The Way to Listen & Live

That business failed. Marriage hit the rocks. Instead of a promotion, a demotion arrived in the form of a pink slip.

Their investments tanked. And when they realized that Jesus wasn't the tooth fairy, they began to think, you know, maybe I signed up for something I don't want. That's the point they did, because they were given an imitation Christianity. And when the real thing becomes realized, they come to the recognition, this is not what I signed up for. Have you ever had a time when you were talking to someone, but you didn't feel like you were being heard?

I'm pretty confident that most people can relate to that experience. Listening to the words and comprehending the meaning of those words are two very different things. Many times Jesus was heard without being understood.

As he gave a sermon in Luke 8 to a large audience, he continually returned to the same theme. Do you really hear me? This is wisdom for the heart. Today, Stephen Davey has a message for you called, The Way to Listen and Live.

I was sent this by someone in the congregation many years ago. They evidently thought it was funny. The three friends decided to go deer hunting one beautiful November afternoon, a lawyer, a doctor, and a pastor.

At that point, I'm not sure I want to continue reading, but I do. As they're walking in the woods, suddenly along came a large buck. It froze. All three men simultaneously raised their rifles, and all three fired at the exact same time. Immediately, the buck dropped to the ground.

All three men ran over. Sure enough, it was dead. Trouble was they couldn't determine whose shot had actually killed the deer, and each of them were convinced they had brought it down. After a few minutes, a game warden came by, and they introduced themselves to him, told him what had happened, and then asked him to help them decide who the winner was. The officer said, sure, let me take a look. He bent down, and after just a few seconds, stood back up and said, the preacher shot this buck. The preacher, they said, how can he be so sure? The officer said, easy.

The bullet went in one ear and out the other. Very funny, yeah. It is, actually.

It's actually a legitimate problem, isn't it? Well, not in here. You hang on every word. Amen?

Yeah, thank you. I heard one. It's a problem of human nature. We can appear to be listening, but not really hearing. If you're a mom, if you're a husband, if you're a pastor, a Bible teacher, and you found yourself asking the question, are you really listening to me? Has it occurred to you that that's exactly the question Jesus often asked his audience as he preached? We're going to find that to be true today because the main idea here in his sermon that he's about to deliver is to really listen and not let it go in one ear and out the other. Let me show you Luke's Gospel.

We're in chapter 8 again. While you're turning to Luke's Gospel account, I'll tell you that Mark's Gospel account of the same event informs us that the crowd was so large. They had come from all these towns that Jesus gets in a boat again and sort of pushes off a few feet and uses that boat as his pulpit. Many scholars that I researched said that this is probably the largest audience to whom he will speak. In his message, hearing and listening is the main idea. In fact, nine different times you'll find in these 18 verses the word hear or heard.

You might circle the first one. It's in verse 8. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Then the last one down at the end, verse 21, my mother and my brothers are those who hear, there it is again, the word. Now you'll notice here in verse 4 that Jesus delivers to them a parable. Notice Luke writes, and when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said or he spoke a parable.

By the way, this is the third time in our study through Luke, and I'm not really paused at this point, but this is the third time Jesus uses this method of preaching. He tells a story. I could define a parable for you this way. A parable is a natural story, common ordinary story, delivering a spiritual principle. Now, let's listen to his parable in verse 5. The sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it, and some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture.

Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it, and some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. That verb to hear in the original language is in the imperfect tense, which means he's repeating this expression.

So get this idea in your mind. As he's delivering this story, he's calling out, and you might imagine him as I do, after each soil, calling out and basically saying, are you hearing what I'm saying? And then he gives us another soil. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Or is this going in one ear and out the other?

Are you really listening? We'll call the first soil the footpath. Again, verse 5, the middle part, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.

Common illustration field in this day. It's planted by a farmer. He has a sack around his waist or over his shoulder, and he reaches in, and he grabs seed, and he scatters it in a semi-circle pattern as he walks through his field. The second kind of soil mentioned by the Lord we'll call the rocky place. Notice verse 6, and some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. This is not a field with many rocks.

It's not the idea. This is a base of rock, probably limestone, several inches below the top of the soil that wasn't plowed up. That plow would dig down about eight inches. This was below that, and so the seed wasn't able to develop because it would dry out because of the rock underneath. We'll call the third soil described here in verse 7 the briar patch, and some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.

In other words, there's just too much competition. Finally, you have the fourth soil we'll call the fertile plot, and some seed fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold, and that's ten times the norm. Now the Lord's audience would have immediately, and this is the purpose of apparel, identified with losing seed along the footpath. They would have understood the wilting plants in the rocky place.

