Listen

I don’t know about you guys, but I am REALLY glad that today is November 5. I feel like for the past billion years, there has been so much talking, arguing, debating, attacking…there has been so much NOISE. Whether you are excited or devastated today, I think that we can all collectively breath a sigh of relief that all of this is finally over.

One of the coolest things about yesterday, to me, was the end of the day, when all the noise had no choice but to stop. The loudest, most aggressive, and even the smartest and most convincing campaigners stopped. They stopped talking, because all there was left to do was listen.

Tonight I want to talk to you about listening. Ironic isn’t it? Because sometimes, I think that our relationships with God look a lot like the last couple of months in politics. We talk WAY. TOO. MUCH.

Or at least I do. And we forget to listen. We’re so busy campaigning to God for what we want that we sometimes forget to realize that there’s another side. That this isn’t all about what we want, what we think, what we’re TALKING about. There’s another side to our conversations with God, another side that has life and truth to offer us…

So you guys know by now that I’m graduating in December, and so about 807 times a day I get asked, “What’s coming next? What are you going to do?” And so, I always tell people I don’t know, that I pray about it. But my prayers usually look something like this…

“God, please let me know what I need to do. God, please, I am freaking out here. I need a job. Please let something happen. Please just show me…tell me where I need to go.”

And then I get up and go do homework. Or I call my friends and talk to them about what I am going to do next and how I’m freaking out because I don’t have a job.

But that’s crazy, because that’s not how God works. Just like a conversation with a friend doesn’t work like that. How many of you call up your friends, tell them about your day, complain for a while, tell them you love them, and then hang up, without ever hearing a word they had to say?

I hope nobody does.

There’s a story in the Bible about 2 guys walking on a road. It was right after Jesus’ death, and they were just so disappointed, because the guy who they had counted on to save them had failed. The guy that they had placed all their hope on, the one who told them that he would redeem Israel. So these disciples, exasperated, decide to head home to a village called Emmaus.

While they’re walking, another guy joins them that they don’t know. He asks them “what in the world are you talking about so intently while you’re walking?”

They, of course, look at him like he’s an idiot, and ask him, “Are you the only person in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what happened?” Ha.

And he’s like, “What happened? What are you talking about?”

The disciples get a little heated, because they’re still really upset and really embarrassed about this whole deal. “Seriously? You know, Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet and he did all kinds of healing and taught these incredible and hopeful things. Then our priests and our leaders gave him over to be crucified. He told us he would redeem Israel. He told us he would be our savior. And now it’s the third day since all this happened, and we’re going home. It’s over. Oh, and get this. Some woman that were in our group were at his tomb this morning, and they told us that there was a vision of angels. That his body was gone, and that an angel told them that He is alive. This whole thing is just crazy. So we’re going home. Back to Emmaus.”

After the guy heard all of their complaining and talking…all of their NOISE, he looked at them and just said, “I can’t believe how foolish you are to believe that this is it. I can’t believe that you’re giving up, just because Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. Did you not hear what the prophecies said? What this guy Jesus—your savior—said? Didn’t he SAY that the Messiah would have to suffer these things to enter into his glory? Look, listen to me. I’m gonna start at the beginning.

So this guy starts with Moses and goes through all of the scriptures with them until they finally reached Emmaus. The stranger acted like He was going to continue on, so the disciples ask, “Come have dinner with us. It’s so late. It’s almost dark, and we would love for you to stay with us.”

So they sat down, and the stranger took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to him. And then, after spending hours with this guy, talking and complaining about how frustrated they were, how they were freaking out and they were embarrassed because their plans of being saved and redeemed had “failed,” they realized that

the WHOLE TIME

this stranger was Jesus.

They are so busy complaining, freaking out, worrying, being frustrated, TALKING, that they completely missed the point.

How often do we do that? How often are we talking so much that we forget to listen?

During prayer time, there was a video playing that showed some of the most fascinating things that are happening on our planet Earth. Beautiful waterfalls, microscopic universes, magnificent herds of animals, plants blooming all around us, the sun rising every day.

This was so moving to me to watch. It’s so easy to get so caught up in what we want or what we need God to do. But outside our little noisy worlds, look at all the AMAZING things God is doing!

Are we missing the point because we’re forgetting to stop and listen? Are we talking so much that we are failing to see and hear what God is doing in our lives right now?

Jesus gives us a parable about a sower and some seed, explaining us what listening really looks like. In the gospel according to Luke, it says,

5‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

Jesus gives us 3 examples of seeds that don’t grow, and then an example of a seed growing and producing in good soil.

In this parable, it’s important to realize where the responsibility lies for the success of the seed. The farmer is using the most effective form of scattering seed: by the handful. So it isn’t the farmer’s fault that some seeds don’t flourish. And all the seeds are the same, so it certainly isn’t the seed’s responsibility to grow.

The responsibility is in the soil…where the seed lands.

Which are you?

Do you allow what God’s doing to be covered up by what other people say, like the seed that got trampled on and eaten by birds?

Are you hard, shut down, dried out, closed off to God? Are you like the rock that allowed the seed to whither for lack of moisture?

Or maybe you’re like me, and all of your talking and frustration and complaining is turning into the thorns that choked the seed.

Guys, God is like this farmer. Things are tough, I know. School is hard, life is so busy, and we are all so stressed, but if we aren’t living like good soil, I’m afraid we’re going to miss the point.

You saw the video. God is amazing. He’s doing stuff all the time. In your life. In my life. In the world. It may not be what you expected, but look what the disciples got on the walk to Emmaus as a replacement for what they expected.

Stop. Listen.

The song that John played during prayer time is really beautiful, so I’m gonna close by reading the lyrics. Then, instead of leading you in a talking prayer, I would like everyone to just stop and listen.

Come and listen, come to the water's edge, all you who know and fear the Lord.
Come and listen, come to the water's edge all you who are thirsty, come.
Let me tell you what He has done for me.
He has done for you,
He has done for us.