How to Listen to a Sermon

Introduction

Well, I think Sherry probably said it best when she said this is like a touch of home for you. And it is quite literally. I bring my own fan club with me when I travel. My mother and my oldest sister and her husband, who’s more like my brother, and his parents, and of course, Melissa and our kids are happy to be visitors in your midst this morning. And so many who played such a pivotal role in my life as a Christian. And if I were to just take the time to talk about each one, we wouldn’t have time for the things for which we tend together. So please know how pleased we are to be with you. We’ve looked forward to this for a good while now, and glad that it’s finally here.

You probably saw that. How to listen to a sermon, and you thought, oh, here we go. The preacher’s gonna air out all of the gripes about the things that people do during the sermon that distract him. And so I want you to know from the outset that I have recognized the tendency of this title that it might seem self-serving, and I have carefully darted against it. But I think it deserves our attention for a couple of reasons. Number one, Tony said Sherry really needs this. And number two, we spend so much time making certain in every other area of our worship service that our mind is in the right place. Think about it. Sometimes the song leader will remind us before a song.

Now, be certain we pay attention to the words and not just the music, especially this phrase. Let’s think about that while we sing it. Or sometimes the brother, who, as we often call it, presides over the Lord’s table, will read a passage or say some remarks before protecting of the Lord’s Supper, so that we don’t partake in an unworthy manner, and will say things like, help us to take out the thoughts of this world. Even the collection will say in the prayer that the Lord loves a cheerful giver. We want our minds to be where they ought to be. What about listening?

What about the sermon? Isn’t it amazing that we think we just automatically ought to know how to listen? Listen to what Mortimer Adler said in his book, How to Speak, How to Listen. He said how utterly amazing is the general assumption that the ability to listen well is a natural gift for which no training is required. The scriptures say in Acts chapter 20 and verse 7 that on the first day of the week, the disciples gathered together to break bread, and Paul preached to them. The preaching of the gospel is something that we spend almost half of our time together on the Lord’s Day or Tony’s preaching, three-fourths of our time together. Maybe we should give attention to how to listen to the sermon, because we all have responsibility in this regard.

1. Listen With an Open Bible

And so could I, as we begin our Lord’s Day and our meeting together, talk about four ways in which you can be responsible. You can be a participant, and how to effectively listen to a sermon. Four things that you can do, not only today and every Lord’s day, but this week, as we focus our attention on God’s word. Number one, how to listen to a sermon. The first thing you can do, and the most important thing you can do, is to listen, number one, with an open Bible. Listen with an open Bible. In Acts the 17th chapter. Here we’re on one of the missionary journeys of Paul. And in verse 1 of Acts chapter 17, we read that when they had traveled through Ampipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, This Jesus who I’m proclaiming to you is Christ.

And so they packed up and went down to Berea. Verse 10. The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so. Can you imagine how easy it would have been for the Bereans to say, well, this is the Apostle Paul. He’s not going to be wrong. If anybody knows what he’s talking about, it’s going to be him. And he’s not going to lead us in some way that we ought not to go. But they didn’t have that attitude, did they? They heard what he said, but what did they do?

They went back to the scriptures and examined them carefully to see whether the things Paul was speaking was really what God said. In fact, the word examine there that we read in our Bibles, that was a word they used in their legal system. You think about a lawyer or someone who’s an expert of the law who’s making certain that every single detail is right. That’s what they did with Paul’s preaching. Even the Apostle Paul. How much more ought we to do when a mere man stands before us and speaks to us from the word of God? We need to listen with an open Bible. This is your greatest responsibility. They carried out in this text what we read in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 1.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because false prophets have gone out into the world. If we don’t get this part of our preaching right, if it’s not truly gospel preaching, does it really matter what else we do? I’m sure that you have visitors here, just like we do at Southside in Pasadena, visitors who come to our assemblies from perhaps some area churches, denominational churches, sometimes even churches of Christ, sadly. And they’ll say things like, we just don’t hear the Bible anymore. We don’t hear preaching from the scriptures. Oh, we have these get togethers and we have these how-to seminars and things like that. But we want we came because we want to hear the Bible.

