Louie Giglio - The Frequency of the Fast - Part 2
I don't know if anybody's been to the Symphony recently, but when you go to the Symphony, you go to the Atlanta Symphony, and we've got an Atlanta Symphony member at Passion City Church up at Cumberland. Might be in the gathering today, might be stage managing today, I don't know, Anthony, but you could say what I'm about to say way better than me. But when you go to see Anthony play in the Symphony and you're waiting for the performance to begin, all the instruments are tuning, but at one point they all chill and one instrument plays a note. Does anybody know this happens? What instrument is that? What? The oboe. Thank you so much.
Alright. The first chair oboe, he or she plays middle A. And when they play middle A, instantly, all the other instruments tune to that middle A. I was like, why is it the middle A? And what is the whole story with all that? And when I started looking into it, I learned that all these notes, you know, have frequencies. There's a big spectrum of sound out there. It goes from low frequency, the kind of frequencies we can hear, to ultrasound, and there are frequencies way above that that, you know, you and I could never detect. And in all of these different notes that would be played on this piano over here, all have a different frequency, and the middle A's frequency is 440. Now, all this will make sense at some point, I hope.
But you're like, "Well, what does that mean"? So, an orchestra player in a normal symphony in America knows that they play in tune at 440 hertz. A hertz is how many times a sound wave oscillates in one second. So, two hertz wouldn't be too wiggly, it would be like. but 440 hertz is clicking along pretty good, and that's what a middle A is. It's humming at 440 oscillations every single second. And as you move up the scale and down the scale, the oscillations either speed up or they slow down.
And so, symphonies play in 440, unless you're in Europe and they play in 442. It's still an A though, you and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Some play in 443, which is a little bit weird, and some in 441, and over history, there's been different variations of all of that. But the oboist plays middle A, and a frequency happens. Not just a sound, but a frequency happens, a wavelength happens, 440 happens. And every player in the symphony tunes to that.
Now, here's what I'm thinking, if you're in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra or the Philadelphia Philharmonic or the Vienna Symphony, then you probably have perfect pitch to start with or pretty darn close to it. And you also have a pitch pipe or some kind of tuning instrument because everybody's got one of those, right? If you are playing any instrument in a high school band, you've got something to tune your instrument. So, what is the whole thing about getting these master musicians, who are all probably close to perfect pitch all dialed into the oboist? And it's just that principle of we wanna make sure we are so aligned, not just to your middle A on your little pitch pipe, but to this middle A on the oboe in the middle of this orchestra.
The oboe was probably chosen at some point because the oboist is in the middle of the orchestra in arrangement, and everyone can hear that sound. And then everyone tunes to the same frequency, 440. Maybe 442 depending on if you're in a symphony Europe. Everybody tunes in to the exact same wavelength. And that is what fasting is all about. It is where we tune our lives to the oboe of the Spirit and the word and to the voice of Jesus. Once 440 is established, the conductor walks out and the conductor raises his or her baton, and the symphony begins to play, and everybody's playing a different part, but they're all playing in the same frequency.
That's what God is inviting you and me into as we come into fasting. It's not just about an exercise, it's not just about checking off a spiritual discipline, it's about getting to that place where I can hear the oboe of the spirit of God, I can hear the oboe of the word of God, I can hear the oboe of the voice of Jesus, and I tune my life to that voice, I tune my life to that frequency, and I might go play a different part than you play. My sheet music might look different than your sheet music. You might be, you know, off over here on this little section, and I might be really big over here on this section, but we're both tuned in to the Spirit, to one Spirit, to the Holy Spirit of God.
And you cannot tune to the Holy Spirit of God without fasting. It is where we make the space to hear the voice of God, and it is the way Jesus lived. He lived in tune. He had a different attitude, He certainly had a different altitude, and but He was attuned. And we see that all through scripture. I love this story as we drop down into the life of Jesus in John 5. It says, "Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-the blind, the lame, the paralyzed".
