What Does Success Depend On?

I want to invite you to open your Bible to the book of Job, chapter 22. I am going to take some points from it, from a series of sermons I preached at our church. Today I do not intend to present a sequence; rather, I want to invite you to spend some time in meditation, to place our hearts in the presence of the Lord, and to let Him minister to us and speak to us about our spiritual condition.

How many have heard the word success? Yes? The word success is attractive. Everyone, in one way or another, seeks to be successful or seeks to accomplish something in order to feel successful—not only in the world, right? We always talk about worldly people, but there are also people in the church who chase after success, right? Sometimes our competitive family and educational upbringing drives us, and when we come to church, we are still driven by it. We pastors are also sometimes obsessed with ideas of success when we turn on the television and see those large churches; we often consider that success. We consider it success when a pastor can travel all over the world. I do not know whether being tired aboard an airplane for so many hours, unable to see your family or your children, would really be such a success.

Sometimes that is the concept we have. But when someone is walking in God’s way, one must have a basic and simple concept. Do you know what success in the life of a child of God depends on? It depends on displaying Christ in every area of our lives. When we seek success as we walk in the Lord’s way, let us not forget that Christ is the one who must be glorified through our way of thinking, through our way of acting, and through our way of being. When Christ is glorified through us, then we can indeed consider ourselves successful people, even if we do not have yachts, airplanes, or megachurches. When I am in the presence of the Lord, however, I feel like the most successful person because I have shown someone else the name of Christ. So let us not be carried away by a certain show-business culture of success. Success in Christ is more complete, and there is no disputing that.

I want to invite you to read a biblical passage that will probably seem contradictory, because it concerns a man who was not a very good friend to Job. Yet there is something interesting in the teaching found in Eliphaz’s discussion with Job. Job chapter 22, verses 21 and following. I am going to present about six principles that we should consider in order to walk on the path of success in the Lord’s way. Job chapter 22, verse 21 and following: “Now return to friendship with Him, and you will have peace; through this, good will come to you. Now receive the law from His mouth and lay His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; you will remove affliction from your tent. You will have more gold than earth, and gold of Ophir like stones from a stream. The Almighty will be your defense, and you will have silver in abundance, for then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.” We thank You for Your word. We thank You for the opportunity You give us to open our hearts and our understanding to wise counsel for our walk. Lord, I ask You to let this word bless the heart of each of my brothers and sisters, and may each one receive for themselves the anointing You have prepared from Your very presence. Amen and amen.

While reading some material during the year, I came across this passage among some of my readings, and I found it interesting when I began to analyze it. I read it for a long time. It is material from a book, and in some way it helped me understand how each of us can have light to walk along paths of success, paths of security, and paths of tranquility. I want to present to you what we might call the first principle. Verse 21 of this passage says, “Now return to friendship with Him.” The Lord’s church today is represented by each one of us. We all know that the Lord’s church is not represented by the number of buildings used throughout the city. Rather, you and I represent that church of the Lord, which is scattered abroad, walking and distributed throughout different areas of the city. The first principle Eliphaz maintains in this conversation with Job is that, in order to have tranquility, to have security, and to walk the path of success in life, we must regain intimacy with the Lord. That word friendship, which he uses in verse 21, speaks of a close relationship with the Lord—with the One who gave us salvation, with the One who gave us His only begotten Son to die on the cross of Calvary. To return to friendship with Him is to regain intimacy; it is to understand what He is trying to tell us, what He is trying to say in His word, whenever we are able to spend time in daily prayer. In these times, the Lord’s church is often concerned about how many activities we can hold to fill the calendar, and we have somewhat forgotten to walk in intimacy and friendship with the Lord.

Those who are just beginning to walk in the ways of the Lord, those who are taking their step of faith and baptism, must not forget that their best friend is the Lord. Does anyone here have a good friend in life? Does anyone have a good friend whom they tell everything, whom they take out to eat? You have to take a good friend out to eat; he never pays, but he is a good friend. A friend with whom you can cry, whom you can call, and with whom you can sit for a few hours and enjoy lunch or breakfast. You know, when we understand that our intimacy must be connected to friendship with the Lord, we begin to listen to the One who starts advising us about what we should do. The Lord says that anyone who wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Therefore, returning to friendship with the Lord means regaining intimacy; it means having that close encounter every day without losing it—in our devotional time, in our reading, and in our walk. So, in order to walk the path of tranquility, security, and the success you are seeking, do not forget to make the Lord your best friend.

