Religious People Only Go To Church Because Of What They Get Out Of It

Reverend Paul Anderson has a daily devotional on Facebook titled, “The Daily Wad.” Just as with a wad of gum that can be chewed on for a long time, so his short devotional, his "Daily Wad", is intended to be thought about throughout the day.

These two verses in Job chapter one are just such a couple of verses -- there is a wealth of spiritual truth packed into this discourse between Jehovah and the Satan.

Job 1:8 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? (NAS)

This really is a phenomenal book – and outlined for us in verses 6-12 is this extraordinary meeting between the Everlasting God and the Accuser. Following a general, “Where have you been?” type of question, God gets down to brass tacks. Wouldn’t you have loved to have been a mouse in the corner listening firsthand to this conversation?

“Have you considered (literally, “placed your heart upon”) My servant Job?” Wow, what a title is given to Mr. Integrity! God doesn’t say, “Have you considered the richest cattleman of the east?” or “Have you set your heart upon the internationally famous Job of Uz?” FIA says this, “He speaks about Job with affection and pride…the word translated servant…is often used in the Old Testament as a title of honor.” And K&D write, “Jehovah triumphantly displays His servant, the incomparable one.”

Our greatest aspiration in the kingdom of God should be toward servanthood. Jesus said in the New Testament, "But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.” (Mark 10:43). And the apostle Paul’s greatest letter to the New Testament church in Rome begins simply, “Paul, a servant…” But servanthood goes against the grain of our culture. We are enamored by titles. At my place of employment a lot of people put their job titles and educational degrees next to their names in their email signatures. There is nothing wrong with that, but perhaps as Christians our first desire should be to put something like:

John Doe
A servant of the Most High God

“Have you considered…?” I wonder how many of the circumstances that we go through in life have had their origins in just such a meeting? In the New Testament, on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus told Peter, “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.” Perhaps in our current world, God says, “Mr. Satan, have you considered my servant Helen S.?” or “Mr. Satan, have you considered my servant Lois M.?” or “Mr. Satan have you considered my servant Tom M.?” The fact that God would have such faith in us is something to think about when we are going through tough times.

And then Jehovah continues, “There is no one like him on the earth…” Amazing! God looked down from heaven and said that this one guy named Job is different from every other person on the third planet from the sun!

He then reiterates the words found in verse one, “He is blameless, upright, fearing God, and turns away from evil.” It needs to be strongly asserted at the outset of this wonderful book that the integrity and the moral uprightness of Job is vital to the entire story. God never says that Job is sinless (and Job never claims that for himself); he needs a Redeemer like everyone else. But the Lord does say that there is a righteousness about him that is rarely seen. “There is none like him.” The words of verse one are repeated three times in the first two chapters, twice by God Himself!

There are those that would argue that Job suffered because of a certain sin or a lack of faith or because he had done this or had not done that. I disagree. But more on this when we get to chapters two and three.

Hearing the word “evil,” the “Evil One” went on the offensive, and the critic and cynic responded sneeringly, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” JFB state, “No true servant of God escapes the eye of the adversary of God.” The Satan’s implication? He only offers all those bulls and rams and lambs and goes to all that effort because it will keep his kids and family safe and businesses prospering! The Living Bible puts it this way, “Why shouldn’t he when you pay him so well? Satan scoffed.” Pope writes, “Yahweh knows that Satan takes a dim view of mankind and is convinced that every man has his price or breaking point.” JFB write, “(the Satan believes that) selfishness is at the bottom of even the best men’s religion.”

The following by FI Anderson needs to be read and reread and read again: “Cynicism is the essence of the satanic. The Satan believes nothing to be genuinely good – neither Job in his disinterested piety nor God in his disinterested generosity. Faith in God’s goodness is the heart of love and hope and joy and all other radiant things…he (the Satan) knows enough about religious people to be persuaded that they are in it for what they can get out of it…Satan’s argument is clever. Job’s godliness is artificial. It has never been proved by testing."

Is there a disinterested piety with you and I? Do we go to church or serve God simply because of what we can get out of it?

Barnes reminds us, “Of all such persons it may be appropriately asked, Do they fear God for nothing? True religion is not the result of circumstances…it is because God is worthy of our affections and confidence, and not merely because He will bless us-- and this religion will live through all external changes, and survive the destruction of the world. It will flourish in poverty as well as when surrounded by affluence…on a bed of pain as well as in vigorous health…when we are despised for our attachment to it as well as when the incense of flattery is burned around us…in the cottage as well as the palace…on the pallet of straw as well as on the bed of down.”

The Apostle John was banished to the gulag of his day and sentenced to hard labor on the small island of Patmos. While separated from family, friends and the churches he loved, this elderly servant of Jesus reminds us, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." Revelation 5:12


JFB = Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
K&D = Commentary by Keil and Delitzsch
FIA = Commentary by FI Anderson