Now, the story, if you didn't know about this was that at some point, an angel of God would stir the waters in this pool and the first person in the pool would get healed, miraculously. And so, you got all these people around this giant pool waiting for the waters to be stirred and then all the blind and the disabled and the lame trying to get into the pool, and only one can get in in time. This is one of the most painful and perfect pictures of a world without Jesus. "One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years". He spent a lot of time trying to get in the water. "When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He asked him, 'Do you want to get well?'"
Now, obviously that's just Jesus wanting us to participate in the process. He knew the guy wanted to get well, or he wouldn't be at the pool. "'Sir,' the invalid replied, 'I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.'" And you would think Jesus said, "Well, I'm gonna help you get in". but He had a better solution. Jesus could've said, "I know when the angel is coming, get over there and I'll give you the sign and then you just kinda lean, and then I'll let you know, and then you'll be the first one in. Or I'll just hold you over the pool and as soon as it happens, I'll tell 'em now and then I'll drop you in".
But Jesus had a better solution. He said, "Get up! And pick up your mat and walk". You don't have to get in the pool 'cause I'm here. You don't have to get in the water, the water came to you today. "And at once the man was cured and he picked up his mat and he walked". He walked. Sadly, there was a problem. "The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, 'It's the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.'"
Talk about not being on 440. I mean, this is like proof text of these guys are on, like, 210, 8, -5. A 38 year invalid is carrying a mat and they're like, "You can't do that on the Sabbath. You can walk, that's good. Oh, you're walking, that's amazing. But you can't carry that mat". "But he replied, 'The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" And when a guy makes you well and tells you to pick up your mat and walk, you pick up your mat and walk. I added that part. "So they asked him, 'Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?' and the man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there". He wasn't staged at the end of the pool of Bethesda taking selfies with people.
"Can I get a photo, too? Dude just healed this guy over here. Can I get a selfie"? No, he just slipped through the crowd, because one of the things Jesus was fasting from for 33 years on planet earth was fame and fortune. And He wasn't looking for opportunities to be recognized, He was looking for ways to slip out through the crowd. He was tuned to 440, He was in frequency with God, He knew which man that the father wanted to heal that day. Although there were lots of people around the pool, today is gonna be this day, this day is gonna run into the leaders, the leaders are gonna trigger some other things, and then the part of the story we're gonna get to is gonna happen, but it was all for a way bigger purpose than just a guy carrying his mat, although, praise God, he's now walking.
But Jesus is not here just to save people, He's not here just to free people, He's here for a way bigger purpose than that. Your salvation and your freedom are in a story of God's glory, and this 38 year old, or 38 years of being an invalid walking is a part of the story for God's glory. "Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him," and this is a little scary, "See, you are well again". So, apparently, there was a time when he wasn't well. "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you". Whew, okay another message for another day, but let's keep moving. "The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus," now he knew who it was 'cause he had this little moment with Him right here. "Who had made him well. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him".
Stay with me, we're coming right down to the point. "In his defense Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.' For this reason they tried all the more to kill him". That seems like a fair assessment for a guy that just healed a guy who'd been an invalid for 38 years. Let's kill Him.
"Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. And Jesus gave them this answer: 'Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed". Move over to John 8, Jesus said, "I'm telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence". And then He speaks to them. "And you are doing what you've heard form your father". He's implying in this text that their father is the devil.
So, He says, "I'm connected to this frequency, and you're connected to that frequency, but what I'm doing, I'm doing what I have seen". And then look in a different place where He says it like this in John 12, "For I did not speak," so we got what He's doing, now we got what He's saying. "On my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say," can you just say "Say" with me Cumberland, 5:15, Trilith, can you say "Say" with me? "So, whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say".
