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Title: Falling on Deaf Ears
I am often perplexed at the political and social agenda of many Christians in our country. What I mean to say is not that I necessarily disagree with believers fighting for their values and beliefs, that’s what a citizen in a democratic republic ought to do. I generally find that I agree with the intended end, but often it is the means, it is the methods of the Christian that seems peculiar to me.
One of the great ongoing discussions in my classes at the university is the idea that you can’t legislate morality. In other words, we can pass laws to make other people behave in a more Christian way. On top of that, I’ve often said, both from this pulpit and in other circles, that it is ludicrous for us to expect non-Christians to behave in a Christ-like manner. It is short sighted of us to be appalled at the world’s behavior.
I don’t’ mean this to insult, but the simple truth is that the lost don’t know truth, they are ignorant of wisdom, they are void of an understanding of right and wrong. If the only way to honor God is to know Him, love Him, and, as John often says, “to love him is to keep his commandments”.
Then how can we expect non-believers to keep his commandments if they neither know him or love him?
So, for me at least, I confess, I want the world to obey God. But I also believe they will only do so if they know Him. For me the issue is not political, it is not social agendas. It is evangelism. It is telling people the truth.
The trick however, as John points out, is getting the world to hear you.
(read passage/pray)
- What and Who Have we Overcome?
In verse four we find one of the most quoted verses in scripture. Yet I think the theological gem of this verse lies not in the last part of the verse, but rather in the first.
John tells us that because Christ is greater than Satan, we have “overcome them.” What exactly have we overcome? I warn you, this isn’t a simple a question as it may seem on the surface. (take answers)
As Believers we have overcome:
- Our enslavement to sin.
- Our inability to hear God.
- Our inability to please God.
The next logical question is who, exactly, have we overcome? Put into context, remembering what we studied last week, who is it we have overcome?
Here’s my best answer: We have overcome the spirits, the spirits of the Devil, that would attempt to lead us away from the Truth.
We started this dialogue two weeks ago by dissecting what our own motivations are. And this is just a continuance of the same issue. What is guiding believers is Christ’s teachings and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What is guiding the lost is Satan and his minions, whether these people believe or understand that or not. And remember the first thing on my list of what we’ve overcome? Our enslavement to sin. They are still slaves to sin, while we are attempting to become slaves of righteousness.
- Who has ears to hear?
I started this message by saying that successful evangelism is the cure for the ills of our society. And now I’m about to tell you that John tells us that the lost man cannot and will not hear the saved man. So we should all just pack up, go home, and call it a day, right? Fortunately, there’s a loophole.
John tells us that “they” the spirits of Satan speak “as the world, and the world hears them.” Satan speaks their language, they know their master’s voice, even if they don’t know who their master really is. It’s tragic, really.
And for us, we are told the only ones who hear us are those who know God. They will recognize our voices if our voices sound like the master’s voice. But they can only hear us, if they know the master. How can this possibly be? How can we possibly be evangelists if these are the parameters by which we are forced to operate?
I’m in a room full of Brazilians and I’m only allowed to speak English. I can’t speak a word of Portuguese. They won’t understand what I’m saying, they will think I’m a mad man, rambling incoherently. They won’t even recognize my language as English, it will just sound like gibberish to them. How can I convert them?
I can’t.
In 2001, my dear friend and former associate pastor Chris Rufener was in a room full of Russian college students. Chris doesn’t speak a word of Russian, they didn’t speak a word of English. Yet they had ears to hear. And he spoke to them, in perfect English, and they heard every word he said. In perfect Russian.
How can this be?
It can be because we don’t convert people. The Holy Spirit, by God’s Providence converts people, not us.
Our work is to be faithful. Our work is to be a message carrier. God’s work it to change the hearts of men and women as it would please Him.
Anyone still think that Paul and John’s theology is a bit different? I hear professors at universities and seminaries refer to “Paul’s theology” and “Luke’s theology” and “James’ theology” and “John’s Theology” and I just want to scream, “Dude, have you even READ this thing???”
Look at the picture John paints. Given his clearly defined parameters, it is impossible for one human being to even share the Truth and not have it fall on deaf ears unless God has enabled that person to hear them.
Salvation begins with God. It is obvious that John, Paul, Luke, and James all believed that. And far too many of us have lost it.
John offers us a final litmus test in the last part of this passage. He says simply, when you are speaking the Truth. When you are confessing a Christ that came in flesh, died, and rose, conquering death for our sin, does the audience hear you, or do you sound like a madman to them?
Either way, you are required to faithfully share that message with them. You are required to love them and pray for their souls.
It’s just a lot easier to do when you surrender the notion that you can save them. You can’t, but you can be faithful to a sovereign God who can.
So who has ears to hear? I have no idea. But I treat everyone like they might.