Job and Justice

The book of Job is one of the deeper books of the Bible. It’s profoundly existential, dealing with the lot of the individual human finding himself in life between the twin abysses of preexistence and death and having to deal with the problem of evil.

Like the book of Ecclesiastes, Job offers a counter argument to the theology found in the books of Deuteronomy and Proverbs. The latter two works offer a generalized expression of the truths of life: if you do good and refrain from evil, then you can expect good out of life. And this is a generally true formula; practical, every day experience tells us this is so. This theology is the basis for the covenant God made with Israel: if Israel does X, God will do Y. However, there are particulars in life that can trump this general truth. There are times when bad things happen to you undeservingly. You don’t deserve all the evil that happens to you. This is an important point that Jesus makes a few times in his ministry (Luke 13:1-5; John 9:1-4). It’s also the central point of Jesus’ proclamation on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; cf. Psalm 22).

This is part of Job’s crisis. He understands the theology found in Deuteronomy and Proverbs – it’s his theology! Job’s three friends articulate it in the face of his predicament and his statements about the sovereignty of God and the injustice of life. Job’s friends are trying to defend God’s reputation. Job hears them and agrees but insists that such theology doesn’t fit his situation. Yet, despite Job’s frustration with God and the world, he never loses his faith and loyalty to God. And God hears Job’s frustrations and recognizes his faith. Job’s only error is the position he tries to put God in. In terms of justice and the legal proceedings of the court, Job sees himself as a plaintiff making a complaint against God. Again, God understands Job’s frustrations and faith but corrects him, identifying himself as the judge in this scenario and not on equal standing with Job. He is the creator god who stands before and after existence itself.

It’s his great wisdom (as is evident by his ability to create) that justifies his position as supreme judge - a judge that presides over the generalities and the particulars. It is he who will administer justice in the world, even when it challenges the reasoning and wisdom of man. And God’s faithfulness ensures that justice is ultimately carried out, that history is sorted out, and that the world is put to rights. This finds its ultimate express in the resurrection, both of Christ and everyone else.

Additional: Job is a fascinating book. Four or five different points of view, all well argued, with no strawmen. We know where the author's sympathies lie, but the opposing points of view are believable and convincing. That's important given the book is a confrontation between two biblical theologies. Unbeknownst to Job, he is the one on trial, with the Satan as prosecutor (see Zech 3:1-2). The friends are actually witnesses for the prosecution. This is not unlike John's Gospel which looks like the Jesus's trial on the surface, but actually everyone else is on trial. I'd add that there's much humor in the book, some of it a tad risqué, but obscured in the English. Job is in no mood to mince words and his sarcasm is palpable. My favorite line: "Truly then you are the people, and with you wisdom will die!" (Job 12:2).

Leadership Frustrations in the Church

Because humans are created in the image of God, we’ve also been given the ability to create. The book of Genesis consists of God creating structures on the earth and then filling them. Humans are then created and given the task of filling the earth and subduing it (1:28), of cultivating the earth (2:15). Humans were created to work, accomplish tasks, and pursue artistic means. In this sense, humans are very much homo faber, “working man”. As Umberto Eco argues in “Open Work”, homo faber is a manifestation of man's innate being in nature. The rejection of this innate being represents the alienation from and objectification of nature. However, our ability to work and create is frustrated from a cursed earth producing (in terms of the metaphor) thorns, thistles, and agony (3:17-19; also 3:16). Evil, sin, selfishness – these bring disruption to our working lives, causing frustration.

Part of the work of Jesus is a reversal of this curse on the land and the alleviation of the frustrations, disappointments, and general dissatisfactions. As the body of Christ, the Church and all those believers who follow Jesus are called to be a part of that same work. We are to help people with their frustrations, doing what we can to remove such impediments in order to further the Kingdom of God.

I was reminded a couple of weeks ago that one of the jobs of a minister is to equip volunteers to do the work of the Church by alleviating as much of the frustrations of that work as possible. Much of this can be done through organization, communication, preparatory work, establishing clearly defined goals and expectations, proper training, on-going support, and appreciation. This is all bread and butter in ministry.  Unfortunately though, far from alleviating the aggravations that go on in the work of the church, ministry leaders can be the cause of such frustrations.

