Word of Salvation – Vol. 20 No.19 – February 1974

 

What Is Your price?

 

Sermon by Rev. J. De Kievit, Th.Grad. on Job 1:9

Readings: Job 1; Luke 14:25-35

Hymns (afternoon): 361:1,2,3; 204:1,3,4; 210:1,2;
            462:1,4,5,6; 361:4 (doxology)

 

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ,

“Every man has his price.”

That’s a very cynical way of saying that no man can be trusted.  And that especially those people who talk most about allegiance and selfless service can be trusted least of all.  Their service is nothing but striving for fame and possessions.  Their allegiance can be bought if only the bribe is high enough.  “Every man has his price.” And in the last few months we have again become painfully aware that although this is a cynical outlook, all too often it is true!!

Take the case of Spiro Agnew.  He had seemed one of the few who still held to his principles amidst the shambles of Watergate.  Here was a man who was incorruptible; who could not be bought.

But he fell before the searching light of the American Justice Dept.  And now his name is besmirched as much as, if not more than, those who are in gaol for their part in political corruption.  And all because of the air he had about him of being above such things.  How have the mighty fallen!!  And after a while we get so used to this that we almost begin to think that to be a politician you must be involved in some shady deal or other — not only in the U.S.A. but also here.  The only question remains, “What IS your price?”!  It would be unfair, of course, to restrict this only to politicians.  We find it around us everywhere in the low as well as the high levels of society.

Business seems to operate this way as a matter of course, with pay-offs and fringe-benefits.  Anything goes as long as profits continue to rise.  And it is the same with labour relations.  We may be promised some industrial peace for the good of the nation.  But only if in this time of inflation there are no restrictions on wages or over-award payments.  Peace and service AT A PRICE, in other words!  Even the socially accepted practice of tipping is nothing but another form of corruption and bribery.  It seems that the question to ask will always be, “What is your price?”!  Would people still serve their country or their fellow-men without the personal advantages or the hard cash?

Now, it is that same question which Satan asks about Job.  “Does Job serve God for nought?”  Job, we find in verse 1 — and we hear it also from God’s own mouth in verse 8 — Job is an exceptional man.  “There is none like him.”  And there are four things we learn of him.  He is described as “blameless and upright.”  That is, his inner attitude towards God and his fellow-man can’t be faulted.  And this inner attitude is reflected in an upright life.  Job, we could say, was a model of virtue.  He was a man who walked in the paths of righteousness.

And that, we find, was due to the fact that Job “feared God’ in his heart.  He stands in awe of Him, which is also the reason why he turned away from evil.  He sounds almost too good to be true.  And then to think that he wasn’t even an Israelite with all the privileges of the Covenant and God’s revelation of Himself.  Nor was he a person who had all the Christian privileges and advantages we are surrounded with from the cradle to the grave.  A man, certainly, from whom we can take a good example.  And with a concern for the spiritual welfare of his children that puts many of us to shame.  How many parents today will go to the trouble he went to, in order to make sure that their off-spring don’t go the way of the world?

No, neither inwardly nor by his life, could anyone accuse Job of departure from God.  And it is not surprising therefore that the Lord singles HIM out before Satan, and points to him as “my servant Job.”  The man who is incorruptible; whose allegiance is with God!  But here now comes that question of the Arch-Cynic, with the poison of hatred on his tongue.  It is the question which forms the sinister background to this whole problem of suffering which we find in this difficult book of Job: “DOES JOB FEAR GOD FOR NOUGHT?”

It is only a SHORT question.  But one which really STINGS!!  Because we read also that Job was extremely wealthy.  All those sons and daughters; all that cattle; all those servants – so that he was the greatest of all the people of the east.

All these things, and especially the sons, blessings given to him by God.  JOB knows them as God’s blessings; and so does the DEVIL.  And Satan – the Accuser – he looks at all that wealth.  He DARES to come before God and cynically asks Him to His face, “And what’s HIS price?’  He accuses the Lord in fact, of buying Job’s allegiance.  “It’s easy for HIM to be your servant”, he is really saying.  “A hedge around him to keep away harm.”  “Blessings on the work of his hands.  Increase of wealth.”  “But just take all this away — and just see what will remain of his virtue and allegiance.”  “Then you’ll see that he’ll CURSE YOU TO YOUR FACE.”  “Then you’ll find out that he is so pious only because of his fine family and those possessions.”  “Then it will come out that his heart is where his treasure is right here on earth.”

You see, Satan wanted to shake Job out and knock him down.  And at the same time to make a fool of God for thinking that this man would worship Him for Himself alone; for nothing, for naught.  It’s over this issue that Job was to suffer.  That’s the devil all over — at all times.  Trying to oppose God at every turn.  Seeking to pluck God’s servants out of His hands.  It’s for this reason that this same question becomes very important for each one of us.
            “What is YOUR price?”
            “Will YOU fear God for nought?”

You know, for us it is so easy often to proclaim ourselves Christians.  It is not difficult at all to give ourselves the air of being solid citizens and God-fearing members of His Church.  Because really we are molly-coddled with Christian privileges; there’s no other way to describe it.  And perhaps, like Job, we have plenty of family cosily around In any case, there is no doubt that all of us are blessed with every kind of material possessions.  After all, the poorest of us has nothing to complain about.  We have no real poverty.  And indeed, all this prosperity comes from the hand of God — let us remember that.  And it is something to be thankful for!  There certainly are no special prizes for being poor.  Nor was there anything WRONG with Job’s wealth; or ours for that matter.  But THIS is the question that you and I have to face here, “What would happen to your faith and service if all this — family, wealth — if all this were taken away, as it was from Job?  What would happen, for example, if we came to face a situation like our Reformed brethren in Hungary?  Under oppression; in forced poverty – for the simple fact of being a Christian?  Business taken away; property confiscated.  How many of us would then be so keen to proclaim ourselves members of the Church?

