How to listen to a sermon
For Protestants, particularly Evangelicals, the sermon is the center of worship. The centrality of preaching is even reflected in our sanctuary design. In most Protestant sanctuaries, the pulpit is in the center. With the centrality of preaching, one would think teaching people how to listen and evaluate a sermon would be vital practices of the Church. Surprisingly, this does not happen with any regularity at all.
As a result, people often evaluate a sermon based on how well it entertained them or how it made them feel. Even worse, some evaluate sermons based on “relevance.” When looking at preaching that way, the single worst thing a sermon can be is boring.
Preaching, however, is not about entertaining or our feelings. Relevancy is a terrible master as well. What is relevant today is irrelevant tomorrow, and sermons express timeless truths.
So, how should one listen to a sermon?
The First Question, Was It The Right Text?
The single most important choice a pastor makes in the preaching process is text selection. In making that statement, I do reveal my biases. I believe a sermon should be based on a biblical text. Choosing a topic then going to the Bible and finding support for one’s position on the topic is a good way to misuse the Bible. This process invites cherry-picking of texts and preaching that supports an agenda. For me, going to the Bible and paying close attention to what it says is how the best sermons are constructed.
The reason text selection matters so much is that sermons are to a specific congregation at a specific time. Not every text is fitting for every occasion. Sometimes a congregation will need to hear of the comforting power of God. When those situations arise, preaching from Amos with his denunciations of sinfulness is not the right choice, for example.
One cannot preach the right sermon from the wrong text.
Methods for Choosing a Text: The Revised Common Lectionary
Choosing the right text at the right time is often difficult. Because of that reality, the Church, from the very earliest times, has developed tools to help in the task.
Since the 400s, many pastors have relied on a lectionary—an organized way of using the texts—for text selection. In Mainline denominations and the Roman Catholic Church, the Revised Common Lectionary is a primary tool for text selection. Published in 1992, the Lectionary gives pastors 4 texts to choose from in any given week.
While Evangelicals often look down on the Lectionary, it has benefits. It gives pastors a systematic way of preaching through the Bible. Those who use it tend to preach from a greater variety of passages than those who do not. The use of the Lectionary also invites pastors to preach on difficult texts they would sooner avoid. It is also a great tool for new pastors. Rather than spending hours and days figuring out what the sermon will be about, they already know. It will be about the text for Sunday. It is also good discipline. The sermon comes out of the text.
Issues with the Lectionary
The Revised Common Lectionary does have problems though. It skips over important texts. For instance, a pastor solely relying on the Revise Common Lectionary would never preach from the great passage in Zechariah 4, “‘Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord,” (Elizabeth Achtemeier’s superb book Preaching From the Old Testament has a helpful section on this problem). The Lectionary also gets very embarrassed about those pesky passages that express God’s judgment.
The Lectionary also privileges Matthew, Mark, and Luke while sneaking John in during Lent. Not treating John the same way it treats the first three Gospels is a serious mistake.
Another problem with the Lectionary is that it can lead to preaching a good sermon, but not what the congregation needs at that moment. As one who has frequently used the Lectionary, the opposite is more often true. Most often, the Lectionary text was exactly what my congregation needed. From time to time, though, I have found that preaching from the Lectionary can lead to generic sermons that do not address the realities of the congregation’s experiences.
Methods For Choosing a Text: Preaching Through Books
Some pastors preach straight through biblical books (the Lain term is lectio continua). For example, a pastor using this method might preach for 16 weeks on Romans. John Calvin famously used this method. The method does have advantages. What I have found, however, is that staying on the same text or theme for more than a few weeks invites disinterest. Further, it risks being at the wrong text at the wrong time. It also leads to moments when a pastor is knee-deep in Acts, and Father’s Day comes on the calendar. The text where the pastor is scheduled to preach has nothing to do with being a father. Then the pastor has to make oblique connections, change his text, or ignore Father’s Day. Awkward!
Methods for Choosing a Text: Topical Preaching
Some pastors successfully use a topical method. They can think of biblical themes and find the right texts to explain them. Most pastors, even those committed to preaching from the text first, will use a topical sermon, at least occasionally. Funerals, weddings, baptisms, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations, or crises nearly demand this approach. If a pastor wants to preach about family, relationships, social ills, or gender, this is the most likely approach as well.
