A Culture of Questions

intro -

This past week we began Lent. And every year, we begin the Lenten season by commemorating a sacred Jewish act. This act, is the putting on of sackcloth and ashes. For the modern believer, it means that we go to some place, sometimes a drive thru, and we get a cross put on our heads. This cross serves as a sign, that we are choosing to repent of our sins, and believe in the Gospel of Christ.

It is a wonderful reminder of this season. This time when we approach the death of our Savior, and the forgiveness of our sins.

It is also, I believe, the root of much of our cognitive dissonance in our faith. You see, this is a time when we choose to give something up for forty or so days. maybe it’s chocolate, or pizza. Some start the 30 day cleanse or some other device of dietary torture. Some people try to give up anger, or some other sin in their lives, which is a far better goal, I think, and not only because I love food!

Whatever we might be “giving up,” we only intend to lay down for a short time. We don’t give up sweets forever on lent, right? I mean if we did, what would we give up next year? No, instead we lay down this thing that distracts us from God, only for long enough to feel adequately qualified with our own faith.

We give up that sin, that vice, that thing, only long enough to feel like we deserve to be forgiven for the rest of the year.

I say that, simply because by us choosing to take up those habits again, we prove that we had no intention of putting God first, we are simply going through the motions of faith. We are lost in the echo chamber of modern Christianity.

What do I mean by echo chamber? Well an echo chamber is a place where we can hear our own voice after we speak. In the modern context, an echo chamber is any group, or person, or tv show, or source that serves to amplify, or echo, our own ideas and agendas. These echo chambers are also places where we say the right words and hear the things we want to hear, and church, they are dangerous places to live.

You know those places. Places where we keep asking opinions right up until we hear the one we wanted to hear. Places where we listen to the same sources, and demean or nullify other valid sources. After all, all they have is fake news over there. These are places where we don’t allow ourselves to take in any contrary information. We can’t have some other truth invading the reality that we have so carefully constructed in our lives after all.

These echo chambers, places where we say the right words and hear the things we want to hear, are dangerous places to live. You know those places. Places where we keep asking opinions right up until we hear the one we wanted to hear. Places where we listen to the same sources, and demean or nullify other valid sources. After all, all they have is fake news over there. These are places where we don’t allow ourselves to take in any contrary information. We can’t have some other truth invading the reality that we have so carefully constructed in our lives after all.

Most problematic, though, is that these are places where we have all the answers. We have become, it turns out, a culture of answers. Whenever a problem pops up, either in our lives, or our family’s lives, or even our country’s lives, we have an answer, don’t we?

If only they would have done that, this other thing wouldn’t have happened. If only things were like this, everything would be better.

How pompous we can be.

Job 38:4–7 NIV

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Like we spoke about last week, sometimes we just can’t see the miracle because all we want to see is what we like, or what we know. We let the echo chambers of this life get in the way of the call of God, and the life we are supposed to live.

We live in a culture of answers. But for the most part, they are all wrong. I say that, because this culture of answers, has few answers to the real problems of this life. And in fact, it only serves to push people away from the only one who does have the answers.

No, we have to stop trying to live in a culture of answers, and start cultivating a culture of questions. A culture that seeks out God’s voice, and not our own talking points and positions. A culture that is ready to hear that it is wrong, and eager to follow wherever Christ might lead.

No, we have to stop trying to live in a culture of answers, and start cultivating a culture of questions. A culture that seeks out God’s voice, and not our own talking points and positions. A culture that is ready to hear that it is wrong, and eager to follow wherever Christ might lead.

And that is where we find ourselves in our text today. This text that follows immediately last weeks text...

[should start by setting tone of echo chamber reality. We live in echo chambers and choose to actively stay in them. Keep asking opinions until we like what we here. listen to the same sources, or same news programs, or same friends. We don’t allow ourselves to ingest contrary information----link that to last weeks text---people not willing to see the miracle because they didn’t like it....but we are called to something different, and our text today calls us clearly toward our God and His purpose....

