Text: Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Theme: “Did the Devil Go Down to Georgia?”
19th Sunday
After Pentecost
October 4, 2015
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
+In the Name of Jesus+
In the land of Uz there lived a man
whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and
shunned evil.
On another day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and
Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have
you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming
throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
3 Then
the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on
earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns
evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him
to ruin him without any reason.”
4 “Skin
for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike
his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
6 The
Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare
his life.”
7 So
Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful
sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery
and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His
wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and
die!”
10 He
replied, “You are talking like a foolish[b]
woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he
said.
Did the devil go down to Georgia? According to the Charlie Daniels Band, he
most assuredly did. And we were there on
the North Texas State Fair grounds when old Charlie sang it about a month
ago:
Well the Devil went down to Georgia
He was lookin' for a soul to steal
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind
And he was willin' to make a deal
When he came across this young man
Sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot
And the Devil jumped up on a hickory stump
And said, "Boy, let me tell you what"
"You probably didn't know it
But I'm a fiddle player too
And if you care to take a dare
I'll just make a bet with you"
"Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy
But give the Devil his due
I'll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul
I think I'm better than you"
The boy said, "My name's Johnny
And it might be a sin
But I'm gonna take your bet, you're gonna regret
I'm the best there's ever been"
Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard.
'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia and the Devil deals it
hard.
And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold,
But if you lose the devil gets your soul.
Today I begin a four-part series of messages inspired by
the Book of Job in the Old Testament.
I’m fully aware that I could give you information about the book –
including who wrote it, when it was written, what so-and-so said about it,
etc. But the intent here is not that we
might become better Bible trivia players.
The book of Job, when you get right down to the
nitty-gritty, addresses a question, a question that has perplexed, confused,
baffled, flummoxed, irritated, and challenged people for as long as questions
have been asked and pondered upon. Here
it is – and I think you already know it:
why do bad things happen to good people?
Folks, I’ve never had a “eureka” moment with this
question; there have been no bursts of insight or inspiration, no “answers”
that I could demolish with more questions.
I don’t know why bad things happen to good people. And I don’t know why good things often happen
to bad people! I plow no new ground here. I have no answers. Even if I did, I could argue and refute each
of the answers. So I’m left with having
to live with the question.
Pardon me, but I don’t like living with the
question. Bad things shouldn’t happen to
good people. Good things should happen
to good people. Bad things should happen
to bad people. But wait. We don’t want bad things to happen, period,
right? We don’t want to wish “bad” upon anyone, or do we? My favorite coffee mug says this: “Dear Karma:
I have a list of people you missed!”
Why is it so hard to think about why bad things happen
to good people? That’s really simple: it’s because it is not fair; it challenges
our elementary sense of fairness.
Is it fair or even beneficial to wrestle with the
question of whether there’s a devil or not?
Did he go down to Georgia – ala Charlie Daniels? Did he go down to the land of Uz and afflict
a man named Job? Is there such a thing
as a literal devil – you know, with horns on head and pitchfork in hand? The Bible characterizes the devil as fallen
angel, a lion on the prowl searching for someone to devour, a serpent, the
father of lies, a murderer from the beginning, and on the side of mankind and
not of God. The language is as
dramatic as it is sparse.
I read these ancient texts with my 21st
century mind, and here’s how it shakes down for me: there is a malicious, malevolent, evil force
in the world. We saw it in play, once
again, at an Oregon campus the day before yesterday.
The gospel of Jesus Christ tells me, though, that this
force has ultimately been defeated.
Through the person and work of Jesus Christ; through His horrific
execution, triumphant resurrection, glorious ascension, the force of evil lost
the war. The spoils of God’s victory
over evil are given to us in the Gospel proclaimed and the Sacraments administered! Jesus Christ is the “Johnny” in old Charlie
Daniels’ song: “The devil bowed his head
‘cuz he knew that he’d been beat, and he laid that golden fiddle on the ground
at Johnny’s feet.”
Yet it certainly doesn’t appear – to our 21st
century eyes, ears, and senses – that evil has been beaten. Evil is as
relentless as it is defeated. Ultimately
losing the war, evil, still continues to engage isolated skirmishes and
battles. The idea is to get you to
despair of anyone and everything by any means possible. Evil wants you to feel like a pawn on someone
else’s chessboard. Evil wants you to
throw your integrity into the green garbage bin and not the blue recycle bin. Evil wants you to “curse God and die.” In fact, that’s what Job’s wife urged her
husband to do: “Are you still maintaining your integrity?
Curse God and die!”
I married up! It looks
as though Job did not. Telling her hubby
to curse God and die doesn’t strike me as wholesome advice. Later on, three friends will visit Job. More on that in the weeks to come – suffice
it to say, for now, that “with friends like that who needs enemies?”
My friends, the book of Job raises way more questions than it
answers. Why did God even allow “Satan”
to enter into His presence? Why did God
– our holy, gracious, loving God – even suggest that the devil could pick on
someone? “Have you considered my
servant, Job?” God asks of Satan.
The more you read Job, the more the questions come at
you. They are hard ones to answer. The temptation, as in so much else, is to not
even bother trying to answer them.
Our reading concludes with Job himself asking his own
question: “Shall we accept good from God
and not trouble?” Think about it: we readily accept the good stuff in the lives
of people, our people. We even celebrate
it and thank God for it, say, when someone we love comes through intricate
surgery – using that as an example. But
if that loved one doesn’t come through, are we as ready to accept much the less
celebrate it?
Job accepts BOTH the good and the bad. Why? He was willing to wrestle with the tough
question: why do bad things happen to
good people? Wrestling is like
exercise: yes, it can wear you out, but
it also can strengthen you.
Evil was allowed to strike him down, but it did not strike
him out. In all that happened to him,
Job did not sin.
Leaving Uz and leaving Georgia, the devil may have come down
to Denton. He may have struck you down,
but the gospel assures you that you’re not struck out.
It’s only moments away now.
Into your mouths will go the sign and seal that our God is wonderfully
beyond good and bad. Our God is gracious and forgiving. It is that grace and forgiveness – beyond the
good and bad, beyond all human understanding – that enables us live with the
tough questions.
Amen
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