Most people assume they know how to listen to a sermon from God's Word. They assume you listen to a sermon by just listening. Most people are wrong.
Churches
are facing a crisis in America today because there are so many pastors of
churches who will not preach to the hearts of the sinners who are sitting in
the pews in front of them. In those few churches with converted preachers who
declare the whole counsel of God’s Word, folks are simply not responding to the
preaching of the Bible. The result is an entire country that is rushing
headlong toward catastrophe while we are already experiencing the judgment of
God. In addition, what do we see while all this happens? Many who profess to
be, and who may actually think they are, God’s people just sit in their pews
and do nothing, for the most part. It was a tragedy for Nero to fiddle while
Rome burned, but it is a far greater tragedy for so-called Christians to fiddle
around while the United States of America prepares to burn under the wrathful
judgment of a holy and righteous God.
For
a long time I agonized about this problem of unresponsiveness. I would ask God,
“Why doesn’t he respond to the preaching of your Word, Father? Why are their
lives not changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, as your truth is proclaimed?
That sermon should have hit her right between the eyes. Why did she not even
flinch?” I began to realize as I prayed such prayers that oftentimes God works
in a person’s life in ways that cannot immediately be seen by others. I have concluded
that there are three possibilities to explain, on a human level, why the
preaching of the Word of God seems to have little effect in the lives of some
of those who are thought to be God’s people, in the lives of some of those who
claim to be saved. One problem might
be sin in the life of the preacher. Certainly, God cannot use filthy vessels,
and will not bless the ministry of a preacher who is not right with God or,
more likely, who is not even saved. That so many preachers are lost is
why so few pulpits in America proclaim the whole counsel of God’s Word, but
instead work at tickling and petting their audiences with mild expository
teaching or irrelevant topical sermons. Another
problem might be sin among those who hear the preaching of God’s Word. Certainly,
Isaiah and Jeremiah had no gross sin in their lives, yet the response to their
preaching was nil. Why? Sin. Simple sin in people’s lives and an unwillingness
to repent and turn to God. When the crowd is unresponsive to the preaching of
God’s Word it could be sin. What kind of sin? Perhaps secret sins in the lives
of Christians. However, more likely, unregenerate hearts in the lives of those
who claim to be saved but who have never really trusted Christ. There is a third problem, not directly related to
sin, which makes for unresponsive hearers of God’s Word. This problem is one
that has not plagued the human race until the last sixty years or so. This
problem is not seen in some of the more backward countries, but is an
increasingly prevalent factor in the technologically advanced countries of the
world. This problem is the inability of people, in general, to listen properly
to a sermon. Maybe a better term than inability is lack of training, or lack of
self-discipline, or a short attention span. Many people nowadays do not know
how to listen to a sermon because they have not been trained and have not found
it necessary to listen actively to another person talking.
Do
you call it attention deficit disorder? Having a short attention span is usually
caused by a lack of self-discipline, whatever the cause. Could this be why the
problem is found in Western Europe and the United States, but is virtually
unknown in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe? To be sure. This
inability to listen to sermons has been illustrated repeatedly to me as I have
taken to the old Puritan and Baptist way of interviewing folks after preaching
to them. “What did I preach on this morning?” “Uhhhhh, sin?” “Uhhhhh, I don’t
know.” I know the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
but it does not require spiritual discernment to comprehend the subject matter
of my sermons. It only requires spiritual discernment to understand it fully.
By this, I mean a person may not understand what I meant when I preached about
the lake of fire. That would take spiritual discernment to a degree, some level
of illumination. To sit through a sermon and not know that I preached a sermon
on the lake of fire has nothing to do with spiritual discernment. It has to do
with paying attention. Some people listen to nothing that is said during
preaching, though you hear it all. How, in God’s name, can some people sit
there and have not the foggiest clue of the subject I preached on at the end of
the sermon? It is simple. Many do not know how to listen to preaching. It is
important to know how to listen to preaching, because if you do not
know how to listen to preaching, and thereby do not effectively listen to preaching, resulting in having no understanding of what is preached, you will not understand the gospel to be saved, or will not have grace ministered to you, Ephesians 4.29. Can you imagine whom the culprits are who
train millions of children and adults to slip their brains into neutral and
passively listen to the words of another? What devices require no effort to
listen? Right. Your television set and computer, wonderful devices that were
supposed to be such powerful educational tools. Television alone is responsible
for more than 250 millions of Americans who are trained to sit down and turn
their brains off while listening to just about anything, whether it be an
ungodly soap opera, a sitcom, or a “man of God” preaching what he claims is the
Word of God from behind a Plexiglas pulpit.
