Recently, I read the following
story:
Dr. Clarence Bass, professor emeritus at
Bethel Theological Seminary, early in his ministry preached in a church in Los
Angeles. He thought he had done quite well as he stood at the door greeting
people as they left the sanctuary. The remarks about his preaching were
complimentary. That is, until a little old man commented, "You preached
too long." Dr. Bass wasn't fazed by the remark, especially in light of the
many positive comments. "You didn't preach loud enough," came another
negative comment; it was from the same little old man. Dr. Bass thought it
strange that the man had come through the line twice, but when the same man
came through the line a third time and exclaimed, "You used too many big
words" --this called for some explanation.
Dr. Bass sought out a deacon who stood
nearby and asked him, "Do you see that little old man over there? Who is
he?" "Don't pay any attention to him," the deacon replied.
"All he does is go around and repeat everything he hears."[i]
Yes, it can be difficult for a
pastor to receive criticism all the time.
For most pastors, a lot of prayer, study, and preparation goes into a
message. Also, most pastors (like
myself) feel like church administration and parish ministry take so much time
that we aren’t able to put as much time as we’d like to into our sermons. Seminary professors say that for every minute
spent in preaching or teaching, pastors should put in an hour of study. I don’t know a single pastor who’s able to do
that. But when ministers do take the
pulpit, they’d like to know that their congregation is listening with attentive
ears. Often, when people leave church
saying, “I didn’t get anything out of it,” it’s not because no spiritual food
was placed on the table, but because they were too distracted or
self-interested to try a bite.
Jesus knew what it was like to have
an audience who was listening with wrong hearts. In the fifth chapter of John’s Gospel, we
read that the crowd gathered to hear him, having the wrong motivations. In verse 26[ii],
Jesus says, “…You are looking for me, not
because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had
your fill.” All too often when we go
to church, we are also there for the wrong reasons—for what we can get out of
it, so we can “be fed.” Instead of
attending selfishly, it would be so different if God’s people came to church
expecting to share God’s blessings from their own heart.
The people also gathered with the
wrong expectations. “…They asked him, ‘What sign then will you give that we may see it and
believe you? What will you do (v. 30)?’”
Not only did they want their bellies filled, but they also wanted
their egos satisfied. If Jesus would
simply prove Himself with a miracle, they said, they’d believe. What they were really saying was that they
believed they were so important that Jesus should hang his hat on their
approval. God’s people today come to
church with the mentality that everything should be done for their benefit,
even as businesses cater to consumers.
Wrong expectations keep people from experiencing the blessings of
worship and preaching, because they think it’s all about them and not God.
Verses 41-42 reveal the people’s
wrong attitude in the way they undermined Jesus as a speaker. “At
this [they] began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that
came down from heaven.’ They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” Sometimes people can be so focused on God’s
messenger that they refuse to hear God’s message. They spend the whole sermon time critiquing
the preacher’s choice (or absence) of necktie, or wondering about his
qualifications, instead of listening to the words that God has placed on his
heart. More often than not, it’s our own
wrong attitudes, that keep us from hearing from God when we listen to a sermon.
In verse 52, the people give the
wrong response to the message. They “began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?’”
Notice, it doesn’t say that they began to discuss the message or
even the messenger. The Greek word means
that they were fighting, disputing, or engaging in battle when they heard the
difficult sermon Jesus had to deliver. I
know some people who listen to every sermon with an ear that seeks something to
argue with. When we come to church ready
to dispute whatever we’re going to hear, we’re giving the wrong response to
God’s word as it is delivered. Instead,
try coming with an open ear and an open heart.
Verses 60 and 66 say that upon
hearing Jesus’ difficult sermon, not only did people argue, but they rejected
his teaching, got up, and walked out. Maybe
you’ve been tempted to walk out on a challenging message, but let me suggest
two things: First of all, it’s rude to
get up and walk out on someone who’s put so much effort praying and preparing a
message for the church. Second, maybe you’re
walking out on something God may have just for you, if only you’d stay til the
end. Maybe your anger is, in fact, the
perfect evidence that the speaker was on target in the first place.
John Wesley used to ask his young men whom he had sent out to preach on
probation two questions: "Has any one been converted?" and "Did
any one get mad?" If the answer was "No," he told them he did
not think the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel, and sent them about
their business. When the Holy Ghost convicts of sin, people are either
converted or they don't like it, and get mad.[iii]
These days, preaching is
perilous. Often, God’s people don’t want
to be challenged, but would prefer to stay comfortably in their pews hearing
the same thing they’ve always heard before—in other words, hearing messages
that haven’t helped them to grow beyond the point where they already are. Maybe you’ve come to church with the wrong
motivations, expectations, attitudes, responses, and reactions. Instead, God wants you to be like the
disciples, who make the right decision regarding the hard teaching they’ve
received. Verses 67-69 say:
“You do not want to leave too, do
you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life. We have come to believe
and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus was glad when His disciples
remained, and remained attentive. So
often in His ministry, Jesus would say something like, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand (Matthew
11:15)!”[iv]
In the book of Revelation, Jesus
says seven times, “Whoever has ears, let
them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”[v] Your pastor puts a lot of prayer and
preparation into his or her perilous preaching.
I pray that even if you have an issue with the messenger, or even if the
message is difficult for you to receive, you’ll listen and understand, that
you’ll hear not what the preacher is saying, but what the Spirit is saying to
the churches.
[i] Pulpit
and Bible Study Helps, Vol 16, #5, p.
1. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/preaching.htm. February 10, 2017.
[ii]
All scripture quotations are from the NLT.
[iii]
Moody's Anecdotes, P. 123. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/preaching.htm. February 10, 2017.
[iv]
See also Mk 4:9; 7:16; 4:23; Mt 11:15; 13:9.
[v]
Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 6, 13, 22.
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