Hearing the word of God Luke 8:16-18
Luke 8:19-21
Does anyone else here, suffer from selective hearing?
Perhaps it is just a dad thing at the time of babies?
I had terrible selective hearing when our children were a few weeks, months, even a few years old.
Our babies would cry and scream and carry on, and yet when they did it after 11pm at night, I could not hear a thing.
Luckily, Kari did not suffer from selective hearing.
Of course, I am joking…….Of course I heard my children crying at night, - I just didn’t want to drag my body into their rooms and spend hours trying to calm them and so on……
It is amazing, that perhaps sometimes we “hear” what we just want to “hear”
There is a great movie called Dumb and Dumber, and in that movie, this man had this conversation with a woman who he was asking out on a date….
The conversation went like this:
Man: What are the chances of a man like me and a girl like you of getting together.
Woman: not good
Man: OK, give us a percentage-give us the odds, may be 1 in a 100.
Woman: No, no, more like 1 in a million
Man: Oh, Oh,…..pause and begins to smile…….”so you are saying there is a chance”
As we look at this short passage today, just 3 verses, we are going to look at that different types of listening that people do, when it comes to the work and person of Jesus.
In particular we are going to look at this shocking statement that Jesus made in verse 21,
Look at verse 21 with me:
“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it”
“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it”
That statement is so shocking, because Jesus said that in the context of his mother Mary, and his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas trying to push through the crowd to see their brother and son- Jesus.
As, Jesus was teaching and healing, and doing his Father’s work, his mum and brothers came to see him, and Jesus did not stop everything and rush out to see them, he didn’t show them any special treatment, but instead he carried on teaching the people and said this shocking thing:
My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it
There are so many things that Jesus was saying here, but I will just mention a few.
1. People are not part of God’s family due to their biological family connections, but people are only part of God’s family if they hear God’s word and obey it.
And so, we know, that in the same biological family, you can have brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers, that all share the same blood connection but don’t share the same connection with Jesus. You can belong to the same biological family, but not the same spiritual family.
2. The connections we have with people in Christ, will last for eternity, whereas the connections we have with our biological families who are not part of God’s family, will only last for this lifetime.
I will just let that sit with you for a minute and let you think how you may respond in light of the fact that perhaps some of your family members who don’t hear God’s word and obey it, will not be spending eternity with you.
And that should cause us to grieve and cause us to get on our knees in prayer.
Here is my advice!
Keep praying for their salvation, keep showing them love, and yet at the same time, keep serving Jesus, in whatever he has called you to do. Keep hearing and obeying God’s word.
As Jesus’ family came to him, he continued to do the work of his father.
The final point I want to look at today and spend quite a bit of time on is this….
3. Just hearing the word of God without doing anything about it, isn’t enough for you to be part of God’s family.
Just hearing the word of God without doing anything about it, isn’t enough for you to be part of God’s family.
This is why Jesus didn’t stop at hearing, he said we must hear and DO God’s word.
And I am hoping some alarm bells may be going off for you now, because we know that the scriptures constantly tell us that we are saved by grace and not by works, so that no man may boast. And that is a message you will hear from this pulpit and continue to hear. In fact Ephesians 2:8 is the password for our members page- we are saved by grace and not by works.
And so, what exactly was Jesus saying here, when he said my mother and brothers are the ones who hear the word of God and do it?
Was Jesus teaching some sort of works-based salvation?
Was his atoning death not enough?
Well, absolutely NO.
We need to go back to the previous parables he had just been teaching to figure out what Jesus was saying here.
In Luke 8:4-8, we see that Jesus had taught on the parable of the sower.
The parable tells us that a farmer sowed some seed, which represented the word of God.-
And the farmer scattered the seed everywhere.
Some fell on the rocky path and it was eaten by the birds.
Some heard the word of God, but it sort of went in one ear and out the other.
Some fell on rocky soil and because it didn’t grow deep roots, it died.
Some heard the word of God, but heard it in a selective hearing way, so that when hardships came , they rejected the word of God.
Some fell amongst thorns and thistles and they too died. They heard the word of God, but heard it in a selective way, so that the pleasures of this world became more precious than the word of God itself.
Some fell on good soil and it produced a fruitful crop. Some really heard God’s word and acted upon it. They produced fruit in accordance with what they heard.
And at the end of the parable – Jesus said these words from verse 8
He who has ears to hear, let him hear
After Jesus taught that parable, he then taught the parable about the lamp being put on the lampstand and not being put under the bed. Of course, you wouldn’t put a lamp under a bed, that is not what the light was made for, it was made to light the whole room- it would be a waste to not provide light for the whole room.
And at the end of the parable in verse 18, Jesus said this:
Take care how you hear
Jesus was telling us to listen to him, listen carefully to his teaching, because if we really listen to Jesus, that listening, that real listening, not just some selective listening, like me at 11pm at night, not just some let us have some positive thoughts, like the man in dumb and dumber, but listening which is shown in how we live our lives. It is shown as we hear the word of God and do it. It is shown as we shed our light on all.
In fact Jesus uses the example of the lamp on the lamp stand to show us that if we hear the word of God, but fail to act upon it, then we really haven’t heard the word of God in the first place, - since if you truly hear the word of God, it will keep changing your life day by day.
Listen to this warning Jesus gives us from verse 18
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 he has will be taken away
If you hear the word of God, but people cannot see your light shining- it means that you really haven’t heard the word of God, you may think you have heard God’s word, but because you haven’t acted on it, and let your light shine, you really haven’t heard the word of God.
And so if you think you are part of God’s family because you know the gospel without living out the gospel in your life- you are mistaken.
What you think you have will be taken away from you.
Friends, unfortunately people not only suffer from selective hearing but selective teaching and often false teaching at the same time.
And so, what exactly does hearing the word of God and doing it look like?
Let me tell you what Jesus does not promise you if you listen and do the word of God.
He doesn’t promise you good health.
He doesn’t promise you a good job.
He doesn’t promise you a Hummer.
He doesn’t promise you comfort.
He doesn’t promise you popularity
What does Jesus promise us, if we listen and do the word of God?
He promises us that we will suffer in some way.
He promises that those who are not connected to Jesus- will hate us.
He does promise us an eternal home with him in heaven.
He does promise that one day, there will be no more death, no more tears, no more pain
He does promise that he will never leave us or forsake us.
Friends, my prayer for us, is that we will be a people who hear the word of God and do it.
Let us pray.
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