Acts 28:25-27
When they did not agree…they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes.'”
Should preachers preach things that hurt? Yes! At times all who proclaim the things of God will preach things that make us uncomfortable – that challenge our views and push us into new concepts and new ideas that we otherwise didn’t believe or know about. This is the very heart of the Gospel – bringing about repentance (a change of mind) because of Jesus Christ!
The culture we live in today strongly dislikes being wrong about anything. Being wrong is not popular. So, we argue and debate about everything – from which political party is the right one, to what denomination or church is the best one, to what foods we should or shouldn’t eat, to what strategy is the best for raising our children…etc, etc. It goes on and on. We can hardly find a topic in which there isn’t much heated debate on blogs, the news, the media, etc. We love being right in our times!
It’s true, mankind has always been this way, really. Even in Paul’s day, as the text reads above, people wouldn’t like what he was preaching, so they’d get upset and leave. Even though Paul was preaching the truth, many would not allow that truth to penetrate their hard hearts. They weren’t people who could be brought to repentance about anything. If a preacher said something that challenged their views or made them uncomfortable they’d get flustered and leave. They were too proud to be wrong. Their “hearts were dull” their “ears could scarcely hear” and their “eyes were closed.”
If we aren’t careful we can become so set in our ways that new truths can no longer penetrate us. If this happens we have most definitely stopped learning. For at the very heart of learning is the exchange of old ideas and habits for new and better ones. And if we’ve stopped learning we’ve stopped growing. And if we’ve stopped growing we’ve stopped living.
Are you a learner? Do you seek out preachers and teachers who challenge your thought processes, philosophies, ideas, and opinions in accordance with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit? Do you enjoy being proved wrong because it’s just one more opportunity to discover something right? Or do you prefer spiritual leaders who make you comfortable, who never push you on to knew heights of knowledge, and who agree with you on everything. Beware if this is the case. You may be stuck in a rut of never learning.
2 Timothy 2:4
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
Father, help me to be a learner. Holy Spirit grant me a soft heart that more often receives correction than gives it. Grant me Your grace to resist the carnal urge to disagree with people all the time. Help me to grow to a place where I can receive new ideas and truths with gladness of heart, rather than rejecting them and casting them out due to mere habit. If my pastors and teachers never say anything that challenge my view points and if their teaching of the Word of God never brings me to a place of discomfort, help me to find new leaders that will. Help me to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ through the spiritual discipline and art of repentance. Grant me Your grace, Lord Jesus, to do this. Amen.”
