Proverbs: Listening

Intro:

Good morning! We’re navigating a tough week, having just hosted a funeral for Drew Hall, deeply loved in our community, who passed away in a climbing accident. Our hearts are with his wife and daughters. Next week, our Exeter church family, who we just prayed off, joins us for baptisms – this is the life of the church: joy and sorrow, but Jesus is always with us. Today, we delve into listening, a profound theme from Proverbs.

Scripture References: Proverbs 2:1-5, Proverbs 5:1-2, Proverbs 22:17, Proverbs 13:1, Proverbs 15:31-32, Proverbs 4:20, Proverbs 5:1, Genesis 1, Psalm 33:6, Deuteronomy 6, Genesis 21:17, Proverbs 15:29, Luke 24:25-32

Key Points:

• God Is Always Speaking, Calling Us to Listen:
  • Proverbs emphasizes God's constant communication, urging us to be attentive listeners.
  • The Seattle School of Theology's daily "chime" ritual reminds students their work is done in the presence of a living, speaking God.
• Listening for Wisdom and Instruction:
  • Proverbs consistently calls us to listen for knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:1-5, 5:1-2, 22:17).
  • It also stresses receiving instruction and discipline (Proverbs 13:1, 15:31-32). Embracing God's loving discipline transforms us.
  • Proverbs’ urgent tone (e.g., Proverbs 4:20, 5:1) highlights the gravity of listening to God's words. It’s the single most important thing we can learn.
• Listening in God's Grand Story:
  • Creation: From Genesis 1 ("Let there be light"), God speaks first. Our design is to listen and respond. Keith Anderson notes God's voice in creation is the first evidence of His love. Intentional listening means emptying our agenda, being curious, and present. Grab a "Five Ways to Practice Listening" card at the connect table!
  • Old Testament (Shema): Deuteronomy 6 commands, "Listen, O Israel... love the Lord your God." Listening precedes loving. God's listening (e.g., Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21:17) isn't for His knowing, but to express His love, care, and that we are known (Proverbs 15:29). What He hears is never a barrier to His love.
  • Jesus' Incarnation: Jesus often said, "Let anyone who has ears hear." The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:25-32) shows disciples, disillusioned by Christ's crucifixion, unknowingly walking with Jesus. As He spoke, their hearts "burned." Encountering Jesus opens our ears and hearts to God's voice. Proximity to Jesus happens in simple, earthy ways (walking, sharing a meal, being with companions).
• The Problem is Connection, Not God's Speaking:
  • Like the story of Pete Gregg unknowingly broadcasting his podcast, God is always speaking. The problem is often our connection.
  • Busyness, disappointment, a cold heart, or distance from Jesus can hinder our listening. Our job is to approach God with intentionality, love, and closeness to Jesus.

Conclusion:

Our ability to listen to God is foundational. From creation to Jesus, God's story shows He actively speaks and listens out of love. This security allows us to confidently listen to Him.

Call to Action:

As we come to the table, remember Christ's presence bridges all distance. If your heart feels cold, or you need to know God hears you, pray with us. We'll worship and take communion, remembering Jesus, who perfectly embodied listening and drew close to us, offering new life. Be responsive to prayer; we want to connect you to Jesus.

Transcript

there's quite a few chairs out

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because we hosted a funeral yesterday

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for someone who's really loved in our community.

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As many of you know, because an email went out, Drew Hall, who attends our church, passed away in a climbing accident on Sawtooth.

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And so he's 36 years old and leaves behind a wife and two young daughters.

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And so this place was just packed with people

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wanting to remember and express

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the impact that Drew had on their lives. And so if you're wanting to involve yourself in the situation, you can look back on the email that you received.(...) One of the other things that's going on is we just decided to leave the chairs out because this group that just got sent to Exeter is coming back next week to celebrate baptisms with us. So the whole church in Exeter is coming to worship with us on the 27th. So we'll have a good time together. And that, in a nutshell, is the life of the church, right?

