Preaching Is Also in the Listening

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="1b9005a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC00" FACE="Arial" >Living Hope Christian Fellowship</FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Living Hope Christian Fellowship"><B>Home</B></A></div> <div> Back to  <A HREF="christian_growth.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Walking With God"><B>Walking With God</B></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="32ac8043.jpg"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="135" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#000066" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFCC00" FRAME="ABOVE" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFCC00 HEIGHT= 16 WIDTH="131"><div> <B>Articles:</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <A HREF="prayer5d.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prayer">Prayer</A></div> <div> <A HREF="giving_thanks.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Giving Thanks for What the Lord is Doing">Giving Thanks</A></div> <div> <A HREF="key_of_togetherness.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Key of Togetherness">Key of Togetherness</A></div> <div> <A HREF="forgiveness.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Forgiveness">Forgiveness</A></div> <div> <A HREF="integrity.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Integrity">Integrity</A></div> <div> <A HREF="patience.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Patience (James 5:712)">Patience</A></div> <div> <A HREF="finding_meaning.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Finding Meaning in a Commuter Church">Finding Meaning</A></div> <div> <A HREF="experience_prayer.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Experience with Prayer">Experience Prayer</A></div> <div> <B>Preaching</B></div> <div> <A HREF="trust.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Matter of Trust">Trust</A></div> <div> <A HREF="words.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Words Are Like Seeds">Words</A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="32b00042egerdp.jpg"> <div> <I><B>Preaching Is Also in the Listening</B></I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="598" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#000066" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="BELOW" RULES="ROWS" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2606 WIDTH="598"><div> <I>by Luciano Cozzi</I></div> <hr> <bR> <div> You may have noticed a trend in our sermons lately, and if so you are right. We are going through a panorama (in great lines, not in too much detail) of the gospels and we are making several stops here and there in the attempt to help you gain an overview of the message we find in them.</div> <bR> <div> Later, we will continue in our panoramic view by going through Acts and the epistles, occasionally stopping here and there to acquire more of a taste for the overall message of the New Testament.</div> <bR> <div> If you have read the New Testament a couple of times, you will probably feel that what we are sharing is not new. The passages we read will be familiar to you, and the message will probably sound even too simple. No <I>new</I> truth or “revelation” will be found, and no new way to cut and paste the Word. So, does this mean you already know it all and we have nothing more to offer? Perhaps, but it is more probable that if you feel this way you may need to refresh some of your <I>listening</I> skills as well. Let me explain.</div> <bR> <div> At one time, I found myself having difficulty adjusting from needing to preach every week to not preaching at all for months, and listening to others explain the Word to me. At first it was not a problem, but soon I found myself thinking that I already knew those things, and that I was not finding the “meat” that I needed. I had fallen deep in <I>intellectual vanity</I>. It took me some time, but eventually, by the grace of God, I came through. Eventually, I managed to stop evaluating the other pastor's messages, and began to find in them, perhaps in simpler words than I would have liked, enough “meat” for me to meditate on and digest during the week. I also learned that the pastor was talking in very simple terms because a number of the people in that congregation needed to be reached at a simpler level. I was shocked to find myself criticizing in my mind what turned out to be a wonderful gift from God, the ability to take His wonderful truths and explain them in such simple terms that even the uneducated could understand. So, I began to appreciate his work of love and I found myself learning more because of that.</div> <bR> <div> In every church you will find people who think the sermons are too basic sitting together with others who think the sermons are too difficult to understand. Some will say they are too short, while others will insist that they are too long. Some would prefer them to be more educational, while others would want them more inspirational. Chances are that you have found yourself thinking some of these things as well. </div> <bR> <div> So, in this issue I would like to share with you some of the thoughts and principles that helped me turn around and begin to find real benefit in the sermons I listened to. I am sure that if you consider them seriously you, too, will find them beneficial.