Rethinking the Sermon
The sermon has become the central part of most worship services today. When you ask someone, “How was church today?” or “What is THAT church like?”, you will get responses either about how good the sermon/preacher is or how good the music is. Even so, the music is usually seen as preparation or a lead-up to the sermon. The sermon is the most important part of most churches today so you would naturally thing that it would be the most effective part of the worship service. But, is it? How effective is the sermon? Or, is it effective at all? Some may argue that the effectiveness of the sermon depends on the giftedness of the preacher. That may be true . . . to an extent. I still think, though, the effectiveness of any preacher who is preaching in a large group setting is still quite limited.
I have been to Christian conference grounds where there are chapel services every morning and evening Sunday to Friday every week of the summer. Many faithfully attend these services daily with their Bible and notebook in hand. They hear sermons wice a day, every day for weeks! And what is the result of all this pew-sitting? Are they “closer to God” at the end of the summer then they were at the beginning? Are they following Jesus more wholeheartedly (Yes, I recognize the redundancy of that phrase, but I ain’t no professional author 
) as a result of all the sermons they heard over the summer? Do husbands treat their wives better the more sermons they hear? Are wives more faithful to their husbands after attending a sermon filled weekend conference? Do you stop criticizing others the more years you spend in the church? Granted changes do occur seemingly as a result of sermons. I say “seemingly” because I am hesitant to give the lone sermon too much credit. Before I explain what I mean, take a look at something that A.W. Tozer, a well-known preacher, once wrote:
“Though God… has provided answers to our questions concering Him, the answers by no means lie on the surface. They must be sought by prayer, by long meditation on the written Word, and by earnest and well-disciplined labor. However brightly the light may shine, it can be seen only by those who are spiritually prepared to receive it.” (The Knowledge of the Holy)
So, if this is true, what does it mean for the Sunday morning sermon? Could we also say, “However eloquently the preacher may wax, it can be heard only by those who are spiritually prepared to receive it?” If someone is ready, if there are spiritually open, if they have heard God silently speaking to them already BEFORE attending the Sunday morning meeting, they are more likely to respond to something the preacher has said. But, what about those that haven’t been seeking by prayer, or meditating on the written Word, how effective will the sermon be for those people?
When there is genuine change in someone after attending a Christian conference of listening to a sermon, I wonder if it is because God has already been speaking to that area of the person’s life even before the sermon was delivered. Let”s say I have been feeling bad about how I treat my wife for some time and I have really wanted to change but I just haven’t gotten around to working on being a better husband. When I read the Bible and pray I feel that God is reminding me of this area of my life and how it needs to change. Every time I show disrespect I regret and feel bad. Sometime I say sorry to her. Then one day I hear a sermon on how to be a good husband and finally I make some changes in my life. Was it the sermon or the preacher that changed me? Or, was it that I had already placed myself in the position and was spiritually open at the time I heard the sermon that helped me make these lifestyle changes? Was it the sermon that effected the life change or was it my times of personal study and prayer?
If the sermon is not solely responsible for effecting change in one’s life, why is so much energy and time put into its preparation? Could that time and energy be used in other ways more effectively?
I have more to say but let me leave it here for now and give you a chance to respond. Of course, if nobody responds, I will just shut up and say no more but I would love to hear what others think and what their experiences have been.
Comments
Joel,
First I will address your inference that maybe the sermon should not be the central part of most modern worship services.
Neh 8:1-8
This is a rough model followed by many churches services today. I am not certain this is conscious, but it happens.
v. 1 – The people are brought together for a corporate service.
v.2 – The Law (the written Word of God) was brought before the congregation.
v.3 – The Law was read aloud, and the people were attentive to the Law.
This was done in this manner.
v.4 – Ezra stood behind a pulpit.
v.5 – He opened the book for all to see.
v.6 – Ezra & the people worshipped the Lord.
v.7 – The Levites caused the people to understand the Law.
This was done in this manner:
v.8 – They read the book of the Law of God distinctly (clearly), gave the sense (exegeted the Law), causing the people to understand.
You are correct in that a sermon in and of itself is not likely to change a heart, even if the sermonizer is a great speaker/communicator.
But if you mean that because a sermon is only a “hit or miss” tool that might or might not be effective in helping hearers undergo a lifestyle change, then you are wrong.
You & I both know that not everyone who stands in a pulpit was put there by God. Some are in the ministry for the wrong reasons.
But for the sake of this discussion let’s speak about the men who are in a pulpit ministry because they were called of God to be there.
If we look at the sermon as merely an isolated piece of the church service, we are missing a few things.
1. The “prophetic” gift of the pastor/sermon-giver.
Not that the pastor prophesies the future, but that he, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, holds forth the Word of God in such a manner that the hearers understand what God’s Word means in the passage(s) covered by that particular sermon.
This is especially true when the sermon speaks of Jesus Christ, whether preaching the Gospel, or referring to the work of the Messiah as it relates to the passage.