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It's not all rainbows and butterflies, right? So we're thankful that Jesus is with us in it. And let's pray for Danny as he opens the Word.

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We're thankful for the gift that this man is to us and to me specifically. I'm so thankful for Danny. I'm thankful for his life. And I'm thankful for the ways that he's listened to me and the way he's listened to many of us as we've shared our lives. So would he be able to impart something to us this morning about listening to your voice?(...) Amen.

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Thanks, John.

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Good morning.

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Hey, we're in the middle of a summer series, Summer of Wisdom, and today as Travis prayed, we're gonna look at the theme that shows up in a lot of different ways in Proverbs about listening.

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And I just, from the get-go, I just wanna kind of call out these themes, and then we're gonna look at the idea of how we listen

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because we all know that it's important.

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One of the themes actually that I think probably the significant one that we see in the book of Proverbs is actually a theme that God is always speaking.

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And that actually calls us to be listeners.

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God's prompting us to listen.

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Do we actually live our lives and believe that God's always speaking?

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There was a story this week because I was just reading an article that came across as really interesting to me, and I actually thought it would, man, a little bit jealous.

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It was in a school, the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and they have something, it's a bit of a ritual called the noon, or the nine, noon, and three chime.(...) And they have this chime that goes off on campus, the whole campus, at nine in the morning, at noon in the morning, and at three in the morning, every day, Monday through Friday.

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It interrupts classes, it interrupts lectures,

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board meetings,(...) student just life on campus, it interrupts everything three times a day.

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And the guy that was writing the article from that campus just mentioned that we made the sound because we believe our work is done in the presence of a living God who is speaking,

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even when we aren't listening.

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I just love that idea of just being interrupted in our day, like, oh yeah, God's speaking.

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I wish I had a chime in my pocket that went off multiple times.

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So this theme shows up in Proverbs, just this idea of God speaking. Another dominant theme is the idea of listening for the purpose of gaining knowledge and gaining understanding, that we don't actually have the curve on these things, but actually our lives need to be in a posture of listening to receive those things. Here's just a quick little sample of Proverbs that speaks to the idea of gaining wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

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In Proverbs two, we see my son, if you accept my words and store my commands within you, listen closely to wisdom

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and directing your heart to understanding,(...) then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

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Proverbs five, one and two says, "My son, pay attention to my wisdom.(...) "Listen closely to my understanding "so that you may maintain discretion(...) "in your lips safeguard knowledge."

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Proverbs 22, 17, "Listen closely, "pay attention to the words of the wise "and apply your mind to my knowledge."

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There's this resounding theme of listening for the purpose of receiving something that we desperately need, wisdom and knowledge. And then finally, there's another real major theme. If you were to read through Proverbs, it shows up, and this theme is the idea of receiving instruction(...) and discipline.

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Proverbs 13 says, "A wise son responds "to his father's discipline, "but a mocker doesn't listen to rebuke."

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Proverbs 15, 31 says, "The one who listens(...) "gives life-giving rebukes and will be at home among the wise."

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And then finally in verse 32, it says, "Anyone who ignores discipline despises himself, "but whoever listens to correction acquires good sense."

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So I think we would all agree this morning that we all need more wisdom in our lives(...) as wise Christians in this moment of history. And I think we would also say, as much as it's hard to say, that we all desire to embrace the loving discipline of God.

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Because we know that as we embrace discipline, the Bible teaches us that it actually does something to us. It transforms our lives into becoming more like Jesus. Or in the words of Romans 8, it conforms us into the image of the son.

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And most of these Proverbs about listening clearly communicate that we are in desperate need to gain understanding and knowledge, receive discipline and correction,(...) but we cannot do it in our lives

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in an aloof, indifferent way. We have to live our lives in a different way.(...) There's a sense of urgency that the Proverbs brings.(...) Like Proverbs 4, 20, it says, "My son, pay attention to my words. Listen closely to my sayings."

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Proverbs 5 says, "So now sons listen to me. Don't turn away from the words of my mouth." There's this urgency.

