“Preach one Christ, by Christ, to the praise of Christ.” –William Perkins
Jesus described his ministry as one of service, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) For Jesus, serving meant, healing the sick, washing the feet of his disciples, feeding the multitudes, raising the dead, casting out demons, restoring sight to the blind, and ultimately giving his life on the cross. Do you notice anything missing from our fairly long list? Jesus included preaching and teaching as one of his primary purposes for coming, Jesus informed his disciples, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:38 NIV, see also Mark 1:39; 2:2; 3:14) If Jesus placed such a priority on preaching then how should we treat it? We should try and squeeze all the blessing out of it that we can. How do we do that? By hearing well and applying the Scripture to our lives. Puritan Henry Smith, in a sermon entitled, “The Art of Hearing,” wrote, “There is nothing so easy as to hear, and yet there is nothing so hard as to hear well.” (Henry Smith, The Sermons of Henry Smith, The Silver-Tongued Preacher, 92.) We can hear well by considering the following questions:
- “Have I digested the sermon I heard last? Have I repeated it over, and prayed it over? (Luke 2:19, 51; Psalm 1:2; 119:5, 11, 97)”[1]
- Regarding retaining the sermon, Richard Baxter writes, “Peruse [review thoroughly] what you remember, or write down, when you come home; and fix it speedily before it is lost; and hear others that can repeat it better. Pray it over and confer of it with others.”[2]
- “Think when you hear the calls of God, and the offers of grace, I know not but this may be my last: how would I hear if I were sure to die tomorrow?”[3]
These simple questions and exercises will help you to retain, apply, and profit from every sermon you hear. Have a blessed week and we will see you this Sunday.
Privileged to serve,
Pastor Dale
[1] Joseph Alleine, from “Useful Questions,” appended to, An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners. Hanover, N. H.: Printed by Charles Spear, 1816, 237.
[2] Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, in The Practical Works, 4:257.
[3] Ibid, 4:258.