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(More customer reviews)This Sunday morning will be here before you know it. Like every Sunday, you will spend an hour of your life listening to a preacher. That's probably important to you. As a Christian, you know that the Bible should be preached. You may be in a place where there is solid, bible preaching. However, if you're like me, deep down inside, your sinful flesh could take opportunity to say in self-aggrandizing pride, "I am so glad that I am part of a BIBLE-preaching church and not one of those fluffy, `topical' churches!!" Yet, when all is said and done, when the sermon is actually delivered, are you listening... are you REALLY listening? Does the message make a difference in your life?
A church should rightly place considerable emphasis and energy on the preaching hour, but what if there is not a room full of listeners? How terribly ironic it would be for your pastors to invest literally HOURS into sermon preparation, only to have you drift off into "lah-lah land", feeling no individual weight of responsibility for the message!
So how should you listen when God's word is preached?
Thankfully, author Ken Ramey has written Expository Listening: A Handbook for Hearing and Doing God's Word to answer this question. As the subtitle suggests, it is a handbook for listening to God's word and putting it into practice. This short 100-page book is loaded with rich, Biblical content. The appendix alone is worth the price of the book as it contains a quick-reference guide to preparing for and listening to a sermon. With such chapters as "Hearing with your heart", "The Discerning Listener", and "Practicing what you hear", Ramey teaches you to be an active, skillful listener.
Deeper than just a list of `how-to' tips (though there are plenty of practical aids), I found most helpful, and frankly life-changing, that the author takes you straight to the Bible and builds a "theology of listening." God's word is clear that it is not enough to merely hear preaching, but one should listen so as to obey. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." God expects us to be intentionally listening in ready fashion to obey. He has given us the Holy Spirit to illumine our hearts, enabling us to understand and apply the word of God to our lives. That will make this Sunday's sermon a powerful combination as the "lightning bolts from a Spirit-empowered preacher hit the lightning rods of a Spirit-illumined listener" (pg 4).
Whether we like it or not, God holds us responsible for the sermons we hear. One day we will give an account for how we responded to God's word. Ramey says it this way, "...whenever you sit under the preaching of God's Word, what should be in the forefront of your mind is that fearful day when you will be judged based on how receptive and responsive you were to what you heard." (pg 105) Do you view each sermon that way? May we be like the Thessalonian church who heartily received Paul's message (1 Thes. 2). May we be what Ramey calls "preaching fanatics" who have developed a robust appetite for preaching that comes straight from the Bible.
We cannot sit passively in the pew another Sunday. Rather, we must sit on the `edge of our seat' - following along in our Bibles, taking notes, and reflecting on God's word. We must anticipate each Lord 's Day with spiritual and physical preparation. After the sermon, we must review for appropriate application, applying the text to our hearts asking, "what did I learn? where do I fall short?, what do I need to do about it?, how can I make this a consistent part of my life?" (c.f. 2 Tim 3:16- pg 39 )
What a benefit it would be for you and every member of your church to read this short book and put the principles into practice! I guarantee that it will profoundly affect how you receive this Sunday's sermon.
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"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."––James 1:22 In many people's mind, if they don't get anything out of the sermon, it's the preacher's fault. But that's only half true. The Bible teaches that listeners must partner with the preacher so that the Word of God accomplishes its intended purpose of transforming their life. Expository Listening is your handbook on biblical listening. It is designed to equip you not only to understand what true, biblical preaching sounds like, but also how to receive it, and ultimately, what to do about it. You need to know how to look for the Word of God, to love the Word of God, and to live the Word of God. In this way, God and His Word will be honored and glorified through your life.
