Hearing Voices

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday January 7, 2007.

Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17, 22-23

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

I want to share an old bumper sticker with you this morning, but it’s just wrong, yet there is a part of me that laughs at this. There is an old bumper sticker that says, “I do what the voices in my Rice Krispies tell me to do.” Yeah, certainly not politically correct. But I do not bring this up to make light of mental illness. The son of one of Marie’s dearest friends suffers from schizophrenia. The tragedy of mental illness has caused in her friend much distress. His torment, and the torment shared by their family is far more devastating than the snap, crackle, and pop of breakfast cereal. They are constantly in Marie’s prayers. But I do mention this to open the door to our readings today.

Each of our readings today deals with hearing a voice, the voice of the Lord. Three deal directly with the voice and the other deals with a source of the voice. So let’s consider the voice of the Lord.

In our Call to Worship this morning, Psalm 29, the voice of the Lord is defined seven ways. The voice of the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful and full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirion skip like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes out flames of fire—or in other translations flashes of lightening. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. And finally, the voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl stripping the forest bare. The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice and because of its power everyone and everything in the temple say “Glory.”

There are some things happening here that is lost on we who are not from the time of King David. The first is that this psalm lists seven images of the voice of the Lord. In ancient times, the number seven represented completion and perfection. There are many examples of this. The first creation account in Genesis lists seven days of creation.[1] One of the versions of the Ark story has Noah bringing seven pairs of each clean creature onto the ark.[2] Revelation is loaded with sevens including the seven churches, seven stars, seven lamp stands, seven bowls and seven plagues.

Considering all of the attributes of the Lord’s voice that could be described, the psalmist intentionally stops at seven to represent perfection in the Lord’s voice.

Another piece of ancient history lost to us is worship of the god Baal. Baal is represented as, among other things, a weather god. One image of Baal is a man casting a lightning bolt upon the earth.[3] Baal is a powerful god worshipped by the Canaanites. And the Old Testament is filled with times Israel turned from the Lord and turned to Baal worship.

But our psalm tells us the Lord is more than just a weather god. The Lord can do all of the things Baal can do, and do them in sevenfold perfection. On top of that, the Lord can do so much more than Baal could ever hope or imagine.

So our psalm tells us several things about the voice of the Lord. First and foremost, the voice of the Lord is perfect—in sevenfold perfection. Second, our Lord is more powerful than Baal, and all of the other gods.

But this lesson takes us into a corollary lesson, a lesson well known in antiquity which doesn’t find much favor in our time. There are other gods. Today we don’t particularly think of weather gods or such. But there are people and things which are ascribed so much glory that they are revered and worshipped like gods. People do sometimes tend to pray at the temple of money or power or celebrity or fame or esteem or any one of a million other things. To paraphrase scripture, we cannot love the Lord and our stuff. The love of the Lord must precede all we are, all we do, and all we have. We are to love the Lord who according to the Psalm is mighty, powerful, and perfect in sevenfold witness.

The prophet Isaiah heard the word of the Lord spoken to him, and he was required to pass along the message to the ruling elite. In this passage, we read of the Lord who affirms for the nation that it is he who has redeemed Israel. It is the Lord who is with us as we pass through the waters. The Lord is with us when we walk through the fires. We are precious in the sight of the Lord, and because of this, we should fear nothing.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is a difference between fearing nothing and having nothing to fear. I do not think we have nothing to fear. A quick survey of the daily news gives each and every one of us something to fear. But the Lord promises, these things cannot prevail against the faithful. The Lord is the source of our confidence, nothing else can stand against the tide of our sin sick world.

Another lesson we take from Isaiah is that it is the Lord who created us. We are more than a simple collection or random atoms or a people created for the amusement of a higher power or as a proof to some biochemical—mathematical scheme. We are created by the Lord who loves us and cares for us. This love and care is the second lesson from Isaiah. The Lord loves us and cares for us as we walk through the waters and the fires.

There is another lesson to take from Isaiah. We are to be obedient. We are to listen to the Lord and follow. Isaiah reminds us everyone who is called by the name of the Lord is not to withhold anything. Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth, after all, we were created by the Lord for the Glory of the Lord. Hearing the voice of the Lord and following is a heady vocation, but it is the one we were created for.

Luke gives us another hearing of the voice of the Lord. Now, there is something that we can assume from the scripture which isn’t implicitly said. We can assume John the Baptist has heard the voice of the Lord because of what he knows. John knows he is not the one who is to come. He is the one to make straight the way for the Lord. John knows of the baptism of water and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire and that the two are different. He also knows which he is to bring and which will come from the one greater than he. From hearing the voice of the Lord, John is attentive and obedient.

The most wonderful lesson taught by the voice from heaven follows in Luke’s gospel, Jesus the Christ is the Son of God. Luke’s gospel gives us the image of the Holy Spirit descending bodily like a dove and the voice from heaven saying “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus is in relationship with God as a son is related to his father. The Spirit of God descends and gives an anointing touch to the Son of God. This relationship is given to us in this beautiful image.

But there is one more relationship Luke gives his readers. Our reading ends with, “[Jesus] was the son (as was thought) of Joseph, the son of Eli.” Now, Luke could have belabored the point of this by telling us who was emperor or governor like at the beginning of John’s ministry in chapter three, instead we hear of Jesus’ earthly father and grandfather.

Jesus is the anointed, the appointed, the Christ, the Messiah. Known to people, Jesus is the son of a man, the son of Joseph, son of Eli. He has come into this world fully human and fully divine. In his baptism, he identifies with our condition and need for redemption. In his baptism, his heavenly father gives his approval. The voice from heaven declares being well pleased with Jesus, fully human and fully divine.

Our lesson here is that the Lord values relationships. Who we are is based on whom we belong to, who we serve, who we love. Relationships are what is important.

The psalmist tells us the Lord is mighty. Isaiah tells us we belong to the Lord, and the Lord will keep us safe from the waters and the fire. Luke tells us that while John baptizes in water, it is the Son of God comes in power and baptizes us in the Holy Spirit and fire.

Finally, Acts teaches us that until we come into the fullness of the Lord, God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are not in full relationship with the Lord.

So there it is, the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is powerful and full of majesty. The voice of the Lord is perfect. The voice of the Lord causes everyone and everything in his temple to say “Glory.” The Lord is more powerful than any god of antiquity or of today. The voice of the Lord reassures us. The voice tells us that we are protected from the dangers of water and fire. The voice tells us we are precious in the Lord’s sight. The voice tells John he will baptize in water; and the voice tells John one will come who will baptize in Spirit and fire. The voice of the Lord tells us not to fear. The voice of the Lord calls us into relationship, a relationship we enter into through the waters of our baptism and the fire of the Holy Spirit.

The voice of the Lord is all around us. We must pay attention, we need to listen. Only when we listen can we respond. So let us listen, let us listen to the voice of the Lord together. Study the voice in scripture. Study it in prayer. Study it in work. Study it in relationships with the Lord and with one another. But do not be afraid, the voice of the Lord is not the voice of mental illness. Be discerning, because not every snap, crackle, or pop is the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is all around us. Listen to the voice of the Lord and let everyone and everything say “Glory.”

[1] Genesis 1:1-2:3
[2] Genesis 7:2
[3] Craigie, Peter C., Word Biblical Commentary [computer file] : Psalms 1-50 / Peter C. Craigie; David A. Hubbard, Glenn W. Baker, John D. Watts and Ralph P. Martin editors.—electronic ed.—Dallas : Word, Incorporated, 1998.