Listen

Are you listening?

We hear, but that doesn't mean we're listening. This is what Lara is always telling me! The other day I took her to Yankee Candle. Out of the store she comes, telling me how she used some coupon, and got some deal, and saved us money. And then she starts rattling off scents, and going through her bags, and sniffing candles. "This is Christmas Cookie. This is Caramel Pecan. I really like French Vanilla, and oh, they have Maple Pancakes and Country Lemonade."

Now, my brain can't download all that information. After a few seconds, my eyes glazed over. I started salivating. I was at IHOP, eating maple pancakes. Then I was at Baskin Robbins, getting french vanilla ice cream. Then I was at Baker's Square eating caramel pecan pie. I was gaining weight just listening to her talk.

Now, Lara knew I had stopped listening and she got a bit upset. "You're not listening to me!" I tried to cover up by saying, "You wanted maple pancakes for supper, right? Or was it ice cream, or pie?" I knew I was in trouble the minute I pulled into IHOP's parking lot!

Listening isn't just a male problem. It's a human problem. We hear, but we don't listen. This is a big problem-- one that always gets us in trouble! Because not only do we tune each other out, we also tune God out. God speaks, but we don't listen and we don't understand.

God has a way of helping us listen.

Have you noticed that God has a way of helping us to listen to him? In the days of Noah, God flooded the whole earth, saving only Noah and his family. Shortly thereafter, he confused all the languages of men at the tower of Babel, and scattered mankind across the earth. In the days of Moses, God spoke out of a burning bush. He turned Aaron's staff into a snake.

God sent ten plagues on Pharoah and the people of Egypt. He changed the Nile River into blood, and sent plagues of frogs, gnats, and flies. He cursed the livestock, covered the people with boils, sent hail, a mighty swarms of locusts, and covered all of Egypt in darkness. Finally, there was the Passover night, when God spared only the households whose doorframes were covered by the blood of a lamb.

When the Israelites fled Egypt, God led them by cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. As the Egyptian army descended on them, God parted the Red Sea to provide a way of escape. In the wilderness, God provided for the Israelites by making water pour out of a rock, and by providing manna and quail for food.

God has a way of getting us to listen. He caused a fish to swallow Jonah and spit him up on dry land. He spoke to Balaam through a donkey. We see similar acts in the life of Jesus. Jesus turned water into wine, he walked on water, he calmed the seas, he fed the five thousand, and he used spit and mud to restore a man's sight. He interrupted funerals and mystified mourners by raising the dead. He chose uneducated men to be his apostles.

And what about Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection from the dead... which he predicted? Which was foretold in the scriptures. God has a way of getting us to listen. The Jews couldn't ignore the resurrection of Lazarus. They couldn't ignore the resurrection of Jesus. They were mystified.

How can this be?

The first question we naturally ask when God acts is, "How? How can this be?"

In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth. We want to know how! Noah filled the ark, but how? God parted the Red Sea, but how? God raises the dead, but how?

We see this in Acts 2:1-8 (NIV). "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (languages) as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: 'Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?' " (Emphasis added)

Bewilderment is how God helps us to listen. God does something that has no other plausible explanation except, "Yea, it had to be God." When was the last time you were bewildered by something God did? When is the last time you marveled at the mighty hand of God?

Bewildering is Christ crucified. Bewildering is the Son of God shedding his blood on the cross for our sins. Bewildering is Jesus being raised from the grave on the third day, ascending into heaven, and being exalted to the right hand of God. Bewildering is the Holy Spirit being poured out on God's people! The bewildered crowd asks, "How is this happening?"

The sciences have established those ordinary things we expect to see. We expect dying things to die, and dead things to stay dead. We've come to expect corruption, violence, greed, sexual immorality, acts of human aggression, and acts of human desperation.

What bewilders us though, are the anomalies-- when something happens for which there is no plausible explanation. A person is healed. Two enemies reconcile. A sinner repents. The power of sin is broken. The Holy Spirit manifests his fruit in a man's life.

In Acts 2 men spontaneously speak in all the languages under heaven. They're declaring the wonders of God for people from every nation to hear. It's compelling, it's bewildering, and it's undeniably of God. So our first question is, "How in the world?" But then comes our second question.

What does this mean?

