Clevedon Baptist Church, evening service – 18/Nov/2012
I am blessed, that every time I am asked to preach here I am faced with a really challenging subject. This evenings question is one that I certainly do not have all the answers. It is, in a sense, one of the key questions of the faith: “How can we, as a people, learn to truly listen to God?” If we are to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus, true children of our Father God and truly indwelt by Holy Spirit we must be willing and able to listen to the voice of the eternal God. We must believe and trust that God is willing to speak to us, for He is. We must have ears to hear what the God saying; for I believe that God is not silent. Having said this we would do well to always remember that God is the Almighty God,
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth ,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God speaks in a language we may not fully understand, with purposes we may not fully grasp, to ends we may not fully see. God often speaks to us from an unexpected direction and from places we rarely visit or appreciate. Let us begin in humility, acknowledging our lack of understanding and appreciate that we need His help in all things, and especially in the act of listening and discerning His voice. And the fact that we need his help here tells us something of the purpose of listening. It is an integral part of relationship, if we do not listen to God can we truly say that we are His people and He is our God?
But what does God sound like? What does he say? You see there are many voices in the world. There are many strident and ardent voices shouting loudly from our culture, our family and friends, saying to us “do this, do that, be like this” We also all have internal voices and desires that often say to us “Do this, get everyone around you to do that, put yourself first, you worth it”. So we are trying to listen to God amidst all this background noise.
How do we know it is God speaking to us?
The question is how are we to discern his voice from all the noise around us? If God speaks gently and unexpectedly how do we listen? So my first point is this “How do we know when God is speaking to us? How can we know that it is not just our own imaginations? How can we separate out the voices of others from the voice of God?”
I remember reading about the theologian Karl Barth. He was one of the most important Christian theologians of the last century, though German he refused to join the Nazis and resisted their attempt to reshape the Church. He made a visit to America in the 1960s and was mobbed by reporters for his most profound thought about life, the universe and everything. And he was purported to have said only this “Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so”.
You see even the most eminent theologian Barth, who had written 12 huge tombs on Christian dogmatics, quoted a Sunday school song. He understood the simple, child-like, truth that Christianity is rooted in the historical word of God. We know of God loves us, first and for most, because His revealed word says it. Yes, we must also have that inner transformation of the Holy Spirit, that new birth. But the testing comes if our personal experience is in keeping with God’s revealed word. The only sure way of knowing what God is saying is listening to what he has already said! For God does not change is mind, He does not contradict Himself. He is eternal and His words are eternal and unchanging.
So, if we want to listen to God, to discern his voice from all the other competing voices of our culture etc we must go back to the words of God found in the bible. Listening to God means reading, and studying and believing the words of God found in the Bible. So when we seek to listen to that still small voice, that gentle whisper of God, it must be telling us something in keeping with what God has already revealed in His word. Most often God will speak to us directly through bringing certain passages of scripture to our conscious minds and spirits. The Holy Spirit will touch our hearts through the words of the bible resonating in our souls and spirits. I believe that this is the simplest and safest way of listening to God.
But do we need to interpret the Bible?
This of course is where most of the trouble in church can be found. We may accept the historical word of God as truth, but what does it exactly say about, say the role of the priests, or women leaders, or infant baptism, or Holy-Spirit baptism, or the true meaning of Communion, or whether it is right to go to war, or whether it is good to be rich in an age of hunger, etc … I believe that the scripture does talk about many of these questions in some detail but let us be honest and confess that there has still been much historical division in the church over the correct interpretation.
The christian church itself has its own culture. It is not immune from false prophets and ego driven voices that seek to usurp God’s voice. As St Benedict said in the 6th century, “the Church has a long and sinful history” little did he know how bad things would get later on! These false prophets and leaders are more interested in defending and building up there own position than to truly and humbly consider what God is saying and has said.
Let us consider the situation described in the book of Acts chapter 15.
1Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
This was one of the first major conflicts that the church had to face - what to do with the problem of non-Jewish believers? Non-Jewish believers were called Gentile believers in scripture. Should non-Jewish believers be forced to become Jews as well as Christians? Its seems amazing to us that there was ever any doubt as to what God wanted. Surely, the Good News is for everyone Jew and Greek, male or female, slave or free, rich or poor. Well, at this moment in history about AD 50, that’s 20 years after Jesus’ death and Resurrection things were not that clear to all.
The church in Jerusalem was still predominantly Jewish, and they met in the Temple and followed most of the traditions of the ultra-religious Jews. It is interesting that they had groups of “believers” from the party of the Pharisees. Despite that fact that Jesus had been vehemently opposed to the Pharisees it appears from verse 5 that some were actually welcomed within the church. Their view seems to be that this influx of non-Jewish converts must not be permitted to dilute the traditions and law of God. So why should not these non-Jewish converts accept graciously the blessing of the Old Testament in full, including circumcision. Now remember at this point very little of the New Testament existed. The problem, for these Judaizing Pharisees, was that there were only a few non-Jewish believers in Jerusalem. So you can see how some of these highly motivated, ultra-religious, guys got it into their heads to go off to ensure compliance in the church in Antioch.
This “mission” wasn’t explicitly sanctioned by the Jerusalem church but these people acted as if they had permission. So on turning up in Antioch and they set out their stall and they were given a platform to preach and teach. And then it all turns “pair shaped”, Paul take great offense at what they are saying and insists on having stand up, face to face, full blown, and most probably heated, argument with them.
Who was right who was wrong? For us now, it was clear that these Judaizers did not get it. They completely missed the point of Jesus dying once for all. That is all sins, all transgressions could be forgiven. They didn’t understand that God salvation plan was a free gift, not an earned reward for good behaviour. For there is nothing we can do to make ourselves right with God. We must only believe that Jesus has done it all. They didn’t understand that the purpose of the Old Testament was to bring us to Jesus. They didn’t understand that Jesus was Messiah and Lord for everyone not just the Jews. The didn’t understand that if God is the Almighty God He must be the God of all and have plans and purposes for all.
The purpose of the sacrificial system in the Old Testament was to point prophetically to the loving self-sacrifice of the Son of God. The ceremonial traditions in the Old Testament, that is all the teaching on foods, rituals, and the initiation of circumcision, are no longer needed. The moral teaching of the Law, the ten commandments and the golden rule, remain but the ceremonial religious parts have been completed once and for all time. Like some epic Shakespearean drama, the religious and the historical parts of the Old Testament are like the opening acts which set out the back-story. This leads to that final climactic act of God on the Cross. “It is finished” was the cry of Jesus on the cross. It is accomplished, “I have die once for all the perfect sin offering”. So this story is complete. It is not that God has changed His mind, No, it is that God has completed what He had always planned to do.
So a delegation from the Antioch Church was sent to the Jerusalem Church to get some resolution to this problem once and for all. Let me read from Paul’s description in Galatians 2
1 … I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.2I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain.
Note that the first meeting was in private and was among the leaders only. It is wise to not have an open debate without the leaders first discerning what they believe to be God’s will in the matter. Let the hard talking, arguing and praying go on behind closed doors and without any fixed time limit.
Consider Paul’s grace and humility. Even though he was strongly convinced he was in the right, and he was in the right, he still was concerned to gain acceptance from other leaders. He wanted to keep the bond of peace. Discerning the will of God, even for an Apostle, is subject to testing. You may believe you understand God’s will but are you willing to put that understanding to the test? Alas, today there are many who strongly believe they know best but are unwilling to humbly submit to others. They believe that they and they alone are able to listen correctly to God. I have seen a few like this even in our church. It appears that listening to God, discerning the will of God and testing that perceived will is done by a community rather than just a single individual. That is not to say that the church is a democracy or infallible, no - there is no scriptural warrant for either of these positions.
Let us continue the story in Acts 15
7After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9He did not discriminate between us and them,for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
Then Paul and Barnabas spoke and finally James. Then we read ...
22Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.
At this point the whole church affirmed the decision of the elders and apostles.
They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23With them they sent the following letter:The apostles and elders, your brothers,To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:Greetings.24We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
So, after 20 years from Christ’s death and resurrection, the matter was settled once and for all. - Well, not quite.
