Opinion : Pastor\'s Blog - “A Plea to Listen - A Case for the Sermon”

Some time ago, a pastor friend of mine described his most uncomfortable situation of being cornered by one of his long-time church members about a particular problem.  What was the problem?  The member said that he preached too long.  Maybe you can relate.

 

 

The problem with long sermons is only about a 50 or 60 year old problem (that [not so strangely] coincides with the invention of the television).  Modern trends for sermons show that people want ‘three points a poem’ and ‘jokes, quotes and anecdotes’ and ‘short, twenty-minute spiritual massages.’  

 

 

While I’m certainly interested in the cause of this problem, I’m much more interested in its solution.  Should sermons be long or short?  And does it even matter?  Can this problem be answered biblically?  What does history show?  What was the pattern of the early New Testament church and their sermons?  What kind of sermons did the Puritans, Revival Preachers, and the great modern preachers give?  Let me give you several evidences so you can reach your own conclusions.

 

 

First, God proclaims the primary means of nurturing our spiritual lives is through the Word of God.  Jesus said in Matthew 4:4:

 

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

 

 

All of us eat because we enjoy food and it sustains the life of our physical bodies.  So also, the Word of God, both read and heard (through preaching), sustains our souls.  Fasting from food leads to weakened bodies; fasting from God’s Word leads to weakened, malnourished Christians.  Christians certainly need more and more of God’s Word to grow in their spiritual maturity and will certainly desire more because it satisfies their true hearts desire.  Christians certainly cannot grow if they skip meals.  

 

 

The Old Testament gives overwhelming evidence that the people of God actively listened to sermons lasting from several hours to an entire day.  In Exodus & Leviticus, Moses proclaimed to Israel large portions of God’s Law at one sitting or standing, undoubtedly lasting many hours, if not the entire day.  In 1 Kings 8, Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord.  He gathered all of Israel together where they spent the next 14 days worshipping the LORD and praising Him for His greatness and goodness.  In Nehemiah 8, Ezra the priest proclaimed the Word of the Lord from early morning until noon.  In Nehemiah 9, the people of Israel stood and listened to the reading of the Word of the Lord for 3 hours; then for another 3 hours, they confessed their sins together and worshipped the Lord.  Just think- they spend six hours together!  

 

 

So also the New Testament describes a kind of church that delighted in lengthy sermons.  In Acts 20, Paul speaks to the church at Troas.  He began preaching sometime in the morning (as was their custom and ours) and continued until midnight until finally a man named Eutychus fell asleep while sitting in a window, and plunged to his death three stories below. After raising the man back to life, they celebrated the Lord’s Supper and Paul continued to preach until dawn!  Can you believe that?  The believers of the church at Troas listened to nearly 24 hours of preaching!

 

 

All the great Puritan and Revival preachers rarely spoke less than 90 minutes (unless they were preaching for a funeral).  George Whitefield, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Sunday, Charles Spurgeon, Dwight L. Moody and many others preached in various church and evangelistic settings sermons up to 3 hours long!

 

 

Okay, so there’s some biblical and historical evidence.  What explains this trend for shorter, shallow sermons?  Is it boredom?  Is it the inability to sit still for an hour or more?  

 

 

The recent, trendy desire for shorter sermons is not a Holy Spirit induced desire, but rather a desire that is conditioned by  modern media and television entertainment.  I’ve never heard anyone complain that their favorite TV show was too long or that the latest movie release was too long.  The average movie is 90 minutes long- and even longer if you count the previews at the beginning and the credits at the end.  Many Hollywood blockbusters last 2 to 3 hours!  America’s favorite television shows include soap operas, ball games, sitcoms, presidential debates, pop-star performances and the like, all lasting a minimum of 1 hour, sometime up to 3 hours.

