Page 2 August 1, 2010
In the good old days people respected Job. Young men stepped aside. Even older men rose to their feet in his presence. When he spoke, all listened. He was a champion, speaking up for the defenseless, the stranger, the widow. People would bless him with their dying breath.
“I thought, ‘I will die in 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 remain fresh in me, the bow ever new in my hand.’” We marvel at those who still ride their bikes at 90 years of age, who take care of themselves and are always busy and active, when kids and grandkids love it when they come over. We all wish we could be the same.
But that was no more. Job had no children to visit him, no prosperity, only rags and sores and a diseased body. No one listened to him. He needed help instead of helping others, and no help was coming.
You recall in the beginning how Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” To his confused wife he said, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” These were wise words from Job. But now the everyday drumbeat of disaster and disease is taking a toll on him. Job was having trouble accepting the bad and wished only for the good old days. He had trouble adjusting to change.
We do, too. Sure, it is not so hard to adjust to positive changes like getting twice the salary for only half the work. We can accept that. But how will you react to the changes of age, as Solomon states in Ecclesiastes 12, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them.’” How are you adjusting to changes in your life, when teeth bother you, you don’t have the energy anymore, when you stoop, the hearing fades, and you become afraid of things? One of the most common complaints I hear from shut ins is they are not as productive as before. Can you handle that?
How are you adjusting to the recession? Do you come from a broken family? Wouldn’t it be nice if they are back together again? Has there been a death in the family? One common question asked at funerals is, “What shall I do now?” Parents, maybe you are glad your kids have moved on, but don’t you miss the days when they were young and so were you? Kids, do you like growing up, taking on more responsibility, working, having more expected of you?
But what about the biggest change, your own mortality? Are you willing to leave this all behind? C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
And that is the problem, and the devil knows it. We are far too easily pleased. We love respect, money, prestige, the easy life so when God offers us the infinite treasures of his heaven, we are not much interested, especially if it means giving up the world. That is why Jesus warns us not to love the world or worry about it. We cannot serve both God and mammon.
II. The best is yet to come.
Or we can know that the best is yet to come. Let me take you back to our gospel reading, the words of Jesus himself. “I tell you the truth. You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will not longer ask me for anything.”
What is it that will turn all our grief into joy? What is it that will make us forget the pain we face today like a woman forgetting the pain of labor when she holds her newborn in her arms? What is it that will lead us to rejoice and no one and no thing will take away that joy? What is it that will lead us to never ask God for another thing, not for food or money or health, anything?
Friends, if you find joy in this world and what it offers, you will sooner or later grieve and wish for days gone by. Then we will all lose our joy in this world. A man’s retirement income is cut in half because of the economy and joy is replaced by fear.
But there is a future for you, and it is better than anything we can ever experience here and now. That is what it means to be saved. It means looking around and finally realizing that everything you see will be destroyed and gone, except you. By faith God has snatched you up out of this world. By faith you are connected to Jesus and the life he already led for you and the death he already died for you. By the waters of Baptism, you have been lifted up out of this world like Noah and his family in the flood. We join Paul in considering everything else rubbish and garbage compared to knowing Jesus Christ.
“I thought, ‘I will die in 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 remain fresh in me, the bow ever new in my hand.’” We marvel at those who still ride their bikes at 90 years of age, who take care of themselves and are always busy and active, when kids and grandkids love it when they come over. We all wish we could be the same.
But that was no more. Job had no children to visit him, no prosperity, only rags and sores and a diseased body. No one listened to him. He needed help instead of helping others, and no help was coming.
You recall in the beginning how Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” To his confused wife he said, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” These were wise words from Job. But now the everyday drumbeat of disaster and disease is taking a toll on him. Job was having trouble accepting the bad and wished only for the good old days. He had trouble adjusting to change.
We do, too. Sure, it is not so hard to adjust to positive changes like getting twice the salary for only half the work. We can accept that. But how will you react to the changes of age, as Solomon states in Ecclesiastes 12, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them.’” How are you adjusting to changes in your life, when teeth bother you, you don’t have the energy anymore, when you stoop, the hearing fades, and you become afraid of things? One of the most common complaints I hear from shut ins is they are not as productive as before. Can you handle that?
How are you adjusting to the recession? Do you come from a broken family? Wouldn’t it be nice if they are back together again? Has there been a death in the family? One common question asked at funerals is, “What shall I do now?” Parents, maybe you are glad your kids have moved on, but don’t you miss the days when they were young and so were you? Kids, do you like growing up, taking on more responsibility, working, having more expected of you?
But what about the biggest change, your own mortality? Are you willing to leave this all behind? C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are half-
II. The best is yet to come.
Or we can know that the best is yet to come. Let me take you back to our gospel reading, the words of Jesus himself. “I tell you the truth. You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will not longer ask me for anything.”
What is it that will turn all our grief into joy? What is it that will make us forget the pain we face today like a woman forgetting the pain of labor when she holds her newborn in her arms? What is it that will lead us to rejoice and no one and no thing will take away that joy? What is it that will lead us to never ask God for another thing, not for food or money or health, anything?
Friends, if you find joy in this world and what it offers, you will sooner or later grieve and wish for days gone by. Then we will all lose our joy in this world. A man’s retirement income is cut in half because of the economy and joy is replaced by fear.
But there is a future for you, and it is better than anything we can ever experience here and now. That is what it means to be saved. It means looking around and finally realizing that everything you see will be destroyed and gone, except you. By faith God has snatched you up out of this world. By faith you are connected to Jesus and the life he already led for you and the death he already died for you. By the waters of Baptism, you have been lifted up out of this world like Noah and his family in the flood. We join Paul in considering everything else rubbish and garbage compared to knowing Jesus Christ.
