Introduction:
A. The story is told of an elderly man who stopped at a hearing aid clinic and asked about their prices.
1. The salesman said, “Well, our prices range from $25,000 all the way down to $1.50.”
2. “Wow, that’s quite a range,” said the customer, “What is the $25,000 model like?”
3. The salesman held up the hearing aid and said, “The sound is perfect and it also translates three languages.”
4. The customer said, “Very impressive. What about the one for $1.50?”
5. The salesman said, “It is a button attached to a string,” as he pushed a sample across the counter.
6. “How does it work?” asked the customer.
7. The salesman answered, “You put the button in your ear, and the string in your pocket, and you’ll be surprised how loudly people talk to you.”
8. Some of us do have problems with our hearing, and it helps when people talk more loudly, but sometimes our hearing problems are of another nature.
B. The well-known Broadway producer, Jed Harris, once became convinced that he was losing his hearing.
1. So he visited a hearing specialist who tested his hearing in an interesting manner.
2. The specialist pulled out a gold pocket watch and asked, “Can you hear this ticking?”
a. “Of course,” Harris replied.
3. The specialist then walked over to the door and asked the same question, “Can you hear this ticking?”
a. Harris concentrated and said, “Yes, I can hear it clearly.”
4. Then the doctor walked into the next room and repeated the question a third time.
a. A third time Harris said that he could hear the ticking.
5. “Mr. Harris,” the doctor concluded, “there is nothing wrong with your hearing, there is only a problem with your listening.”
6. How clearly does that describe you? “There is nothing wrong with your hearing, but there is a problem with your listening!”
C. Today we return to our Wholly Devoted Series.
1. We are exploring how to be wholly devoted to God with all that we are and all that we have.
2. The two verses that have provided our launching point are Mark 12:30 and Rom. 6:13.
a. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)
b. “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:13).
3. So far in our series, we have explored what it means to have:
a. A wholly devoted mind.
b. A wholly devoted heart.
c. A wholly devoted tongue.
d. And wholly devoted eyes.
4. Today we want to explore what it means to have wholly devoted ears.
I. The Spiritual Importance of Our Ears
A. I’m guessing that you have never given much thought to the spiritual importance of your ears, right?
1. Most of us don’t spend too much time thinking about our ears at all.
2. Some people might think their ears are too big, or too small, or that they have a funny shape.
3. Others only think about ears when they are looking into having them pierced.
4. I really don’t like the new fad of having ear gages that make the hole in the ear lobe bigger and bigger.
5. I know I’m getting older because I have to spend some time trimming the hairs in my ears – I know that’s “TMI” – too much information!
B. But what does the Bible have to say about our ears?
1. The word “ear” or “ears” appears 56 times in the Bible.
2. The words “hear, hears, heard, hearers, and hearing” appear over 1000 times in the Bible.
3. And the words “listen, listened and listening” appear 87 times.
4. So you can see that the concept and importance of hearing is stressed in Scripture.
C. Repeatedly throughout Scripture, we hear God telling His people to “Listen to Me!”
1. One of the best known Scriptures from the Old Testament says: These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deut. 6:1-7)
a. Notice the way that talking about God’s commands and hearing them is stressed in those verses.
b. Did you notice also the way that we will be blessed by hearing and obeying God’s commands?
2. Look at what God says in Isaiah 55:2-3: Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.
a. Notice again the command to listen to God and the blessings that come when we do.
D. In the book of Proverbs, Solomon had a lot to say to his children about listening.
1. “Let the wise listen and add to their learning…” (Pr. 1:5).
2. “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” (Pr. 1:8).
3. “Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many.” (Pr. 4:10).
4. “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” (Pr. 19:20).
5. “He who answers before listening— that is his folly and his shame.” (Pr. 18:13).
6. There is a lot of wisdom in those verses! Listening leads to wisdom and the wise listen.
E. When we turn to the New Testament, we also see the spiritual importance of our ears.
1. Many times when Jesus taught, he concluded with the words, “He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt. 11:15; 13:9)
a. What does that mean?
b. Everyone has ears, but not everyone is listening.
c. Jesus was stressing the importance of listening and the importance of giving consideration to the things being taught.
2. The book of Revelation echoes the same words: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev. 2:11)
3. Rev. 1:3 says: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophesy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”
4. Jesus also said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn. 10:27)
a. That is a wonderful illustration. Sheep only hear and obey the command of their shepherd. Sheep can recognize their shepherd’s voice over against all the other voices.
b. That is an important lesson and skill for us to learn.
