“Fishing With Jesus:
Fishing by Listening to and Proclaiming Only Jesus”
February 27, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Since I don’t want to get stuck in a rut, I’m not going to ask for a show of hands and then ask a seemingly bizarre question. That’s not to say that won’t come back again soon. Instead, this morning I’m going to have you all think about this question: Why are you here? I don’t mean to ask why you’re here in some sort of general existential sense. Instead, I want to ask, why are you here at St. Andrew this morning? Of all the places you could have been this morning, especially on another cold morning like this one, you chose to be here. For those of you who are watching the video or listening to the podcast, there are a lot of other things you could be doing right now, yet you chose to be here. Why? I’m sure that if we went around the room, we could come up with all sort of different answers as to why we think we’re here. Maybe we’re here because it’s our habit, what we’ve always done since we were younger. Maybe we’re here because we want our kids to have a positive influence. Maybe we’re here ourselves because we want something relatively positive to start off the week. Maybe we’re here because we want to visit with our family members and friends, especially those we don’t normally get to see during the rest of the week. Maybe we’re here because it’s the first stop on our way to a busy day full of other obligations and errands. Maybe we’re here because we need advice. Maybe we’re also even here because we have nothing better to do.
And all of these reasons why we think we’re here this morning are perfectly valid. But there’s a more important reason why we’re here, and one which is the real reason: we’re here to listen to Jesus. We’re here because Jesus wants to meet us here. We’re here because Jesus wants us to take time to spend with Him. We’re here because Jesus wants us to stop everything else, put everything else down, and listen to Him.
Coming to listen to Jesus is indeed the most important, especially to take time out from the insanity and activity of all the rest of the week. We’re here because almost all we’ve been hearing about this week has been the war going on between Ukraine and Russia, and the implications it may have for us over here, and we need somewhere where we can just have a moment of peace. We’re here because, for the past couple of years, we’ve been stressed about everything going on with the coronavirus, how it’s changed our lives and everything else, and we need somewhere just to take time out from the ever-changing world. We’re here because we’ve been having to deal with personal issues with our families, in our neighborhoods, at our jobs, or at our schools, and we need somewhere where we can just spend an hour or so away from what we’re having to deal with. We’re here because we’ve been having to deal with issues with our health, or facing some other kind of crisis, and we need support from other people. But in all of these, the solution, and, again, the real reason we’re all here is still the same: to listen to Jesus. We’re here to meet with Jesus, to encounter Him, let Him speak to us, and listen to Him.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus’ disciples have a special encounter with Him, as they see Him as fully God. They see Him glowing dazzling white, and talking with Moses and Elijah. But then the most important part of the whole experience happens: a voice from heaven says, in plain language, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen, listen to Him.” (Luke 9:35) That was an experience that changed everything for Peter, James, and John, because they now could really see and experience Jesus for who He really was – and understand who He really was, that He now was fulfilling everything Moses and Elijah had talked about, everything they had heard about in their worship services before, and that now He was the one they were to listen to.
So the other question to ask ourselves this morning is: are we really listening to Jesus? What I mean is, every time we come here, we hear a lot of things. We hear about what’s going to be going on at the church for the next week or two. We hear passages from the Bible being read. We hear words be spoken, as we are now. But are we really listening? We hear, but does it mean anything to us? Every time we come here this morning, Jesus is actually trying to talk to us. He is talking to us in the words of the Bible being read. He wants to encounter us, to actually meet with us. The difference between hearing and listening is this: when we hear, we’re just taking everything in. We’re hearing a lot about Jesus and what the Bible says, but all we’re doing is just receiving it. It’s like we’re handed a note, we look at it, and then put it in our pockets, forget about it for a bit, and then are reminded about it again when we take it out of our pocket. It’s more passive. But when we listen, it’s more active: we’re seeking to understand what is being said, and what it means for us. We’re not just receiving a note and then putting it in our pockets to forget about it: we’re acting on what is said on the note, it’s motivating us to do something. And that’s the difference between simply hearing Jesus and listening to Him: we can hear His words being spoken, but then leave here, with everything still the same – it has no impact on us. But if we listen, then what Jesus tells us can make a difference – it can change us, it can impact us, and we can leave here changed. So we are to ask, whenever we listen to God’s Word being read: what is Jesus trying to say to me? What does He want me to listen to? How does He want me to be changed by what I’m listening to? This is something we are to be actively asking regularly.
