The Whole Body, Part 4: The Ears

Well, this morning we continue on in this series that we've begun several weeks ago on the body, the whole body.

The idea there being a body that is healthy, a body that is sound, a body that is mature or complete.

And we're considering this idea of the whole body because we want to, as we've been saying now for several weeks from Ephesians 4, we want to grow up in all things into Him who is the

Head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

So that's why we've begun this series and we looked at, after the introduction, the Head, looking a little bit more about what it means that Christ is the

Head of His own body, what that means for the authority He has over not only all things, but uniquely and particularly over the church and how

He delegates that authority and how that authority is reflected in other human relationships like marriage.

And then we also looked at the eyes. That was last week. We considered the eyes and particularly how we are to regard one another.

And this morning, we're looking at the ears. You get the sense we're sort of slowly working our way down anatomically.

We begin with the head and the eyes and now we're at ear level. We're gonna keep making our way downward.

We're looking at the ears. Now, again, last week, the eyes, we said this, we cannot regard each other rightly without regarding the things of Christ.

We cannot behold or see each other rightly unless we're also beholding or seeing the things of Christ.

We looked at that from Philippians. We cannot regard the things of Christ, we cannot regard one another rightly without faith.

This all requires faith. You can't see anything rightly if you can't see

God. And so this requires faith. We cannot love our brother who we can see if we cannot love

God whom we cannot see. We also cannot love God who we cannot see if we cannot love our brother who we can see.

You must have a vertical and a horizontal relationship. You must have the first and the second table of the law.

All these things are always held together. And again, this requires faith.

Now, here's the point about faith, and we're gonna establish this even shortly. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

That's Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by hearing. We're talking about ears this morning, and of course, everything that the

Christian life requires flows out of our faith, our faith in God's word, our faith in who

God is, our faith in what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do.

There's not even a step forward, not so much as a millimeter of movement, unless there's faith. All things are done by faith.

We must have faith in who he is and what he's done and what he's promised. And this faith comes by hearing.

That's the significance of the ears. Hearing is the function of a healthy ear.

What does an ear do? It hears. A healthy ear is able to hear. Now, we're looking at James 1 sort of as a launch pad into this, and I just want to point out that as faith begins by hearing, so the

Christian life begins by hearing. James 1, beginning in verse 16.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. How did

God bring forth his people? He brought us forth by the word of truth.

What Paul would say, the word of truth, which you heard, which you believed, not taking it as the word of men, but as it really is, the word of God.

That is the beginning of the Christian's life. That is an external means that God uses internally.

God applying that word to our heart, the influence and illumination, the revelation of the

Holy Spirit. By that word, we are brought forth into a whole newness of life.

As God in creation brought forth all things by the power of his word, so in the new creation, by his grace, he brings forth us as redeemed creatures by the word of his power, by the word of truth.

Now, where does this go for James? So the origin of the Christian life is the word of truth.

The faith that is the Christian life is a faith that comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

And James says this, therefore, we ought to receive with meekness the implanted word.

That's such a beautiful sentence. The word has been implanted into us by the Holy Spirit. What did he just say a few verses earlier?

We've been brought forth by that word. That was his work, his planting. Some may have sown, others may have watered.

It was God who gave the growth. That word was implanted, and by it, we were able to hear that word of truth.

We came to faith in response to that word of truth. But it is an implanted word. So there's something inward, something that only

God can plant and grow. That's true of every Christian. That's true of the Christian life.

But what does he also say? We're to receive with meekness the word. In other words, receiving the word that's coming to our ears, hearing the word of God in whatever format it's put before us, and we're to receive that.

It corresponds with the word that God has planted within us. It corresponds to our faith, the hearing of His word.

And this leads into the whole discourse. We're to be doers of that word. The word not only implanted within us, but the word that we're receiving.

We are to receive it meekly. As we receive it, we are to do it. Not be passive in our hearing, but actively seeking to understand and apply all that we have heard.

This is what James defines as a hearer. A whole body is comprised of hearers.

James is going on to press, you must be not only a hearer, but a doer. My point this morning is just beginning with this.

You can't do what you haven't heard. We want to emphasize doing. That's what

James is doing in James chapter one. But what is doing without hearing?

So you must not be a hearer only, amen, James, but you must be a hearer. You actually have to hear

God's word. That's the function of a healthy ear. A body is comprised of those who are able to hear the word of God.

They have faith in the word of God. The word of God has been implanted into them by God. And so the two major thrusts this morning,

I'll simply put in this way. The first point is we must hear him. It's his word.

It's his voice. It's his command. It's his promise. We must hear him. And the second point, practically, in the way that we relate to each other, we must hear one another.

And I'll try to end if we, I know we're all sweating at the brow about when the snow's starting, but I'll try to make it to three applications toward the end.

So simply that, we must hear him. We must hear one another. This is what it means as a whole body to have healthy ears, to hear rightly.

So the first point, we must hear him. Look at the transfiguration. We read in the Gospel of Mark in chapter nine when that cloud overshadowed the disciples that Jesus had with him.

A voice came out from the cloud and it said, and this was the father's voice, this is my beloved son, hear him.

Now they had been hearing him, of course, as disciples. They were with him in this ministry.

But this transfiguration was pressing this point in a unique way. This is my beloved son, hear him.

And the last time we saw the voice from heaven declaring the beloved son was at Jesus' baptism.

You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Here at the transfiguration, there's something about this pronouncement that is more pointed to the disciples.

It's not the father's declaration of his pleasure in the son, but what others must do if they're to see the son rightly.

This is my beloved son, that's the declaration. You must hear him, that's the command.

You must listen to him. You must hear his word. You must heed his warnings. You must listen to and cling to his promises.

