Hearing Test

Sermon Transcript

We all probably get asked to take surveys. Whenever you call to get help with your credit card or your internet bill, they always want you to stay on the line for a brief survey. If you attend a conference, they’ll often ask you to fill out an evaluation form at the end. My kids’ school asks parents to fill out an annual survey. In such surveys, a prompt is often given, and then there are something like five options you can check in response: Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree. The surveys recognize that people can all experience the same thing, but respond to it very differently.

 

As we turn to the Gospel of Luke once again today, we’re in the section in which the big question is, “Who is Jesus?” and we’re getting closer to the climax of that section to come in chapter 9. To answer that question, Luke has been showing us in passage after passage how glorious Jesus is. He was born of a virgin, angels announced his birth, a voice from heaven declared him to be the Son of God, he made a paralyzed man walk, cleansed a leper, cast out demons, raised the dead, and as we’ll see today, he went about preaching and teaching the word of God. But throughout these early chapters of Luke, interspersed with the various revelations of Jesus’ glory, we get occasional passages that call us to examine how we are responding to that revelation. The passage on which we are focusing today is one of those passages. You can imagine even that in Jesus’ time, as he was doing all these things, he became a popular preacher. But today we are going to see that Jesus is concerned not only that people gather to hear him preach; he’s concerned with how they hear that preaching. He knows that many different responses are possible, and he cares about that, though not for the same reasons the surveyors care about your responses. Businesses care about what you think because they want to make sure they keep your business, and they want even more business in the future. Jesus doesn’t care about that; he’s been sent by God, and his aim is simply to please him. Instead, Jesus cares about our response to his word because Jesus cares about us, and he recognizes that not everyone who comes to hear his word responds to it in such a way that his word benefits them. In this passage he’ll introduce us to four different possible responses to his word, and while three of those responses seem positive at first, only one of them brings lasting benefit to the life of the hearer. You’re here today to hear the word of Christ; many of you come Sunday after Sunday to hear it. But how are you hearing it? When you hear the word of Christ, make sure you receive it with a sincere heart. That’s Jesus’ concern for us in this passage, and we’ll see it by looking first at the spread of that word, then at the responses to that word, then at the weight of that word, and finally we’ll see the family formed by that word.

 

The spread of that word (1-3)

 

After the story of a notoriously sinful woman washing Jesus’ feet, our passage begins by telling us that Jesus resumed his normal ministry pattern: He went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The way any news travels is by someone proclaiming it, and Jesus is the someone proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God in this case.

 

We’re going to spend most of our time today talking about how we are to hear the word of Christ rightly, but we can’t hear a word rightly that we don’t hear at all, and we can’t hear at all without someone preaching. So for all the good deeds Jesus did, his ministry centered on preaching, and we read in verse 1 of twelve who were with him, who he sends out to preach just a chapter later in Luke. Then we also read of women who were with him, who had been helped by his ministry: Mary, called Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. So how does the word of God, the good news of the kingdom, spread, so that both we and others can hear it? It spreads when someone proclaims it, it spreads when more are trained to proclaim it, and it spreads when others provide for those who proclaim it out of their means.

 

And Luke is intentional to point out to us the gender of those who support it. Verse 2 specifically says many women were with him, and he gives us a few of their names. The twelve, those who were set apart officially for the work of proclamation, were all male; their names were recorded back in Luke chapter 6, and that’s a pattern that continues throughout the rest of the New Testament. Jesus didn’t choose six men and six women to be apostles; he chose twelve men. 

 

But that’s not because he didn’t love women, minister to women, or count women among his disciples. We read here that many women went along with Jesus and the twelve and provided for them out of their means. They weren’t just cool with Jesus and the twelve being set apart for the proclamation of the word; they were excited about it! Joanna’s taking trips away from her high-up husband to travel with Jesus’s disciples and support the proclamation of his word! Sisters, you, no less than men, have the incredible privilege of walking as a disciple of Jesus, and the incredible opportunity to be integrally involved in the spread of the word.