5. Also in the NT, James wrote: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…” (James 1:19).
6. So, you can see that both the Old Testament and the New Testament have a lot to say about the spiritual importance of our ears.
F. Let me share a biblical story that highlights the spiritual importance of our ears.
1. It is the story of something that occurred to Samuel the prophet when he was just a boy.
2. He had been left by his parents in the care of Eli the prophet that he might be raised in the house of the Lord as a servant of the Lord.
3. One night the young boy Samuel was asleep in the temple of God near the ark of God.
4. Samuel heard someone call his name and went to Eli and asked what he wanted.
a. Eli sent him back to bed saying that he had not called him.
5. Again Samuel heard someone call his name and went to Eli to ask what he wanted.
a. Again Eli sent him back to bed saying that he had not called him.
6. A third time Samuel heard someone call his name and went to Eli.
a. This time Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy.
b. So Eli told Samuel to go back and lie down and if God called him again, he should say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”
c. That is exactly what happened and the Lord spoke to Samuel. (1 Sam. 3:10)
7. This is a great model for us in our relationship with God – our attitude should always be, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”
II. How to Have Wholly Devoted Ears
A. Let’s spend some time talking about how to have wholly devoted ears.
1. Just like with all the parts of our body – there are good and bad ways to use that part.
2. If we are going to be wholly devoted to God then we need to learn how to use our ears in good ways and avoid the bad ways.
3. So let’s look at three ways to wholly devote our ears.
B. First of all, having wholly devoted ears means that we listen to God.
1. How do we listen to God? How does God speak to us?
a. Sometimes God speaks to us through that still small voice of the Holy Spirit inside us.
b. Sometimes God speaks to us through our memories and our dreams.
c. Sometimes God speaks to us through people in our lives.
1. Those people might be our parents, our mate, our friends, or our spiritual leaders.
2. God might even use a stranger to speak to us or a donkey, like with Balaam.
d. Most of the time, however, God speaks to us through His Word.
2. Ultimately, we know it is God speaking to us when what is being said lines up with God’s Word.
a. So, whether the message is coming through the still small voice, a dream, or a friend, we must compare the message with the written message, if it doesn’t line up with the Word of God, then it is not from God.
3. One of our biggest struggles is the fact that we often only want to hear what we want to hear.
a. Therefore, we imagine that the voice within us is God’s voice, because it is telling us what we want to hear.
b. Or we only ask advice from those we know will tell us what we want to hear.
4. There is a great story in the Old Testament that illustrates this point (1 Kings 22).
a. King Ahab of Israel wanted King Jehoshaphat of Judah to help him go to war.
b. Jehoshaphat said that they should first inquire of God.
c. So Ahab brought out 400 prophets who would say what he wanted to hear.
d. Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”
e. Ahab answered that there was one prophet of the Lord, but that he never prophesies anything good about me, only bad.
f. So they called the prophet in and he predicted that Ahab would die in battle – and Ahab said, “See, he never says anything good about me.”
g. They went to war anyhow and Ahab died in battle even though he was disguised, just as the prophet had said.
5. When the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, he predicted: For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
a. That time is certainly here and we don’t want to be those kind of people.
b. Today a person can find a church that will tell them what they want to hear about any doctrinal or moral question.
6. We need to have the kind of heart that wants to hear what God says even if it is hard to hear.
7. We want to truly hear God’s voice and that’s why it is so important that we are present for worship and Bible study.
a. And that’s why it is so important that we daily spend time in God’s Word.
b. Christian pollster, George Barna, discovered that in any given week 37% of American Christians read their Bible, but 85% pray.
c. So it sounds like we have a lot to say to God, but that we are not taking time to listen to Him speak to us through His Word.
8. Sometimes I wonder if God is like the guy in the Verizon cellphone adds saying, “Can you hear me now?”
a. The problem with our hearing God has nothing to do with the carrier and has everything to do with the receiver.
b. God’s signals are loud and clear, but we are not always listening.
9. So the first aspect of having wholly devoted ears is to learn to listen to God.
C. Second, having wholly devoted ears means that we listen to others.
1. Good relationships are built on communication and good communication involves both speaking and listening.
2. Sometimes I think we listen to others like the person in this cartoon. (I’m guilty, you can ask Diana!)
a. Good listening requires our full attention – we need to put down the paper, or turn off the TV and really listen.
b. It also helps to communicate if you are in the same room – it is hard to communicate if we are in separate rooms.
3. Good listening is the key to communication and relationships.
a. Unfortunately, more often than not, we want to talk rather than listen.
b. For five years, the adult education department of Minneapolis Public Schools offered two courses of speech and one course in listening each term.
1. The speech courses were always filled, but the listening courses were never even held because in the five years it was offered only two students wanted to take the course on listening!
2. Everyone wanted to learn how to speak and no one wanted to learn how to listen!
3. Most people are not good listeners, because they are too busy thinking of what they will say next.
4. In contrast to that, listening is a great way to show love and respect.
a. Listening to others is one of the best ways we can serve others.
b. How true it is that “all people want is someone to listen.” Every person we cross paths with needs to have someone to listen.
c. And it is also true that “Sometimes it is better to lend an ear than a hand.”
5. Listening to others is also a great way not only to learn about them but to learn many things.
a. Someone said, “Listening is the way to gain wisdom, because everything you say, you already know, but if you listen, you may learn something.”
6. So having wholly devoted ears means using our ears to listen to others.
D. Finally, having wholly devoted ears means listening only to what is good.
1. We often talk about garbage in - garbage out.
a. That is true with our eyes and with our ears.
b. So far in this series we have been challenged to “speak no evil, see no evil, and hear no evil” - that’s part of what it means to have wholly devoted eyes, ears and tongues.
2. Striving to hear no evil must include the music we listen to and the programs we listen to.
a. Certainly it includes the company we keep – if all our friends use is foul language, and they won’t restrain themselves when you are with them, even though you have asked them to, then maybe we need to find some new friends.
b. I know that this can especially be difficult in certain work environments where it is forced upon you – unfortunately, in some of those settings there is not a lot that you can do.
3. Additionally, only listening to what is good means that we avoid listening to other kinds of inappropriate talk like gossip, slander, and filthy stories.
4. It is important that we guard our ears from this kind of evil, for what goes into our ears, ends up in our hearts and minds and then ends up coming out of our mouths.
5. So, if our lives are going to be wholly devoted to God then our ears need to be listening only to what is good.
Conclusion:
A. I want to end with the amazing true story of Erik Wiehenmayer (Way-in-mayor).
1. At 44 years old, Erik is an amazing athlete who loves to skydive, snow ski and mountain climb.
2. Mountain climbing is his specialty. As a matter of fact, he was one of the youngest to climb all of the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each of the 7 continents.
3. He completed the last of the 7 summits 10 years ago in September of 2002.
a. On May 25, 2001, he reached the summit of Mount Everest, a peak that 90% of those who begin to climb never finish.
b. Since 1953, 219 people have died trying to climb Everest, but Erik made it.
4. Now that is an extremely significant feat, but you don’t know the half of it.
5. Weihenmayer suffers from a degenerative eye disease, and when he was 13 he became totally blind.
6. All of his climbs have been without the benefit of his eyesight.
7. Weihenmayer is a blind mountain-climber!
8. Now you have to ask yourself, “How is that possible? How can a guy who can’t see climb the highest peaks in the world?”
9. If you ask him, he’ll tell you. He has learned to listen well.
a. He listens as a bell tied to the back of the climber in front of him shows him which way to go.
b. He listens to his climbing partners who shout back to him, “Death fall two feet to your
right!” so he knows what direction not to go.
c. He listens to the sound of his pick jabbing the ice, so he knows whether his footing will
be secure or not.
10. For Erik Weihenmayer, being a good listener is a matter of life and death.
11. Like him, we need to be listening as if our life depends on it, because it does!
B. May God help us to have wholly devoted ears.
1. Ears devoted to listening to God.
2. Ears devoted to listening to others.
3. Ears devoted to listening to only what is good.
C. Let’s end with Scripture:
1. “He who has ears, let him hear” (Mt. 11:15).
2. “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Lk. 11:28).
3. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion” (Heb. 3:15).
D. What is God trying to say to you today?
1. Is God saying, “I love you!” Will you hear and believe?
2. Is God saying, “Repent and turn to me?” Will you hear and obey?
3. Is God saying, “Have I got a job for you!” Will you hear and answer the call?
E. Let’s be wholly devoted to God by having wholly devoted ears.
Resources:
Extreme Makeover: Big Ears, Sermon by Steven Dow, SermonCentral.com.
