In assessing our listening, it’s helpful to describe a certain type of interaction with God’s word that is highlighted in Felix’s response to the truth of the gospel in Acts 24:22-26. Perhaps it could be summed up this way—Orthodoxy without conformity to Christ is futile. Another way to word that is that having an accurate knowledge of doctrine without pursuing that knowledge for the sake of discovering personal wickedness that needs to be repented of, makes that accurate, so-called knowledge worthless.
The reason this is so pertinent for us to consider is because, in our day, we have unlimited access to the Word of God and even unlimited access to faithful preaching of the Word. This means that there is a serious risk of setting out on a quest to merely gain an increasing amount of information about the Bible. Of course, knowing what is contained in the Bible is good and useful, as long as it’s not simply about building our intellectual database. But if we’re honest, we have to admit there is something satisfying by merely listening to an expository sermon or sermon series, reading a Christian book or engaging in a Bible reading plan. Reason being, we automatically feel like we accomplished something when we make it to the closing prayer at the end of a sermon or the final page of a book or the final checkbox of a bible reading plan. Although all those things are an excellent means of grace in a Christian’s life, whether there was a real benefit to our souls remains to be seen.
Accordingly, there must be diligence put forth in allowing the word to convict and transform the heart. This is instead of merely enjoying the acquisition of knowledge that comes from exposing oneself to the truth, without giving an ounce of concern to how that truth needs to conform us to the image of Christ. This means it’s not good enough to finish interacting with the truth and think to ourselves: “That was really interesting or that was a really strong message. I love how deep we go in the text.” That will automatically lead to pride if it’s not tapered by the humility of conviction, as found in Is. 66:2.