Hearing the Word Together

By Joshua Mills · Featured in the Fall 2025 Issue of Theology for Life Magazine

Christ feeds His church as we hear the Word together. Today, we live in an individualistic culture where Christianity has become a religion of me, myself, and I. Yes, we must each have personal dealings with God. It is only through a personal embrace of Jesus Christ by grace, through faith, that we enter into the Kingdom of God. Yet, we forget that Jesus Christ has a Bride. He has joined us to His body, the Church. As redeemed sinners in His Church, part of our sanctification is hearing the Word of God corporately. I believe in our individualistic culture, we have rightfully emphasized the importance of private devotions in the Word, but have we properly emphasized the necessity of corporately hearing the Word?

In Paul’s final letter to Timothy, he gives a charge to Timothy and the flock in Ephesus: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). Timothy is called to preach the Word to his flock, and the flock is called to receive the preached Word together. In this article, I will argue that the corporate hearing of the Word of God is a vital aspect in our sanctification, and thus, it must be recovered. It cannot be substituted. To see this, let us consider two things. First, we will consider the ministry you must sit under. Second, we will consider the ministry you must receive.

The Ministry You Must Sit Under

Paul charges Timothy to “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2). As he proclaims the whole counsel of God, Timothy is to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). God does His work among His people as the Word is opened up and preached. Therefore, for your spiritual edification, you must sit under the sound preaching of the Word. Do not be one who sits under ear tickling messages, but one that wields the Sword of the Spirit to your very soul. Paul warns us of ear tickled people:

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

In his article The Urgency of Preaching, Dr. Albert Mohler speaks of this shift:

“There has been a subtle shift visible at the onset of the twentieth century … The shift from expository preaching to a more topical and human centered approach … Should the preacher seek to preach a biblical text through an expository sermon? Or, should the preacher direct the sermon to the felt needs and perceived concerns of the hearers?”

Human centered preaching may tickle your ears, but it will not do your soul any good. Instead, look for men of the Word, who preach the whole Word to the whole flock to see them wholly equipped for every good work. Look for the kind of men that J. C. Ryle describes in Christian Leaders of the 18th Century:

“God stirred up and brought out [men] to do his work. They did his work in the old apostolic way… They taught one set of truths. They taught them in the same way, with fire, reality, earnestness, as men fully convinced of what they taught. They taught them in the same spirit, always loving, compassionate, and, like Paul, even weeping, but always bold, unflinching, and not fearing the face of man.”

The Ministry You Must Receive

Next, having considered the ministry you must sit under, namely, a Word centered, Christ exalting ministry, we must now consider the ministry you must receive. Throughout the Scriptures we see that there is a responsibility on the preacher, but also on the hearer. Our Lord Jesus often said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). The wise man hears the Word of God and acts upon it. The foolish man hears the Word of God and refuses to build his life upon it. Jesus described it this way:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24–27)

As those who sit in the pew, under a faithful ministry of the Word, we often forget that we will give an account for how we have heard each sermon we have sat under. What a fearful thing to consider. By God’s grace, many of us are under faithful weekly preaching. But with this gift comes great responsibility. Think of all the preachers we have heard over the years. Think of all the sound books we have in the church and at home. Has it changed us? Has it made us more like Jesus? Are we always being reformed under the Word? Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28). The one who hears the Word and does it will be like the wise man who built his house on a rock.

Conclusion: Hearing the Word with Profit

As we conclude, having seen the ministry we must sit under and considered how to receive such a ministry, we must ask ourselves how we can profit from such a ministry.

• Come to hear the Word with a prayerful heart. Ask God to have dealings with you by His Spirit, through His Word.
• Sit attentively to the preaching of God’s Word as God dealing with you from the text.
• Pray again when the sermon ends. Ask the Lord to seal His Word to you. Confess, if necessary, and plead for help to live in light of the text you have heard.

The preaching of God’s Word is one of His means of grace to grow you into Christlikeness. May we tremble at His Word.

This article appears in the Fall 2025 Issue of Theology for Life Magazine, exploring “The Means of Grace.”