Isn’t that what every assembly, isn’t that the heart that every person ought to have? Or sometimes the preacher gets up and he reads the passage, and this is going to be the text that he spends his time on. And if we’re not careful, we kind of view that as the coming attractions at the movie. This is what you do. You just the preacher’s doing that. We’re getting set over, not paying attention. It’s just something you do before you get to the good stuff, right? Well, I want you to know this week that the most important thing I say is not going to be what I say about the word of God. The most important thing I’m going to say today and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday is what I read from the Word of God.

Because I want to get that part right. And I want you to listen with an open Bible. And not just put your soul’s salvation in the hands of another man. Keep your finger here because we’re going to come back to these Bereans and notice something else. But look over just the next chapter in Acts chapter 18. And here we have introduced to us another preacher by the name of Apollos in Acts 18, verse 24.

Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, and he was mighty in the scriptures. Wouldn’t you love to have heard Apollos preach? This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to cross into Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. And when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Here again, you have somebody who is an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures. And in the audience, a couple of tent makers.

He’s mighty in this one part, but he doesn’t have the whole picture yet. And so they took him aside and explained this to him. How could they do that? Because they were listening with an open Bible. And from then, Apollos then went and preached from the scripture that Jesus was the Christ and called men to be accountable to him, to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit for the remission of their sins. Have you listened to his sermon? First of all, and most importantly, you listen with an open Bible to see whether these things are so.

2. Listen With an Attentive Mind

You listen not just with an open Bible, but with an attentive mind. An open Bible and an attentive mind.

And it wasn’t just that, it was that it kept ringing and ringing. And it was one of those annoying ringers that just get right under your last nerve. And it went off so many times that by the end of it, nobody was listening. We were all singing the song of the ringer. Well, it turned out that it was one of the older ladies of the assembly. And her daughter was just terribly embarrassed. And she said, Mom, we all just figured, well, she couldn’t hear it. It was down in her purse, or maybe on some frequency she couldn’t hear. She just didn’t hear it. Mom, why didn’t you turn your cell phone off? And she said, Well, I was thinking the whole time that somebody’s got the same ringer that I do.

Sometimes there are distractions that take our attention away. And so in this point, I want to remind you: not only do you have the responsibility to be attentive yourself, but make certain that you’re not being a distraction that would cause someone else not to listen with an attentive mind. Preparation is expected of the preacher. If I were to get up this morning and say, Well, I just didn’t have time. We had family come in from out of town this week, or we had stuff with the kids going on this weekend, or we had all these other, I had to stay up late, and so I’m not at my best.

You’d get another preacher, wouldn’t you? Doesn’t then the preacher have the right to expect that everyone also is going to be prepared? That when you do work hard and try to find the right way to say things from the word of God, that you get up before a people who are not prepared to listen. Listen with an attentive mind. Remember those Bereans? Notice something else about them in Acts 17 and verse 11. Something that’s kind of easy to overlook. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica. For they received the word how? With great eagerness. Examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. With great eagerness, a word that might be translated in your Bible, willingness or readiness. Were you eager this morning to come and hear God’s word proclaimed?

Were you ready and willing to open your Bible and listen to the things that have come from God’s word? This is an attitude we see expressed in another place in Scripture. In Nehemiah chapter 8, which has become a great passage of restoration. I want you to see something from Nehemiah 8 that we can restore to our worship service. Nehemiah 8, look at verse 1 beginning from your open Bible. And all the people gathered as one man at the square which is in front of the water gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.

And he read it and he read from it before the square, which is in front of the water gate, from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand, and all the people were what? Attentive to the book of the law. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could restore such a mind to our worship? All the people were attentive. They listened with an attentive mind, because this information that they were listening to was the most important thing that was happening. Even when we are prepared, there are some things that can happen that are around us that we need to be careful of, that we’re not the ones causing others to be distracted. people who are constantly getting up and down, who are doing other things that people around them think, well, what’s he doing over there?

3. Listen With a Receptive Heart

Why isn’t he listening? during the invitation song, which is such a vital part of the conclusion of the sermon, people who are moving around and might cause someone who had seriously been thinking about responding to the message of salvation to then become distracted and not to. We just need to be careful that we’re listening with an attentive mind in such a way that we’re causing all those around us also to want to be eager, be willing and ready to listen. So you listen with an open Bible, you listen with an attentive mind. Number three, you listen how to listen to this sermon with a receptive heart. With a heart that is receptive. It is the heart that is the target of the sermon. That’s where the preacher is aiming.

