Listening for Yourself
I always find it challenging when someone comes up to me after I have preached a sermon or taught a class and says, “That would have been great for ________________,” or, “I hope ________________ was listening,” or “I wish ________________ could have been here to hear that.” I don’t really know how to respond, because while 1) it’s true; everyone can benefit from hearing the word of God, 2) comments of this nature potentially reflect a problem.
After a day spent teaching the multitudes (Luke 12:1) and His disciples (Luke 12:220 about 1) hypocrisy (Luke 12:1-3), 2) trusting in a caring God (Luke 12:4-7), 3) confessing faith (Luke 12:8-12), and 4) properly prioritizing wealth and material goods (Luke 12:13-34), Jesus encouraged His audience, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35). He illustrated the need for His audience to be in a prepared state by comparing them to servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding (Luke 12:36-38) and further to a master who anticipated a thief coming to his house (Luke 12:39). His conclusion was, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Luke 12:40).
Peter did not respond to Jesus’ messages by identifying all the people who would have benefited from having heard Him that day. However, as a servant of Jesus, he was concerned by Jesus’ talk of servants and masters, so he asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” (Luke 12:41 ESV). He wanted to know exactly whom Jesus’ teaching was for.
Instead of answering Peter’s question, Jesus doubled down on the illustration of servants and masters. He asked an important question, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?” (Luke 12:42 NKJV). The answer immediately follows: “that servant whom his master will find so doing” the things Jesus described earlier, i.e., being ready (Luke 12:43). Connecting what Jesus said with Peter’s question, Jesus effectively is saying to Peter, “The person who will benefit from this teaching is the person who hears it and faithfully responds to it.”
Allow me to offer two reminders in light of this account. First, it is true that the first audience of any Biblical text is someone else. There is value in recognizing that Jesus spoke the words recorded in Luke 12 to a specific audience 2000 years ago and in further recognizing that these words were compiled and sent to “most excellent Theophilus” long before they reached me (Luke 1:3). Recognizing that the message of the Bible was spoken and/or written to an original audience helps me in the important task of interpreting and understanding it. Forgetting this simple fact often leads people to twist and wrench the Scriptures out of their context, a very dangerous thing to do (2 Peter 3:16).
The second thing I want to highlight though is crucial as I think it’s the very point that Jesus is making in His response to Peter: my application of any Biblical truth ought to begin with me. It may very well be that my brother has a speck in his proverbial eye and that he desperately needs to hear a Biblical truth. However, Jesus said that the first thing I ought to do as I stand before the word of God is to use it to examine my own eye and remove any logs that might be there (Matthew 7:1-5). Jesus used a strong word to describe the tendency to apply a message to other people first: “Hypocrite!” (Matthew 7:5). It is hypocritical to say that someone should hear the word of God when we ourselves are not really hearing it because we aren’t applying it to ourselves. The prophet Ezekiel chided the people of his day who invited their brothers to “hear what the word is that comes from LORD,” without any intention of making personal application of that word (Ezekiel 33:30-32).
Rest assured, though a given Biblical message may have had someone else as its first audience, God had you in mind when He revealed it. So, instead of thinking of all of the other people who might benefit from hearing a message, let the Word of God do what it was designed to do. Use it as a tool for seeing how you stand before God rather than how others stand before God, and, rather than being “a forgetful hearer,” become “a doer of the work” (James 1:23-25). Doing this will bless both you and anyone else in your sphere of influence who may also need to hear the Bible’s message. They’ll be able to hear the Word of God and see it alive and at work in you.
After a day spent teaching the multitudes (Luke 12:1) and His disciples (Luke 12:220 about 1) hypocrisy (Luke 12:1-3), 2) trusting in a caring God (Luke 12:4-7), 3) confessing faith (Luke 12:8-12), and 4) properly prioritizing wealth and material goods (Luke 12:13-34), Jesus encouraged His audience, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35). He illustrated the need for His audience to be in a prepared state by comparing them to servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding (Luke 12:36-38) and further to a master who anticipated a thief coming to his house (Luke 12:39). His conclusion was, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Luke 12:40).
Peter did not respond to Jesus’ messages by identifying all the people who would have benefited from having heard Him that day. However, as a servant of Jesus, he was concerned by Jesus’ talk of servants and masters, so he asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” (Luke 12:41 ESV). He wanted to know exactly whom Jesus’ teaching was for.
Instead of answering Peter’s question, Jesus doubled down on the illustration of servants and masters. He asked an important question, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?” (Luke 12:42 NKJV). The answer immediately follows: “that servant whom his master will find so doing” the things Jesus described earlier, i.e., being ready (Luke 12:43). Connecting what Jesus said with Peter’s question, Jesus effectively is saying to Peter, “The person who will benefit from this teaching is the person who hears it and faithfully responds to it.”
Allow me to offer two reminders in light of this account. First, it is true that the first audience of any Biblical text is someone else. There is value in recognizing that Jesus spoke the words recorded in Luke 12 to a specific audience 2000 years ago and in further recognizing that these words were compiled and sent to “most excellent Theophilus” long before they reached me (Luke 1:3). Recognizing that the message of the Bible was spoken and/or written to an original audience helps me in the important task of interpreting and understanding it. Forgetting this simple fact often leads people to twist and wrench the Scriptures out of their context, a very dangerous thing to do (2 Peter 3:16).
The second thing I want to highlight though is crucial as I think it’s the very point that Jesus is making in His response to Peter: my application of any Biblical truth ought to begin with me. It may very well be that my brother has a speck in his proverbial eye and that he desperately needs to hear a Biblical truth. However, Jesus said that the first thing I ought to do as I stand before the word of God is to use it to examine my own eye and remove any logs that might be there (Matthew 7:1-5). Jesus used a strong word to describe the tendency to apply a message to other people first: “Hypocrite!” (Matthew 7:5). It is hypocritical to say that someone should hear the word of God when we ourselves are not really hearing it because we aren’t applying it to ourselves. The prophet Ezekiel chided the people of his day who invited their brothers to “hear what the word is that comes from LORD,” without any intention of making personal application of that word (Ezekiel 33:30-32).
Rest assured, though a given Biblical message may have had someone else as its first audience, God had you in mind when He revealed it. So, instead of thinking of all of the other people who might benefit from hearing a message, let the Word of God do what it was designed to do. Use it as a tool for seeing how you stand before God rather than how others stand before God, and, rather than being “a forgetful hearer,” become “a doer of the work” (James 1:23-25). Doing this will bless both you and anyone else in your sphere of influence who may also need to hear the Bible’s message. They’ll be able to hear the Word of God and see it alive and at work in you.
-Patrick Swayne
patrick@tftw.org
patrick@tftw.org
Posted in Bible Study, Christian Living
Posted in Luke 12, Luke 12:41-43, Listening, Hearing, Obeying, Obedience, Application
Posted in Luke 12, Luke 12:41-43, Listening, Hearing, Obeying, Obedience, Application
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