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"Be Quick to Listen" James 1:19

by Clancy Nixon

September 16, 2007

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritanglican.org

"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry."

(James 1:19) Be quick to listen, and slow to speak. Be quick to listen.

In my own life, I have not always been quick to listen. Oh, I had learned well

enough how to listen attentively to my parents and teachers and to perform well in

school. I was quick to listen about things that would benefit me, like how to succeed on

the soccer field or in college or in the workplace. When it came to listening about

strategy and tactics how to win - I was all over those. But when it came to my direction

in life, I was a poor listener about that. It took me 16 years after I first encountered God

at age 14 until I really began to listen to and obey God's word in Scripture, and to listen

to and obey God's Rhema word in the still, small voice about his call on my life.

You see, at age 30, I had formulated a life plan. I read this book by Richard Bolles

called The Three Boxes of life, an Introduction to Life/Work Planning. Bolles says that

most of us live a life plan that includes three boxes, or periods of life education,

working, and retirement. Those are the three boxes, and we tend to focus on them in that

order during our life span. Bolles suggests that we get out of our boxes, and begin to

think in terms of lifelong learning, lifelong work, and lifelong leisure. I did that, and

decided on a life plan. I planned to work as a lawyer until I was 50 I am that exalted age

this year - and then, after I had saved two million dollars, I could do what I thought I was

called to do, which was full time ministry. The problem was, as I formulated my life

plan, I did not consult the Lord in terms of the timing of my call. It was a few years later

that I learned how to listen to God I learned that such a thing were possible; I learned

that even someone as benighted and materialistic as I could learn to hear God; and how to

wait on God long enough until I learned how to discern his voice. When I did finally

listen, the Lord Jesus told me that I had delayed responding to my call long enough, that

he had been calling me since I was sixteen. I said to him, but Lord, I had no idea how to

listen to you when I was that young. He reminded me that when I was sixteen, people at

the summer camp where I found Christ had told me, "Clancy, you'd make a good priest.

Have you ever thought about becoming a priest?" The Lord told me at age thirty-two, "I

spoke to you the only way you could listen to me at that time though other Christians.

But you ignored me. Don't delay go now. Tell your rector, David Harper, about your

call." At that moment, finally - I swiftly obeyed.

Do you remember the story Jesus told of two sons, Matthew 21:28-32? The

father told both sons to come work in his field. The first son immediately said he would

not come, but afterward, he regretted it, and he came. The second son immediately said

he would come, but never came. Jesus tells us that it was the first son who did the will of

his father. Jesus' point was, delayed obedience is better than feigned obedience. In this

parable, Jesus is asking us to choose between the lesser of two evils. Delayed obedience

is better than no obedience at all. Yet delayed obedience is still disobedience, isn't it?

God was pleased that I finally responded to Him and headed toward full-time ministry at

age 32. It is still true that I missed a blessing by my delayed obedience. As we said last

week, God promises blessings for obedience. It's because Father God loves us and wants

the best for us that he tells us to obey him. James says, "Be quick to listen."

Listening is not an easy thing to do. It is difficult to do well. Most of us may

think we listen well enough.

The truth is, listening well is a hard thing to do

consistently. You know how hard listening well really is? It is as hard as loving well.

Many people cannot distinguish between feeling listened to and feeling loved. Listen to

that again. Many people cannot distinguish between feeling listened to and feeling loved.

Listening skills closely parallel the character traits we find in Galatians 5:22 and 23, the

Fruits of the Spirit. To listen well, you must have patience. To listen well, you must be

gentle. Self-control involves listening. If we want to learn to love people well, we need

to learn to listen to them well.

It's one thing to hear, but it's yet another to obey. Often when we use the word

"listen" it carries with it the secondary meaning of OBEY. I remember my mother saying

to me when I was a boy, "Young man, you had better listen to me." If she ever got to the

point of saying that to me, I would melt before her! By saying "listen" she meant that I

had better obey. We parents say the same thing with our children. If I ever address my

sons as "William Neville" or "Samuel Elijah," they know that there is no wiggle room on

the matter before us. I am reminding them of who they are in a formal sense, because I

want them to know who I am in a formal sense I'm their father. The same double

meaning is carried in the Greek word for listen, akouo it means to hear, to pay attention,

to understand, and to obey. And yet we can use the word listen to mean "pay attention,"

but it does not necessarily also mean obey. In James 1 verse 22, it says, "Do not merely

listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James uses a different

Greek word there, akroates, meaning to hear, but not necessarily to obey.

If you and I are quick to listen, it means that we are quick to obey. If you are

looking for ways to measure spiritual maturity, the speed of obedience is as good as any.

The Church in American is educated far beyond the level of our obedience. The most

mature Christian is not the person who has the most information about Jesus, nor the

person with the most ministry experience, but the person whose heart is so transformed

that they act like Jesus. How can you tell if someone's heart is transformed? That person

has two marks: first, they hear God's word; and second, they swiftly obey. Dave

Ferguson calls that "missional velocity" - your speed of obedience to the mission that

God has for you. God's word comes to us in two ways First, there is the Bible, the

Logos word we must obey the precepts in the Bible. Second, there is the Rhema word,

the word that God speaks to us Spirit to spirit, the still, small voice.

Typically, we begin to really listen to God when we study the Bible, and begin to

really apply it to our lives. We start with the big ticket-item sins you know, do not

murder, do not commit adultery, do not worship other Gods. We learn the precepts of the

Bible and apply them to our lives. While this process is not easy, it is relatively

straightforward. We bring our lives into line with God's standard.

As we take in more and more scripture, we begin to know what God's voice

sounds like, we learn the kinds of things God would say and the things that he does not

say. The more difficult skill is knowing when God is telling you to do something specific.

I typically hear God speak to me as a gentle impression in my mind. If you hear an inner

voice say, "Stop cheating on your taxes," you have only four choices for where that

thought originated. There is the world; the flesh; the devil; and the Lord of all. The

standard in the world appears to be, if not cheat on your taxes, then take an aggressive

position. Doesn't sound like the world. The flesh, your human nature, desires more

money, not less. I don't think that's it. The devil wants to sow trouble in your life, not

obedience. You are left with the Lord. You'd have to admit, "I suppose God does want

me to pay my taxes!" You might say, well, that could be my conscience. Yes, it could

be. The Lord uses the human conscience if it has been washed by the word of God.

When you hear the LORD, swiftly obey.

You and I are blessed by our own obedience, and by the obedience of others. If

you pay your taxes, you have the blessing of a clear conscience. You have the blessing

of passing your IRS audit! If you tithe and itemize, eventually they will audit you

tithing is an audit flag for their computers. But you'll pass. If you pay your taxes and tithe

your witness in the world is of a transformed life.

Every week, you enjoy the fruits of the labor of a few men and women who set

up and tear down this gymnasium. They answered the call to serve, and we need more to

step up and serve. You can talk to Chuck Henry after the service about that. Remember

how I asked you all to pray about hosting fellowship, food and football events at your

home? Linda and Mike Wenkel listened to this need in the church, they prayed about it,

and they obeyed swiftly. The Wenkels have opened their home in Leesburg for four

Sundays a month this fall, starting next week at 4:00. They swiftly obeyed, praise God.

They were quick to listen. They have missional velocity.

Be quick to listen. Listen to other people who tell you what you are good at.

Listen to Jesus. To listen well means to obey. Delayed obedience is a form of

disobedience. Many people cannot distinguish between feeling listened to and feeling

loved. "Be quick to listen." (James 1:19) Amen.