Seven Responses to the Preaching of God’s Word

Introduction

We have been talking about the spiritual disciplines of habits of grace related to corporate worship. There is a sense in which certain graces of God are experienced in a special way as we gather together as believers. This is why the gathering of believers are so important. Live stream cannot replace the benefits of gathering; sermon videos on youtube can’t replace the gathering; audio books and podcasts can’t replace the gathering if the gathering is functioning as it should and you are throwing yourself into participating in the gathering. The first aspect of this that we talked about was the preaching of the word and how God uses that in our lives. Tonight we are going to look at the opposite side of the equation.

Have you ever come to church and mentally you were checked out? If someone were to ask you what was preached, could you even remember what was said? I think all of us go through periods of time where we just go with the flow. We are here because of habit. Some are perpetually like this. Often when people say they are not being fed at church it is because of this very issue. Rather than responding to the preaching, they are expecting someone to spoon feed them. This is a two way street. On the surface, it may look like I am the only one doing anything right now, but you are actively engaged in doing something right now.

Here’s the question I want you to ask tonight: How do you know that you have worshipped tonight? Is worship merely a matter of doing the right things: gave my offerring, sang some songs, listened to a message, greeted some people? Is it merely an emotional response? Most people feel like they have worshipped when the get a certain feeling. honestly, this is what contemporary worship music is all about, creating an emotional response. Emotion created by music is just emotion.

The essence of true worship is a spiritual response to God. Jesus said in John 4:23 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” He goes on to say that because God is a Spirit our worship must be in spirit. The essence of what we do is a spiritual. It is the spirit enabled response of the heart to God. Consider where worship takes place in the following verses:

Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Ephesians 5:19 “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”

Now that internal response finds its expression in our bodies. Notice we sing with our lips. Some argue that this singing is in your heart, but the problem is we are supposed to do it to one another. Scott Aniol in His book Biblical Foundations of Corporate Worship says “the physical aspects of worship should be an expression of the spiritual responses of our hearts toward God in the true heavenly temple.”

So how do I know when I have truly worshipped? The answer is when my heart has spiritually responded to the word of God. If there is not heart response, you have not worshipped. Tonight we are going to be looking at the spiritual response of your heart when you hear the preaching of the word. It is not enough to just hear sermons. For our corporate worship to be meaningful there must be a heart response to what is preached and that part is on you the listener. I can encourage and even try to guide your response, but I cannot make you worship.

Tonight we are going back to Nehemiah 8, where we looked at the expository preaching of Ezra when they found the word of God. As I studied this text, the Lord pointed out to me Seven responses to the preaching of God’s word.

Attentive

Nehemiah 8:3 “And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.”

These people were not just standing in a crowd and looking at all the birds flying in the sky. They weren’t picking up rocks on the ground that looked pretty or fidgeting with their cloths. They were paying attention.

Wives have you ever tried to have a conversation with your husband and you know its not getting through. Maybe you are trying to tell him about an experience you had today, but he has this far off look in his eyes and all of his answers are one word answers.

Sometimes this is how we act during the preaching. Here are some common temptations to not listen:

We get distracted by something that is out of place in the auditorium

We notice that kid who isn’t sitting still

We start thinking about the ball game and let our mind run wild

Our stomach grumbles and we start thinking about the what we are going to ear

We are tired and we fall asleep

We are doing something on our tablet and as much as we may hear the words of the preaching we are not paying full attention.

So what does it look like to truly pay attention to the word of God. The book of proverbs tells us. I have pointed out often that the poetical books like Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes use what is called parallelism. That means that the first line and the second line relate to each other either by restating the same thing in different words, contrasting or building off of what was stated in the first line. In this verse, Solomon tells his son Attend to my words: pay attention, but then he gives three descriptions on what it means to truly pay attention:

Proverbs 4:20–21 “My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thine heart.”

incline thine ear- inclining your ear is an act that someone would do if they really wanted to hear something and didn’t want to miss a word. It is a physical posture, but it shows intent not to miss anything. There is an element of I want to hear this. Do you want to hear the word preached are you eager to hear something from God?

focus on them- not letting you eyes depart from them carries the idea of focus. There are a lot of distractions all around us and especially if you are a very visual person, they can take our attention away. Here paying attention means fighting off all those things that distract: putting the cell phone away, looking up front, not doodling or doing your own little bible study on the side. Those things all steal attention and you can’t say you are fully paying attention when you are trying to do two things at once. Splitting 100% always yields 50% attention to each.

keep them in your heart- real attention applies the truth to our hearts. It meditates on what was said. This is part of the reason, I have included discussion questions in the bulletin. Do you carry the truth with you when you leave or does all that spiritual food get left on the table?

