Listening For His Voice

                                            John 10: 22-30

          It’s winter time in Jerusalem and Jesus is walking along the colonnade called Solomon’s Portico. It’s more protected there than out in the open air of the temple court, and Jesus is probably enjoying a little protection from the weather. He is there during the Feast of the Dedication, also called the Feast of Lights. John tells us that the Jews gathered around him. In this context, we should take this to mean those Jews who were antagonistic toward Jesus rather than those who were friends. They want to know if he is the Christ. They keep pressing him for an answer. And his first words to them are “I already told you.”

There is a story by an unknown author.  You have heard it before. It’s about a very religious man who was caught in rising floodwaters. He climbed onto the roof of his house and trusted God to rescue him. A neighbor came by in a canoe and said, “The waters will soon be above your house. Hop in and we’ll paddle to safety.” “No thanks” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me”

A short time later the police came by in a boat. “The waters will soon be above your house. Hop in and we’ll take you to safety.” “No thanks” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me”

Not long after the boat left, a rescue services helicopter hovered overhead, let down a rope ladder and said. “The waters will soon be above your house. Climb the ladder and we’ll fly you to safety.” “No thanks” replied the religious man. “I’ve prayed to God and I’m sure he will save me”

All this time the floodwaters continued to rise, until soon they reached above the roof and the religious man drowned. When he arrived at heaven he demanded an audience with God. Ushered into God’s throne room he said, “Lord, why am I here in heaven? I prayed for you to save me, I trusted you to save me from that flood.”

“Yes you did my child” replied the Lord. “And I sent you a canoe, a boat and a helicopter. But you never got in.”  The Jews who questioned Jesus, probably very religious in their own way,  had much in common with this religious man, who couldn’t see the truth right in front of his face.

Just because you’re hearing doesn’t mean you’re listening. Hearing is an atmospheric disturbance that we call sound. Our ears perceive it, report it to the brain, and often that’s the end of it. Listening is something else altogether. Listening, real listening, takes your attention. Listening entertains thoughts, points of view, beliefs. Listening is what we do when we engage ourselves for participation mentally, emotionally, even physically. It’s not automatic. It takes practice and intention. Jesus understood this principle well. He often ended his parables with the statement: “He who has ears, let him hear.” Jesus wasn’t talking about physical ears. He was talking about listening.

So Jesus answers his critics, who want him to commit. They want him to incriminate himself. Claiming deity was not just insanity; it was illegal under Roman law and blasphemy under church law.  Jesus said that he had already told them. He was speaking about his works, which by this time were many. Everything about Jesus’s works screamed divinity. The things he did were not magic tricks. They were miracles. They could not have been done without the blessing of God. And yet, there were many who saw the acts and understood nothing. It’s like hearing, but not listening.

“I already told you,” said Jesus. He wasn’t just saying that.  He had told them at different times in different ways. According to John, Jesus had already said that he was the good shepherd, the gate by which we enter in, that he was alive before Abraham. They heard him, but they weren’t listening. They didn’t have “ears to hear.” Jesus said to them, “You do not believe because you are not among my sheep.” Wonder how that statement hit those who questioned him? You’re not among my sheep. You’re not part of my group. So what, they may have said. We are God’s chosen. We are the religious leaders. We don’t need to be your sheep. But they did.

The words of our Savior cannot be escaped. You don’t believe. You don’t believe because you aren’t one of mine. If you aren’t one of mine, you can’t hear me or even if you do, you won’t be listening. There is no question of the predestinational ring to this tune.  In the mystery that is God’s sovereignty, there are many who do not hear, who will not listen, who take the wide road and miss the turn to salvation, not because they weren’t invited, but because they turn a deaf ear to the truth. There’s no getting around the fact that heaven, while available to everyone, is not the destination for everyone. But everyone does have a destination.

The Scot’s Confession, one of the three great confessions of the Protestant Reformation and part of our Constitution, says this about eternal life:

…in the general judgment, there shall be

given to every man and woman resurrection

of the flesh…the dead shall arise to receive…

glory or punishment…Such as now delight in

[their own] vanity…shall be condemned to the

fire unquenchable, in which [they]… shall be

tormented forever, both in body and in spirit.

                                                          Chapter XXV 3.25

 

Almost five hundred years old, the truth of that statement still cautions us of that which awaits those who choose to find their own way and listen to their own rules. It echoes the words of John’s gospel. While John 3: 16 stands at the ready on the lips of every Sunday school child, John 3: 18 is seldom recited. Perhaps it should be as well. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

          You don’t believe because you are not one of mine, said Jesus. He answered his critics. He said Look. My works bear witness. Look at what I have done and please, tell me, who else can I be? My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Those who believe listen and then they act on their understanding, on their conviction. “But you, you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.”

          I want to cry out to those Jews and to those today who would try foolishly to maintain that everything is ok, that it’s enough to be a good guy or gal, to lead a good life, to live and let live, to turn a deaf ear in the name of tolerance. I want to, but it will do no good. For to live in such a way is to ignore the plain teaching of the Bible. When tolerance is the mask that disguises our rejection of obedience to God, it is a mask behind which our faces serve a god, but it is the god of self. And the god of self, or inaction, or disobedience, is a god who will lead us to an eternal life of damnation.

No matter how many times I read verse 26, it leaves me shivering. “You are not among my sheep.” Does Jesus mean it’s over for this group? Is there a chance for them? Certainly the teachings of the Bible offer salvation to those who believe the gospel. But is there a point after which there is no return? Hebrews 6 cautions that it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, and then fallen away, to be restored again to repentance. So there is a point of no return for those who have heard the gospel. For them, there is a point where, having been exposed to the light, returning to the darkness is no longer an option. If they do so, they are lost. Is this the case for those who are not among his sheep? If they have not yet tasted enlightenment, can there be hope that they will? Are there those among us who are not among his sheep?

Where are you? Are you a spectator? Are you a bona fide ticket holder in God’s visible church membership, but only a drop-in in the real church of faith? There is a difference between membership in a church and membership in God’s family. Jesus said that he “knows his sheep, and that they follow him.” Don’t miss that. It’s not enough that he knows you. You have to follow him.

You see, we all are going to live forever. That issue has never been in doubt. The question, friends, is not our existence, but our address. Among all those other voices around you, are you listening for his voice?  It’s not enough to hear. You have to listen, and then…you have to follow.