The Heard Word: Hearing as an Act of Worship

Transcript

Family, one of my greatest joys as a pastor here at Trinity is seeing members of this church who desire to use their gifts for the glory of God and the good of the church. Paul is one of the best examples I can think of. Brother, you work for a living to encourage churches and bring the Word around the Northwest. What a joy it is to see God using your gifts to encourage us this morning.

Can I pray for you? Heavenly Father, thank you for Paul and the ways you have gifted him to further your kingdom and encourage the saints. Use his gifts now by the power of your Holy Spirit to encourage this church. Speak through him boldly from your Word, equipping us for the good work of declaring the goodness of Jesus Christ wherever we go. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Good morning, everybody. It’s good to be with you this morning. As I often do, I bring greetings from the balcony. It’s cooling off; the Lord is good and gives good gifts. We’ll be in Luke 24 this morning, so if you want to turn there, we’ll get there.

Today, as we continue our series on living liturgy, we’re going to walk through what it means to hear the Word. I’ve titled the message “The Heard Word: Hearing as an Act of Worship.” Before we get started, I want to give a disclaimer. It would be easy for anyone to confidently tell you exactly when to give a hearty amen or when to raise your hands or actively respond. That’s not my goal today. My goal is simply to say that as we hear the Word in all the ways we do each week, you are in fact responding.

We’ll look at our text and see how the two on the road to Emmaus respond, and we’ll find some principles at play in how we hear. How you respond probably depends on how God has wired you. Some of you may be very excited and give a hearty amen. Some may sit in quiet contemplation, thinking deeply about the Scriptures, God’s goodness, or your own sin. All those responses and everything in between are good and right. I encourage you to have your heart attuned to simply respond to the Word this morning.

My hope is that as we approach hearing the Scriptures—read, sung, and preached—we’re reminded these words are not just ink on a page but living and active. They are not just stories or facts to consume and live in our heads; they are transformative, and we are active participants in them.

I’d like to begin with a story, the second greatest story ever written. The first is the Bible, just FYI. As Sam and Frodo climb the stairs of Cirith Ungol, they stop and rest. Frodo declares, “I don’t like anything here at all, but our path is laid.” Sam replies, “Yes, that’s so, and we shouldn’t be here at all. If we’d known before we started, but that’s often the way it is. The brave things in the old tales and songs, adventures as I used to call them, I used to think they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for. But that’s not the way of it. Folks seem to have just been landed in them. Usually their paths were laid that way. They had lots of chances like us of turning back, only they didn’t. We hear about those who just went on, and not all to a good end, at least not to what folks inside the story and not outside the story call a good end. You know, coming home, finding things all right, though not quite the same, like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear. They may be the best tales to land in. I wonder what sort of tale we have fallen into.”

Malcolm Guite notes that when a character in a story says, “You think we’re in a story?” it invites you to ask, “Do you think I’m in a story?” The idea is that God is speaking us into being, telling the great story of creation, fall, and redemption, and He Himself is embodying and enacting it in Christ. He lets us not admire the hero from afar but be part of the story in Christ and Christ in us.

Each week we engage in the story of God. We open the Scriptures; they call us to worship, inform the songs we choose, help us confess, remind us of the pardon we receive, inform preaching, and reveal the beauty of Jesus and His kingdom. We come into this space and engage in the story of the Scriptures. They’re not just ink on a page but great tales of the world gone by and how we might continue the story in our place and time.

Let us go to the Scriptures and read from Luke 24. If you’re able, please stand as we read the Word of God.

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. He said to them, ‘What is this conversation you’re holding with each other as you walk?’ They stood still, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered, ‘Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know these things that have happened there in these days?’ He said, ‘What things?’ They said to Him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and they crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all of this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find His body, they came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.’ He said to them, ‘O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?’ Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them all the Scriptures concerning Himself. As they drew near to the village they were going to, He acted as if He were going to go further. But they urged Him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent.’ So He went in to stay with them. When He was at the table with them, He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, and He vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?’ They rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those with them gathered together, saying, ‘The Lord is risen indeed, and He appeared to Simon.’ Then they told what happened on the road and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.”

This is the Word of the Lord. You may be seated.

I’ve organized the message into four points: reflection and hearing, remembrance and hearing, revelation and hearing, and response and hearing. At the end of each section, I’ll give a question to think about, one that might stay with you throughout the week.

First, reflection and hearing (verses 13-17). We all come into this moment on Sunday with the experience of the past week. Cleopas and his companion left Jerusalem after all they had experienced during Holy Week—the triumphal entry, Jesus’ interactions, His trial, crucifixion, and burial. They left sad, bewildered, confused. Similarly, each week we come with the highs and lows, struggles and victories, the mundane parts of life. All of it follows us.

