Part 1: Anticipation
“When
we come to the Word preached, we come to a matter of the highest importance;
therefore we should stir up ourselves and hear with the greatest devotion.”
Thomas Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm
Have you ever
arrived at church on Sunday in a, let’s call it, a less-than-ready condition
for worship? Maybe you were up too late the night before, argued with your wife
while getting ready, barked at the kids, kicked the dog. By the time you get to
church, you’re truly not ready to listen to a sermon!
But getting your
mind and heart ready is exactly what expository preaching requires. Listening
to an expository sermon, really listening—as in thinking,
praying, following the argument, concentrating on the meaning and its
application to your life—that’s hard work.
Merely hearing a
sermon is easy; it requires a properly functioning auditory system, but it’s
essentially a passive exercise. Actively listening to the preaching of God’s
Word requires mental alertness, focused attention, and a receptive heart.
That’s the kind of listening Solomon implored his son to do:
My son, if you will receive my sayings, and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures…(Proverbs 2:1-4, emphasis mine)
That describes an
activity that’s quite active, requiring energy and effort, and that’s exactly
what God would have us do each Sunday when we sit down in the pew.
If the public
proclamation of the Bible is the primary means of change in a believer’s life
(and it is: 1 Cor. 1:18; 1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17), then it’s vital that we
get ourselves ready to listen. You’ve got to anticipate the sermon every week.
Here’s how…
Prepare
Your Attitude
Your basic
outlook as a ready listener should be to identify yourself as the target of the
message. In other words, put the bulls-eye on your own chest and expect the
Spirit to bring conviction to your conscience. The whole purpose of sitting in
the listener’s seat is exposure to the message for the purpose of personal
confrontation, information, conviction, motivation, and transformation.
Your job is not
to critique the preacher, evaluating how well he’s doing, how clever or
interesting he is, or how well structured his sermon is. You’re not there to
admire or criticize a piece of oratorical art. You are there to receive God’s
Word personally from one of God’s ministers. The object of the preaching event
is to anticipate change in your thinking, attitude, and behavior. You should
eagerly prepare yourself with a high level of spiritual anticipation.
Prepare
Your Body
Just before Jesus
was betrayed, He asked His disciples to stand watch while He prayed in
anticipation of the cross. Apparently, they were not physically ready to
comply. “[Jesus] came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to
Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching
and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak’” (Matt. 26:40-41).
Yes, the flesh is
weak. No argument there, right? With each passing year, our bodies grow older
and weaker, becoming more of an impediment to our spiritual lives. We can stem
the tide of physical decline, and its adverse affect on listening, by being in
the best physical condition possible.
Your body works
best with adequate rest, well-balanced meals, and proper exercise. “Adequate,”
“well-balanced,” and “proper” will vary, depending on the person, but you’ve
got to take these things seriously if you want your mind to be alert and ready
to comprehend an expository sermon. This isn’t just a question of how you spend
Saturday evenings and early Sunday mornings; it’s a question of your whole
lifestyle.
Think about it.
You don’t generally listen well when you are tired or hungry; your mind tends
to drift and wander. That’s common when you haven’t been taking good care of
your body. On the other hand, proper exercise and rest ensures good respiration
and circulation that helps you stay awake and attentive. That’s essential for
hearing God’s message in a refreshing and dynamic way.
Prepare
Your Heart
Expository
preaching is a spiritual event through which Almighty God Himself speaks His
Word to the hearts of men and women so they can know, understand, and obey His
will. That means prayer—open communion with the living
God—is an essential element in getting your heart ready to hear what God wants
to say to you. So get ready to listen by praying about two distinct, yet
inseparable, subjects: pray for the preacher and pray for your understanding.
First of all,
pray for the preacher as he communicates God’s message to you. In fact, Paul
solicited prayer from others and considered it foundational to an effective
apostolic ministry (cf. Rom. 15:30-32; Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:2-4; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2
Thess. 3:1). Gardiner Spring shares Paul’s sentiment when he says,
If a people are
looking for rich sermons from their minister, their prayers must supply him
with the needed material; if they seek for faithful sermons, their prayers must
urge him, by a full and uncompromising manifestation of the truth, to commend
himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God (see 2 Corinthians 4:2).
If God’s people are going to expect powerful and successful sermons, their
prayers must make him a blessing to the souls of men! (Gardiner Spring, A Plea to
Pray for Pastors, 3)
Your prayer life
is essential to the effectiveness of the expository sermon. And don’t you think
your fervent prayers for your pastor will help you to listen more effectively
in anticipation of what God will say to you through his sermon? You’ll be
looking for the answer to your prayers every Sunday!
The second
subject of your preparatory prayers should be for understanding, that God would
give you the ability to comprehend what He communicates through the preacher.
That’s how Paul prayed on behalf of others. He said, “I pray that the eyes of
your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know” your hope, your riches,
and God’s power toward you (Eph. 1:18-19). Paul also prayed, “that you may be
filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding,” so that you’ll grow in Christ and please God.
Want an example,
a model to follow? As you anticipate the next sermon you hear, follow the
prayer of the psalmist: “Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live
and keep Your Word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your
law” (Ps. 119:17-18). When you pray that way from the heart, God will answer
and teach you what pleases Him through your pastor’s preaching ministry.
Armed with a
ready attitude, a rested and healthy body, and a tuned-up prayer life, you’ll
be ready to do the hard work of listening to good expository preaching. God
will bless and prosper you, equipping you to do the work of the ministry.
There’s more to
say about your role in expository preaching, so don’t go away. In the next
installment, I’ll aim to get your attention as we focus on the preaching event
itself.
Adapted from the
Epilogue, by Lance Quinn, in Rediscovering Expository Preaching,
edited by John MacArthur, ©1992, used by permission.
Questions:
(Please begin by
looking up the Bible verses cited in the lesson and apply them as much as
possible in answering the questions)
- What is the public proclamation of the Bible is the primary means of? According to the verses provided, how is this so?
- What is your job as a listener? What is NOT your job as a listener?
- How does taking care of your body play a part in your ability to rightly listen to sermon?
- What needs to be our common practice in preparation for hearing a sermon and what two things are to be the primary subject of that practice?
