The Lord Is Speaking<\/h2>\n
Jesus addressed a crowd at one point and laid down a command and a principle: \u201cPay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you\u201d (Mark 4:24). He said this in the context of parables he had been teaching the crowd. Sometimes we think that Jesus spoke in parables, using the imagery of first-century Israel\u2014soil, seeds, lights, bushels, and more\u2014to make it easier<\/em> for people to understand. But Mark says that Jesus told parables to keep people at a distance. They were like riddles\u2014people could understand the surface meaning thanks to the earthy imagery, but only those (the disciples and others) who approached<\/em> Jesus to ask for an explanation received \u201cthe secret of the kingdom,\u201d the true meaning of the parables (Mark 4:11). However, \u201cfor those outside everything is in parables, so that \u2018\u201cthey may indeed see but not perceive, \/ and may indeed hear but not understand, \/ lest they should turn and be forgiven\u201d\u2019\u201d (Mark 4:11\u201312, quoting Isa. 6:9\u201310). The principle is clear\u2014those who actively listen, engage, and approach Jesus for explanation are rewarded with insight. Those who half-heartedly listen to what he says and then wander off are left outside. Therefore, we need to listen well\u2014attentively and prayerfully\u2014remembering that as our pastor preaches the word, it is the Lord who is speaking (1 Pet. 4:11).<\/p>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n Peter Orr<\/a><\/p>\n <\/em> Fight for Your Pastor<\/em> is an exhortation for church members to support their pastors through the difficulties of ministry through prayer, encouragement, generosity, and forgiveness.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Paul tells Timothy the role of the pastor is to \u201cpreach the word . . . in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching\u201d (2 Tim. 4:2). You can help your pastor fulfill this duty by being a good listener. That doesn\u2019t just mean staying awake and maintaining eye contact while he preaches (though that would certainly encourage him!); it means correctly receiving the word of God. After urging Timothy to preach the word, Paul immediately adds that \u201cthe time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions\u201d (2 Tim. 4:3). Listening well to God\u2019s word means hearing it eagerly and letting it confront you\u2014that is, allowing it to challenge and rebuke you. Listening badly means putting pressure on your pastor, whether indirectly (by lack of attention) or directly (by unfair criticism). This pressure can lead him\u2014perhaps unconsciously\u2014to preach to please his hearers. <\/p>\n If you humbly, submissively listen to the Scriptures, it will be easier for your pastor to preach the word. Scripture contains many passages and ideas that people in our generation don\u2019t like or actually hate\u2014passages on the uniqueness of Christ or on gender and sex. <\/p>\n A pastor who does his job will need to preach on such passages and topics. It will be easier for him if he knows that at least some people in the church are ready to submit to God\u2019s word and listen to it rather than simply expect God\u2019s word to affirm their preconceptions. A pastor I know, a good and godly man, became so affected by his congregation (which contained a number of progressive and liberal Christians) that when he preached a sermon on a particularly confronting passage, he told his hearers, \u201cI wish the Bible didn\u2019t say this.\u201d He went on to affirm the teaching of the passage, but he was revealing a heart under pressure. He knew what people in his congregation thought about that particular topic and was swaying to their opinions. As congregation members, we can strengthen our pastor by listening well and making sure we respond in a godly way to God\u2019s word. <\/p>\n A practical way to do this is to talk with one another after the service about the sermon. It is OK to talk about the weather, sports, politics, and other topics after worship, but it is sad that, at least in my experience, we so rarely talk about the sermon. But if our pastor sees us discussing his sermon and the passage he preached, he will be strengthened and encouraged to keep preaching and to take his preaching more seriously. If we never speak to one another\u2014or to him\u2014about his sermon, then we affirm by our behavior that we don\u2019t value his preaching.