John 16:13 “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak…”
Rev 19:10b “for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Many times after a sermon the pastor hears several people say something like, “That sermon was just for me! It’s like you’ve been listening to my life all week.”
Of course we know that is impossible. One sermon constructed by a man is not able to speak to each & every member of the congregation. Many times people hear things that were not exactly so stated by the pastor.
It is the mark of the Holy Spirit speaking to the hearts of the hearers.
2. The place given by God to His Word.
Psalm 138:2 “… You have magnified Your word above all Your name.”
Tozer is correct. We must spend time in prayer & in the written Word.
You are also correct in saying that the Lord speaks to peoples’ hearts before they hear a sermon. The prayed over, Spirit-led sermon will often simply confirm just what it is the Lord has been saying to the hearers.
But this does not negate or lessen the need for the other gifts distributed to the Church by the Lord.
Pastor-teachers are gifts given by the Lord to His Church. Eph 4:7-13
If the Lord Jesus Christ gave us these gifts, then He must know we have a need for them.
But these men are not meant to be the only source of biblical instruction for believers, since all believers receive the Holy Spirit at conversion.
1 John 2:27 “But the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him.”
The truth is, we the Body of Christ, are sinners saved by grace. None of us is perfect. Few (if any) of us spend enough time in prayer & the Word.
Knowing this, the Lord gave to us many gifts to help us in our walks with Him.
To answer your question, “Could that time and energy (spent in developing a sermon) be used in other ways more effectively?”
I say, if the sermon preparer is not being led by the Holy Spirit, does not believe in the infallibility of the written Word of God, and is not motivated by a heart of love for the Lord, then, yes.
But if the sermon preparer is someone who has been set in that ministry by the Lord, is someone filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 6:3 – if necessary for those who served tables, how much more necessary for those who administer the Word of God?!), & who is motivated by a love of the Lord, then my supposition is that he wishes he had more time to prepare his weekly sermon.
Thanks for listening. Don’t know if I’ll get a chance to continue this thread, as I stumbled onto this website & don’t know if I can find it again.
This is an important topic that needs to be discussed and thought about more. Most people just assume that the central ingredient in their Christian life is the sermon. To be able to narrow this down more, I think we have to consider the cultural context as well. In many cultures, a lecture-style sermon will contribute even less than in others.
This article has some good points:
http://www.the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue93/index.cfm?id=16&ref=ARTICLES_DOING%20CHURCH_253
Clarence Peters who just recently resigned as our pastor, sat down in our sunday school class one morning. He began speaking to the 15 – 20 people in the room and asked if any person can remember what he spoke about the week before. Not one person could remember. To my surprise, he wasn’t surprised. He expected this response and had known this for quite some time. When he announced his resignation, he commented on his 17 years of service saying that he has not completely fulfilled his calling as the “church” did not appear to be closer to God than when he started. There was peace but no real outward expression of all that he had preached over the years.
Everyone has their opinion…so I will join in with humanity and give mine. I learn from life, relationships, events but I rarely remember anything from someone speaking at me. Preacher or not.
In saying this, if the sermon portion of the service is ineffective and you choose to pull it to save energy and time, then all you would have is the music left. Hmmm…but if the music is 150 year old hymns that people can no longer relate to and are ineffective…..and you decide to pull that too, then….what’s left? Freedom?
Fran,
Not all believers receive the Spirit on conversion. Acts 8:14-17
Hi there, Have you read any of Frank Viola’s books yet? I’ve read his Pagan Christianity book and the follow up book – Reimagining Church. Both books talk specifically about this. I don’t see a sermon being a necessary or helpful ingredient to church (people being “the church”, not a building). I don’t agree necessarily with everything Frank writes, but I see the church service style being ineffective and hindering the spiritual development of Christians. Perhaps it is based off of an Old Testament style as your earlier commentor said, but now each of us can be close to God without a pastor-mediator and we can share that experience with each other to strengthen each other too.
Cristi
My wife, the ESL teacher, constantly reminds me that we each have different learning styles colored by how we are wired and our surroundings.
Sitting in church, my wife is the kind to take studious notes – scribbling down summaries and paraphrases of the sermon for later reflection and recall. I on the other hand am more of an experiential learner – with everything in life being absorbed into this continual stream – not unlike smaller tributaries feeding into streams and rivers and lakes and oceans…
We each take away different things from the sermon but I have observed that we filter the sermon through our personal circumstances of the here and now and allow the timeliness of the message to be a measure of how much it impacts our lives.
All this to say that sitting through a sermon is like any other discipline – you get out of it what you put into it. Not suggesting that God isn’t trying to get through to you all the time but rather we’re only tuned in to the extent that we want to be.
This is the same issue with the devotional life. If you spend only 15 minutes a day in your relationship with God then you are making a decision to not spend the other 23.75 hours of the day with God.
Any healthy relationship requires commitment. Commitment requires sacrifice and submission of personal will for the good of the relationship.
I don’t think there is issue with or a need to rethink the sermon – discipleship and spiritual growth are more the underlying issues to be addressed.
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