If we are not experiencing God’s abundant life we need to ask ourselves why? I think we can boil the problem down to one of three issues: 1) We might have a relationship problem with God. Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at the importance of knowing God, having a personal relationship with God through Christ and how that alone impacts every other area of our life. You might know about God through reading the Bible or believe certain things to be true, but you are not in a relationship with God through Christ, or perhaps it is a distant relationship (kinda like with your second cousins). 2) We could have a hearing problem. No, I don’t mean you are going deaf, or losing your physical hearing. I am referring to your ability to understand when God is speaking to you and what he is saying, so you can do what he wants you to do. 3) We could have an obedience problem. We know what God wants us to do, but we are unwilling to step out in faith and make the adjustments in our life and do what God wants of us and because we do not do what God wants we don’t see the power of God working in our life.
We’ve already looked at the relationship part first because if you don’t have a close personal relationship with God you will definitely have a hearing problem. You will not be able to understand what God is trying to say to you. However I’ve noticed in my own life that having a relationship with God does not mean I automatically know what God is saying. You may be like me and struggle with recognizing God’s voice.
I guess at this point I have to back up and ask, does God speak to his people today? There are Christians who believe God does not speak to us anymore. They argue that God only spoke to people in Bible times, but now that we have the Bible, God’s communication is limited to what we read in the Bible. Or some believe God doesn’t really speak, he just gives us freewill to make all our own decisions without much guidance. Unfortunately, the reason people believe God doesn’t speak today is not because of what the Bible says, it is because it is not a part of their experience. They haven’t sensed God speaking to them, therefore God must not speak to us today. They interpret the Bible through their experiences rather than interpreting their experiences through the truth of the Bible. Just because you have not heard God speaking to you the way God spoke to people in the Bible (such as with an audible voice) does not mean God is not speaking to you.
When we look in the Bible, we find over and over again that God communicates with his people because God desires relationship, not mindless obedience, that’s religion.
1. God Spoke to People in the OT
God spoke to people in the Bible in many different ways. What are some ways God spoke to people in the OT? God spoke directly (i.e. Noah, Abraham, Moses) or through angels (Gen. 16), visions (Gen. 15), dreams (Gen. 28:10-19), the use of the Urim and Thummim (Ex. 28:30), a gentle whisper (1 Ki. 19:12), miraculous signs (Ex. 8:20-25), and through the prophets.
What about in the NT?
2. God Spoke through Jesus
NIV Hebrews 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
Jesus himself said:
NIV John 14:10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Jesus was saying these aren’t my words, they are my Father’s words. I am telling you what he is telling me. Even as a human being Jesus had such a perfect relationship with his Father that he knew what his Father wanted him to say, and he said it. Why did at least four different people feel they need to write down Jesus’ life and teachings? Because they wanted to make sure there was an account for future generations because they truly believed he spoke the words of God.
3. God continued to Speak After Jesus’ Ascension
What about after Jesus ascended to heaven, did God quit speaking to his people because they had received the perfect revelation of Jesus and his teaching? No. Even after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension we see evidence of God speaking to his people directly (Acts 9:15-16), through angels (Acts 5:19-20), dreams & visions (Acts 10:3,10), miraculous signs (Acts 3:6; 10:44), and prophets (Acts 11:27). God spoke to his people the same way in the NT and the OT. These were not everyday experiences, they were rare, but they were still a means through which God spoke to his people.
4. God Speaks through the Holy Spirit
Even though God continued to speak in similar ways in the OT and NT, one very important thing did change after Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised he would send the Holy Spirit, God’s very presence, to live within all those who received him, and the Holy Spirit would speak God’s Word to us. Listen to what Jesus told his disciple about the Holy Spirit before his death:
NIV John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
NIV John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
Jesus was telling his disciples that while they had the privilege of hearing the Father’s words through himself, once he left the Father would send the Holy Spirit to live within his disciples and have several responsibilities: 1) teach, 2) remind us of Jesus’ words, 3) guide us into all truth, 4) speak the words of the Father, 5) tell us of what is yet to come (prophesy).
If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit and he is communicating God’s word to you.
The experience of people in the Bible and the words of Jesus confirm God speaks to his people.
It is Normal for Christians to Hear God’s Voice
It should be the norm for Christians to hear from God, in fact we should expect it. Listen to what Jesus said to the religious leaders.
NIV John 8:47 He who belongs to God hears what God says.