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And I know for the parents out there that have grown children, there's these moments in your life where you give your kids away. And sometimes there's these moments that present themselves like you have this final moment to send your son or daughter away. What are you gonna say to them?

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And it's this bit of gravity like, wow,

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what I'm gonna say next really matters. And it feels like that in Proverbs, that God's leaning in and he's saying, listen,(...) listen.

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So it is possible that listening for God's voice, his words, sometimes his whispers,

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is the single most important thing that we can ever learn to do.

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Listening to God is not peripheral,(...) but it's central to our lives.

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It's not an add-on to those that are spiritually attuned or more spiritual. It actually is for each and every one of us to grab ahold of. The truth is that listening is essential to the very purpose for which we were made. And without it, everything falls apart. (Congregation Applauding)

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And I know that this morning as we were praying for Exeter,

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man, I'm so excited that we're hearing God and we're responding.

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Because that allows us to give things away.

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Because we know we walk in obedience.(...) Sometimes it doesn't make sense.

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But I want to acknowledge that listening can really be frustrating and challenging as well.

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How can God be so close and be speaking yet at the same time, it's so hard to hear him at times and in seasons in our life.

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I believe that he's always speaking, but man, it doesn't feel like it.

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And if he's really speaking, why can't I hear him?

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Peter Gregg, the founder of the 24-7 Prayer Movement had this really funny story on this podcast I was listening to a while back. And I just thank God that it wasn't me. That's all I've got to say.

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He's on this train and he's going to London and he's a bit of an introvert by nature.

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And he's thinking, man, this half an hour train ride is gonna be really a gift. I get to just sit, I don't have to talk to anyone. I can just be in my own thoughts and be alone. And he's sitting there and he turns his phone on, goes to a podcast and it's a podcast. Her name is Dr. Leaf and she's a neuroscientist, a Christian and she has insights into neurobiology and cognitive science. And the one that he's gonna listen to happens to be one related to women's health. It's how stress impacts early onset of menopause.

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So he's like,(...) okay, I'll just give it a shot.

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So he's listening to this and as he's listening, he turns his earbuds on and the train gets louder. There's actually rain around him and there's a big crowd, a big crowd in the train and it's getting louder and louder and he's turning up the volume higher and higher and he can still barely hear it but he's just trying to be patient and he's listening to this podcast about menopause.

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And he's actually going, man, this is actually really helpful. This is insightful that our stress levels impact our physiology, how our bodies work.

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And the train pulls up and as he's pulling up, he's kind of like seeing that people are really staring at him, you know, and he's like, well, maybe I should have been more polite and said hello or good morning or, you know, made a gesture of just being a person, a human.(...) And people start getting off and he grabs his earbuds and he realizes that they were never connected to his phone. (Audience Laughing)(...) So this podcast was going on, broadcasted throughout the train

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and he could barely hear it.

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And he's like, man, I want to just crawl underneath my chair and disappear.(...) No wonder people are looking at me weird, you know? What's this guy listening to?

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Man.

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So God's speaking.

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The podcast was speaking,

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but that doesn't guarantee that we listen or that we hear.

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Despite the difficulty, listening to God is central to our story and his and it shows up everywhere, from creation to incarnation of Jesus. And this morning, I want to just take a couple minutes and I want to look at the big story of God and three spots within the story(...) and what those moments mean to us in terms of how we listen.

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I want to look at quickly the incarnation of Jesus in the New Testament, the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and then beginning with creation, that first moment.

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So from the beginning, God's first words in Genesis set the stage for the importance of listening

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and it unfolded throughout the big story of God.(...) With these four words in Genesis one, he said, "Let there be light."

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God created two trillion galaxies of stars and the universe was born, two trillion.

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Today we have the James Webb telescope that gives us the ability to quantify numbers and for the first time we're getting accurate numbers for how big our universe is.

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These four words exploded with two trillion galaxies and the James Webb data is coming back that there's approximately 300 billion stars per galaxy.(...) Now do the math.

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Just massive creation.