You may have noticed that in the last verse 29 it was not a complete win for Paul’s position. Non-Jewish (Gentile) believers were still encouraged to follow certain dietary requirement of the covenant of Noah. At the time this probably seemed very sensible as much of these things were found in the pagan Greek worship of “the gods”. So it would be like following two different belief systems at the same time; i.e. pagan and Christian. But also for some Jewish converts eating certain foods was so offensive that they couldn’t accept it and remain in close fellowship with non-Jewish converts.
However, even though this reasoning was based on good intentions it wasn’t based on a sound understanding of God’s plan of salvation for all. The letters of Romans, Hebrews and Corinthians discusses why this is the case. And the Gospels indicate that Jesus Himself didn’t seem to have any problem with this kind of thing; He shared fellowship freely with Jews and non-Jews, male or female, slave or free. This was one to the reasons he was so heavily criticised by the Jewish leaders.
This short judgement of the Church had the effect of storing up trouble for the future. Let us read from Galatians 2:11, sometime later
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
Paul publicly rebuked Peter (Cephas) over his behavior on this issue. And Peter, to be fair, seems to accept this rebuke. The matter was clearly not resolved. In fact this problem rumbled on for another 20 years.
Some 8 years later when Paul return to Jerusalem, for one last time, we read in Acts 21
17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. .
“Are zealous for the law …” that doesn’t sound good! Do they understand that you are saved by the gift of faith not personal works? Do you they not understand that they can never be put right with God through what we do? Why are they going back to the Old instead of embracing the New Covenant? The Jerusalem Church had taken on an almost entirely Jewish character and it is clear that Paul’s views and actions were not entirely popular we read
21 They (the church members) have been informed that you (Paul) teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, …
Basically, Paul’s very life was in danger, that how high feelings were running. Wow, this problem was still unresolved. The church at Jerusalem had been unable to free itself from the culture influences of the society in which it was based. The Jewish nation at the time was still under the occupation and rule of Rome, and they didn’t like it. Society was moving back to a “Old Testament spirituality” and Temple worship. This traditionalism became a groundswell of growing nationalism. It is interesting that despite the large number of converts at Jerusalem we read very little positive about the church’s activity over 30 year period in scripture. To be fair they were walking a tight rope, trying to avoid open conflict with an increasingly militant, nationalistic and orthodox Jewish society. Some 4 years after this event James the leader of the Church in Jerusalem was put to death, most probably by stoning.
Things eventual came to a head when the Romans armies laid siege to Jerusalem in AD 70, killing tens of thousands, and eventually destroyed the temple, the temple complex and much of Jerusalem. This was predicted by Jesus is Matthew's Gospel. The Jerusalem Church never recovered its preeminence. I take this as warning for the Church to follow the way of grace and not works. God has made clear that the Old Testament worship and pattern were at an end, and the Temple has never been rebuilt. Without the temple you cannot correctly and truly follow the old way now, only the new.
Epilogue
So listening to God requires people to read and understand the scriptures. It requires elders and leaders to listen to the voice of God and discern His voice from all the other noise around. It requires a listen and discerning community that is humble and faithful. It is easy to make mistakes, and being a large and successful church is no safeguard against error. Just because a Church decides to follow a certain plan does not mean that it is God’s plan. If the Jerusalem Church can make mistakes, I take it that no one is infallible.
For the Church to be a listening and discerning community, we need people to leave their egos, their cultural baggage and all self interest at the door. Come into our meetings in a humble loving way, seeking to say helpful not harmful things. We need people, who are full of trust in God, to speak from faith not fear. Our goals should be unity around Christ Jesus and peace with one another. The 4th century monk and theologian John Cassian presented these tests of what we think God is telling us: Is this path filled with what is good for all? Is it heavy with faith and trust in God? I like these a lot, they are full of wisdom. The 16th century Ignatius of Loyola suggested the following test: In this path, is there a sense of peace and movement toward God? Or is there a sense of disease and movement away from God? Does our discerning, our plans moves us closer to God? If not its probably wrong.
Let us always and in every way move towards God.
Amen
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