Attitude & Preaching

What is your attitude towards preaching? Do you hope that you will never hear any more preaching? Are you content to listen, but like preaching to be brief? Can you tolerate preaching as long as it is entertaining? Do you think it should address the social issues that exist within your community, or even tell the leaders of your community what they should do?

In churches and chapels today it is not unusual to hear comments like: “I hope he doesn’t go on too long!” or “I hope it’s better than last week’s sermon.” Indeed, after one 40-minute sermon, a visitor who was accustomed to 20-minute sermons expressed his considerable relief at the prospect of going back to his regular church, and then commented: “Your minister’s a bit like a dog with a bone!” Are these attitudes anywhere near the correct approach to listening to preaching?

Demoting preaching can sometimes be very subtle. One way is to cram lots of other activities into church services. Long periods of singing can combine with many ‘notices’, long prayers and updates about outreach activities, to squeeze the amount of time available for preaching. Unless, of course, the congregation are to be kept for a long time. But even with long services, how many churches are prepared to have the sermon early in the sequence, so as to make sure it doesn’t get ‘squeezed’?

Those who watch Christian TV channels will probably have seen preaching which places emphasis upon the style of presentation and the appearance of the whole ‘set’, trying to create the right ‘atmosphere’. There is also much importance attached to stories of spiritual experiences, like hearing words from God, or being called-up to visit heaven; stories intended to enhance the preacher's credibility.

Amidst all of this, a fundamental question for Christians is "How do you expect to hear from God?" For the God described in the Bible is clearly one who speaks, who communicates with people. Some would say that reading Scripture is the main way in which they hear from him. Others would say that they hear whilst praying, through circumstantial signs, or even whilst sleeping. But how many would say that the main way in which they hear from God is through preaching? How many people look forward to listening to sermons on Sunday, because that is when they hear what God has got to say to them?

Whilst he did not consider himself to be solely a preacher [1], Martyn Lloyd-Jones did consider preaching the Word of God to be the primary task of the Christian Church. Indeed, he considered preaching to be 'the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.' [2, 3] This belief was well-founded upon the example of Jesus himself, as well as the examples set by the Apostles and prominent Christian leaders of more recent times.

So, what is your attitude towards preaching? Is your attitude well-founded? Does your church encourage its preachers to really engage with this vitally important work?

References

[1] Lloyd-Jones: Messenger of Grace, by Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth, 2008
[2] Preaching & Preachers, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Zondervan, 1972
[3] Primacy of Preaching, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, MLJ.CDPP1, audio sermon


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