Luke 11:27-36
Hear the Word and Keep It

In this week’s passage, Jesus spoke to the crowds who came out to see and hear him but who did not respond rightly. He corrected a woman who focused on his mother, and he called the crowd an evil generation that would be condemned at the judgment by the people of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba. Speaking metaphorically of eyes and lamps, he warned them to be full of light, not darkness. The crux of all of Jesus’ statements, as Pastor Dave explained, was this: Blessed are those who hear God’s word and keep it.

Not everyone in the crowd was blessed because they heard Jesus’ words. They heard, but not really. Likewise, it is possible for God’s word to go in one ear and out the other on a Sunday morning. If we’re reading the Bible, it’s possible for our eyes to run over the page without the words registering. God’s instruction doesn’t become lodged in our hearts. It is also possible to hear God’s word but apply it to the wrong person. Sometimes we listen to a sermon and respond by thinking, “I wish so-and-so were here to hear this!” That can happen in our private study too. When we read about Jesus calling out Pharisees for their hypocrisy, we think about a hypocritical person we know instead of asking ourselves, “Am I a hypocrite?” Before the Lord this week, ask: Do I allow the Bible to confront me every time it is opened? In addition to hearing from God through His word, we hear from Him through the Holy Spirit. In my experience, the “voice” of the Holy Spirit is a sudden, painful realization that I have displeased my Father. Before the Lord, ask: Do I recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit? Do I pay attention?

Jesus established an unbreakable bond between hearing and keeping – that is, obeying – God’s word. The test of whether we have really heard is whether we obey the instruction we heard. Of course, we can’t obey perfectly, and Jesus knew that. He died for that, after all. But we are capable of stubborn, persistent sin, offering excuses or claiming an exception. I knew a woman full of bitterness who refused to forgive because it was too hard – impossible, she said. I knew another woman who attributed outbursts of anger to her ethnicity. We are also capable of selective obedience that depends on the setting. We can obey at church, among godly people, but our obedience is lacking at home where we feel free to “be ourselves” or at work or among people we want to impress. As we hear and obey, we receive the light of Jesus as through healthy eyes and shine it out to others like a lamp. Dave exhorted us to radiate that light out in the open, all the time, living out Jesus’ words. Ask the Lord: Show me my blind spots – the areas and situations in which I am not obeying Your commands. I need You to help me obey more fully because I am weak.

In Christ,
Carol Gilbert

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