LIVE: "Can a Man Be Profitable Unto God?" (Job 22:1-9), Part 1/4

If you’ve ever looked at someone’s pain and quietly wondered what they did wrong, Job 22 will challenge you. We pick up right where Job’s argument leaves off and watch Eliphaz step in with a confident, “biblical” case that sounds wise, but lands like an accusation. His opening question cuts deep: can any person be profitable to God? That launches a bigger conversation about God’s self-sufficiency and why no amount of human wisdom, morality, or religious effort adds anything to God’s essential glory. 

From there, we get uncomfortably practical. We talk about how Christians sometimes speak as if God is incomplete, lonely, or somehow “better” when we choose him. We push back hard on that framing and return to the gospel logic: we’re the ones in need, and God’s favor is not something we earn or trigger. We also connect Job’s themes to imputed righteousness in Christ, the difference between outward appearance and inward reality, and why “transactional faith” distorts prayer, suffering, and assurance. 

Eliphaz’s mindset also mirrors modern prosperity gospel and health and wealth preaching: prosperity becomes proof of holiness, while hardship becomes proof of failure. We explore why Job refuses that formula, why hearts are hidden, and how theology often reveals more about us than we realize. We even ask who we tend to evangelize and who we avoid, especially when power and oppression sit at the top of society. If this conversation sharpened your thinking, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Tech Glitch And Welcome

