A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article appears below. Mark Graves, in his informal style, writes on the sermon considering it from the perspective of the pew. It is worth meditating on this “means of grace” that each Presbyterian in their communicant vows promises to diligently use. Mark, with his wife Joy and two young children, Andrea and Caleb, live and work in the Slocan Valley where Mark has served energetically for a year as a Presbyterian lay missionary. The newly established congregation at Slocan Park continues to grow under his ministry as he serves there and at St. Andrew’s, Slocan, in a team ministry. He received his B.A. from Brock University and his M.Div. from Ontario Theological Seminary. Articles For “Worship Workshop” may be submitted to Rev. Calvin Brown, 1202 Cedar St., Nelson. B.C. VIL 2E5.

It is my personal conviction that one of the most neglected aspects in the Christian Church today is the act of listening to the sermon. In an age when great preachers seem to abound, why are so few of us listening effectively? Is there something that we have missed? Is there some way to recapture the sense of the sermon as an act of worship? It seems that one of the foundations of the Reformation was the preaching of the Word and heeding of it. It is my intention in the following to attempt to restore for the readers the sense of what it is to listen to a sermon, and to renew a sense of worship in this act.

Our first step in this process is to understand what it is to worship and how preaching fits into it. An appropriate place to start this would be in a cursory look at Psalm twenty nine. The secret to what worship is, is found succinctly in the first two verses: “Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in Holy array” (NASB). Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, in writing about worship, says the following; “Worship is pure adoration, the lifting up of the redeemed spirit toward God in the contemplation of His Holy Perfection.” Personally, I prefer the simplicity of the psalmist’s view to that of a dictionary. But what is the psalmist saying here? “Ascribe” seems to be the main action of worship. What is ascribing?

The most basic understanding of the word in the original Hebrew is “to give.” It is used in other places in Scripture to connote giving to somebody or providing for them (Gen. 29:21; Prov. 30:15). Thus we see that, in the psalmist’s conception, the act of worship is to give to God the glory that is due to his name. This seems foreign to us in the twentieth century because more often than not we enjoy worship for how it makes us feel. David Mains, of the Chapel of the Air broadcast, always explained worship to his children as a bunch of people getting together to pay compliments to God. Thus we see that worship is important not so much for what we get out of it but for what we give in it In our worship we say: “God, I give to you the glory that is due you for your salvation given through Jesus Christ,” or we glorify him for who he is in creation. We are helped in this act by the hymns and songs that we sing. This is why the offering is also an integral part of the worship service because we are giving to God tangibly through our money. If this is true then how can listening to a sermon be seen as an act of worship when it hardly seems that we are giving anything to God at that time? It seems to me that we are there more for the purpose of soaking in rather than giving out to God.

Much is written and told about preaching sermons, yet very little is said about the really important issue of listening to them. In an age of entertainment, where our attention spans have been governed by thirty second sensual TV commercials, it is often difficult to build a sense of worship when we are thinking about the fact that the person standing up front really isn’t as interesting at last night’s “Miami Vice” show. The quest then, is to make the sermon an integral part of the worship service just as much as any chorus or hymn. This means that we will have to change some of our thinking in relation to the sermon as well as some of our actions in this area.

The best place to start with any endeavour that we undertake is to find out what the purpose of that thing really is. What is the purpose of listening to a sermon? Some of the answer can be found in the Scripture of 2 Tim. 3:16 which reads, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Scripture, and the exposition of it, then shows us how best to serve God. It shows us the areas in our lives where we really aren’t in accord with where God would have us to be. This teaching in a worship service is not always gentle. It says that occasionally it takes the form of rebuke and correction. We, today in the nineteen eighties, really don’t take ail that kindly to this kind of advice, especially from our ministers. I think that this kind of attitude belies the whole problem. We feel that the sermon comes more from the minister than from God. Sometimes the sermon, through Scripture, holds God before us, in that it shows us what he has done on our behalf. Yet, as the minister stands there and talks about the grace of God shown in the death of Christ on the cross, we are thinking: “if he says one more word about that icky blood I think I’m going to be sick,” or “why does he always have to wear that silly blue shirt with the old ragged collar?”. We need to learn to focus past the messenger onto the message that he brings.

Sometimes though, the minister holds our own deficiencies before Scripture and brings to light who we are. Then, while the man is showing us where we need to change and become more like Christ, we are thinking, “if he mentions such and such a habit one more time I’m going to stop giving so much money to the church,” or ‘Tve gone to the prayer meeting three straight weeks now and he hasn’t asked me to close in prayer, why should I listen to him?”. It is really easy to nullify the effectiveness of the Word of God as it comes to us through a minister. The first in making the sermon a part of our worship to God is to realize that it is not a soapbox for somebody’s personal fancies, but is the Word of God expounded to show us best how to service Christ. This should go for preachers, as well!

