A.W. Tozer wrote an insightful piece entitled “We Must Hear Worthily” (part of his book The Root of the Righteous) in which he says:

It is carelessly assumed by most persons that when a preacher pronounces a message of truth and his words fall upon the ears of his listeners there has been a bona fide act of hearing on their part. They are assumed to have been instructed because they have listened to the Word of God. But it does not follow.

This is very true. How many times can each of us say we’ve sat and listened to sermons and yet don’t recall even the last the we heard; much less say that we were truly taught something that changed the way we live our day-to-day lives?

Now that’s not to say that every sermon has had no impact on our lives because some have! But what is the difference? Assuming that both sermons are taken from the Word of God, what makes one sermon a life impacting teaching and another just another forgotten preaching?

Some would say the difference is all on the part of the preacher; the way he delivers the message; the illustrations he uses in the message; the amount of emotion or humor that is involved; and so on. But I believe there is another element we need to consider…that being the hearer.

A.W. Tozer goes on to say:

If we would be truly instructed we must be worthy to hear; or more accurately, we must hear in a worthy manner. In listening to a sermon, reading a good book or even reading the Bible itself, much may be lost to us because we are not worthy to hear the truth. That is, we have not met the moral terms required to hear the truth rightly.

Worthy to hear? Hear in a worthy manner? What is he talking about?

The first point Tozer makes is that people will say that nothing is required from the hearer because of Isaiah 55:11, which says:

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

The argument is that since God’s Word will not return to Him empty or void, then it will always be effective wherever and whenever it is preached. Therefore, the hearer doesn’t need to do anything. But that’s not what Isaiah 55:11 says. In fact, the emphasis of the Old Testament prophets was that God cried out to His people but they would not listen.

Proverbs 1:24-25
24 But since you rejected me when I called
and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
25 since you ignored all my advice
and would not accept my rebuke,

Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed (Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:1-15) is another great example of how just because God’s word is preached doesn’t mean it is received by every person. Likewise, if the sermons of our Lord Jesus were always received on “good soil” then why did Jesus proclaim several times, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”? No, the hearer definitely has a role to play.

Another point Tozer makes clear is that “before there can be true inward understanding of divine truth there must be a moral preparation.” Tozer continues by saying:

The Gospel according to John is filled with the teaching that there must be a spiritual readying within the soul before there can be a real understanding of God’s truth.

This can be seen is John 7:17 which says, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 also bears this out by saying:

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

These passages make it clear that the Spirit of God needs to bring about a change in the hearer before the hearer can truly hear the Word of God. And that change is humility.

Look again at John 7:17. Jesus tells His followers that if they really want to understand what He’s saying then they need to do what He says first, then the understanding will follow. That takes humility; truly acknowledging that Jesus’ ways are greater, better, wiser than our own!

We are also told to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). Therefore, we should never just blindly accept a sermon preached to us, but instead should make sure the minister “is worthy to speak to us.” But now having a better understanding of the roll of humility in hearing the Word of God, Tozer says we should also ask ourselves, “are we worthy to hear”?

When we humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus we prepare ourselves for greater understanding and application of His Word and teaching, no matter who is minister is.

Sometimes ministers of God’s Word can be quite unusual. Tozer points out that Peter was brought to repentance by the crowing of a rooster. Saint Augustine was brought to repentance through seeing a friend killed by lightening. Nicholas Hermann was converted through seeing a tree stripped of its leaves in winter. And D. L. Moody was led into a clear anointing of the Spirit through the testimony of a simple-hearted elderly lady of his acquaintance.

When a hearers heart is truly humble before the Lord it almost seems that anything can be the minister of God’s divine Word!

Tozer concludes by saying:

God will speak to the hearts of those who prepare themselves to hear; and conversely, those who do not so prepare themselves will hear nothing even though the Word of God is falling upon their outer ears every Sunday.

Good hearers are as important as good preachers. We need more of both.

Are we hearing in a worthy manner? Have we humbled our hearts in order to truly hear the Word of God no matter who the minister is? Let’s take the time to ask for Jesus’ help in the matter before we go to our next sermon.