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The Responsibility to Listen
- 01/16/10
- 15
Here is some food for thought as we prepare to hear the Word preached this Lord’s Day. These quotes are drawn from a book I just read (that will be released some time in the spring) titled Expository Listening. Do you know not only what a privilege there is in hearing the Word, but also what a responsibility? Here is what three Puritan pastors had to say in that regard:
Richard Baxter:
Remember that all these…sermons must be reviewed, and you must answer for all that you have heard, whether you heard it…with diligent attention or with carelessness; and the word which you hear shall judge you at the last day. Hear therefore as those that are going to judgment to give account of their hearing and obeying.
Thomas Watson:
You must give an account for every sermon you hear….The judge to whom we must give an account is God…how should we observe every word preached, remembering the account!Let all this make us shake off distraction and drowsiness in hearing, and have our ears chained to the word.
David Clarkson:
At the day of judgment, an account of every sermon will be required, and of every truth in each sermon….The books will be opened, all the sermons mentioned which you have heard, and a particular account required, why you imprisoned such a truth revealed, why you committed such a sin threatened, why neglected such duties enjoined….Oh what a fearful account!
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (15)
I concur. I wish my members took listening as seriously as I take preaching. However, we will have to give an account of our various duties, on that great day. http://www.RobertBaines.com
Well those certainly sound like nice quotes but I don’t think that they can be backed up from Scripture.
This really hit home…thanks!
The way I figure it, that’s about 800 sermons I’ve forgotten about. Guess I better get all the tapes.
I agree with Arthur , while these quotes make sense and we should as a congregation be engaged , I question the scriptural ability to back these statements up.
I know that many sermons have left made a lasting impression on me but I would be hard pressed to be able to recount many of them. Plus in general the human mind can only retain so much . What we should do as a listener is interact with preacher. Examining what is being preached in the light of scripture and sound teaching.
This verse from Luke 12 came to mind when I read these quotes and thought, what Scriptural principle could back these statements?
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required…”
We are absolutely rich in this nation to have such free access to the Bible, to preaching, to discussing and studying the Word. Indeed, much will be required….
According to Matthew 25:31ff, we will be judged in only ONE WAY, how we treated the poor / disenfranchised / marginalized in our land/culture.As Tim Keller preached in his sermon on Justice in Isaiah 58:”A super sensitive social conscience and a life poured out in deeds of service to others and especially the poor is the inevitable sign of real faith and a real connection with God. And if you think God says, “you have a real connection with Me, you connected with Me and you’ve humbled yourself and you’ve found me,” yet you don’t care about the poor, then you haven’t. This is a real index of the condition of your heart. In other words, Justice is the great symptom of real faith…of a real relationship with God. It will be there, but if it never develops, then you don’t have the relationship with God you think you have. (Isaiah 58)
If Matthew 25 means that is the only thing we will be judged for than it would contradict Matthew 12:36: “I tell you, son the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,” and Ecclesiastes 12:14 “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
See also Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians 4:5, Ecclesiastes 3:17, all of which say that we will be judged for every single thought and work we do in our lives.
So, our eternal destiny is how we perform - what we’ve said - what we’ve done, or on the basis of the being justified by faith in Jesus Christ - “for our sake He who knew no sin became sin (and thus bore the penalty due us …keeping us out of hell) that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (clothing us in an alien righteousness and permitting us to have eternal fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Commonly known as the great exchange - He gets our sin, we get His righeousness.
1Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
“You must give an account for every sermon you hear.”
Thomas Watson’s quote will ring in my ears when my Pastor begins his sermon with, “I invite you to take your Bible’s and turn to…”
Fantastic quotes!
I concur with the spirit of these quotations, if not the explicit wording. My wife and I were discussing the other day whether or not those people who had never heard or read the Word were required to believe in the birth, death, and resurrection specifically in order to enter into a relationship with God. I cannot answer that question definitively, but I know that for those of us who are blessed with easy access to God’s Word, we are absolutely held to a standard of faith in the truth of the Scriptures. To that end, how can we begin to aspire to God’s standard for our lives if we do not take full advantage of the opportunities for learning and studying that we are given? So yes, I agree, our attitudes toward God’s Word and the preaching of it says a lot about our attitude toward and relationship with Him.
I certainly agree with the urgency and insistence upon giving due attention to God’s Word, whether in reading, reflecting upon it, or hearing it preached. Still … This is probably just me and my weakness(es), but these quotes strike my sense of fear that somehow, Christ’s imputed righteousness won’t be enough. I will have to give account of seemingly endless sins throughout my life, but to what end if I believe in Christ and have honestly struggled to obey His commandments? Maybe I’m a terrible Christian (or, God forbid—literally—maybe I’m deceiving myself?); maybe others only commit small sins, and thus will only have to give relatively light accounts on the Day of Judgment? I don’t know. I do know that every time I read about the many, many things we will have to give account for (i.e., admit, over and over again, that we failed to live up to God’s standard of absolute holiness, and thus sinned by definition, at a minimum), I feel the foundation of my faith starting to crack. I often get confused by the tension between my keeping commandments/Christ’s having kept them for me. I know I’m weak and utterly worthless; never doubted that for a second. But I have believed on Him Who is utterly worthy, such that even my failures to fully digest every word of every sermon will somehow be forgiven if I seek forgiveness and strive to do better. Did I get the Gospel wrong?
Don’t let this shake your faith in fact the way I see it listening should build your faith. I believe the word of God tell us several times to hear -to hear the word, to hear what the spirit is saying to us. The word of God also tells us to be doers & not just hearers of the word. None of this is apart from Jesus because apart from Jesus we could do nothing. The word of God also tells us that we can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens us. I do pray that I will develop the skill of listening, understanding & retaining what I heard. This also applies to what I read.
Thank you, Sam Gaines, for stating so eloquently what I, too, felt as I was reading this post and comments. I am trying develop some guidelines for myself for the Sabbath that would free my mind and heart to be fully involved in worship. (write the offering check, have clothes prepared, and dinner planned and necessary food purchased by Saturday evening)I love to read this website and have purchased and been helped by books from Tim’s top 10 book lists, but often feel that I am not worthy of it’s companionship as I am certainly not a scholar and live far under the qualifications of others who post here. Thank you, Tim, I do appreciate your work.