A Listener’s Guide to Preaching (1)

or The Art of Hearing

Cold Hearts, Cold Ears

There are plenty of books on the “who, what, where, why,” and especially how of preaching. The preacher is well-furnished to keep himself busy for a lifetime. But what about the listener? I don’t know of many instructional books for them. Yet Jesus placed a premium on hearing. He said over and over again, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 43; 4:9; Luke 8:8; 14:35; Rev. 2:7, 17) So listening must be important.

Let’s take a moment and look at the nouns “he” and “him” in this text. The pronouns “he” and “him” are possessive of the present active tenses of the verbs “hath” ἀκούω and “let” ἔχω. Now, stay with me here. “He” and “him” either take in or repulse the hearing. That may not mean much to most, but some will find it quite challenging indeed. This means the listener owns their hearing outright as the preaching comes. Some are tempted to react passively to this text, excusing themselves by saying, “Oh, well, if the LORD wants me to hear, He will give me listening ears.” That’s not what the text says. The text does not say, “To whom I give listening ears, let him hear.” Of course, that’s true. It’s also not the Lord’s point. His words are designed to make people own (or reject) what they hear and respond accordingly. We will not shift the burden onto another’s shoulders by blaming God for our lack of hearing. There is no neutral ground for Jesus in this text. We are either doing or not doing, listening or rejecting. Emphasis on the “we.”

Often, we come to public worship feeling cold. Let’s be honest, and for good reason. The past week has been busy, if not lousy. There are intricate problems at home and work; our loose ends are having babies, and the weekend arrived far too quickly. On Sundays, we hurry through our morning breakfast, get ourselves and perhaps several others ready, rush out the door, pile into the car, and drive to church. Upon arrival, we hang up our coats, pick up a bulletin, and quietly settle into our regular pew (if no one’s already in it. The gall!)

Seven minutes to spare? OK, there’s enough time to do some people-watching and bulletin reading. Before you know it, the service has started. That’s the extent of many of our preparations before we listen to the voice of God. We frequently come to worship…cold.

Hearing or Listening?

But if the Lord said, “Be careful to hear,” shouldn’t we be? He actually says, “Let him who has ears to hear.” Ears to hear are different from run-of-the-mill ears. Jesus’ phrase is actually the key to all knowable spiritual mysteries. “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3) In other words, ears to hear are ears that listen. Listening ears hear whispers from the Spirit of God in His Word. They learn mysteries, old and new, truths deep and wide, and thoughts so transcendent that they deserve eternal, worshipful silence.

We might be tempted to walk away from a middling sermon saying to a friend, “Something was missing from the sermon, right?” And there very well might have been. Let’s be honest. The minister could have entered the pulpit with pride. Or fear. The minister could have missed key textual points or low-hanging applications. He may have been distracted in his preaching; he could have some difficulties at home or with his consistory. He may have lost personal fellowship with God for a variety of reasons, or he may have spent too few hours in his study truly pouring over his message. Believe me, the possibilities are endless, I know. And suddenly, we see that, just as there is a difference between hearing and listening, there’s a difference between a sermon and preaching. So yes, it certainly could be the minister.

Anyway, for whatever reason, you tell your friend that in your mind, the sermon was a “D+” to a “C-.” And he usually preaches between a “B-” and a “B+.” Unacceptable! Stop. Now’s the time to pause and ask a personal question. Is it the minister? It could be. We’ve already established that. But it could also be you, the hearer. Which of the minister’s struggles just mentioned does not also apply to you? You see, preaching does not just happen. It’s bidirectional. It’s pouring and filling. Where the Spirit by His Word is being poured into a clay jar (2 Cor. 4:7), out of which all the other vessels are filled. All by the power of His might (1 Cor. 2:4). It’s flat-out miraculous. It’s a mystery proclaiming another mystery (1 Cor 1:21; Rom. 16:25). This is not a preacher holding forth, and we joyfully collect any fragments that fall nearby, like children do candy at a parade. No. Preaching is dinner for two. Any preacher called by God knows this. Preaching is a spiritual conversation between the messenger and the listener, or more accurately, between God and the soul through His Word. And that doesn’t really even capture it. Preaching is, to one degree or another, otherworldly. And if the minister has come prepared and hungry, willing to give to serve with his limited skills, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, each according to their eating (Ex. 16:16), then let the hearer come prepared and hungry. Then they both eat together, the preacher and the congregation. This is most reasonable.

Matthew Henry says of the gospel being heard,

The things of God are of great and common concern: every one that has ears to hear any thing, is concerned to hear this. It intimates, that God requires no more from us but the right use and improvement of the faculties he has already given us. He requires those to hear that have ears, those to use their reason that have reason. Therefore people are ignorant, not because they want power, but because they want will; therefore they do not hear, because, like the deaf adder, they stop their ears.

Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary, Matthew 11:7–15

I don’t think the last part fits our subject because very few come to church with fingers in their ears, so to speak. But then again, Henry’s principle holds true; there is either active or passive listening going on. The responsibility of which lies exclusively with the hearer.

Listening is Investment

We know the difference between hearing and listening. At least, I hope we do. Hearing is the half-zoned-out expression we give to someone talking about uninteresting things. We’re there but not there. That is called passive listening. It’s hearing on some level because when the speaker notices our divided attention (ahem!) and asks, “Are you even listening to me?” we have enough gray matter between our ears to recall their last sentence and perhaps retrace another thought or two. That, however, is not listening. Listening is active hearing. Listening is investment. When someone we care deeply about is talking about the most intimate matters of their being, we’re invested. Especially when it involves us! We become so dialed in on that conversation that everything else becomes white noise. Our mental and emotional energies are focused like a laser on our loved ones’ words. That’s listening. See the difference? There’s no “i” in hear, but there are two in listening.

This means that in worship, the Triune God is speaking to me. He’s asking for my response. This means I should be deeply invested in what He is saying. We need to understand that when the Word is preached, Jesus tells us everything wrong in us, and gloriously right in Him (Col. 1:19) When the Psalms are sung, the Spirit writes our weary hearts in prose, filled with supplication, and we sing it back to Him in praise. (Ps. 57:7; WCF: Chapter 21) When the Word is read, God is both instructing His bride and parleying with sinners, inviting each to His wells of salvation. (Isa. 1:18) In prayer, we commune with the Triune God, the LORD of heaven and earth. Therefore, the whole act of worship is a holy two-way conversation laced with divine music. No wonder Jesus said, “Let him that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15)

We want to remove every passive excuse the natural hearer will use. Only active, full-willed, and disciplined listening will do. When we gather before the throne of grace, we should seek the inner amen and commit to do everything the Holy Spirit prompts us to do through His Word. But that only happens when we arrive focused on Sunday. We must come prepared. Preparation starts on Monday morning. It culminates on the Christian Sabbath, where, God willing, the furrowing blade of the Word has already turned over the crusty soil of our weekly lives. Then, the good seed falls on the good ground. That’s the ground prepared by the LORD. True, the Lord might surprise deaf ears with listening ears someday. But who wants to wait on a might? Who wants to pine away week after week for a surprise that may not come? Dear one, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,” says the LORD. (Ps. 81:10). Friend, we must anticipate and actively listen to what the Lord will say (Rom. 10:17). So there is a lot to learn about the art of hearing. I hope to write much more as time permits.