Date: February 3rd, 2011
Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder
Title: Whispers That Outlast Us
Text: Zech 7:7 - 12
Introduction
I want to begin by telling you a story.
Lucado: Intro “Outlive Your Life”
Well, today we want to talk about
- Whispers that outlast us.
- Whispers that give direction & shape to our lives.
- Whispers that put us on a path that defines our lives.
How do we put ourselves in a place to hear a whisper that directs and shapes our life path?
Step 1: Open Your Ears… to God’s Shouts
Before we begin to listen for divine whispers perhaps we need to hear God’s shouts. We need to hear his priorities. Need to hear the cries of God’s heart.
i.e.
Fancy restaurant – brilliant chef….brings out his most exquisite creation.
Probably most offensive thing you can say is “Can I have some ketchup?”
If you want to get a lively, animated, angry response from the chef try causing harm to the object of his creativity.
And we see the same with God. We hear God’s passionate response in the Old Testament /New Testament when people consciously or unconsciously caused harm to the chief object of his creativity – people.
So, What are the things near to God’s heart?
Zech 7:8-128 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
Isaiah 1: 15
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.?a?
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
In the New Testament
Luke 15: 1 – 7
Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Matthew 25: 31 - 46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Point:
These are God’s shouts.
These are his priorities. These are his passion just like a chef. And it stirs up anger when harm is brought to his crown of creativity and value.
You don’t need to wait for God to whisper
- “Help the poor”
- “Help the oppressed”
- Seek justice “
- Seek after and welcome those who are lost & been damaged by evil.
- Defend the cause of the fatherless or those who have no voice.
- Get involved in pushing back the darkness.
You don’t need for some special whisper to
- Help someone who is being bullied at school
- Be kind to someone who is ignored or rejected.
- Speak out when someone is victim of discrimination
- Welcome some new person to worship
- To pray for a brother being persecuted
- To help a person who is hungry
- To reach out to a seeker
You don’t need a special whisper to do that…. You just need the guts to do what is right.
God shouts it from the rooftops. “This is my heart…These people are the crown of my creation…love them, welcome them, defend them, help them!”
Zech 7:
Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
They stopped up their ears.
We can do that.
We can “stop up our ears” because we don’t want to hear this.
- We want comfort.
- We want entertainment.
- We want to be made to feel good.
- We want to be only with our friends.
- We can pull down the blinds and insulate ourselves.
Stop up our ears.
How often have we said…
- “Well, it’s just not me.”
- “It makes me uncomfortable.”
- “I’m not a people person”
- “I don’t know if I should get involved.”
Friend, Christianity isn’t about you & I deciding what makes us comfortable…
… it’s about coming to live out what is on God’s heart, his priorities.
If the “you” doesn’t care about justice…doesn’t seek and care for those lost…doesn’t welcome the outsider….doesn’t help the needy…then the “YOU” needs to be changed!
You need to unstop your ears and hear God’s shouts!.
Don’t expect some nice , personalized little whisper from God until you are responding to his shouts in this world.
We can’t turn our eye to bigotry & prejudice, disregard the poor, fail to love the broken & hurting, be calloused to injustice, ignore the seeker, disengage from the hurts in our world, and expect to hear a nice whisper from God…we have to open our ears to God’s shouts.
That’s Step 1: Open our ears to God’s Shouts
2. Step 2: Open Your Eyes & Heart With Baby Steps
Bill Hybels writes:
“Based on conversations I’ve had with scores of people who have received these whispers, the initial instructions from God were simple:
- “Read the book.”
- “Ask the Question.”
- “Watch the documentary.”
- “Go to the learning group.”
- “Risk engaging in that relationship.”
- “Find the funding to take the trip.”
Jim Wallis wrote one of the most influential books in my recent life called “Faith Works.” He talks about how we can go about our faith, not just changing our individual lives, but how it can changes communities.
He gives 2 chapters on where to begin:
a. Ask questions
“Every new direction in one’s life journey begins with some new questions…Probably the most important decision I made at that time was to keep asking questions until I got some answers. Follow your heart, trust your questions…the most important question to ask is simply: Where can we find the hope here?”
b. Get out of the house more often
Austin Gutwein
Several years ago he watched a video that had lost their parents to AIDS. After watching the video he realized these kids weren’t any different from him, except for the fact that they were suffering. Austin sensed God’s whisper that day. It was a whisper of action, a whisper that would prompt the 9 year old to hold his own personal free-throwing shooting contest on World AIDS Days that year.