So, what we see now and understand is that Jesus did what He saw and He said what He heard. What He did, He said, "I'm doing what I see my Father doing, and what I'm saying is what I hear my father saying. So, I don't do this stuff on my own, I do what I see my Father doing, and I don't say stuff on my own, I say what I hear my Father saying. So, even though I am the Son of God," speaking on Jesus' behalf, "I'm a tuned to the 440, and I am on the same wavelength as my father. I need to know what is He doing and what is He saying, 'cause when I get there, there are gonna be crowds, there are gonna be people pushing and shoving, there's gonna be opportunity, there's gonna be applause, there's gonna be opposition, there's gonna be disappointment, there's gonna be misunderstanding, there's gonna be a scene. When I show up today, I gotta know when I get there what is my father saying and what is my father doing".
Well, how did He do that? Many times in the gospels, it says, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and He prayed". He fasted. He didn't teach in Matthew, "And when you fast" and then not fast. He didn't teach in Matthew, "And when you pray," and not pray. He didn't teach, "Forgive your enemies," and then not forgive His enemies. So, He's fasting. He is in a rhythm of carving out space to be alone, to be closer to His Father, and to pray for breakthrough in the lives of people. And often, not occasionally, not at the first of the year, but often, he withdrew to a desolate place, some place that say... to a barren place, to a desert place, to a wilderness place. He would get away from it all so He could get in tune with His Father. It's interesting that spirituality doesn't happen by proximity.
You say, "What do you mean by that"? Well, in another place, there's another story where Jesus is using this phrase, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear". And He tells a story of Jesus coming into this town. Everyone would probably know this story if you've been around church at all. And even there was a crowd of people around Jesus, a woman went for the hem of His robe. A woman who had a medical condition that was tragic and untreatable. And as she touched Him, He tuned in the middle of this whole crowd and He says, "Somebody just touched my robe".
And the disciples are like, "Nobody touched your robe. I mean, there's people pushing in everywhere, how do you know somebody touched your robe? Can you see all these... There's a crowd here. Everybody just move back, push this guy over, we're coming through. What do you mean somebody touched your robe"? What the disciples were saying was even though they had proximity to Jesus, they really didn't get the spirituality that Jesus was offering. They were not on all 440. And He one more time had to turn around and say, "Could you please just chill out for a second? Again, who touched me? Somebody touched me".
And finally, He wasn't gonna let it go, and they were like, "We gotta go and this guy wants you to come and heal his daughter and we gotta get through this crowd. Come on, let's go. Give up on the, 'Who touched me?' thing". And He's like, "No, I'm not going anywhere. Who is it"? And it says in the text, and finally the woman, knowing that he wasn't gonna move on, she finally went. He said, "I felt power go out from me". And then by that woman's faith, she was healed. And what did they do?
They were like, "Oh my word, how do you know these things? How did He know somebody touched His robe? A bunch of people just crowding left and right and He's like, 'No, somebody touched my robe, who touched my robe? Alright, come on.' How does He now this stuff"? Because He goes away to a lonely place by Himself and He prays. And I don't know, I'm not gonna try to read between the lines. Maybe His Father told Him, "Watch out for the lady that goes for the hem of your garment today". And so, maybe while they were moving along and everybody was just shuffling and shoving, He was like, "Is it her? Is it him? who is it gonna be"? Because He was in frequency with God. You can sit in this church and miss 440.
Somebody told me the story about the last morning at the Benz, 19 minutes and 10 second version of heaven coming into Agnes DEI of Jesus just being so in the midst. And a friend of mine said, "Yeah, the heartbreaking part of it was that about three rows up behind you where I was sitting, I looked down, four people down my row, there was a guy on his phone just scrolling through Instagram through almost all of it". Proximity is not equal to spirituality. And you can be so close and still not hear the elbow, and that is what God is really inviting you to today. He's not just inviting you to a gathering, although we're thrilled during this gathering. He's not just inviting you to a little booklet, although get a booklet. He's not just inviting you to a process, he's inviting you to a voice, to a frequency.
The frequency of the fast is about connecting to the oboe of God. It's four words, and I'm gonna have to give us these really quickly. "How do I do that, Louie? I'd like to take a step in that direction". It's desire, it's carve, it's focus, and lastly, it's follow. It might be 40 words, but let's just go with these.
