Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Conscientiousness
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Hear or Listen
Often we mix the words hearing and listening together as one word.
We think to hear someone is to listen to them.
We think that these words are synonymous of one another.
Well, ask any wife if there is a difference, or parent for that matter.
How many times have we said “You might be hearing me, but you’re not listening to me”?
Hearing involves knowing that there is a distinct sound coming from something but we do not know what it is.
We know something is going on but it is unfamiliar to us.
Such as, when a car is coming towards you in the distance.
You hear it but are unsure what the noise is.
You may discern it is a vehicle, but what type is not known from the distant noise.
You do not know what it is until it is by you and you see it.
This then involves more senses than just hearing.
Merriam-Webster defines hearing as the “process, function, or power of perceiving sound; specifically: the special sense by which noises and tones are received as stimuli.”
Hearing is a passive action and has to do with the perception of sound.
Concentration is not necessary, we hear sounds and words all day long, even if we are not paying attention to them.
This is why Jesus repeatedly said phrases like, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
He wanted them to listen.
Listening is more than hearing.
it involves hearing but it is actively paying attention to the words and sounds that you hear, trying to absorb their meaning and develop an emotional response.
Merriam-Webster defines listening as “to hear something with thoughtful attention.”
Hence, listening is mental, it is an active process requiring multiple senses.
This means that listening is a voluntary act of the will and if you choose to listen then you are being active.
It is not passive but active requiring more than just one sense.
So, what is the best way to get someone to listen to us?
Is it to always complain to them?
Is it to always bring nothing but worries and concerns before them?
Is it to only ask for things?
Is it to be bitter at them because something did not happen as you thought it should?
NO!
The best way is to be thankful to them.
To Boast in the good they have done.
To be adamant that they have helped you many times before.
And to do this without asking them for anything else.
You are just doing it because you are thankful for them.
When we are thankful and appreciative to people they will listen to us more often than not.
But if we never do anything but complain and bellyache to them, they begin to not listen but only hear.
That is why we see David here in Ps. 34:1-3 saying
This Psalm was written about the time he was fleeing from Saul.
He was running for his life and in a bad way.
Maybe he had not trusted the Lord to protect him but now he is.
Either way whatever the situation he was facing he was praising the Lord because he knew it is better to praise the Lord than always complain.
God hears the cries of the righteous as 34:17 tells us.
The righteous love the Lord and will praise Him for the good and even the bad because they know He knows best.
This is what David was doing and this is what we can do too if we want God not only to Hear but Listen.
When we are praising Him and glorifying His name we will know to...
Seek Him, He is There
If all we do is sit around and praise someone for their greatness and abilities to help but never seek the help or greatness, we may very well continue to suffer and strain.
It takes action on our part too.
We are not only to send out praises and cheers, we must actively seek.
At the Alamo Travis knew the situation was dire and that without help he would not make it through with his men.
He knew they would all die if help did not come.
Now, he could have sat around praising Houston for his military brilliance and many other things and many may have agreed, but those praises alone would not get the help needed.
No, he had to act and seek the help.
So he sent dispatches and riders out.
Sadly, the help was cut off and they held strong for many days but feel after thirteen days.
But the point here is he sent people to seek help.
He did not just sit back and do nothing, he made moves to get help.
This is what we see David saying here in Ps. 34: 4-8
We see right off that he sought and the Lord answered and delivered him.
That those who look to Him will have radiant, joyful, faces.
They will know that their Lord is good and that He is loving.
They have Him and that is all that matters.
With the Lord we can be joyful regardless the situation.
Nothing can remove our joy in the Lord if we are His and diligently seek Him.
You see, if we are His but we never seek Him, praise Him, or love Him; we become cold and bitter.
I just read a story from a friend who went through a stage of severe doubt about his faith.
He is from a strong Christian family and became a believer at age 10.
Yet, he began to doubt.
He called to God regularly for strength and help.
Tried many different things to no avail.
Things became difficult and he was struggling.
Suicide entered his mind.
He continually cried to God but then started reading and researching works on God from theology and apologetics.
He is no secure and knows his salvation is secure and that the Lord is real and nothing will shake this from him.
But he still daily seeks and looks for the Lord and continually grows in his faith.
That is how it is with us too.
He felt God had abandoned him only to realize that his prayers were being listened to and that God was guiding him to seek Him more and more.
He tasted and saw that the Lord was good.
This is what verse 8 is telling us.
This “verse encourages us to try God out, almost physically, just as we would some great treat or delicacy.
Does that seem indelicate or impious to say?
To compare God to good food?
Maybe.
But although God is more than this image suggests, he is certainly not less.
Our problem is not that we think of him too literally but that we do not think of him literally enough.”
(James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 296.)
So go ahead and try Him out.
Seek Him like you seek everything that you love.
He is there and He wants you to find Him.
Seek the Lord and know that He wants you to find Him.
When you do you will know that not only that the Lord saves but that He satisfies all things.
This means that we need to...
Obediently Seek God and Good
We see in verses 9-16
That is what fear the Lord means.
It means those who are His will seek to be obedient to what He desires.
We will know that good is from and in Him and when we seek good, we are seeking Him.
The young lions are those who think they can make it on their own.
You see young lions learn how to hunt and seek prey from their mothers but if they do not have this teaching and shepherding, they cannot learn.
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