They would have understood the growth of thorns and weeds in the briar patch, and they would have understood the bounty in this fertile plot. Now Jesus' disciples ask him what this parable means. They know that a parable has a point, and they want to know what it is. So Jesus responds to them here in verse 10, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But for others, they are in parables so that seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand. Now Jesus is quoting from Isaiah chapter 6, where the people under Isaiah's preaching didn't hear the truth, not because they couldn't, but because they wouldn't.

They didn't see with spiritual understanding, not because they weren't able, but because they weren't interested. What they wanted was another sign here with the Lord. They're gathering from all these towns, and they want another sign. They want another miraculous happy meal with leftovers. They want another power demonstration that they can go home and tell everybody, we saw them do it.

We were there when he did it. But the disciples, they want to understand what Jesus is saying, the word of God. And Jesus then gives them, because they want to know, what I think are four different ways to listen.

He begins to unwrap the package now in verse 11. Notice, now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God.

The ones along the footpath are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. In other words, these people are listening without believing. They're listening without believing. Now, at first glance of this text, it might look like it's all the devil's fault. Well, they could have, they would have, but the devil, that devil, he took it away. Now, what Jesus is doing here is actually pulling back the curtain on this unseen battle waging to this very day against the truth.

It's represented here as the seed of truth of the gospel. These people don't want to believe and their hearts are hardened. That's their part. But what they don't understand is that the devil is doing everything he can do to keep them that way.

I've talked to hundreds of people like this over the years. They mouth what they think is an original thought. They're convinced of it, their opinion. They're convinced.

And it's really nothing more than old lies from the father of lies who's helping them out. God isn't going to judge anybody. Everybody's going to go to heaven in their own way. The Bible is only one holy book among others. Jesus never said he was God.

I'm a scientist. He can't expect me to believe in creation or resurrection. Christianity is, you know, out of date.

It's got to change with the times. There's no such thing as sin. What's right for me is right and you have no right to tell me I'm not right. Sound familiar? They're firing those arguments, but what they don't know is that according to Jesus' parable, the devil is providing ammunition. He's essentially saying, you're right. Yeah, you're right.

That's right. So you need to understand, if you are listening to me today and you do not believe the gospel, you need to understand you are not the only person involved in your unbelief. Now, when Jesus begins to explain the second way to listen, we'll call this the rocky place again, these people are listening without understanding. Jesus says in verse 13, and the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy.

But these have no root. They believe for a while in a time of testing, fall away. I mean, it was great at first.

It was exciting. They might have even joined the church. But then the excitement wore off and the thrill wasn't as thrilling. Christianity started looking more like spiritual disciplines rather than financial promotions. Somebody might have told them that Jesus would fix their medical records and fill up their bank account. Maybe somebody told them that God had a wonderful plan for their life and then it didn't turn out so wonderful.

Jesus says here, testing, a time of testing. The hot sun beat down on them with trials and disappointments and pressures and troubles. That business failed. Marriage hit the rocks. Good friends moved away.

Instead of a promotion, a demotion arrived in the form of a pink slip. Their health got worse. Their investments tanked.

Their difficulties just kind of multiplied. When they realized that Jesus wasn't the tooth fairy, they began to think, maybe I signed up for something I don't want. That's the point they did because they were given an imitation Christianity.

When the real thing becomes realized, they come to the recognition this is not what I signed up for. They didn't lose their salvation when they walk away. They never believed in the real savior to begin with. See, they listened without understanding. Jesus now describes what we'll call the briar patch again.

These people are listening without maturing. Now, I think it's possible that these two soils, these last two soils represent believers. If you look closely, the first two soils are clearly described as unbelievers. They don't believe, verse 12, and are saved. Verse 13, they believe for a while and then leave it all behind. But these last two are actually contrasted with each other. The briar patch person here at the end of verse 14 has fruit, but it doesn't mature.

And then the fertile plot person has fruit, same Greek word, but that fruit is maturing, and I think that's the difference. Now, let's go back to verse 14. Now, I know I'm going fast. I'm covering 18 verses today.

Consider that an early Christmas present to you. But I'm actually doing it because I want to keep the theme together because Jesus' main idea here is hearing. And we're going to hear it all the way to the end of that last verse I mentioned. Now, verse 14. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and their fruit does not mature. The word for care, you could understand it to be responsibilities. Consequences are possessions.

Pleasures are ordinary delights. By the way, none of these are cast here in this text in a negative or a sinful light because in and of themselves, they aren't sinful. The only negative thing we're given regarding these individuals is that they're living with a life that's got competition going on. And it's competition that keeps them from maturing with spiritual fruit. This really kind of echoes Paul's command, doesn't it? To submit to the Spirit and bear fruit by means of that submission to the Spirit and that fruit then that shows up and matures is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Galatians 5, 22 and 23. But these people in the briar patch are distracted. They're chasing so many good things, the better things are being ignored. Is it possible for that to be a Christian?

