Listen

Surprise the world. That’s the name of the series we are currently in. We are to live such good lives that it is a surprise to the world. Peter put it this way:

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15b)

Peter is saying that when we live hopeful lives – when we show God’s love, grace, patience, and forgiveness – people will ask us why and those are opportunities to tell people about our faith in God. We live differently because of our faith in God. But this is often hard to do because it means not going along with the customs and norms of the culture. So in this series I’m suggesting five habits that we can practice that can help us to live differently than those around us. I’m using the acronym BELLS:

Bless

Eat

Listen

Learn

Sent

We talked about blessing people through: 1) words of affirmation, 2) acts of kindness, and 3) gifts. And last week we talked about eating with people we don’t usually eat with, perhaps someone that no one eats with, in order to show God’s grace. And I pointed out how often Jesus did this in his ministry. This week we turn to the habit of listening.

Turn with me to John 17. These first two habits have been directed to how we act toward those around us. This habit is directed to God. We’re not listening to others, though that would be a good practice, this habit focuses on listening for God and his leading.

In John 17 Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane praying before his arrest.

13I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (John 17:13-19)

These verses are often paraphrased this way:

Be in the world, but not of it.

Jesus is saying that he’s not taking us out of the world. Perhaps it would have been nice if he had done that or if he had just gone ahead and ushered in the new earth and the new heaven as described in Revelation 21, but that wasn’t God’s plan. We have been left in the world to be witnesses for Jesus, but we are not to become like the world. So Jesus prays that God would protect us from the evil one and that God would sanctify or make us holy. We are to be in the world but we are to live in such a way that the world sees a difference in us.

That implies two extremes: not being in the world or being in the world and part of it. We have to live a balance between being in the world and not being of the world.

Turn to Matthew 5. I think we can see these two extremes in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus talks about us being salt and light. Let’s begins with the second illustration – light. Jesus says we are the light of the world and he warns about not being in the world.

14You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Jesus says we’re not to be like a light hidden under a basket. This is a picture of what we are like if we don’t go into the world. If you’re under the basket everything is great – there’s lots of light, but for those not under the basket there’s darkness.

As I’ve mentioned many times I attended Johnson Bible College. I loved my time there. Nothing is perfect, and Johnson wasn’t, but it was a great place to learn and grow in your faith. My first year of college, I went to Georgia Tech, where I had no friends that were Christians. That doesn’t mean there weren’t any Christians at Tech, I just didn’t know any. So Johnson was a completely different atmosphere. At Johnson I was surrounded by other believers and there weren’t nearly the temptations I faced at a secular university. However, Johnson was like living under the basket with the light.

If you’re under the basket it’s tempting to stay under the basket. It’s tempting to stay in the church building where we’re surrounded by other Christians. Here are don’t have to face the problems and temptations of the world. But Jesus has called to go out into the world. We are to be in the world.

At Johnson, to help counteract this basket mentality, each student was required to do an hour of Christian service each week. We had to leave campus and serve somewhere for an hour. I only remember two of my Christian service projects. One year I volunteered at a children’s hospital. I worked at the information desk answering the phone and giving out room numbers and directions. Another year I worked with an inner-city church of Knoxville. They would bring in two van loads of children from the projects. When I say van load I mean they would load in twenty or more children in a fifteen passenger van. We had about fifty kids each Wednesday night. I would lead singing and then have a Bible study with the older kids.

Each of us needs to be doing something to be a light to the world. We can’t be a light to the world if we’re stuck under a basket. We’ve got to get out into the world.

The other picture Jesus gives is that of salt where Jesus warns about becoming like the world.

13You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13)

This is a picture of being in the world. What good does salt do while it’s in the saltshaker? It doesn’t do any good. It must be emptied from the saltshaker and onto the food. In the same way we must be in the world. Back in the 70s Rebecca Pippert wrote what is now a classic book on evangelism titled Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World. We have to get out of the saltshaker if we are going to share the love of God with the world.

However, Jesus warns against becoming like the world. Jesus asks what good is salt if it loses its saltiness? The answer is it’s worthless and will only be thrown out. We have to be in the world, but if we live just like the world we’re not going to be of any value. We have to be in the world, but not of it. We have to have balance. We have to be in the world, but we can’t be like the world.

I’ve had lots of interesting jobs over the years, but one of the strangest was working at a tofu factory. I call it a factory, but it was simply a place where they made tofu. My job was to take the packaged tofu and make sure the package was sealed properly (it didn’t leak) and then box it for shipment. It was an easy job – strange but easy.

Have you ever had tofu? It’s made from soybeans and doesn’t have much flavor. The reason people like tofu isn’t because of its flavor, but because it’s high in protein and when you add it to something else it takes on the flavor of what you add it to. For example, you can brown it with some ground beef and use less ground beef, but keep the protein and flavor.