Jesus spoke these words to the religious leaders who knew the Bible backward and forward (they probably had most of it memorized), but they didn’t know God personally. They didn’t know how to recognize when God was speaking to them because their hearts were far from God. Like the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, we can know God’s Word in the Bible and yet miss what God is saying to us through the Holy Spirit because we don’t know how to recognize his voice.
Recognizing the Voice of the Shepherd
In our passage read this morning, Jesus depicts himself as the Shepherd and us as the sheep of his flock. He says a key phrase beginning in verse 3,
“3b the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Sheep aren’t very bright animals but they are still able to recognize their shepherd’s voice and follow him as he leads them to green pastures and on safe paths. We don’t have to be smart to follow Jesus, we just need to be able to recognize his voice and follow where he leads us. Just like our children’s sermon, if you have a close relationship with someone you will know their voice, and if you trust them you will follow them even if you can’t see or don’t know the way.
Henry Blackaby writes in Experiencing God,
“If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience.”
Why are we in trouble? Because if we do not hear the Good Shepherd speak we don’t know where he is going and what he wants us to do. How do you know what God wants you to do today unless you sense his voice guiding you? Hopefully we will know to stay out of trouble, but perhaps there is someone God wants you to talk with at work? Perhaps God wants to reveal where you slipped so you will confess it to him. Is there someone God wants you to show love and care to? If we don’t listen to and follow the voice of Jesus we are eventually going to zig when Jesus zagged. We are going to miss God’s work around us because we are missing his signals. Most of us know the Bible enough to know what we aren’t supposed to do, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t covet your neighbors stuff, but without hearing the voice of our Shepherd we won’t exactly know where to follow him.
When I was in college I had a thought to look through the seminary box at our campus ministry. The seminary box contained information on Methodist and Methodist related seminaries. I didn’t know why I had the thought, I looked through the box and that was that. Several years later after I graduated from college, and after we joined a church and I grew in my faith and my relationship with God I began to sense God wanted me to be a pastor. I never heard an audible voice or saw a blinking signal in the sky, nothing earth shattering, but I felt an inner tugging on my heart and soul. The longer I resisted it, the stronger it became, and I realized God was speaking to me. He had a something he wanted me to do. To be honest it wasn’t what I wanted to do, I was perfectly content with being an environmental chemist. I didn’t particularly feel like I had the gifts and skills for that kind of ministry (I was a chemist). Eventually I knew I had to obey if I wanted to live in the center of God’s will for me. Was I going to leave my comfortable environment, go back to school (which I vowed I never would), leave family? Following God always requires us to step out in faith and adjust our life to his. For one time in my life I knew what God was saying to me. I wished I could say it has always been that way in my life. I don’t always clearly know what God is saying to me, but I know that God is speaking to me, and I am trying to learn how to recognize his voice amidst the clutter of everything else trying to grab my attention.
Unfortunately, there is no formula for hearing God’s voice because God is a person to be related to, not a computer. If there was a formula (pray the Lord’s prayer, wait 5 min., get on your knees) people would bypass the relationship and just do the formula, and then write a book on their experience to make a bundle on telling everyone else how to copy the formula for their life. God speaks to different people in different ways at different times. Notice in the Bible that God rarely chose to speak to the people in the same way. To Samuel his spoke in a still small voice, to David he spoke through a prophet, to Balaam he spoke through a donkey, to Joseph he spoke in dreams, to many in the NT he spoke through the Hebrew Bible. We should not think that God will speak to each of us the same way and neither should we compare our ability to hear from God based on someone else’s experience (oh, I didn’t hear God speak to me like that, I guess I am not as good). Just because someone else had a word of prophecy or a vision doesn’t mean our experience of God is any less.
Even though God speaks to each person differently, there are some typical ways God communicates with us, such as through the Bible, prayer, circumstances (what others may call coincidences), or through the church (Christian people). This is not an exhaustive list, just a list to get us started.
What does God says to us? When God speaks to us he reveals something about himself, his game plan and what he wants us to do, or his ways.
Isn’t it interesting how we spend millions of dollars on these radio-telescopes pointing them in random directions in outer space hoping to catch a transmission or signal from extraterrestrial life on another planet, when God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth is speaking to us right now? We don’t need millions of dollars of equipment. We just need time and a willingness to learn to recognize God’s voice. Over the next two weeks we are going to try to do just that learn how to recognize God’s voice.