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Christians, I got it back up. Everything is running fine. So had a little glitch here, had to figure it out. I welcome you to this night's live, this Wednesday evening, where we will continue our exposition on the book of Job. Tonight, we are going to be in the book of Job, chapter 22, and we are making a significant transition at this point. Whereas in the last couple of chapters, we've been hearing from Job's miserable comforter, uh Eliphaz, or Bildad. I mean, we've been hearing from Job. I'm sorry. We've been hearing from Job. Responding to Eliphaz. And uh, or Zophar. I'm getting everything mixed up. Anyway, Job just finished the last two chapters speaking, and now Eliphaz, the Timonite, is beginning to speak. And so this is where we will we will pick up. Pardon me for fumbling over my words. So anyway, now Eliphaz has something to say. Now, Job has been talking about and speaking against the notion that visible suffering is an indication of inward sin. He's also, uh, Job is also responding to the assertion that he that when prosperous and affluent wicked men continue on in their life, their sin will eventually be met with suffering and affliction, such as you see Job having. And Job is arguing against that rule that they had been making. And now that rule is what they were making, and Job was countering that in the last couple of chapters. And now Eliphaz decides to speak. He intervenes. So now we are in chapter 22, and I'll read the first couple of verses. It says, Then Eliphaz the Temanite, he answered Job and he said, Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? So Eliphaz, he resumes his arguments against Job, because we've heard from him before. So now he resumes his replies against Job in a confident way, the way they all do. Confident and assured that their perspective, that their opinions are correct. And so we're going to find out that this is not the truth, but we're going to hear him out. And the debate between the men is very profound to say the least. But it's interesting the way God's wisdom is and the way his wisdom works. And I mean what I mean by that is that you have Job presenting one side and his friends can could, you know, on the contrary side presenting another perspective. Yet we are all learning truth about God from both. And only the wisdom of God can do such a thing. So Eliphaz here, he answers again, and he says, Can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable, profitable unto himself? And the question itself implies a strong denial. So it should be no surprise as to what the answer should be. No man can add anything to God's essential blessedness or God's essential character. And this is what he is saying. Can a man be profitable to God? Can a man add anything to God? And the answer is an emphatic negative. No, he cannot. He cannot. Again, as I've said in the past regarding Job's friends, that you can say a lot of truthful things and be wrong in the application of it. We see this often in Christian circles and in Christian discussions where people will say or quote biblical truth. No one will argue the truth of the Bible or the truth of the word of God, but the issue comes in with the misapplication of it, the misunderstanding of how to use it. So his question demands an emphatic no. No man can add anything to God's essential blessedness. A man can gain advantages in his life by his own wisdom, but that doesn't increase God in any way. He adds nothing to God. No matter how wise a man may become, he adds nothing to God. He doesn't improve upon God's character. He doesn't help or aid God in any way. There is nothing that a man can do in all his wisdom. All the men throughout all the history of 10,000 planets, no matter what wisdom they accumulate together and collectively, they add nothing to God. God is neither increased by man nor is he improved by man or any creature for that for that matter. It's an impossibility. And so Eliphaz is starting off by making a good case. He's starting off making a good case, except for the fact he is wrong in applying what he's it what he is speaking to to Job. So all human righteousness, the righteousness of all humans, whatever they think their righteousness may be, it does not enrich God in any way. But it returns the benefit only to the one who practices it. Notice the question again. Can any man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? In other words, your wisdom may benefit you, but your wisdom add as nothing to God. Whatever righteousness you perceive yourself as having may be to some degree a benefit to you personally, but it adds nothing to the Lord Himself. It adds absolutely nothing. And this opening question lays a foundation for what is about to follow, which is that God's dealings with men are not motivated by any need that God has in himself. Let me make this statement clear again. There is nothing in God's dealings with men that are not motivated by, or that are motivated by any need that God has in himself. There is nothing that God needs from man. Nothing. But God's justice and his sovereignty is what is always being let loose or leveled against man. And so we need to understand this because, and I'll tell you something, because sometimes, sometimes, I've heard many cases where you listen to Christians speak to other Christians, and they lead other people, whether they be Christian or not, into believing that there's something about you that God needs, that He wants. Listen, when we become Christians, we do not add anything to God. We don't improve God. We don't enhance his being in any way. We don't fill a void that he has. And this is sometimes the way we preach to people. Oh, he just wants you to come to him. He needs you. He's waiting for you with open arms. He's desiring to have you. People present a perspective about God that there is something he is lacking. And he just needs you to help complete him. There's nothing that we can do to complete God. He is complete, whole, and blessed in every aspect. What happens with man in his relationship to God only enhances or blesses the man or the woman or the child. It does nothing to add to God. His dealings with men are not motivated by any need in himself. I need to make sure we understand that. Because people get the idea and the notion that our coming to Christ, our believing in God, somehow helps God out. We're adding to him, we're improving him, we're filling a void, he's lonely, he's empty, he's lacking, he's not complete. These perspectives are lies. God doesn't need any of us. He doesn't, but he has chosen to have his creation worship him and have an understanding about what it is to know their creator. And he has done that with you, and he's done that with me. In verse 3, Elifar says this is it any pleasure, is it any pleasure to the Almighty? And he's telling us, he's saying this to Job, is any is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it a gain to him that you make your ways perfect? So listen to what he's this is what he's telling Job. Listen to what he's saying. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Do you think that somehow your righteousness gives God pleasure? The righteousness you believe you have, the righteousness that you continue to convey to me and Bildad in so far that you have. And so he asks him, is it a gain to God that you are righteous? And the answer is no. The answer is no. And he presses his argument on and on. Now here's the thing: God does delight in righteousness. He does. Yet, not as though he were made happier in his own essence and nature by it. He takes pleasure in righteousness, but not the self-made righteousness of man, not the self-imposed righteousness of man, not the self-interpreted understanding of righteousness in the part of man. The righteousness that God delights in is the righteousness that we acquire by trusting in Christ, a righteousness that when we trust in Christ is imputed to us, as my brother Nathan rightly says. In other words, he's not saying, wow, this is really, this is really a neat new feature that I could really be benefited by. This person's righteousness, this person's holiness. And if I can just get them on my side, I will be made all the better for it. And this is what he is accusing Job of believing. He's accusing Job simply this. Job, you think that somehow got better by righteousness. This is what he is essentially telling him. The question that he's asking, it denies that God gains advantage from man's uprightness. Now listen, God said that Job was perfect and an upright man. But we all know that it was God who made Job that way. God is the one that made Job that way, and God is the one upholding Job at the very part of the narrative that we're that we're discussing. God is the one that upholds Job. God is the one who told Satan, you can do all these things you want to do to him. Only you can't touch his life. His life belongs to me. And notice something, Christians. Let me tell you something. Every one of you, your life belongs to the Lord. He owns us. He has taken us away from bondage. He has stripped us away from the weight and burden of the sin that was weighing us down, that was igniting the flames of hell. He took us out of these things. And he brought us into the beloved, making us accepted in him by Christ. And no matter what set of circumstances that prevail in our life, no matter how bad they look, no matter how bad they feel, no matter how much pain they bring us, we need to understand that we are in Christ, and nothing shall separate us from that love of him. Absolutely nothing. Nothing. And so Job is being accused of being basically what Job is, what Eliphaz is telling Job is that you are holier than thou, Job. You are so righteous and holy. No one can tell you anything. Look at you. Sores, boils, homes collapsed and taken. Your maids and your servants all abandon you, and they look down on you on their way out as if you were a stranger. No one is listening to your admonishments and your advice anymore. You no longer have any power with men. And yet you believe you are still speaking as one who is so righteous, you speak as if your righteousness is so elevated that you are adding something to the glory of God Himself. And this is what he's accusing Job of doing: enhancing the essence of God Himself. Essentially being what the king of Tyre was told by God when he says, You lift yourself above the stars of God. You believe you are Lucifer, a bright and shining one. You are not. But you are not. And this is what he is saying. This is what he's saying. So righteousness cannot be the cause that God obligates to reward, that obligates God to reward man as if he were a debtor. And we had this conversation last night when it was brought up that men believe that by accepting Jesus Christ or by an exertion of their free will, that they're able to garner the presence of God and the attention of God in a favorable way. It is not true. And I believe this is what Mariah was talking about last night. Your free will does nothing to garner the attention of God, it does nothing to garner the favor of God, and it does nothing to bring you into communion with God because you are still yet in your sin. And God is of such a holiness that he cannot look upon sin. So if you are a free will, if you are a sinner that has free will, there is no way that you can approach God in that sin. The only way that you can approach him is to shed that by trusting in Christ and repenting of your sins and in coming to him, bowing down to him in humble faith. It is as simple as that. Look to Christ, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved. Looking to Christ, not looking to your will and convincing yourself that I think that what I'm hearing is intellectually appealing. Let me go offer myself up to God. After all, those people at that church were telling me that he's waiting for me, that he needs me, that he desires me. We are teaching people, the Christian church, we are the ones teaching people what Eliphaz is talking about. We are teaching people in our communications that somehow if they come to faith in Christ, they are adding something to his glory, that they are doing something that makes him happy. That they are filling a void that he has. They don't look at it as filling a void, that him filling a void within them. They look at it as if I accept Jesus, I know I'm giving him something that is going to add. I'm going to bolster God Himself. And I'll tell you something. I understand why people are coming to this conclusion. I understand why people are coming to this conclusion. And it's because of what you are telling them. Not you individuals here. I mean the Christian church at large. We are preaching a gospel that is telling people that there's something that they bring to the table that enhances the very essence of God. He needs you, He wants you, He's hoping you come, He's desiring that you come, please, for His own good, come to Christ. And this is what we need to make people understand that that is not true. And what we need to make them understand is that they are sinners. Sinners. Sinners, dead and in bondage to sin. They are the ones who are in need. They are the ones who are in the who are void of righteousness. They are the ones who have a hole in their souls. They are the ones who are saturated with sinful calamity that pervades their very being. They need to escape condemnation, which is what their wage is, which is what their debt is. Their debt and their wage. They owe God something. We all owe the Lord. We owe him our existence. We owe him our allegiance. We owe him our worship. We owe him all that we can do to show forth his glories and his praise in this world. We owe him these things. These questions that Eli Faz is is asking. It challenges the assumption that outward prosperity must always follow personal righteousness. And so, and by doing so, it exposes the weakness of this kind of reasoning. They believe, they believe that outward prosperity must also follow personal righteousness, righteousness. And this is what is prevailing in what we have been referring to, what we all refer to as health and wealth preaching. Ellie Faz and his friends, they believe that outward prosperity is evidence of God's blessings. They believe that outward prosperity is evidence of righteousness. This is what they're saying. So they're telling Job, once again, this is not you. You are touting your righteousness, but you can't be righteous, Job, because if you were righteous, you wouldn't be in these straits that you're in right now. And if I didn't make any of this clear, this is the part that needs to be understood. They're telling Job that if you are as righteous as you believe that you are, and as you are indicating to us that you are, then how do you explain what has befallen you? How do you explain that? And so, and so, and Job is listening to these guys, and he's telling them, you guys just don't get it. You guys are bum fuzzled. So uh Vanessa, my sister Vanessa will know exactly what I mean when I say that because she introduced me to the word bum fuzzled, and I absolutely love it. Bum fuzzled. So before I go on to verse four, I want to give everybody an opportunity to give an opening statement as to what they think thus far. Um let me start with Sister Candy. Candy, what's your opening remarks? Opening thoughts so far. All right, I'll come, I'll come back. Uh sister might be a little busy. Uh Sister Mariah, your thoughts so far.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

