Peanuts, Popcorn...NOT for the Pulpit!

“May I beg you carefully to judge every preacher, not by his gifts, not by his elocutionary powers, not by his status in society, not by the respectability of his congregation, not by the prettiness of his church, but by this – does he preach the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation?”   C.H. Spurgeon

  Sadly, for the most part, the contemporary Church is spiritually emaciated. You often sense it as you walk in the door. There’s a lack of seriousness, fervency, or even a heart for God. May that not be true of us!

  There are many reasons for this sad situation. A primary one is that we’ve jettisoned what Scripture teaches is to be a priority – the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. Recently, I was told that we use the Bible too much at Grace to be a successful church. The typical church measures success by numbers of attendees and size of the budget. Churches are constantly looking for that next “thing” that will bring in crowds and cash. The end result is that we’re pragmatically driven, rather than biblically motivated. But having a big crowd doesn’t mean we’re making disciples or are successful in God’s eyes.

  From a human perspective, one of the dumbest things we do is put a man behind a pulpit and have him deliver a monologue. Adding to the tedium, he uses an ancient book written two millennia ago in an ancient language as his primary resource. Could anything be more passé? Yet, amazingly, the Bible commands us to “preach” God’s Word and even warns us that preaching will be considered stupid, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe… but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles…For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:21-25). But because we’re this world success driven, we use cheap substitutes for preaching like…

  Entertainment. In many churches, you’re not sure if you’re in a worship service or a circus. The music, light show, drama, video and dance routine drive the service. Preaching is a sidebar. Church gurus tell us we need these things so we don’t bore people. While there are boring preachers, the Bible is anything but boring. Martin Lloyd Jones said, “Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit and should never be allowed to enter one.” God’s eternal Word needs to grip the heart of the preacher and the congregation by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  Sharing. A pastor will say something like, “There are some things I just want to share with you today…” Since when is the man of God some Dr. Phil and Oprah combo? God called the preacher to preach His message. Because it reveals the human heart, because we’re naked before a Holy God, it’s often uncomfortable…even offensive. We dare not remove the offense from the Gospel: I’m a mess, you’re a mess, this world’s a mess and there is no cure except Jesus Christ and His cross. Either you run to Christ as Savior or you’ll face Him as Judge. There is no in between.

  Sermonettes. Anyone want a discount open heart surgery? Half the price, half the time. When we preach God’s Word, we’re doing soul surgery. You can’t do that in 20 minutes. It takes time. Truth must be explained clearly. It needs personal application. We also naturally resist it, so resistance must be broken down. It’s impossible to do meaningful life change in a hurry.

  How can I listen to a sermon so that I get as much as I can out of it? Even those of us who believe God’s plan and command is the preaching of His Word have often given little thought on how to listen to a sermon. Yet, shouldn’t we be highly motivated to learn how to develop the spiritual discipline of listening to a sermon? If for nothing else, just the practical, utilitarian reason of not wasting time. If you’re an adult who’s been in church for several years, you’ve spent hundreds of hours sitting through sermons. Just the sheer amount of time we spend listening to sermons should spark some curiosity in us on how to listen to a sermon effectively.

  And there’s a far greater motivation for a believer to want to listen to a sermon well: Scripture teaches that preaching is God’s design and His great gift to us (1 Cor. 1:20-25, Eph. 4:7-16 & 2 Tim. 4:1-5). In our ADHD world, listening to a sermon is a learned discipline that can be developed. If we know preaching is God’s plan and we’re going to spend lots of hours doing it, shouldn’t we want to get good at it? Learning to listen well to a sermon will change your life and maximize the effect of the preaching of God’s Word upon your life. Here are some basic pointers:

  It’s requires effort. With our growing increase of technology, we’re probably the most distracted generation in history. That means you’re going to struggle to concentrate to listen to a monologue for forty minutes. That doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. Yet, like anything worthwhile, it’s going to demand that you put forth some real effort.

  It means pre-planning. It’s the same advice your parents gave you when you were a child. Go to bed early. Have your clothes and other items ready before you go to bed. Get up at a decent time so you don’t have to rush. Leave home with enough time so you can relax. Plan for the rest of the day beforehand. If you have to think about Sunday afternoon – What you’re going to eat? Who you’re spending time with? What time is the game on? – You’ll have difficulty focusing during the preaching.  

  It demands thinking. Since at Grace, we preach through books of the Bible, most Sundays, you know in advance what passage is going to be preached on. Why not take a few moments during the week to read the text, familiarize yourself with it, and begin thinking through it so you aren’t starting from scratch when the sermon starts? Perhaps do a little research and work through some background information on the passage.

  Please pray. Pray in advance for the sermon time. Preaching is a very spiritual phenomenon: God revealed through Christ revealed through the Scriptures revealing a particular message through His appointed, earthly messenger to a particular audience on a particular Sunday. If you fail to approach it spiritually, you won’t experience its full impact on your life. Pray for the Holy Spirit to give the preacher His message and to help him deliver it. Pray for our church family and yourself to hear and understand it. That all requires the work of the Spirit working in us.

  It means knowing how you’re wired. Know your learning style and prepare for the sermon time accordingly. If you’re easily distracted by people around you, sit in the front and center of the room. Take extra notes. Engage the material, asking questions. Taking notes usually forces us to concentrate more and keeps our minds focused on the message. 
  God’s Word is a priceless treasure. Let’s determine to value the time invested listening to Scripture being taught!

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