.
I chose the way for them and sat as their chief.
I dwelt as a king among his troops.
I was like one who comforts the mourners.
You know what the next verse says?
The next verse says. But now the young men mock me.
You see, Job has experienced losses that have shattered his
sense of home. One of the aspects of growing
and maturity is how you handle your losses.
The growth and maturity. As a Christian, your emotional
fortitude is how you handle your losses.
And what losses have you had? I know you're afraid of losses
in exam season, but what losses have you had?
What battles did you fight and lose?
This is a really important aspect of Christian life and
discipleship, and it's why it's part of Advent.
Job's losses have shattered his sense of home in that great
movie called Friday Night, Friday Night Lights.
Do you all know it, Coach Taylor, there's a football fan
right up there. He knows this movie, Coach
Taylor, you know, is known for saying clear eyes, full hearts
can't lose. But what happens when you do
lose? Every man at some point, he says
in his life is going to face a battle, a battle which will make
him a man because he's going to lose it.
But in the midst of that, what will be a win in the battle is
that he does not lose himself. And Job is at the crux.
Job is at the intersection of will Job lose himself?
He his sense of home is shattered.
The roof fell down and killed his children.
Chaldeans came and stole all his wealth.
A storm came and killed his wealth.
A storm had changed his life. And so now he has had a loss of
honor. Not just a loss of stuff, but
he's had a loss of honor. And in traditional societies,
you are somebody because you have something and you can
provide for your family, you can provide for others.
You are somebody because you continue to accomplish
something, and so you provide for them.
You noticed, he says. I was like a king to them.
I was like a father to them. But now his loss of honor is the
product of a shattered home. Now they mock me.
He's has an internal loss of security.
Some of you know this. Your families went to through
financial hard times and rent was hard or the mortgage was
defaulted. Maybe you had a parent who went
bankrupt. And so that loss of security
about your next paycheck, the next meal rippled through your
family, and you were nervous about it.
Job describes that nervousness, giving a personified sense to
the terrors. He says terrors overwhelm me.
And notice what he says of the night.
He said the night pierces my bones.
In other words, he says, I'm laying down to sleep.
And it says if the darkness is piercing into me like a sword,
like a needle, that's a loss of security when you cannot lay
down and truly rest. Here's how he describes his loss
of health, though. He says there's a churning, not
a churching. There's a churning inside me in
Job 30. He says that churning never
stops. Do you know the stomach that
just won't stop churning? He's talking about that internal
sense. Everything inside of him is
unwell. And he says that even his skin
has become blackened. His skin is rotting, and he was
covered in boils. When his friends found him, he
was sitting in the dirt with a piece of pottery, scraping the
boils off of him. That's a terrible loss of
health. His sense of home was shattered,
and with it came loss of honor, loss of security, loss of
health. Have you been there?
If not, those days come. I hate to tell you, but maybe
they're there for someone else, you know?
Maybe that's there for some of Sid's family in Jamaica, whole
communities who feel this way. We live in a world that's never
far from these kinds of troubles, where this world does
not feel like home. But Job goes on.
His sense of home, his sense of being at home in his place is
also disturbed. But also his sense of home with
God, of being at home with God was disturbed.
And God, Job was really under pressure in his relationship
with God. Remember, his wife said, just go
ahead and curse God and die. So how did Job describe that?
You can go back one. There we go, one more, one more.
You're going forward. Come back this way.
There we go. Joe became desperate and he
began to press in. He did not lose himself.
Joe began to press in and desperately declare his
innocence. He was known as a blameless guy.
He was known as a just man. He was known as a generous man.
And so he begins a long list of ways to declare his innocence,
to say, come on, God, I'm not that bad.
In fact, here are all the good things I've done, and here are
all the things I've not done, He says.
Look, if I've walked with falsehood or my foot has hurried
after deceit, let God weigh me in honest scales and he will
know that I am blameless. Weigh it out in the scales of
justice. That's what he's saying to God.
Take a look at my life. I'm innocent.
Now there's going to be a rebuke to this.
A young man rushes up, is mad at the friends and is mad at Job
and says there's no way you can be innocent in front of God.
His name was Elihu. But Job here is not losing
himself. He's giving a record, an account
of himself. And if you've met with anyone
who's facing the terrible sense of loss of home, who's facing a
terrible crisis, who's facing a terrible loss, you're going to
hear them suggest it's not fair. Where is God in this?
It's not fair. I can find someone who's worse
than me. I'm PG, pretty good.
And what are you going to do? You just need to let them vent.
You need to let them get it off themselves because it's them
saying I have not yet lost myself.
I'm still here. So he's pressing in for his
innocence, trying to find is there anything good in me And
he's then he's pressing in for his merit to say, look, I've
actually not just avoided doing things, I've done good things.
Surely I've merited some favour from God, He says.
Look, if I've denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of
the widow grow weary, if I've kept my bread for myself, not
sharing with the Father this, then let my arm fall off of my
shoulder. He's like, just let my arm fall
off 'cause that's what those kind of people are.
They have hands and they hold everything to themselves.
They're worthless to the world. And this is this is him saying,
look, at least I've done something.
So I've got some merit. I've done something that was
good. And in the midst of all this,
job goes on. Or do you feel a little nervous
about this, a little anxious about job's pressing in?
Do you feel a little uncomfortable when you sat
across from a friend who was doing this or a family member
who was doing this or someone else who had lost something?
You probably felt a little uncomfortable because they're a
part of us that goes you're not that good.
Oh, you probably didn't really do as much as you could have,
and that's exactly what Job's friends had been doing.
But now he's venting. Until now he's pressing in on
God and he's pressing God into a corner.