One second.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Okay. I'll come back to your sister. Uh brother Rod, your thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Good evening, everybody. Um, yeah, so far, I mean, I'm just um I'm following, I'm understanding what you what you're saying. Uh I put in there earlier, it seems like it's like he's getting at like he's uh probably somehow making the relationship transactional instead of like spiritual. So, or like it's not already done. You know, he I like the fact that we talked about a couple verses ago that hearts are hidden. So it's kind of like he can't even see it if he wanted to, you know what I mean? And that's the sad part about it all. He doesn't even see that, you know what I mean? But so yeah, uh, your thoughts so far.

SPEAKER_05 25:21

I think when we hear these verses, we truly understand like what Jesus meant when he was calling the Pharisees whitewashed tombs because they looked righteous on the outside, but on the inside they were absolute filth. And so Eliphaz is seeing Job in the same manner, but it's not true. So Eliphaz is seeing Job as unrighteous because he has all these bad things happening to him. Right. And it's the exact opposite, in which the way the Lord views righteousness, and that's on the inside. So that's what I'm gathering so far.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

You're right, sister. And and here's and here's the thing. Eliphaz, in this in these verses, these first three verses so far, what he is telling what he's what he is telling Job is this that the only thing that exacerbates your unrighteousness is the fact that you think you are righteous. And not only that, you think that your righteousness somehow adds to God, enhances God some kind of way. So you gotta think about it. He thinks he already believes Job is wicked and that Job is a sinner and an unrighteous and an unrighteous, ungodly person. And the only thing that can make a person like that worse than that is to believe they are righteous and to believe they have the favor of God. And this is what he's telling him. This is what he's telling him. It's it's really is it's really amazing because this was thousands of years ago. And yet, the same temperament saturates current Christianity today. Oh, yeah. Oh, he would have loved Joel Osteen's church. He would have loved Joel Osteen, he would love Treflo Dollar, he would have loved Kenneth Copeland, he would have loved all these people that they there the evidence of God's favor is by prosperity. That's the evidence. And if that evidence doesn't exist, it's because there's a lack of faith on your part, and you can get access to the knowledge of how to improve your faith if you give them more money. And it's insane. And if the crazy here's the insane part not that the wicked do what the wicked do, but the Christians who chase after them and believe it, which only shows one thing: a lack of understanding. Most Christians don't know the word of God. Most Christians don't know the word of God. And I'm not asking, I'm not asking anybody to answer this question that I'm about to ask. So don't answer it, don't blurt anything out. But let me ask you this have you read the entire Bible? Have you read the whole Old Testament? You know, and most of you, I'm assuming you have. But I can assure you that the greater part of Christianity has not. Has not. And believe me, there is no way, even if you studied, even if you read it one time, one all the way through, that will not do it. Because here's the thing the word of God is food. The word of God and our Lord that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ, these this is the bread of life. These words that we read and talk about and discuss daily, they give life. You know, we walk around in these bodies, but how all how well do we really understand the intricacies and the ins and outs of the anatomy? All we know is that we live and breathe and think. We are aware that we be. But there is so much involved in terms of our anatomical makeup. And so we need to understand the word of God in a deeper way, in a much deeper way. And so we we have to appreciate what we have in this Bible. We need to understand what we have in our Savior, and we need to understand, more importantly, we need to understand what we have in each other. We need to understand this. Sister Grace, what do you think so far? Your opening thoughts, Savannah.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Um, my opening thoughts are that I think Elifaz would like if if they were in today's age, they would be like part of like the workspace gospel, you know, uh people because I mean I mean it sounds like he's like projecting his like because you know, like Meg always says, you know, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So I think that you know Alifaz is um you know insecure, insecure because he's he's not uh you know, he's what's the right word? He's not um like fulfilling or like you know, he he realizes he's he falls short of you know what God asks and fall short of his glory, so he's projecting his own insecurities on onto Job. Right. You know, in a way of saying, like, hey, like you're not being, you know, you're not being prosperous and everything, you know. Basically, you know how everyone says, you know, takes that verse out of context today where they say faith without works is dead, you know, that's bas that's basically what Alifaz is saying. He, you know, taking that.

