In the sermon 'Love them while you have them,' Scott Brown emphasizes the importance of fulfilling one's duties with zeal, using Job from the Bible as an exemplary model of fatherhood. The sermon explores the concept of 'jurisdiction,' highlighting how each individual, whether a parent, child, worker, or church member, has specific responsibilities to fulfill with passion and commitment. Job's life is examined, focusing on his spiritual leadership and concern for his family's sanctification. Despite his children being adults, Job continues to intercede for them, understanding the ever-present danger of sin. The sermon underscores the need for parents to maintain their zeal for their children's spiritual well-being, drawing parallels between the priestly duties of Old Testament fathers and the spiritual responsibilities of New Testament parents. In light of Job's story, the sermon calls for a steadfast commitment to love and nurture one's family, regardless of life's uncertainties and challenges, reflecting on the compassionate nature of Jesus Christ as a model for all believers.

I'd like you to open up your Bibles to Job chapter 1. I want to speak about a father who was hot, not lukewarm. And while you're getting there, I just want to make a couple of comments about this passage, which speaks of Job's fatherhood, kind of father was he. We catch this narrative dealing with a man who's operating within his jurisdiction as a father. Now, I want us to think broadly about this, particularly in light of the sermon we just heard about whether we are lukewarm or whether we are hot in our duties as Christians.

Now some of you are mothers. You have a particular jurisdiction. Are you hot or cold as a mother? Some of you are children. You have a particular role and place in your family?

Are you hot or cold in doing your duty there? Are you a worker? Do you have a job? Are you hot or cold in doing your Christian duty in the place of your employment? And of course this focuses in on a father and and the overwhelming question is are you doing your duty as a father in a way that reflects the zeal that Job had as he was expressing his faithfulness to God in the context of his jurisdiction.

So all of us live in the context of our jurisdiction. We are either individual Christians in a church, we have responsibilities there in our jurisdiction to fulfill the one another's and that type of thing. If you're a wife, you have a particular responsibility with that man that you married within your jurisdiction. If you're a husband, you have a jurisdiction in your wife's life to treat her in a particular way. If you're a father, you have a particular responsibility in your jurisdiction as a father.

So that's the subject that I like to engage here. We find a zealous father here. He's a marvelous example. Verse 1 in Job 1, there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job and that man was blameless and upright and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household. So that this man was the greatest man, the greatest of all the East, of all the people of the East. And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each in his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. So it was when the days of feasting had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.

Thus Job did regularly now The blessing of the Christian life Is that God gives us mentors even though our fathers and even others that we know and respect fall short God gives us Help he shows us the way and he does it in various ways. He gives us commands, he gives us principles, he gives us practices, and he gives us examples. I present to you Job as an example that God gives us. And so here we find, you know, one of the oldest books of the Bible opens up with a picture of a father managing his household well. And it begins with a disclosure of his character and also a disclosure of his business life and the financial achievements that he's made.

And, but what we find here also is his practices as a father, his particular life patterns, his zeal for his house. And he was a particular kind of father. You may have noticed in this passage, he's an empty nester. His children are all grown up. They're gone.

They have their own houses. They've established marriages and homes. And what Job is doing is he's continuing to minister to his children, quite likely much in the same way that he ministered to his children when they were young. So here's a question. How important it is that you do your duty all your life long.

Moses said, all the days of your life. But let's take it a step further. How important it is for you to do your duty as long as your children will live. We learn something happens to his children at this juncture in the story. You may only have your children for a few years, don't presume that you'll have them.

They may die young. All of Job's children died young. Or they'll someday likely leave home. And I think this passage should help us to understand how important it is. Teach us to number our days.

Because we don't know what the future holds. Parents don't know how many years they have with their children. Now Job here, it's obvious, has abundant spiritual blessings. He has a happy family. His children are getting along well.

They love one another. They're feasting together. It's remarkable what a blessing it was in Job's family life. But Job understood something. He understood that the greatest enemy of his children's lives was sin, and he sprang into action to counteract it.

He knew the condition of his flocks and he cared for his family spiritually. Look at verse 5. So it was when the days of feasting had run their course that Job would send and sanctify them. Now, it's unclear from the language whether Job would send for them or go to them, whatever it was, Job was seeking out his adult children. And this is so obvious, I know from the text, Job didn't run out of gas when his children got older.

That's the temptation that all parents face. They either run out of gas or they buy in to the proposition of this culture as well when they turn 18 I don't have to do anything else for them they're done I'm done and the Bible doesn't ever say that fathers are done Job wasn't done and he kept up his zeal I think this is a great encouragement for all parents to keep up your zeal for your children's sanctification even when they leave leave your home. Job was not lukewarm as a father. Job was hot. He was boiling hot as a father.