He says, look, if I had concealed my sin as people do,
oh, that I had someone to hear me, I signed.
Now my defense let the Almighty answer me.
If my accuser put his indictment in writing, I would give him a
count of my every step. In fact, he says I would take
that paper that that it's been written on and I would turn it
into a crown and I would present my crown to him.
Every argument to God, he's saying I'm going to present the
crown to God, my accuser, and let's see if God is fair.
Let's see if God is just what he's doing here.
He's actually saying God is like a beast that can't distinguish
between the wicked and the righteous.
That God is like those wild animals that just devour
anything that comes in their step.
Like the hungry lion just devours, not even
distinguishing, oh this person's good, this one's better.
I, I think I'll, I'll eat the bad person.
We wish life was like that. In fact, the Book of Job is
meant to disabuse us of the idea that bad things don't happen to
good people. It's meant to disabuse us of
this idea that if you have wealth, you're either wicked or
really, really good. You just have wealth.
The Book of Job is meant to disabuse us of this idea that
somehow we could get God on our side by just doing some good
things. And that's what makes the Book
of Job so difficult for us. Job is trying to say God, you're
you're no better than the beast. In fact, This is why when God
shows up to speak to Job, God speaks about Behemoth and
Leviathan, two humongous creatures.
Where are my English literature people who know about Behemoth
and Leviathan, great sea creatures.
And God says, look, I have tamed them, I have made them my pet.
I am greater than them. And then God says, I am just.
So there's something here that we have to really tend to, and
that is that God showed up when Joseph, I mean, when Job called
out, God showed up when Job called out.
Job did not get a why these things happened, but he did get
who. He got a who?
He got a God who was present to him who would restore a sense of
life and dignity and purpose to him, who invited him to move
from the wise into the What purpose will you find in this
today Job? It's a very significant move to
make in our troubles. Notice what the Lord says.
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm.
Now, this is really important. What was it that took away the
life of His children? A storm.
What was it that took away some of his wealth?
A storm. And then there were enemies that
created its own storm. And so now God shows up in a
storm and speaks to Job. Who is this that obscures my
plans with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man. How do you do that?
Brace yourself like a man and I will question you, and you shall
answer me. And then begins the really
famous monologue from God in the Book of Job.
Two things to notice here. God has not failed us even when
a storm shatters our sense of home.
That's the truth to take hold of before you're there.
That's the truth to take care of when you are there.
That's the truth that will seem so far away in the darkness.
The second is that God can speak above a storm's chaos.
When you think you're in a storm and that God can't hear you,
that God can't find you, that God himself can't speak over it,
it's time to remind yourself when God's ready, God can speak
to me. And when I'm ready, God will
speak to me. He will reveal His power and
fulfill his plans. And on a side note, it's that
our righteousness, our being good with God, is never a means
to an end. It is an end in and of itself.
Do you know, sometimes we get into places in our lives where
we're like, I'll make a bargain with God.
When I was a kid, I was like, God, I'll quit picking my nose
if you'll do this for me. I'd try for a day.
I'd pick my nose, you know, and then like, well, I guess God
just, you know what, Whatever it is for you where you're like,
I'll bargain with God if it can get God on my side.
God is so kind sometimes He honors those things in our
lives. Oh, God, if you'll do this, if
you will save this, then I will dedicate my life to this.
But here's how Job replied to God.
I know that you can do all things.
No purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, who is this that obscures my plans without
knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did
not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
You said, Listen now and I will speak.
I will question you, and you shall answer me.
My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself. I lower myself, in other words,
and repent in dust and ashes. That's a strange thing to think,
that the outcome of having lost a sense of home.
In the effort to save yourself, you surrender to God by
repenting of that very move. That is the strange way of a
Christian life, and it is the strange way of Christmas.
One of the things that we need to really aim for in this is
that we we reconsider why that sense of home is so important.
CS Lewis wrote these famous words, but maybe you've not seen
what's on either side of it, he says.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this
world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I
was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures
satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud.
Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but
only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.
If that is so, I must take care on the one hand never to despise
or be unthankful for these earthly blessings, and on the
other never to mistake them for the something else of which they
are only a kind of copy or echo or mirage.
I Here's the call of action. I must keep alive in myself the
desire for my true country, which I shall not find till
after death. I must never let it go or get
snowed under or turned aside. I must make it the main object
of my life to press on to that other country and to help others
do the same. There's our call to action.
We need a homemaker, don't we? Not a home wrecker.
Our desperate longing for home reveals our longing for the
homemaker. Jesus said if anyone hears my
words and receives me, my Father and I will come and make our
home in them. So no matter what happens in
this home, God can be at home in you.
And This is why we need Jesus. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you created this home for
us and that one day you will fully renew it in the new
creation. But in the space in between, we
are longing at times to be it more at ease, to have more
honor, to have more security, to have more health, to have more
wealth. And all of those longings seem
to exceed our longing for you. They've covered it up.
So we pray today that you would help us to repent of those
things so that they can be right sized in our life and that you
can be right sized, super sized in our life.
So come Lord Jesus and be our homemaker.
In a moment we will receive the Lord's Supper, which is Jesus
coming the first time to make it so, to make the way by laying
down His life. He made his home among us,
experiencing all of the home wrecking things of this life,
but maintaining his own integrity and personhood and
life with the Spirit, with the Father, so that he might make a
way and invite you into that very life.
If you've never said yes to Jesus, we want to encourage you
today. Just make a simple prayer and
say, Oh Jesus, would you come and make your home in me?
There's things that need to be removed.
There's things that need to be cleaned.
There's things that need to be rearranged.
But I make, I open the door to you today to be my home maker.
Let's stand together.