This is my son. And most likely, the backdrop that we're to understand this with is

God's own fulfillment of the prophecy he had given through Moses in Deuteronomy 18.

Moses had told the Israelites, there is a prophet that God will raise up, one like me, but you must listen to him.

You must hear him. If you don't hear him, you'll perish. Many centuries rolled by with the

Israelites waiting for that one, that greater prophet, one greater than Moses, a king greater than David.

In fact, not just David's son, but David's Lord. And at the transfiguration, the father identifies this one.

Here is the one you must hear. Here's the one whose word alone formed all that is, sustains all that is, all that is being made not only through him, that is the word, but for him, and him, his voice, you must hear.

This is what Peter preached in Acts 3. Moses truly said to our fathers, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.

Him you will hear in everything, whatever he says to you. So this is the idea, a church body, a

Christian is one who has begun their whole way of life by hearing. They live their life by hearing, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God.

John 10, Jesus says, you do not believe because you're not my sheep. Now what characterizes one who belongs to Jesus?

Who can rightly say, and what would rightly show that they are shepherded by Jesus?

They are the sheep of his fold. Well, according to John 10, 26, you do not believe because you're not my sheep, because my sheep listen to my voice.

In other words, they hear me. They know me. I know them. They hear me in a way that others don't hear me.

Goats can't hear me. Wolves can't hear me. My sheep hear me. Others don't know me.

My sheep know me. Why? They know my voice. They recognize my voice. Some of you have limited experience with sheep, but you probably have a pet that recognizes your voice.

Like our rather overweight tabby, whenever I come home, as soon as I say something, all of a sudden

I hear the clump and the scattering to come see me. He recognizes his master's voice.

That's what Jesus is saying about John 10, 26. Or think of John the

Baptist. When John the Baptist is baptizing, this baptism of repentance, people are coming out into the wilderness to be baptized by this mighty prophet, the one that Jesus said wasn't like some reed swaying in the wind, a people pleaser, one who was tickling ears.

Why did you go out into the wilderness? You went to go see a mighty man of God, indeed the greatest man born among women up to this point, the greatest prophet yet to come,

Jesus says, because of his proximity to me. And John recognizes this.

We read, and sometimes we read passes too readily, in John 3, disciples are coming to John the Baptist and they're saying, this man

Jesus, he's over there baptizing. And John responds, you yourselves can testify that I said

I'm not the Messiah, I've just been sent ahead of him. The bride belongs to the bridegroom.

It's a beautiful way of saying the ones that Jesus is with, the ones that are going to Jesus, that's the bride, he's the bridegroom.

How does John understand himself? The friend of the bridegroom. He says, the bride belongs to the bridegroom.

The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice.

And he says, my joy is now full. He is sort of the last instantiation of the prophets who longed and yearned and waited for the one that Moses foretold.

This prophet who must be heard. The Messiah, the King, the bridegroom of his people, the

Savior, the anointed one. And John, not just as John, but as that whole lineage of the prophetic anticipation says, we've been waiting, we've been looking, we've had our ear out,

God, when will you speak? We've been waiting for the voice of the one who is to come. And John, in hearing this says, and I've heard that voice.

And so we ask the question as the bride, is our joy complete? Have we heard the bridegroom's voice?

Are we paying careful attention to that voice? The writer of Hebrews says, we must give all the more careful attention to the things we've heard.

That's hearing more, hearing more intently, hearing more passionately, hearing more purposefully.

God's word is not something we deal with slightly, irreverently, take it or leave it.

We give all the more careful attention to the things we've heard. There should never be this point in our church or in your

Christian walk where you just, oh yeah, yeah, I know all about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've read enough,

I've learned enough. Oh yeah, no, we went through that series years ago. I've read that, yeah, I've read that months ago, yeah.

No need, no interest. No, this is a living word, an active word.

It pierces down to the division of our soul. And so we give all the more careful attention to the things we've heard.

And the reason is this, lest we drift away. You see, you live by faith.

And without faith, you perish. And faith comes by hearing. That's the significance of the ear.

And the writer goes on to say, if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and then every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how will we escape?

If we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

There's this beautiful chiasm there. The things that we've heard, the word that was spoken, the word that was spoken, the things that we heard.

It all comes down to the ear. Now again, just a few passages we've looked at, but I just wanna take a huge step back and let's just start with the significance of the ear overall.

The importance of the ear is so easy to miss, but it actually holds together, not only the way that God first saves us, not only the way that God continues to sanctify us, but it's actually the very beginning of the whole drama of redemption, according to the

Bible. It's not just that faith comes by hearing. And so the entrance to the

Christian life is something audible. Or that sanctification comes as we pay careful attention to the things that we're hearing.

We're receiving with meekness this word. It's not just that we're saved through hearing or that we are sanctified through hearing, but the whole drama of redemption essentially boils down to the role of the ear.

Or let me put it this way. What body part begins the fall?

What body part, what organ of humanity begins the fall in Genesis chapter three?

Well, we tend to think the eye and perhaps some of you are even thinking, well, she saw that the fruit was greatly to be desired and so she took and she partake and she gave some to Adam who was with her.

But that's later, that's verse six and onward. The body part that begins the fall is the ear.

And Genesis three, from the very beginning, the serpent who is more cunning than any beast in the field slithers into this paradise and says to the woman, did

God really say not to eat of the fruit? The whole drama of redemption begins with the hearing.

Not the hearing of God's command as it was in Genesis two, but the hearing of the lie of the evil one as we begin in Genesis three.

And hearing not just passively but actively, heeding, that word, that insinuation, that infernal temptation.

Did God really say? And of course, the woman's seeking rather weakly to repel.