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Psalms 33.6 says, "The Lord merely spoke

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and the heavens and the stars were born."

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And then in the early parts of day six, God spoke again and he said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and humankind was created with the capacity to listen

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and to respond.

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Eugene Peterson writes that the characteristic element of square one on that first day of creation is this, that God said.

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For Christians, basic Christianity is not only a noun, God, but it's also a verb, said.

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God said and the timeline of creation began and our part in creation is to play the person that listens.(...) It's to play the part of the person that listens.

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By design, we don't speak first, but first God speaks.

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And second, we listen.

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Keith Anderson writes in his book, "A Spirituality of Listening" that the voice of God in creation is the first evidence of his love.

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It's actually loving that he's speaking to us.

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It's the first evidence of his love, respect and honor for those who will listen.

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Listening is our response of love, respect and honor, not only to each other, but back to God. It sets an emotion for us, the capacity to listen.

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So we find this moment of creation that God's speaking to us

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and according to Anderson that God moves towards us in our everyday lives and we have to respond in an intentional way.

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Here's some real intentional qualities of listening. What does it look like to listen with intentionality?

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So here's just some thoughts. We empty our agenda and voice to give ear to God.

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Sometimes it's putting down the devotional book

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and just being present with him.

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We're curious, expected, engaged and ready for him to speak.(...) We wait, not intrusive and interruptive, but in anticipation of what he might say.

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We attend to God alert and aware, ready for an encounter.

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We're present in the presence of God. We show up and in the most simple form we pay attention.

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Those are just some simple things of what intentionality looks like when we approach God to listen. These qualities describe not passive and detached verbs but an active verb.(...) Listening is doing what we have been created to do from the very beginning.

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At the connect table on the way out today, I just wanna invite you to grab one of these. There's five ways that are just simple in terms of experimenting with what practicing listening might look like in your everyday life.(...) There's things like reflective pause,

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reading scripture out loud,

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journaling for a day, listening with a companion

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and something we call in the company of silence. Just these five simple ways that we can practice being intentional about our listening. So I wanna invite you to grab one on the way out today.

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And in Genesis one, that's not the only place that we actually hear God encouraging us to listen by design.

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I wanna consider for just a moment the Old Testament.

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One of the main things that God gave his people as he was leading them in the Old Testament(...) was what is called the Shema or the Law.

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And in Deuteronomy six it says this,(...) listen Israel,(...) the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

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Love the Lord your God with all of your heart,(...) with all of your soul and with all of your strength.(...) These words that I am giving you today

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are to be in your heart.

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The most important prayer in all of Judaism and also Jesus reinforced this in Matthew 22 was this idea of the core law or the most important commandments(...) and the highest priority for us to live through and by.

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But before we can love God with all of these things, we have to listen. Isn't it interesting that it starts with listen.

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And then it rolls out love.

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The creation teaches us about what intentionality means, but I believe the Old Testament teaches us that listening is connected to love.

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You know in considering relationships, I know that that's one of the biggest things that breaks down in relationship is this lack of communication(...) and then it's directly connected to a love that plays out in a relationship. God actually designed us for that, that our listening, our desire to listen, it comes from our love for him and other people. God modeled it first in his story.

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And one of the stories of the Old Testament I just wanna remind us about is in Genesis 21, the story of Hagar and Ishmael.

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And many of us know that Ishmael was the son of Hagar and Hagar was a prostitute that was with Abraham and Sarah couldn't conceive. So in her place, Sarah brought in Hagar and she conceived Ishmael and she became very jealous.(...) And she sent her away at one point of just anger and jealousy and they found themselves in the desert.

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And the story goes, they ran out of resource, they had no more water and she actually set him down, Ishmael, and walked away, it said, about an arrows shot away, so that's a pretty far distance and he was sitting there and she cried out to God and she said, "I can't bear to see him die."

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And it says in verse 17, "God heard the boys cry."

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And that confirms his name, his name literally means(...) God hears,(...) Ishmael, God hears.

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This is one of the confirming times early on in the story of God's people where God confirms that he's listening and he's hearing what we have to say.

