Are You Listening To Too Many Voices?

Have you noticed how many different voices are speaking at us today? We have the media presenting their fleshly spin on things, usually biased and one-sided with an agenda. We have governmental leaders on one side touting one thing while those on the other side cry something else. Some Supreme Court Justices are making decisions based on their values, international law and precedent rather than on Constitutional law. Many Federal Judges are making unilateral decisions based on their values and personal persuasions rather than on United States law.

Then, sadly, we must look at the Church. I say “sadly” because we have segments of the Church that are so divided and driven by doctrines and traditions of men that one would think they are not even of the same faith. In many places, you need only drive a block down the street from your own local church to hear an altogether different gospel, a complete contradiction of what you have heard somewhere else. On top of that, the messages from many pulpits are no different from that of the world. It is no wonder people are confused and seeking answers elsewhere.

All of this makes me wonder if Christians are listening to too many voices. The sad fact is they may be listening to too many voices within Christendom as well as the world. Too much of what is listened to and experienced in the Church today is worldly in nature.

The Church as a whole expounds many different viewpoints. Although Jesus Christ wants us to say the same things, much of what is being said in one part of the Church contradicts what is being said in another part of the Church. As a result, many Christians have developed a type of selective apathy. They select a particular flavor of doctrine and become apathetic to the rest of the Church. While they and their like-minded brothers and sisters are together celebrating their favorite flavor of doctrine and watching for the rapture or the Lord’s return, the Lord is canvassing the earth for those who will be sanctified by His whole counsel and are willing to move toward unity with Him and with each other. Please recognize and remember that one cannot really love or be in unity with those they are apathetic towards.

The Biblical unity that Jesus spoke of in John 17, “Father, make them one …”, is not ecumenical unity, wherein Christians agree to disagree and/or are tolerant of each other’s beliefs. That type of unity will never accomplish the Church’s God-given mandate to preach the gospel of the kingdom in all the world as a witness to all the nations (Matthew 24:14). Biblical unity is based on loving intimacy with Christ and one another and requires being washed and sanctified by the truth of God’s Word (John 17:17 and Ephesians 5: 26, 27).

Apathy and ecumenical unity have caused us to focus mainly on our particular group and to think that everything is just going to pan out with the Church as a whole. Jesus is focused on building a Church on earth that overcomes the gates of Hades. This cannot happen in our present divided state. We will decide to either tear down the walls that divide us and take the steps toward true Biblical unity, or we will go on just as we are, trusting that somehow it will all pan out.

Christians, let’s wake up and become disciples of Jesus who love each other as Christ has loved us! Let’s become humble enough to really look at and reevaluate our beliefs in light of God’s Word instead of continuing to live by man-made church doctrines that happen to suit our particular fancy. Many doctrines that we have inherited must be put aside. It really will take dying to self to lay aside some of the doctrines we learned from mom, dad and others, as well as those we adopted through lack of knowledge or understanding of God's Word.

The truth is, in order for Christians to walk in agreement and to follow Jesus together, we must allow everything that can be shaken to be shaken so that what remains is the pure Church of Jesus Christ. It is not my intent to offend anyone. My desire is to bring an awareness of the things that hinder the body of Christ from becoming everything that Christ intends her to be. Religious traditions and mindsets are as powerful today as those our Lord Jesus encountered when he walked on earth (Matthew 15:1-9). The Holy Spirit knew this when He wrote through the Apostle Paul that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

One major problem within the Church is that, although many Christians think they know Christ intimately and His Word thoroughly, in truth they do not. Therefore they are weak in discerning whether or not a voice is from God. Jesus Christ said that His sheep would know the Shepherd’s voice. Some sheep are so far away from the Shepherd that they either cannot hear His voice or cannot distinguish it from other voices. Being active and happy in a local church does not guarantee that one is intimate with the Lord. It doesn't guarantee that they are washed and sanctified by truth. And it definitely does not guarantee that one is walking in agreement with other disciples of Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus needs true and humble disciples led by true and humble God-called ministers who will lay aside the doctrines and traditions of men that have weighted us down and divided us. If we are to unite and follow Jesus together, we must repent of reading our preconceived notions and doctrinal prejudices into the Word of God. We must turn to the Holy Spirit for truth. He is the Teacher! To those who will humbly sit under His teaching, He will reveal truth. He will correct beliefs and teach truth that will cleanse, sanctify and unite. Those who have been sanctified by God’s truth will naturally start being drawn together in unity.

At present, most Christians are drawn together according to their favorite man-made doctrines, which as we have shown actually produce a divided body. If humble Christians would truly acknowledge the division that exists in the body of Christ, perhaps we would begin to move away from striving for a fleshly ecumenical unity while trying to hold on to our doctrines, and begin to move toward the unity of faith. Let’s begin to seek God as never before, and let’s do so with the spiritual understanding that we cannot draw close to God without being in unity with each other as well. How can we love God whom we have not seen without loving each other here on earth?

Let’s develop keen ears to hear God’s still small voice and have

our senses trained to discern which voices are of God and which are of man. As we hear the voice of the Spirit and follow that voice, it will lead us to true intimacy with God. We will look around and see that at the same time we have been drawn to Jesus, we have been drawn together. Visualize sheep hearing their shepherd’s voice, and as they move toward His voice, they have moved toward each other also. A mature and unified remnant church that is intimate with the Lord and knows and responds to His still small voice is on the horizon. He is calling us to forsake all and follow Him! Do you have listening ears? Do you hear the call?

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