Turn up the Volume
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· 323 viewsLiving life loudly for Christ in Praise, prayer, and preaching
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There is the story of the saintly looking elderly couple who were sitting in church one Sunday when all of a sudden some of the people around them began to turn and look at them
Slightly embarrassed the wife wrote a little note on the back of an offering envelope and passed it to her husband
Being a refined gentleman he didn’t want to read it in church but she had never done such a thing before so he discretely looked down and read the note which said, “I just silently passed gas and I’m not sure what I should do.”
Without a second thought the husband wrote his response, “Well the first thing that you should do is change the battery in your hearing aid.”
Or the story of the guest evangelist who had just preached an energetic message about our need for God and was closing in prayer,
He began, “O Lord we know that without you we are but dust” pausing for dramatic effect when a young voice was heard from the back row saying, “Grandma, what is ‘butt dust’?”
There are times when being loud just isn’t something that you want to do, when you are in the stands at a golf tournament for example, or during a funeral, or when your wife has just gotten the baby to stop fussing and go to sleep
Other times however, being loud is not only acceptable but is expected
Like when your team scores the winning touchdown in overtime of the Superbowl, or when the bride and groom are introduced in public for the first time, or when you’re riding a motorcycle!
There is an expression that has gained popularity recently and although there are several varieties of the expression they all convey the same thought
The expression is “Live Life Loudly” and, as one blogger put it, “Living out loud means having the courage to be exactly who you are without apology.”
Living loud means not worry about what other people think about what you’re doing but instead doing those things that are important to you, that you are passionate about and letting the chips fall where they may
It’s not really a new thought however, in fact the idea of living loud is really just a secularization of what Jesus taught the masses during the sermon on the mount
Listen to His words recorded in
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither 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. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
In other words Jesus was saying that once we have crossed over from darkness into light, from death into life, we need to take that new life and live it loud, having the courage to be who God is making us to be and not worrying what other people think about it
It is Christ’s desire that we take hold of this new life, this fullness of life that He died to bring us, and that we put it out there for everyone to see, that we display it like a city on a hill side, obvious to everyone for miles around, that we live it out loud
So to that end I want to look this morning at 3 different ways we can live out loud
Just before I do that I want to qualify what I am about to say by stating that living out loud for God does NOT mean being obnoxious or disregarding the emotions and rights of others
It is possible to practice the things I am about to say and still be respectful to others around us
Okay so now that I’ve said that, let’s look at 3 different ways we can live loud
The first is by Praise
Now I don’t know about you but when it comes to praise and/or worship there is only one bible name that comes to my mind, David
Of course David was not the only one who could praise God well but He certainly knew a thing or two about praising loudly
Psalm 98:1-
Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
Please don’t misunderstand me this morning and think that I am telling you that in order to be a good Christian you have to sing during song service at a decibel level usually seen only at youth convention
I’m not saying that the volume has to increase for us to praise loudly, I fully recognize that most of us here are quite reserved in our manner of worship
But look again at that Psalm and see what David says:
Verse 1 - Remember the good things that God has done for you
Verses 1 - 2 Think about God’s provision of Salvation
Verse 3 - Remember God’s faithfulness
Verse 4 - Think about the joy that is ours in Christ
Verses 7-8 - Look at creation around us
David says take all this in, consider it, dwell on it and meditate on it and just see if it doesn’t swell something up inside of you that makes you want to “burst into jubilant song”
Praising at a high volume is not the same as praising loud
It doesn’t matter if it’s with hymns or choruses, if it is fast or slow, if it’s English or Hebrew. if it’s with a full orchestra or acappella, what matters is what our inspiration for the praise is
When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well she wanted to debate with Him the logistics of worship and so,
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Let me be succinct, you can worship quietly and still praise loudly, it’s all about how your life looks, what it reflects and whether or not it is lived in inspired praise because that’s what it means to praise loudly
The second way that we are called to live loudly in this life we have been given is in prayer
Now just like David is the first one that comes to my mind in praise, there is another that is first in my mind when it comes to prayer and that, of course, would have to be Christ
The life and ministry of Jesus was punctuated by His dedication to prayer
Luke
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
f you you I
In fact if you read through the 4 gospels you will find it recorded no less than 2 dozen times that Jesus prayed
And that’s without counting any of the duplicates in the gospels
Jesus prayed before doing miracles - , after doing miracles - , He prayed for His followers - , He prayed for His enemies - , Jesus prayed in the morning, in the evening, at meals, at special occasions, Jesus was always praying
And to top it all off do you know what Jesus is doing right now? Yup
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
But let me give one other verse about the prayer life of Jesus
Hebrews
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
The original NIV says “with loud cries”
Christ prayed loud!
‘But Pastor I don’t feel comfortable praying loudly. I don’t even like to pray out loud!’
You know what? That’s okay because I am not going to try and tell you this morning that you need to pray out loud in public making sure that everyone can hear you
What I am saying is that to live life loud you have to have a life that is dominated by prayer, a life where prayer is our go to option and not a last resort desperation
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Don’t get caught up in the unrighteous judge aspect of this parable, instead get hung up on why Jesus taught it, “To show them that they should always pray and not give up”
God proclaimed through the prophet Isaiah, “For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
I would submit to you today that it is impossible to live loud for God unless we learn how to pray loud, to wrap everything in prayer, to make prayer our constant, to “pray continually” as tells us to
Allow me to end this point by asking you a question, How bad would your day be if you had to go 24 hours without prayer? Would your day be totally devastated and wrecked or would you not even notice a difference?
If you’re praying loud I would submit to you that you wouldn’t be able to do it, that like Daniel, you would still need to pray and would rather die than stop
The third way that we are called to live loud is in our preaching
Now if you think of loud preaching in the Bible how can you not think of Peter
says,
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
Peter was brash, bold and, except for one short period of time, was never embarrassed to be outspoken in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ
But just in case you haven’t already picked up on the theme in this message, let me make it clear for you, by preaching I am not suggesting that you need to stand up in front of a large crowd and present a sermon, nor am I suggesting that you need to go stand on a street corner and pronounce doom and gloom on sinners
Sometimes we speak loudest when we say nothing at all
If Peter is to be our example of preaching loudly let us go to his first epistle and see what he says about it
1 Peter 2:11-12
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Perhaps you have heard the old saying so often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.”
Not only is the way that you live your life the ONLY sermon that some people will ever hear, but it has the potential to be the best and most influential sermon they ever COULD hear
I could literally speak for hours on what it means to love your neighbor (aren’t you glad I’m not?) and it would pale in comparison to a single act of kindness shown by you
People are watching you, even if they don’t realize that they are watching you
The Apostle Paul is another person who knew a thing or two about living and preaching loud and this is what he wrote to the church in Philippi
Philippians 1:27-28
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.
Christ told us that He came so that we could have life and so that we could live that life to the fullest, in other words to live loud
What that means for us is that we need to Praise loud, we need to Pray loud, and we need to Preach loud
Let me wrap up with the same passage we started with but this time I want to read it from the Message Bible
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Let’s pray