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Proverbs 15, 29 says, "The Lord is far from the wicked, "but he hears the prayers of the righteous.

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"He draws close to our cries."

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This story gives us just a simple glimpse of God and the supremacy of God, he created everything.

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Yet he stoops down towards us and listens to us.

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And the interesting thing about that is, God's supreme in all his creation, but he's also omniscient. He knows everything.

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Yet he still listens to us.

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Why does he listen?

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He doesn't have to.

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N.T. Wright gives us insight into this by saying that God's listening to the suffering and the difficulty of humanity is not in terms of his action,

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but rather in terms of his character.

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Put another way, he doesn't listen for his knowing.

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Listening is an expression to us that he knows.

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I wanna say that again.

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God's listening is not for his knowing. He's not listening to us to acquire knowledge and understanding. He actually listens to us as an expression so that we know that he cares and that he loves us and that he knows who and what we're going through.

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All the Old Testament stories that involve God hearing his people point to the truth that God loves us.(...) God loves you and I and on the way,

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through our life he shows us his love by listening to us. And I know that if we had time to go through our sanctuary today, there would be all kinds of moments where God's intersection of our lives remind us that he knows who we are and what we're up to.

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God loves us,(...) doesn't get anything out of it.

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He doesn't learn new information.

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Doesn't receive anything in return.

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He actually isn't better or more complete for it.

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His love and listening are entirely for our benefit.

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In listening to us, God shows he cares and he loves.

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And we receive from him the revelation that we're known and that we're loved.

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And most importantly,(...) that what we have heard

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and what we have shared with him is in no means a barrier for his love towards us. And I think that that just blows me away, that he loves us so much, he's listening to us. And what he hears is not a barrier for his love. It's not like he's qualifying what we're saying.

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And I just wanna speak to that for a moment. If you're here this morning and you're carrying around some things that you're not excited about or proud of, it's not gonna off put God.

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He's not gonna be surprised by it.(...) He's not gonna put it in your face and say, this is a disqualifier.

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He's actually gonna draw closer to you

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and make himself known and make sure that you know that he's listening and that he's close.

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So here's the point, from a place of security and confidence,(...) knowing that he is listening to us, we can listen to him.

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Our listening has to come from a place of love because we're confident that he's listening to us.

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I wanna go back to Deuteronomy really quick and just listen to, I just want you to listen to this.

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Listen to Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.(...) And these words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.

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Listening has to be intentional, but most of all it has to be from a place of love.

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And then finally, we see this principle of listening in the life of Jesus in the New Testament.

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The life of Jesus has so much to say about listening. In fact, Jesus often punctuated his teachings(...) with a proclamation of let anyone who has ears hear.

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Why did Jesus repeat this phrase so many times in the gospels?

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Well, probably his disciples needed to hear it, right?

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And modern day disciples need to hear it as we read the gospels.

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Let anyone who has ears hear.

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I wanna end this morning just by looking at a simple story that just brings the incarnation of Jesus alive. And in the midst of it, you're gonna see the model of listening, but also people responding to him by listening.

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It's the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 and in verse 25,(...) we're gonna pick up there, but up to verse 25, the scene is this, that Jesus was crucified and his disciples were confused. It didn't quite work out the way that he had expected(...) or that they had planned and they were disillusioned, frustrated and disappointed. And to be honest, they were probably gonna hang up

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this discipleship thing and walk away.

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And it says that they were leaving Jerusalem walking towards Emmaus.(...) And as they were walking, they were talking about all the things that were happening the past couple days.

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The crucifixion of Jesus, the disappointment that he wasn't the one to bring justice,

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to bring righteousness that they thought he was gonna bring.

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And as they were walking, it says a person joined them on the road.

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And here, we're gonna pick up here in verse 25. It says, "He, Jesus said to them, how foolish you are,(...) "how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken."

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"Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things "and enter into his glory?

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"Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, "he interpreted them the things concerning himself "in all of scriptures.