<\/p>\n But what do we do if our pastor is not a very good preacher? We can still do some practical things. Of course, we need to work even harder at listening. Perhaps we can do so with pen and paper in hand so that we can actively engage with the passage even if our pastor meanders or misses the point of the text. If he does not preach a great sermon, we can still encourage him afterward about the things he did well. We can also ask him about the passage and the parts we didn\u2019t understand because they weren\u2019t clearly explained. This can create a feedback loop. If the people who talk to the pastor about the sermon ask careful and thoughtful questions, they will encourage him to preach careful and thoughtful sermons. <\/p>\n There may be a place for a more pointed conversation with the pastor about his preaching. Making sure we are not indulging a complaining or bitter spirit, it may be right for some people to sit down and help the pastor see how he could preach better sermons. For example, if he always preaches topical sermons, never getting into the riches of God\u2019s word as it is written, we could suggest an expository series. However, ideally this is the sort of thing that the elders in the church will bring up. Critically, this kind of feedback needs to be given in a humble, submissive, and non-complaining way. If it is framed as coming from a hunger and an eagerness to hear the word every Sunday, a request for more of X, Y, and Z is more likely to be heard.<\/p>\n Listening well is a spiritual discipline. We should go to church with an expectation that we will meet with God in the preaching of his word.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n One reason we may find it hard to listen to our pastor is because we listen too much to the \u201cgreat\u201d preachers on the internet. I remember gushing to a famous preacher at a conference about how helpful I found his material. He thanked me and then pointedly reminded me that I should be expressing that kind of thanks to my own pastor. It was a helpful reminder. Our pastor\u2014particularly if we attend a small church\u2014often has less time than he would like to prepare his sermons. He deals with a lot of things his more famous counterparts delegate. He often feels that he could have done better with more time. But nearly always there is something helpful in his sermons, and we ought to listen to his preaching as eagerly as we listen to streamed sermons.<\/p>\n I preach occasionally and can think of one former congregation member who was particularly easy to preach to. He would sit forward, make eye contact, smile, and nod the whole way through the sermon\u2014to look his way as I preached was a great encouragement. Another person would sit at the back and stifle yawns as I preached. The most discouraging moment came when I began my sermon and he left. I thought perhaps he was going to the restroom, but ten minutes later, he walked back in with a cup of coffee. It was hard not to feel deflated. I had been preaching my heart out while he got in line for coffee. The preacher notices that kind of thing.<\/p>\n Listening well is a spiritual discipline. We should go to church with an expectation that we will meet with God in the preaching of his word. All of us on occasion arrive tired and distracted, and when we are in that frame of mind, there is every chance the sermon will bounce off us. But if we are hungry, expectant, and ready to engage with God, then our experience will be much more positive. So we need to listen actively<\/em>, not passively<\/em>. It is easy to listen to a sermon without really hearing it. But it is better for us, and more encouraging for our pastor, if we engage carefully with the Scripture passage being taught and go away reflecting on both the passage and the sermon. <\/p>\n In addition to your pastor\u2019s sermons, you may be listening to others on the internet. But even if you don\u2019t listen to other sermons, it is hard to escape the proliferation of voices on social media. This chorus can sometimes be helpful, as it encourages thoughtful and reflective listening. However, it can create competing realms of authority. Rather than submitting ourselves to the preached word of God, we can easily find someone who simply endorses our opinions. There is a tension here. Of course our pastor is not always correct; of course we need to test everything he says against the word of God. But the default stance should be to listen and submit to what he says unless there is an obvious issue. We need to test all things, but we often apply this more stringently to our pastor than to our favorite internet preachers. <\/p>\n Of course, there is listening that engages<\/em> and understands<\/em>, but does not obey<\/em>. We need to heed James\u2019s warning to \u201cbe doers of the word, and not hearers only\u201d (James 1:22). There is real spiritual danger in loving good preaching for its own sake rather than as a means to meeting with the living God and responding to him with faith and repentance. <\/p>\n Your pastor is a flawed, fallible human being. But as he preaches the word of God, how you relate to what he says mirrors your relationship with God himself. Half-hearted listening to your pastor\u2019s preaching signifies a half-hearted Christian faith. Distracted listening suggests a distracted Christian faith. Refusal to obey the message preached points to a heart hardened against God and his gospel.<\/p>\n This article is adapted from<\/em> Fight for Your Pastor<\/a> by Peter Orr.<\/em><\/p>\n ![\"Fight](\"https:\/\/static.crossway.org\/studio-files\/media\/817ba3bc6f9e2d2b82e3ea8439bed22ed104fa76.jpg\")
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\n <\/h3>\nActive Listening<\/h2>\n
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