Listening to Jesus is active – and is something we ought to expect. At any moment, Jesus can speak to us, and we can listen. Listening to Jesus is something which takes being active, and being intentional. However, it’s usually easier said than done, because we still have all kinds of other things which are clammering for our attention at any given time. We’re almost constantly checking our phones to make sure we haven’t missed any texts or alerts. We’re looking to our devices, or TVs, for information and entertainment. We have to deal with the needs of another person at any given time. It’s nearly seemingly impossible for us just to be able to take time out to listen to Jesus. But in order to be able to listen to Jesus, we have to be intentional: we have to be intentional about setting everything else aside, turning off our phones, devices, and TVs even for a few moments, telling everyone else who may want our attention that we need time to listen to Jesus, and then doing so. It does take effort, and it does take being active and intentional, but setting aside everything else, even for a few moments, just be able to spend time with Jesus and listen to Him, makes everything else easier to deal with. I’ve mentioned before that one of the things I greatly appreciate about living in Farmersville is how quiet it is here. That’s especially helpful for me because sometimes I have a tendency to let myself be overwhelmed by trying to pay attention to everything else around me, especially sounds and sights – and I’m sure many others of you probably struggle with the same kind of thing. However, I’ll confess that even I still struggle with being able to set aside everything else in order to be able to listen to Jesus. At any moment, I have a task, a text or other message, or some other issue which seems to be more important than anything else, and which I have to deal with, but which I may not know how to be able to deal with right at that moment. So I too have to practice being intentional about setting everything else aside, putting my phone down, waiting on responding to a message, putting aside any thoughts of a particular issue, and just spending some quiet time with Jesus, listening to Him. And what I find, when I do so, is that everything else is easier to deal with, and I usually find the most effective solution to what I’m having to deal with, if I take time, even for a few moments, to spend time listening to Jesus. The moments of peace and clarity which I gain from being able to set everything else aside just to listen to Jesus are ones which I consider valuable, and which I frequently wish would happen more often. But the way such moments can happen for each of us is if we are intentional about taking time out, whether once a day, or even a few times a day, just to be able to listen to Jesus. And when we listen to Jesus, things can change. Things can even change for the better.
And, believe it or not, church is not the only place where we can listen to Jesus. Jesus speaks to us, and we can listen to Him, any time, anywhere. Coming to church ought never to be a matter of guilt: believe it or not, God’s opinion of us doesn’t change whether or not we’re here in church regularly. We don’t need to fear punishment, or even worry about whether God will keep liking us or not, if we’re not here in church on a regular basis – even if we’ve been told that’s what God wants. Which leads to another issue: we can actually determine what Jesus is really telling us by what He seems to be saying. I’ve mentioned before that we can actually distinguish between what the voice of God is and what the voice of God is not. I’m going to expand on that a bit to say that, over time, there have been a lot of voices which have claimed to be the voice of Jesus, but have actually tried to add on to His words and are, in fact, not His voice, even though they claim to speak for Him. For example, any voice which tells us that we have to judge, hate, or condemn another person is not the voice of Jesus, because that is contrary what Jesus did on earth, and how He is now. Any voice which tells us that we have to fulfill even more requirements, or follow even more certain rules, in order for God to love us and in order to be saved, is not the voice of Jesus, because the reason He came to die in the first place was to save us from having to follow requirements and rules in order to be saved. Any voice which tells us that Jesus speaks to certain people and not to others is certainly not the voice of Jesus, because Jesus speaks to all of us. No one person can claim to have greater access to Jesus than anyone else: everyone has the same access and the same opportunity to listen to Jesus. On the other hand, any voice which offers us comfort is the voice of Jesus. Any voice which offers us encouragement is the voice of Jesus. Any voice which offers us a solution to whatever we have to face which, even though it may be a challenge, ends up working out well, is the voice of Jesus. Any voice which encourages us to encourage others is the voice of Jesus. Any voice which motivates us to comfort others is the voice of Jesus. If we listen to the voice of Jesus, and what it really says, then we are able to speak.
And that is the main reason we listen to Jesus: to be able to speak. The moments of peace and clarity which we gain from listening to Jesus are meant for us to be able to act on, to, once again, be active. The words we gain from listening to Jesus are those which we are to pass along – especially words of comfort and encouragement. Even as we can listen to Jesus at any time, at any time we might be given the active opportunity to speak the right word to someone who needs special guidance or relief. That is why we’re all really here this morning: to listen to Jesus, to be changed by Him, to be encouraged to listen to Him every day, and to pass along the comfort and encouragement we hear to others. This is something we can expect, an something we can be actively expecting and pursuing. So let us no longer just hear – let us listen. Let us seek to understand what Jesus is telling us, and what He wants us to say. As we listen and understand, let us speak. Especially as we continue to struggle in a world currently plagued by war, illness, conflict, and struggle, let us listen to the encouraging and comforting voice of Jesus, and let us encourage and comfort each other and other people with the voice of Jesus, as we speak with His voice.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
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