“Renewable Energy: Listen Up!”
Luke 9:28-36
There are many ways to say “Listen!” For example: “Shh! Listen!” - a whispered command so as not to disturb someone. Or “LISTEN TO ME!” - a loud command to get attention in as noisy place. Or “OK. Listen up!” Like a coach rallying his players. Or even “You’d better listen to her!” - like a parent exhorting a child. How and when it’s said determines what it means. So consider the 9th chapter of Luke, verse 35: “A voice came from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.””. What an experience it must have been! What would have been your response? What would you have done with this voice from God? What the disciples learned, and what we must understand, is that LISTENING TO GOD REQUIRES ABSOLUTE, COURAGEOUS OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST.
Luke wrote that eight days later Jesus and the three went up the mountain to pray. Eight days after what? What had been going on? Peter had confessed that Jesus is the Christ. Then Jesus shared the road of suffering and death which He would travel. Then Jesus taught the disciples the way of cross bearing: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Then eight days later Jesus took the three up the mountain. Jesus wanted his friends and disciples to think. It was like Moses waiting on the mountain for six days prior to receiving the 10 commandments - God was preparing Moses to hear.
So now, on the 8th day, Jesus wentup the mountain with Peter, James, and John. After Jesus is transfigured and accompanied by Elijah, the prophet, and Moses, the lawgiver, God speaks: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen.” God was saying JESUS IS THE CHOSEN, THE SON OF GOD. He was drawing from Deuteronomy 8:15-18: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die." The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” Jesus’ voice is the voice of God. Jesus’ words are the words of God.
And what did Jesus say? That He must suffer many things. The decisive moment in history was on its way. His first point and order of business was to make very clear that JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO SALVATION. He had come with the authority to first and foremost pay the price for our salvation. “Peter, do not try to find another way; it must be this way. Only the Son of God can do the job and pay the price. Listen to him! There is no other way. Listen to him!” Jesus went up to the mountain to assure his three most trusted friends and leaders that in choosing to follow Jesus Christ they had made the right choice.
And second, to be reminded that his words about suffering, hardship, and self-denial ARE TRUSTWORTHY AND NOT TO BE IGNORED. “So Peter, James, and John - walk with him, and learn from him! He is the Son of God; He is the Supreme authority. Listen to him! ”
ALL AUTHORITY BELONGS TO JESUS! THE authority is here! In this moment on the mountaintop, God gives us a glimpse of his holiness. God, through Jesus, is in charge; do things His way! The prophets were good, the law was good, but Jesus is the ultimate authority for life. Powerbrokers of the world, take note! And He invites us to listen, pay attention to, obey his words. And more than that, He invites us to be shaped by them instead of reshaping them to fit our lifestyle. We need to let the transfiguration and words of Jesus transfigure us. Can we stand with the late Francis Schaeffer when he wrote: “God willing, I will push and politic no more...the mountains are too high, history is too long and eternity is longer. God is too great, man is too small, there are many of God’s dear children, and all around are men and women going to Hell. And if one man and a small group of men do not approve of where I am and what I do, does it prove that I’ve missed success? No; only one thing will determine that -- whether this day I’m where the Lord of lords and King of kings wants me to be.” We simply cannot be a disciple without listening to the words of Jesus; they must transform us.
It sounds so nice and neat, doesn’t it? But the reality is, we have a hard time listening to Jesus. We find it difficult to do what God’s Words say. We, in fact, often choose not to obey. WE MUST LEARN TO LISTEN. A survey published in 2007 related that 52% of Americans say they believe the Bible is God’s authoritative Word. However, only 36% say they believe people should live by Scripture. Some 45% say they operate by a mixture of God’s commands and their own inclination. And 15% ignore God’s Word is if conflicts with their own plans. How can this be? I believe it’s because people do not have a proper fear of God.
GOOD LISTENING BEGINS WITH A PROPER FEAR OF GOD. Fear of God makes one listen to God. But let’s understand what fear of God is. It is a commitment to be obedient to God no matter what the cost. All that matters is that since God is holy his commands are to be followed. FEAR OF GOD IS REVERENTIAL TRUST AND COMMITMENT TO HIS WILL. As the late John Henry Jowett stated, we must listen with a view to obedience. The groundwork for this was already laid in the Old Testament. In Exodus 1 there is a story of two women. It’s a ‘good news, bad news’ passage. The first 7 verses relate how well everything is for the Israelites because of the family of Joseph. That’s good news. But verse 8 begins our story; it tells us that a new king who was unaware of the history of Joseph took the throne. That’s bad news. All he could see was that the Israelites were growing in number and he was afraid - afraid they would soon outnumber his Egyptians and rebel. So he further oppressed the Israelites, trying to pound them into submission. But the more Pharaoh oppressed them, the more the Israelites grew in number - and the more Pharaoh feared.
