Am I Bonkers? Kids Always Made Fun of my Big Ears

I remember getting upset when kids made fun of my 'big ears'. They wondered if I could listen in on the Chinese. I remember trying to tape them down so they wouldn't stick out so much. Thankfully I grew into my ears (maybe a little too much). I have grown to accept the way God made me. Words that people say don't upset me like they use to. I have learned the importance of understanding why they say what they say.

But I did read something this morning that brought back those memories of having 'big ears' . I felt like I was being made fun of all over again. Andy Klein was quoted in praise of Bill Maher’s new film “Religulous” in the Pro-Con section of the Kansas City Star’s Opinion page. Andy said

“For many of us, it makes about as much sense to take the Bible (or any of the other religions’ texts) as absolute truth as it does to regard The Lord of the Rings (or Gulliver’s Travels or The Story of O) as Holy Writ. The Bible’s exceptional status is more an accident of history than a proof of divine origin. And thinking God is actually speaking to you is, well, a little bonkers, whether you’re Moses or Joan of Arc or the guy on his knees praying, right down the street.”

Andy is a film reviewer for www.lacitybeat.com. And yes, he represents a growing number of people in America who define “bonkers” as thinking that God speaks to you. Such a view is widespread because we have raised an entire generation of children without teaching them the reality and authority of God’s Word. Nor have we DEMONSTRATED the reality of God’s Word. Sure people have a knowledge of God, even a desire to worship Him. But they only love the “concept” of a traditional God. What this generation loves is actually an idol, a god of their own making. He might as well be a voiceless statue if to hear Him speak is “bonkers”.

To know the true God is to listen to His words. To understand the true God is to believe that He in fact speaks to us. Hebrews 1:2 says that God has spoken to us through His Son. John 1 says that “The Word” (God’s message to us) was with God in the beginning, and in fact is God. In him appeared life and this life was the light of mankind. The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.

People like Bill Maher and Andy Klein will always make fun of people who “listen” to the Word of God. They would have made fun of my "Big Ears". They are like the kids who make fun of blind people and other kids with disabilities.

John 1:11 says even when He came to his own (the Jews) His own people did not receive Him. And the Jews believed the Word of God! So why should we expect an entire generation of Americans who have grown up without a Biblical foundation to believe that God really does speak to people? The problem with the Jews who believed the Word but rejected the physical manifestation of the Word (Jesus) was their hearts of stone.

Jeremiah 2:19 (AMP): Your own wickedness shall chasten and correct you, and your backslidings and desertion of faith shall reprove you. Know therefore and recognize that this is an evil and bitter thing: [first,] you have forsaken the Lord your God; [second,] you are indifferent to Me and the fear of Me is not in you, says the Lord of hosts.

The Jewish leaders (Pharisees and Sadducee's) were self-serving and corrupt. Their hearts had become hardened to the voice of God. They had rejected the message of John the Baptist (the Voice of one crying out in the wilderness), and now they rejected the message of Jesus of Nazareth. As Jesus proclaimed on the Temple steps:

15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” John 7:15-19 (ESV)

If people of this day and age desire to do the will of God, they will listen to His Word. If they only desire their own authority, they will worship a god of their own making, a god who is speechless and without impact on their lives. They will continue to think their virtues of generosity, kindness, and sincerity will be sufficient to live moral upright lives of significance. They will continue to call listeners to the Voice of God “bonkers” as they continue to cover their heart and ears to the call of His Word. Jesus is calling all to the Salvation He has provided. As the Voice of God says:

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. John 3:17-19 (ESV)

Go ahead and call me bonkers. You do so because you love darkness and your works are evil. Paul affirms this in Romans 3:10-11 when he quotes Psalms 14, “There is none righteous, no not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God”. If you desire to seek after the true God, and hear His Voice, you must allow the Son of God into your life. You must worship Him as your Savior. He will speak to all those who call upon His name and give their hearts to Him as Savior and Lord. “whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

Hearing the Word, seeing the Word, believing the Word, is the key to knowing the true God.