I decided to look research websites that talk about such leadership frustrations. Here are the results:

Inability to make timely decisions

Disorganized

Lack of Focus and Direction

Are always right and never wrong

Does not take responsibility

Cannot accept criticism without becoming defensive

Not willing to share the pulpit or spotlight

Feels threatened by other ministers or pastors

Does not allow for pushback or disagreements

Surround themselves with "yes men" rather than edifying leaders.

Does not entrust ministry to other leaders

Undermines programs that they cannot control

Insist that everything in the ministry run through them

Only one who is allowed to think

Seeks a minimalist structure of accountability

Expects behavior of others they don’t expect of themselves

Frequent anger outbursts

Says one thing to some people, but different things to others

Seeks to dismiss or marginalize people before they attempt to develop them

Lacks transparency

Communicates poorly

Self-absorbed

Never accepts criticism and have to be right about everything

Routinely reminds people who is in charge

Has a poor understanding of Scripture

Not willing to pay the price to make the ministry healthy

Uses of Guilt for Obedience

Ignores the Clear Evidence of Problems

Blind to the Issues of His or Her Own Heart
Family members seem to fill key openings

Shows favoritism

A passive or aggressive pressure by the leader not to associate with others who have left the ministry or church

  

Alleviating Problems in Church Leadership

One of the truths of life is that any organization generally reflects the character, mentality, and motivations of its leadership. This is true in governments, businesses, and churches. Why this is the case is uncertain and the subject of debate amongst psychologists, theologians, and those who study organizational leadership, but practical experience nevertheless bears this truth out.

Obviously, there are both positives and negatives in this. If you have a dynamically creative and humble leader with good character, a great mind, and interests in evangelism and studying the Scriptures, then there will be a trickle-down effect and a permeation of this throughout the organization. Obviously, this is a boon. However, if you have a leader with poor character and temperament, a disorganized mind, and who is selfishly motivated, then you can expect a disorganized organization exhibiting poor character, poor choices detrimental to all those who come into its purview. This can create a toxic culture and work environment. And even with the best leaders, the character foibles and practical idiosyncrasies and deficiencies which exist in each of us can manifest themselves in an organization. This is particularly true of churches. And this situation is ultimately unavoidable. There must always be leadership in a church. However, there are ways in which problems can be lessened to the benefit of the church’s mission. Here are a few recommendations:

1)      Make Christ the leader of the church. This is about making a conscious effort to establish Christ as the leader of the church in a very real and practical way. Part of this is about modeling the church’s organization on Christ’s character and practice (Philippians 2:5-11). Most of this is about seeking God’s direction through prayer and pursuing what God wants us to do, not what we want or what someone else is doing. This is vision by mission. This is ministry by need. You pursue ministry by the needs of your community. You create ministries because there is a need; you don’t create a ministry and hope there is a need.

2)      Practice Servant Leadership (Luke 22:25-26; Ephesians 4:11-12; Matthew 20:16; Philippians 2:5-11).

3)      Checks and Balances. Power and authority should be spread amongst a large number of people and not centralized and consolidated with one person or one family. There should be a plurality of Elders or Pastors who all have equal authority to make decisions. Church ministries need to be team-based. Most importantly, senior pastors should not pick those who theoretically oversee them and who supposedly insure accountability.

4)      Allow for Disagreements. Create a ministry culture where people are free to discuss ideas openly and offer concerns and disagreements without fear of retribution. We should not cluster ourselves in self-affirming groups or create echo chambers for our own desires.

5)      Pastoral character. As started above, human leadership is unavoidable, but the inherent problems can be lessened by sound practices. A church needs to insure its pastor has good character, a decent temperament, and integrity. The Pastoral Letters are a good place to start. A church needs to make sure its pastor is above reproach (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6-7), temperate and prudent (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 2:2), gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money (1 Timothy 3:3; 6:10), keeping his children under control (1 Timothy 3:4, 12), not showing partiality (1 Timothy 5:21), has a good reputation outside of the church (1 Timothy 3:7), not double-tongued (1 Timothy 3:8), not self-willed or quick-tempered or pugnacious (Titus 1:6), and sensible and self-controlled (Titus 1:8; 2:5).

Adopting these practices will help alleviate problems in church leadership.