Oh, it sure is. In other words, the briar patch can become the believer's life that becomes so crowded with things that the things of God get crowded out. They're effectively saying to God, I'm listening, but you need to hurry.

I don't have much time. That kind of distracted life is now contrasted with the fourth and final way to listen. We're calling this the fertile plot. These are individuals who are listening without demanding. Verse 15 reads, as for that of the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience, no demands, just open, willing, trusting hearts. This is the attitude in the hearts of a couple who called me from another city up north. They'd been led to Christ a few years ago by a retired couple in our church who noticed this younger couple in their apartment complex and began to witness to them and led them to Christ and then began to meet with them to disciple them. They'd invited me over one afternoon and they were teaching them not just the scriptures, but they had a hymnal. They were teaching them hymns of the church. They eventually moved away.

This young couple, he's now in a teaching position in the university. They have endured over a year of cancer treatments for their two-year-old son. And three weeks ago, they had been given the news that they had around one week left with their little boy before he died. I didn't detect bitterness, tears certainly. They were clinging to the word of God.

And such maturity at a young age in the faith. And then a couple of days ago as I'm studying this passage, they called again three weeks after that warning that they really only had a week, perhaps a little more left. A new experimental drug had unexpectedly been offered to them. And it was surprisingly bringing some positive results, just the faintest glimmer of hope.

No guarantees, no promises, no miracle cure, just a few more days, a few more weeks, perhaps even remission. He told me over the phone this, he said, we are clinging to the word of God and he's teaching us patience. And I'm reading this verse.

This is a heart that is fertile soil. Now, Luke doesn't break the narrative between verses 15 and 16, probably because Jesus didn't. Jesus is describing a maturing Christian, a Christian as a listener who matures. And now he just segues right into describing Christians as lamps who are lit. Notice verse 16, no one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

Now notice, take care then how you hear. For the one who has light, that is, more will be given. They want the light, they'll be given more insight. From the one who has not, that's the one who really doesn't want it anyway, well, what little they have and light's going to be taken away eventually.

That's the point. So the Christian here is someone who is truly hearing the word and proving it by shining the light. We're no longer in the dark, we're in the light, but we don't just sit around and say, hey, look at us, we're in the light. Well, we got the light.

That's not his challenge here. We shine it. We show it. Again, there is no break between verses 18 and 19. The conjunction in the original language ties them together. In fact, I believe it gives us the final statement of his theme, the main idea of truly listening to the word of God. Look at verse 18, then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd and he was told, your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you. They want to see you.

Well, what's wrong with that? Well, I need to interject that in Mark's Gospel, we're told that they have come to basically take Jesus aside because they think he's lost his mind. His half-brothers, born to Mary and Joseph after Jesus' virgin birth, are actually named in other New Testament accounts. One of them is James, who becomes the pastor teacher in the church at Jerusalem. He's also the one who writes the book we call the Book of James.

Another half-brother is Jude, who writes that little letter you bump into just before you get to Revelation. None of them right now at this point believe the claims of Jesus. It's not going to happen until after the resurrection. Now we're told here by Luke that Mary is with them, so this isn't some kind of hostile thing. This is born out of concern that Jesus needs some rest. He's going a little too far, which also is really an insight into Mary's own understanding of Jesus, which is developing as well. Now I don't want you to misunderstand here this text, Jesus doesn't renounce his family ties. He's not saying family isn't important. He's merely pointing to the reality of a family whose relationship is actually on a different, one author says higher, we could certainly say eternal, plain. Notice verse 21, but he answered them, my mother and my brothers are those who hear, there it is again, who hear the word of God and do it. They're my family.

It's always as if he says, like we'd say in the south, they're my kind of people. They're developing the fruit of the spirit. They're shining the light of the gospel and they're giving a priority as members to the family of God that I believe is this point is the right way to listen, which is evidenced by the right way to live. This lesson is called the way to listen and live here on wisdom for the heart.

We hope it was a blessing to you. We'd really enjoy hearing from you and learning how God's using this ministry to build you up in the faith. Please take a few moments and drop us a note. Our mailing address is wisdom international P O box three seven two nine seven Raleigh, North Carolina, two seven six two seven.

Let me give you that again. You can write to us at wisdom international P O box three seven two nine seven Raleigh, North Carolina, two seven six two seven. And finally, let me give you our phone number. If we can help you in any way, dial eight six six forty eight Bible. That's eight six six forty eight Bible. Thanks again for joining us. Make plans to join us next time for more wisdom for the hearts.