John 10:1–16 NIV

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

-----

pray

[questionspic]

I imagine that these Pharisees had a good many questions for Jesus after this little talk. I say that, because not only is what He is saying revolutionary, but it is also pretty confusing!

There is a gate, a gate keeper, sheep, a thief, a wolf, a shepherd - who can even keep up with all that?

And then there are the OTHER sheep! There is a lot going on that the Pharisees either wouldn’t understand, or wouldn’t like.

And that is us isn’t it? There is a lot to faith, if we are being honest, that we either don’t understand, or don’t like. It doesn’t take much to root that out, does it? Listen faith is hard, and the sacrificial faith of following Jesus is even harder!

It calls us to question. It calls us to wonder. But all too often, Christians have all the answers! Even pastors, who week after week stand before the faithful, praying that they somehow bring a word that someone can hold onto. Praying that a seed for Jesus might be planted in the lives of someone - even we sometimes act as if answers are all we have.

What a lie that is, church.

And this text reminds us of those questions, and it begs us to ask them!

[picofgateandsheep]

What does Jesus mean? Who is the gate-keeper? Who are the robbers? What is He even talking about? Church, those are all great questions, but they can be answered rather simply.

God is the Gate-keeper. He opens the Gate, which is Grace, so that Jesus, the good shepherd can lead us to safe pasture - Heaven.

Pretty straight forward, right? On top of that, the repeated us of “I am” here signifies the triune nature of God. So we’ve got that covered too!

Oh we have all the answers!

But that is the whole point, isn’t it? We can figure out the puzzle of Christ’s words and still miss out the message He is bringing. There in the midst of all our theologizing we miss out on the real question Jesus wants us to ask!

What does your voice sound like?

That’s the real question. What does His voice sound like? How do we know if we are following Him, or some other voice? Are we being led by a thief, or by the truth of God?

More interesting to me is this - do we even want to know?

Are we so stuck in our echo chambers that we would rather dilute the truth, we would rather follow the lies and deceive ourselves if not others, than ask the hard questions and be ready for God to give the even harder answers?

Do we really want to hear the voice of God, or do we want God’s voice to sound like ours so much, that we ignore when He speaks to us?

[picof sheep]

I imagine it like this. You see, sheep are pretty unintelligent animals. They really are. For all the years that Kate worked at the Schiele museum, I dressed up for events and helped out. And every year in mid-spring, they would have a day when then would shear the sheep with old timey tools. But here is the thing, they let the visitors shear these sheep, with some help, but to shear a sheep, you have to hold it, you have to secure it.

And that was my job. I was the sheep wrestler. And because I am such a kind person, I always somehow was the one who got to hold down the rear of the sheep. And this is the point of that little story. You see, sheep are so unintelligent, that year after year, they get their hair cut. And they always act the same. Worse yet, moment after moment as they are getting all that heavy coat removed, they live in fear! So much so, in fact, that they essentially defecate continuously while they are being held…by me…from behind.

And when they are done, and you let them go. They stand right there by you. Right there by the one who just made them lose bowel control for the past 30 minutes! They’re not the smartest, I’ll tell you that.

But, understand church, Jesus uses them to represent us here. In fact, throughout Jesus’ ministry, sheep are the common representation of all of us! That alone should cause us to question! What do we do like sheep? How do we act that way? And after all of that, how can we just follow Jesus?

John 10:16 NIV

I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

John 10:

Jesus tells us in this text. We. Must. Listen.

[listening]

Jesus tells us in this text. We must listen.

But understand we must listen to Jesus here. Not the voice we want to hear! You see, Jesus is that voice that calls out to us to stay calm while we are being sheared by strangers! He is the voice that says, “peace, be still.” But the voice we want to hear, is that voice that says stand and fight! The voice that values life over purpose, if only because that voice doesn’t listen to or even understand the reason for what is taking place!

But how do we listen to that voice? In a world that seems to drift further away from God every day, how on earth can we listen to Jesus?

Well let me surprise you slightly today and confess to you this: I don’t have a answer.

I don’t have an answer, church, but I do have another question. And it is this: How can we not?