 

Most of you, male or female, will not be set apart to a teaching office in the church, but let us all support those who fill such offices with our prayers and our means. We will not be able to keep hearing the word of Christ ourselves if we don’t support those God calls to proclaim it, and others who have not yet heard will not be able to hear unless we support those God calls to go. Let’s recognize the centrality of proclamation to the mission Jesus himself came on and on which he has sent us, and let’s esteem the teaching office very highly in love because of that work. Men in the church, if you don’t aspire to that office at all, might you at least consider why? Scripture tells us that a man who aspires to the office of overseer desires a noble task (1 Tim 3:1); do you see it as a noble task, or do you see it as only an added burden? May the Lord give us all an earnest desire to see the number of preachers in our city, nation, and world increase, and may we so pray and give according to our means as to further that aim.

 

This word spreads as someone proclaims it, as others are trained to proclaim it, and as others support those who proclaim it out of their means. And that’s what happened in Jesus’ day, so much so that by verse 4 we read of a great crowd gathering, and people from town after town coming to him. This is what every preacher wants, right? Great crowds, and people from town after town coming to hear. Certainly Jesus didn’t despise that, but the parable he tells next shows us he’s after more than that. He’s concerned, not just that people gather to hear his word; he’s concerned that people respond to his word rightly. So let’s look next at the responses to the word of Christ he outlines.

 

The responses to that word (4-15)

 

Jesus illustrates the possible responses to his word by a parable of a sower and four different types of surface. He says this sower went out into the field to sow his seed, and as he did, some fell on the hard path, was trampled underfoot, and eaten by birds. Some fell on rocky ground, and though it sprung up, it ultimately withered, because it wasn’t getting moisture from good soil. Still other seed fell among thorns, and though the plant grew, it ultimately failed to yield fruit because the thorns choked it. Finally, some fell on good soil, grew, and yielded fruit a hundredfold. 

 

Now, if you were in the crowd and just hearing that parable, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell right away what Jesus was talking about. He even flags the fact that he’s not telling this parable to give us a lesson in agriculture when he says in verse 8, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Well his disciples are those in the crowd with ears to hear, so we read in verse 9 that they asked him what this meant. Here’s one simple feature of hearing rightly: You listen to understand what’s being said, and when you don’t understand what it means, you ask. If you hear something in a sermon you don’t understand or aren’t sure you agree with, come up after the service and ask the preacher: “Hey what did you mean by that?” 

 

In response Jesus assures them in verse 10 that to them it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that “seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” If you’ve been around Christianity much you may have heard someone say that Jesus taught in parables to make what he was saying easier to understand; here Jesus shows us the opposite is true. Jesus says he taught in parables so that those who were only there to be entertained or affirmed wouldn’t understand, while those who actually wanted to follow him, his disciples, would have the true meaning of those parables revealed to them. The parables were an act of judgment on Jesus’ part, especially an act of judgment on his generation, which we saw a couple weeks ago wasn’t interested in hearing what God said, whether God’s word came through John the Baptist who came eating no bread and drinking no wine, or the son of man, who came eating and drinking (Luke 7:31-35). 

 

Jesus revealed the true meaning of these parables, here called the “secret” or the “mystery” of the kingdom of God to his disciples, and his disciples wrote them down for us in the Bible, so that the true meaning of the parable is now available to us in the verses that follow. First he tells us in verse 11 that the seed is the word of God, which is the same as the gospel of the kingdom he was proclaiming. The first surface is the path, and he says the path represents those who have heard, but then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Notice again the insufficiency of hearing. It is possible to listen to the word of God, to hear it, and for it to make no difference in your life. You can see it in peoples’ lives; they come to church week in and week out and hear biblical preaching, they listen to sermon recordings, and their life is no different than it was when they began, no different from their neighbor or co-worker who doesn’t hear the preaching of God’s word at all. They love the same things, worry about the same things, and give their time, money, and energy to the same things. 

