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The Tragedy of Funny Hearing A young mother, who lives in Virginia, spoke with her four-year-old son, Brent, as he asked about why all their relatives in Wisconsin "talked funny and sounded like their noses were plugged up." "They think we have the accent," she replied. "But they're the ones who have the accent, right?", asked Brent. "They talk funny." Trying to explain, his mother said, "Everybody talks in different ways—to them, we sound like we talk very slowly and all our words are d-r-a-w-n out." Brent's eyes got big, and he whispered seriously, "Oh no! You mean they hear funny, too?" Well, as a Michigan transplant in Western Pennsylvania for over 30 years, I had better not go very much further with that—if you know what I mean—for both locales have their own idiosyncrasies. But let's not miss the point—when spiritual hearing is "funny", it can be quite tragic. In His Parable of the Sower, Jesus speaks of true hearing—"…on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." (Luke 8:15) When we allow the pressures and the pleasures of this life to rule and become our focus, our hearing becomes tragically "funny", and ultimately, the fruit of obedience to the will of God is no where to be found. We see this same thing in Acts 20 as Paul concludes his third missionary journey—"And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (vss. 22-24) While he didn't know exactly what was going to happen, he did know that he had heard from the Holy Spirit quite correctly—Jerusalem was his next destination. For Jesus, for Paul, and for us, too, going to Jerusalem is a spiritual picture of waiting on the Lord, hearing directly from Him, and ultimately, being poured out for others. In Acts 21, Paul speaks with the elders of the church in Ephesus, exhorting them to remain faithful, and saying good-bye to them for the last time—for he was truly on his way to Jerusalem. After a couple of more stops, Luke, the author of Acts, makes clear, "Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden." (vs. 3) I wonder if even this was meant by the Lord to be yet another word of direction for Paul. He, too, was about to be unloaded, so to speak—his precious life was about to come to an end, but not without a very special purpose! A little later, in His third and final appearance to Paul, as the latter sat in prison, Jesus declared, "Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." (23:11) In other words, Jerusalem was only a stop along the way to sharing the gospel with Caesar and his household. But, Praise God, Paul doesn't know that part of the puzzle yet—he would have to proceed by faith, and yet, not without some potential roadblocks. Verse 4 tells us, "And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem." Now, the Holy Spirit was not changing His mind and forbidding Paul to go—these Christians were simply wrong in their assessment, spurred by their love for Paul. God was giving him even more warning of what to expect if he were obedient to the call—suffering for Christ's sake. Oh, the mercy of God—in all of this, the Lord was preparing Paul's heart for the difficulties ahead. Do you see the need for true spiritual discernment? What a powerful warning for us that we can't just flip-flop around in the directions we go, depending on how other people feel about it. We need to hear it directly from the Lord and His Word, and not listen to other voices that contradict God's way. Within a couple of days, Paul finds himself in the home of Philip the evangelist. This is the Philip we are told of in Acts 6 who was chosen with six other Spirit-filled men to help the disciples. At that time, a prophet named Agabus came into the area. Now this was not some false teacher like Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8); Agabus was the man who prophesied quite accurately the famine of 46 AD. (Acts 11:27-28) In other words, both Philip and Agabus were credible and their assessments could indeed be trusted. Upon Agabus' arrival, "he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem." (21:11-12) Wow! Now everyone is trying to stop Paul! Is that what you heard, too? Oh, watch out for "funny" hearing—Agabus didn't say that! He didn't say not to go; only that Paul would suffer for Christ's sake if he did, the very message Paul himself had received from the Holy Spirit. This wasn't a change of direction; it was an amazing confirmation of the Lord's will! There are so many voices today competing for our attention, and many people think that one voice is just as good as another. I remember several years ago, I was having a conversation with a regional leader of my former denomination. A vote was coming up at the national General Assembly concerning homo-sexuality. I had just stated that the Scriptures, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, were amply clear on this subject, condemning it as an abomination (Gen. 18-19; Lev. 20:13; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Rom. 1:26-28; etc.). His opinion was that the Holy Spirit speaks differently, depending on the times—intimating that now ordination of homosexuals was fine with God. Absurd and even blasphemous! The problem is, that contrary to popular opinion today, we are not entitled to our own opinions. I hadn't expressed my own; I had expressed God's! When we are looking for direction, we often run to voices, or even make up our own, desiring to hear what we want to hear. Zodhiates' "Wordstudy" emphatically states that man's glory is his opinion—"shifty, uncertain, and often based on error." On the other hand, God's Glory is "absolutely true and changless—His opinion marks the true value of things as they appear to the eternal mind." Even the unanimous wish of genuine caring believers is not necessarily the will of God. Paul told them, "What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." (vs. 13) Praise God—he would rely on the personal guidance of the unchanging Holy Spirit and His unchanging Holy Word. And, Praise the Lord, now the other Christians agreed with God, too! A.W. Tozer once put it this way, "The work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart is not an unconscious or automatic thing. Human will and intelligence must yield to and cooperate with the intentions of God. Watchfulness, prayer, self-discipline, and submission in the purposes of God are indispensable to any real progress in holiness." How true! Now that the Lord has chosen us, we now can choose Him and live for Him—His way! This very thing was recently seen in Islamic Tajikistan. Contrary to popular opinion, this religion is not about peace, but of hatred for God's truth and His people. One Sunday, a group of Muslims rocked a church with several explosions. The bombs left bodies and blood strewn all over the "sanctuary." An elderly woman lay on the floor with her blood-stained Bible lying next to her. It was opened to the page where she had just circled three verses—"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 Cor. 4:7-9) Had she heard God "funny"? She was destroyed, and yet God had said she wouldn't be. No, the enemy may have broken the woman's body—her clay jar—but it was only then that her treasure glistened for all to see. And since it still glistens today as you hear of it, how can that be totally bad? The Psalmist, having been too hasty himself to blame God, declared—"For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes; nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee." (31:21) Corrie ten Boom, a holocaust survivor, knew from experience, "There is no pit too deep that God is not deeper still." This Fall, let Him draw you out of the pit of changing personal opinions, and begin to make your way to Jerusalem. Come away from the tragedy of "funny" hearing, and go with Jesus—His way! Copyright (c)
2005 Christ Our Rock Bible Church. |