Based on his research, Austin knew that on that single day, 2057 children would be orphaned by the dreaded disease, and so he decided to shoot 2057 free throws. Friends and family members sponsored Austins efforts, and as a result, he raised almost $3000 dollars that day. That year the money was used by World Vision to provide hope to 8 orphaned children.
Since then, 1000’s of people have joined Austin in a basketball shoot-a-thon called “Hoops of Hope”.
To date they have now raised $2 million dollars .
Because of something as simple as watching a video, shooting a basketball 1000’s of kids now have food, clothing, shelter, new schools, medical treatment.
And it all traces back to a kid with nothing but a basketball and taking a baby step of asking questions and getting out of his house…..
Friends , we can trace many of the entrepreneurial ministries of East Side to asking questions , getting out of the house, taking baby steps.
- Library – started because a woman in our church came to know Christ through novels she was given by a Cn friend.
- KIN was started because a girl in our congregation saw kids in her school coming to school with no breakfast
- Kindness Club grew from a letter carrier who in her travels heard about lonely, isolated people who just needed to be reminded that they mattered.
- Pennies for Hope started because a teacher on our Mexico Mission trips heard that kids in Mexico weren’t in school cuz they couldn’t afford the required uniform.
- Mission trips to Mexico started because a family couldn’t walk away from the injustice they saw happening to farm workers in Mexico.
- Angel Coupons started because a volunteer at the Thrift store couldn’t let go of the image of a mom telling her child she couldn’t afford clothes and a toy.
- Soup Kitchen started because someone saw that there were people who weren’t eating nutritionally because they couldn’t afford it or couldn’t do it.
- CYI started because some people saw that there wasn’t a safe , welcoming place where young people in this community could go to by-pass the party and drug scene.
- Upwards Sports Ministry started because someone wanted to see where kids could be influenced not just to improve sports schools but life values, where not just the best get to play but where fun and fairness is the value.
All those ministries started with baby steps. Started with trusting the question.Getting out of the house. Going into realms that opened their eyes and their hearts to needs.
Whispers that chart our life path come when open our ears to the heart of God, and have our eyes & hearts opened with baby steps.
Step 3: Open Your Hands
Picture with me 2 different hand positions:
- Open
- Closed
Whispers that chart our path call us to live with open hands. To believe that everything we have belongs to God. We are just managers of it. And to put our trust in the provision of God.
Interesting Story in Matthew 19
Story of rich young man.
He feels a vacuum in his life and comes seeking out Christ.
In the course of the conversation he hears a whisper:Jesus says to him,
“Go sell everything you have. Give to the poor and come follow me.”
And the story says “The man went away sad because he had great wealth.”
What was the position of his hands? Closed.
Closed because he wanted his “creature comforts”
And they can come in many forms:
Never hear of him again….no lasting legacy.
Now, contrast the conversation right at the end of this story.
Disciples come to Jesus and say “Lord, we have left everything to follow you.”
What is the position of their hands:? Open
And Jesus response:
“… you who have followed will sit on 12 thrones…and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children for my sake will receive a 100x as much and will inherit eternal life…”
What’s the difference between these two? What determined the position of their hands?
Their trust.
- The 1st trusted the comforts over Christ.
- The disciples trusted Christ to provide comfort for life’s challenges….trusted his provision.
Friends, whispers that chart the course in our life usually call us to open our hands. To trust Christ.
And where we put our trust will often determine our legacy….will determine the lasting impact of God’s whisper.
What will be the lasting impact of Warren Buffet & Bill Gates ?What will be the whisper that outlasts their lives?
Will it be the money they made or the foundation they have set up that has an endowment of 33.5 billion and since 1994 has given 25 billion to globally, to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and in America, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology.
My guess is that around the world, in the years to come they will be known for how they opened their hands.
Conclusion
Friends, whispers that chart the course of our lives….that outlast our lives are ones we receive when
- Open wide our ears to the cries of God’s heart
- Open wide our eyes to take baby steps
- Open wide our hands to trust Christ , not our comforts.
“Is this where Father Benjamin lives?”
The men nod and smile.
“May I talk to him?”
“Oh, that would be impossible” they reply
“Why?”
“He died many ears ago.”
The bewildered captain stares at the men, “I asked to see him, and you showed me a clinic, some fish farms, and this chapel. You said nothing of his death.”
“You didn’t ask about his death,” the chief explains. “You asked to see where he lives. We showed you.”
Prayer – silent - Amen
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The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Zec 7:8-12
a Or / rebuke the oppressor
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Is 1:15-17
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 15:1-7
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Mt 25:31-46
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Zec 7:8-12