That’s what the gospel wants to trick you with. In Acts chapter 2, the first sermon that was preached by the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost. Look how these hearers listened to his sermon. He preached about Jesus, about Jesus who had come from God and performed miracles right in their midst, who had then been crucified, and God raised him up on the third day. but he made certain to know that you were the ones who did this. It was your sins who brought this about. You’re the ones who nailed him to the cross. In verse 37, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? Where were they pierced?

In the heart. That’s where Peter wanted to hit them. That’s where Jesus instructed the apostles to aim. When he told the parable of the sower.

He said there are going to be some hearts that are so hard that it’s like the seed’s going to bounce right off. It won’t even go anywhere, and the devil will come and gobble it up before it does anyway. And he said, There’ll be some hearts out there, and you’ll be preaching, and it’ll be it’ll find some reception. But the problem is it’s underneath a layer of rock, and it can’t go anywhere. It can’t dig roots, it can’t spread out, it can’t find what it needs. So as soon as some persecution or affliction arises like the sun, it’s gonna burn it up and it’s gonna take it away. You ever know anybody like that? Who jumped in with both feet to obey the gospel, and then a month, six weeks later, we don’t even know where they are.

A receptive heart. Jesus said, Some hearts are going to be distracted. Oh, it’ll be able to take root and it’ll grow, but they’ll allow other things to grow up alongside it, sometimes very innocently, and over time these things will choke out the word and it’ll wither away. But he said, Some hearts will be fertile and good and honest, and even bear fruit themselves. Oh, that every heart or is receptive to the hearing of the gospel. Notice what James says in James chapter one. That goes along with Jesus’ point there. James chapter 1, start with verse 21. Therefore, James said, putting aside all filth and all that remains of wickedness, in humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers only who delude themselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. Did you notice that James likens receiving the gospel like Jesus did in sowing the seed? He said, with humility, receive the word implanted. That means you open up your heart to it. Now that takes humility, doesn’t it? It takes humility to say, hey, I think the preacher’s talking about me.

I think that applies to me. One of the greatest exchanges I love between Jesus and the apostles occurred on the night of Jesus’ betrayal and later trial and of course execution the following day. But here at the Passover, the last meal Jesus has with the apostles. He reveals to them a bombshell. One of you around this table is going to betray me tonight. You know what I’ve always wondered? Now, if I was the one planning out the storyline, this is how I would have thought it would have gone. I would have thought every head would have turned to Judas. It’s Judas, isn’t it? I knew it. I’ve had my suspicion on him since the first day you called him. Oh, he volunteered to take the money box.

This guy’s obviously been tiltering through it. It’s Judas. I know it’s Judas. But that’s not what they said, is it? One of you at this table will betray me. Do you know what every one of them said? Is it me, Lord? Surely not I.

4. Listen With a Willing Life

Is that me? Let every man be quick to hear, slow to fear, slow to anger. Is that me? Do I talk before I think? Do I have my handle on my temper? Is that me? You listen with a receptive heart. And with humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your soul. And then number four, how do you listen to a sermon? Well, you have an open Bible, and you have an attentive mind, and you have a receptive heart, and then number four goes along with that. You have a willing life. You listen to a sermon with a willing life. Remember, James had just said it’s not just the hearers only, but those who are doers of the word, who look into the mirror and see that, yeah, that applies to me.

And then decide, well, I need to do something about that. I need to change that. And so you listen with a willing life. Do you want to know how you make a preacher’s day? This might surprise you. And again, I’m I’m setting myself up here for a lot of grief for the next three days. It’s not just hearing things like good lesson. And preachers love to hear that. Again, I don’t mean to take away from that, or you hit a home run, or something like, boy, that sounds good to us. But if you really want to make a preacher’s day, then you say something like, boy, I needed that. You really helped me. Or sometimes it’s expressed this way. Have you been reading my mail? Which I guess we could update that to.

Have you been reading my email? That’s exactly what I was just talking to so and so about. Or that’s just exactly what I was thinking about. And I needed that, and you helped me to be a better Christian. I’m afraid sometimes we do it like this. Boy, that was a great sermon on gossip. She really needed that over there. I hope he was listening. No, you listen with a willing life.