There is one barrier that we must come to grips with in our culture, before moving on to see how we can make listening to the sermon an act of worship. The issue at hand is the fact that we in our society tend to view the sermon in its intellectual power and prowess rather than in its immediacy as the Word of God. We take notes and see if the minister’s three points were logical and followable, and if they weren’t, we dismiss what he said as useless. I have seen people (and even myself on occasion), dismiss the message which hit with power because of one minor word which was dropped. People have come to me after a sermon and started in on a moot point that really had nothing to do with the main point of the sermon but because they were so keyed in on that they didn’t allow the Word to minister the life intended. We need to hear the sermon in all of its immediacy. This is how the prophets of Israel spoke and we must not turn off the message as the people of their day did.

In order to round this out I feel that we must go to the Scriptures to see the guidance that they can give us in the area of how to listen to the Word of God as an act of worship. In the book of James, chapter one, verses 21 and 22, “Therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil which is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (In this section I am indebted to the material of Dr. Haddon Robinson on listening to a sermon.)

As we deal with this, there are three distinct things which need to be done as we come to the Word. First of all, we must take the time to purify ourselves before coming to the place of listening. James says that we must “get rid of all moral filth.” The psalmist, in psalm 24, expresses the same sentiments in this way, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” O’Brien, in his commentary on this psalm, says that absolute moral purity is not the issue at this point or nobody would be able to ascend, but do we really desire to be this way when we are with God? Is it our intention that we want to be this way when we are with God? O’Brien says, “that before there can be a real ministry of the word, we must get rid of those attitudes and aspects of our relationship with God which aren’t pleasing to Him, in order to allow Him to work.” Jesus expresses the same thing in Matthew 5:23 and 24 when he says, “that if you come to the altar and there realize that your brother has something against you then go to him and try to right it.” It is a concern of mine that we really don’t spend time before a Sunday service meditating on where we need to be cleansed, in order to allow the word free access into our lives. If we did, that would be the first step toward making the sermon an act of worship.

The second step in this process is to accept the word which is given with meekness, and the prominent idea at this point is meekness. We tend to think that meekness is a sign of weakness. If someone says that you are meek, you’re looking for a bop on the nose. This is not what the writer intended at this point, though. The same Greek word is used in one ancient text to say that the horse that won was the meekest horse in the race. That doesn’t mean that the weakest horse won the race but the horse which was in the most submission to the rider and his directions. We must accept the word in the same way, with submission, to allow it to change that in us which is not good in the serving of God. We must with submission accept the word when it shows us how best to grow in our Christian lives. I wonder if we are willing to submit to what our preacher has to say on Sunday morning. Is what he says applicable, or will I dismiss it with my own preferences?

There is one last aspect which we must face, and in my own mind this is the most important one of the three in terms of the sermon as an act of worship. “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.” The most important step to making the sermon an act of worship is to put that sermon into practice. This is the hardest step though, for it is easier to criticize it – and in so doing, nullify its power – than it is to change and thus submit to its teachings. James says that to do so is to be like a man who goes to a minor and looks in and sees that which needs to change and yet goes away and doesn’t even remember what he looks like. I think I know what this text is referring to here. Often when I get up and get dressed in the morning I will ask for my wife’s opinion of what clothes I have put on for the day. She, in her infinite wisdom and good taste, will say “how in the world can you wear a bright yellow shirt, old grease-stained white shorts, and multi-coloured runners with fluorescent shoelaces to the strawberry social at the church?” (If you know me, this is not an inconceivable situation.) My answer to this will invariably be something like, “well hon’, this really is the most comfortable thing that I have and well, you know it would be such a hassle to change now.” That really is just a fancy way of saying “I don’t want to, and too bad.” The writer of the book of James knows that this is the way that we are with the word of God. It is easier to go away and forget what it says and sin, and in so doing remain comfortable rather than change. The sermon is not over until we do what it says.

That is how to make the sermon an act of worship. We must listen with a mind to do something. We saw earlier that to worship was to give to God what is due him, and the most appropriate thing that is due to him is our obedient service and the following of his ways. The psalmist’s phrase, “ascribe to the Lord, sons of the almighty” in terms of the sermon, means to do what it says. One usher at C.H. Spurgeon’s church in the 1800’s realized the truth of this text and when a man ran up half way through the service out of breath and asked, “is the sermon done yet?” The usher replied with wisdom, “well, it still has to be done.” This is the truth; as the writer of James tells us, we must be willing to do what the word says after we listen to it, and the way to make it an act of worship to God, is to give to the Lord through our acting it out.