Don’t Be A Dull Listener

Yesterday morning on the way to the Florida College Lectures, I witnessed a car on fire at the intersection of Fowler Avenue and Morris Bridge Rd.

Flames were shooting upward and the firemen were quickly responding to extinguish the blaze. You could see the sense of urgency in their actions. Without the right response the situation could have become much worse.

When I arrived at the 8:00 AM Lecture to hear Joe Greer deliver his message entitled “You Have Become Dull of Hearing,” he immediately began talking about his days as a volunteer fire fighter.

Joe talked about the importance of attending the Monday night training classes. Of listening and learning about the proper procedures in a variety of emergency situations.

Joe said, “There was no room for someone to be content in being rookie forever.” They were expected to develop skills and grow in their ability to do the job.

In the same way, Joe applied the text of Hebrews 5:11-6:8 to those Christians who had failed to learn, grow, and mature as disciples of Christ. They were rookies when they should have been veterans. The writer said they had become “dull of hearing.”

The NIV renders this, “slow to learn.” The CEV reads, “slow to understand.” And maybe the CSB hits the heart of the issue by translating the word, “lazy in hearing.”

Strongs says the Greek word (nothros) is derived from a word that means “sluggish.” Vine says it means slow, sluggish, or indolent.” Barclay says it means “slow-moving in mind, torpid in understanding, dull of hearing, witlessly forgetful.” He adds, “It can be used of a person who has the imperceptive nature of a stone”.

We’ve all heard of someone who said to be “dumb as a rock.” However, they may not lack IQ, but it’s because they’ve been lazy in learning. It may be “a lack of understanding” that Joe called “self-inflicted.” One’s lack of perception may be due to willful laziness and spiritual neglect.

Chris Epler noted in his lecture that this same word is also used in Hebrews 6:12 warning us not to become “sluggish,” “slothful,” or “lazy.”

Joe pointed out that as Christians we are either “progressing or regressing.” Warren Wiersbe called it a “backward journey by drifting from the Word.” Then he offered this insight. “One of the first symptoms of spiritual regression, or backsliding, is a dullness toward the Bible. {Bible Class} is dull, the preaching is dull, anything spiritual is dull. The problem is usually not with the {Bible Class} teacher or the {preacher}, but with the believer himself.”

The Hebrews’ laziness stunted their growth. They were spiritual babies, instead of full grown Christians. They were milk drinkers, instead of meat eaters. They needed to receive teaching instead of being teachers. They needed to return to first principles, when they should have been dealing with more advanced issues. They were immature instead of mature. They were imperceptive, instead of discerning.

The writer further warns regarding the seriousness of this situation if left unchecked in Hebrews 6:4-8. It is a bleak and comfortless circumstance. One in which they are in danger of falling away, of losing their salvation, and putting Christ to an open shame.

Joe was right when he wrote, “The consequences of spiritual immaturity are frightening.”

When we fail to be active listeners, receptive hearers, continual learners, committed to a lifetime of growth, we may easily fall prey to the Devil’s “fiery darts”(Eph. 6:16). The wicked one wants us to be eternally separated from God and dwell with him and his minions in a place the Bible describes as a “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:10).

Let’s be spiritual fire fighters. By listening, learning, discerning, and putting into practice our knowledge, we can avoid spiritual tragedy. And rescue others from eternal ruin.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman