The Voice

Hebrews 1:1-4
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Voices: every day, you and I are bombarded with voices. You hear the voices that sing to you from your car radio, soothing your soul, reminding you of those wild days of your youth, or tearing up your eyes to the sad sounds of a favorite love song. You hear the voices from the talking heads on television telling you what you should believe about this particular political position or that particular political position; you even hear the voices of specific politicians trying eagerly to persuade you to take their sides on those particular issues. You hear the voices of friends and family members as they share their joys and pains with you over the telephone line or a cup of coffee. Yes, we hear all kinds of voices all around us each and every day.
Then there are those voices that speak to us that we don’t necessarily recognize right away. There are those voices of heritage, playing like the soundtrack of your life, voices that have shaped who you are and how you behave; the voice of a mother or grandmother silently singing a lullaby in the depths of your memory or the voice of a father or grandfather pontificating on the problems of the world. There are those voices of context that limit or encourage your participation in the broader conversation of society. There are those voices of culture that seek to shape your tastes and consumer instincts around the newest product or a particular label or brand.
Of course, there are also those voices that speak to us from places of trust and security. Voices from the pressed, paper pages, bound between bonded leather; voices that proclaim from behind great gilded pulpits in grand cathedrals or simple wooden lecterns in small sanctuaries; voices that speak to us from places of denominational prominence or soap boxes on street corners. There are those voices that seek to prick our hearts and change our minds, turning the needle of our spiritual compass in perpetual circles, and not all of those voices have our best, eternal interests in mind. Yes, there are all sorts of voices that call out to us, that whisper, shout, and sing to us, but in the end there is one voice that speaks above them all, one voice to which all others are mere facsimiles, one voice to which we tune our ears and our hearts during this season of Lent.
It is that one voice that the author of the letter to the Hebrews describes when he says in verse one of our text this morning: “Long ago God spoke…” Those are words that ought to comfort us; God is not some mute deity floating among the stars in space, nor is he a silent judge waiting to punish us for our ignorance. God spoke! He actually made contact with us! What an amazing thing in and of itself—the God who sent Earth into orbit and lit the fire of the sun, spoke! God, however, didn’t just speak once, or in some stagnant, formulaic way: no, the writer goes on to say that “God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets.” God did indeed speak, yet his voice came in all kinds of places an in all kinds of ways: it came in the cool of the day, walking in Eden; it came with the pillar of smoke in the day and the fire in the night; it came with peels of lightening and great claps of thunder; the voice of God was heard on the lips of the strangers who met with Abram, and in the sheer silence of a still small voice to Elijah. The voice of God came in the words of those prophets announcing the coming judgment and destruction, and it came in the words of those prophets who announced God’s presence and deliverance from exile and oppression. God did indeed speak “in many and various ways.”
While those words should comfort us in the knowledge that God does in fact speak, we should approach such truth with caution. After all, how much evil has been performed in this world with the foot-noted excuse of hearing the voice of God? In 1993, David Koresh convinced 54 adults and their 21 children that he had heard the voice of God before they were all killed in that infamous fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Children have died, families broken, and wars fought all because someone claimed to hear the voice of God speaking to them “in many and various ways.”
So how, you might ask, do we tell the liars from the prophets? Many would say that the only place to truly start is with Scripture, and I have to say that isn’t a bad place to start. The words of Scripture are often referred to as the words of God; that is why our brothers and sisters in other congregations and traditions will often recite the words “This is the word of the Lord; Thanks be to God,” after reading passages of Scripture in the worship service. Scripture is the place where we as Baptist, as Protestants go for instruction and encouragement, where we go to begin our search for truth. The author of Hebrews himself references such a high view of Scripture in chapter four, verse 12: “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow.”
Well that should be the end of it, right? Test all those who claim to hear the voice of God with the words of Scripture. Well…what about when those who come claiming to hear the voice of God, come complete with their own passages of Scripture and their own references in the Bible? Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church (who have been in the news lately) proudly protest at the funerals of soldiers, churches, and public meetings, all the while holding signs with phrases like “God hates America,” “Thank God for dead soldiers,” and others that aren’t fit to be repeated here or anywhere. Of course, they do all this under the guise of hearing the voice of God and following Scripture, and the sad truth is there are many who would hold to their interpretations despite their presentations. So what do we do when we are confronted with those who come claiming to hear the voice of God and quoting Scripture? Do we fall in line with them simply because they have some self-proclaimed authority? Do we jump up to follow them because they can quote Scripture and seem to have some knowledge of the Bible? Well, what does our text say this morning?
While the author of this letter (or more likely, sermon) describes God speaking “Long ago” in verse one, in verse two there is a deeper word: “but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.” When the writer says “in these last days” it is not with the intention of focusing on some unforeseen time in the future; no, we are living in these last days, the Messianic Age of the ancient Jewish and early Christian thought. It is in these days that God speaks to us through his (capital “W”) Word, the logos of the prologue of John’s gospel, the Son of God, Jesus the Christ. God speaks to us through his Son and the testimony of his life, death, and resurrection.
In verses 3 and 4 the author of Hebrews describes Christ in some of the most beautifully deep words in the New Testament: “He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” In other words, this Son, the Christ, is the exact character—the very same being as God. God has spoken to us in this era of history not through the muddled words of mere mortals, but through his only Son. That is the answer; that is the key when others come to us claiming to hear the voice of God. We hold them up to the model of Christ and his character. It is Christ that we worship, Christ we uphold, and Christ who speaks the words of God to us. That is why when we refer to Christ as the Word of God, rather than Scripture, we use the capital “W.” It is this truth that we have begun to slowly wander from in our lives of faith (especially as Baptists).
In 2000, at the height of what has been referred to as the “Fundamentalist Takeover” or “Conservative Resurgence” of the Southern Baptist Convention, Paige Patterson (now President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth) along with an appointed committee revised what was once a descriptive document known as the Baptist Faith and Message (no doubt several of you have heard of this document). While most of the changes from the previous 1963 edition of the BF&M dealt with issues like prohibiting women from holding the office as pastor and defining roles in the family, the most egregious change dealt with the article concerning Scripture. The previous 1963 edition read (after several sentences): “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.” Christ is placed at the center of our understanding of Scripture. However, the 2000 edition simply reads: “Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy… All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.” With such a subtle change, the emphasis was placed on the words of the Bible (regardless of context), NOT Christ.
If you are to truly hear the voice of God and actually explore the depths of his words in Scripture, you must tune your heart and your mind to Christ, the Son of God. When you place Christ at the center of your life, as the Word to which all else in your life must answer, then God’s voice rings clear and true. As we journey together towards Jerusalem, the cross, and the empty tomb in this season of Lent, may our hearts and minds be focused on Christ, listening for the voice of God as he speaks to us through his Son. And perhaps you’ve come into this place on this day hoping to hear the voice of God speak in your life; if so, I offer to you that he is indeed speaking to you this very moment. He is speaking to you through the testimony of his Son Jesus and the life-giving sacrifice he has made on all our behalf. He is speaking to you this morning through the blood of Calvary’s cross and the glory of Easter’s empty tomb. Won’t you listen to him calling you today? Won’t you hear him call you as he speaks to you through the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus the Christ?
Let us pray…