Who We Choose To Evangelize

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Right. He he he's he's basically saying he's he's not basically that he's overt in his assessment, which is that that if you were a righteous man, if you were the righteous man that you that you are trying to make us believe that you are, you wouldn't have had these things fall upon you. You wouldn't be suffering the way you're suffering if you're a righteous man. And by implication, that means that, well, righteousness is evidenced by prosperity. And this is where they're wrong. This is where they're wrong. And this is why we can never judge a person's outside appearance, no matter what it is, and then make a wholesale assessment about their standing before the creator. You can't do it by how something looks. And this is what this is one of the most significant aspects of this book that we should walk away with and not be tempted to look at another person who is downtrodden and make the the conclude come to the conclusion that it's because of somehow they are not right with God. You know, and and it's funny. Our our our we are most Christians, Christians have a tendency, and not that it's wrong, but we as a community have a tendency to focus our evangelistic efforts on those who are the poor and the and and the more mentally feeble. That's how we have a tendency to go after them because we believe they're easier to talk to. And like we talked about last night that Job was talking about, nobody goes to the rich man and tells him and declares to him his ways. They don't go to them. They don't go to the wealthy, they don't witness to them. When have you ever seen, and I brought this up last night, when have you ever seen a bunch of Christians stand outside the office building of a Fortune 500 CEO, CEO, and preaching the gospel out there? You don't see him going there. You see him going down to the hood, you see them going to Africa, you see him going to Venezuela or South America, you see him going every all these, you see him going to less fortunate places. But the height of sin is usually found at the level where the captains of industry and society and technology where they are. And all their wickedness, all of it, is funneled down and causing the poverty, causing incompetency. But no one goes to preach to them. That's what Job said in our meeting last night. We read Job saying that very thing. And so he made the case. How come you don't you know if if the if the wicked men perish so suddenly because and and and and if their oppression, if their oppressive behavior warrants speedy condemnation, then why are you here talking to me? If my fall, as you have predicted, is a result of my wickedness and my fall has is upon me, then why aren't you going and speaking these words to those who are yet to fall, but who have been living like me? Wealthy, the way they see Job. You are wealthy, you are prosperous, a man of renown. And and the thing is, his words, his words are gonna get wait, wait, wait till we keep going. He because what he's gonna tell Job is is crazy. And I can't wait for you guys to read. I'm just so excited about it, you can probably tell. Brother Pat. Good evening, brother. Opening remarks.

Group Reactions And Modern Parallels

SPEAKER_03 35:35

Good evening. Yeah, um, I'm gonna sort of build upon what uh Sister Savannah was saying. Theology is a weird thing, right, Jonathan? I've noticed that people are very good. You could know somebody for years and years and think they're a great person. Because let's face it, as human beings, we learn from a young age how to get along socially, how to get people to like us. We develop a personality that's largely based upon those things, right? And how much of that is real, right? It's hard to say. You could know somebody for 20 years and think they're a great person, and you find out some there's some pretty nasty stuff going on under the hood. And um, there's something about theology. There's something about when somebody starts telling you what they believe about God, you can learn more about that person in 10 minutes than you could in 20 years of being their friend. Amen. And I think that that's what we're seeing here. And you know something, Jonathan? I never really thought about this, but I think Job is learning a lot about his so-called friends right now. Oh, for sure. He's learning a lot about them.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

No doubt, brother. No doubt. Well said, absolutely. Sister Mariah, your thoughts.

SPEAKER_04 36:58

I think that the sarcasm is really hard high here right now. Um, you know, just if you think you're so righteous, Job, are you and your righteousness um making God better? And I think that that is just so such a crazy perspective to take. Yeah, all the balls. Um and so I think that this is a big problem in our um Christianity today, is because um oftentimes God has made like some type of genie. Anything that you want, He and He desires to fulfill that wish or that prayer or that need within you. And um, this can be the furthest thing.