The
response is always the same on the unconscious level. You sit down, you get
comfortable, the talking starts, and the hearing of the talking triggers your
mind to fade out just enough to doze off for a while, or just enough to miss
the message from God you absolutely needed to hear. Computer games have a
different mechanism, but with the same outcome. This is okay when you are
listening to television, because the amount of attention or intelligence
required to listen to the tube is almost zero. Computer games are mostly
reacting without much thinking involved. Such is not the case whenever the Word
of God is preached. When God’s Word is being declared you have to pay attention
with everything you have. Preaching is the means of grace leading to salvation,
according to First Corinthians 1.18 and 21. Have you ever noticed how difficult
it is to read the Bible when you are tired or sleepy? The reason it is so hard
is that you must actively attend to the matter of reading the Bible for it to
benefit you. The same is true with scriptural Bible preaching.
For
you, for me, or for anyone, to benefit from the preaching of God’s Word,
especially a gospel sermon, you must be an active listener. The
key word here is active. Only when someone actively
listens to preaching, only when someone consciously puts forth the effort
required to listen properly to the sermon, will he ever get anything out of
it. An additional problem is that sometimes someone will hear something
in a sermon that jars him so much that he stops listening to the sermon entirely and
focuses all his attention on the one jarring comment he heard. For another it
will be a word he does not understand. He stops listening because he does not
understand one word, not realizing that one word's meaning is not crucial to grasping a sermon's meaning. Therefore, it is
not helpful to stop listening for whatever reason. Do not fixate on a single
word or one comment that jars you. Consciously decide to take in the whole
sermon. Only when someone realizes that he must participate in a sermon, both
mentally and vocally, will God’s Word really begin to grab hold of his life,
will the Spirit of God really begin to use the truth in his life. If that
point in time ever comes, you will no longer fall asleep in church, you will no
longer hit or miss in your church attendance, and you will no longer skip Bible
study. Why? Because you must hear God’s message for you from
God’s Word. If you do not, all is lost.
As
well, something happens with people’s parenting when moms and dads actually
listen to sermons. There comes a time that parents become so concerned for the
conversion of their own children that they begin to quiz them after church,
either on the way home in the car or at the dinner table. “Tommy, what was the
title of preacher’s message today?” “Jenny, what were the main ideas of the
pastor’s sermon this morning?” “Sally, what did preacher tell folks to do
today? Have you ever done that? Would you like to do that?” “Sam, how could you
sit there and not know the one thing preacher said was the most common mistake
folks make in that area?”
Let
me reiterate that if a lost person does not
understand sermons, he will not be saved. There is no way he will ever
understand sermons unless he puts forth the necessary effort to pay
attention. Daydream during sermons and you will go to Hell. Pay attention
and you just might be saved. “Well, I think I can be saved on my own.” Do you?
What do you do with Acts 8.30-31, where Philip said to the eunuch,
“Understandest thou what thou readest?” The eunuch responded, “How can I,
except some man should guide me?” No, God most usually uses men to reach men. The
men who are usually used by God to reach men are men who preach. So you think,
“Okay, if active listening is what is required to get the most out of an entire
sermon, when I am in church and do not want to waste the time I am investing in
my attendance, how do I become an active listener?” In Acts 10.33, we see a
beautiful example of an active listener in the person of a Roman centurion
named Cornelius: “Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done
that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear
all things that are commanded thee of God.”
This
verse does not provide the mechanics of proper listening, but it does suggest
the proper attitudes that lead to proper listening. We see
nothing here about taking notes, about the proper posture when sitting, about
the proper amount of sleep, and the right kind of food that will help you to
stay awake and attentive. There is nothing said here about not sitting next to
distracting people who want to talk or make cute comments at inopportune times.
I routinely see parents distracting their unsaved children during gospel
sermons I preach. These things certainly need attending to, but they are not
mentioned here. Such things are far more likely to take care of themselves, you
see, when the listener’s attitude is right. If you will imitate Cornelius’
attitude, and it is God’s will that you do just that, you will hurdle the
greatest of obstacles that stand in your way of properly listening to gospel
sermons. Moreover, those gospel sermons may be used by God to save your
wretched soul.
Remember,
James wrote, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,” James 1.18. Therefore,
God uses the Bible to bring Christ to sinners and to bring sinners to Christ. However,
do not forget First Corinthians 1.21: “. . . it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe.” Thus, we see that God uses the Bible,
specifically the Bible preached to sinners, to bring those sinners to Christ. Do
you want to serve God? Do you want to learn the Word of God? Do you want to
become a more faithful servant of Christ? Do you want to be saved? Then pay
close attention to three attitudes that will
enable you to become a good listener when God’s Word is preached.
