In yesterday's message, we looked at the worldview of Job's friends. It sounds so right when we work through it:

1. God is absolutely in control.
2. God is absolutely just and fair.
3. Therefore God always punishes wickedness and blesses righteousness.
4. Therefore, if I suffer I must have sinned and am being punished justly for my sin, and if I am blessed I must have been good.

It is a very neat system, isn't it! But it raises all kinds of questions. When trouble comes, as it inevitably does, this worldview makes you ask “Have I done something terribly wrong?” And to this question, say Job's friends to all sufferers, "Yes, you must have!"

What are we to make of this theological system? It will not do to dismiss it straight off as wrong- it's not wrong in every circumstance. The first two points of the formula are absolutely right. God is absolutely in control, and God is absolutely just and fair.

And we need to recognize that there are many ways in which we may and do suffer as a direct result of our own sin. There are Biblical examples, such as Ananais and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) or those taking communion in "an unworthy manner" (1 Corinthians 11:27-32). In Psalm 32:3-5, we read that when David kept his sin secret, the burden of unresolved guilt was impacting him physically and spiritually. Only when he confessed his transgressions and turned to the Lord did his health return.

And we can all think of other examples. If someone is drunk and then drives and crashes their car, it is their fault. If I commit adultery and it leads, as it inevitably does, to misery and often violence (Proverbs 6:32–35), that misery is the result of my sin. If someone hurts you and you refuse to forgive them, and you let resentment fester and become a hard and bitter person, the resulting damage to your character is your own problem because you are called to forgive. We need to remember as Christians, while there is "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1), there will always be consequences for our sin.

So the comforters might have been right when they appealed forJob to repent. And yet we need to remember that three times (once from the narrator, Job 1:1, and twice from the Lord, Job 1:8; 2:3) we have been told that Job is “blameless.” So the comforters make a hurtful mistake. Job does not need to repent for any sin that has led to his suffering. He is not being punished for sin. To say that he is adds a cruel burden to his grief.