An Inheritance

Scripture Lessons: Job 1: 1-5 and Job 42: 1-6 and 10-17 Sermon Title: An Inheritance Preached on October 28, 2018 John Michael just read the beginning of Job, and I just read the very end, and I wanted to read the beginning and the end together because a couple weeks ago I heard an Old Testament Professor, Dr. Bill Brown, explain that the book of Job ends almost exactly where it began. After all the suffering in the middle, his fortunes are restored, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before, but the way Job acts in the end is pretty different from how he acted in the beginning. Did you notice that? I never had before, but Dr. Brown points out this significant difference – in the end of the book we read that “Job gave his daughters an inheritance along with their brothers,” but in the first chapter of Job, Job is described as a man so “blameless and upright,” so consumed with “fearing God and turning away from evil” that when his seven sons would “hold feasts in one another’s houses” inviting their three sisters “to eat and drink with them,” afterwards “Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” That was what Job always did.”” That’s a nice idea, but there’s a problem with that. There’s a problem with sacrificing one animal for each of your kids, because there are some things that you just can’t do for them. You can’t be a Christian for your kids, you know? There’re all kinds of things parents are tempted to do for their children, but the line between helping and enabling is thin but crucial. Imagine that your 6th grade son leaves for school but left his homework on the kitchen table. You know that he needs to turn it in that day, that he’s worked hard on it and will be penalized when he can’t turn it in, so you’re tempted to bring it to him at the school, but you don’t want to get in the habit of doing things like that, because if he’s 35, living in the basement, and you’re still bringing him his brief case at the office when he forgets it on the kitchen table that’s embarrassing for everybody involved. Last Wednesday night our District Attorney, Vic Reynolds was here at the church. He was in a panel moderated by the always Honorable but recently retired Chief Justice Harris Hines, and on this panel that was discussing the opium epidemic facing our community Mr. Reynolds said, “There’s nothing that will give a human more dignity than a job.” Everyone on the panel was talking about drugs, and why people use drugs, and Mr. Reynolds said that if people don’t have anything to do with their lives, if there’s nothing there to fill their days; if they’re not just lonely but also disempowered, a good way to build them up is to get them a decent job so they’ll see what they’re capable of, but Job got in the bad habit of doing too much for his children. That’s not good – but it happens. There’s a quote on our plaque honoring all the boys who earned the rank of Eagle Scout through our Troop 252. My brother’s name is on there. If you look at all the names you’ll recognize a bunch of them, and on there is a quote at the top from Teddy Roosevelt: “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” But I know some of those Eagle Scouts rendered that quote ironic, because the work done to earn the rank was done by their daddy. We parents can’t do too much for our kids. Especially, we can’t be Christian for them. An old preacher used to say, “God has children, but no grandchildren.” Just because his mama was a prayer warrior and his daddy was an elder and they both sat on the front row every Sunday, that doesn’t mean that their son’s relationship with God is taken care of because God has children, but no grandchildren, and all of us must be washed in the blood of the Lamb for ourselves. We all must walk that lonesome valley, and nobody else can walk it for us, you’ve got to walk it by yourself. But parents try to walk it for their children. I try to for our kids – but even if their daddy’s a preacher they’re the ones who are responsible for their relationship with God. We can help – and God’s always reaching out to them, but nobody else can do it for them. On the other hand, Job offered those sacrifices just in case his kids might have sinned. You know, we can encourage our children, but we can’t do everything for them or they’ll get all messed up. A son who got a small loan from his father when he was a young man that he turned into a fortune is one thing. The father who made his son a millionaire by the time he turned three is something entirely different. There are some things that everyone has to do on their own – and if too much is given to them they’ll take all the credit without doing any of the work. “Some people are born on third base and think it’s because they hit a triple,” is what a preacher I know likes to say – and that’s true. I do it all the time. I walked into a Bible study last Tuesday. I was supposed to start the class right at 12, and there I was. I walked into that room right at 12 to start the class and as I did all the ladies in there clapped. I thought they were clapping for me, and when I got home I told Sara, “You can’t believe how much those ladies love the way I teach Revelation. They clapped when I entered the room.” Turns out they only clapped because I finally showed up on time. You see – people take credit for too much. And when we do everything for our kids they don’t grow up grateful. They grow up entitled. So, the way Job ends is different from how it begins. In the end – Job doesn’t offer sacrifices for them, he gives all of them, even his daughters, something to inherit. The trick that the book of Job teaches then, is giving them enough help that they can do it themselves. Enough money so they can go out and make something of themselves. Enough opportunities for education that they can get educated. Enough