Why Do You Serve God?
Text: Job 1:1-12
Readings: 
•	Psalm 34 
•	Lamentations 3:25-42 

Theme: Satan contends that Job only serves God out of self-interest.
Purpose: To introduce the book of Job and highlight the main point of serving God for who he is and not what he gives. 

Congregation, 
This book of Job is one of the masterpieces of world literature. It is part of the wisdom writings of the OT that include some of the psalms, and the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 
The wisdom literature of the Bible reflects on the purpose and meaning of life - why are we here? What is the point of living? Where are we going? What makes life worth living?
Wise and godly men examined human problems in the light of faith. They brought the truth of God to bear on the questions & difficulties of life. They applied the Scriptures to human experience. 
The book of Job does this in a powerful way. It is an intense book. Most of it is written as a dialogue, a discussion between Job and his friends, and between Job and God.
Part of its power is that it deals with an issue that everyone has struggled with. Because it is a book about suffering. 
Many of us have suffered - some through sickness, the death of a child, a parent, a husband, a wife. Maybe you have suffered with depression, with doubt, with an unhappy marriage, with rebellious children. Everyone's suffering is different, but most of us have had some experience of this. 
Our suffering raises an age old question: Why do people suffer? Why does God allow it? Or as one book puts it; "If God is so Good, Why do I Hurt so Bad?" This is worth considering because every one of us will have to face this question at some time. Every one of us will be called on to suffer at some time, in some way. You need to be thinking about that, preparing for it. 
Getting to grips with suffering involves recognising truth about ourselves and truth about God. 
This is what the Apostle James focuses on when he mentions Job in his letter: "You have heard about Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy" (5:11) So this is a book about the perseverance of Job and about the compassion and mercy of God. 
Calvin highlights this at the beginning of his Institutes: True wisdom requires a knowledge of God & a knowledge of ourselves. 
The book of Job is about God and man. It is about God's greatness and sovereign power, and it is about man's response to God in times of suffering. 
It deals with the question: Why do you love and serve God? Can you do this in good times, and also in bad times? When things are going well and when there are times of trouble? 
This is a powerful book because it shows us how one man struggled with this question. It illustrates the truth about God and man in the life and suffering of one individual. This is why it strikes a cord with people - Here is a man who suffered and who came through with faith, by God's grace. 
Let's look more closely at Job himself as we consider, first of all, 

1.	THE BACKGROUND ON JOB 
We know very little about him. He lived in the "land of Uz" which we know from vs 3 was the area East of the land of Israel. That however, included a huge area of land - and we don't where he lived in that vast area. We presume he was not a Israelite because he lived outside of the land of Palestine - but he obviously did know and love the Lord. 
Nor do we know when he lived. There is little in the book that might give away the time period. He could have lived anywhere between the time of Abraham through till Ezra. That is, anywhere between 2000 BC to 500 BC. 
All the Bible tells us is that - "There lived a man..."
Perhaps we are not told much about him so that the story is deliberately left very general. This means that we all identify with him. Here is "a man" - a human like us. 
Many of us regard Job with a certain amount of respect, even awe. Here is a man who endured so much and kept his faith in God. Yet let's remember that he was just like us. 
Children will remember the story of the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard seemed to be a powerful magician, Master of the Emerald City, but the friends who went to see the magician found out that he was just an ordinary person. 
That's the way it is with Job. It seems incredible that someone should go through so much, but in most respects he was an ordinary person, just like you and me - human. 
That too was the wonder of the Lord Jesus: Although he was God he was also a man - he was human - like us in every respect except for sin. 
This is where Job also stood out. He wasn't perfect like Jesus, but he was extraordinary. The prophet Ezekiel mentions three men who are outstanding examples of righteousness: They are Noah, Daniel and Job. The Bible lists Job among the top three in his integrity. This is an important point, because later his friends will accuse him of all sorts of terrible sins - but the Lord regarded Job as blameless and upright. This is the assessment of the writer in vs 1 and of God in vs 8. 
"This man was blameless and upright"
This doesn't mean he was without sin or perfect. He too was a sinner. But he truly loved God and loved his neighbour - and God the father counted him as righteous - not because of his righteousness, but on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Jesus. 
"He feared God and shunned evil"
To fear God is the essence of all true religion. Proverbs tells us that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
Job himself tells us that: "The fear of the Lord - that is wisdom" (28:28).
To fear God is to love Him, to hold Him in awe, to reverence Him, to respect Him; it is to recognise that God is greater than us in every way and so to submit to him. 
If we fear God we will turn away from evil, we will walk in Gods ways, as Job did. Job did this so well that God held him out to Satan as an example: vs 8 - "There is no one on earth like him." 
But this brings us to a central question in the book of Job - 