No, indeed, God did say we're not to eat. She's reminded that she heard the word of the

Lord, but the serpent, again, presses on. It's all an interaction of dialogue.

It all boils down to the ear. Only then in verse six does she see what has been spoken of. Only then is she deceived and led astray by partaking.

And then it continues to go around hearing. Then they hear the presence of the Lord and they hide. They hear the voice of the

Lord, the same voice that had created all things, the same voice that commended them in the splendor of paradise, the same voice that presented the bride glorious to the bridegroom.

That same voice now is a terror to them. They run and hide and camouflage themselves.

That voice calls to them, but now they're plugging their ears up against it, turning their face away from that voice.

God questions, who told you? The woman says, that serpent deceived me. This is all about the ear.

Even when God brings a curse upon Adam, he says, because you listened to the voice of your wife, curse it as the ground.

So you see the fall, the whole beginning of the drama of redemption. The fall begins with the ear.

The fall begins with the ear hearing the lie. And just as we've said now, redemption, salvation begins with the ear hearing the word of truth.

By God's grace, we are saved through faith and faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

So the fall comes by hearing the lie, hearing that which opposes the word and redemption, salvation comes by hearing what is the word.

Perhaps even a more beautiful illustration of this. I've mentioned this book in past times and I enjoyed very much returning to at least one chapter of it.

John Bunyan, the great English Puritan in an allegory that should be far more popular than it is called the

Holy War. And in this allegory of the Holy War, it's a picture of the fall and the redemption of Mansoul.

And he does that by talking about a town called Mansoul. And this town was created glorious by God and the one who reigns over it and has crown rights to it is

Prince Emmanuel, which is Christ. And unfortunately,

Mansoul is led astray by Diabolus, the devil, the evil one. And rebellion takes over Mansoul and Bunyan does this beautiful job of showing all of these faculties that are affected by that rebellion, how the mind and the will and the conscience and the affections and the heart and all these virtues and qualities and characteristics of human life now are in abject rebellion against God, in rebellion against the prince.

In chapter five, you start to get the siege of Mansoul. The prince has come and he's brought his army with him and he by grace is going to conquer this rebellious soul.

It's an irresistible siege. It's going to be an irresistible battle because God's grace is always irresistible when its salvation is set upon someone.

And Bunyan, as a wise preacher and a wise evangelist, understands what this looks like.

It's why his allegory is so precise. And what I want you to pay attention to is the role of the ear.

I'm gonna summarize it because it's hard to keep up with 17th century syntax, but I'll try to summarize it well.

When the siege is laid against Mansoul, there's two main gates that are the entry points into the city, ear gate and eye gate.

And Christ, in this allegory, puts something before the eyes even as he puts something at the ears.

This is how he brings about salvation. And so Emmanuel, again, Christ in this allegory, gives out a commandment to his war captains.

And he's very wise about what captains go to the hearing and what captains go to the site.

At the hearing, at the ear gate, he puts boereneges, thunder, conviction, judgment, and execution.

In other words, the things that would rattle and shake in a moral conscience, the things that would provoke, expose, and expose guilt before the one that you have rebelled against.

That's at the ear gate. That's what the Word of God is doing as it's being preached. It's rattling that conscience.

It's the voice calling out like God's voice in Genesis 3. Adam, where are you? Sinner, what have you done?

Where are you going? Why are you hiding? That's what's going on at the ear gate. Credence joins along in the fray.

I love that. Just Bunyan, so masterful. He doesn't just throw that all in. Thunder, conviction, judgment, execution.

Trailing behind that, credence. In other words, you know that this is true. You're trying to repress it.

You're trying to ignore it. You're trying to hide, but you know it's true. Credence is somehow at that gate as well.

But so merciful our Savior. That's not all that He does. To a sinner,

He's seeking to draw to repentance. He also puts something before their eyes. And these are the war captains

He puts before His eyes. Good hope in charity. I'm ruined, but somehow

I can see there's still hope. Somehow there's one who's able to save me.

Something set before the eyes that allows you to endure these waves of assault at ear gate.

Now, as the siege takes place, the battle at first is actually not successful, but a number of these rebellious figures in the town are defeated.

And Bunyan, I won't go into the details here, but he's very thoughtful about who gets killed and who gets wounded. Because when the

Lord brings someone to salvation, there's certain things that get killed along the way. Things that in repentance, they must be slaughtered.

And then there's other things that get wounded because they're going to heal and be very different as a result of that wound. And he's very thoughtful about this.

But he talks about things that happen at these siege gates because of thunder and conviction and judgment, boasting is slain.

And you love Bunyan's names here, Ilpaz. In fact, at ear gate, there was this old man that was put and his,

I think his name was something like Ilpaz who gave this word and he flees.

In other words, there's no more hesitation now. This Ilpaz is, yeah, I think that is true. And then the week goes on and it's just out of sight, out of ear, out of mind.

So Ilpaz flees. Now the word is there. It's with you wherever you go. It's just so thoughtful about these things.

Mr. Feeling is wounded. He was living by feelings. Now he has to be humbled.

He says the will, in other words, the stubborn, strong will. He says he was so wounded that he never seemed to walk the same way again.

He ever crippled and walked about with a limp. And he says,

I won't even tell you all of the names of all the soldiers and others that were slain, but the posts of Ear Gate shook.

And Eye Gate seemed to be broken open. And the devil comes and he says, how can

I get them to flee? This siege is going to give Mansoul back to the prince. I'll promise a reformation.

I'll clean up this town and I'll try to make it seem satisfactory as long as the prince leaves.

In other words, that's Bunyan saying. So many people, they have that Ear Gate being assaulted by God's Word, by conviction, by the sense of God's voice calling them.

