Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Take Heed what you Hear
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
The counsel Solomon gives provides specific insight into the evils these people were committing. He says in verse 1, “Draw near to hear.” In verse 2, he advises, “Do not be rash with your mouth,” as well as, “let not your heart utter anything hastily before God” and “let your words be few.” In verse 3, he states, “A fool's voice is known by his many words.” Finally, back in verse 2, he counsels humility, “for God is in heaven, and you on earth.” Whatever they were doing was more serious than it appeared on the surface. His initial counsel involves hearing. Jesus says in Matthew 13:8-9: “But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” He gives the same sobering admonition in Matthew 13:41-43: The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! The first command to hear lies in the Parable of the Sower and the second in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares. Both have the same urgent sense and end with exclamation points, emphasizing urgent seriousness. The instruction on hearing in the Parable of the Sower is quite clear. Consider these factors in what Jesus said: The seed is the Word of God, so what the sower cast was good. In addition, the human soil the seed fell upon was also good. However, one factor is still beyond the sower's power. The soil, that is, the person the seed fell on, has the power to allow or reject the seed's taking root by choosing to listen or not. That singular choice is of particular importance at this point in the parable. The same conclusion is true in verse 43 concerning the hearer choosing the Lake of Fire or the Kingdom of God. When Jesus uses the term “hear,” He means more than just hearing audible sound; we also “hear” as we read His Word. He is thus emphasizing that people have the power to shut off hearing completely even though the Word of God enters their ears or their eyes and He has opened their minds to grasp it. It is the individual's responsibility to hear, consider, and then accept or reject it. Mark 4:23-25 contains the same urgent warning, but he adds an additional truth that is important to us, a second lesson: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” The lesson is that, not only must we first consciously turn on our hearing to be converted, but we must also selectively choose from among all we hear and thoughtfully accept or reject. In others words, we must discipline ourselves to be selective in order to grow, overcome, and glorify God. Why are these elements of our conversion so important? Romans 10:16-17 provides a condensed foundational reason: “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'LORD, who has believed our report?' So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hearing may well be our highest responsibility in our relationship with God because we must live by faith (Hebrews 11:38), and faith begins and is sustained by hearing. Hearing is serious business for the children of God.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Six): Listening
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Luke 8:5-8
His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, and Jesus obliged them by explaining that it had to do with the Kingdom of God. What we see in it are descriptions of four categories of people. In my experience in the church for nearly forty years, each one of these kinds of people has been and is currently in the church. Those in the first group, those by the wayside from whom the Devil steals the Word from their hearts (verse 12), come to church for a short time and never return. A man my wife and I knew from our teenage years showed up one Sabbath. We spoke to him, excited to see someone from our past being called, yet he never came to another service. Many more never make it as far as to darken the church's door. Those in the second category are "the ones on the rock . . . who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away" (Luke 8:13). Some people attend church for quite a while before leaving and not returning. Because they lack roots, they have no real commitment. For many of us, the Sabbath was our first test. If a person has no real commitment—no root, as Jesus puts it—he will probably not give up his job to keep the Sabbath. Such a person ends up falling away. Those in the third category of people concern us the most: "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity" (Luke 8:14). These people start out producing fruit, but somewhere on their journey to the Kingdom, they allow the worries, the riches, and the pleasures of life to distract them, and they stop producing fruit. In other words, their growth in Christ ceases. Finally, the fourth group "are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience" (Luke 8:15). "Patience" translates the Greek word hupomone, which suggests "endurance under extreme provocation." These people continue to follow Christ and grow spiritually despite the trials life throws at them. Just three verses later, Jesus advises: "Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him" (Luke 8:18). The New International Version translates the first sentence as "Consider carefully how you listen." He then links how we listen with rewards and punishments.
Clyde Finklea
Listen Carefully (Part Two)
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