Highest and Best 5-Our Best Listening To A Sermon

Our series on ‘Highest & Best’ concludes with the topic of how we can best listen to God’s word. As we know, there’s a big difference between hearing and listening; that’s why ‘Listening’ appears in the title and not ‘Hearing’. A quick topic search will give you this: Hearing is the passive, physical process of sounds entering your ears, while listening is the active, cognitive process of focusing on, interpreting, and understanding those sounds. Hearing God’s word is one thing. You might hear the sounds entering your ears but that’s not what God is looking for. He wants us to understand what has been said. Admittedly, hear and listen are used somewhat interchangeably in the Bible. But looking in context, when understanding what’s being said is at issue, its clear that the concept of listening in the active is implied, while merely the passive act of hearing is not. Listening to a sermon preached on Sunday morning is part of our worship and integral to our faith. Consider Romans 10:17: “ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Assuming God wants our best when it comes to hearing His word (and He does), how can we best listen to what the preacher is saying? This lesson provides some help: in concept and practice.