<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="#notes" TITLE="Preaching Is Also in the Listening"><B>1</B></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Where Is the Problem? </B></div> <div> One of the first things we tend to ask ourselves is where the problem really is. Our immediate tendency is to say that the problem is in what someone else does, but that is rarely the case. Most often, the problem is on both sides. </div> <bR> <div> I know, from the side of the preacher, that I have a number of shortcomings. Every week I evaluate my own work, find things I did that I should not have done, others that I did not do that instead I should have. As much as I would like to be the greatest preacher of all, I know all too well that I have much room for improvement, and I think I can say the same for every other speaker as well. </div> <bR> <div> However, if you do a search for the words, “He who has ears, let him hear” you will find out that Jesus stressed the importance of listening to a much greater extend than you may have realized. To fail to hear in a proper attitude is to fail to listen. In reality we are always listening to someone, either we listen to God or we listen to Satan. One of the reasons why we often fail to listen is that our ears are all too full of other words, and not necessarily the Words of God. When I say to myself, “I know all this stuff! This is nothing new.” I am actually blocking out the words of God to make room to the lies of Satan. Let's look at this example again. “I know all this stuff!” Isn't this the voice of pride speaking? Isn't this telling me that I am superior and that I don't have to listen because I know better? This is all too similar to the attitudes present in the garden of Eden, isn't it? So we know where it comes from.</div> <bR> <div> Suppose for a moment that I resist that thought, and reply with another thought, “Ok, this may seem like something I already know, but why would God want me to hear it again? What is in it that I need to see? What is that I may be failing to practice in my life? After all, it is not what I know that makes the difference, but how much of it I apply.” Now the picture is different, isn't it? This is no longer the voice of pride, but rather the Spirit convicting me that there is something that I need to listen to. As I do, I find out that I am sliding back in a certain area, and the message helps me to get back on my feet. Albeit imperfect, perhaps even too simple, or even  outright boring, that message has been of great value to me. The difference?  I listened!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Some Listening Factors </B></div> <div> Many do not get much out of a sermon not because the sermon has nothing to offer, but because they were not adequately prepared for it, and their priorities are not right. </div> <bR> <div> One way in which this happens is because we stay up very late the evening before, enjoying the things this world has to offer and barely able to wake up the next day, to then fall asleep during what would otherwise have been an invigorating sermon. So, the “sleep factor” consists in preparing ourselves for the service and making ourselves ready to listen by getting enough sleep the night before.</div> <bR> <div> In addition to getting adequate sleep, getting ready on time has been a very important factor for me. When I get to services in a rush, frantically trying to beat the clock (and sometimes the speed limit), my mind rushes all over, and I can hardly settle down in time to give my full attention to the sermon.</div> <bR> <div> Eat adequately. Often we don't think about food, but when we are hungry, or when we have eaten too much we make very poor listeners. A light meal or snack before the service may be one of the best things to do to improve our ability to listen.</div> <bR> <div> Let us not forget perhaps one of the most important things we can do to prepare ourselves for good listening: prayer. Yes, we should pray asking God to speak to us through that service, and through that sermon. We should ask God to lead and inspire the preacher, and to touch our hearts through the words He will give the preacher to share with us. Then, listen for God's answer during the service. He will answer your prayer, but you must ask “in faith without any doubting” (James 1:6) and with the right motives (James 4:3).</div> <bR> <div> Keep the right attitude. Did you know that even from a mistake a preacher makes God can still draw a lesson? I have seen that happen a number of times. In fact, once I was shocked when an individual approached me after a sermon, while I was churning inside for what I perceived as a poor performance, with many mistakes (Italian kept coming to my mind, rather than English), and thanked me for the sermon. In disbelief, I asked how he had found the sermon helpful, and the reply was to me a shocking surprise. “You know,” he said, “I have always felt funny in a church, because everyone seemed to be so together and good that I felt I could not fit in. As you were preaching, I could tell that you notice your mistakes, and try to correct them. Yet, you did not give up. You kept going on, trying to give your very best under the circumstances.” He paused a moment, then he added, “I kept thinking about me, and how I too make mistakes, but I tend to give up because I don't think I can measure up to the standard of those around me. I think I found my church, because here I don't feel belittled for my mistakes, rather, I find myself encouraged to give my very best to the Lord, even though I make mistakes.” I was shocked, as you can imagine. Yet, the lesson is clear. He listened with the right attitude, and was able to learn something important even out of my shortcomings and weaknesses.