Because you will have peace, because you will have peace. And that concept of peace, that concept of shalom, is not merely peace as the absence of conflict, but the totality of benefits we have because the Lord is our friend. Do you want well-being? Do you want justice, mercy, salvation, forgiveness? Do you want peace, prosperity, and abundance? Do not stay away from returning to friendship with the Lord, because that is where it is best for you to be. That shalom which enters our lives as a result of acknowledging that we need Him brings us the benefits we are seeking, and through it, good will come to you. Who would not benefit from something added by the Lord? We are always seeking what the Lord will add, and that is fine, because the Lord promised it. There are more than thirty-seven thousand promises in the Bible; if we make use of two or three, we are happy with that. In His friendship, the Lord is calling us to know Him because He has many things for us. Let us stop walking around looking defeated when we have a friend who wins everything. Let us stop walking around with sad faces when we have a friend who has done everything.

Let us stop questioning God, because there is no way to question the One who made everything. There is no way. Think of any question you like and ask me: “Who created God?” And I will tell you, “That is none of your concern.” Perhaps some philosopher on the internet will appear and write me a few recommendations. But that is none of your concern, and it is none of mine. As long as I receive those benefits from the Lord in our lives, I do not care who created God. He is my friend, and I want to have intimacy with Him. Verse 22: “If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up.” Sorry, that is verse 22. “Now receive the law from His mouth, and lay His words in your heart.” To have security, to have tranquility, and to succeed in life, begin to look at what the Lord says; begin to delve into the Lord’s secrets through His word. Intimacy with the Lord comes through reading the Scriptures. In Deuteronomy we find the fundamental principle of Christian education: repetition. I love chapter 6 of Deuteronomy. Read it at home. If you have not come across it before, you will come across it there, and you will learn how good it is when we enter into fellowship through the word of the Lord. Many manuals can be written. I know brothers and sisters who read a great many books. I will not mention the authors, because otherwise I will get myself into trouble. But they buy the latest book that has just come out by this person, and they have already read it before it was even released. I think they bought a somewhat pirated copy.

They had already read it. “Hey, look, this pastor’s latest book just came out.” “Oh yes, I have already read it.” No one has seen it in the store, but that person has already read it. They have read this person’s ideas about leadership and that person’s advice about marriage. It is good to educate ourselves, it is good to read people’s thoughts, and it is good to delve into what others are thinking. But let us not substitute secular reading for what is truly important. The word of the Lord in our lives brings peace. The word of the Lord is our guide and our light. The Word says, “Your word is a lamp and a guide for my path.” Let us not replace—let us not replace—the essence of faith: the word of the Lord. It says that faith comes by what? And hearing what? Gossip. I love that text because it is specific. Do not read this author or that author just because he has a tremendous church and you feel obligated to read him. Read the One who created the heavens and the earth. Teach your children who created the heavens and the earth. Teach your children who led the people of Israel through the middle of the sea on dry ground. Teach your children who struck down the giant when he came out to insult the Lord’s people. Teach your children how Daniel rejoiced there in the middle of the lions’ den, or how Daniel’s friends rejoiced in the furnace—it was like a sauna to them; they were joyful. No, instead we teach them things about what this person writes and what that person writes. We have forgotten to draw our children to the word of the Lord, to draw our family to it, and to draw near to it ourselves.

You know, we do not need to go to university for these things. We do not need advanced studies; we need a heart that is receptive to the Lord’s proposal. Men and women are established on these foundations. It says that the Lord came to the basest things of the world, to the things despised by the world. Do you know why? To show them His secrets, His mysteries, and His glory. What a privilege! Not everyone has that privilege. And you know, by the way, since I am preaching about the word of the Lord, how many brought their Bible today? Can you hold up your Bible? No, you cannot. Do not worry. So, as the second principle—we now have ten minutes left to give the other ten principles—as the second principle, we have the urgency and necessity of paying attention to the word of the Lord, of paying attention to what He teaches. The first two phrases say, “Receive it now.” Today is when the need is urgent. Today is the urgent time to draw near to the word of the Lord and not leave it until tomorrow—verse 22. You know, we are used to leaving things until tomorrow. We were taught not to be competitive. We were taught to say, “Well, tomorrow we will see whether we do it.” Many of us were taught to say, “It cannot be done; let us see tomorrow,” and we remain stuck in time, and we remain stuck in an idea. Ultimately, many of us have had to learn the urgency of time through the word of the Lord, through obedience to the word of the Lord, and through the experience the Lord wants each one of us to live.

So now is the time to memorize the word of the Lord; now is the time to speak to our children, to speak to our family, to meditate when we are on the bus. Do not forget to speak to others; do not forget to give glory to the Lord, because your brother is right there. Do not talk only about the soap opera or the baseball game; begin to glorify the greatest one, the King of kings and Lord of lords, because His wonders remain just as relevant today. Because they remain relevant today, He glorifies Himself through our lives. Verse 23: “If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up.” Another requirement for having peace, security, and success in our lives is that we recognize that we need to repent before the Lord. Returning to the Lord every day is the best attitude that each of us can begin to practice. We are not immune; every day we are exposed to being contaminated and attacked by the enemy. Many times we sin, and we need to go humbly and return to the Lord. So a successful man or woman is not afraid of constant repentance before the Lord, and is not afraid of that humble attitude of saying, Lord, I need You; my weakness needs to be covered by the power of the Holy Spirit. My need—what does it say?—you will be built up. This speaks of a need to rebuild, to make anew. That means that every time we go before the Lord humbly, acknowledging our failures, our faults, and our weaknesses, He is there to rebuild us, to build us up—not to punish us, but to lift us up again. You know what? That moves me: knowing that the Lord’s mercy is so vast, knowing that human pride keeps us from seeing that His forgiveness and mercy are right there, within reach. We can kneel down, take our passage of Scripture, search it, and realize that repenting daily is a good habit for our lives. Every day, coming into the Lord’s presence means returning to Him: the need for repentance, the need to recognize that we depend on Him.