 

What’s happening there? Jesus says the devil is coming and taking away the word from their hearts. The devil’s tactic from the beginning has been to attack the word of God. Do you remember the first thing he said to Eve in the garden? “Did God really say?” What was he doing? He was attacking the word of God. So here, whenever the world of God is proclaimed, the devil makes sure that he or one of his demons is present to do everything they can to snatch it up. Of course, there are three other types of soil that they are powerless to stop the word from seeping into, so nobody is a victim of the devil here. He can only get the seed off the path because the path is hard, and the seed doesn’t sink into it. So also he can only snatch the word from hard hearts, but snatch it he does. The result is that they don’t believe, and so they aren’t saved. If your life isn’t being changed by the word you hear, that’s showing that you don’t really believe it, and therefore you are not being saved by it. Don’t assure yourself you’re ok simply because you hear the word. Be careful that your heart is not hard when you hear it.

 

Then there’s the seed that fell on the rocky ground. The seed in this case gets underground at least, and so this represents those who hear the word, and receive it. Verse 13 even tells us they receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. Passages like this sometimes cause Christians to wonder whether a true believer in Christ can be saved for a time but then fall away and be lost forever. The short answer is no, that’s not possible. Jesus assures us that those he saves, he also keeps, and raises up on the last day (John 6:35-40). Those who fall away like this passage describes here only prove that the faith they had was not saving faith; it was merely a profession of faith.

 

But Jesus isn’t trying to answer every theological question we might ask in this parable. He’s speaking according to ordinary observation, and he’s pointing out something that the two thousand years of church history since this time has proven true over and over again: There are some hearers of his word who receive it with joy at first, but who then, in time of trial, fall away. Emotion does not necessarily indicate authenticity. Some level of joy in response to the word is a necessary but not sufficient condition of hearing rightly. If anyone can hear that they have offended a holy God and were destined for his wrath with no hope of salvation in themselves, but that God so loved them that he sent his only Son Jesus Christ to bear that wrath in their place and rise from the dead so that they could be reconciled to God, forgiven, declared righteous in his sight, adopted as his son, and receive eternal life as a gift from him apart from any of their merits, if anyone can hear such good news and not receive it with joy, then they haven’t really received it. A joyless response to the gospel is a path-like response, and testifies to spiritual deadness rather than spiritual life. 

 

Joy is the natural fruit of faith, but a joyful response does not prove the genuineness of the faith. What does? How you respond to trials. How you respond in the times it does not feel good to believe the word of Christ. These could be in times of temptation, when sin looks so attractive, and it would feel like such a relief to give up the fight against it and give in. These could be times of persecution, when the social pressure to conform to the world feels strongest, and it would make your life so much easier if you didn’t feel bound to believe what God says or do what he commands. And so what happens? You give in to sin once, and it makes it easier to give in again the next time. You dial back your allegiance to Christ once because you sense it’ll help you fit in a little better with co-workers once, and it’s easier to do it again next time. Give that some time, and one morning you wake up and wonder, “Is all this even true?” The roots were never really planted in Christ, you never really believed because you actually thought Jesus was God the Son and savior of sinners; you believed because for some reason at that time it felt good to do so, and then when it stopped feeling good, you fell away. 

 

As for what fell among the thorns, Jesus says in verse 14 that this is those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. The cares of life refer to the necessities of life–food, clothing, shelter. Riches obviously refers to money, and pleasures of life refer to what money can buy you in this life–not just food, but good foods, not just clothes, but fashionable clothes, not just a house, but big houses, second houses, travel to other houses. This type of hearer doesn’t fall away, but they don’t grow; their fruit does not mature. The plant gets started, but the thorns choke it out.

 

So there are many who hear the word of Christ, who continue professing faith in it, but what gets them out of bed in the morning is still the things of this life. Some professing Christians are utterly consumed with staying cool–wearing the most fashionable clothing, listening to the most popular music, keeping up with the latest popular movies, purchasing the latest and best technology–pleasures of life. Others are utterly consumed with the health of their bodies, going from doctor to doctor, vitamin to vitamin, diet to diet, gym to gym, wellness spa to wellness spa. Others are utterly consumed with providing such things to their children–little Johnny has to attend the best school, wear the best clothing, eat the healthiest foods, play on the best travel sports team, master multiple instruments–cares of life, pleasures of life. Others are simply so worried about their next meal, the next rent payment, or their next paycheck that there’s little room in their thoughts for the unsearchable riches of Christ. 

