Jesus said it again and again, in slightly different words each time: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” He repeated it so often that it is fair to ask whether He meant something by it. All of us have ears. Very few of us have trained them. Anyone who has ever told a parent “yes, I heard you” while hearing nothing at all knows the difference between catching a sound and actually listening. And a sermon can be heard without ever being listened to.
That gap is worth closing, because it is the difference between a lesson that lingers for an afternoon and one that changes the direction of a life. There is a way to receive God’s Word that gets everything out of it, and it has four parts.
Four Steps for Getting Everything Out of a Lesson
- Listen. “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). The Bereans “received the word with all readiness of mind” (Acts 17:11) — they came ready. Jesus warned that some hear and never understand because they were not really paying attention (Matthew 13). Come prepared to learn. Take notes, follow along in the text, write down your questions and go ask someone afterward.
- Examine. Those same Bereans “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Do that with anything you hear, including from a preacher. Ask two questions: Is what was said true? And does what I already believe line up with Scripture? Jesus told the Sadducees plainly, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). We can be badly wrong about things we are certain of. Paul warns that smooth words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple (Romans 16:18), and that a man can deceive himself right up until he is willing to be examined (1 Corinthians 3:18). Check it out for yourself.
- Meditate. Once you have listened and examined, dwell on it. “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways” (Psalm 119:15). Paul told Timothy to “meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them” (1 Timothy 4:15). A cow chewing its cud is not a flattering picture, but it is an honest one — the nourishment comes from working the thing over and over rather than swallowing it whole. Deuteronomy 6 says the same thing more warmly: talk of these words when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Write a verse on a sticky note and put it on the refrigerator, the bathroom mirror, the dash of the truck. Surround yourself with it. Text it back and forth. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).
- Apply. Then do it. “Now therefore perform the doing of it” (2 Corinthians 8:11). Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22). Action is what separates a lesson that helped from a lesson that merely happened.
The Man Who Got the First Three Wrong
A man once ran up to Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life — the very question every one of us would ask if we had the chance. Jesus loved him, and told him the one thing he lacked. And he went away sorrowful, because he had great possessions (Mark 10:17-22).
Notice where he actually failed. It was not in that moment. It was every earlier lesson on covetousness he heard and did not listen to, examined and did not compare against his own heart, and never once dwelt on. By the time he stood in front of Jesus, the outcome was already set. What he gave up for those possessions was heaven itself, in exchange for a life that was fleeting anyway.
A Call to Respond
The thing you love most in this life has to be laid down at the feet of Jesus. That is the fight — the discipline to listen, to examine, to meditate, and then to do. And whatever it takes to do it is worth doing. If you need to go to the elders and ask for help, go. If you need to come before this congregation and ask for strength, come.
The invitation offered at the end of every service is not from a preacher and not really from a congregation. It is from Jesus, who said, “Come unto me.” If you are struggling, if you feel like you have no hope, if you know you are not living the way you ought to live — come. Come humble, and He will draw near.