How can this help me? Again to Jesus and the disciples in John chapter 21. Another very interesting conversation, and this one literally at the end. This is after the resurrection, when Jesus reveals himself to the apostles. This is when several of them had gone fishing, and again there’s the miracle of the great fish, and Jesus beckons them to come and have breakfast and they eat together. And he reveals something again that would have been another bombshell. And this one involved the apostle Peter. He asked him three times. Simon, do you love me more than these? Much speculation has been, what did he mean about these? And Jesus, or rather, Peter answered him three times. Peter, who had denied Jesus three times, now answers him three times.

Lord, you know I love you. To which Jesus responds, then pin my lambs, shepherd my sheep, tend my sheep. But look what he said to him in verse 18. Truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gurge yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gurge you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Now, Peter, remember, had been very quick to announce his allegiance to his Lord. One of you will betray me. Peter said, Lord, even though all these others may fall away, I will not.

With you, I am ready to go to prison and to death. I think that’s what Jesus means when he says, Peter, do you really love me more than these? You were bold enough to say, these may fall away, but I will not, and then later you denied me three times. You said you didn’t even know who I was. Do you really love? Jesus wasn’t trying to start a competition. He just wanted to know, Peter, do you really believe what you said? Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Then feed my sheep. Because there’s coming a day, Peter. If you’re really going to follow me, then someone else is going to bind your hands. Or rather, stretch out your hands and take you where you do not wish to go.

And lest there be any doubt, John adds, he said this to signify, Peter, you’re going to die, a martyr’s death for me. Are you ready to go that way? Some have even surmised that when he said, Well, stretch out your hands, that it indicated that Peter too would die by crucifixion. A fact attested to by historical writers, even upside down. Peter, are you ready to go this way? And isn’t it interesting what Peter’s response to this interchange is? Peter, verse 21. Verse 20, Peter turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following him. Now that’s John, the one who also leaned back on his bosom at the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? So Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord, and what about this man?

If I have to die for you, Jesus, what then do you have prepared for the disciple whom you love? Is he just going to get off scot free? Jesus said to him, verse 22, if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.

Your first response is, Well, what about him? Doesn’t he have to do? What about her? How come she’s getting off easy? Jesus is saying to you this morning, you follow me. You do what you know you’re supposed to do. You do what you’ve heard said through the word of God, and you respond. And you respond with a willing life. Are you willing to live what you learn? What if that means coming before an assembly and saying before everyone here without any hint of shame or embarrassment, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Be willing to do that. What if that means in hearing the preaching of the Word of God? That you come to the decision I need to make some correction, even privately in my own life, that I might be right with God.

Then be willing to do that. What if it means that I’ve done something in a public way, that I want to remove any shadow of a doubt that everyone will know that I’ve repented? Then be willing. Be willing with your life to bring it in harmony with what the Word of God says. Could I notice a final passage with you in 2 Corinthians chapter 3? Here’s what happens when you do all of these things. When you become not just a hearer, but a doer. Look at what Paul said to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 3, starting at verse 1. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

We’re writing an epistle to you. But really, you’re the letter. You’re the one that people in the world are seeing. You’re the one that people are recognizing as disciples of Jesus because you’ve conformed your willing life to what the Lord said to do. You know how to listen to a sermon? You go live what you learn. And guess what? When you do that, you become a sermon yourself. Your life becomes a testimony of who Jesus is and what he’s done for you, and how you’re now willing to live for him. He laid down his life for you, and so I’m going to lay down my life for him. You become what people see, you become what people hear. So doing might cause them to receive the word implanted, which is able to save their soul.

Conclusion

Isn’t that what Paul told Timothy? If you do these things, you’ll not only ensure your salvation, but those who hear you. And guess what? Those who hear you, they’ll go be and preach their own sermons by their willing lives. How to listen to a sermon. It takes training, it takes time, but when we do it right, we see the effectiveness of it. The power of any sermon is not in the preacher. We told the kids where we were going, where we’re going to go today, and I said, We’re even going to go and stay at Tony Mock’s house this afternoon. And Morgan was sitting at the table and she said, He’s famous.

He mixed up with Don Truex. But anyway, Tony would tell you, a famous preacher would tell you.

To everyone who believes. Romans 1 and 16. And so that ought to motivate us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. And so I want you to know whatever else I say this week, don’t listen to me. Listen to Him. Because in Him is all power and glory and strength forever and ever. Amen. Thank you for your attentive mind for this class period. Thank you for the way you’ve listened.