Number one, today I want to encourage you to ask God for a desire to be on His wave length. Somebody is in this gathering right now and you're like, "You know what, Louie? The more you are talking right now, God is convicting me that I don't hardly ever listen for the voice of God's spirit. I just, kinda go with, you know, here's what I think. Here's my solution, here is my opinion. And I don't even have a desire that I'm aware of to wake up in the morning and go, 'I gotta hear the oboe right now.' I have the capacity to get my little thing out and. I can do that, but I really wanna hear you're A today. And I wanna be on your wavelength".
Not in some new agey way, just let me make that real clear, okay? somebody just drops into the YouTube right about here. "What is that guy talking about"? Not that. And we talked a few weeks ago about this beautiful honest prayer. God give me a desire to have a desire. And some of you may need to start there today and say, "God, I wanna know if I really wanna get on your wavelength". 'Cause it looked like for Jesus that whole thing, "I see what He's doing and I hear what He's saying," didn't work out for Him all the time. It got Him, you know, in a lot of conflict and a lot of trouble and people tried to kill Him and eventually they did. "I don't really need to be a radical, I'm not looking to be, you know, some kind of kingdom agent, I'm just trying to do my job and take care of my family".
Well, just tell Him that. "I don't know if I have a desire to really be on your wavelength. Sounds like a lot of work and a lot of getting out in lonely places, and I don't even know if I have the time for that". Then just tell Him that. "I need a desire, God, to have more attitude and altitude and attuned in my life". And He'll give it to you if you ask Him. You know, above human hearing, if anybody cares, we hear, like 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz, and then they go just way, way, way up from there. About 50,000, 60,000, 80,000 is getting into ultrasound. So, they're using sound waves, those oscillations to actually see things like babies in a mother's womb. And if you get up to 50, 60, we can only hear up to 20,000, 50,000 a dog can hear, 60,000 some dogs can hear, a rodent can hear. That's why they got dog whistles.
You can train your dog without annoying your neighbors. And the dog's like, "Yeah, I'm with you. Yes, I see you. Yes, over there? Okay great". Your neighbors are not annoyed. And I just thought to myself, wouldn't it be amazing to be the kind of person who is so in tuned with God that when He spoke, even if no one else got it, you did. And you are often saying to people, "Did you hear that"? Not some kind of mystical way, but just so in tune with the word, and the spirit, and the word of the word. secondly, carve. You have got to carve out space to be still. That's what the Psalmist said. He said, "Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God".
The way you are confident is when you get still enough to hear the voice of God, to see the purposes of God. The third one of these is to focus your attention on the spirit world. In Revelation 4:1, it says this, this is John plucked up on the Lord's day into Heaven. But remember, proximity doesn't equal spirituality. So, even though He's plucked up and put in Heaven, he still has to pay attention. And all throughout Revelation, it says this, "Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like trumpet blast. And the voice said, 'Come up here and I will show you what must happen after this.'"
He's not just walking around in Heaven going, "Wow, this is cool. Man, those things are crazy looking. Wow. That is gonna be hard to explain right there. Wow, that's amazing". No. But He's looking. And when He looks, He sees. And when He sees, He hears. And when He hears, He does. And then that last word is follow.
So, I'm gonna desire it, yes. I have to carve out space for it, yes. I gotta focus on it, yes. But at the end of the day, God's gonna say something and He's gonna show you something, He's gonna illuminate something, He's gonna underline something, He's gonna highlight something, He's gonna give you insight into something, and when He does, you go, "I do what I see may Father doing. And I say, not what I wanna say, I say what I hear my Father saying. I follow what I'm attuned to". And the reality is that we all do, we are all gonna play in some key today, we are all gonna play according to somebody's oboe today, we are all gonna tune to some frequency today. It's just a question of what frequency it is. And then we're gonna go play. We're gonna go play out the symphony of our day today in that key. And I wanna live today. Don't you? In the key of Jesus.