Here's to ears to hear!

I've heard of ministers who, in order to ensure they keep working and thinking hard, discard of all their old sermons periodically. Sometimes this happens through a computer crash (though with the tendency for using Mac's amongst full-time gospel workers this is obviously decreased). I havn't yet preached enough sermons for this to be an issue but I see that I will need to form some sort of a plan regarding possible sermon destruction in the future.

I'm preaching this Sunday on Luke 8:1-21. And as I rifled through my folder of notes I've taken during sermons, I found this brief reflection I'd written for our supporters letter on Luke 8:4-21.

HERE'S TO EARS TO HEAR! 

I don’t know a lot about farming, but even I can see the farmer Jesus describes in the parable of the sower is quite fortuitous. As the sower randomly scatters the seed, they fall on different surfaces and soils and so grow differently. He plants seed like I clean the toilet – flush a few times and hope for the best. Which explains both why Sarah cleans our bathroom, and the varying results of the farmer’s sowing. But Jesus parable isn’t about farming techniques – it’s all about ears. 

As Jesus concludes the parable he says “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” [8:8]. Each of the four soils represents people who have heard the word of God – yet despite hearing the word, three don’t survive. This is a sober warning for everyone who studies the scriptures, whether privately or corporately. It’s not enough to simply hear the word of God. Rather we must hear God’s word and respond appropriately. As Jesus explains to his disciples “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away” [8:18] 

Take care then HOW you hear. The people in the good soil “are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” [8:15]. It’s not simply enough to hear God’s word – to have the sound waves travel down your ear canal. No, you need to REALLY HEAR the word of God. We must be “those who hear the word of God and do it” [8:21]. 

Are you hearing the word of God? I hope you are. But we must take care how we hear. This explains in part why churches all over the world are filled with apathetic, immature, stagnant Christians. Simply attending church is not enough. Reading the Bible as a purely intellectual exercise is not enough. Listening to a sermon each Sunday is not enough. God’s powerful word must not be repelled by a stubborn heart but rather received with joy and an appropriate response. It doesn’t happen by osmosis, no more than sleeping with lecture notes under your pillow prepares you for an exam. Take care then how you hear. Let's be doers of the word and not hearers only.

In hindsight I would say by the very nature of the form I was writing, my understanding is overly simplistic. I've also changed my mind on the third soil. While it is certainly not a picture of health, their eternal resting place is not made explicit.