By: Rev. Philip Bunch
In the past year of my life, God has certainly blessed me. He has blessed me in more ways, I’m sure, than I realize or comprehend. One way that my family has been especially blessed has been the addition of a precious son, Amos. Our Father has been so faithful to teach me more about His own dear Son through our little boy (think: a deeper awareness of my own sin and selfishness and need of His grace!). But probably my favorite lesson is this: the importance of recognizing His voice.
At the time of writing this, my son is just shy of one year old, and his vocabulary is very limited (e.g., mama, dada, book, more). But you had better believe that I know his voice. I have made it my aim and mission to know his little grunts and coos. My wife and I have celebrated his growing communication skills. We have relished in his infectious laughs. Even when surrounded by lots of other little ones, despite his not using words or calling our names, we know his voice.
And this lesson has impressed upon my heart two truths: the need to know our Savior’s voice and the need to know that our Savior knows our voice.
Our Synod’s Moderator has prepared the theme Advancing the Gospel for the coming year. The emphasis this month is particularly focused on our being Called to be Prepared. The idea for this comes from 2 Timothy 3:10-15. Though there are a host of good things to be gleaned from these verses, again I think that we can learn the two truths that I alluded to previously.
First, we need to know our Savior’s voice. In the first half of the passage, the Apostle Paul recounts his teaching ministry, as well as his faithfulness or steadfastness when enduring sufferings for the name of Christ. He holds these together for at least one reason (as he spells out in the first half of the chapter, verses 1-9): there were going to be deceivers in his day (cf. v13) . . . as there are in our day, and as there will always be. There are going to be competing voices all around us, imposters of the Gospel and the Way of Jesus. There will be people who tell you that you can “have it all”. You can be a Christian but live a life devoted to pleasure or be a lover of money or ignore and deny the reality and power of sin. Or worse, that you can be a Christian and never suffer. Or worse still, that if you do suffer, then you aren’t really a Christian. Paul says: STOP LISTENING TO THESE VOICES.
Instead, as he instructs young Timothy, listen to the voice of your Savior. Verse 14 instructs us to continue in what we have learned and what we have firmly believed, knowing from whom we learned it. Timothy already knows the Gospel, and yet he needs to continue in it (firmly). Why? Well it isn’t because Paul trained him in it. And it isn’t because he learned it from his grandmother Lois or his mother Eunice (cf. ch. 1:5)–though God be praised for using those dear saints, as he continues to do in so many covenant homes today! Ultimately, Timothy, and we ourselves, are to continue in the Gospel because it is the Lord Jesus Himself who teaches it to us. In other words, the Scriptures–the sacred writings (v15) are the voice of our Savior (cf. v16-17…see next month’s emphasis!).
If someone were to ask me how I can pick my son’s voice out of a crowd, even while he still doesn’t use words, the answer is very simple. I know it because I have listened to it every day that he has been on this earth. And God be praised for one of the great uses and blessings of technology in our lives. My wife and I have countless little video clips with our son babbling and carrying on–I often wonder if that’s what the dear people in our church hear when I preach! We study those videos. And we rewatch them. And we share them. Because we delight in him. Is that how we think and feel about our Heavenly Father? Do we know His voice like this? If not, then simply pick up the sacred writings today and continue in them or start for the first time.
Secondly (and probably more importantly), we need to know that our Savior knows our voice. It may not be as apparent on the surface of our text, but you and I need to be reminded of a profound truth in Paul’s life. Verse 11 teaches us that the Lord Himself rescued him from all of the suffering and persecution that he experienced. And importantly, as he explains in verse 12, suffering and persecution are not antithetical to the Christian life. Rather, they are a regular, ordinary experience for the follower of Jesus.
Why does this matter, and how is it possibly more important than knowing the Savior’s voice? Because our eyes and our experience will deceive us. That’s one of the reasons I believe that the Reformed and Puritan tradition has taken such a strong position on the priority of preaching. We do not use images to “show” the Gospel (not only because of the prohibition of the 2nd Commandment) but because God has promised, specifically, to speak to us. Even when our lives around us may show us something very different (think: persecutions, sufferings) . . . even when we are tempted by circumstances of providence to believe that no one hears . . . no one cares . . . when our eyes fail us in the whirlwind, we can still hear the God who speaks to us.
My dear friends, the Gospel of being prepared is the Gospel of knowing that God is the prepared One. Much more than my supposed knowledge of Amos’ voice . . . and more than our feeble knowledge of the Lord’s voice . . . the LORD God, the Almighty One, hears and knows your voice. Even though the Apostle Paul would ultimately be martyred, he was not forsaken by the LORD. He hears the voice of His Savior today in glory. And so, I’ll end with these two beautiful passages of Scripture–may they call all of our hearts today to be prepared.
Psalm 139:1-4: O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
John 10:27-28: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Rev. Philip Bunch, servant of Christ Jesus. Adoring husband of Courtney. Proud father of Amos. Pastor of Fayetteville ARP Church.