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Sunday Club Summer 2021 “The Human Voice is the most perfect instrument of all” Arvo Pärt The above quote is by one of the most acclaimed contemporary classical composers of our time and he reminds us no instrument in the world can beat human voice’s perfection. At Sunday Club we were discussing how powerful our voices can be. We used quotes from Eugene Cho and verses from the Bible to aid us. ‘Because we are created in the image of God, every single person has a voice. But the injustice is that not everyone is heard’ Eugene Cho Our voice is a gift from God. When we speak, people listen. We’ve been given instruments of influence and although some of us have more influence than others we all can leverage our spheres of influence for the good of God’s kingdom. We use our voices in many ways, eg to share the gospel and to shape people’s understanding of issues we’re passionate about. With our voices, we can comfort the suffering, encourage those who need it, respond with empathy and understanding, warn, inspire and teach. We point people to Jesus because we want people to know and worship our almighty God. Paul said these words to the church in Corinth, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). God gives us our voice for a reason. Our voices are unique to us and God is creative in how He wants to use them. Our job is stewardship. We walk through the doors He opens for us. We communicate the message He gives us for each opportunity. We are responsible for using this precious gift. In the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25:14-30, we read that we use our work to fulfil our earthly callings - itis about whole life stewardship. We are told the master gave his three servants talents and they were then expected to use them. Two servants invested their talents to gain more and the master was pleased. The third servant, out of fear or laziness, didn’t to do anything with his talent and so wasted an opportunity given to him, had his talent taken away. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 |
Our voice is a gift given to us by God.
God has given us the gift of voice and we must use this gift to build up the church. Ephesians 4:12 states ‘to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up’ Martin Luther said, “We are all mere beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.” With our voice, we need to show others where to find the ‘bread’ and so use our voice to tell the world about God. As good as this is, if we only use our gifts to help others, we fall short of God’s ultimate purpose for our lives. Use your voice to glorify God. We need to be eternally focused. Jonathan Edwards said, “Stamp eternity on my eyeballs.” We must use our voices with eternity in mind, respond in gratitude by using our voices to tell of His greatness to all who will listen. We exist for His glory; our voices should too. We should aim to bring God glory by advancing His kingdom, teaching others His word, boasting of His goodness and grace towards us and sharing our trials and grief. The voice is powerful and it can be used for good or for evil. We need to think intentionally about how we will use it -. be strategic with this God given gift. Be a steward of it by building up the church and bringing glory to God. Our calling is not simply to change the world, but perhaps as important, our calling is to be changed ourselves. Eugene Cho Prayer. Loving God, we thank You for the gift of voice. Help us to use it wisely and to have boldness to use it to declare Your goodness, grace and mercy to people we meet. Our lives are noisy, our heads are filled with so many voices vying for attention and influence and we seek Your voice to instruct and guide us in the midst of all this. Help us to listen more carefully when we are challenged or confused in a given situation, to be diligent in studying Your word as we desire to do the right thing and make the wisest choices Amen. |
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