Charles Simeon explains it this way, the great commentator, many who have been careful of their children in their early days cast off all concern about them or at least decline all interference with them as to religious matters when they have arrived at years of discretion. Not so with Job, though he was an indulgent parent. He did not give up all his parental authority, but sought to use it for the eternal welfare of his children. He called them all to self-examination and prayer, previous to his offering of sacrifices in which he commanded them to join. And so we have this man who had patterns of regularity, patterns of priority in the lives of his children.

And the bottom line really is that you see Job dealing with sin and his family by regularly praying for them, sacrificing for them, and going to them. That's what Job did. This was an expression of a hot-hearted father for the Lord. You notice that Job offered sacrifices for each one. You see that language there.

He is paying attention to each particular child that he has. Notice that he has an early start to the day. Job prioritized his day by bringing his children before the Lord early in the morning. It was a priority of his life. It was a good pattern.

Notice the personal attention that is given. Notice that you have this priestly duty that Job is performing. You know, this was written in the time before the priests were appointed in the Old Testament. Before that, Before the days of the tabernacle and the temple, the fathers were really the priests of their homes. They performed the functions of priests that you read about later on in the period after the Exodus.

And so you find this in the in the families of all the patriarchs. You find it with Adam's family. Cain and Abel are offering sacrifices. There's a priestly role that's being carried out. You find it with Noah and Abraham offering sacrifices for their families.

And I don't quite know what to make of this, but we learned from a conversation between David and Jonathan that there was a special sacrifice for his family and David says to Jonathan, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family, 1 Samuel 20 verse 6. What sacrifice that is I'm not sure of what it is. But you had these sacrifices that were offered and under the New Covenant the ceremonial sacrifices have passed away but we still see spiritual sacrifices. Hebrews chapter 7 explains Christ as the once and for all sacrifice. For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people's for he did once for all when he offered himself up." Well the Sacrifices in the New Testament are different.

We offer sacrifices of praise and prayer and things like that. But what you find here with Job is a father who is vigilant regarding sin. Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did regularly. So what was Job's concern?

It was the potential for evil overtaking his children. And his fatherly care was activated because of their vulnerability. And, you know, Job didn't wear rose-colored glasses about his children. He wasn't the kind of father who thought that his children could do no wrong. I hope that none of us are that kind of parents.

You know, when you adore your children and you're thankful for the way they're going, you can often underestimate their vulnerability. And it's a pitfall that we should all be aware of. Don't underestimate the vulnerability of your children to sin. Job knew that Satan was a roaring lion seeking to devour his children any way he could get his hands on them. And godly parents understand that the greatest enemy of the family is sin.

And we should be asking, what evidences of sin do I see in the lives of my children? Are there things that I need to be dealing with, mentioning to them, taking action on? One thing I think it's very important to point out here is that it's very obvious that Job's primary concern was the condition of their hearts. He speaks of their cursing God not with their lips but in their hearts. His chief concern was their hearts And it's so critical that we appeal to our children to guard their hearts, to examine their own hearts.

But this was his chief concern. Of course, Solomon, when he wrote his child training manual, the book of Proverbs, he said, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life. Some of the other translations say, above all else, guard your heart, for in it is the wellspring of life. So the truth is that everything springs from the heart. Every decision, every attitude, every word proceeds out of the heart.

So Job understood how critical it was that he intercede for the condition of their hearts. He was worried about the condition of their hearts. And what would be the condition of their hearts when they died? At the moment that they died? You know, I recall having a dream one time where someone who had died, you know, came back and was there in the room.

And I said to her, did we love the Lord? Did we love the Lord from our hearts that's the most important thing what is the condition of your heart what are the things that your heart desires That really tells you everything about who you are and where you're going in your life. Wherever your heart is going, that's where your life is going, you cannot avoid it. And if you find yourself interested in things that aren't holy, you need to recognize where that's going. Anything that is not holy is going to take you to unholiness.

And it always works the same way. It starts with the smallest thing, the smallest interest, the smallest curiosity, The smallest tasting of an unholy thing is always a trajectory of the heart. So Job did not misunderstand that at all. I think many theologians say that Job was a picture of Jesus Christ, who performed the functions of a priest and his family. He sought them out.

He was among them. He focused on his own flock. Sam Waldron wrote a book that I highly recommend called The Father as Priest and I love the way he explained it. It's very simple. The priests of Israel were intercessors in prayer, communicators of blessing, directors of worship, instructors in scripture, and judges in holy things.

That was the role of an Old Testament priest and Sam is suggesting that that also is the role of a New Testament father. I completely agree with him. All of those things, intercessors in prayer, communicators of blessing, directors of worship, instructors in scripture, judges in holy things. This is what the zealous father is all about. And you also find really the hard attitude of an Old Testament priest.

