Chapter 3: Audio Autonomy

Could it be that well-meaning evangelical conservative preachers, authors, and their media ministries have contributed to today’s church-dating phenomenon without wanting to or even realizing it? In the last twenty years, the Christian world has been flooded with teaching and preaching recordings that have been distributed via the Internet, on DVDs and CDs, and in MP3 or other formats. We listen to them at home, in our cars on the way to work, or while we exercise.

If you’re like me, you have probably listened to countless sermons online. Before the Internet, I ordered cassette tapes from a mail-order sermon library in New Zealand and I’d listen to ‘epic’ sermons—at least, that was how I thought of them at the time. I had previously never heard preaching like it. It was how I learned much of my theology. Faithful preachers and Bible teachers actually opened their Bibles and asked me to do the same. It was wonderful. My spiritual growth was multiplied. Sadly, that had not been my early Christian experience as I listened to sermons in my local church. Unfortunately, more Christians know what I mean than we like to admit.

Since the creation of the Internet, sermon resources have been accumulating by the thousands and now there are many good websites to access for wonderful sermon-listening. Many preachers today will upload their sermons to their church websites. Those in solid Bible-teaching churches acknowledge that the impact of this has been positive. Spiritually thirsty saints have been given easy access to sermons and resources from the very best of today’s expositors and faithful Bible teachers. I still take advantage of these resources today.[1]

But is there more to it than that?  Has there been a downside?

Just as the printed Bible was a blessing to the church, but also made spiritual individuality more possible, so too have recorded sermons been a blessing but have also distanced the sermon-experience from corporate involvement. None of us would undo the introduction of the printed Bible to the world. Similarly, none wish that we had not had access to great sermons on cassettes, CDs, or in digital format. Yet, we should still recognize their negative contribution upon church life in general.

Writing about the great Welsh expositor Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who preached from 1927 till close to his death in 1981, Iain Murray says,

[Lloyd-Jones] was not enthusiastic about the circulation of his tape-recorded sermons. One reason was an apprehension over their possible misuse; for the human voice, delivering the message, is very secondary to the presence of Christ in a service of worship and no human means can reproduce that presence. Sermons should be heard in the context of worship, not listened to casually as one might to anything else.[2]

Lloyd-Jones foresaw the downside of listening to recorded sermons. Surely, the current state of the church would have shocked him even more than he could have anticipated. Body-life, worship, and sermon-listening are now separate events and Christians have the freedom to choose their favorites from each category.

Has our audio autonomy led to some unhealthy trends in church attendance?  Next week we’ll think further about the sad reality of church dating.

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[1] There are really good reasons to record sermons, such as leaving a legacy for future generations of Christians, saving special messages for reference material in a church library, or saving weekly messages for people who are sick or unable to attend.

[2] Iain H. Murray, Lloyd-Jones: Messenger of Grace (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2008), 19.