How can we not listen to Jesus? How is it, that in all the troubles of this life, we choose to rely on the flawed and deceitful causes of men, instead of the sure truth of God? How is it that we have become so indoctrinated by the world that we would pass by the truth of scripture in favor of our personal, family, social, or political doctrine?

[followmepic]

I mean, following the shepherd should be easy! But even for sheep, when they have found nice grass and a warm safe spot, they don’t want to move! And like those sheep, when we get in our echo chambers, and when we get our ears tickled daily, from our radio stations, to our news broadcasts, to our friends, and pretty soon, we don’t want to move either!

We don’t hear Jesus calling us to His better reality, because we are OK with where we are right now! We don’t understand that Jesus needs us to move on and follow Him so that those other sheep, the ones who are watching us can follow us - in other words He needs us to move on, to listen to Him and follow Him, so that those other sheep will come as well!

This earth, and all the people in it, will never be able to know Jesus fully if the supposed faithful refuse to listen to the voice of God. That is just a fact. You can ask all those “nones,” the un-churched population who, all too often, the church views as faithless, but in actuality have just lost their taste for organized faith because of our failure to listen to them and their needs. Here is what you would if you would ask them why they don’t follow God. And this is both my experience in speaking with them, and several national level surveys.

Hypocrisy, they would say. People aren’t changed by God, they would say. Why give time to a faith that discriminates and hates, they would say. Or even a faith that condones violence. Time after time they remind us that we aren’t living up to the image of the Savior we hold so dear!

But more than that, you know what they say?

You aren’t listening...

You aren’t asking the right questions. You aren’t taking in the position of others and allowing God to illuminate the answers. You don’t take time to listen to man or God.

And if you aren’t listening, how on earth can you hear His voice?

This past week I listened. I listened as, for the 67th time since I came into ministry in 2011, and the 42nd time since I got here, a mass shooting has needlessly taken the lives of our brothers and sisters. Not to mention our children, and our parents.

We aren’t listening.

The violence is amplified as this violence took place at school. But preacher, you might say, this isn’t the first time. You’re right. History shows us this isn’t the first, and likely won’t be the last.

In the 18th century, there was a single incident of school shooting. No big deal, you might say, there were fewer people and even fewer guns. Well, you’re right. In the 19th century, there were 28 school shootings. In the 20th century there were 226, most of which occured from the 70’s onward.

But church, in the past 18 years, we have had 212.

212.

We will, no doubt, eclipse the total number of school shootings that occured over 100 years this year. After all, there have already been 18 this year alone. In 45 days.

We aren’t listening.

I listened this week, as every side gave their talking points. I listened on social media, where I saw the callous and hurtful reminder that we think we have all the answers, the calls for thoughts and prayers, and more guns. Even the ridiculous assumption that this is happening because God isn’t in the schools, as if our faithful families, teachers, staff, and administrators don’t pray fervently.

As if God

Hear this clearly, this pulpit is not the place for policy discussions. I am not choosing a side of the isle or of the debate. But this pulpit is the place where we talk about Jesus. This is the place, if there is no other place, that I am called to help everyone to hear the voice of Jesus! This is the very place where we must meet and try to tackle our own inability to hear anything from outside our own echo chambers!

And to that end I must speak. I can no longer sit and watch death wreak havock on our children and act as if my thoughts and prayers are sufficient! I can’t sit by and watch as we seek to answer violence with violence! I can’t be that sheep that is so comfortable with all that I have and all that I am that I refuse to cultivate a culture of questions; one that asks myself and others the hardest questions in the hopes of hearing the true voice of Christ!

Colossians 2:8 NIV

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

None of us can be afford to be that. We can’t be taken captive by those things. We must ask the hard questions, and we must listen for God’s voice in the wake of those questions.

We must follow Christ.

The one who said pray for your enemies. The one who told us to turn the other cheek. The one who we so fondly call the Prince of Peace, whose way is peace! The one who Zecariah prophesied about!

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

But church, that isn’t the end of that prophecy, nor is it the end of God’s voice speaking to us even today!

