"Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!" - Matthew 11:15
When we read these eight words, what do we hear? What does it make us think of? I heard someone say, “Hey! You have ears! You need to hear this! This is important!”
What was happening in Matthew 11:15?
John had been put in prison for pointing out Herod’s sins. As he sat in prison, he began to doubt himself, so Jesus eased John’s doubt. John had assumed Elijah's prophetic job by strikingly facing sin and directing individuals toward God (Malachi 3:1).
In the next few verses (16-19), Jesus criticizes the mindset of the society of His time. Regardless of what He said or did, many people took the contrary view because He challenged their self-seeking, secure, and comfortable lives, and they were unbelieving and doubting. Too frequently, we rationalize our inconsistent behavior by claiming that to listen to God, we must alter our behavior.
What does Matthew 11:15 teach us about listening?
What does this small parable have to do with listening and hearing? John had been pointing people toward Jesus but now he was in prison. He began to doubt himself. Jesus was reminding him of all the good things that had happened (the healings) and how John had lived his life. We should examine the evidence in Scripture and the changes in our lives if we occasionally begin to doubt our salvation, the forgiveness of our sins, or the work that God has done in our lives.
This was one of six passages of Scripture where the Lord was speaking to man. The other passages were:
- In Matthew 13:1-9, Jesus tells the story of the four soils, and He ends it with “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
- In Matthew 13:36-43, Jesus explains the story of the weeds, and ends it with “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
- In Mark 4:1-9, Jesus is talking about the story of the four soils and ends it with “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
- In Mark 4:10-23, He explains the story of the four soils but toward the end He makes the statement “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.”
- In Luke 8:4-8, Luke recounts the story of Jesus speaking about the four soils and ends it with “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
In this next set, the Lord also uses these words when He spoke to the churches but with a slight change:
- In Revelation 2:1-7, the Lord talks about the Loveless Church. His statement has a slight change to it. “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
- In Revelation 2:8-11, the Lord is speaking about the Persecuted Church and says, “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
- In Revelation 2:12-17, it is to the Lenient Church; “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
- In Revelation 2:18-29, is to the Compromising Church; “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
- In Revelation 3:1-6, to the Lifeless Church; “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
- In Revelation 3:7-13, to the Obedient Church; “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
- In Revelation 3:14-22, to the Lukewarm Church; “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
In these seven passages, you will notice that the Lord said “hath an ear” (singular) instead of “hath ears” or “have ears” (plural). The singular is to the church, the church as one group of people unified. But in the first set of Scriptures, the plural is to man who has two ears to hear with.
In the first set of Scripture, Jesus made an urgent appeal to the disciples to listen at the beginning, then He challenged those who have ears to listen at the end of the Scripture. That means we must pay attention and we must acknowledge the significance of hearing. Just because the speaker is speaking does not constitute that he or she has control over the one hearing it. No matter how well someone speaks, if the person being addressed does not pay attention, the message will pass from one ear to the other, and the message will be lost.
What is the difference between selective hearing, faulty hearing, and spiritual deafness?
All of this dealt with the issue of Selective Hearing, the issue of Faulty Hearing, and the issue of Spiritual Deafness.
Selective Hearing
Selective Hearing is the ability to focus on one piece of information at a time. It involves making the decision, either consciously or unconsciously, to listen to what you think is important to you and disregard what you consider is not. It is the ability to focus on a specific sound while filtering out other sounds. It is a skill that can be learned by anyone.
Now ask yourself, “Have I ever done that?” The correct answer is yes. We all have, at some point in our lives, to our schoolteachers, to our friends and loved ones, and to a preacher. We may hear something and begin to decide what we think applies to us and block out what we think does not. If you say that you have never done that, then you lie to yourself and to God. No doubt many people do this to God’s Word. Some will listen to all the good things of God’s Word but when it is time to hear about sin, they turn their ears off. Do we have spiritual selective hearing and only listen to what we want to hear from the Word of God?
Faulty Hearing
Faulty Hearing is having a condition that affects your ability to hear. It could be that the ears have a constant ringing sound in them, so it causes a person not to hear well. Or it could be that the ears are damaged in some way that the person now has hearing loss and cannot hear clearly. What if it is simply that a person is in an area that is so noisy that he cannot hear another person speaking? Maybe there is damage to the ear that prevents the person from hearing. That all revolves around the physical aspects, but what about the spiritual aspects of faulty hearing? Is there something that is preventing us from hearing from the Lord?
Spiritual Deafness
Spiritual Deafness means that a person cannot hear God’s voice. This could be caused by a disturbing event, a life-changing situation, or something as simple as being separated from God. The person has turned their ears off to God. They do not hear, nor do they listen either intentionally or unintentionally. If the spiritual deafness was caused by something unintentional, it might be that that person is looking for some answer to their situation, and with the help of spiritually-minded Christians, they find themselves back where they need to be with the Lord.
However, if it was something intentional, let us say with an “itching ears” issue, it may be more difficult to reach them. (2 Timothy 4:3-4) These are people that would choose to follow those who told them what they liked, rather than what was true and valid from godly teachers. A substantial number do that today, and a considerable amount of them are Christians or ones that are pronounced to be Christians.
These are individuals who seek out ministers who declare a message or regulation that excuses their way of life. They dismiss or fall, expressly by avoiding reality. They do not pay attention to sound principles (doctrine).
They meet individuals they like, those with the capacity to redirect others to a different path than the truth. These people go left when the truth (Holy Spirit) instructs them to go right. They will not even listen to the truth or live by it. Instead of responding to reason and conviction, they deny it.
How can we learn to be good spiritual listeners?
We should always be actively listening for the Lord to speak to us. But sometimes we may need to get in a place of solitude, quiet ourselves down, remove all the outside obstacles, and fix our eyes and ears upon the Lord. If solitude was a significant need for Jesus (Matthew 14:13), do you not think that we need that same solitude?
We need to remove anything that is distracting us from hearing the Lord (phone, tablet, laptop, TV, etc.). We need to stop what we are doing and pay attention to God's words in whatever form He chooses.
Our attitude may need to change. By that, I mean, is our heart right with God? Are we truly where we need to be with our walk with the Lord? If we are continually walking beside Him, then we should be able to hear Him. And when we hear Him, we should listen.
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