2.	WHY DID JOB FEAR GOD? 
Why did he serve him? Why did he love him? And, for that matter, why do you? and why do I? 
This was a Question put to God 
It arises from this unusual story of Satan appearing before God in heaven. The Lord asks Satan; "Where have you come from". Satan replies, "From roaming through the earth..." (vs 7).
In OT times Satan has much more freedom of movement than he does in NT times. Then he had the freedom to deceive the nations and to blind them to God's truth. But the victory of the Lord Jesus in his death and resurrection bound Satan and restricted his activities. 
Satan is pictured here as an aimless wanderer. One writer describes him as "a restless, shiftless, roving hoodlum - all he has to do all day is go gadding about in the world." Satan is looking for trouble, plotting against God.
There is an insolence and arrogance in his response to God. It's as though he sneers at God; "What's it to you what I'm doing? I can please myself!". 
In reply God points out Job, perhaps as an example to satan: vs 8....
Job is an example of industry cf Satan's irresponsibility, of righteousness cf Satan's evil, of respect and reverence for God cf Satan's insolence and brazen pride. 
But Job is also evidence of God's great work of redemption in the world. Satan had spoilt the perfection of God's world with his temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. But the triune God was at work bringing people back to God the father and setting things right - and Job was the best illustration of this. 
But then comes Satan's question for God: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" 
Read vs 9-11... 
Satan is accusing God of protecting Job from harm so that Job will love him. 
Children, Satan is accusing God of being like the rich boy at school who wants to buy his friends -so he gives them money or he buys lollies from the canteen to give away. 
God, says Satan, is like a billionaire who gives generous gifts to his friends - and that's why his friends like him, that why they are his friends. 
This is a question about Job. Satan accuses Job of serving God out of self-interest. In the perversity of his mind he cannot believe that anyone would serve God out of genuine love - that is beyond his comprehension and belief. People must be serving God for what they can get out of him. Satan believes that Job's fear of the Lord was motivated by selfishness. He believed that if God removed all these blessings Job would curse God to his face. 
This is a question for us because this has been a common accusation against Christians - a charge that has been put in many different ways over many years.
This is the accusation of "rice Christians" - people who only believe because they are being fed - that people only go to church because they are getting food parcels.
It is the charge of a "fox-hole religion" - that someone will only turn to God to get them out of trouble. 
It is also a doctrine that is promoted by some teachers today: 
Willow Creek has been strong on a "fulfilment theology" - preaching that if people believe in God and follow Jesus they will live a fulfilled and satisfying life. And there is some truth to that - but it is also true that many Christians will be called on to suffer and life will not be "fulfilled" 
Some preachers promote a "health/wealth" doctrine, teaching that if you follow Jesus God will make you rich and you will be cured of your sicknesses. 
So this is a pressing question today, for each one of us: Why do you love God? Why do you serve him? 
Do you love God only for his gifts, or do you love him for who he is?
Do you serve God for a fee or for free?
If the Lord was to take everything away from you would you be satisfied with knowing him? 
This was the question Job faced. 
He was stripped of all he had and owned. All the gifts he had received from God were taken away from him. 
But he responded by holding on to the Lord.
He trusted God, even in the dark.
He loved God, for his own sake.
Sure, he had his questions, his struggles, his doubts, his difficulties. He cried out to God; he was distressed and perplexed. 
But he hung on to the Lord and he looked ahead to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his Redeemer, to the One who would suffer on behalf of his people. 
Later on he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." (13:15).
He persevered in faith and stuck to God. 
He feared God when times were good,
and he continued to fear God when times were tough. 
Job could have said the closing words of Psalm 73 as his own confession of faith.
As we read these words ask yourself, "Are these words MY confession, a statement of MY trust in God?" 
Read Psalm 73:23-26... 
Amen.