Do you know how to read a book? The premise behind Mortimer J. Adler’s and Charle’s Van Doren’s classic book How to Read a Book is that most people can read, but simply do not know how to read a book well. Many people approach reading as a passive activity rather than as an active engagement. The authors use the illustration of catching a ball to describe the process of reading:
Catching the ball is just as much an activity as pitching or hitting it. The pitcher or batter is the sender in the sense that his activity initiates the motion of the ball. The catcher or fielder is the receiver in the sense that his activity terminates it. Both are active, though the activities are different.
If a reader is active in receiving the information transmitted by an author through a book, then those who listen to a sermon must be even more active. The preacher stands before a congregation to deliver God’s word, but the goal of the hearer must never be passive, the hearer is always an active receiver hearing, internalizing, understanding, and acting upon the word that is proclaimed.
The purpose of a sermon is not to put you to sleep or to help you relax. Your role as a hearer is to engage in the sermon, to participate in the process. In the tradition of call and response preaching, the congregation gets this, but for many, worship has become a place to sit and be served. Our entertainment-driven culture has done much to add to this idea as people show up every week with the Kurt Cobain approach, “Here we are now, entertain us.” But the preacher’s role is not to entertain and the congregant’s role is not merely to consume. Everyone involved in the preaching event is responsible to participate in preaching or in receiving.
Unfortunately, many people have never learned how to listen to a sermon. So, below, I’ve listed 9 steps to help you improve your sermon-listening.
How to Listen to a Sermon
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Pray.
When do you begin to prepare for a sermon or a worship service? In my house we pray on Saturday nights, “God, prepare us for worship…” The Psalmist writes in Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from your law.” Pray for God to give you spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to treasure and a mind to put to work the wonderful things from his Word that he has in store as you sit under the preaching of the word.
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Get to know the preacher.
Obviously, if you are listening to a sermon from your pastor, knowing him is easier, but if you are listening to a podcast or attending a conference, do some research and get to know the person who is preaching. Knowing a bit about their background can help you to better understand their preaching (or even understand if you should be listening to their preaching). Some of the things you might want to know include: to what denomination does he belong, what are his views of Scripture, how does he view the local church, and does he (as far as you can tell) live a life that is above reproach in accordance with 1 Timothy 3:2.
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Understand the text.
Good preachers can sometimes preach wonderful sermons from one or two verses of scripture, but that does not mean that you shouldn’t read the context. If you want to listen to a sermon well, take your own Bible with you and read the context around the verse as well as the verse. If you are in a service with a printed order of service, you can even do this before the sermon so that you can be mentally prepared. If your pastor preachings systematically through books of the Bible, you can read ahead before the service. You may even try to summarize the text yourself before the pastor begins to preach.
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Take notes.
Yes, take notes. Make sure that you have a pen and paper handy to at least jot down some highlights or main ideas. Use the margins of your Bible for notes or creating cross references. I’ve always found the end pages to be great places for keeping notes of particular importance. If nothing else, taking notes will help you to avoid distractions.
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Interact with the sermon.
If you are in a service where it is acceptable and you feel inclined, respond verbally (“Amen!” “Preach it!”). Even more, interact mentally. As a part of listening to a sermon well, you should feel comfortable to ask mental questions as the preacher preaches. Write your questions down, jot in the margins of your Bible. Did something speak loudly to you, make a note.
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Bathe in the word.
I know, that probably sounds a little odd, but we often need to be reminded that an active sermon listener actively ponders and bathes in the Word. As the word washes over you in the worship service, see to it that the balm of Gilead is applied liberally to the places where it needs to be. You may need the Word to pierce you and reveal your sin. You may need the Word to heal your broken heart. Regardless of what you may need, never lose sight of the need to sit under the preaching of the Word and let it work. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword!
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Apply the sermon.
What is the purpose of a sermon? To glorify God and edify his people who in-turn bring him more glory by submitting to him and serving in obedience. If you do not apply the sermon, then in some ways it has been wasted on you. If the Spirit has spoken to you through the sermon and told you to walk away from your sin and you refuse to do so, that sermon has had no impact on you. Good sermon listeners do more than hear the sermon, they apply it to their lives as they seek to honor Christ.
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Talk about it.
As a part of our discipleship ministry, many of our LifeGroups use sermon-driven curriculum that allows them to further study the sermon throughout the week and talk about it among their LifeGroup members the following week. This is helping people in our church to better understand the sermon as they ruminate on it and then discuss it in groups that aid in understanding and application of the message.
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Tell someone.
A sermon is only powerful to those who hear it–unless those who hear it take the message of the sermon and tell it to someone else. Do you want to bless your pastor? Steal his sermons and preach them to the people at work or around the lunch table. As you preach the sermons back to others, you will grow in your understanding of the Word and in your ability to rightly divide God’s word yourself.
These steps to help you get more out of a sermon and apply God’s Word better in your life. What other steps do you recommend?
