Do you Hear the Sermon?
by Richard Ruble
preach to a congregation of bibli cal illiterates. According to a re port in Time magazine, ignorance of the Bible is widespread. Time reported a survey conducted among college students to deter mine their Bible knowledge. Sur prisingly, some students thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers; that Jesus was baptized by Moses; and that Eve was cre ated from an apple. These students, not unlike many sermon listeners, were suf fering a sobering case of cultural deprivation. Adequate biblical knowledge is necessary for suc cessful sermon assimilation. Third, get a good night’s sleep before going to church. Not in frequently during a sermon many people are “ asleep in Jesus.” In early colonial days, an usher paroled the aisles, poking sleep ers with a long pole to keep them awake. Nowadays nobody pays them much attention unless they snore! One of the most intimate sto ries in the Bible concerns a young man who did not think the ser mon was so terrific, but rather soporific. The young man, Euty- chus, fell asleep during a Sunday sermon by Paul (Acts 20:9). (Preachers take heart. It was ob viously not the quality of the ser mon which put him to sleep!) It is understandable that Eutychus might have fallen asleep at such a late hour for Paul “ continued his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:7). However, today some peo ple fall asleep in church who have been out of bed less than an hour. Martin Luther told in a para-
T h e l o n g e s t sermon on record, according to the famous Guin ness Book of World Records, was preached by Clinton Locy in Feb ruary 1955. In West Richland, Washington, he preached 48 hours and 18 minutes, touching on texts from every book in the Bible. The eight people who re mained in the audience until the end heard more preaching in one sermon than the average Ameri can hears in a year. Many Americans are sermon listeners. The 123 million who be long to a church or synagogue comprise nearly 65% of the popu lation. Every week nearly half of these hear at least one sermon. Some hear many more. The faith ful church-goer who attends the standard three services each week hears over 150 sermons yearly, or about 75 hours of preaching. To some people sermonizing seems ludicrous. Yet God has placed His approval on this, tech nique. Paul wrote that “ it pleased God by the foolishness of preach ing to save them that believe” (I Cor. 1 :21) and God has “mani fested his word through preach ing” (Titus 1 :3 ). In the light of this, Paul urged T im othy to “ preach the word” (II Tim. 4 :2 ). The primary responsibility for the success of a sermon has usual ly been attributed to the preach er. It is considered his duty to see that his sermons are well-pre pared, vital, and interesting. If he does not do a good job, church services in general and sermons in particular become a bore. Of course, some preachers do produce more than their share of
long, tedious and ineffective ser mons. A preacher who becomes intoxicated with his own words often continues preaching long after he has run out o f sermon. By doing this he hurts his own cause. Martin Luther said: “ I would not have preachers torment their hearers, and detain them with long and tedious preaching.” However, not all of the respon sibility for the effectiveness of a sermon falls to the preacher. The man in the pew can help, too. No matter what the inherent quality of the message, the individual listener can control to some ex tent what he gets out of it. Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:23). Most profit from a sermon comes to those who develop “ hearing ears.” The following seven sug gestions may help: First, attend a church where the sermons are based on the Bible. Unfortunately, some preachers base their remarks only on phi losophy or psychology and neglect the Word of God. While this may be helpful, it is not biblical preaching. As one Christian said: “When I go to the house of God, I do not want amusement; I want the doctrine which is according to godliness. I want to have light upon the mystery of Providence.” No sermon is worth much if the Lord is not the principal Speaker. Second, study the Bible person ally on a regular basis. This will help immensely to alleviate the impression that the preacher is “too deep” or “ over my head.” The preacher’s job is made ex tremely difficult when he must
18
THE KING'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker