Today’s passage is Luke 8:16-25. Jesus says a light must shine, not be hidden. Because everything will be revealed, he says to listen carefully. He who has will be given more while the one without will have what little he has taken away. When Jesus is told his mother and brothers want to see him, he says that his mother and brothers are those who put God’s word into practice. When the fearful disciples wake Jesus during a storm that threatens to sink the boat they are in, Jesus calms the storm and chastises the disciples for their lack of faith.
Who is our family?
Why is crying out for help when the boat is sinking a lack of faith?
When Jesus says, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen” (18), it’s a warning similar to the one he gave just after telling the crowd the parable of the sower: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (8:8).
We have to hear God’s word and act on it to be part of God’s family: “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put into practice”(21), says Jesus.
When we do that, we shine and reveal ourselves and our sins to all who hear our testimonies.
The more we hear the word of God, the more we’re able to see who we are and the more we’re able to repent and love others.
That’s how we get more of God’s spiritual riches. It all starts with hearing, with carefully considering how we listen, as Pastor Kim Hyoung Min said in his sermon last night.
Even though my spiritual hearing has got better since I’ve come to Wooridle and gone through all the training courses, I still have a tendency to hear what I want to hear.
I tend to listen in order to hear what I want confirmed about my own thoughts and conclusions.
Last night’s sermon is a good example of my listening to confirm myself.
I did my QT earlier in the day but couldn’t upload it on Kakao till much later at night because of a computer glitch.
Uncharacteristically, I fretted about not having it uploaded for my Kakao group to read.
I was actually being proud of a thoroughly mediocre QT! CS Lewis’s warning about the dangers of being humble and then proud of your humility flitted at the edges of my mind.
As a result I was being particularly self-righteous in listening to the pastor’s sermon, judging it as mediocre and nothing special!
I was pleased when he made some of the same points I’d made, particularly about the disciples needing ears to hear what Jesus had just said.
Ah, yes, I said to myself, now he’s beginning to see as I see.
The problem with my QT yesterday was that I didn’t see very far because I didn’t listen to God’s word well enough.
I saw my admission of failure to see and understand as honesty and humility.
Hah! It was nothing of the kind.
When the pastor introduced the idea that sowing seed was going to worship to hear the word of God and the various results of the seeds is a result of how we hear the word and respond.
His interpretation made really good sense. Unlike with my QT on the same passage, my understanding was deepened. I actually heard something that was new, that wasn’t what I already knew.
Throughout the sermon, my pride in my own conclusions wrestled with Kim Hyoung Min’s.
I was in a spiritual storm and my boat was sinking and I didn’t realize it till today when I read about the disciples in their storm.
Just like them, I didn’t have any faith in the word carrying me safely across the lake because I had preconceived conclusions about what things meant.
There was no room in my mind and spirit for something bigger. So now I repent.
Application: to repent of my arrogance and to consider carefully how I listen to God’s word.
Lord, open my mind to receive your word instead of my own conclusions. Inspire me with your Spirit to approach your word with humility and expectation. Strengthen my resolve to put into practice the lessons you teach me.
