La-La-La-La I Can’t hear you Jesus

Recently I wrote a sermon for our Sunday evening youth group called F.U.S.I.O.N.  Yes each letter stands for something that we are focusing on for the year. The F stands for Faithful Follower. I was writing the sermon about Stephen and how he was a faithful follower of Jesus. As I was reading about Stephen in Acts chapter 6 and 7, I realized that we are {more than we would like to admit} a lot like the members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen. Acts6:9

When I read over the following verses …

⁵⁴When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

I thought how often do we do the exact same thing when the Holy Spirit is “nudging ” us to follow Jesus. With all of the emotion of a toddler on the verge of a tantrum how often do we gnash our teeth, cover or ears and yell at the top of our lungs “LA-LA-LA…LA-LA-LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU JESUS…LA-LA-LA I AM NOT LISTENING TO YOU HOLY SPIRIT”

Okay so maybe we don’t exactly do it that way, but you get what I am talking about don’t you. Anytime we do those things that we have to justify later, we have essentially covered our ears and begun yelling at the top of our lungs. Basically we have done the  same to Jesus that these men did to Stephen. We drag Him out into the street and drag Him through what ever mud we are playing in for the moment, and then we leave Him there at the feet of our friends. Dirty and unwanted like a little brother that was forced on us for the day.

The ironic thing is that when we are done playing in the mud and we realize our sin and we ask for forgiveness it is the same Jesus that we cast aside for the moment who goes on our behalf to our Father and says just like Stephen in Acts 7:60 “Lord do not hold this sin against them.” not like some tag along little pain in the neck brother, but like a big “I will take care of you and protect you  brother”.

Yes it is good to know that we have a brother like that. let’s not take advantage of him, let’s listen to His wisdom, and let’s reflect His love for us to our friends.