That’s great for tofu, but it’s a bad idea for Christians. This is exactly what Jesus says we’re not supposed to do. We aren’t supposed to take on the flavor of the world. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. We are to be salt. Salt never loses is flavor. It doesn’t matter what you add it to it still tastes like salt. And if the salt did lose its flavor and begins to taste like what you sprinkled it on it would be worthless. We are to influence the world with our love, but we are not to allow the world to influence us.

Let me use a picture to illustrate. Perhaps some of you will remember those extremely unsafe times of yesteryear when just about every playground was outfitted with a dangerous piece of equipment called a seesaw. Today most playgrounds have removed this hazard. How many remember having fun playing on a seesaw. The object is to go up and down, from one extreme to the other.

Imagine the left end of the slide being not in the world. That’s one extreme. At this extreme we have no non-Christian friends, all our friends are Christians we have no connection to the world. The other extreme is the right side – being of the world. At this extreme we live just like the world does. If someone were to compare us to our non-Christian neighbor they wouldn’t see very many differences. Neither is a good place. We’re not called to be withdrawn from the world, but we are called to live differently from it. We need a balance. Jesus says we are to be in the world but not of the world. We are to have balance. And that’s hard.

It’s easy to live withdrawn from the world. When we’re surrounded by other Christians we don’t have to think too hard about how we are to live because everyone around us will tell us. In the gospels those people were the Pharisees who withdrew themselves from the world so as not to be contaminated by the world. The other extreme is to live like the world. When we live like the world we don’t have to think too much about how to live either because we don’t care. In the gospels they were the tax collectors and sinners. But we are called to live a balanced life – in the world but not of the world. That life is difficult. It’s difficult to know how to live in the world without becoming like the world.

So how do we achieve that balance? We achieve it by listening – our third habit. We listen to the Holy Spirit. That’s how Jesus lived; he listened to and followed the leading of his Father. There were times when he withdrew to be alone with his disciples and there were times when he ate with tax collectors and sinners. We need balance. We need to be in the world but not of the world. The tricky part is achieving that balance. We can only achieve that balance with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Michael Frost tells the story of a preacher in Portland. This preacher had a neighbor claimed to make the best margaritas in all of Oregon and who regularly hosted margarita-and-poker nights in his garage. All the men from the neighborhood attended. Even though he had been invited many times, the preacher never accepted an invitation to join them. He believed by not joining the, he was being a strong witness to his faith. That was being out of the world. Frost challenged him to go the next time he was invited – to be in the world, but not of it.

A few months later the neighbor was again having a margarita-and-poker night in his garage. He came over to the preacher not to invite him, because the preacher always said no, but just to let him know what was happening. This time the preacher asked if he could come. The neighbor nearly fell over in shock. He was more than welcome to attend. The preacher joined the gathering in the garage, and true to his convictions he just drank soda. No one cared. That night the preacher ended up having more conversations about his faith with his neighbors than he’d had since moving to the neighborhood. A preacher at a margarita night was a surprise. It evoked questions. He was being in the world, but not of it.

I think God will put us to be in situations where we can be salt and light for those around us showing forth the love of God. But we have to be ready to be in the world and not of it. We need to be listening to leading of the Spirit to know when to go and when to stay.

So how do we learn to listen to God? I believe that God speaks to us in three ways:

First, God speaks to us through scripture. This is one of the main descriptions of the Holy Spirit. God guides us in his Holy Word. Read the Bible and then think about what you’ve just read. Read and then pray that God will speak to you.

Bruce Demarest wrote:

A quieted heart is our best preparation for all this work of God. Meditation refocuses us from ourselves and from the world so that we reflect on God’s Word, his nature, his abilities, and his works. So we prayerfully ponder, muse, and “chew” the words of scripture. The goal is simply to permit the Holy Spirit to activate the life-giving Word of God.

Second, God speaks to us through the church. One of the ways he speaks to us through the church is through the services that we attend. Listen for his voice as you sing, as you pray, through communion, and through the sermon.

Another way is he speaks to us through the church is through the people – through fellowship, through discussions, and through watching how other Christians engage with the world.

Third, God speaks to us through prayer. God can speak to us at any time that we pray, but to really hear the voice of the Holy Spirit we need to go into our closet – our private place – where there are no distractions and just pray and wait to hear his voice. Ask God a question and then listen for his answer. Ask him, “Who is it I need to go to?” Ask him, “Who has a problem that needs to be addressed?” Ask him, “How should I be living as I am out in the world?” There are many questions that we can ask God. Ask him and then listen.

In the book of Revelation we have messages or letters from Jesus to the seven churches. In each one of these letters the same message that is repeated:

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22)

If you have an ear, listen and hear what the Spirit has to say to you.

Jesus calls us to be salt and light to the world. That requires us to be in the world, but not of the world. Pray and ask God to show you where you can be salt and light for him.