In Acts 2:11-12 (NIV) the bewildered crowds say, "... we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues (languages)! Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?' "

Perplexed is a hog looking at a wristwatch. There are some things just too wonderful for the mind to comprehend! Our first reaction when we see a miracle is to find a naturalistic explanation. The crowd reasoned that the men were drunk. "It's the wine talking." Yet it was only nine in the morning! Something else was going on.

First of all, God was pouring out his Holy Spirit. Acts 2:17-21 (NIV) describes how, "In the last days, God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' "

Second of all, God had just confirmed Jesus' identity by Jesus' resurrection from the dead. In Acts 2:22-24 (NIV) Peter explains, "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."

Even David foresaw Jesus' resurrection and detailed his vision in the psalms he wrote! Acts 2:25-36 (NIV) continues. "David said about him, 'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.' "

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear."

"For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, 'The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.' "

We cannot explain God's miracles by naturalistic explanations.

There comes a point where not even our naturalistic explanations satisfy our curiosity. Why do I exist? Does God exist? Can I know God? Can I know his will? What is the meaning of my life? What is my purpose? Can I be forgiven? Can I be redeemed? Can I be saved from the grip of death? What does all this mean? All of history, all of scripture? It's an important question that shows we're listening, and trying to understand.

Our first question is, "How in the world? It has to be God!" Our second question is, "What is the meaning of this? What is God doing?" But the third question may be the most important of all.

What shall we do?

In Acts 2:36 (NIV) Peter says, "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Acts 2:37 (NIV) continues by saying, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' "

First they were bewildered, then they were perplexed, but now they are cut to the heart. They first asked, "How is this happening?" Then they asked, "What is the meaning of this?" But now they are asking, "What shall we do?"

How can we claimed to have listened if we've never been amazed or bewildered? If we've never been perplexed? If we've never been cut to the heart by what God has done for us in Christ Jesus?

How can you claimed to have listened if you've never asked, "How can all this be?" Or, "What does all this mean?" Or if you've never sincerely asked, "What shall I do?" It's this third question that demonstrates that we've truly listened, and truly believed, and are sincere in our faith.

When it comes to this question, "What shall we do?", it's for God to decide, and God always commands a particular response. God chose to save Noah through water, in an ark. God chose to save Israel through water, at the Red Sea. God chose to save Jonah through water, in the belly of a whale. God chose to save the thief on the cross. God chooses how he will save.

In Acts 2:38-39 (NIV) Peter says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call."

Repent and be baptized.

A lot of people get hung up on Peter's command, "Repent and be baptized." But baptism answers three important questions. The first question is "How? How does God save?" 1 Peter 3:21 (NIV) says, "...this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It (baptism) saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

God saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In baptism we die to our self, we're buried in Christ, and we're raised in Christ to live a new life.

The second question baptism answers is "What? What does it mean to be saved?" You take a bath to wash all the dirt off your body. In the Bible, baptism is for the forgiveness of sin. Peter commands us to be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. In Acts 22:16 (NIV) Paul recounts his own baptism, and how he was told, "And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name."

How are we saved? By the resurrection of Jesus. Baptism is a reenactment, an identification with Jesus' resurrection! What does it mean to for God to save us? It's to be washed, it's to be purified, cleansed, forgiven, and made new. Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins.

The third question baptism answers is "What? What shall we do?" In Acts 2:40-41 (NIV) Peter pleaded, " 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.' Those who accepted his message were baptized." Peter says that our baptism is a pledge of a good conscience toward God.

Do you realize that for the first 1600 years of Christendom, baptism was seen as necessary for salvation? It was an absolute necessity. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5 (NIV), "...no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and Spirit." In Mark 16:16 (NIV) Jesus said, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned."

It wasn't until the enlightenment that things changed. Suddenly what you thought and felt became more important than what you did. Baptism is a response of faith. God is asking you to visibly, tangibly put your hope in Jesus' resurrection. He is asking you to visibly acknowledge your need to be washed and forgiven of all your sins. He is asking you not just to sit there and ponder Christ's death, as if thinking is all faith is. He is asking you to put your faith in action, repent from all is corrupting this generation, and make a public pledge in good conscience to live for God.

It's this final question, "What shall we do?" that demonstrates we've truly listened.