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"They came near the village where they were going "and he gave the impression that he was going further.

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"But they urged him, stay with us,(...) "because it's almost evening.

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"And now the day is almost over, "so he went in and stayed with them.

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"It was as he reclined at the table with them "that he took the bread,(...) blessed and broke it, "and he gave it to them.

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"Their eyes were open and they recognized him, "but he disappeared from their sight.(...) "They said to each other, "weren't our hearts burning within us(...) "while he was talking with us on the road?

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"Here these two disciples were with Jesus unknowingly "and he began to engage them "in a very intimate, personal way

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"as he walked and as he reclined at the table with them "and he even joined them that night."

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And I just wanna point out that one of the significant things of the story is this idea that listening to God begins and ends with encountering Jesus.

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As we encounter Jesus, we begin to grow in our capacity to hear God's voice.

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And it happened in these guys' lives, right? As they were walking, Jesus came along and he began to speak to them and as their proximity closed with Jesus, their eyes and their ears and their hearts began to open to the voice of God.

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Nothing can replace,(...) nothing matters more than a personal encounter with God.

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And it seems to be a bit of a theme this morning.

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We prayed it in pre-service prayer, we also prayed it over Exeter that the greatest thing that we can send them out with is a blessing of God's presence, proximity towards Jesus. That's gonna change everything.

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When we see and hear Jesus, we see and hear the Father.

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If we want more of God, we need to close the proximity with our relationship with Christ. I wanna invite the worship team up.

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And I wanna just point out that these are not lofty things. In fact, this encounter on the road to Emmaus is, I love it because it's earthy, it's natural.

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Jesus comes close to the natural things of our life.

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There's a list that comes, that I came up with from this story and here's just some of these things that happen in the story. It happened along a road that they were traveling.

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It happened in the company of companions.

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A home was involved and invitation to eat was involved.

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Eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to feel.

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There was a willingness to listen carefully and lean in prayerfully.

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And there was also a response of celebration and thanksgiving. Didn't our hearts burn?

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Proximity to Jesus comes in the super simple things.

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And as we invite him into our everyday lives, our ability to listen to the voice of God increases.

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I wanna go back to that story on the train with Pete Gregg.

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And just the embarrassment of the reality of, I've been broadcasting my podcasts to 200 people, I have no idea who they are.

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It's interesting that the problem wasn't that the podcast was turned off.

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And in the same way that the problem is generally not because God is not speaking.

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Or that we actually lack the capacity to listen.

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We really need to turn our earbuds on.

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See that this story captured my attention because what it really illustrates is that there's a connection problem.

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Our time with God begins to take second place(...) or maybe we lose intentionality.(...) Our lives get busy and other things take its place or maybe we're going through just a season or a moment of disappointment and hardship and our hearts grow just cold and calloused.

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We struggle with love.

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Or maybe our relationship with Jesus has just become distant. It's become commonplace and we've been there and we've done that and there's some distance between our lives and his.

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And we become further and further behind

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or further and further ahead of him.(...) And we're not walking alongside him.

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And these stories from the big picture of God's story is just a simple reminder that our job is to come to him with intentionality in our heart. Lord, I wanna be present.

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I wanna listen to you from a place of love

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because you hear me and you listen to me.

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And I also wanna grow closer with my proximity to Jesus. I wanna close in the gap.

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And this morning as we respond as followers of Jesus, here's a simple response that as we come to the table,

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Christ is present.

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The proximity has been bridged. He said when we are far off, he brought us in.

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When we are far off, he brought us in. Man,(...) and he gave us new life.

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If you wanna even respond by praying, there's gonna be people up here ready to pray for you. Maybe it's a situation where you've just felt like, man, my heart is just, it's grown cold.

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And I desire that God would stoke the flame of love in me.

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Maybe you just need to hear that God hears you.

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And you really matter to him.

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Would you stand with me this morning?

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We're gonna end our time by worshiping and coming to the table. And also I just wanna encourage you to come, be responsive to be prayed for. We'd love to connect you to the one that really matters, Jesus.