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim PEACE to the nations.

I will take away your dependency on violence, and give you in it’s place the prince of Peace.

[scripturecollagepic]

His voice is clear church. “Repay no one evil for evil,” the word says. Vengeance is mine, God tells us! In , Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” “Do not fear those that can kill the body,” Jesus cries. "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus says, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

Abhor evil. Don’t hate. Pray for your enemies. Feed them. Clothe them. Overcome evil with good! These words of our Savior CANNOT be ignored or wished away!

We aren’t listening.

Some of you might be quick to tell me that it is a pipe dream. Well to that I say this: I don't know how you're going to interpret all that scripture. I don't know how you or anyone else is going to look at that scripture and say, “yeah but God really means this!” After all, God gave us this or that, so why can’t we use them?

Listen, all I know, and all I can speak to, is what scripture says. All I know is that we have a call to do our best to rightly handle scripture both as pastors and as his people. And in that responsibility lies a call to question whether or not the voice we are listening to is the voice of our own logic and reason and political and personal stances, or the the voice of God. And I can tell you with all certainty, the only way to know if it's the voice of God is to question the voice you hear and test it against the words of scripture and against the very Spirit of the Living God! Jesus Christ himself! If what you are thinking and what you are doing fails to meet the the standard of the voice of God, then it is not Jesus Christ that you are following, it is at best yourself, and at worst those lying to keep you enslaved in your echo chamber, inside the culture of answers.

We are called to so much more.

2 Corinthians 4:5–6 NIV

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

2 Cor 4:5

[Don’t read]

This isn’t about us, it can only be about Jesus. He alone is the shepherd! He is who we must follow. And church, you can’t follow Him while you are following the world, or your own reasoning. You have to lay down your voice, and listen intently to the voice of Jesus. The voice that is calling out for us to follow Him. The voice that will, if we only listen, call this entire world to follow our example and our lead.

The one and only voice of truth.

Church, if He is our shepherd it is high time we start listening to His voice. We must cultivate a culture that questions our motives, our thoughts, our positions, everything, in light of the surpassing knowledge of truth that is offered to us through our Savior.

That is true repentance. And that is our call, and the call of the Gospel of Jesus.

Church, after this past week, as I was wondering what I could do, I was left with few answers. But I praise God, that there in the silence I have what I think is a good starting place.

Right here.

In my heart I have to ask the tough questions. In my heart, I have to listen for God to answer. In my heart, there must be grace. In my heart, there must be an unending desire to follow Jesus! In my heart, there must be nothing that can ever stop Jesus from taking over every part of my life! In my heart, there must be more than just prayers and words - there must be action. I must go and do.

Church if I could just follow Jesus fully, in my heart, then someone else could follow me. And then someone else, and someone else, and before you know it, we will, for the most part, all be following Christ on the path of peace.

But will we do it?

It only takes one to sideline the whole thing. One sheep following a lie. One sheep taking what they want from the place they want to be, and it attracts others! And soon, they become a shepherd for themselves.

They become the thief.

But the answer, even to that, doesn’t change. Church it doesn’t have to be that way. We hold the answer, if only we are willing to listen.

The answer starts with me. It starts with you. In my heart. In your heart. Are you going to follow the voice of God or the voice of this world? Are you going to follow the desires of your life, and positions, or the desires and ideals of the God who made you? Only you can answer that. I pray, though, that as we struggle with these events, and with life as we know it, that we all might become slow to speak, quick to listen for God, and convicted enough of our vital role in creation to have the bravery to follow Him alone. Even when it is hard.

Invitation.

It starts with you. In my heart. In your heart. Are you going to follow the voice of God or the voice of this world? Are you going to follow the desires of your life, and positions, or the desires and ideals of the God who made you. Only you can answer that. I pray, though, that we all become slow to speak, quick to listen for God, and convicted enough of our vital role in creation to have the bravery to follow Him alone. Even when it is hard.

Invitation. (536 - Lord I want to be a Christian…in my heart…in my life…in my every moment. Not just in my words.)