C.A.C SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON FOR FEBRUARY 5 & 12, 2023 : LESSON TWO, TOPIC – JOB ENCOUNTERS GOD’S GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful (James 5:11).

Job was enlightened about God whom he worshiped, even in the midst of the trials he faced; the grace of God sustained him through it all and he became brighter and better at the the end.

Not many people could have developed a positive attitude in trials, like job. He was one in a million; in the way he reacted to the trying situations allowed by God, to test his faithfulness to Him. Epistle of James uses endurance and perseverance of job as a model for Christians who are facing one challenge or the other. This would be the mark of their allegiance to God, and the expectation of the imminent second coming of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. He says, Indeed we count them blessed who endure (i.e. the prophets who speak in the name of the Lord). They are giving us example of suffering and patience that build character, in preparation for the glorious reign with Christ in Heaven.

The inspired James picks job as one of the examples of these prophets who endured. Christians should realise that it is not the will of God that we be marred through trials and sufferings; He is making us by them. The end He intends us the glorious one (Jer. 29:11), because He is merciful and compassionate. We are therefore encouraged to exercise patience, endurance and longsuffering in the face of trials, difficulties and suffering that are meant to try/prove our faith in God. Someday, your patience and endurance will pay off and eventually become a reference point, when you have successfully triumphed, in Jesus’ name. Don’t ever give up on hope. The sustaining grace that assisted Job is ever available to anyone who chooses to rely on God.

Mon. Jan. 30: God In Your Trial (1 Cor. 10:13)

Tue. Jan. 31: God’s Christ Suffered And Is Elevated (1 Pet. 3:18-22)

Wed. Feb. 1: God’s People’s Suffering Makes Them Better (1 Pet. 4:1-6)

Thur. Feb. 2: God’s Glory Was Ultimate (1 Pet. 4:7-11)

Fri. Feb. 3: Glorify God In Suffering. And Grow (1 Pet. 4:12-14)

Sat. Feb. 4: Grow In Your Christian Experiences (1 Pet. 4:15-19)

1. Only God’s grace can give one soft-landing and triumph in situations like Job’s bone-cracking trials.

2. Job’s experiences in his trying period were indeed bone-cracking. In fact, it was excruciating. Yet, he waited patiently for God’s deliverance, not misbehaving in course of the trials. Grace helped him to cooperate with the Lord, and made him triumphant.

3. Cooperation with God’s grace to the end will give us the kind of testimony we hear about Job, and make us heirs in God’s kingdom. Don’t give up on God’s grace.

AIM: To show what grace did in Job’s life, and how he grew in that grace to become knowledgeable in God through his trials.

OBJECTIVES: At the end of this lesson, the learners should be able to:

i. explain the challenges that bedevilled Job and why God allowed them;

ii. state in clear terms that God’s grace assisted him to develop positive attitude in the trials, instead of being bitter against God;

iii. establish that, like Job, we are expected to learn and grow better in the grace and knowledge of God, through life’s experiences; and

iv. prove from Job’s experiences that, apart from knowing God better, we should know people and situations better.

To God be the glory for how He has continue to lead His church in the path of spiritual growth through the series of discipleship-oriented Sunday school teachings and other result-oriented programmes. We are presently on the theme: SOME CHARACTERS WHO GROW IN THE LORD’S GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE. Last week we concluded the first lesson in the new series, which was titled, ENOCH AND NOAH WALK WITH GOD. Where we considered how grace assisted Enoch’s walk with God. We saw how grace eventually led him to being taken away by God. In the second half of the lesson, what came to the center stage was how Noah grew in the grace of God. In spite of the prevailing depravity and untoward wickedness of Noah’s time, he walked with God by grace, and God’s grace found him out, and preserved him, his household and everything with him in the ark.

This leads us to the second lesson in the series, titled::JOB ENCOUNTERS GOD’S GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE, where we shall be examining Job’s encounters with God’s grace before, in, and after his trials, and how he grew in the grace of God, and matured in his relationship with people, including his wife and friends.

There are lots of lessons for us in the life and experiences of Job with regards to Christian trials and suffering, and God’s attitude to them. May the Holy Spirit assist us always see those situations that God purposefully brings to our ways to make us mature to the level of the stature of Christ, through His lens, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This two weeks lesson is divided into two parts: I and II, with a further subdivision into A and B.

DIVISION I: GRACE SEES HIM THROUGH TRIALS

This division is on how grace saw Job through the trials he experienced. Humanly speaking, no one could have faced what Job faced and remain standing, i.e. without compromising, helping his faith in God not to shake. He maintained his right standing, and never sinned against, or cursed God. The lesson is considered under A, GOD ALLOWS HIM TO BE TESTED, and B, GRACE SUSTAINS HIM THROUGHOUT.

The second division tagged, GETS BETTER IN THE TRIALS, reveals that, rather than getting bitter by his trials, Job got better in the Lord. He knew God better, and knew people and situations better. How you respond to your situations shows the state of your heart (who you are) with respect to the grace and knowledge of God, and the level of your cooperation with the God of grace.

LESSON OUTLINE

I. GRACE SEES HIM THROUGH TRIALS

A. GOD ALLOWS HIM TO BE TESTED

B. GRACE SUSTAINS HIM THROUGHOUT

II. GETS BETTER IN THE TRIALS

A. KNOWS GOD BETTER

B. KNOWS PEOPLE AND SITUATIONS BETTER

LESSON EXPOSITION

Feb. 5 I. GRACE SEES HIM THROUGH TRIALS (Job 1,2).