And let us not imagine that this question is so easy for us to answer.  Because what do we show RIGHT NOW of this serving of God for God’s own sake; for no other reward; for NOTHING?  So often we give the impression of being “servants of God” as Job WAS.  We’re leaders in this or active in that.  But is this REALLY so?  What IS your price?  What are you after in your service?  Is it popularity?  Or admiration for your leadership qualities and wisdom?  Do you want personal satisfaction in being able to obtain results?  Now again, all such wishes are valid up to a point.  They are side-effects of faithful service.  But WOULD you do it for nothing; for naught?  Even if nobody thanked you for it?  Just for love of the Saviour and nothing else?  And when it became boring to you, or plain hard work?  And make no mistake, real Christian service IS no picnic!

So what is your price?  For those of us who are not active, our price for being members of the church may be to be left in peace, without being disturbed in our pleasures.

And so often we appear to love our neighbour, including our Fellow-Christians.  But don’t let such people step out of line, or out of OUR line anyway.  Don’t let them tell us something unpleasant about ourselves.  Because then it is done with the friendship.  And we don’t mind helping people.  But only as long as they keep crawling on their knees before us saying how ‘eternally grateful’ they are.  Else, we are offended and they are branded ‘ungrateful’.  But that’s not Christian service.  That, too, is fearing God for ourselves and NOT for nought.  That is putting ourselves and our treasures or dignity BEFORE God.  But if we can’t serve God now, amid all our privileges, how can we help but CURSE Him in His face in the time of trouble and temptation – just as Satan wants?

He is not only the Arch-Cynic but also the Arch-Materialist who is trying to make us seek our WHOLE life in our wealth, or in prestige, or in pleasure.  He may seek to make us forsake our clear Christian responsibilities, or even God Himself, perhaps for the sake or safety of family.  He is the father of all lies.  And that is the lie.  Because there is no life in any of these things apart from God.  And there are danger signs too wherever young people follow the world in insisting on their own thing outside of God.  The question still is, “What’s your price?”  Will you serve God for nought?  But no, there is only one way for us to answer that question of Satan in the affirmative.  And that is in the words of the Lord Jesus, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him DENY himself…!”  No price at all — in ANY way!  Instead, “take up your CROSS and follow me.”

The Christian life is not an easy life.  It is not one of do-as-you-like.  “I have not come to bring peace,” said our Lord in this regard, “but a sword…!”  And in this connection He says too, “He who loves even father and mother more than me is not worthy of me.”  And we might add, whoever loves his possessions, his status or himself more than Jesus Christ.  Now, of course, if we were left to ourselves this question and this continual probing by Satan would be utterly dismal for us.  Because by ourselves we would ALL be unworthy of Him and fall away, and curse Him to His face.  But there is help in that same Lord who spoke those hard words.  Taking the cross, and serving God for nought IS possible.  But only if we keep our eyes firmly fixed on Him who was the only one ever able to completely say, “Yes!”, to this question of Satan.  He lived for God–for no price at all; for NO gain to Himself.  On the contrary, He EMPTIED Himself and became obedient even unto death!  And all this, in order to save out of the hands of Satan those who had been shaken by him, and knocked down.

He gave Himself so that He might rescue for God a people who WOULD serve him for Himself alone!  And it is Important, therefore, that you and I find our treasure in Christ ALONE, and NOT in our wealth, in our earthly friends or even family.  Even though family and friends do mean a lot, they cannot and must not take the place of God for us.  Because God ALLOWS His people to be tested.  Job lost all his earthly goods and comfort.  Satan was allowed to burst his bubble of earthly happiness.  And he may be allowed to do the same with any of us — and perhaps sooner than we think.  No more wealth but poverty.  No more freedom but perhaps oppression.  No cosy little family circle but loneliness.  God has the right to do that!  The world is His.  And so are we, He has that right even if He wishes to exercise it in order to take up a challenge from Satan.  And it’s only if we know by faith in Jesus Christ that God is love, despite what our circumstances would lead us to think, it’s only if we know Him that we can bow before Him in our troubles and say,
            “Yes, I do serve God for nought.”

Only if during our prosperity we take every opportunity to know Him increasingly from His Word.

Job could say that in true, steadfast faith.  He doesn’t argue.  We find no rebellion in him at his loss.  At this stage he doesn’t even ask for explanations.  Much as he suffered, simply he says in robust faith:
            “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
             BLESSED be the Name of the Lord.”

Blessing and not cursing — that was a resounding slap in Satan’s face.  And, brothers and sisters, isn’t that the very essence of true worship and service of our sovereign God in true faith?  To adore God — to worship Him for naught!  That’s Job.  That’s his steadfastness.  What then in the face of this — or rather, in the face of Jesus Christ — what then remains of YOUR price?  Do you still look for gain?  Or can you say these words with Job — even in suffering?  Is your faith tough enough to fear God for Himself alone, and to serve Him for His honour and glory?

Amen.