Hearing The Word | Christian Disciples #2

Read Matthew 4:1-4

In our study of the Christian disciplines, the Bible’s place in our lives must come first. Bible intake describes the various ways in which God’s Word is absorbed by our hearts.

The temptation of Jesus shows just how essential God’s Word is for God’s people.

This passages points back to the original temptation for man. In the garden, the fall began when God’s original couple valued food over God’s Word. Moses had told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:3 that man must treasure God’s Word above all else: man doesn’t live by bread only, but ultimately man lives by knowing what God says and acting on it.

Jesus, the perfect human who always only obeyed his father, quotes this statement from the Old Testament in response to Satan. The point? To be rightly oriented to God, to obey God, we must value his Word more than anything else.

In the Bible, no Christian discipline can come before this one.

The reasons for this are obvious:

1) It is by his Word that we know who God is, for what purpose He made us, and his attitude toward sin.

2) It is by God speaking through Scripture that we can learn of Christ and his redemption for us.

3) It is through the Bible that we know God’s final plans: to put an end to all sin and his receive people to himself forever.

4) And it is by these Scriptures that we know how to live for God and to please him in the meantime.

There is no spiritual health without Bible intake. We will never be disciplined as a Christian without a heavy dose of God’s Word into our minds.

Remember, the Christian disciplines are the key to godliness. I Timothy 4:7-8

7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

If we want to be godly (and that is what the disciplines are all about) then we must know the Word of God intimately.

What does Bible intake consist of? Like a university is made up of different colleges, the discipline of Bible intake is composed of several sub-disciplines: hearing, reading, studying, meditating, and memorizing. This week, we are just focusing on one: hearing God’s Word.

Perhaps the most obvious way to bring the Bible into your life is simply to hear it. The importance of hearing God’s Word is emphasized throughout Scripture.

In Luke 11:28, Jesus said to his listeners “…Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” Paul writes in Romans 10:17 that “…faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

But wait, is this really a spiritual discipline? Isn’t hearing passive? Aren’t disciplines things that take effort and concentration? Yes, disciplines are active. And the kind of hearing Jesus demands of his followers takes just as much effort as prayer or fasting or anything else. That’s why his teaching often included the phrase “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus is not suggesting that this hearing is merely the event that occurs when sound waves enter the side of someone’s head. Evidently not everyone that heard what Jesus was saying was actually listening.

So how do we hear God’s Word? We hear it directly by hearing it read, and indirectly by hearing it taught and preached.

I. Hearing the Word, Directly

The direct hearing of Scripture takes place most often in two avenues: the home and the worship service.

God’s people are expected to have the written Word read aloud in the household.

Read Deuteronomy 6:4-7. You may object that this command, in its context, refers to the families under the old covenant reading the law. That is true. But is that an excuse to avoid reading the Scriptures as a family?

In Ephesians 5, Paul speaks of Christ’s love for the church. How did Jesus love the church at Ephesus? With sacrifice and sanctification: he washed her with the water of the Word. And Paul says husbands should love their wives like that. A husband should be concerned about our wife’s sanctification.

Even more than that, according to those verses, we have a responsibility to help our wife’s walk with God toward holiness. If that’s the case, it is essential that the reading of God’s Word plays a role in our marriages.

In the next chapter, Paul says children are to be raised in the Lord’s nurture and admonition. Is it possible for a father to do this without the children ever hearing from the Bible?

Yes, Deuteronomy 6 refers to the reading of the law. We have even more Scripture now than they did: should Christians read it less in the home?

The direct hearing of Scripture also takes place in the corporate worship of the church.

At Eastside, the public reading of Scripture typically occurs at the beginning of the sermon. This reading is not just convenient, but biblical. Read 1 Timothy 4:11-13. The context here does not refer to Timothy’s private reading, but his public reading. Paul is talking about the things the young preacher must do in public despite the fact that some people do not really look up to him. Timothy is to read the Scripture to his people, exhort them in how to live, and teach them what the believe. Listening to the Scripture during the sermon is a Christian discipline. It is not filler time before the preacher gets to the “real part” of the message. It is listening to God.

II. Hearing the Word, Indirectly

The indirect hearing of the Bible takes place when we listen to it being taught or preached.

Ephesians 4:12 tells us that those that handle the Word of God have been gifted to do so to build up the church. Part of your sanctification involves listening to the explanation and proclamation of God’s Word.

We often hear of the need for expositional preaching. That is a great need in our day! But do you know what churches need just as much? Expositional listening. People need to come to church prepared to carefully handle the Bible that is being preached to them. How can we do this well? How can we be expositional listeners?

Attend church. This is a little obvious. But you will never benefit from preaching if you don’t take scheduling worship seriously. Make hearing God’s Word a priority. Work, sickness and other responsibilities often prevent us from attending every single service, but we should never miss church out of laziness or lack of will. And when we come, remember that the worship service exists to commune with God, not just so you can interact with others.

Be familiar with the series being preached. Sequential exposition is typically performed by preaching through large passages or entire books. This is what we often do at Eastside, and it is a tradition for which we should be thankful. In a few weeks I’m going to begin a study in the book of James on Sunday nights. Just an idea: if you want to catch up on James, get a study Bible and read the introduction to James. If you don’t retain a lot of it, read it again. That gives you context. And then, read through James in your own personal time.

Get sleep. A no-brainer? Perhaps. But it is one we ignore. If Sunday is the Lord’s Day, we shouldn’t cram all the things we want to get done on Saturday into the wee hours of Sunday morning. If you don’t sleep in on Saturday, it will be harder to stay up Saturday night.

Talk about the sermon with others. I’m not referring here to the traditional Baptist practice of roasting the pastor. We should talk about the sermons from God’s Word so we don’t forget them: so we don’t forget how they impacted us, how they addressed areas in our lives that need to be changed. Return to the Altar ministry.

Apply the sermon during the week. Ask yourself, “How can I obey the truth that I have just heard?” If God shows you an area in which you need to move toward greater godliness, then you may be moved to pray at the end of the service. This is a good thing. But don’t assume that just because you prayed that you will faithfully obey during the week. Keep evaluating the areas about which you have been convicted.

Conclusion

We need Bible intake. And one of the ways we get it is by hearing the Word. We do this directly by hearing Scripture, and indirectly by hearing Scripture explained and proclaimed. There is a great example in Scripture of what happens when both kinds of hearing are woven together.

Read Nehemiah 8:1-12.

When we hear God’s Word and respond in obedience, God changes us into the people he wants us to be.

Application:

Do you take seriously the responsibility of hearing the Word being read in church, or have you neglected this?

Do you prepare your heart to listen to Bible preaching?

Do you put as much effort in preparing to hear God’s Word as you do an important meeting or phone call?

Do you treasure the Word like the people in Nehemiah’s day?