Sermon: Looking for God’s Voice
May 5, 2019
Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:1-6, 7-20; John 21:1-19
RUMC, Pastor SeokCheol Shin
Looking for God’s Voice
God’s Voice
Have you ever heard God’s voice? There are times we are desperate for God’s voice or the sign of God’s love in our life. We really believe there is God and God loves us, but we can’t hear God’s voice as we can hear our families’ or friends’ voices any time.
The common key word from our Scripture readings is a “voice” from God. In Acts, Saul heard the Lord calling his name from heaven. In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ disciples heard the voice of the risen Lord from the beach. Those mysterious voices had changed their lives forever.
Like those people in the Bible, we as God’s people of today also want to hear God’s voice, so that we know God is in control and we can feel much more confident on our faith journey. So where can we hear God’s voice? Where can we see God’s vision for our lives? This is the question we will talk about this morning.
God’s Voice Through Supernatural Ways
In the first Scripture reading from Acts, we read the story of Saul’s conversion. On his mission trip to arrest Christians, ironically, he was arrested, impeded, by a strange voice from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me… I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (v. 4-5). It was the voice of Jesus, whom he had persecuted. As he heard this voice from heaven, his life was changed forever; Saul the persecutor of Christ became Paul the Apostle of Christ.
You may argue that this kind of mysterious event is only found in the Bible but never happens to our actual life; “I also have a passion for God, but God has never called my name or spoken to me as God did to his servants in the Bible.” In today’s world, if we are told that someone heard God’s voice or saw God’s angels, we would rather suspect that that person must have a mental problem. Nowadays folks don’t even expect to hear God’s voice from heaven.
I wonder why we can’t hear God’s voice anymore or why God just stops speaking directly from heaven. As far as the Bible is concerned, God is the same yesterday and today and forever. Then, God should still speak to us from heaven as God used to do it in the ancient time.
Yes, God does. He has spoken to us all the time, but maybe we just don’t notice it. Why? One of the reasons is because of our preconception that hearing Gods’ voice must be something supernatural; we tend to believe that God will speak to us or meet with us in flashes of light or loud thundering sound from heaven. Because these supernatural things are not seen this day, we suspect that God no longer speaks to us in the ways He used to communicate with his servants in the Bible.
But maybe God’s voices and visions are still right in front of us, but we just don’t notice them. Let us carefully examine how the risen Christ spoke to his disciples in John’s Gospel and figure out whether it was really something supernatural.
God’s Voice in Our Ordinary Lives
In the Gospel, Peter and his fellows encountered the risen Lord when they were fishing at the Sea of Tiberius. Jesus’ voiced to them gentle advice to cast the net to the right side of the boat, so that they could catch more fish (v. 6); it was a simple request to share the fish they caught (v. 10); it was an invitation to them, “Come and have breakfast” (v. 12). It was an ordinary conversation.
What a scene it is! The Savior of the world was now sitting on the beach, making breakfast for the fishermen. There was no flashy light or thundering sound around them when the Lord spoke to them. This conversation between the risen Christ and his disciples is what we ordinary people usually can experience in our everyday life. Indeed, we need to work; we need to eat; we need to take care of our daily obligations.
I want to see this Gospel lesson in light of the Incarnation. The Messiah, whom the Jewish people had long waited for, appeared where they would never expect it. It started with Jesus’ birth in the smelly manger in a barn. It continued with his friendship with ordinary people like us. Even at his transfiguration on a mountaintop, he gave up his glory and came back down to the villages to take care of the common people. After his resurrection, he could have entered the Jerusalem Temple in glory with his angles. He could have easily amazed the crowds as he showed his resurrection to the world. But he didn’t. Instead, he kept entering into a small house where his disciples were hiding.
In today’s text, the risen Christ came to the disciples’ working place to help them catch fish, make breakfast, and eat together. Isn’t it amazing that the Son of God always remained grounded in people’s daily life? It shows us that Jesus Christ is part of everything we do. Reflecting on God’s incarnation, then, why don’t we believe that God’s voice may be heard from our earth, our homes, our working places, and our friends and neighbors, not just from heaven?
After they ate together, Jesus put Peter to the test. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. The third time he asked the same question, Peter was hurt. But he had denied his Master three times, and so he needed to make amends for his denial of Christ.
Peter had come a long way since his life as a fisherman. Through teaching and rebuking, Jesus had nurtured him to be a faithful disciple. Jesus even gave him a new name “Rock” on which the Church will be built (Matthew 16:18). Even so, he abandoned Jesus and denied him three times. Why did he fail? It was because he only expected a glory and power from heaven; he only appreciated something supernatural in Jesus Christ. Thus when Jesus was arrested and died on a cross, he came to lose his faith in Christ.
As Jesus hurt Peter by asking “Do you love me” three times, he was rooting Peter in his serving ministry: “Feed my lambs” (v. 15), “Tend my sheep” (v. 16), and “Follow me” (v. 19). Jesus’ ministry isn’t about glory; it is about people living on earth. It’s about feeding and caring for souls; it is about our daily life and about how to love and serve others in our world.
In other words, the way to love Jesus is the way we go on our life journey. Live a good life, and take care of all people with the love of God, as our Lord has loved us. This earthly life is the way we follow Jesus, hear God’s voice, see God’s vision, and live in God’s presence and grace.
God’s Presence in Our Lives
Life itself is a miracle because God is with us. All things we can see around us are divine gifts because God is present in all creations. If we truly recognize God dwells here in our very earthly lives, then we know where we can hear God’s voice. We don’t need to look up at heaven; it’s always among us and here in our communities. It’s here in front of people who are living around us.
Therefore, let us turn our attention to the world where we live with God. Let us look around to see who lives around us and try our best to welcome people, and serve and feed them. This loving and serving life is the Christian miracle that we can experience in our daily life and must carry out in the name of Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead and dwells in our world. Amen.