SECTION TWO: Sermon-Listening in the Bible

We cannot play at preaching. We preach for eternity.[1]

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon

If you agree with Spurgeon’s words above, then you will also agree that we cannot play at sermon-listening. We listen for eternity.

Some people talk about church activities such as preaching without making reference to the Bible. Don’t they know that God has something to say about these things? He created and ordained preaching. He also determined that people would listen to preaching. Surely then, He would provide instruction to both those who preach and those who listen? Indeed, He has.

The Bible says a lot about sermon-listening. The next few blog posts will summarize the responsibilities each and every Christian has before God whenever we listen to a sermon. Don’t be frightened by the word ‘responsibility.’ Embrace listening and responding to God’s Word as a privilege. We are blessed that God would reveal Himself to us in the pages of Scripture. There’s a joy in knowing that He wants to communicate with us. And, of course there are appropriate responses to God’s shared blessings. Call them responsibilities—call them privileges—but there are right ways to listen. What does God say about sermon-listening?

It’s not a subject we think about a lot. How do you listen to a sermon? Jesus said, “Take care how you listen” (Luke 8:18a). It’s a familiar Bible text, but maybe we too quickly assume that we’ve got it down. I mean, we keep going back to church, don’t we? Surely that means we inherently know what to do when we get there? But, how do we learn to be effective sermon-listeners? Do we just pick it up from others by osmosis? Are all Christians naturally good sermon-listeners?

Watching a television show or a movie is quite easy. You can zone out while the plot unfolds. The story pulls you through. Listening to a sermon is different. It takes sustained effort. It requires discipline. We need to put our brain into gear. We need to engage our cognitive skills. We need to open our hearts. Listening to a sermon requires preparation. It’s a skill that needs developing. It requires practice. It requires instruction. That’s where this blog come in.

Over the next few weeks, I will review what the Bible says about sermon-listening. Then, I will add some practical pointers on how to maximize your sermon-listening experiences as an individual.  These are going to be helpful and encouraging posts.  We’ll start next week with the first of four biblical sermon-listening principles.  Catch you then. . .

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[1] As cited in Steven J. Lawson, Famine in the Land (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2003), 56.

Sermon-Listening Trends - Summary

Over the last ten posts, I’ve tried to show that we live in a world that reacts badly to authority—especially God’s authority. The fact that you’re still reading means that you are interested in knowing how to better submit to God’s authority manifested in the preaching of His Word and in the context of Christian fellowship. You probably already have a high expectation for your pastor; he must preach God’s Word; he must preach expositionally; he must be committed to the truth; he must preach with God’s authority. You don’t want to be entertained by the latest trends. You’re not interested in the latest wave of new ministry innovations. You want to hear from God! You want to be challenged and equipped to serve. You want to answer to God’s authority in humble submission with the help of fellow Christians. This blog is for you.

The digital explosion has brought with it significant societal shifts. Tim Challies correctly advises: “Our task is not to avoid technology but to carefully evaluate it, redeem it, and ensure that we are using it with the right motives and for the right goals.”[1] These introductory blog posts are not meant to be a complete evaluation of the new sermon-listening trends and church practices, but it is necessary to understand their past, present, and future impact upon church. Actually, this blog is not directly related to any of these trends, but rather a subsequent and related change. Let me explain.

We’ve all been subtly influenced by our culture and our world. Whether we’ve bought into any of the aforementioned trends or not, they have had an impact on our church-experience—maybe unknowingly. Think about it. How vital to you is your weekly sermon-listening experience in your local church? How essential is it that you are there to hear a Word from God delivered by your local pastor? Could you take it or leave it, knowing that you will still be spiritually fed from another source during the week? Maybe, that supplemental preacher is a better preacher? You don’t mind your pastor’s preaching, but there are superior preachers whom you have come to respect. From their library of sermon listings, you can even select the topic or passage that interests you. How great is that!?—a personalized study program just for you—just the way you like it. But you see, that’s the problem—it’s all about you. There’s no body-life in this scenario—no interaction with someone who is not under your control. Your mouse-clicking index finger is in control. “But,” you argue, “I’m involved in a good church. I attend faithfully every week.” Sure, but is that weekly worship experience at the heart of your spiritual life, growth, and sustenance? Are your spiritual inputs integrated with the local church, or are you looking elsewhere for that self-styled stimulation?