 

What gets you out of bed in the morning? If someone were to look at your bank account, what would they say are your highest priorities? If anyone’s answer is the care, riches, or pleasures of this life, such a person’s life won’t bear fruit. There’s no love for others because they’re consumed with making their own lives work. There’s no joy because their joy is tied to the next thing that never quite comes. There’s no peace because their peace is tied to the changing things of this life that they know could be taken from them at any moment. There’s no patience because their hope is set on this life, not the life of the world to come. There’s no kindness or goodness to others because they’re hoarding, stockpiling, and stuffing themselves–never know when they’ll need it, after all. There’s no self-control because they must have all this world has to offer, and there’s never enough. 

 

But as for that in the good soil, they are those, Jesus says in verse 15, who on hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. Fruit is not something you can manufacture, but what you can do is when that seed of the word of God comes to you, when you hear it, you can open up your heart and receive it with a sincere heart. That’s essentially what Jesus means when he says that soil receives it in an “honest and good heart.” That’s good soil. That’s a heart posture toward God of, “Lord, I just want to hear your word, believe it, and do it.” Don’t you want to receive God’s word like that? “Ok Lord, if you say it, I believe it.” “Ok Lord, that’s hard, but if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do.” That’s what an honest and good heart sounds like.

 

And that kind of heart does bear fruit with patience. The word of God is the very power of God for salvation. It is a fruit-bearing seed. If you sincerely receive it into your heart, it will bear fruit. It won’t bear all its fruit immediately; notice the text specifically says that these kinds of hearers will bear fruit only with patience. As they patiently endure trials instead of falling away in them, as they patiently wait for their greatest joys in the life to come instead of getting consumed with the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life, they do begin to bear fruit. Freed from care for themselves, filled with a sense of God’s love for them, they begin to love others. Reconciled to the source of all joy, they rejoice in the Lord always. Knowing that he who rules over every square inch of existence is for them and with them, they have peace. They’re ready to share what they have because they know their best things are in the life to come anyway, and for the same reason they can exercise self-control over their enjoyment of the things of this life.

 

Maybe you sense this fruit is lacking in your life. If so, consider: How are you hearing the word of God? Are you hearing it regularly? When you hear it, are you arguing against it, raising a lot of “yeah but”s to it, and looking for loopholes, or are you receiving it with a sincere heart? Be careful when hearing the word of Christ. Don’t hear it only, but make sure you receive what you’re hearing into your heart with sincerity. Listening to preach is not a spectator activity, like going to the movies. You have work to do when listening to God’s Word–listening attentively, and ultimately, taking it into your heart. As J.C. Ryle has written, “Preaching is an ordinance of which the value can never be overrated in the church of Christ. But it should never be forgotten, that there must not only be good preaching, but good hearing.” 

 

And that’s because, the stakes on what you do with this word are so high. Let’s look next at the weight of this word.

 

The weight of that word (16-18)

 

So in verse 16, after explaining the parable, Jesus shares a saying that comes up a few times in his teaching: No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Here the application he makes of it is that nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. The details of these two verses are not entirely clear to me, but the overall message seems to be that God will ultimately expose, rather than hide, whatever is in our hearts. 

 

Because here’s the catch with these four types of soil: For a while, they can all look the same. Great crowds are gathering around Jesus to hear this word, and if you were in that crowd, you wouldn’t know which type of soil the guy standing next to you was. Even the first type of soil can keep showing up and listening to the word. The second two soils even seem to give some kind of initial positive response to it; remember that the second receives the word with joy! But God sees the reality of whatever is going on inside your heart, and in some way or another, he will expose it. 

