How to Listen to a Sermon
Biblical Christians value biblical preaching. And rightly so. Beginning with OT precedent (e.g. Ezra in Nehemiah 8:5-9), Jesus (Mark 1:39, Luke 24:27), Peter and Paul in Acts (2:14-41 and 13:13-41, respectively) and an exhortation to young pastor Timothy (2 Tim.4:2), preaching the Bible figures prominently if not preeminently in Christian worship.
It was one of the sea change movements of the Protestant Reformation to transition from a sacrament-based worship to a Word-based one.
So naturally we look for good preachers for our churches. Foundry is blessed to have had a long history of good preachers, including Pastor Trevor. We also have a “deep bench” (Michael Long’s term) of people in the congregation who can pinch hit in the pulpit if needed.
But how do we listen to a sermon? How can we get the most out of the hard work a preacher puts in prior to Sunday morning?
Here are five suggestions to get more from a Sunday morning message:
#1 Pray for the preacher
Pray for the preacher’s walk with God. Pray that he may be growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that the Bible speaks to him as much as he speaks to the congregation.
If done well, preaching is hard work. Preparing to preach is hard work. To get more from a sermon, pray for the preacher as he studies the Bible text to get at the truth of a passage and to be able to communicate it in a winsome way.
English Bible scholar and pastor John Stott wrote a book on preaching entitled Between Two Worlds. Stott maintains that the preacher straddles both the biblical world and the present one. To extract from the past the eternal message and to speak that message to the present requires hard work and the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
We get better preaching when we pray for the preacher.
#2 Pray for yourself
Pray before worship that God would speak to you through his written Word, the Bible. Make Psalm 119:18 (ESV) your prayer: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”
It’s Holy Spirit work to illumine the Scripture we read and hear (1 Cor.2:10-13).
May we be as prepared as the preacher.
#3 Follow the message along in the Bible
I prefer opening my Bible app or use a printed Bible instead of only looking at a passage projected on a screen. I seem to interact more closely with the passage when I do this. Nothing against words on an overhead screen. Just seems more tactile for me to have it in front of my face.
#4 Ask yourself (and God) how the sermon might apply to your life
James 1:22 reminds us to be doers of the Word, not merely hearers. Just because we know something doesn’t mean we live it. Knowledge doesn’t necessarily translate to maturity.
“I never saw that before!” often goes through my mind when I hear good preaching. But C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity (quoting Samuel Johnson): “‘People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”
My default mode is often guilt and shame. Preaching that has brought me to tears reminds me of God’s forgiveness and grace. Maybe that’s been your experience too.
#5 Give honest feedback and ask thoughtful questions
During a sermon, nonverbal gestures tell the preacher you’re engaged: laugh at his jokes, nod in agreement, stay silent when the Bible pierces your heart.
Tell the preacher specifically how the message spoke to you. Don’t just say, “Good sermon”!
I once preached my heart out on an Easter Sunday a few years ago. I made (or at least I thought so) a compelling, passionate case for Jesus’ resurrection, calling people to believe in him. A man came up to me afterwards and said simply, “Good talk.” How deflating!
Be specific and concrete when giving feedback.
When you don’t understand or disagree with something in the sermon, seek out the preacher and talk to him about it privately. Don’t be anonymous! Gossip and mistrust can easily grow when we don’t seek clarification.
Haddon Robinson was one of the great preachers and preaching instructors of the last 50 years. His textbook, Biblical Preaching, includes this quote in the preface from Matthew Simpson’s Lectures on Preaching:
“His throne is the pulpit; he stands in Christ’s stead; his message is the word of God; around him are immortal souls; the Savior, unseen, is beside him; the Holy Spirit broods over the congregation; angels gaze upon the scene, and heaven and hell await the issue. What associations, and what vast responsibility!”
We have a solemn responsibility when we hear the word of God preached.