Today’s individualism has changed the way we listen to sermons even when we are in church. We’ve been so influenced by ideas of anonymous autonomy that even if we sit in a congregation, we are still alone. We might as well be at home viewing the service on a digital screen, in our car listening to a sermon on CD, sitting at the extension campus of a multi-site church, or hiding in the back row of a mega-church.

This blog is about the relationship between the sermon and fellowship. It will highlight biblical principles which will help you to navigate the trendy, virtual, digital, avatar-enamored, sermon-avoiding, church-hating, naively and ignorantly selfish world in which we live. Both the church and the sermon are under attack. Some people don’t want to endure a sermon. Some don’t want to endure the church. The Bible says we need both.

Next week, I’ll begin to explain principles from the Word of God on the importance of listening to sermons. For now, here are some discussion questions you might use with your friends this week . . .

• Think back over the past ten (or more) years. What changes have taken place in your sermon-listening convictions and practices, individually and corporately?
• Discuss the pros and cons of listening to sermons in community versus individual contexts.
• Some Christian resources supplement local church ministry. Some replace it. Discuss how you might be able to determine which does what.
• What is your current commitment to your local church? How are you pursuing genuine Christian fellowship?
• Are there ways you can better connect your sermon-listening experiences with Christian fellowship within your local church context?

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[1] Tim Challies, The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 2011), 32.

Chapter 8: The Unknowable Pastor

One of the dangers of audio and video media, avatar projections, mega-churches, multi-site campuses, and conference attendance is the relational distance between the speaker and the listeners. Let’s be honest—we really don’t have a personal relationship with the popular preachers we’ve come to love. We kid ourselves if we think we know them. What kind of person are they really? Do we actually know? How do they treat their wives and children? Are they godly? Do they live a life that is consistent with their own teaching? What does their family look like? Do they have personal integrity?

The same questions ought to be asked of me. Do you really know me? Some of you do. Some of you don't. But, you see, that is my point. Resources like Christian books, blogs, CDs, and online downloads ought to be supplemental to your regular local church teaching and involvement where you can know your pastor and elders personally, not a replacement to them. The tricky side of printed and digital publication is that you cannot really know the one(s) who produced it. The author or speaker becomes your unknowable pastor. And yet, this is commonplace today.

Tim Challies warns:

There is a danger in relying on other people’s discernment and especially that of people we don’t know. The most natural context for discernment is the local church, where issues particular to a congregation can be dealt with. Those charged with discernment are known to be godly, discerning people. When we go looking to books and the Internet as our primary source of discernment, we risk being unduly influenced by people who are not discerning. We risk exposing ourselves to people who seek to destroy rather than edify, and who are, perhaps inadvertently, heaping scorn upon the church.[1]

Similarly, those popular authors and speakers don’t know you either. They don’t know your situation. How can they minister to your particular need and context? Some missionaries go out to their particular field only to mess things up because they weren’t aware of subtle cultural differences. Their words, their tone, their demeanor, their humor just didn’t go over—it was offensive—and as a result, the truth they were trying to communicate was lost in cultural translation—let alone language. The same happens when you divorce preaching from your local context. That super-preacher on the other side of the continent or on the other side of the globe will never be able to bring the Word of God to you with the same applicability as your local pastor who knows you because he’s been in your home.

And yet, we still have our preacher-preferences and still value the input from distant-theologians who add so much to our local church experience. That’s okay, but be careful that you still value the preaching which comes from your own pastor in your own backyard. He is the one who will confront you when you need it. He is the one who will encourage you when you’re down. Don’t take your pastor—a blessed gift from God—for granted. Learn from his preaching and his fellowship. He’s the one who can provide both.

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[1] Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 147.