Main Idea: Don’t let the voices of others keep you from recognizing the voice of God.

As I told you a couple of weeks ago, I have recently become a fan of the ABC TV show "Lost." "Lost", as you recall, is the story of a group of forty-eight passengers who survive a plane crash on a deserted island. It doesn’t take long for you to realize that they really aren’t alone on the island. Initially, one of their group is alone in the jungle and suddenly begins to hear the whispers of voices all around him. They are never too loud and what they say isn’t clear but it is an ominous warning that they are not alone. Later they encounter a French woman who was shipwrecked and she tells the group that she was not alone at first but that beings called "The Others" had taken her companions. You understand that when you hear the voices, the whispers of the Others that something bad is going to happen.

As believers, we live in a world that is filled with voices, maybe not the "Others" but the whispers, the voices of others. Our technology keeps streaming an unlimited number of voices toward us at a rate never before imagined. This political season there are voices appealing for your support and confidence. The advertising media is constantly pounding into our brain that whatever is being sold we absolutely can’t survive without it. If that were not enough, there are more sinister and dangerous voices that cry out for our need to yield to their appeal for our allegiance and submission. Because we are people who have sinned, our mind tells us things that challenge our obedience to Christ. Satan himself and all those under his control whisper in our soul to live a life that is opposed to the rule of God in our hearts. The world or culture itself has a voice that calls out to us to sell out to what it can offer us rather than live a life of surrender to Jesus Christ. We are people surrounded by the voices of others.

Yet, for the believer, there is One Voice that speaks truth deep within us. That voice is God’s voice, a voice that can no longer be heard with our ears but with our spirit. The unique thing about people is that we were made by God with the capacity to hear his voice within our lives. No other created being has the capacity to communicate with God, to hear him within and respond back to that voice that speaks to us. When we become a Christian we understand that our hearing and responding to God’s voice speaking to our lives determines the effectiveness of our relationship with him. Our challenge is that we can’t let the voices of others keep us from recognizing the voice of God.

As Paul finishes his letter to the Thessalonians he is concerned that they may have begun to let the voices of others drown out the voice of God. So he gives them five commands that will remove any difficulties to their hearing God’s voice. In the original language these are extremely forceful because he has the subject stated first: "Spirit…do not quench; prophecies, do not despise; everything, examine; what is good, hold fast; evil abstain from it." These commands are not some "Oh, by the way…" statements but they are essentials for their hearing God’s one true voice among all the other voices.

We need to understand that when Paul writes this the Thessalonian Christians lived by the dynamic of God’s Spirit. They did not have the Bible as you and I know it. They would likely have had this letter written to them and was perhaps copied within the church. God’s word or voice came through those who gave evidence of being a spokesperson for God. The problem was: How did you know it was the voice of God and not the voice of others who would try to infiltrate and destroy the church? Obviously, some felt that they could control things and were able to tell others who was speaking for God and who was not. Others began to resist the true voice, giving in to a spirit of pride and self-righteousness. Paul commands them to follow certain guidelines in these verses that will help them recognize the voice of God.

Today we depend on God’s written inspired word and the presence of the Holy Spirit to be uniquely God’s voice to us. The problem is that just as some of the Thessalonians began to assume they were able to control what God was saying and what he wasn’t, so believers, churches and denominations imagine they can hear God better than anyone else. Paul’s word to us today is that we need to be careful that we don’t let the voices of others keep us from recognizing the voice of God.

The first thing he commands them is: "Don’t tell the Holy Spirit what He can do!" (I Thess. 5:19) This would be listening to the voice of "control". Paul says, "Do not stifle the Holy Spirit." The word he uses is the word "quench" or "smother" as if you were putting out a fire. The concern was that the freedom of expression and power of the Holy Spirit within believers and in the church were being put out or being controlled. Jesus said in John 14:16-17 that the Holy Spirit would be the companion, counselor and teacher to the believer in his absence. He also said that the Holy Spirit would live within a believer, speaking and guiding them to obey all that he had commanded. Paul would later say in I Corinthians 3:16 that the church as well was the residence of the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit lives within the believer and in the church, we are to listen to his voice and yield to his control, not try to control or tell him what he can do.

This command has two implications for us. One is that some are not even aware that the Spirit of God is present in their lives or church and desires to speak to them. The second is that others are aware that the Spirit is present in their lives and church but are listening to the voice of "control" refusing to let him have the freedom to act within them either individually or as a church. I realize that even talking about the role of the Holy Spirit in believers and the church makes us nervous but even that is an indication that we want to control and dictate what he can do. There are several ways that we can "smother" the work of the Spirit but I believe the two major areas are when we sense the Spirit’s leadings or stirrings within us and say, "You can’t do that in my life!" or, "You can’t do that in my church!" Who are we to tell the Holy Spirit of God what he can do? Any believer or any church that tries to tell the Holy Spirit what he can do will be void and empty of the power and evidence of God’s Spirit. Don’t listen to the voice of "control"! When the voice of God’s Spirit is speaking and working, don’t try to tell him what he can do.

The next thing Paul says is: "Don’t tell God what he can say." (Thess. 5:20) This is listening to the voice of "rejection". He says, "Do not scoff at prophecies." In New Testament times, because there was no written scripture available, God chose to speak uniquely and dynamically through specific people. Those persons would be called prophets. They were mostly men but there are women mentioned as well. They would be persons so yielded to the Spirit’s control and gifted by God that God would speak through them. They would bring a new message from God or restate something that God had said. What some in the church were doing was deciding that these messages from God were worthless and rejecting what was being spoken. They were in some manner displaying contempt for the message and the messenger of God.