Sympathy, compassion, and the Lord Jesus Christ was full of compassion for his children. He was a faithful, sympathetic, compassionate high priest, so says Hebrews chapter 5 verse 2, so that as the writer of Hebrews says, he can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is also subject to weakness. This is a father who doesn't become wrathful when his children sin, but who's compassionate when he sees that they are ignorant and going astray. It's interesting I've been reflecting on these passages that speak of fatherhood and motherhood and childhood and family life And last night I printed out all the different chapters I've been working on in my book, about this many pages. And it really struck me as I was just reviewing them how it is that really everything that speaks of the role of a father or a mother, all of it really comes down to a heart of compassion and love for their children, to rescue them from the biggest danger of their life.

Every single thing has to do with the restoration of joy, if you're talking about the use of the rod, or any other kind of discipline. It's so that the peaceful fruit of righteousness can be experienced by that child. Everything is boiled down to one word, love. All of it. And Jesus Christ exemplifies that.

And so Job is a he's a sanctifying father who's diligent to know the condition of his flocks and realizing the greatness of the threats of sin in his family so he didn't sit passively by. He dealt with sin in his family. He was an exemplary priest in the right sense of the word in his family. So I think the question that we should ask here in our church among the fathers is, how is my zeal toward dealing with sin in my family? Or if you're a mother, you have a jurisdiction.

Or if you're a wife, you have a jurisdiction. Or if you're a husband, you have a jurisdiction. Or if you're a child, you have a particular role in jurisdiction or if you're part of a church you also have a role in a jurisdiction do you have zeal in the area of your jurisdiction? And it's so critical that we don't lose our zeal. Job didn't lose his zeal when tragedy struck.

Job, it says here, kept it up all his days. So there he was. He's at the top of his game. He's enjoying the fruit of all of his success and the joys of his family and wham, you know, calamity strikes. It was the perfect storm of enemies and elements.

Sabian raiders sweep in and they steal his oxen and his donkeys and they kill his servants. Immediately after that, Job receives news that fire came down from heaven and burned up his sheep and his servants, thousands of them. And then immediately after that he heard that the Chaldeans stole his camels and killed more of his servants and immediately after that The worst thing that he could imagine Another messenger came and told him that a massive wind blew down the houses of his children and they were dead. All of them were dead. You know, all of his investment in his children, All of his investments in this world were gone in a moment.

His business was wiped out, his family was wiped out. Everything he had worked for was destroyed in a moment. I believe it would be reasonable to say that he lost it all in one day. And there he was, back to he and his wife, and nothing else left in the whole world. And so grief-stricken, Job tore his clothes and he shaved his head and he fell to the ground And he worshiped God.

And then he lost his health. His pain was so excruciating. He was covered with sores. And then his friends came up, and they spent days with him, not saying anything. And then they started pointing their bony fingers at him, and blamed him for everything and Job lost his friends.

He rightly calls them miserable comforters later on His wife got so discouraged That she said to him curse God and die What he'd feared in his children happened to his wife. Remember he feared that his children would curse God and now his wife, his own wife, says curse God and die. And so Job walked through the examination of his friends and then finally God examined him and and blessed him. And God finally vindicated Job. He vindicated Job before the devil, before his condemning friends, and before the marketplace that probably condemned him as well because that's what happens in this world.

I hope Job's wife was restored. I rather think she was. The text doesn't say. But we know that God returned to Job twice the wealth that he had before and ten more children. So in one way, as somebody said in Bible study, Job did get his children doubled because he had ten in heaven and ten brand new ones and job job got to do it again he had a new family you know job was a diligent father I just expect that job was just as diligent probably even more diligent with his second family than he was with his first.

When Job got his second family, I'm sure he was very well aware that he could lose them in a moment. And he was double diligent this time around. You know, most people who raise children wish that they could do it again because They learned a few things along the way. I wouldn't mind doing it again Well if I was gonna live 200 years like Joe probably did it wouldn't be such a bad thing but Think of it this way Are you diligent with your children? Have you flagged in your diligence?

You never know how long you're going to have your children. Job ministered to his children with zeal right up until the day they all died. And I think, I think, you know, there's so many things that we could draw from this section of Scripture, but one of the things that I just want to say to all of us, and it's really very simple, love them while you have them, and love them up to the last day of their lives. That's exactly what Job did. Would you pray with me?

Lord, our zeal goes up and down in every area of our lives. We confess our sin and are being subject to so many things in this world. Disappointments that slow us down, things that we cultivate that weren't profitable that make us less zealous. Lord, we've all experienced that. I pray that you would give us a special grace here in our church that we would love them to the end with the zeal of Jesus Christ.

Amen.