Pastors, as you prepare for the divine service tomorrow, remember, preaching is not just a lecture. Preaching an act of worship. Preaching is an effectual means of grace. Your sermon has a context – and that context is the whole of the liturgy and the baptized congregation gathered to receive God’s gifts.
Pastors, know that Insofar as your words are true to The Word, you can be fully assured Christ is preaching through you. Preaching is a very special form of speech, with power to raise those who are dead to new life. When you step into the pulpit, remember, you are speaking FOR Christ and even (in a qualified sense) AS Christ.
Preaching is an act of spiritual leadership; your words not only shape individual souls, but shape a community. You are speaking as a shepherd to a flock under your care and protection. You are called to feed to hungry souls with truth that will nourish them unto strength and maturity. Through your preaching, sins are exposed, righteousness is cultivated, and lives are changed. And because lives are changed, the world is changed, history is changed. When you step into the pulpit you are wielding a sword with great power – do all you can to wield it skillfully.
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Those of you going to church tomorrow will hear a sermon. How should you listen to that sermon?
Obviously, you should listen with reverence and care. Recognize that Satan attacks in the sanctuary first and foremost; you should guard against distractions, a wandering mind, and a hardened heart. Satan would love to snatch away the seed of the word before it can take root. Your pastor put effort into preparing the sermon and preaching it; you should put effort into listening to it. Hear and heed the Word of God!
Further, you should come to worship ready to respond to whatever form the truth of God takes in the text being preached. Scripture is wide, deep, and multifaceted. As the preacher brings the Word of God to you in its various manifestations, receive it with a believing heart and respond in a fitting way.
The Westminster Confession describes faith’s relation to the Word of God this way:
“By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.”
Your faith should submit to the Word of God; whatever Scripture says, God says. As you hear the Word preached, your faith should conform to the text of Scripture. If the pastor declares a promise from the Word, believe it. If he gives a command or makes an application from Scripture, obey it. If your pastor warns you from the Bible, tremble before that warning. And as the sermon puts forth Christ as your Savior, receive him and rest upon him. Your faith must be supple and agile to conform itself to all the different ways in which Scripture (and the sermon) speak to us. Prepare your heart accordingly.
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