In A.D. 1541, the Ordinances of the Church of Geneva prescribed six sermons a week: Sundays at dawn, 9am, 12noon (catechism for children), and 3pm, plus three more sermons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They reasoned that this was the only way for light to return and darkness invaded. With that in mind, Walter Kaiser writes: “Should we not follow these Genevans in establishing, as they did, something more than the twenty-five minute homily or one ten-to-fifteen minute topical sermon given each Sunday morning as the total source for our Christian maturation for the whole week?”[1]
But Walter Kaiser wrote those words in 2003, and the preaching landscape has changed so much in the last ten years. Today, we are not so much fighting for longer sermons—we are fighting for sermons, period. Are you dedicated to listen to preaching? Is the practice essential to you? Take a look at the following discussion points and ask yourself: “Am I committed to listening to the voice of God, with humility, with discernment, and unto action in every sermon experience?”
Here are questions for discussion:
1.
Have you consistently prepared
yourself to hear sermons with the understanding that God will speak to you in
that sermon? Discuss how you might develop that anticipation. Discuss how you
might encourage your pastor with that expectation.
2.
Do you have a humble and
attentive heart when you listen to sermons? How is that seen by others? Discuss
how you might encourage one another in areas of openness, transparency, and
prayerfulness, before and after a sermon.
3.
Do you have the necessary
skills and Bible knowledge to be a discerning sermon-listener? Do you engage
with your pastor, asking questions about the content of his sermons? Discuss
how you might increase your ability to discern biblical teaching from false
teaching. Is there a local course in hermeneutics you can complete?
4.
Share with your study group how
urgent you are about sermon-application. Are there ways you can increase that
urgency? How can you encourage one another to practice God’s Word? Pray for one
another, that you would become even more faithful listeners and doers of God’s Word.
[1] Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Preaching and Teaching from the Old
Testament: A Guide for the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003), 19.
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