"FOLLOW ME pt.2: Listen Up!"

Feb.9/03 Mk.1:35-39; 6:45-52

Not Enough Signs

This past week a howling blizzard shut down local schools and virtually all the roads in Huron & Perth counties. In fact so many roads were closed that some county road departments actually ran out of "Road Closed" signs. People were storm-stayed overnight in Clinton and Wingham, including one of my co-workers at the hospital. Driving was very bad; I ventured down to the library and post office in the afternoon, and coming home experienced a white-out just going up our hill. It's a scary feeling when you can't see a thing, and fear a tractor trailer may suddenly loom up out of the snowscreen at any moment.

        Most people know enough to stay off the road if at all possible under such conditions. Whether or not there are signs saying the road's closed, you know it's dangerous. Yet how many of us in the spiritual side of our lives are blundering around blindly in a white-out? Do we figure God has run out of "road closed" signs but we'll just try to forge ahead anyway on our own navigational skill? When the Lord puts a barrier or a warning across our way, do we heed it, or crash on regardless? There is a way to deal with the white-out, you know: take time to stop and listen for God's direction. Pause and pray, seek to discern the Lord's road signs. Today as we continue our series on what it means to be a Christian, we'll see Jesus modelling how to make time for a devotional life. Deliberately listening for God's direction will help prevent us from painful spiritual collisions or going into the ditch with regard to eternity.

Listen: Make Time to Get God's Perspective

As we pick up the story in Mark 1, you may recall from last week that Jesus had had a busy and exhausting day, for a Sabbath anyway. He'd cast out an evil spirit in the synagogue service, then healed Peter's mother-in-law from her sickness. Mark tells us starting in v.32, "That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.He also drove out many demons..." All that after sunset! You'd think Christ would be ready to sleep in the next day. But instead we're told in v.35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

        Jesus made it a priority to listen for God's voice. He got up "very early...while it was still dark". He had all kinds of valid reasons for sleeping in, but instead He got up early to pray. And just as well He did, too. Soon after Peter and the others came hunting for Him and announced, "Everyone is looking for You!" Suddenly, due mainly to His phenomenal healing power, Jesus had become extremely popular. Overnight He had become a living legend. The public was clamouring for Him.

        But Jesus had taken time to focus His spiritual eyesight and perceived a "road closed" sign through the spiritual smokescreen. It was like the temptation in the wilderness to turn stones into bread, to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, all over again. God hadn't put Him there to be a crowd-pleaser, but to serve through proclaiming the Kingdom and giving His life for human sin. Essentially, Jesus said "No" to the disciples' urging. He replied (v.38), "Let us go somewhere else— to the nearby villages— so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." This prayer time, looking to God for guidance, had cleared His vision so He was ready to get on with the next step, visiting the other hundreds of towns in the Galilee region. Spending time alone with the Father sharpened His sensitivity so He was clear about God's purpose in sending Him, and how not to get sidetracked. He wasn't blundering about in a blizzard, but took time to seek and discern the Father's road signs.

        David McKenna writes, "A few years ago, I invited Billy Graham to be the commencement speaker at Seattle Pacific University. Commencement is a grand occasion of celebration for us, held in the exquisite Seattle Opera House with a capacity crowd. Pulling out all the stops, I glamorized the invitation for Dr.Graham. He listened patiently, mused a moment and then answered, 'David, I am flattered by your invitation, but I must say 'No.' You see, God has called me to be an evangelist, preaching the gospel to sinners. I would find it a joy to be with you, knowing that I would be among Christian friends, but if I said 'yes', I would have to turn down an invitation to preach where other men have not preached.' Graciously and humbly, Billy Graham shared the motive of Jesus when He said, 'Let us go into the next towns.'" Here again, one of the Lord's servants declined a popular request because He sensed God's prior directing in a way that would utilize his particular gifts to best advantage for the Kingdom.

Scripture Survey: Listening to God Vital

Repeatedly the Bible emphasizes the importance of taking time to listen to God through prayer and reading His Word. Proverbs 2(3-5) says, "...if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." We're to "call out" and "cry aloud" for God's insight. God told the prophet Jeremiah how off-track the popular 'false prophets' were because they didn't listen to Him but made it up as they went: "How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?...which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? (Jeremiah 23:16,18) Zechariah (7:12f) warns that those who don't listen to God won't be heard themselves when they call for help: "They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.So the LORD Almighty was very angry."‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the LORD Almighty." In Malachi 2(2) God says, "'If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,' says the LORD Almighty, 'I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me.'" Here "listening" is associated with revering God, setting our heart to honour Him, making Him our priority.

        When we come to the New Testament, the emphasis on listening to God is accented. Speaking in parables, Jesus would end with the teaser line, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Mark 4:9,23) In the story about the houses built on the rock or the sand, He compared the person who hears His words and puts them into practice to a wise man; the person who doesn't, to a foolish one (Mt.7:24,26). In Luke 8(18) He warned, "...consider carefully how you listen.Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him." This suggests when we stop paying attention and growing in our walk with God, we'll start sliding back. In John 8(47) Jesus pointed out to the Jews that genuine believers will listen to what God says: "He who belongs to God hears what God says.The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

        In Acts 3(22) Peter reminds his critics that Moses foretold God would raise up for the people a prophet like him, and they must listen to everything he tells them, or risk being cut off if they don't listen (Dt.18:15,18). Was Peter thinking of that eerie day on the Mount of Transfiguration? That's when he had heard God's voice with his own ears saying about Jesus, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.Listen to him!" (Matthew 17:5) And in the wonderful passage about Jesus being the Good Shepherd in John 10(3,16,27), Jesus pointed out that the sheep listen to the shepherd's voice; "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." Listening is essential to having a relationship with the Lord, coming to know Him, and discern where He's leading us individually.

Lasting Legacy of a Shuttle Captain

Just over a week ago we had the sad news about the space shuttle Columbia breaking up and 7 astronauts perishing. But reports are starting to circulate about the 3 (at least) that were Christians. One was the Captain, Rick Husband, from Texas. The discipline of listening to God in prayer and having a devotional life was important to him. When all the astronauts were suited up before lift-off and moving down the walkway to where the doors would swing open for them to be seen by the press, the captain did something unusual in NASA protocol: he asked the group to pause for a moment and prayed aloud with them. Also, beforehand, the father of two had videotaped 17 sessions of "devotionals with dad" for his kids, so they'd have one each day while he was away in space. How precious those videotapes will be to them now! What a powerful legacy, an unwitting last gift, for a dad to leave his offspring - encouragement to take time to listen for God's voice and guidance each day! Their world has come crashing down around them, but their parent's faith shines like a steady beacon of hope and assurance through the stress.

        Let's pray.