We love to grow in knowledge.  This is not, in and of itself, a bad thing.  In fact we are commanded in many places to grow in knowledge.  But there is a way to approach knowledge that will shrink your soul.  And to find this out we need to understand how we listen, especially to sermons.

Have you ever asked these questions,  “How am I listening?” “What is the information that I am taking in doing to me?

Because knowledge puffs up.  Knowledge creates an illusion of status.  Trivial pursuit is no longer trivial with this approach to knowledge.  Knowledge is power, because our collection of data makes us believe that people should listen to us.  We may find ourselves saying things like, “if people would’ve asked me then we wouldn’t be in so much trouble.”

So what are a few ways that we can hear wrongly?

1. Listen to see if a sermon is “right.”  You listen to a sermon, not to change, but to agree.  There can be very little change in life when we ignore exhortations and listen just to hear if they are the “right” exhortations.
2. Listen for what is new or interesting.  Our whole goal in this approach is to gain knowledge for knowledge itself, not for the application.
3. Listen to evaluate the delivery.  In this way of listening we hear content only through the medium.  Maybe a powerful voice, or a humorous presentation is what satisfies.  This is like trying to drive a car by focusing on the windshield instead of the road ahead.
4. Listen for others and not for yourself.  This is second nature.  We get an A running other people’s lives, but flunk on our application.  This way of hearing feeds on the faults of others, but leaves us empty because our sins have never been uprooted.