</div> <bR> <div> Our expectations have also a great deal to do with our success as listeners. Whenever I expected to hear something new or something that fit <I>my</I> need in this or that way, I would generally be disappointed. On one hand, if I really heard a sermon in which I found <I>new</I> truths, I would be very suspicious. But I also had to learn that my expectations were not always in tune with my real needs. God had a better picture in mind. So I learned that a better expectation is for God to reach out to me through the service and touch my life in a way that I need. If I expect a boring sermon, I will most likely be bored to death. If I expect a meaningless sermon, I will most likely not listen. On the other hand, if I expect an answer from God <I>according to His agenda, not mine</I> then I generally find it.</div> <bR> <div> A negative bias can be a very strong hindrance to listening, too. We may not like the tie the preacher wears, or the way he speaks, for that matter, but we should not forget who he is at that moment: a herald of God.  “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.” (Luke 10:16) Now, as Jay Adams wrote, </div> <bR> <div> <I>You must approach listening with a positive bias toward God and the Word his messanger brings. What if he </I><I><U>is</U></I><I> a poor preacher? Does that excuse us from listening? Does that give us the right to be poor listeners?</I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="#notes" TITLE="Preaching Is Also in the Listening"><B>2</B></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Indeed, adding the problem of poor listening to the problem of poor preaching would not resolve anything, but only make it worse. The ideal, of course, would be to combine the best effort on the part of the preacher to be a good preacher with the best effort on our part to be good listeners.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Aggressive Listening </B></div> <div> It is with these words that Adams, in his book, expresses the attitude of the individual who <I>will</I> find something worthwhile and positive from just about any sermon.</div> <bR> <div> So many times we hear people say “I'm not being fed.” And that is true, but not for the reasons they imply. I remember in one of the congregations I attended as a regular listener, that there were people who would say that almost every week. They kept complaining that they were not fed by the sermons, and I could tell that it was true. However, I and many others were fed and could find help for our Christian walk. In reality, these people are often not fed because of what Proverbs 26:15 warns us against. They don't do as much as take the food to their mouth. Notice the expression: “being fed.” It points out the main problem, because it is saturated with inactivity and passivity. In Hebrews 5 this is defined as “dullness” or “sluggishness” of hearing. God does not expect us to be spoon-fed all the time. He wants us to be active listeners, searching for that pearl of great value in what we hear.</div> <bR> <div> As we worship God and we gather to hear from His teachings, we are not to be passive listeners, but rather aggressive listeners, eagerly searching for what is valuable, summarizing, reorganizing, looking for clues and most importantly asking ourselves what God wants us to get from it.</div> <bR> <div> Learn to write your notes in terms of what God wants you to understand and do from the sermons you hear. Jay Adams offers some simple examples that give a very good idea:</div> <bR> <div> - God wants me to give cheerfully.</div> <div> - God urges me to trust Him in times of suffering.</div> <div> - God calls on me to repent of doubt.</div> <bR> <div> Notice that in all these examples, Adams uses the word God, not the “preacher.” We are seeking what God has for us in that message, and we can always find something. </div> <bR> <div> I remember that I used to perceive going through the genealogies of the Bible as one of the most boring readings I had ever done. Until, that is, I discovered a teaching in them as well, and I noticed how God consistently used imperfect people to carry out His work and plan on earth. Then, it actually became an encouraging reading.</div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#BBBBBB HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="598"><div> <B>Notes:</B><B> <A NAME="notes"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 81 WIDTH="598"><div> <B>1</B>  A good resource to check out is a small book that helped me open my eyes as well as my ears: Jay Adams. <I>A Consumer's Guide to Preaching</I> - How to Get the Most Out of a Sermon. (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books) 1991. ISBN: 0896933989.</div> <div> <B>2</B>  Adams, <I>Consumer's Guide</I>, p. 32.</div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Copyright © 2003 Living Hope Christian Fellowship  -  All Rights Reserved</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>