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Call to worship: Psalm 139:1-16

Text: Job 31:1-23

Summary:

Job, the righteous-sufferer, details his righteousness in terms of love in the fear of God toward the entirety of human society, and at its base is a single principle, a God-entranced worldview: our sanctity, rights, and worth as human persons is established, not by what we are or become in the world, but by what we all are in relationship to God from creation in the womb. God's work in the womb, the distinct creation of a human being, gives every person an irrevocable dignity and right, from the womb, to be treated as a human being with a protected right to life. The righteous are, thus, especially to use their God-given strength in the most righteous treatment of every person---and certainly the most vulnerable among us: those yet in the womb.

Sermoun Outline:

1. Job's righteousness. (31:1-23)
2. A chief principle behind it. (31:15)
a: 'He Who made me in the womb made him.'
b: A case from Job for doing uprightly by the unborn human being.

Prepare

Discussion Questions:

1. Read Job 31:1-23, focusing on 31:15.
2. How should we describe Job's righteousness in the passage? Is it self-righteousness? True righteousness? Whom does his righteousness regard? What facets do you discern in it?
3. As it pertains to consistent deeds of righteousness, what aspects of Job's worldview do you discern in these verses? What beliefs motivate such behavior?
4. What is the motivating belief or conviction in 31:15? Given the immediate context (31:13-14), what's the argument Job makes? What does 31:15 grant the servant? How does Job think of himself in relationship to his servant? Where does he locate their worth, dignity, and rights? How does it serve as a basis for how he and we are to treat all human beings?
5. What's the case we can make from this text for doing uprightly to the *unborn human being? What does Job's position of power have to do with it? What about his position of suffering? How does his conviction go against his own culture, do you think? What does a consistent belief in doing good to people in the world have to do with people in the womb? Are we using what strength we have for the sanctity of human life---and especially the most vulnerable among us?