Welcome to our Sunday morning service at 10 am. Join us in person or watch the live stream on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxBzxjBb3xU8ra2NHwvD_9A  (you can watch the service any time afterwards as well) The Reading and reflection notes are below: Reading Job 1:1-22 1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another's houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them. 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.” This is what Job always did. 6 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. 13 One day, when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were ploughing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshipped. 21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. Reflection I just thought I would do a quick test this morning. I am guessing, but I think we almost all have a natural aversion to telling on someone – dobbing them in. But on the other hand, from my school memories, there would often be that one student in class who seemed to want to curry favour with the teacher by telling on one of their classmates: “Excuse me, Mrs Brown, it was him! He was the one who threw the duster that smashed the neon light during lunchtime.” Do you think there are people around who simply gain a certain pleasure by telling on others? And yet, telling on others has a place in a good society. So, if “1” is contacting the police because the car in front of you ran the yellow light at the temporary traffic lights down the road, and “10” was telling the authorities about someone likely to harm another person, where would you put yourself? The reason I am talking this morning about dobbing someone in, or telling on them, is because that comes close to the definition of Satan in the Old Testament. Satan in the Old Testament is the one who is most likely to tell on you for running the orange light. “Ahh,” says Satan, “you thought she was good, but actually she is an orange light runner!” The word Satan in Hebrew was not an evil angel but was the word for “the adversary” or “the accuser.” In Hebrew, it always has the definite article ‘the’. So it is written, ‘the Satan.’ Just like in English, we would almost never use someone’s name with the word ‘the’ in front of it. We do not say ‘the Bruce’ or ‘the Susan’ or ‘the Chris.’ But we do say ‘the Prime Minister’ or ‘the doctor’ or ‘the truck driver.’ Putting ‘the’ in front of it tells us that we are talking more about a function and not a person. This morning, the writer of Job, the ancient faithful philosopher genius who was inspired to write Job, wants us to imagine God surrounded by this group of angels or heavenly beings, one of whom has the function of being the Satan: the accuser, the adversary, the one who is the dobber in of people. 6 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” So if we had the traffic light scenario 2500 years ago when Job might have been written, and someone said, “Look, God, at what is happening there,” we could say that was the work of the Satan. Satan’s work going to and fro upon the earth and walking up and down on it. I don’t want to make light of this understanding of the Satan. My kids accuse me of being grumpy or out of date or being passive-aggressive, whatever that is. And I don’t accuse them of being Satan. Accusing can be misused. One of the Ten Commandments is, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” But also it can be a very powerful thing for good: to call out wrongdoing and injustice. Racism, violence, hypocrisy. There are times when neighbours have been too hesitant in talking to social workers or the police about what they see and hear going on next door. In the Book of Job, the Satan has been busy roaming around the place accusing. Before this we have already been introduced to Job: There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. No one now knows where the land of Uz is, and none of the figures have Jewish names. So the story is meant to be deliberately global, not tied to a specific place or person. 8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” So Satan is introducing the question: Is he really as good as you make him out to be? And then Satan goes on to suggest that God has been treating Job in a very favourable way: 10 “Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” It’s that formula thing here. Job has been good and God has looked after him. In Satan’s questions, he is implying that Job serves God because God has blessed him, or to win favour with God. He is not necessarily a good person; he just knows which side "his bread is buttered on," we might say. It’s a transaction: I worship God, and God gives me the flash car, a nice house, and a happy family. Satan says: 11 “But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. And in the next few verses, we read that Job first of all starts losing his camels, his servants, his farm animals, and finally, a house collapses and he loses his family. My daughter and wife are travelling overseas on their big adventure. I am doing some of their train bookings. I made a mistake a while back. I booked their train for the 15th of July instead of the 15th of June. They turned up at the station last week, and guess what? Within a nanosecond, I got the message from my daughter – “You booked us for July!” And you have that sense of your own foolishness. And then it might turn to a kind of righteousness: “I can't believe you didn't look at the tickets before you headed down to the station.” And then a sense of anxiety and helplessness: “How are they going to get to Seville?” And then a kind of whingeing apology. And even though those feelings can be very powerful, they are absolutely no help at all in dealing with the present challenge. That is, how do we get from Madrid to Seville? (Of course, they managed quite well – albeit at some extra expense.) But far more serious things happen in our lives, as we hear about today. And we, with Job, can ask all the questions: “What did I do to deserve this?” or “If only I had done this or not done this or noticed this or acted differently.” Or find someone to blame.  And sometimes those feelings and questions can overwhelm everything that ever happens to us. A life of blaming. A life of regret. Satan is testing Job to find out what he is going to do now. We hear that bad things happen to really good people. So, in Job, we confront a world in which we hold faith in God on one hand, and a realisation that things happen that are arbitrary, chaotic, and do not conform to our equations or own sense of order or fairness or purpose. Bad things do not happen in threes. They happen in ones. And sometimes, as we discover in Job, they happen one after another. The servants return and tell Job all the terrible things that have happened. 20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshipped. 21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. When we look at Job’s response to these terrible things, it seems that Job, even in the midst of the worst things, could find a time for worship. Faith in the God in whose image we were created and who brings new creation even in the midst of chaos. And finally, not giving up. 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. Every time, people throughout our scriptures are facing difficulty, we hear words like this: 6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) Our series over the next few weeks continues as we hear what happens and how Job, as a good and faithful man, responds. If the accuser, the adversary, visits us, what would be said? And how would we react? We look back and affirm that in Christ, forgiveness, repentance, and new life are all real through God’s grace. The only formula at work is based on the love God has for us. So the Book of Job doesn’t come with any grand answers, but it does invite us on this journey. So, let’s stay with Job. And ask the hard questions, wrestle with our faith, even without all the answers. Knowing that even when we are tempted to give up, God never gives up on us. AMEN

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