Mark 4:24-25-- The Art of Listening

And He was saying to them, "Look at what you listen. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."

Jesus had just concluded his previous statement with “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” He builds here on that statement, warning his disciples to take great care with how they listen. The spoken gospel is precious—within it is eternal life or eternal death, depending on how one responds to it. If one listens to the gospel carelessly, then they will find that they do not have the stamina to respond to Satan and persecutions and personal concerns in a gospel-ish manner. Only those who take the gospel seriously will gain the life and kingdom the gospel promises. In this context, Jesus’ statement of measure means, “Whatever you get out of the gospel, that’s what you’ll get in the next age.” If we take the gospel lightly, even what little we have gained will be taken from us. But if we receive the whole gospel and obey it, then we will gain more than we can imagine.

Listening is an art, not something that happens naturally. It is easy to half-heartedly listen to someone, and we can repeat what they say but not know the import of it. This is more so with Jesus. Many people repeat what Jesus says, use His words to justify what they are already doing and explain away that which doesn't make sense to them. But if we do not listen carefully to Jesus, focus on what HE meant, not what we mean by what he says, then we have nothing. We have nothing from Jesus, nothing from God, nothing from God's word.

How do we know that we have really listened to Jesus? The main focus of Jesus' teaching is one word: Repent. This means changing our actions, doing something differently with our lives. If Jesus' words do not stir us to change our lives, then we haven't really listened. Maybe we have appreciated Jesus, and maybe we have granted intellectual agreement with some of what he said. But unless His words infect our hearts and thus change our lives, we haven't really listened. Jesus becomes no better than our grandmother telling us a story we've heard a thousand times before.