guidance that they can meet God on their own – because we can’t do it for them. You know what happens – we drag them here, and then they finally get confirmed in 7th grade and we treat it like they’re graduating from church. A youth minister told me that one time. Be careful about honoring High School Graduates in a worship service, because some of them will think that now they’re done with religion just like they’re done with High School. That’s what will happen unless we can find a way to make this house of worship their house too. So, we’ve asked John Michael to read Scripture this morning. That’s an important job, and we didn’t ask him because he looks sharp up here behind the pulpit – we asked him because he has something to teach us – because he has something to give this church too. Everyone deserves the chance to give. I gave blood in-between services today. Sara asked me if I thought that was such a good idea. I said, “No, it’s not.” If I pass out John Michael’s taking over – but the thing about it is – is it’s easy not to give blood if there are plenty of people who will do it if I don’t – but this time, if we didn’t make 32 pints the Red Cross was going to quit having blood drives at our church – so I rolled up my sleeves and did it. I’m glad I did – because I’m 0 negative and they give baby’s my blood. It makes me proud to give, but I have a million excuses why I can’t – then when I know I’m needed it feels so good to make my contribution. That’s what Job gave to his children in the end – the joy of doing work worth doing. And that’s what Stewardship is about – and I know there are a million reasons not to give to the church this year – but don’t let the reason that you don’t give be that plenty of people around here will do it if you don’t, because this church is yours too. I say that to you if you’re 98 and if you’re 8 months – you have something to give this church. You have something to contribute, and you can’t let anyone else do it for you. When I was 17, the Youth Group of this church elected me to be their president. Now before that time I hadn’t really been that big a part of things. My parents taught Sunday School, and because my grandmother pinched my mother during the sermons when she was a child, we didn’t make it to worship when I was a kid a whole lot. She didn’t want to have to pinch us. Somebody said, the best thing about being a preacher is you don’t have to sit next to your kids in church. Staying out of here during worship when I was a kid was nice – but you know what was better? When the youth group elected me to be their president. That was a big deal – and I don’t even really know what my official role of youth group president was, but I can tell you what I thought it was. I thought I needed to be at everything, and so, when I was Senior in High School and my parents were all set to take us all to London for my cousin’s wedding, but it was the same week that the youth group was going to Montreat for the Youth Conference and I said, “Sorry mom and dad, but I can’t go. I have presidential responsibilities.” I might not have said it exactly like that – but what I’m trying to say is that instead of this church doing everything for me, all at once I was put to work – and that work, being asked to contribute made all the difference in the world to me. We wonder why young people have this problem with commitment – but why should they if in the end we’ll just do it for them? That’s what changed with Job. Bill Paden has an even better story than mine. He had tickets to Super Bowl I. He was already in Los Angeles on business, and he had tickets, but you know what he did, he flew back here and missed the game, because on that Sunday he was to be ordained as a Deacon of First Presbyterian Church. Two of his grandsons have just been asked to be deacons for the first time as well, and Bill’s passing something on to them – this church is passing something on to them – it’s an inheritance like the one that Job gave his children in the end of the book. It’s not the kind that’s so big they’ll never have to work again. This inheritance puts them to work; this inheritance enables them to contribute to make this church their own. That’s the big difference between what Job does at the beginning of the book compared to what he does at the end. After all he suffered, at the end of the book he’s given up making sacrifices on behalf of all his children and decided instead to give his daughters an inheritance along with his sons. Now that’s a revolutionary thing to do. But think about what it would have meant to them – instead of trying to protect them from the world, now Job’s given them a chance to make their own way in it. Instead of doing everything for them, now Job’s given even his daughters the means to do for themselves. Instead of making sacrifices on their behalf, now they can make their sacrifices, live their lives, and worship their God. It’s a major difference – and you can’t help but think that this difference is the result of all that’s happened to him, for when we are faced with the chaos of the world, the devastation, the hardship and injustice, the choice we often face is whether we’ll hide the world as it is from our children or give them the tools to deal with it. This week, as a church we face just how hard the reality of our world is. David Blake, a child of our church, was finally found near Little Kennesaw Mountain – and we all must wonder how to talk with our kids about it, because the reality of depression can’t be hidden, or it will take even more. Job tried to do it all for his kids. He tried to protect them, but far better is to pass on an inheritance – so that all our children and our grandchildren might make this faith their own and say of their own volition despite all the storms of life, still: “I know that my redeemer lives.” Amen.