Near the end of my career in the federal government, I was asked to lead a significant part of an investigation into a man who had heard voices. The man had become very disturbed by the voices. He had become so disturbed by them that he went on a shooting rampage killing 12 innocent people as he sought to silence the voices. The man also died in his struggle with the voices. My job was to assemble a team and investigate this man. We were asked to find out what was known about him. Why did he become violent? Could we have prevented the loss of life? I spent many weeks away from home digging into this man’s past and analyzing this man actions. He had become deadly dangerous because he had heard voices.
By contrast, Christians actively seek to hear a voice that would bring peace and a quieted spirit, not a dangerous spirit, over us. How can differing voices produce such a startlingly different response? In one case the voices lead to the death of 12 innocent people and in the other, a voice brings peace and tranquility. In the end, the answer is quite simple. It is only the voice of God that can bring peace and a spirit of calmness. All other voices bring destruction, sadness, and misery.
We saw in today’s Scripture passage the impact of hearing God’s voice in two ways. Luke started off by giving us insight on the first way. Luke told us that Paul arrived in the city of Corinth. Paul was later joined by Silas and Timothy. Luke wrote, “Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching [the Word of God], testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah” (Acts 18:5b). Paul was using his voice to speak the word of God to the people. Paul was sharing with the people what is called in Latin, ipsissima vox, “the very voice” of God. To preach mean to speak the voice of God. To take God’s Word which has been given to the preacher in the form of the Scriptures and to give audio voice to those words. When you share something from the Bible with someone you are also exercising ipsissima vox, because you are sharing the very voice of God.
What does the Bible say about itself, about the Word of God, the voice of God. We would read from the Old Testament:
- “Your word [your voice] is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:15). These words were part of our opening hymn this morning.
- “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
- “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).
These were Scripture passages that Paul would have understood when he proclaimed the word of God, that God’s Word, the voice of God, endures and brings life. Therefore, Paul would have used care to ensure that what he said as coming from God was, in fact, of God and not some other voice. Paul would later write to the church at Corinth these words, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:1b-5). Paul was making clear that faith must not be based upon some human appeal from an eloquent speaker or on some flashy words used by the speaker. Faith must be found upon each person hearing the very voice of God.
Paul points here are so important because too often in our modern day, too often preachers use the pulpit to be flashy, or they are charming, or they are good joke tellers keeping the congregation well entertained. Others, we will call them speakers, use variations of the Scriptures to share a message with their congregation as though the members of the congregation were customers coming to hear what they the customer paid to hear. When we speak in a flashy manner or in manner to please the listener, then we are no longer speaking ipsissima vox, the very voice of God. Instead, we have become one of the other ungodly voices of the human world.
Now what happened when Paul spoke the very voice of God to the people in Corinth? Well, many Jews and God-fearing Greeks were moved to faith in God through Jesus Christ. God’s gospel message of salvation through the completed work of Jesus upon the cross was received and accepted. The cornerstone of our faith must be Jesus. Although I was part of a church from childhood, I do not think I understood faith or could distinguish between the voice of God and any other voice until my later 20’s. I was faithful, for a time, to following religious practices and going through the motions of church, but that was not the same as faith.
Faith is the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to change your life because you believe that what has been given to you in and through the voice of God. Paul experienced this same lack of understanding and adherence to religious practices while in Corinth. Luke wrote that many Jews “opposed Paul and became abusive” toward him. Some people were not able to accept God’s voice given through Scripture because they had accepted the rituals and rites of religion. And so, Luke said those people opposed Paul and were abusive to Paul. How did Paul respond? Luke wrote that Paul, “Shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’” (Acts 18:6b). Paul changed nothing of what he said, nor did Paul keep on sharing the gospel with those who were opposed to it. Paul simply made it clear that he had done what Jesus asked, “preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23a). Paul shaking his clothes was simply a method of saying the conversation was over and none of the accusations hurled at him stuck. I think there are two messages there for us. First, we are to preach Christ. We don’t need to be inventive or wonder if we are preaching the right thing. Preach Christ. Second, the responsibility to accept the message rests with those hearing it, not us as we share the word of God. We can wish someone would accept the message all we want but the responsibility and the consequence of accepting or not accepting the word of God remains solely that of the listener. When someone openly opposes the word of God, then we are free to walk away. The Apostle John recorded a similar experience of Jesus in the opening verses to his gospel. John wrote, “10 He [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He [Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (Johnn 1:10-13). And so, here in Corinth, Paul preached the ipsissima vox, the voice of God to all who would receive the word of God and they were saved, made children of God by God’s will. We can, therefore, experience peace and calmness when we receive the voice of God.
The second way we can experience such peace is, again in the Latin, ipsissima verba, or the very word, the actual words of God. To hear for yourself the very word of God being spoken to you is rarely experienced, but it does happen.
Hearing the actual words of God happened to Adam and Eve in the garden.
- 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Adam and Eve heard the actual words of God.
Hearing the actual words of God happened to Moses on the mountain top.
- 4 When the Lord saw that he [Moses] had gone over to look [at the burning bush], God called to him [Moses] from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. Moses heard the actual word of God.
There are, of course, many other examples in the Old Testament of people hearing the actual words of God. But here in Corinth, Paul heard the actual words of God. Luke wrote, “9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God” (Acts 18:9-11). Paul heard God speak to him to encourage him in God’s own words so as to let Paul know that despite the opposition, Paul should continue to preach the word of God. And so, Paul stayed in Corinth for another year and a half bringing the voice of God to the people.
Paul would later write to the church at Corinth about the message he shared with them. “18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:1, 22-25). Paul spoke what he knew was true about the voice of God and lives were eternally changed.
What about us, we who are so far removed from Corinth? What can we say about hearing the actual words of God and knowing it apart, separate, from all the other voices and noise pounding into our ears daily? I think there are three things that we can think about.
First, we should never discount the possibility of God speaking words directly to us. There is ample evidence in the Bible that God did this and there is ample testimony in the present day that God still does speak directly to us. I have previously shared my personal experience of hearing the actual words of God.
Second, we have compiled for us a magnificent historical account of the ipsissima vox, the voice of God contained in the pages of the Bible. The more we read it, the more we study from it, and the more we hear the voice of God spoken to us through sermons, then the more we have absorbed and come to recognize the voice of God. I was saddened the other day when I read that Pope Francis wants Roman Catholic priests to offer shorter homilies, shorter sermons, suggesting that sermons in the Roman Catholic church last no longer than 8 minutes. The Pope said homilies are boring and the people don’t know what the priests are talking about anyway making the people prone to falling asleep. We need to hear the word of God proclaimed to us from the pages of Scripture. This is the lesson from Paul when he said to the church at Thessalonica, “13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Hearing the voice of God is possible by reading the Bible. When we do that, we will come to know God’s voice over all others and be able to stay the path of righteousness.
Third, and finally, we are blessed to have example after example of ipsissima verba, the actual words of God found throughout the Gospels and at a few points in the letters of the New Testament. We have Jesus’ words, the living Word, God with us, speaking. If you have time to do nothing else, then read Jesus’ words. Many Bibles make it easy by putting Jesus’ words, the actual words of God, in red print. Read over and over the great passages of the actual words of God such as the Sermon on the Mount. It took longer than 8 minutes for Jesus, God with us, to speak those words. Those words are not boring. Those words are life changing and faith affirming.
We need to load up our minds with both the voice of God and the actual words of God. We need this to maintain ourselves in ways of God and live the life of goodness that God desires for us and knows is best for us. We need to be able to follow his voice and his words and to be able to shun other voices coming at us because those voices are deadly dangerous. Amen and Amen.