Repentance drives affliction away from our home. It begins to drive away the curse that the devil has sought to establish around us. It says here, “If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, and you will put all affliction far from you.” Verse 24 also says, “You will have more gold than earth.” You understand that, right? That principle goes along with it: “You will have more gold than earth, and the gold of Ophir will be like stones from the brook.” Ophir was a land at that time known for having large quantities of gold. In biblical cultures and Latin American cultures, gold represents power; it often signifies resources and riches. Therefore, when each of us repents before the Lord every day, we drive away those fiery darts of the enemy; but in addition, what we offer to others will be richness through our experience and through our relationship with God. Has it ever happened to you that you are in a house talking about the Lord and people begin to take an interest in what you are saying?

I know some people who begin talking about the Lord and everyone runs away; no one wants to see them, because there is no life, nothing that can flow from them. But when we walk on the path of success—the Lord’s path—when we are sure that we have a close relationship with Him, when we are sure that we are not wasting our time when we seek to enter His presence through His word, when each day our heart is contrite in His presence because we have failed and fallen short, the Lord’s mercy is there to give to us so that we can give to others. The church needs to repent every day in order to draw genuinely near to the Lord. Do not merely listen to the songs at church that make you cry; rather, place yourself before the Lord every day, there in the privacy of your room, and the Lord who hears you in His room will hear you and will cause your life to radiate grace everywhere.

Verses 25 and 26 invite us: “The Almighty will be your defense, and you will have silver in abundance, and you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.” This speaks of a man or woman of God who wants to walk in security and success: they must have faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God. So we can walk on the path of faith, and we can be certain that the Lord will be our answer at the opportune moment, at the right time. We could keep talking at length, but I want to leave these thoughts there. Verse 27 and the final two principles say that we must reestablish a time of communion with God—not that hurried little prayer in the morning, when the sisters often finish putting on their makeup in the car while praying to the Lord, “May my makeup turn out well,” or the brothers—I don’t know—forgot to brush their teeth and pray, “May I not have to speak to anyone, especially my boss, up close.” We must make prayer an institution once again in our home and in our life. Look, if prayer services did not exist, I would say that many people would no longer pray at all. It is true; that is a reality in the churches, and prayer services are the least attended. But this is where we need to be: on our knees, prostrate before the Lord as His church. And we must fulfill our obligations to God and to our neighbor. When we pay—and the Lord says in the Bible, “Pay your vows”—we are leaving the door open to our responsibility toward His church and the world around us. So walking with the Lord can be a beautiful walk of peace and security. We are the only ones who rejoice in the midst of a trial; there is no other religion in the world that tells you the same thing. There is no other divine teaching from any other god that tells you that you can rejoice in affliction. There are others that tell you that you can separate yourself from the world for a little while by doing some strange meditations, but in the end you have to come back; you cannot spend the whole day sitting cross-legged.

But we can pray, read the word, and have intimacy with the Lord while we are working and going about our daily tasks. When we receive the worst news about our health or our finances, everything is in the Lord’s hands; that is not a problem for us. The most we may do is withdraw into ourselves and cry a little in our human emotions, but in the end it is the Lord who will give you a way out. You know, there are fewer and fewer successful Christians because they have forgotten the face of Christ, which must flow through their lives. They seek success in other things. Today we need to show the world that my Christ truly is greater than anything else. It says that with Him we are more than conquerors; with Him we have overcome. Close your eyes; do not worry.

And in my pastoral work, one often has to work while dealing with the lack of understanding of others. When one sees people taking a step of faith, and one sees the many people in this place who are going to take this step of faith—baptism and their commitment to the Lord—it makes me say to them, “You know what? Heed this word. Put into practice what you have heard today, because this will sustain you over time and will teach you that there is nothing more important than truly remaining centered on prayer and on reading the word.” He will always be there to defend you. He is your help; He is your strong tower; He is the one who gave His life for you; He is the one who loves you; He is the one who forgives you. Thank You, Lord Jesus. I thank You because I know that, from the depths of Your heart, You desire a church that is successful through You. And here we are, part of Your church, together with those watching online from anywhere in the world. May they be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Lord, teach us to walk.