So he pushed another panic button and called Shiphrah and Puah, the two head midwives, in to see him. With clear, unmistakable tone, he ordered, “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The command was clear; the penalty for disobedience to the king was understood. He was sure he had control of the situation. But, verse 17, “The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” Gutsy move! For a while they could get away with it - I mean, how would the Pharaoh ever know?
But then he began to see baby boys; he soon realized his command was being disobeyed. So he called Shiphrah and Puah back in to see him again. “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The moment of truth arrived. But they told the king that it was because the Israelite women delivered before they could get on the scene to help - sounds shaky to us, but God intervened. He helped Pharaoh believe it. The real reason for their incredibly bold actions? They feared God! They were committed to God, not to Pharaoh, to life not to death. They held a fundamental conviction that while there was a Pharaoh, there was a God over Pharaoh. They knew that while they had to give an account to human authorities and powers, they also had to give an account to the Supreme authority and power. They feared God. And it impacted their behavior and decision making.
So Shiphrah and Puah had reverence for God and for life. They believed the truth that if we do all He commands we receive all He promises. And sure enough: “So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.” That’s the story of two women and their absolute, courageous obedience to God; it was honored by God.
So WE MUST BE OBEDIENT TO GOD NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. 14 years ago Florida State’s sports information department had big news for Clay Shiver last year: Playboy magazine had selected him for its preseason All-America football team. But quicker than he snaps the ball, the 6-foot2, 280-pound center said, “No thanks.” he went on to say, “My mind was made up before it was offered to me. It’s almost funny how God works these things out even before we’re faced with them.” You see, two weeks prior to the announcement his team’s chaplain had said he might well get the award. So Shiver spent two weeks in prayer. Even though his eyes were on the Pros, and even though this honor is supposedly one of the highest that can be received, Clay saw it as an endorsement of Playboy. Says his chaplain, “Clay really gave up being named ‘the best player in the country’ at his position. It was a witness to people in the football world who wouldn’t have known about Clay’s faith.” One Christian teammate said, ‘I don’t know if I could have turned it down.’ “Apparently Clay knew “To whom much is given, much is required....He who loses his life for my sake will find it.” Said Clay, “I don’t want to let anyone down, and number one on that list is God.”
Clay Shiver had listened to Christ! How can you better listen? Where do you need to courageously obey? Remember, listening to God requires absolute, courageous obedience to Christ. To know God’s will is life’s greatest treasure; to do God’s will is life’s greatest pleasure. Just ask Clay Shiver. Better yet, just listen to Jesus.
Good listening also means we make every effort to DO GOD’S COMMANDS. It is easy to sit and simply hear. But to listen in the biblical sense is to hear and do. It’s easy to fall in love with doctrine without undertaking any obligations. That’s why James wrote (1:22-25): “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does.” Or as John writes (I Jn. 2:4): “The man who says, “I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
A father shared an experience he and his wife had with their young children. They began, as a family, to memorize Scripture, one verse a week. They kept the verses on cards in the middle of the table, and discussed their meanings when they recited the. One evening he and his wife heard their 2 young daughters fighting down the hall. “I hate you!” one yelled, and the other responded in kind. Not wishing to jump into the argument, he called out, “Kara?” She replied, “Yes!” “What is our verse for this week?” he asked, hoping to quiet the argument by implication. Quickly the daughter answered in her most pious voice, “Dear friends, since God so loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too.” And then she resumed the fight! So he tried the same tactic with the other daughter, Dana – with the same results. So he had to go and intervene. He shared the lesson he learned. “What a beautiful example of how most of us apply Scripture! We memorize it and even repeat it flawlessly, but seldom does it change our lives. And yet Christianity is not so much about knowing facts as about living. We must get the Bible off the shelf and into the self.”
Ask yourself seriously, “WHERE DO I NEED TO COURAGEOUSLY OBEY?” What is Jesus commanding you to do? Listen to him! George MacDonald wrote, “...obey him in the first thing you can think of in which you are not obeying him. We must learn to obey him in everything, and so must begin somewhere!”
Here’s MacDonald’s practical advice: “GET UP, AND DO SOMETHING THE MASTER TELLS YOU; so make yourself his disciple at once. Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because he said, Do it, or once abstained because he said, Do not do it. It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe in him, if you do nothing he tells you.”
“This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” You can begin by responding to Jesus’ invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Let’s come to Him.