 

We’ve already seen from Jesus’ explanation that one way he’ll expose it is through trial. In times of trial, those who were sown on the rock fall away. In the case of the first or third soil, it may just become apparent to others when they look at your life and see that it’s functionally no different from that of a professed unbeliever. But in the end, however you appear to others, God will expose the true condition of your heart at the final judgment.

 

So then, Jesus tells us in verse 18: Take care how you hear. To the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. In other words, if you receive the word with a sincere heart, your capacity to receive more of the word will grow. To the disciples who came to Jesus and asked him what the parable meant, more knowledge was given. But to those who weren’t really receiving his word, he spoke in parables, so that seeing they would not see, and hearing they would not understand. And in the end, of course, at the final judgment, whatever spiritual benefit they thought they were getting–you see that in verse 18 – “from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away”–whatever pretenders thought they had in this life from Jesus’ word will be taken from them, and they will be cast into eternal darkness, away from the favorable presence of God. 

 

This is why it’s so vital that you take care how you hear. The word of God is of eternal weight. Every time you receive it with a sincere heart, you open yourself up to receive more of it. And every time you close your heart to it, you narrow the door through which more of it could enter in the future. So listen to the reaching and preaching of God’s word like you’re listening to God. Listen to it prayerfully; consider praying Saturday night for your reception of the word Sunday morning. Pray Sunday morning for your reception of the word at the church’s gathering that day. We pray in our services for our hearing of the word. Pray after the service for the word you’ve heard to take root and bear fruit in your life. Pray for attentiveness, and pay attention to it. Listen for how the preacher grounds what he’s saying in the words of scripture, receive all the words of scripture as the very words of God, accept them by faith, consider their meaning, consider what they reveal of the glory of Christ, and consider their application to your life. If you really want to grow in spiritual knowledge and insight, the simple first step is to receive what’s already been revealed to you. Stop avoiding biblical truths you find uncomfortable or unpalatable. Submit to them, and watch how much more God enables you to see.

 

When you hear the word of Christ, be careful to receive it with a sincere heart because the weight of doing so, or not doing so, is heavy. It is of eternal significance, as the Lord will, at one time or another, reveal whether you are doing so. And finally, be careful to receive the word of Christ with a sincere heart because of the family formed by that word.

 

The family formed by that word (19-21)

 

So beyond the crowds gathered to hear him, we read next of Jesus’ mother and brothers coming to him, but being unable to reach him because of the crowd. So someone told him that his mother and brothers were outside, desiring to see him, and Jesus’ response is stunning. “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Of course, Jesus did not dishonor his mother, nor despise his brothers. Already in Luke we saw him submit to his parents (Luke 2:51). The man who commanded us to love even our enemies certainly loved his mother and brothers. But here Jesus tells us that he has a deeper, more lasting, more significant bond with those who hear the word of God and do it.

 

Because, you see, Jesus was not just a son to his mother and a brother to his brothers. Jesus is also God to his mother and his brothers. He is the eternal son of God, one in being with the Father, such that it is through him that his mother and brothers were even made, and by his sustaining activity that they remained alive on that day. In this sense, they bear no relation to Jesus that’s different from any other human: Everything, and certainly every human, was made through him. And yet, Jesus doesn’t call just anyone his mother and brothers. What, then, distinguishes humanity? Where is the dividing line between those who belong to the family of Jesus, and those who do not? It’s not a dividing line between his biological mother, brothers, and everyone else. It’s not even a dividing line between those who gather in the crowd to hear his word, and those who do not. It’s a dividing line among those who hear, a line that divides the first three types of soil from the last, a line between those who merely hear the word of God, and those who hear the word of God and do it.

 

To modern people I understand that may sound divisive, but listen to what Matthew records Jesus saying in Matthew 10:34-36 – “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” Of course Jesus’ mother and brothers are welcome to follow him, but the point is that they still must follow him! If not, they will be divided from him. If they won’t hear his word and do it, their biological relationship to him will do them no good. On the last day, God’s light will expose their hearts as much as anyone else’s, and with him there is no partiality.