As For Me
I have used all 3 methods. My tendency, though, is to consult the Lectionary while prayerfully thinking about what is going on in my congregation. If the Lectionary texts fit, I use them. If not, I move to other texts. I will use some sermon series, but I do not do that as often as I once did.
The Second Question: Did the pastor understand the text correctly?
Pastors are human and do make mistakes. Their humanity means listeners need to extend grace. Grace, though, does not alleviate the listener from the responsibility of deciding if the pastor got the message of the text right.
I saw a clip of a recent sermon from a fundamentalist pastor preaching from Isaiah 47:1-3. This is one of the worst examples I have seen at reading the text terribly. It is probably one of the worst sermon clips I have ever seen.
Bad Preacher Clips
In the video he claims that pastors who do not preach from the text are spineless, lying, hypocrites. Unfortunately, this is the least of his incendiary claims. The text in question reads,
Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate.
“Take the millstones and grind meal.
Remove your veil, strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
“Your nakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame also will be exposed;
I will take vengeance and will not ]spare a man.”
What Isaiah 47 is About
The text is Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming destruction of Babylon. In vivid terms, Isaiah describes the consequence of the coming destruction. Shame was coming on them and Isaiah pictured the shame as having the daughters of royalty would have to work in the fields like servants losing their royal attire and being exposed.
Using it Wrongly
Instead of preaching about the judgment of God or even the justice of God, the pastor uses the passage to castigate many modern women who wear clothing that, in his estimation, is too revealing. “…Wear a longer skirt, baby…” he thunders. The passage is not about revealing attire. It is a discussion of the ruin that is coming and the shame that is coming because of the evil of the Babylonian empire. Worse, attire mentioned in the text is a consequence of the destruction, not a cause.
To take this passage and go on a rant about women’s clothes is a grievous mistake, ministerial malpractice. The passage is about the coming wrath of God on the enemies of Israel. It is a passage about comfort and hope for the people of Israel. The passage is not an excuse to accuse women who dress inappropriately of causing sexual assault as the pastor did in the sermon. Not only were his comments shameful, but his use of the Scripture was an embarrassment. I wish he could be defrocked.
Question Three, Did the Pastor Read the Text in the Context of the Whole of the Bible?
A progressive pastor in a different tradition, preaching on Christ the King Sunday, told the congregation she did not like the Sunday because it pointed to Jesus being the victor over all our enemies in a “militaristic way.” She believed that Christ the King Sunday was at odds with the God who has revealed Himself as love.
Woke Pastor Hates ‘Bull***’ ‘Christ The King Sunday,’ Refuses to Preach On It
(Warning, the pastor uses profanity in her sermon.)
There are multiple problems with her reasoning. Yes, God is love. To say, however, that God does not have wrath is to fail to read the whole of the Bible. Wrath, as Karl Barth would say, is the negative side of God’s love. If there is no wrath on the ideologies and actions that would destroy human life, could one even say that God is love?
She also misses the point of Christ the King Sunday. The day is one of the newest liturgical days. Invented during the WWII era in opposition to Nazism and Fascism, the day was to remind us that God will be victorious over every evil ideology. In the resurrection of Christ, Jesus has won the victory over the powers of sin, death, and darkness. Every evil power is a defeated foe. The powers that seem to dominate us now, are already defanged. Jesus reigns. Christ the King Sunday is a reminder of that fact.
In short, she missed the point entirely. This is another case where one should question if the pastor should be in the office.
Listening Well
When listening to a sermon, listen for the ways the pastor engages the text with the whole of the Bible. Does the pastor ignore a theme? Did the sermon overemphasize a point to the detriment of the rest of the Bible? If a pastor has read the text with the whole Bible in view, he has done the work of interpretation well.
Did the Sermon Point to Jesus?
Good sermons point to Jesus because the Bible is entirely about Jesus. The Old Testament points to our need for Jesus and promises His coming. The Gospels describe His arrival and its consequences. The book of Acts recounts the history of the Church. The letters in the New Testament describe how one is to live because Jesus has come and illuminated the truths of the faith. The Revelation reminds the reader that Jesus shall return. The Bible, always and everywhere is about Jesus.
When it is time for the sermon, look for how the text points to Jesus.
If you listen with these criteria in mind, you will be a better listener to preaching. These criteria will make you think better about the sermon and will help you ask better questions.
Also by Layne Wallace:
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