This sets the tone for how we receive the Word. This is why our liturgy is ordered as it is: the call to worship, the reading of the Word, preparing our minds and hearts to receive what God will give through the service. Cleopas and his companion, despite having spent time with Jesus, did not recognize Him because of the heaviness of the week. I want to affirm that all of life is worship. Everything we do should be a worshipful reality between us and the Father. We should be in the Scriptures regularly, absorbing God’s story throughout history.

But there is something unique about this weekly moment when God’s people gather to hear the Word read, sung, preached, and the bread and cup served. It should inform the rest of life worship. Reflect on where you are as you enter this space. What are you bringing with you? Joy, sorrow, contentment, frustration? Cleopas and his companion brought sadness, confusion, disappointment. Where are you this morning as we enter this moment?

Next, remembrance and hearing (verses 18-24). As we sit in liturgy, we are reminded of God’s work in the world and in the lives of His people. Hearing the Word may bring to mind who God is, what He’s done, or where you are. It might recall similar stories in Scripture or evidence of God’s grace in your life. Like Cleopas and his companion, it might also bring moments where you feel God has let you down. Our lives are dynamic; we come with messy, complex emotions.

Stories are powerful because they help us locate where we are in life. We can read the story of Cleopas and think, “I’ve been there.” Their memory was active—they knew Jesus was supposed to redeem Israel but only believed part of the story. They believed in part but not fully. Sometimes belief and faith are hard. We come with joy or sorrow, and the church family encourages one another. The liturgy levels the ground, so whether you come with joy or sorrow, we all hear the Word proclaimed together.

Remembering how biblical characters encountered God’s work and how we have encountered God helps us see what we believe about Jesus. So I ask you, as you remember and reflect, what story are you believing about Jesus? What are you bringing into this space about who He is and what He’s done?

Third, revelation and hearing (verses 25-27). Cleopas and his companion recounted their experiences and beliefs, revealing disappointment and unbelief. The preaching of the Word each week should make clear the beauty of Jesus and His kingdom. Jesus is the subject of the entire Bible. Our hearts should be warmed by this revelation.

They had all the dots but couldn’t connect them. It’s like a connect-the-dot picture that looks like one thing but is actually another. We often have all the facts but haven’t let them sink into our hearts. Jesus calls them “foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” They had the facts in their heads but hadn’t let them become belief in their hearts.

This is easy to do. If you grew up in the church, you’ve heard the stories and can recite them. But have they sunk into your heart? Hearing the Word tells us where we have things right and reveals where we don’t. It exposes areas of unbelief so we can move toward belief. The preached Word shows us who God is and who we are, allowing praise and grief, sometimes simultaneously.

As you hear the Word, what beauty and truth of Jesus and His kingdom are being revealed to you?

Finally, responding and hearing (verses 28-35). We are always responding to the Word—sometimes actively, sometimes passively. Cleopas and his companion respond with gracious hospitality, wonder, and witness. How is the Spirit stirring in your heart? What will you do differently having heard the Word?

We often wait for miraculous moments, but God reveals Himself in ordinary things. In this passage, it’s the breaking of bread where Jesus is recognized. Ordinary acts become extraordinary moments of revelation.

There’s a wide variety of ways to respond—praise, repentance, fellowship, affirmation, conversation. If you’re challenged, talk to someone. If you find joy, offer praise. If you believe, go and tell someone. Transformation is evidenced by our response.

Cleopas and his companion, after recognizing Jesus, didn’t wait; they went back to Jerusalem, risking danger, to witness to the others. Their unbelief became belief, and they confirmed the resurrection accounts.

Our response to the gospel story invites us to enter it. We sit here because countless people heard the Word and responded in faithfulness. Someone preached the gospel to you, and you responded. You are an active participant in God’s story.

As we hear the Word each week, what will you do differently? How will you respond in belief?

Tolkien’s and Malcolm Guite’s observations remind us we are not mere observers of these stories. We are invited by God through faith in Christ to be active participants. The gospel story is our story, individually and collectively. It tells how God is redeeming humanity and invites us to write another line.

Each week we come, hear the Word read, sung, preached, and the gospel story proclaimed. We hear our story recounted and respond. I invite us to write a few more lines of God’s faithfulness in our lives.

In a few moments, we’ll come to the table and, like Cleopas and his companion, break bread together, experiencing the story. Then we’ll walk to the park, and in our interactions, we write more stories into the great gospel story unfolding before us. What a privilege to participate in God’s work so others might move from unbelief to belief.

Would you pray with me? Jesus, thank you for your work in the world. Thank you for delivering the Scriptures so we might understand your story and our story intertwined. I pray that each week as we hear the Word read, sung, and preached, we respond in faithfulness, that unbelief moves to belief, that we show gracious hospitality, wonder, and faithful witness. Help us see our story wrapped in the gospel story and respond accordingly. In Jesus’ name, amen.