 

 

No, Americans really don’t have a problem sitting still for a hour.  The ‘Bureau of Labor Statistics’ released some rather stunning data of the leisure habits of Americans (see the web link below).  As of 2011, the BLS found the national average for TV viewing of persons age 15 and over is nearly 3 hours per day, or 21 hours per week.  The study shows that these figures increase to more than 7 hours per day, or 49 hours per week, for ages 75 and over.   

 

 

If these figures are correct, that means someone who lives to the age of 70 who watches on average 21 hours per week will have spent nearly 9 years sitting in front of the television, compared with only 8 months of sitting in church at the rate of 2 hours per week on Sundays.  

 

 

While these figures may not represent you or anybody at your church, most people don’t have a problem sitting still and listening / viewing someone or something for 60 minutes or longer.  So, is a 45 minute or an hour sermon too long?  Not by modern standards of television viewing, nor by the biblical and historical evidence.

 

 

My purpose here isn’t to prove to you that we need to have 6 hour sermons and 8 hour services, though thousands of churches around the world do this very thing every Sunday.  My purpose is to show you that we ought to embrace the sermon, that God-ordained, divinely-sanctified means of communicating His truth to you when you come to hear it, and that a Christian who truly loves God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength will want more of God’s Word, most certainly not less.  While I don’t think there’s a magical number of sermon minutes we should aim for, I do believe God will induce in the hearts of His people to desire a lavish feast, a glorious banquet from God’s Living Word, not simply a 20 minute snack to feed our souls for the week.

 

 

I have written this article hoping to convince you that sermons, even longer sermons, are not my idea or even my pastor friend’s, but rather God’s plan for the furthering of His eternal Kingdom.  I hope these reasons have helped you believe the truth, purpose and need for deep, nutritious sermons. 

 

Let me give you a few recommendations- first, to those who listen to sermons and second, to those who give them.

 

 

To those who listen to sermons, I suggest you come ready to your worship service with a willing and eager spirit to hear the Word of the Lord because that is His primary means of changing you to become like Him.  Second, take notes.  Writing what you hear helps you fully understand and later retain what you’ve listened.  Besides, it helps keep you awake!  (By the way, try and get a good night’s rest Saturday night.  How can you expect to pay attention to the sermon if you don’t get enough sleep?)  Third, don’t make plans or engagements that interfere with your listening to sermons.  But if something comes up and you have to leave early, don’t be afraid to quietly excuse yourself so as to allow the others to continue their active listening.  I give this advice to my church members nearly every Sunday.  Fourth, encourage your preacher to preach longer sermons.  If his sermons are bad, give him ways he can immediately improve.  Maybe buy him a book on preaching and personally offer to help him learn and grow.  If he cannot and will not improve, find a new preacher!

 

 

Now, to those who give sermons, I suggest you not start off next Sunday with an hour-long sermon if you normally preach for 20 minutes.  Lasting change occurs gradually.  Immediate and aggressive change brings heart palpitations and panic attacks.  Second, read books on preaching- I’ve read 5 on the topic this year.  Start with the best work of preaching: “Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century” by John Stott.  After that, ask me- I’d love to help you develop your library on this subject.  Third, ask several trustworthy members of your congregation to give you an honest critique of your sermons so as to help you improve your preaching.  This critique should include observations of things he has done well and areas in which he needs to improve.  Fourth, prepare yourself to be critiqued.  Critique is seldom enjoyable, but is essential for your growth.  Fifth, offer your members an ‘out’ as I do.  If they’ve made plans, invite them to excuse themselves without feeling harassed or embarrassed.  Since the preaching of God’s Word is the most important thing we do on Sundays, I believe it is my duty to feed Christ’s sheep with the best food from the best pasture- and this takes some time.

 

 

So, if we must do anything as a local assembly of believers, what must we do?  Acts 2:42 says we must listen to the faithful teaching & preaching of God’s Word, intentionally attend to our daily fellowship and encouragement of one another, share our meals and resources (including the Lord’s Supper), and gather frequently for prayer.  

 

 

This is my plea to listen, my case to embrace the sermon.

 

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