Spiritual Disciplines
Committing to hear God’s Voice
I want to begin today by reading to you Faith Fellowship’s Mission Statement:
It is our mission to serve God by bringing people into a relationship of worship with Jesus that is passionate and genuine allowing them to grow in fellowship, maturity, ministry and a lifestyle of evangelism.
Notice that I highlighted “allowing them to grow”. I did that for a very specific reason. You may or may not have noticed, but this simple phrase directs us in how we teach and what direction we take in ministry and as a church. We want to see God’s people grow!
Over a month ago I sat down to plot out a 2009 teaching schedule. And as I was praying, I felt that God was giving me the words to start the new year: Spiritual Growth.
This then led me to a verse that my good friend Chris shared with me as God revealed to him in almost a vision type form in regards to God’s Church:
2 Timothy 1:6-7 (NIV)
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
I see this verse in three parts:
1) A call to fan the flames (the embers are hot!)
2) Reminder to be bold with the Love God gives us
3) To be self-disciplined
That last part is the one I want to focus on. I do this because I think in it is the key to fanning the flames spiritually in our own lives.
What is the feeling you get when you hear the word “Discipline”? For me growing up, it was not a fun word. It was a word that I heard when I was in trouble for something I did wrong.
discipline
• the controlled behavior resulting from such training
• activity or experience that provides mental or physical training
• (verb) train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way
When we look at these definitions, self-discipline as seen in 2 Timothy is more about “training ourselves” to make habits from the Fundamental Spiritual Disciplines, so that we can foster growth spiritually!
Sounds simple right? So then what are these spiritual disciplines? Over the course of the coming weeks we want to examine these Spiritual Disciplines, and how we can train to make them habit.
-Prayer
Today we want to focus our attention on the first Discipline of “Committing to Hear God’s Voice”.
I like the word Commit in that phrase, because there is power in it. We live in a society where commitment isn’t what it used to be, but when we say we want to commit to do this, we are saying we want to always seek and listen to God’s Voice. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
First let’s recognize…
1. God Speaks!
First let’s establish the fact that God has been speaking to people from the beginning of human history, both directly and indirectly. I want to highlight at least seven way that God has spoken to humankind as seen in the bible:
A. He speaks through the artistry of His creation
Psalm 19:1-4 (NLT)
The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. 2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. 3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. 4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.
God speaks so clearly through his creation that all are held accountable to believe in the creator
B. He speaks in our natural sense of morality
God has placed in all of us the fundamental sense of right and wrong:
Romans 2:14-15 (NLT)
Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. 15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.
Our morals may shift without a proper standard because we are also born with a sin nature, but the original sense of right and wrong is there by God’s doing.
C. He speaks through Divine Providence
God uses the miracles of life to speak to us! Just look at the “Miracle on the Hudson” this past week! God was watching out and speaking to all of us!
D. He speaks through Signs and Wonders
Genesis 9:13 (NIV)
I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
There are countless accounts in the bible of God using signs and wonders to communicate to His people.
E. He speaks in the Still, Small Voice
God will often address people in their hearts:
Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
The Holy Spirit acts as our advocate in this regard. It guides us internally.
F. He speaks through His authoritative Word
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Imagine that—God’s Word still being relevant to us today!
G. He has spoken through His Son, Jesus Christ
Hebrews 1:1-2 (NLT)
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.
Christ is the living word of God who has declared to us the Father’s love for us and our way to salvation!
Disclaimer:
- We know these ways as valid because the bible says so
- We are to measure what we think as “God’s Voice” by what the bible tells us.
Basically, God can get a hold of us by any means necessary (ie. Balaam’s Donkey), but it will be God’s word that will help us determine if it truly God, or motivated by something else (Self, bad pizza, etc.)
Romans 10:17 (NASB)
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
So if God speaks…
2. Let Us Hear!
Luke 8:4-8 (NLT)
4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5″A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
This passage is known as the “Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed”. Most of us are familiar with it, but what is so fascinating about this parable is that in its simplicity, it is incredibly profound.
In fact, within we not only find a blueprint of how to seek and truly listen to God’s voice, but we also see the consequences of not committing to hear God’s voice. More on that in a second…
A. Hearing vs. Listening
Herein lies the Spiritual Discipline, the Commitment! It is one thing to Hear. We do it all the time. Think of the last time you were in a crowded place; you hear every noise! But try having a decent conversation in this same place!
Listening, is taking hearing one step further. Look again at verse 8:
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Do you realize what Jesus is saying here? The Greek translation of this word, akouo “a-koo-oh”, refers to more than just hearing sounds. It refers to a person’s receiving and responding to what they have just heard.
Committing to “Hear” God’s Word is not a passive thing. It is something we must discipline ourselves to do. If we do not, we are in danger of missing out on God’s Word!
Luke 8:18 (NLT)
Therefore 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.
Do not take God’s Word for granted. Do not get to high on “what you already know”. Because if we ever get to a place where we are not “listening” to God’s Word we are in danger of losing what we already have.
Now what does that mean? If all we have are the things we’ve always known, we will eventually become shortsighted and will shut out what God may be trying to reveal to us. Or will start to put “our” word in God’s place.
I don’t believe this is a permanent thing. The same God that gives me “Grace upon Grace” always speaks, and we can always tune into what he is saying. It will take a massive heart change.
3. A Heart of Commitment
Let’s look at Luke again:
Luke 8:11-15 (NIV)
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
We’ve already seen how God’s Word is always available. We know that God is constantly dialoguing with us. So why do we feel like he’s not at times? The answer is in the passage we just read; it is an issue of the heart.
I want to briefly discuss the different heart conditions we see here:
A. On the Road
Automatically we associate this soil, or lack there of, to those who do not believe, but I think this soil is also referring to the Christians who have for one reason or another dried up. How does that happen?
- We get caught in the rituals and avoid change
- We hold onto past hurt, and it hardens our heart, allowing for nothing to get in
- We fill our heads up with bible knowledge, and the spirit dries up hardening our soil
- We blow up on super-spirituality, without any balance of His word and over saturate the soil so that nothing can grow there
God is spreading His Words of life in our heart, but we have rejected it. We’ve become “Un-teachable”.
B. On the Rocks
The best illustration is the “mountaintop high”. We experience a great moment, and live in that moment, but when life happens again, we’ve got no roots, because nothing has been cultivated.
The problem was not seed, or even the event that started it, it was the lack of follow thru. You can’t expect to show up on Sundays expecting God to speak to us when we don’t give him any other time through the week.
Remember, the Discipline is the commitment! Cultivating from that mountaintop experience and beyond.
C. In the Thorns
The problem here is not necessarily the soil, but the things we’ve allowed to grow in the soil.
Question: How much effort does it take to grow weeds?
We place things in higher priority, than what God has planted there, and there is a real fight for dominance, and God’s Word usually loses.
It’s going to take a focused effort to remove the distractions. Some examples:
- Study in a quiet place and time
- Drive with the radio off
- Seek Godly Counsel and Companionship
- Take a Time Inventory – Give less time to things that interfere with your relationship with God
D. Fertile Ground
This is the heart that is committed to hearing and listening. This is the heart that has taken the steps to make this discipline a routine.
But this heart has also committed to the final step: Once God’s Word is heard, it is listened to and carried out.
James 1:22 (NKJV)
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
There is the action. Remember, Hearing God’s Word is not merely “hearing”; it is hearing, then receiving and responding.
-Prayer
