Attentive Hearkening

The older I get, the more my hearing is impaired by background noise.

Noisy rooms are the worst, and if I am nodding and smiling at you, you can be fairly confident that I can’t hear what you’re saying. 

Ephesus was a noisy city. 

Besides the regular hustle and bustle of city life, there was also the temple worship of Artemis and the practicing of magic spells adding to the cacophony. 

The Apostle Paul had to put forth supreme effort just to be heard, as he took the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles, but it was worth it when “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” 

Opposition was sure to come anytime he preached that gods made with hands are actually not gods at all, and some Ephesians opposed Paul in a noisy way.

After so many Ephesians repented and turned to Christ, they collectively burned their valuable magic books that could have been sold for fifty thousand pieces of silver. Business at Artemis’s temple slowed. People weren’t happy about this new Gospel resounding through the noisy streets of Ephesus. A riot filled the city until no one knew what the fuss was about.

Paul was eventually forced to leave the city, but he left behind those who sought to faithfully follow Jesus, so he wrote them a letter.

“To all the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful to the Lord Jesus…”

Paul exhorted them in his letter to ignore the noise in the streets and to “attentively hearken” to the Lord. 

He had written something similar to the Corinthians when he said, “We take every thought captive to [attentively hearken] to Christ.” 

Attentive hearkening is listening, obedience, and faithful service. It is what the Ephesians needed in the face of noise and opposition. It is what the Corinthians needed in the face of unrepentant sin. It is what we need too.

The noise of the world threatens to drown out the word of the Lord, but even more threatening is the noise in our own minds that blocks the voice of the Holy Spirit.

When Paul wrote to the churches about taking every thought captive, he was writing to them about their perceptions, purposes, intellect, disposition, and mind. He was telling them not to be who they were. What a different message than the one we tell ourselves everyday!

“Be yourself” is such an ingrained part of our society that it has seeped into our minds and set itself up against the knowledge of God. If I insist on being myself, then God cannot be Himself in my life, and my noise drowns Him out.

These gods in my mind are made with my own hands and are not really gods at all.

What did Paul tell the Ephesians to do with such strongholds?

Destroy them. Tear them down. Reduce them to ashes. 

He reminded them of their identity in Christ, their position as the church, the reality of the Gospel, and the need to attentively hearken to God’s love for them so that they could be strengthened to do what God had called them to do in their city.

These truths silenced the background noise in Ephesus and in their own minds, freeing up God’s people to focus on attentively hearkening to Him.