And it's like, I'm not ready to go. I don't want to surrender. I dare not give my life away to Christ, but listen,

I'll clean up my act. I'll try to rein in the harshest excesses of my guilt and my sin. Just please then leave me alone.

Please get your voice out of my ears. Truce, is that a deal? And of course,

Christ won't do that. The devil's reformation is no reformation at all.

The devil's laundry day is no laundry day at all. And so the assault continues.

Now Bunyan writes this, when the battle was over, the prince commanded once more the white flag would be set up on Mount Gracious, this mountain outside of the city, this mountain where the gospel is being heralded to show that he still had grace for this wretched town.

And the day being come, the command was given the prince's men to bravely stand at arms and to bend their main force against Eargate.

The ears, the hearing. This is gonna be the attack. And this was the battle word among them, man's soul is one.

Or if we could put it in the context of the gospel, it is finished, is the cry. And they make their assault upon the town.

It was three or four charges until Eargate was finally broken open. And when Eargate was broken open, every bar and bolt within was shattered to a thousand pieces.

Whatever the ear was repressing and ignoring and covering up and plugging up, now it was all broken open.

All in its place was the trumpet sound of victory, the captain's shout, even as man's soul began to shake,

Diabolus began to flee to a stronghold. He's still gonna be at work in the allegory. But listen to what the prince does.

Listen to what Christ does. Here's perhaps the most important point. Seeing his forces had broken open

Eargate, he came in and he himself set up his throne within it. Whatever else needs to be conquered in that rebellious town of man's soul, the decisive battle has been won.

Eargate has been broken open and Christ himself has enthroned himself in the hearing. In the allegory, he brings in golden slings, these massive siege weapons of war.

And at the Eargates, he builds them so they can hurl and shatter everything else that is opposing him within the town.

You see, it's all being done through the hearing. Faith, repentance, sanctification, glorification.

This is all done at the Eargate. All the word of God now being brought in.

Christ enthroned in our hearing that he might be enthroned in all else. So you get the sense, as Bunyan said of this allegory,

Eargate is the shortest and surest road to the heart. You wanna address the heart?

You have to address the hearing. You wanna get to someone's heart? You have to get through someone's ears.

That's true of how we are saved by the gospel, how we are brought to faith. That is how God uses his word.

What is a word but something spoken and heard? That's why throughout the gospels,

Jesus will say things like, let him who has ears hear. Or depending on how you understand the

Hebrew, because there's a variance in the very place where it is said, looking forward to the

Messiah, a body you have prepared for me, a variation on that is my ear you have opened.

Eargate is the shortest and surest road to the heart. So as we've said again, the fall comes by the ear hearing the lie.

Redemption comes by the ear hearing the truth. And if you understand the allegory of Mansoul, you'll understand this war, this battle is taking place all of the time.

It takes place whenever you're sharing the gospel with a coworker in the parking lot or someone you've come alongside.

It's taking place even perhaps this morning. And perhaps for some that battle is more sweeping over and preventing a rebellion from quelling up again.

And for others, they're in that third or fourth charge. God knows. Christ must siege eargate and break through because the serpent that slithered into paradise to whisper the lie is still slithering into people's ears to whisper lies again, to draw them away.

Listen to what W .J. Seton says. It's through the ear that God sends His saving truth in the preaching of His Word to our hearts.

The devil will send legions of lies, set that all in motion so that there's a struggle for the reign of either

God or Himself in our hearts, in our minds. And how does he do that? It's through the ear.

It's through the ear. We're gonna come to practical application.

Let me just ask the question up front. Do we have a guard over our ears? Do you have an open border

Biden policy on eargate? So just come and go as you please. Do you actually guard?

The things that are coming into your ears, how you hear, how you draw in, what you're thinking and focused upon, what you're listening to?

Do you have a guard over your ears? Let me ask you even more personally. Do you know how to reject hearing the error of a loved one?

It was Jesus who said to Peter, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who's in heaven, you finally got it only to say at the next glance, when

Peter says, surely you won't be crucified, get behind me, Satan. Peter, who

Jesus loved so much, Jesus was still guarding his ears so intently that he could hear the slithering insinuation of the serpent even through Peter's friendly regard.

Surely Lord, we'll never allow this to happen. Get behind me, serpent. Do we know how to reject even the well -intentioned words of a wrong headed friend?

Do we guard our ear gates? Do we do that as a church body toward one another? Well, let me ask even further, are the golden slings that Christ would seek to set up at ear gate, are they at work in our lives?

Is there a transformation and effectiveness of God's word in my life? In other words, the things that I'm hearing from his word, the things that I'm paying careful attention to, like Hebrews chapter two, are they actually launching little stone balls of conviction and toppling down little areas of pride or immaturity or foolishness?

Is God's word making an effect? How goes my ear gate?

As a church, how goes our ear gate? Does the word of God have any effect, any impact? A pulpit is a golden catapult.

It's not the only catapult, there's many others. Sitting down at lunch, a brotherly admonition, taking someone to the side, an encouragement, an exhortation.

How goes our ear gates? What's the result of hearing and sowing

God's word to such an extent at such a frequency that we're almost singing

God's word, singing hymns and Psalms and spiritual songs one to another because we're letting God's word dwell richly among us.

Is it? Has a lot to do with the ear gate more than anything else. Do we actually hear?

Do we actually heed? Do we actually care about our ears? Do we attend to God's word?

Let me ask you this. When you leave this place, when you go home, do you have a lot more to say and listen to about who said what or did you notice this or what did you think of that person during lunch fellowship?

Are you actually talking about God's word? You know, I never thought about that verse or someone was bringing up this point or during interaction

I really appreciate that someone said this, I never thought about it in that way. Are we hearing?

What's actually the bulk of our conversation when we've come to attend to God's word? Have we actually attended to God's word or does it fall short of our ears?

It doesn't even enter into our minds. It's essentially dead on arrival. We don't take it home with us, that's for sure.

Let's not assume that we're immune. As reformed folk, we like to be men and women of the word.

We take that very seriously and therefore we think whenever Paul's rebuking those who are heaping up teachers for themselves because they have itchy ears, it's certainly not us.

Don't be so sure about that. This is what

Paul is urging Timothy to consider. In fact, if we look at 2 Timothy 4, you'll see a lot of it has to do about hearing.

A lot of it has to do about the ears. How does it even begin? 2 Timothy 4, two, it's giving advice to this timid pastor.

He's saying, preach the word. Timothy, that's what it's all about. Be ready in season and out of season.

Convince, what does that mean about the ear? Just like we saw in Holy War in the allegory, don't give up after the first charge, convince.

It might be a second, it might be a third, it might be a fourth. There might be a time of reformation.

There might be a time of cleaning up and you gotta get back to the assault. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering, all teaching.

The time is coming, Timothy. They won't endure sound doctrine but according to their own desire because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth, be turned aside to fables.

So you be watchful in everything, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. What's the ministry?

Preach the word. Don't be swayed by what's not being heard but attend to the fact the word must be heard whether it's in or out of season as you're convincing, rebuking, exhorting or so on.

They're gonna reject it, they'll turn aside from it. They have itchy ears because they have wrong desires. That can't affect what you're doing.

You have the very word of truth. It's putting the ministry of the word in the context of Genesis three.

And Paul's not just saying this out of hand. This is what he himself is doing. He himself is enduring affliction, seeking to fulfill his ministry so that the word might be heard.

Paul might as well be exhorting himself if not exhorting Timothy because then he talks about all the things that he's enduring, the hardship and affliction he's facing.

He says, Demas has forsaken me. In fact, at my hearing, at my first defense, no one stood with me.

Everybody forsook me. And he says in verse 17, the

Lord stood with me. He strengthened me. Why? What is it all about? What's the ministry? So that the message might be preached fully through me so all the

Gentiles will hear. It always comes back to the ear, to the hearing of God's word.

Look what he says in verse 14 and 15. It's almost the same thing of turning aside for itching ears. He says,

Alexander the coppersmith did so much harm to me. And let the Lord repay him according to that work. You should beware of him,

Timothy. He's greatly resisted our words. What is he saying? He wasn't hearing. He didn't hear.

We convince, we rebuke, we exhort. It's out of season. It's against affliction. You endure.

This is the ministry. This is the whole point. That the word would be heard. Everything comes out of hearing the word.

What happens? If Eve hears the word of God rather than the lie?

What happens if Adam hears the word of God? Cuts off the serpent's head.

What happens if the world in the days of Noah hear the word of God through Noah?

What happens if you in this room no longer hear the lie, but attend carefully to the word of God, the word of truth, which is able to save your souls?

Paul puts the stakes right out in front of Timothy. Timothy, attend to it. It won't just save your hearers.

It will save your own soul. Everybody, everybody is called to attend to the hearing of God's word.

And so we must hear him. But having heard him and seeking to ever hear him, we also learn how to hear one another.

And this is perhaps a little more practical as we come to this second part with some application.

Getting back to James one, that's what James does. James talks about how we're born from the word of God. We're begotten by that word and we're to receive it in meekness.

This ongoing life of receiving God's word, dwelling in it richly, heeding it, applying it, being a doer of it.

And listen to how James takes this on. He says, James, this is one beginning in verse 16. Do not be deceived.

Now that's important. He's gonna come back to that. Again, we're still in Genesis three territory, aren't we? Don't be deceived.

Don't listen to the lie. If you're receiving, if you're hearing the word in meekness and it's corresponding to this word that's indwelling you by faith because you've heard it, don't be deceived.

Don't listen to the lie. Listen to what's true. Don't be deceived, my brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of light with whom there's no variation or shadow of turning.

Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. See that contrast?

Don't be deceived. He brought us forth by the word of truth. That we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

Again, we're in creation, deception, word of truth, brought forth, creature. This is all

Genesis language. So then, my beloved brethren, practical instruction, let every man be swift to hear, quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to wrath, or slow to anger, because the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Therefore, lay aside all filthiness, all overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself.

See how we began and ended that with deception? Do not be deceived, brethren. It's all about hearing the word, and then in the way that we're to hear

God's word, it changes the way we hear one another. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Do you see that movement in James 1? Because of who we are by hearing the word of God, because of who we are by continuing to hear the word of God, we are enabled to hear one another, and to regard one another, and that changes the way we hear.

We're quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Because we're receiving in meekness this word, because we're hearing

God's word, it's transformed the way that we relate to and see one another. Because we're not deceived, knowing the word of truth, we're thoughtful about how we hear and what we're hearing.

If I could put it this way, maybe it's helpful. There's a difference between hearing and listening. I wouldn't press this fully as if the terms aren't merely synonyms, they are, but I'm making a distinction.

To hear is simply what happens when something is making noise. When someone is saying something, you hear.

It's just what you're doing, you're hearing. It doesn't mean anything. To listen, in my way of putting it, to listen in is to agree with, or to go with, or to attend what you're hearing.

In other words, you could hear someone, and they're saying, well, you know, I really think that we need to go and do this, and you go, yeah,

I don't know. You're just not listening to me. I don't mean you're not hearing me. Of course you're hearing me.

You're hearing me and you're responding to me, but you're not listening, you're not agreeing with me. So you're not hearing, you're not agreeing, you're not going along with me, and we need to have that distinction.

We need to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

Part of not being deceived, part of having this implanted word of truth that corresponds to our way of life before God and before one another, is that we understand the difference between hearing and heeding, or hearing and listening.

In fact, as Christians, we mature and we grow in wisdom so that we can hear things that aren't even being said.

And that's what we tend to listen to. A mature Christian, a wise Christian is like, I'm hearing you, in fact,

I'm intently hearing you, and I'm listening to what you're not saying. I'm listening to the things that are causing you to say what you're saying.

I hear it, but I'm listening to a whole lot more. That's partly what it means when

Paul says, this is Ephesians 4, 29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification.

We'll come back to that, let me just keep reading. That it may impart grace to your hearers, and do not grieve the

Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, so let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.

Now, when we get to the mouth, we'll probably be looking at Ephesians 4, 29 and following, but I just wanna look at the ear in light of Ephesians 4, 29 and following.

It's letting no word come out of our mouth, but actually trying to impart grace to those who are hearing us.

And so part of what is going out of our mouth corresponds to how we're being heard. And Paul says, here's how you should seek to be heard.

Here's how you should want other ears to be receiving from you. You should only speak the things that lead to necessary edification.

What a beautiful phrase. That would be a good mantra. That would be a good Twitter bio handle or something.

It's necessary edification. In other words, what is not just useful, but what is beneficial to build up someone.

What's necessary? That takes a lot of wisdom. What is needed? A wound may be needed.

An exhortation may be needed. Convincing may be needed. Patience may be needed. Sympathy may be needed.

Rebuke may be needed. Do you see it? It takes a lot to understand what is necessary to build this person up.

Well, if the foundation is crooked, you can't just build on top of that. In order to build someone up, you might have to start tearing some things down so that you can build them up.

That is necessary for edification. Other times someone's really weak. You need to reinforce certain things.

That's gonna be, how am I gonna be heard? How will this be received? What is necessary to build them up?

So how we speak actually has a lot to do with understanding how we hear, how we're heard. What am I hearing in this person?

What am I listening to? I need to think about what is necessary for their building up.

And only speak in light of that. See, it doesn't begin just with speaking willy -nilly. It begins by how we hear.

That's what James is getting at. Be quick to listen. Listen carefully, listen wisely.

Listen to not just what's being said, but what's not being said. Listen to why things are being said. Listen to how things are being said.

Be quick to do that. Be very slow to speak. It's very hard for us to do.

Here in the Northeast, I think I would die if I moved to the Deep South. Their words per minute are just so painfully slow.

I think I would die. I'd be like the chihuahua, like shaking as, well, the thing is, and I'd be like,

I've got so much I wanna say. I'd be fitting a paragraph in between every phrase. And what does

James say? No, you're not even listening. I'll go to, it's a good thing

I'm not in interaction every Sunday, for your sake. I have my hand at the ready.

I got a lot I wanna say. I got notes I'm gonna talk about. What does James say? Be quick to listen.

Listen. It was the ancient philosopher Epictetus who said, we have two ears and one mouth so that we would listen twice as much as we speak.

Quick to listen, slow to speak. What happens if you're quick to listen and slow to speak? You'll be slow to wrath.

Slow to wrath. When we rush in to judgment, rush in to a response, we're often failing to produce the righteousness of God.

The righteousness of God is something that comes about by listening, paying careful attention, bringing everything into captivity, into the word of Christ.

That comes about by hearing. So let me give three applications. I'm intent to get us on a good close, time -wise.

So three applications, and these are relatively brief. The first application is this. Hear what is right if you want to avoid hearing what is wrong.

You need to hear what is right. Hear what is right if you want to avoid hearing what is wrong.

You will not know what is right unless you're able to contrast things that are right with things that are manifestly, clearly, fruitfully wrong.

Philippians 4 puts it in this way. This is Philippians 4, 8. Brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

Pay attention to these things. Listen to these things. You want to avoid the opposite of those things?

Then you need to focus on these things. Don't lend your ears, nor your eyes, nor the affections that flow from the ears and the eyes toward things that are not true or noble, are not just or pure, are not lovely or praiseworthy.

See, so if you want to hear things that are wrong, you need to start listening to things that are right.

In other words, a lot of what we turn our minds toward depends on what we put our ears toward. Isn't it amazing that God doesn't just parachute further books of Scripture into church history?

Unless you believe we dig up golden plates or some other hogwash like that. The word is sufficient.

The canon is closed. So much of it then is just reminding, hearing continually, again and again, the word of God, the word which we have received.

It's an implanted word. And we're constantly hearing it, putting ourselves under it. If you're a mature enough

Christian that you do that regularly, you've almost never heard the same word twice.

Although all you've ever heard is the same word. Every time you look into God's word, you notice some other glimmer on this infinitely angled diamond.

There's just something glorious about the depthlessness of God's wisdom that eventually it just breaks down into doxology.

You never exhaust it. You simply learn to worship it for the depth that it contains. You notice something different about yourself or different about the word, different about the world that you're living in, something different about who

God is, some greater insight into who he is or what he's done. That's the point. A lot of what we turn our minds toward depends on what we put our ears toward.

Now that's true individually. That's also true as a body. And as a body, as those that are jointed and knitted together, seeking to grow up into all things, into him who is the head, a lot of our health has to do with how we corporately hear and respond to God's word.

If I have any Tolkien nerds in the midst, that classic scene, maybe if you've never even seen it, you've seen the scene or you'd know of it, when of course they're on their quest, wondering how they can actually destroy this fateful ring.

And they come against the kingdom of Rohan and they come to the king. They have all this great hope.