Grace is the enablement to do what humanity speaking, one couldn’t have done, such as enduring the excruciating and painstaking trials and sufferings, like Job. With grace in action in Job, he was able to endure those experiences the devil meant to shatter him and devastate his faith in God. Indeed, only grace could have seen him through. Grace will see you through, too.

A. GOD ALLOWS HIM TO BE TESTED (1:1-19; 2-9)

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and shunned evil (1:1).

i. 1:1-5: Prior to Job 1:1, nothing is mentioned about the character, Job, in the Bible–his genealogy, history and previous encounters.

ii. Job was from Uz. His godly character, children and greatness are mentioned in Job, including what he usually did on behalf of his children. He obviously encountered God’s grace, because only grace can enable one to demonstrate the virtues credited to him (vv. 1-5).

iii. 1:6-12; 2:1-3: Have you considered My servant Job… The fact that this came from God, shows Job’s significance to Him, and reveals the level of grace he carried. Imagine God opening a heavenly deliberation comprising Himself and angelic beings on the matter of a mere man–the function of grace.

iv. Job really maximised God’s grace. No wonder God could boast about him. How well have you maximised God’s grace in your life, that God can boast of you to His glory (cf. Matt. 3:17)?

v. 1:9-11; 2:4-5: Obviously, Satan had tried in vain to make Job compromise by harming him and all he had. God’s grace helped him.

vi. 1:11-19; 2:6-9: It was with the permission of God that Satan could wreck these havocs in Job’s life (cf. Amos 3:3). If not, the devil is no match, because God’s grace had fortified him. You too can enjoy this grace to the fullest.

vii. It is obvious that God allowed those trials to prove Job’s unconditional faithfulness to Him and shame the devil (cf. Rom. 8:28; 1 Pet. 5:8-11).

viii. God doesn’t tempt anyone with evil. He only allows His children to be tested, so that they can be approved of Him. Still, He wouldn’t allow us to be tested beyond our God-given abilities and faith. His grace makes ways of escape (1 Cor. 10:13; Jas. 1:13).

B. GRACE SUSTAIN HIM THROUGHOUT (1:13-22; 2:1-10)

In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong (1:22).

i. 1:13-22: The power of the God’s grace is to great; it saw Job through his bone-cracking and heart-rending trials. Or, who could have gone through such and come out triumphantly sinless, if not by God’s grace alone (1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Pet. 10-11)?

ii. Job’s reactions to his trying situations show that he had the grace of God built up in him. Instead of him mourning and cursing God as people would have been expecting him to do, …he fell to the ground and worshipped (v.20).

iii. I’m reality, you don’t expect one who has just lost everything, including 10 children, to do what Job did—worshipped God! This must be a product of having being walking with, and growing in the Lord (Jn. 4:24).

iv. Job said blessed be the name of the LORD (v. 21). The carnal man can’t do this. Only those consistently walking with God can (Psa. 34:1; Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18).

v. v. 22: This is a demonstration of the level of God’s grace Job enjoyed and had grown in. How many people wouldn’t castigate God, or ask, ‘Lord why me?’ in such a situation?

vi. 2:1-8: God allowed Satan to pummel Job the more. Yet, grace sustained him; he didint give up on God. What about you?

vii. vv. 9-10: The answer he gave to his wife, who wanted him to renegade couldn’t have come from anywhere else, but a heart growing in God’s grace and knowledge.

viii. The grace that made Job to hold on, despite those terrible, terrible, horrific, and unpalatable experiences. Are you going through any challenge? God’s grace will see you through. Just hold on to Him!

LESSON DERIVED

1. There is no way Job could have sailed through, but for God’s grace that was available to him, and he maximised it.

2. Your reaction/response to any situation in life is a function of your relationship with the One who allows it—God.

WORK TO DO

How did Job’s responses to his trials prove the power of God’s grace on him?

SUGGESTED ANSWER TO WORK TO DO:

* It is natural to feel bad and bitter when the situation is advise. Rather than being bitter about his trials, Job became better, because he saw God in them. To him, all things (including trials and sufferings) work together for the good of those who love God and are loved by God, their situations, notwithstanding (cf. Rom. 8:28).

* Also, he was assisted by God’s grace.

* The Bible records that Job did not sin, neither did he curse God, as counselled by his wife. Rather, he worshipped and blessed the LORD. Grace obviously helped him, because the natural man wouldn’t do such in such a situation.

* He understood that it is impossible to receive good from God and not receive otherwise. Not because God is sadistic in nature, but no one gets to the top without being examined/tried Of course, Job’s trials never made him to see God as wicked and unfair. To him, God is just and righteous, and cannot be queried God’s grace helps to properly colour our thinking about God.

* Obviously, it was not the arm of flesh that assisted Job in all these, because the arm of flesh fails anyone in such a difficult and trying times.

* Only the grace of God can sustain the one passing through such difficult and trying times in life. Job was assisted to hold on to God, even when everybody/thing, including his beloved wife, health, friends, were advising/tilting otherwise.

* It is good to bank on God’s grace in whatever one through in life, because grace I powerful. It sustains and refreshes.