Jesus Christ is the Word. He in the flesh was the visible manifestation of the invisible God. As 1 Peter 1:21 says: “who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

I am bonkers

according to this ‘new-age’ definition of those who believe God speaks to them. I hear the voice of God in His Son and the Words He spoke as recorded in the Bible. I hear the Voice of God in the Scriptures when I read them. I hear the Voice of God when the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart. My God is not a speechless statue. My God is not a god of my making. He is real, He is intimate, He lives in me. He lives in me through Jesus Christ His Son, my Hope of Glory!

Do We Have the Ear of a Disciple?

God got me up early this morning.

A verse that awaits me (over my toilet) every morning is:

"The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. Isaiah 50:4 (NASB77)

Something is stirring in my soul, something that God is wanting me to see and then to obey. In the closing days of 2007 He led me to teach on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as presented by R. A. Torrey. His series of sermons had touched my life early on when I was in Bible College. Now God wants to touch me again with His teching on the Holy Spirit. He is wanting to see the desire of my heart-to see if He can use me further in ministry. God has been stirring my heart, impressing upon me the need to lift up His Word. To devote myself to proclaiming His truth. There are so many 'trends' that tear at a Pastor. Do we make the message 'simpler' or more 'practical' to reach the 'seekers' or this 'media generation'? The discouraging truth is that in this 21st century, people want an easy way to understand the Word of God. They want instant knowledge, instant Christianity. As I have thought back over what gave me my thirst for the Word, it had to be the Holy Spirit, not some slick promotion. It wasn't any one person, although I owe much to writings by Watchman Nee, T. Austin Sparks, and Bill Gothard. There were things I heard and read that opened up certain passages to me. But through the years there has always been a stirring, a hunger, a desire to get into God's Word that was in my gut, regardless of who or how it was presented. My discipline has not always been good, but that hunger has been there in feasting and in famine, in sin and in righteousness. Even as a young boy of 12 I remember having a desire to know the ways of God. I even carried my Bible to the secular High School I attended. I wasn't a great witness, but I wanted it by my side. God's Word was important to me. I have been told that today's generation doesn't buy in to the authority and even the power of God's Word. That really disturbs me. They say we have to present it in a "new, relevant" way. I understand the importance of being 'up-to-date' but I will never abandon my firm belief that it is not how it is packaged that is important, it is WHO is doing the presenting! Am I surrendered to the Holy Spirit? Am I depending upon Him or upon some pre-packaged trendy sermon series? Is the ache of my heart for His Presence and Power or for some great looking power point backgrounds? As for me, God is stirring my heart to seek His Heart and His Word and then to faithfully proclaim His Message. I must partner with the Holy Spirit that I might have "utterance" as Paul prayed, (and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel-Eph 6:19).

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)

Pastors and Preachers must spend time before the Lord and in His Word. We must weep before the altar. We must cry out for our words to be empowered by the Holy Spirit! We must speak what is on God's heart, and not what we think will attract the most people. We must make it relevant and practical, but not at the expense of obscuring God's message. Samuel was such a beloved Priest unto God. He epitomized attentiveness, obedience and service before the Lord. If I am to be a Pastor and a Preacher profitable to God, I must be as Samuel. God called Samuel "A faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind" (I Sam 2:35) The next chapter begins with: "And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation". God's Word was rare. But then, when He did speak, He spoke to a little boy. Why? Because Samuel was wholly committed to serving God, he was attentive to God's Word, and when he received God's Word, he obeyed. As a result, the Word records:

^3:19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. 1 Samuel 3:19-21 (ESV)

If we Preachers are to expect God to use our words to His profit, and to have God let 'none of our words fall to the ground', then we must have the same heart and attitude toward God's Word as Samuel. We must not let any of His Words fall to the ground in our life!