First, YOU MUST
HAVE THE ATTITUDE OF EAGERNESS
The
attitude that makes for better listeners is seen in Cornelius’ own words. Notice
his reaction to God’s command to fetch Peter, recorded earlier in the chapter,
so that he might be taught the things of God. He described his response to
Peter in these words: “Immediately therefore I sent to thee.” Does that tell
you anything? It should. It tells you that Cornelius wanted to know what God
had for him through the ministry of Peter, and he wanted to know right
now. If you ever expect to get anything out of the preaching of God’s
Word then you need to discard the notion that listening to sermons is a chore,
or that you are doing God a favor by being in the church house. What lack of
judgment and absence of wisdom is displayed by that individual who shuns those
occasions when the Word of God is preached, or who does not magnify the
importance of the preaching of the gospel to his own family. I like good music to lead into my preaching,
as a means of stimulating interest and to focus attention upon the
preaching. However, the absence of soul-stirring music
in no way mitigates responsibility to prepare for the preaching
of God’s Word. People need to understand that it is a privilege to hear sermons
from the Bible. The important aspect of
this whole thing is God’s Word. Oh, that the Spirit of God would apply God’s
Word to the hearts of sinners through preaching.
Here
are some good reasons why we should be eager to hear sermons. The most noticeable thing that happens
when the Bible is preached is that men and women can be saved. If you want to
be around when souls are being saved, go and hear preaching. A man would have
to be as spiritually cold as ice not to want to participate in something God
uses to bring sinners to Christ. Is that not right? Next, Bible preaching is God’s preeminent way for Christians to be
taught the Word of God. Some may think that it is really the
Sunday School where Christians are taught the Bible, but in the year 2010, the Sunday School method of ministry celebrated its
230th birthday. Do you realize what that means? It means that for
more than 1780 years the preaching of God’s Word was the primary instrument of
teaching men the Word of God. I am not demeaning the Sunday School by any
means. I am simply seeking to exalt the preaching of God’s Word. I am simply
seeking to shed a scriptural light on the place of preaching. In
Ephesians 4.11, Paul names the ministries of four kinds of gifted men given to
church members for the purpose of maturing them in the faith and teaching them
the Word of God. Those men are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and
pastor-teachers. They are all, or should be, preachers. Are you eager to learn
God’s Word and then to live it? Then you ought to be eager to hear God’s Word
preached. My final reason for being eager
to hear a sermon is that in a sermon you can hear Christ glorified in a way not
usually found anywhere else. Some examples: When painting a verbal picture of
the salvation that can be found only in Christ, can words be found to express
the uniqueness of Jesus Christ any better way than these words preached? “Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4.12. I do not think so. Alternatively,
when lifting up our glorious Savior in the eyes of men with these words, and
crying out for men to humble themselves before Him? “And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father,” Philippians 2.8-11. Again, I do not think so. On the other
hand, when convincing folks from liturgical religions of Christ’s exclusive
role as mediator between God and men with these words? “For there is one
God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave
himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” First Timothy 2.5-6. I
do not think so. I do not know about you, but I am eager to hear God’s Word
properly preached, because when it is properly preached through the power of
the Holy Ghost men are saved, Christians are taught, and Christ is glorified in
a way unparalleled by other means. That is not done with half-wit homilies,
doctrineless devotions, or timid teaching. Only through strong Bible preaching
does God wonderfully bless in this way. To listen properly to a sermon from
God’s Word you must have an eagerness, a hungering if you will, for Bible
preaching. That is what Cornelius had. That is what you need to have. If you do
not have that attitude, you should set yourself to the task of cultivating it.
Second, YOU MUST
HAVE THE TOOL OF APPRECIATION
Cornelius
appreciated Peter coming to deliver God’s Word to him. This is seen in his own
words again: “and thou hast well done that thou art come.” “I’m glad you came,
preacher.” Cornelius understood that Peter was a man sent from God with divine
truth to declare to him. At first, Cornelius attempted to show Peter extreme
reverence, but Peter would have none of it. Peter was not self-deluded. He knew
he was, after all, only a man, and not someone who would sit on some throne,
wearing white silk, and expect you to kiss his ring or anything. Cornelius
still appreciated Peter’s ministry, even after it was clearly communicated that
the preacher was only a sinner saved by grace, just as he was. He was a sinner
called by God and consecrated to His glorious gospel ministry.
