Life Ministries

“A Listening Heart”

 Matthew 13:16-23 and - 1 Samuel 3:1-10

    Eight times in the gospels and eight times in the Book of Revelation, Jesus used the words “let he who has ears, hear what the Spirit is speaking.” Basically, he was saying; “If you have ears, use them!” Physical ears? Yes, but even more so “spiritual ears.” In fact, it is not so much our ears that Jesus is concerned about as much as our “developing a listening heart.”

    There are many ways to interpret and preach the parable of the sower. It’s the story of a farmer who scattered seed (which is symbolic of the Word of God)…and he scattered it in four different types of ground. Most often we think of the ground or the soil as being the condition of the heart, but for our purposes here this morning, let’s think of the soil being our ears!
    Some ears are hard ground and are simply unreceptive to the Word of God. I mean, when these ears are in church, all they hear is “Blah, blah, blah, blah…mumbo, jumbo, bamboozle!” It’s not that they can’t hear, it’s just that their soil is hard, everything bounces off...and they don’t hear anything they can use.
    Some ears are like rocky soil. They have selective hearing. There are only certain things they hear. But, what they do hear, they retain. For instance, you could ask just about anyone - Christian or not - about Noah and they could tell you he built an ark. Ask about Moses - (He was the first one to break the Ten Command-ments. Joke.)  You could ask about Adam and Eve; Daniel in the lion’s den; and all the other well known Bible stories, even the story of the Cross, and they will tell you at least something they know about these because they have heard about them…But, they are just stories which have no root, because the soil is rocky and selective.
    Some have weedy ears…(Most of the ladies immediately think about their husbands)… What kinds of weeds fill our ears? ( TV, News, Gossip, rumors, politics, etc. ) There are too many other things that compete for their hearing and listening pleasure, and so the seed of God’s Word doesn’t have a chance; it gets crowded out by all the weeds.
    And then, there are those who have good ears, receptive ears, attentive ears, ears that are always listening for and ready to act upon God’s voice. His voice may be heard in the singing, the prayers, the message, or the spoken scripture, but wherever and whenever God speaks, they are receptive. They are like Samuel - “Thy servant is listening”…and they can hear God.
   In all four cases, the seed is the same, the sower is the same, what is different is the listeners ear!  And, if the ratio of this story is significant, three out of four were not listening or could not hear…That means 75% are missing the message!     
    How do we develop a listening heart?  First of all, the Philips version of Romans 12:12 says; “Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. When trials come, endure them patiently; steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer”. The habit of prayer! It’s not a hobby…something we do in our spare time…but, a habit. If you look at all the times Jesus went off to pray in scripture, it was always followed by some dramatic or mirac-ulous event. When we are in the habit of prayer, we will develop a listening heart and a listening ear and something may actually happen in our lives!...Let me take that a step further and say that some things may be prevented from happening in our lives…because we are listening!
    James 1:25 says; “The man who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and makes a habit of doing so, will hear and not forget”!…And, “he will be blessed in what he does”!  He is talking about making a habit of spending time in God’s Word.
    There are many who understand this to be true, but give excuse…And, excuses are like skunks, they all stink! I’m just so busy, I always get interrupted, I just can’t seem to stay regular in this…So, rather than spend time with God and develop a listening heart and “good soil” we let others spend time with Him and then think we will benefit from their experience. Isn’t that what we pay the pastor to do? Isn’t that what our S.S. teachers do? Isn’t that why we read books? We want to benefit from someone else’s experience with God.
    I want to challenge you with this thought; “Do we do that with other parts of our lives?” “Vacations are such a hassle, I’m going to send someone else on vacation for me, I’ll pay for it, and then I can hear all about it when they come back”???  I’m in love with that person, but I’m so busy, I’ll let someone else romance her, then he can tell me what it’s like, and someday I’ll marry her”???  Or, how about; “Chewing is so much trouble, I’ll let someone else chew my food, and then I’ll just swallow whatever he gives me”??? That’s just gross!  If we would never do that for anything else, why would we do it with God?  God wants to speak to us first-hand! And, He wants us to develop a listening ear.
    These two habits of prayer and bible reading go hand in hand. We need to pray for understanding and enlightenment before we read…and after we read. The Bible is not a newspaper to be skimmed through, it is a mine that contains precious gold and silver that needs to be quarried out. Prov. 2:4 says that insight and understanding and wisdom will come if “you search for it like silver and hunt for it like hidden treasure”…. “Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
    If you want to know someone who developed a listening ear and heart for God, just read about the rest of Samuel’s life.  This is a lot to think about, but I want you to take this thought with you today; “A listening heart is something that needs to be developed”. It is soil that needs to cultivated. It is something we must do firsthand!