Hear

Today is the first of the month, so I was reading the first chapter of the Proverbs this morning over coffee. I focused on the verb “hear.”

“A wise man will hear [יִשְׁמַע] and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel…

…hear [שְׁמַע], my son, your father’s instruction
And do not forsake your mother’s teaching…

…he who listens [וְשֹׁמֵעַֽ] to me shall live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil” (1:5,8,33).

When we move into the New Testament, it’s interesting how many times the letters build upon teaching that was verbally given in the gathering of the congregation. Let’s use 1 John as an example:

● “…the old commandment is the word which you have heard” (2:7).

● “…Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour…who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son” (2:18,22).

● “…let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father” (2:24).

● “…this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (3:11).

● “…every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (4:3).

John assumes those reading his letter have been in the congregation hearing the “apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42), as all congregations should.

The reading is built upon a foundation of hearing. This has implications for the effectiveness of your personal devotion time in the Word. The benefits of your individual study of the Bible will be gained only in conjunction with your careful attendance to the proclamation of biblical truth in the gathering of the saints.

There is relationship implied in the act of hearing. In Proverbs, it is cast as the relationship between parents and child, or Wisdom personified and those who would seek, treasure, and love her. In 1 John it is between the ones who proclaim apostolic truth and those who hear within the local congregation. The apostolic truth itself is received through the hearing (1 John 1:1-4) and is given to the congregation. The congregation is made up of Christ-given proclaimers of that truth (Ephesians 4:7-13) and members who are placed in those specific congregations by the work of Christ through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:18). The receiving and writing of the apostles is the work of God. The gifting and assembly of the congregation is also the work of God. God paves the way in these relationships to prepare you to open your Bibles over that cup of coffee every morning.

How carefully we should speak and listen in the gathering of the Church! Careful hearing becomes fruitful reading. The dedicated receiving of the spoken Word bears fruit in the personal reading of the written Word.

Hear.