Cornelius
had definite reasons for appreciating Peter’s ministry of preaching divine
truth. We have those same reasons, and more. Faithful preachers ought to be
appreciated because they are Christ’s gift to the church, Ephesians 4.8 and 11.
When the Lord gives a gift, you should appreciate it. There is nothing more
disconcerting to me than ingratitude. Too many churchgoers are ingrates with
regard to their preacher. Too many do not appreciate what God is trying to do
in their lives through the ministry of their preacher, and in the lives of
their children. Second, preachers should be appreciated for protecting the
flock. Here is what Paul told the preachers from Ephesus: “Take heed therefore
unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own
blood,” Acts 20.28. Examine the Old Testament and the New Testament. Take note
of God’s means of protection for His people then and now. There is a
difference. Then, God used the angelic host to protect His
people. Now, God has seen fit to use God-called men to protect His
people from supernatural attack and from divisive elements who would rip
churches asunder. You ought to appreciate the preacher for the protection he
provides for your life, much of it coming through his sermonizing. Third,
preachers ought to be appreciated because appreciation of the preacher
helps to prepare you to receive his message from the Book. People are simply be
more receptive, barriers and resistance to truth are reduced, if one
genuinely appreciates the preacher’s role in God’s plan for his life. Cornelius
had reason to appreciate this preacher God had sent to him. I know it
can seem self-serving to assert this, but your appreciation
for a preacher's personal commitment is good for anyone who listen to a sermon. Occasionally, as one young man once told me, parents
completely undermine a preacher’s effectiveness when they express to their
children the opinion that pastor’s preaching is ineffective in bringing their
children to Christ. The children will not listen attentively after hearing a
mom or a dad say that. Have the tool of eagerness. Have, also, the tool of
appreciation.
Finally, YOU MUST
HAVE THE TOOL OF UNDERSTANDING
Read his words again: “Now
therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are
commanded thee of God.” Cornelius understood that somehow God had chosen to
communicate certain truths through the life of another man to him, and that for
that truth he would be held responsible by God.
I
am not trying to imply that any mediatorial role was occupied by Peter, as the
Roman Catholic Church erroneously teaches. We who read our Bibles and study them with
discernment realize that no man or woman stands between you and Christ in that
respect. No mere human mediator is needed, or is competent. For one thing, the
Lord Jesus, Himself, is the sole mediator between you and God, First Timothy
2.5: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus.” He is unique in this respect. There is no one else like Him.
Secondly, all believers are now priests, according to First Peter 2.9: “But ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light.” Since I am a priest, why do I need a
priest?
What
Cornelius understood, instead, was that God had chosen to use men with the
gospel to reach men, to use men with the Bible to teach men. Though these men
are instruments in God’s hands, you will stand before God someday, responsible
to Him for the truth that has been given to you by such men as me. It is important to understand
that.
Cornelius had three tools which helped him to be a good listener. Eagerness,
which naturally reflected his emotional, intellectual and spiritual hunger to
know God’s will for his life. Appreciation of God’s servant as the channel by
which much of God’s will for his life would be made known to him. Understanding
of his responsibility before God to be obedient to that portion of God’s will
that was declared through the preacher’s ministry.
Do
you know how to listen to a sermon? Does your family? Do you prepare yourself
for church and do you prepare your family by cultivating eagerness,
appreciation, and understanding? Are you an unconverted person? Then you had
better be eager, you had better be appreciative, and you had better understand
that God has chosen me to guide you to Christ.
Prepare
yourself in this way before you next come to church. If you have children,
prepare them as best you can before you next come to church. As well, pray that
God will bless the man who preaches. Then cultivate an eagerness to see these prayers answered. Get
excited about gospel preaching. Parents? If you are excited about gospel
preaching your kids will get excited about it, as well. Next, cultivate
appreciation for those who minister to you. How can an appreciated preacher not
be especially concerned for the spiritual welfare of someone who he knows
appreciates his ministry? How can he not be particularly careful to remember that
person in prayer? As well, do you not think the Savior is pleased when you
appreciate the gifted man He has given to you? Finally, ask yourself what you
are responsible to do at the conclusion of a Bible sermon. Understand that you are
responsible to God for the message from His Word to you. People who have all
three of these tools (eagerness, appreciation, and understanding) and use them,
are the people who end up being saved, who grow in grace, and who
are seen to grow in spiritual stature. It is such people as these that God places
His hand on to bless.
I
have never in my life seen a sinner come to Christ who was not eager during the
preaching of the gospel, who was not appreciative to me or whoever was
preaching the message from God’s Word, and who did not understand that he had
better get it, better get it right, and better get it soon, or he was lost
forever.