Today this would apply to any occasion where the Bible is being publicly taught, spoken or preached. We are to be careful that we do not listen to the voice of rejection. As believers we are not to treat lightly the message or the messenger of God. We are not the ones who can tell God who speaks for him and who does not! We are not the ones to tell God what he can say and what he can’t! We are not the ones to tell God how he can speak and how he can’t! God’s message and his messenger are not determined by your or my personal preference! We are so guilty of sterilizing and sanitizing the persons through whom God spoke in Scripture. If John the Baptist came in here today with his camelhair coat and bugs in his beard, would we listen? Paul himself had the opposite problem. He was not dynamic or personally engaging and he was criticized for not being all that flashy. As God’s people we are to be very careful when we prefer one way that God speaks to us and stay that that is the only way God can speak. Don’t listen to the voice of "rejection"! Don’t try to tell God what he can say!

Now does Paul want them to accept any and every teaching as being God’s message or messenger? No, that’s why he tells them, "Don’t be casual about the truth!" (I Thess. 5:21) This is listening to the voice of "laziness". This verse has two commands that apply to one process. He tells them, "But test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good." The commands are to test everything for its truth and correctness and then, after it is tested, to grab hold of the good or the truth and not let go of it. He is telling the Thessalonians that they needed to be discerning about what they heard or what someone claimed was the voice of God. They were to be wise enough about the truth that they could distinguish God’s voice from the voice of others.

While I have said that we have no business telling the Holy Spirit what he can do or God what he can say, how do we know what is being credited to the Holy Spirit or to God is really the Spirit or God? We can be guilty of listening to the voice of "laziness". We must be people who use the process of discernment. We must be willing to spend the time, energy and effort asking if this really is God speaking rather than dismissing it as false just because we don’t like it or it is uncomfortable. On the other hand, we can’t be so casual about what is attributed to God that just because it appears to be true that it is true. We are to be responsible enough to examine something through the filter of God’s word and then if we see that it matches what Scripture has said, then we accept it and hold it as truth.

What I believe, though, is that rather than spending time discerning truth, we become Christian "snobs." A snob is someone who has their nose in the air about their positions or beliefs and that makes them superior to everyone else. We can be snobs about preachers, preaching styles, music and music styles, churches and worship styles. We assume that because I prefer that style that that is the only way that truth can be heard. That is being casual about the truth because we are unwilling to even imagine that truth could be found presented in another style other than what I prefer. At the same time, we can be so accepting that whatever is said from anyone who claims to speak for God that we believe anything. That is being casual about the truth because we are too lazy to try to ask hard questions to know what is true. Don’t be a truth snob or a truth fool. Pay the price to find truth even if it means humbling yourself. When you find it then defend it and support it. Don’t listen to the voice of "laziness". Don’t be casual about the truth!

There is one last command that Paul gives and it is this: "Don’t imagine you are stronger than you really are." (I Thess. 5:22) This is the voice of "pride". He tells them, "Keep away from every kind of evil." He tells them to "avoid" or "abstain" from evil. He uses a very strong word here, implying that there be no compromise with evil in any form or appearance. The word for "kind" applied to how something met the eye or appeared. He was concerned that they would let their spiritual defenses down to the point that they would not clearly distinguish something that was evil. It was because of pride that the Corinthians at one point were so blind that they believed that it was perfectly fine for a Christian to have sex with a prostitute. It was the voice of pride that caused the people to whom John wrote to believe that you could do whatever you wanted to with your body but your spirit was without sin. The voice of pride caused them to lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

I believe the danger for us is that we can imagine that we are stronger spiritually than we really are! We believe that we can play around with the appearance of things we know are not consistent with a believer’s life and it won’t affect us. We do this with all kinds of "gray" areas: alcohol, TV, movies, parties, the Internet, sex and sexuality and many more. What happens is that we say, "Well, I’ll do this one thing or go to this one place because I don’t want to appear better then someone else." What we are saying is that we are more concerned about how we appear as a believer about things inconsistent with our faith than how we would appear if we were consistent with our faith! What happens over time is that we lose our strength as a Christian because we have not had the courage to say, "No." Our pride makes us think we are stronger than we really are. We are too ashamed to admit that there are some things, some places, and some people that are just too toxic for us to handle! Don’t listen to the voice of pride. Don’t imagine you are stronger than you really are!

God’s word to us today is to be certain that either as a believer or as a church that we do not let the voice of others keep us from recognizing the voice of God. We are charged by these words to not tell the Holy Spirit what He can do, not tell God what He can say, not to be casual about the truth and not to imagine we are stronger than we are. Whose voice are you letting guide you? Is it the voices of others or is it the Voice of God?

Several years ago an evangelist came to our community with a very nontraditional appearance and a nontraditional style of preaching. He had, for what reason I am not sure, a cross shaved into the back of his head. Because of his unique appearance and style he attracted many people, one of whom was an eighth grade boy from this church. A few years later that same evangelist returned with the same appearance and style. He was, at the same time, received as the voice of God by some and as the voice of shallow emotionalism by others. I, unfortunately, fell into the latter group.

I happened to mention this evangelist some time later to this now grown eighth grade boy. He told me quite clearly that he could trace the spiritual direction of his life back to that moment when he heard that evangelist, even though now he saw things much different spiritually. That young man committed his life to ministry, is pursuing his seminary degree and, by the way, is my son-in-law. He could have listened to others and tried to tell the Holy Spirit what he could do, tell God what he could say, been lazy and casual about truth or kept on the path he was on and imagined he was spiritually stronger than eh was and missed God’s voice for that moment. That story reminds me: Who am I to tell the Holy Spirit or God what they can do or say? Don’t let the voices of others keep you from recognizing the voice of God!

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org