A Hearing Check for the Spiritually Deaf
In my near sixty-three years of life I have either heard or presented around 9,000 hours of Bible instruction. There is no particular virtue in this, since I was raised in a preacher’s home and am a preacher myself. While devoid of great virtue, this experience does entail great privilege, and with that privilege, fearful responsibility.
The “burden” of 9,000 hours of Bible teaching is that I’m accountable for all that I’ve heard and preached, both to test it biblically and then to apply it faithfully. Luke 12:47–48 teaches that we are accountable for what we know. And anyone in possession of nearly 9,000 hours of teaching will almost certainly know quite a bit. Which means that of him (that is, of me) shall much be required.
“Hearing involves more than receiving sound waves through the ear gate.”
So the pertinent question is: Did I really hear 9,000 hours of teaching? Moreover, did you or I really even hear the pastor’s sermon this past Sunday? Hearing involves more than receiving sound waves through the ear gate. It involves presence (to engage), prayer (to seek illumination), thought (to reflect, test, and prove), heart (to believe), will (to choose), intentionality (to apply and obey), and perseverance (to turn momentary application into life transformation). When described like this, hearing requires a lot of work. But it’s worth it.
Working Hard at Hearing
It’s been said that a believer should work as hard at hearing the Word as the pastor works at preaching it. James would agree. In James 1:18–25, James teaches us how to listen to a sermon. While verses 19–20 certainly have a valid secondary application to our relationships, we miss James’s point if we think he’s telling us to be quick to hear each other out while being slow to get angry in the process.
His real concern is that we learn how to hear God’s Word, variously called: “the word of truth” (James 1:18), “the implanted word, which is able to save [our] souls” (James 1:21), and the “perfect law of liberty” (James 1:25). He’s concerned with our hearing and obeying Bible teaching—especially that Bible teaching that comes to us through our local church pastor-elders (James 3:1; 5:14; Eph. 4:11–14; 2 Tim. 3:15–4:4, Heb. 13:7, 17, etc.). James is saying what has often been said: “The goal of preaching and sermon-listening is not information but transformation.” The work of a sermon is not complete until it has been worked into our faith and life. It isn’t over until it is done.
This matters because the “word of God” is the word of God. He is a speaking God, and the Scriptures are his voice recorded, his thoughts breathed out (2 Tim. 3:16), the God of heaven talking to us. Preaching is the proclamation of what God has said and is saying to the church, which makes sermon-listening holy and happy business, indeed. Assuming then that we are in a solid Bible-expositing church where the inspiration, inerrancy, authority of Scripture form the pillar upon which all else rests, let me suggest that hearing the Word requires at least four steps.
Crave the Word. Be quick to hear and eagerly receive the Word (James 1:19, 21; Acts 17:11). Hurry up to hear your pastors preach. Unless “providentially hindered,” as older theologians used to put it, run to your church each Sunday to hear the Word proclaimed. Be early and eager!
Clear the landing space. De-clutter your heart of assertive, angry agendas and defiling sins (James 1:19–21). Instead, receive the Word with meekness, a heart emptied of resistant counter-arguments and defensiveness. Clean out the sins that leave no room for the Word to land and that render the heart spiritually dull and deaf. Prayer is an important part of this heart-preparation. We need to confess our sins in prayer (James 4:8–10) and pray for the transforming wisdom that comes from above (James 1:5–8; 3:17, 18).
“Prayer is an important part of this heart-preparation. We need to confess our sins in prayer and pray for the transforming wisdom that comes from above.”
Cover the mouth. Be “slow to speak” (James 1:19). Close the mouth and quiet the tongue. Don’t let your heart, at this point in the process, argue too much with your pastor. When sifting comes too soon, you may short-circuit what God, not the preacher, is saying to you. So, give the truth time to sink in by processing the teaching with sealed lips, an open Bible, and an open mind.
Close the deal. Once the message ends, the real work begins. Now come the testing, proving, and doing stages of hearing (James 1:22–27). We are called to obedience. The mindset that disconnects hearing from doing is corrected throughout Scripture, and needs to be corrected today (Ezek. 33:30–32; Luke 6:46–49; 11:28; John 14:21–24, etc.). We need to close the deal with actual application to faith and life or, biblically speaking, we haven’t heard.
Hearing Aids
All of this makes our church’s sermons a serious stewardship. How much we have believed and obeyed matters more than how much we have learned. In this light, we might need to spend more time processing what our pastors preach and less time listening to other preachers. Before venturing into other pastures, we would do well to graze carefully in the field in which we’ve been placed.
“We might need to spend more time processing what our pastors preach and less time listening to other preachers.”
To that end, I’ve collected a set of questions that can turn preached information into life transformation. Perhaps you’ll want to print them out and bring them to church with you. You can slip them in your Bible or if you frequently drive to church with others, you can tape them to the dashboard near the passenger seat for someone to ask on the way home.
Is what I heard true and faithful to God’s Word?
What does it teach me in order to stir my Godward affections?
What does it teach me about God that can affect my worship?
What does it teach me about Jesus to increase my love or gratitude?
What does it teach me about the gospel that can affect my joy or witness?
What does it teach me about my sin that should produce repentance?
What does it teach me about holiness, justice, and mercy that can change my life?
What does it teach me that I can turn into prayer?
What steps will I take this week to do what I have heard?
How does the gospel help me deal with the guilt or conviction that this teaching has produced?
True hearing is a result of grace. God’s “good and perfect gift” that “brought [us] forth” by the Word of truth (James 1:17, 18) keeps on giving by opening our ears to hear the truth we need. We are blessed to be able to hear. And we are made able to hear, so that we may be blessed (James 1:25).
All this is awaiting us in our gospel-loving and Bible-preaching church this coming week. For all of our pastors’ many flaws—and believe me, we pastors know we have plenty of them—salvation, liberty, and blessing are in store this Sunday when he stands and says, “Now please turn in your Bibles to . . .”
Be early to prepare, eager to hear, and earnest to obey. It’ll change your life!
Tim Shorey is married to Gayline, his wife of 43 years, and has six grown children and 13 grandchildren. In his 40th year of pastoral ministry, he helps to lead Risen Hope Church, in Delaware County, PA. Among his books are Respect the Image: Reflecting Human Worth in How We Listen and Talk; 30/30 Hindsight: 30 Reflections on a 30-Year Headache; and his recently released An ABC Prayer to Jesus: Praise for Hearts Both Young and Old. To find out more, visit timothyshorey.com.