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