AN OBEDIENT EAR

Proverbs 25:12 (KJV)

As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

Those of you who were in my adult Sunday school class this morning will recognize this passage as part of the lesson.

God has set about the business of refining you and me.

We belong to Him and He desires to improve His possession.

He refines us, I suggested, in two ways:

·   With “words fitly spoken” – encouraging words

·   With a “wise reprove” – convicting and correcting words 

I want to preach tonight on, An Obedient Ear.

The fact is, 

·   No matter how encouraging those words fitly spoken are and

·   No matter how powerful the wise reprove might be

Those words are useless if they fall on a deaf ear.

And so,

·   The parent

·   The teacher and

·   The preacher

All depend not merely on their ability to deliver a message but also on the obedience of the audience’s ear.

So important is this truth that so great a preacher and teacher as Jesus Christ appealed to the ear of his audience.

Matthew 11:15 (KJV)

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Even Jesus bemoaned his inability to reach a certain crowd with, Matthew 13:15 (KJV)

For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Furthermore, this “cooperation” between speaker and hearer persisted even for the glorified Jesus in Revelation where He says to every one of the seven churches[1], Revelation 2:7,

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;…

Everyone here knows what an obedient ear is.

James expresses it, James 1:22 (KJV)

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Every parent in this room knows the difference between the hearer and the doer.

You have probably said something to your kids like: 

·   Clean your room or 

·   Take out the trash or 

·   Don’t pick on your little brother until he cries

only to discover that

·   The room was not cleaned

·   The trash is still under the kitchen sink and

·   The little brother is crying because his older brother picked on him

You know they heard you. They just didn’t obey what they heard.

The passage has this very interesting symbolism associated with the obedient ear. 

To the obedient ear, the teacher is like an earring of gold.

An obedient ear only becomes more attractive through the lessons it receives.

There is a fascinating passage in the Mosiac Law that this Proverb must reference. Exodus 21:1-6 (KJV)

Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.

And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

I do not approve of men wearing earrings but neither do I approve of slavery.

Don’t get stuck on some little gnat in this passage so you miss the camel it’s teaching.

The earring in this case was a sign of

·   Loyalty

·   Love and

·   Lifelong service 

to the master.

With that as my introduction allow me three main headings[2]:

I. IT PIERCED IT, AND IS RECEIVED WILLINGLY INTO IT 

Exodus 21:6 (KJV)

Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul…

By the way, and just to make this clear, this is obviously not what goes on at the vile body piercing and tattoo shops I see at the Malls and the seedier streets of Tacoma.

This was something happening

·   In a court setting

·   Under supervision of ruling authorities and

·   Only after much reflection and conviction

It is also not to be compared to what ladies do when they put on earrings.

Isaiah 49:18 (KJV)

Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.[3]

Ladies wearing earrings, in my judgment, is perfectly acceptable so long as they are worn in moderation.

1 Peter 3:3-4 (KJV)

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

The Bible teaches that godly ladies do not need to wear excessively gaudy jewelry, or an excessive amount of jewelry.

I see nothing Scripturally wrong with wearing tasteful jewelry, including earrings but 

·   You don’t need to have 50 holes in each ear

·   Nor do you need a hole the size of a half dollar

The point of the message is that the obedient ear

·   Hears God’s Word

·   Is pierced through and convicted by that Word[4]and

·   Willing begins to do as the Word of God teaches

There is nothing about genuine Christianity that should feel forced or coerced.

Even giving our tithes can be done cheerfully, because we have willingly surrendered ourselves to God our master.

II. IT IS FASTENED UPON IT, SO THAT IT STAYS WITH IT  

Exodus 21:6 (KJV)

… and he shall serve him for ever.

I suppose this is the difference between the ladies who wear clip on earrings versus the ladies who wear pierced.

They both look the same, but the pierced ones demonstrate a whole different level of commitment.

The Christian faith was never designed to be put off and on again.

This idea that a person can get saved and then lose his salvation is contrary to everything we find in the Bible.

It’s contrary to the idea of the new birth

Whoever heard of being born and then being unborn?

It’s contrary to the idea of being a new creature

The only way to keep a pig from going to the wallow is for the pig to not be a pig anymore.

It’s contrary to the picture of Israel leaving Egypt

As much as they may have wished they could go back – there was just no way to successfully do it.

It’s contrary to the message of baptism

We are crucified, buried and resurrected to new life and we are to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin.

And

It is certainly contrary to the pierced ear

This thing changes you for life.

By the way, I can’t be too dogmatic about this but consider, even the glorified body of Jesus bears the wounds of His crucifixion.

What if our glorified bodies forever bear, not the curse of sin, but the wounds that sin caused in our flesh?

If so, that could forever serve as a testimony of the grace of God in saving us out of the life of sin we once lived.

That earring of gold was:

·   Received willingly and

·   Worn eternally 

Finally

III. IT IS AN ORNAMENT TO HIS WHOLE LIFE, WHICH IS THEREBY NEW

Exodus 21:5-6 (KJV)

And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

One of the saddest things we see in modern Christianity is this wave of Christians who shake their fists:

·   At the pastors they grew up under

·   At the Bible they first learned and

·   At the paths their churches taught them and

demand to be free.

·   Free of the restrictions their parents and the preachers placed upon them

·   Free of the standards that made them the laughingstock of the lost

·   Free of the convictions that steered them clear of questionable life choices

These new movement of believers love to quote the verses about liberty.

“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.[5]”

Consequently we see them

·   Losing their families, 

·   Losing their marriages and might I add

·   Losing their faith[6]

We need a fresh wave of old-fashioned Christians who say

·   I love my wife

·   I love my children

·   I love my Saviour

I will not go out free.

·   I will hear what He says

·   I will obey what He says and

·   I will love serve Him forever

Proverbs 25:12 (KJV)

As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

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[1]With only a little variation.

[2]These three were found in E-SwordX, Preacher’s Homiletical on this verse.

[3]The context of this passage has little to do with the message but it doesn’t have to. I cite it merely to point out that God acknowledges and does not condemn the bride binding ornaments to her person.

[4]Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[5]John 8:32

[6]I don’t mean losing their salvation but losing their relationship with the Lord that sustains and strengthened them.