Expository Listening
Over the past couple of years, you may have heard me talk about my style or technique of expository preaching at Lakewood. Expository preaching means that the preacher does the work to learn and accurately expose the biblical writer’s original meaning and then properly applies it to the listeners in the congregation. Sounds basic, doesn’t it? That’s what every preacher should be doing, right? Unfortunately, expository preaching is not the goal of many preachers, and congregations often do not recognize the biblical faithfulness (or lack thereof) of their pastor’s time in the pulpit each week.
However, the goal of expository preaching does not end with the conclusion of the pastor’s sermon. The congregation is tasked with the responsibility of expository listening! James 1:22-25 says,
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
To apply this Scripture to you who are reading this right now, each week when I preach, I am holding up a mirror to you. My job during the week is to clean and polish the mirror to a fine shine, with no smudges or marks that might obscure your view. Then on Sunday morning at 10:45, I hold that mirror up to you and allow you to see yourself in light of God’s perfect, eternal word. This passage in James says that your responsibility is to then go do what you heard – put it into action. And upon doing so, you will be blessed by the Lord!
This cannot begin individually. It was not meant to be initially implemented in a personal vacuum. The beginning of the process of doing should be a corporate activity – discussions among those in the congregation about the sermon, its meaning, and how to do it. We counsel one another with God’s word, we pray for one another, and we check in with one another during the week to see how the sermon is landing and being done.
If you find yourself late in the week, and you haven’t yet considered anything about the previous Sunday’s sermon, then I suggest that you begin taking notes and reviewing them at strategic points – in your car, in the parking lot, before you enter work – before you make that important phone call to a friend or family member who is struggling – when you receive negative news that causes an emotional slump. Any time you hear God’s word, you must allow it to change you, mold you more into His image. This is your spiritual act of worship – your sanctification.
Blessings,
Pastor Bruce
bruce.cullom@gmail.com