This will be wonderful. We'll be able to recruit his support. And the king is Theoden and he's there and he looks like some pale zombie on the throne.

And his chief advisor is almost a bunionesque name, Grima Wormtongue.

And Grima Wormtongue is whispering into Theoden's ears. So whenever they're there speaking the truth, here's the reality, here's the situation, here's the urgent need.

And Grima's there to go up and whisper, no, no, that's not quite true. These people are trying to undermine you.

And Theoden is rendered immobile. He can't hear, he can't react, he can't see things rightly, all because he's allowed his ears to have this slithering influence of deception.

He's hearing so many lies that he can no longer even receive the truth. He's attended to and turned his mind toward, with almost no resistance, the slithering influence of something that is wrong.

So he can't attend to the things that are right. So again, if you wanna hear what is right, you have to avoid things that are wrong.

And you can only avoid things that are wrong if you attend to, if you intently listen to, if you search out and drive ear gate toward the things that are right.

Second point, look rightly so that you can hear rightly. There is a lot of wisdom in realizing that ear gate and eye gate are connected.

And both are avenues to the heart of man's soul. Both have a powerful impact on truth and on walking uprightly.

And we need to look rightly if we would hear rightly. Of course, this was just the point we made last week with the eyes.

How are we regarding each other? Are we regarding each other in light of Christ, in light of who we are to each other in Christ?

Are we regarding each other as blood -bought brothers and sisters in the family of God, co -heirs of this eternal salvation that he's wrought on our behalf?

Are we rightly regarding each other in charity? Are we, in Philippians, esteeming one another even better than ourself?

Well, if you're regarding, if you're seeing others in that way, how is that gonna impact the way you hear about each other? If I'm regarding you, how am

I gonna listen to you if I'm regarding you in that way? If I'm regarding you in that way, how will I hear about you from others if I'm regarding you in that way?

Isn't this what Jesus was saying in Matthew 7? Again, notice how intricately connected the eye is to the ear.

We tend to just see it as an eye problem, but I'm saying it's also an ear problem. Matthew 7, three and following.

Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye? Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but don't consider the plank in your own eye?

Notice, or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye.

Hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Notice that you look before you have something to say.

I notice this. I see this thing. I see this speck. I see this deficiency.

I see this slight. I see this offense. And Jesus almost gives us too much credit.

He assumes we'll actually go to our brother and say, I see this speck. Jesus, you're giving us too much credit. We don't even go to the brother.

We see that, and then we have a lot to say about it to a lot of other people, but not to the brother. So we're not even saying to the brother, we're saying a lot about it.

We've looked, and now others are gonna listen. Again, we cannot look rightly, and then fail to listen rightly.

If we're looking rightly, slander, gossip, those things won't make it into ear gate because we're looking rightly.

We're perceiving, we're regarding rightly. You become immune. You become able to withstand.

You become offended, convicted by hearing things that otherwise, if you're failing to see things rightly, if you're failing to regard rightly, ear gate's wide open.

It's the enemy able to take it without any resistance at all. Now whose slings are in your ears, reaping great havoc?

So something is noticed. Something is seen before something is said. Something is looked at before there is something to hear.

I was never, I was always on the Star Wars side of the debate, but for Trekkies here, I had to look this up because I honestly,

I've never even seen one full episode of Star Trek, and that's like a proud accomplishment in my life. But there was this species of alien,

I believe called Ferengi. Some nerd could be like, Ferengi, but I don't know.

These creatures have these massive ears, like this small, dwarfish -looking creature, but the biggest feature is they have these massive ears.

And they can hear things eight rooms away. They can hear the slightest things. And they have all these issues because they're so sensitive of hearing.

I hope that we're not a church body of Ferengi. I hope we're not a body that the ears are so, we have

Dumbo -sized ears and we hear every rumble. Every slide, every offense, every twist and tension, it's just right through the ear gate.

We need to have a sense of proportion. What shape ear should I have? What size hearing is appropriate for me to have a right view, a right regard, to look rightly so that I can hear rightly?

If you'll bear an awful dad joke, I am a dad, I have to do it. Our church will never live long and prosper without right -sized ears.

That means this, hearsay should not be heard. Our ears are too big and too sensitive if hearsay is being listened to, taken as if it was heard directly.

Do you know the difference between hearsay and hearing? I hope so. It's part of regarding charitably, of thinking the best.

Hearsay should not be heard. You begin looking in charity so that you can hear in charity, so that you can listen rightly, assuming the best.

That means on the one hand, you don't want to assume the best as if we're living in Cotton Candyville because then you might not be able to listen rightly in other ways that are very necessary.

I can see that. Maybe that's not something you say, but you hide it in your heart like Mary hid things in her heart. I could see that,

I ponder that. I've noticed that as well. I need to pray about that. Maybe that's something I need to go to this person about. You don't want to live idealistically.

I think the best of everyone, so I hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. You'll never be able to rebuke, exhort, persuade, convince, bear with, pray for.

So it's not what I would call the gallows of idealism, but neither is it this sort of cynicism.

Oh, come on, get real. What world are you living in? That kind of crass attitude has no place in a church.

The attitude is not get real. It's be holy because God is holy. Sins of the eye, sins of the ear, sins of the tongue are sins that he judges, sins that have consequences for your soul and for the souls of others that are around you.

So you have to avoid either of those ditches, idealism or cynicism. You have a right regard, but a realistic regard.

And then the third application, to hear rightly, and we were talking a little bit about this at breakfast yesterday, some of the guys that came out.

To hear rightly, we need thicker skin and a softer conscience. That's something we could all grow in.

Thicker skin and a softer conscience. We should not, if we're a mature church, if we're a whole body, we should not have to walk around each other on perpetual eggshells.

We should not have eggshell flip -flops in this church. And everything is a very delicate, well -thought, well -manicured step, lest we ourselves or cause others to stumble over the slightest of all potential slights.

It's like, grow up and get thicker skin. We all need to do that. We all need to have thick skin.

We should all have what, and I'm not claiming to have this, but I made a name for it, we should all have pastor leather.

Just get some thick skin. One of the nature videos I remember was watching elephant seals fight.

You have the so -called beach master, which is like a two -ton slog on the beach.

And all those, at a certain time of the season, all the young males are hunting down for him and they all come up with their jaws reared up.

And their skin is like two inches thick. So they have all these scars and all this tissue and so on, but they're almost completely unaffected by it.

They have such thick skin. And so be the beach master. Be the two -ton slob that can take the beating.

Again, that doesn't mean you just take it and roll with it. There needs to be rebuke or exhortation or so on, but I'm talking about the way that we should not walk around on eggshells with each other.

Not if we're seeing God and seeing reality rightly. We're called to be holy. But on the other side of that, we should not stomp around each other.

I shouldn't put on iron boots and just, without any regard, crunch and break every toe in my way.

And then just say, Ross said to have thicker skin. That's not the right attitude either. There's a balance between having thicker skin, but at the same time,

I'm trying to be more resistant, more mindful, think less of myself, better of others. And also, Lord, give me a more sensitive conscience.

Help me to hear intently. Help me to slow down. Oh, I hope that that wasn't, I should reach out to that person and make sure that's okay, or I noticed this.

Lord, help me not to have a dull conscience just because I wanna have thicker skin. That's the idea. Now, hearing may not result in immediate fruit.

You may have to listen to rebuke or exhortation, and part of not walking on eggshells and not stomping is learning how to do that as a body.

How can we be the kind of people that faithfully wound each other as friends? With the emphasis not being on the wounding, but on the friendship.

How can we do that? A part of that isn't just a friend that's willing to faithfully wound, but to be the friend that's willing to be faithfully wounded.

That's almost always a harder thing. We all need to grow in learning how to faithfully wound, but not nearly as much as we need to grow in learning how to be wounded.

That's what I mean by having thicker skin and a softer conscience. And to not lose heart when we try to faithfully wound, and they're willing to hear us, but it doesn't seem to make a difference, or they can just immediately dispel.

We need to have a soft conscience that's still prayerful. Okay, that didn't quite work, but I need to pray, and maybe there'll be another opportunity.

We can't lose heart in that. We have to have thicker skin than that. We have to keep our conscience soft. Well, I went to them, and now

I'm just gonna throw my hands up in the air. I'm not gonna waste my time anymore. That's not the right attitude. You need to have a softer conscience.

Or I could put it in this way. Is our skin thick enough to keep hearing and not lose heart?

That's the question. Is your skin thick enough to keep hearing faithfully wounding friends and not lose heart?

But as Proverbs would say, listen to counsel and receive instruction so that you may be wise. Or the other question on the other side, is your conscience soft enough to not only speak truth in love, but to hear truth in love?

A sensitive conscience won't only be compelled to speak truth in love, it will also be compelled to receive truth, hard truth in love.

Thicker skin, softer conscience. You don't wanna be hard of hearing, so dull that you can't perceive or understand anything and you just don't even care.

That's hard of hearing. You need to be soft in hearing, intent, malleable.

But you also don't wanna be hard in hearing, resentful. It's hard.

People come to you and your ears are closed up and you just lash out against them. Again, what does James say? Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

And this means we'll hear rightly. Last point on this and then we'll close. In Proverbs 18, 13, this is a really practical instruction for how to hear as a body.

Proverbs 18, 13 says, he who answers a matter before he hears it, it is a folly and a shame to him.

To answer a matter before you've even listened to it. To come to a conclusion, to give a judgment before you've heard, shows you haven't been quick to listen.

You've been quick to speak and probably quick to wrath. And God says, that's folly, that's foolishness, that's shame.

It's folly and foolishness in a church body. It's shame to a church body if we're not learning to listen to each other as we seek to listen to God's word together.

So brothers, sisters, do not be deceived. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the

Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. And by the blessing of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

So then my beloved brethren, let everyone be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God, amen.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word,

Lord. As ever, may we be doers of this word, not hearers only, but yet Lord, help us to hear.

Give us ears to hear. Ears to hear you and ears that are growing to hear one another in light of you.

Ears that are able to even hear things within ourselves. To hear, Lord, the prompting, the conviction, the illumination of your spirit and respond to it.

To hear, Lord, things that are not only said but unsaid. Even groanings, even difficulties that need to be borne up and encouraged or hard things, stubborn things that need to be addressed in admonition or exhortation.

Lord, give us a heart that corresponds to ears that are right with you. Ears that are open to you.

Give us eyes that correspond to these ears, Lord. Help us to see and act brightly. Thank you,

Lord, that you have given us ears to hear you, eyes to see you, a heart to love you, a body to serve you, a world to see your glory reflected within.

Lord, continue to open ears that they might hear. Continue to open eyes that they might see. Lord, we pray for ear gates even in our midst, young and old alike, that Emmanuel would set up his siege towers and war in ways of assault against this rebellious soul that has handed itself freely over to a tormentor, to misery in this life and misery in eternal life.

Lord, may you conquer with irresistible grace. May golden slings break down all that resists you and resists your will.

Lord, in the day of your power, make us willing servants. Lord, be present in our midst. Lord, help us by your own spirit to become whole,

Lord. We cannot muster these things up from the flesh because every good thing comes down from above, from you, our father of lights.

And so we ask you, Lord, to grant these things that you are so pleased with and glorified. Grant it for your sake.