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“What Is The Sermon For?”
Categories: Daily Living, Faith, Salvation, SermonWhat Is The Sermon For?
Jarrod Jacobs
“How did you like the sermon?” is a question often asked after a worship service. In fact, this is a habitual question that is often asked of visitors and members alike. The “likes” of individual listeners vary amazingly. It is fine to “like” the sermon, but is that really the important thing? Is this really the only standard of judgment after hearing a sermon?
Actually, sermons are preached, not to be liked, but to be lived! That is a fact. Take time and look into the Scriptures and read the sermons of Jesus, or the apostles, or of Old Testament prophets. Their sermons were preached so those listening (and us reading) would know how to live.
Let’s suppose that on a given Sunday you do not like the sermon preached. What of it? Suppose that the hypocrite sitting there in services went away in a rage. The fact is that when the arrow of truth pierces the heart, curses often come out! John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, and John were not anxious that their sermons should be liked. They wanted the folks to live them!
The crucial question is not, “Did you like it?”, but “Did it help you?” “Did it give you new encouragement to obey God?” “Did it show you how to draw nearer to the Lord?” I encourage you to read the sermons preached in the book of Acts and see the response of the people. The concern was not whether folks “liked” it, but would these people lived what they had learned!
The sermon may be measured, not by the pleasure of the people, but by their response in action and practice.
