Sermon 2, Job 1:2-5
(1) Wealth is dangerous and also fleeting.
(2) Relationships are a joy, but be on guard and be exemplary.
(3) Sacrificial approaches to God are needed.
On wealth, and it’s loss:
“Even so, he [Job] remained peaceful, as if he had lost very little.”
“It is like someone in a small boat on a small river. It is true he may be in danger of capsizing; it is true he may strike against a tree or the rivers edge, but he is not in the kind of danger that the fellow is who is in a ship in the middle of the sea, where waves and storms are much more violent.”
“Job’s virtue is much to be prized, for the Lord Jesus Christ says it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 19:23).”
On relationships and social interactions:
“…God loves peace and goodwill between men…”
“…it is very difficult to maintain restraint without some degree of failure.”
“…men are so inclined to vice that they corrupt what is good and change it into what is evil.”
“…[children] are little brats… That is news to no one.”
“…the father who wishes to be honored must be honorable.”
On sacrifice:
“[God] wanted to inform men that they were not worthy of approaching him. When we come to God, we must acknowledge our poverty, be ashamed, and say, ‘How dare I present myself before the presence of my God? What grace will I find before Him?’”
“…we are unworthy unless we acknowledge the means by which he receives us…”