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Misjudging a Friend

Misjudging a Friend
August 19, 2018

Scripture: Job 22

I. You make false accusations when you misjudge your friends.

A. Job 22 is the third and thankfully last of the speeches that Job’s friend Eliphaz makes. In verse 5, we can see that Eliphaz thought Job was a great sinner. In that verse Eliphaz says, “Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.” It looks like Eliphaz is a prosecutor pointing a finger of accusation straight at Job. And beginning in vs. 6 it looks like Eliphaz is just picking sins out on a dartboard. He hasn’t been able to find any great sin in Job so now he just throws things up on the wall to see what sticks. See also verse 7 and verse 9.

B. Is there any evidence in the book of Job that Job had actually done these wicked things? No. God’s verdict on Job’s life in Job 1:8 was that Job was blameless and upright. Why then had Job’s friend Eliphaz so badly misjudged Job? It was all because of his system of theology. Good things must happen to good people. Bad things must happen to bad people. Eliphaz didn’t see that his system was untrue which led him to misjudge his friend Job. A better system of thinking for living in a time of suffering is found in 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

II. You turn God against them when you misjudge your friends.

A. Is God for your Christian friends or is God against them? Romans 8:31: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” If you are truly a Christian, God is for you. Just because some of your Christian friends are suffering, don’t reach the conclusion, “Well, they must have done something wrong. It looks to me like God is clearly against them.” That is the conclusion that Eliphaz reached about Job in vs. 12-20.

B. Job, Eliphaz says, you are living as a wicked atheist. You live like God doesn’t know what you’re doing (vs. 13). And you will discover soon that God is against you. God will judge you and punish you for your sins. God will judge you with the flood (vs. 16) and with the fire (vs. 20). “I am not against you. I am for you.” Let’s bring that message from God to our suffering Christian friends. Let them know that God is for them – not against them. Let’s not be like Eliphaz who misjudged his friend Job and told Job that God was against him.

III. You speak the wrong message when you misjudge your friends.

A. Eliphaz had misjudged his friend Job as a great sinner. And what is the message that sinners need to hear? Repent. Turn back to God. This is the message that Eliphaz spoke to Job in vs. 21-25. This is the message of the Gospel. If you repent of your sin and turn to God in faith, God will forgive you and bless you with Himself. So, what could possibly be wrong with Eliphaz preaching the Gospel to Job? It was the wrong message for Job because Job did not need to repent. He was already a righteous man. It was also wrong for Eliphaz to focus on promises of blessing if Job would repent (vs. 26-30). He is encouraging Job to be motivated by exactly the same thing that Satan said was Job’s motivation: “If I worship God, God will bless me.” But God wanted Job to reveal to the world that God is worthy of our worship even when there are no blessings that come from God’s hand.

Application:
Hold on to your faith and God will do great things through you and for you. Help your suffering Christian friends to hear this message.

Sources:
The book of Job
Commentaries on Job by Christopher Ash and Francis Andersen