11 September 2010
Psalm 55; Job 38:1-17; Acts 15:22-35; John 11:45-54

“Why?” is the question. God’s answer is that it would be impossible to give that answer unless Job knows all things necessary to understand the answer. Job felt alone in his suffering, his friends had deserted him and God didn’t seem to hear or care about him. In God’s answer Job learns that God hears him and is with him. He learns that after God tells Job the infinite variety of created beings and that God alone knows all things about the created order, Job matters to God enough that God will take notice of him and answer him. The answer to “why?” is less important than God’s willingness to speak to him, which itself is a vindication of Job to these others who hear.

It is incredible that the Pharisees and other leaders react to the news of the raising of Lazarus from the dead by plotting to kill the one who accomplished it. Their complaint was that He kept on performing signs and if they didn’t stop Him somehow the people would believe in Him and the Romans would take away their privileged position. Why not rather believe in Him yourselves? Were they serving the Romans, themselves, the people, or God? They saw their positions as coming from the Romans. The people were their slaves at some level, they no longer cared about the people, they were their betters. Caiphas here tips his hand on the future, if we want to keep our places in the world, we need to get rid of this Jesus. So much for the sovereignty of God.

The church in Jerusalem greets and instructs the church in Antioch by sending a letter and emissaries. The decision of the Jerusalem council is conveyed and the church in Antioch is overjoyed by the encouragement they received. In the letter the council also affirms the leadership and teaching of Paul and Barnabas. This is a decisive moment for the Gospel among the Gentiles and for Paul’s ministry to them. If the church had not recognized that something new was being done by God in a sovereign way and had imposed further restrictions on them, it would have been disastrous. They chose to leave the question of “why?” up to God because of the evidence of the giving of the Spirit to the Gentiles, God was clearly with them.

Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.