Jump Start # 1001

John 10:4-5 “When he goes forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

  Christmas is just a few days away. The stores and the radio stations play Christmas music constantly. I love Christmas songs. I listen to them all day long. When we lived in Kansas City, there were two radio stations that competed to be the first to start playing Christmas music. No one knew exactly when they would start. One year, in the middle of October, on an afternoon, one of the stations started playing Christmas music. The other station immediately followed. It was great. My favorite is Andy Williams. He could sing. Our family got to see him several times. I have listened to him so often that I can pick out his voice. There is no one else that sounds like Andy Williams. When he sings, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” it really is!

Our passage today illustrates that the followers of Jesus recognize His voice. Borrowing from a common practice in Israel, the shepherds would leave the pens and by the sound of their voice, their sheep would follow. The shepherd had spent time talking with the sheep and caring for them and a bond of trust was built and they came to know the voice of their shepherd. Others could say the same words as the shepherd and the sheep would not move. It was the voice. They recognized the voice. They followed their shepherd.

We understand this in everyday context. Most husbands and wives do not have to identify themselves when they call each other. They know the voice of the person they are married to. When my grown kids call, I know who it is. I recognize their voices. All of this comes from spending time with each other. We all have a distinct voice. We have a unique way of saying words. Our voices identify who we are.

We know his voice. That expression is defining the relationship disciples have with Jesus. We know the voice of Jesus. Now what is perplexing about this is do we? No one today has actually heard the voice of Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus sang hymns. Was He a tenor or bass? No one today knows. How then can we recognize a voice that we have never heard? Perplexing problem for us.

The answer lies in understanding how Jesus speaks to us today. Hebrews 1:2 says that “in these last days (God) has spoken to us in His Son.” The voice of Jesus is heard through His words. This is how we recognize His voice. It’s not the tone but the message. Knowing the voice of Jesus means we know what Jesus said. We recognize what Jesus wanted. We come to understand Jesus.

All of this is certainly interesting in light of the Duck Dynasty controversy regarding Phil Roberston’s comments about homosexuality. The press is full of articles, especially the internet. If you notice what readers post at the end of an article, it is very revealing. Many claim to know what Jesus said, but it is obvious that they do not recognize the voice of Jesus.

For instance, the voice of Jesus calls for holiness and righteous living. The sermon on the mount explodes with that concept. How we treat others, how we respond to persecution, how we worship God—all of that is to be done in righteousness. The voice of Jesus calls for righteousness. Now for someone to say, ‘All Jesus cared about is loving one another,’ is not recognizing the voice of Jesus. Implied in that statement is that Jesus doesn’t care about moral choices, just love one another. That is the theme of liberal theology today. The extreme side of liberal theology teaches that the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality but a failure to show hospitality. Many have bought into that idea. Just love—nothing else matters. I’m reading a book now that begins with the idea that we are all tired of rules in religion. Freedom. Just love. No rules. No condemning. No guilt. No sin. No wrong. Just love. Sounds like a left over ‘60’s hippie movement. Is that the voice of Jesus? Is that the tone you hear after reading the sermon on the mount?

Others have echoed the common theme of not judging. “Only God can judge,” is repeated over and over in reader’s comments. Is that the voice of Jesus? Did Jesus not say, “beware of wolves in sheep clothing?” How does a person tell the difference between a real sheep and a fake sheep? You must look closely. That’s judging. Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, ‘You will know them by their fruit.’ The context in which He said that involved good trees and bad trees. Bad trees produce bad fruit. Now some today would shout, “you shouldn’t call any tree bad.” Jesus did. He told His followers to recognize bad trees by bad fruit. Jesus was not talking about trees, but people. Judging. Not unrighteous judging. Not hypocritical judging. Not judging to condemn but to recognize. Jesus told the apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel. That necessitates recognizing who is lost and who is saved.

Recognizing the voice of Jesus. That is accomplished by spending a whole lot of time simply reading and thinking about what He said. Again, we understand that in other areas. Those who study art can recognize one artist’s work over another. There are characteristics that stand out. Those that study music can recognize the composer of a piece. There are characteristics. The same happens when we spend time with Jesus. There are characteristics that we recognize.

Recognizing the voice of the good shepherd. What a great blessing it is when you hear the voice of one you know. The voice of Jesus—we need to know it. We need to hear it in midst of the fog of modern noises.

The voice of the Savior calls…do you hear it? Do you recognize it?

Roger