 

Some of you here today have parents and siblings who hear the word of God and do it, but that will do you absolutely no good unless you personally hear the word of God and do it. Some of you here today have parents and siblings who have zero interest at all in hearing the word of God or doing it, and that will not hinder you at all from being accepted by Jesus if you hear his word and do it. Jesus saw the community to which he belonged most deeply to be those who hear his word and do it. 

 

He is truly God, one in being with the Father, the one through whom all things were made. Out of love for an undeserving world, he humbled himself, and became man. And as a man, he was tempted in every way as we are, but in his time of testing, he didn’t fall away. He endured with patience, and lived so free from the cares and riches and pleasures of life that he was willing to be stripped of his every possession and nailed to a cross for us and for our salvation. On the cross he bore the wrath of God we deserved, he died, and then on the third day he rose from the dead, never to die again, and ascended into heaven, where he reigns forever now until he comes again to bring the kingdom of God in its fullness. He is such a wonderful person, and he offers himself to all, regardless of your family of origin, regardless of your past experiences, regardless of your gender or your standing in the world. But he also wants to make sure you don’t think you have him, when you actually don’t. Those who have him are those who hear the word of God and do it, and none other.

 

So if you are here today and you are not a Christian, we are so glad to have you. You are welcome at these services for however long it takes you to make up your mind about Christ, but I also want you to see that you cannot belong to Jesus’ family simply by being here, getting to know the people here, and listening to the sermons. You must actually receive the word of Christ with a sincere heart, and that word must start to bear the fruit of obedience to the word of God in your life, or Jesus says you are not part of his family. And that goes just as much for anyone here who grew up with Christian parents, has a lot of church experience, and professes Christ today: If you hear these words week in and week out, but you don’t receive them with a sincere heart, you are not part of Jesus’ family. Take care how you hear.

 

And yet, each week I address many of you in the room as my brothers and sisters, because there is a fourth type of soil. There are those who hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. There are those who hear the word of God and do it, and it is they who belong to Jesus’ family. We recognize that on earth when we receive someone into church membership, and we recognize the right of every other church that proclaims this same gospel to do the same, and receive their members as members of Jesus’ family as well. We thank God for the parents he gave us, we honor them, and we love our brothers and sisters according to the flesh. But do you see what Jesus is saying here? He’s saying that the bond you enjoy with another Christian you’ve never met, who lives on the other side of the globe from you, speaks a different language from you, looks radically different from you, is a citizen of a different earthly nation than you…He’s saying your bond to that brother or sister is deeper than the bond you have to a twin brother or sister with whom you spent most of your life, if that brother or sister doesn’t hear the word of God and do it. Jesus tells us elsewhere that in heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage. We thank God for our earthly families, but they are momentary. It is the family of Jesus that will last forever, and that will spend eternity together.

 

How much more, then, should this compel us to proclaim the good news of the kingdom to our families according to the flesh? How much, parents, should it compel us to proclaim the good news of the kingdom to your children, and to train them to be doers of God’s Word? And how much more should it cause our love to increase and abound for the members of Jesus’ church. Those who hear the word of God and do it are your eternal brothers and sisters! Do you see them that way? Does the time you spend with them, the place they hold in your prayers, and the space they occupy in your heart reflect that? 

 

The word of Christ has come to us. It spread through the proclamation of Jesus, the proclamation of his apostles, and many more since then who have been set apart to proclaim this word. It spread through the faithful support of many women. Now we have the privilege of hearing it, and with that privilege comes a responsibility to hear it with open, sincere hearts. Not every hearer does that. There are those who hear and remain unchanged by it. There are those who receive it with joy, but in time of testing, they fall away. There are those who receive it, but are so consumed with the cares of this life that they bear no fruit. But there are also those who receive it with a sincere heart, and bear fruit with patience. They are the family of Jesus, and in the end, both their true identity, and the true identity of all those who heard, but did not receive the word, will be revealed. Which are you?