Respect

Nehemiah 8:5 “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:”

The next response to the word of God was that all the people stood up the entire time it was being read. Some churches do this whenever scriptures are read. This was intended to show respect to the word. I am not convinced that the practice itself is essential because each culture shows respect in different ways. But does the word of God have respect in your heart?

An attitude of respect:

Doesn’t fight against what is being said in God’s word- now understand me you can disagree with me and still agree with the word

Takes it seriously- when there are commands it recognizes the authority of those commands

Sees the value in what we are doing-

Agreement

Nehemiah 8:6 “And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”

The third response was agreement. The word Amen means truly. The people’s response shows that they believed what God said was true and he would do. In a way this is a faith response to the word of God. I trust God’s word because I believe it.

Do I fight against what God has said because I don’t like it? I am not in agreement that this is what I should do. We must step back and ask who it is that said these words. They are the words of God. Fighting against what he says shows we do not really view Him as God or sovereign in our lives.

Do I fight against what God said because I don’t believe it? Sometimes our experience taints our view of God. We know God has said he will never leave us nor forsake us, but when we struggled financially last month we felt like God has abandoned us. Our feelings do not facts make. God will be faithful to keep his word.

Worship

Nehemiah 8:6 “And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”

The next response was one of worship. Notice the physical expressions of their worship. We are embodied beings so true love for God is going to make its way out in some way. It may be different for each person. I can not nor would I criticize someone who raised their hands during singing or even in agreement with something preached.

When I pray I try to kneel for many reasons but at the very least it expresses the attitude of my heart. Do you walk away from the preaching marveling at who God is? Sunday morning sermons have had a strong salvation emphasis so maybe you think they don’t apply to you I don’t need this. Can I remind you of a very good response to gospel messages?

When I hear the gospel, it should remind me of what God did for me. I can marvel at the love God showed, I can marvel at the freedom he has given me, I can marvel at the cost he payed, I can marvel at the mercy for my sin. I can walk out of any gospel message rejoicing and worshipping God because of what he did for me. I the words of an old song, His grace still amazes me have you forgotten your first love?

Weeping

Nehemiah 8:9 “And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.”

Why is it that people weep?

Pain

Sorrow

Joy

One thing I know for sure weeping and our next point joy are emotional responses to God’s word. Fundamentalism has pushed emotion down far to long. They reacted against false joy and false sorrow. The bible speaks in very emotional terms and it isn’t this anemic emotion that we American’s express. Why is it alright to cry when you dog dies, but not over your sin? why can we weep at a funeral, but not when God convicts us of sin.

We don’t want fake emotions nor do we want emotionalism (emotions created by mood lighting and music), but as I have taught elsewhere we desire true religious affections. Does God’s word ever move you?

These people grieved because they had forgotten these words. They grieved because they hadn’t been obeying these words. These people grieved because they knew how much they had forsaken their God and so they wept.

Joy

Nehemiah 8:10 “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:12 “And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.”

Ezra did no want them to forget the blessings of God so he challenged them to move forward in Joy. Does God’s word every bring you joy? Do you find excitement in a new promise you hadn’t realized was there? Do you delight in meeting with God in his word?

Obedience

Nehemiah 8:16 “So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.”

The final response of the people was obedience. How often do we get excited about a truth God shows us during a message and then we go out and live our lives exactly the same way we have been living it? The final response to hearing God’s word is applying it to our lives in obedience.

I asked last week How does knowing I am free from the bondage affect my relationships with my peers? Maybe God told you you have been letting peer pressure keep you in sin. Did you go home last week and live in your freedom? Did you reject the fear of man that keeps you from doing right? If you just went home the same, something is wrong.

Bro VanGeldren and I talked about the role of the Spirit and obedience because often people think they can just pray long enough and wait for God to make them do right. It doesn’t work that way he told me we are filled to obey. I still have to go and make a choice to obey that is the faith response, but I trust that God’s spirit will enable me to obey. What are you doing about what you hear?

Luke 12:48 “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”

Conclusion

Spiritual Response is essential to true biblical worship. Listening to the preaching is not intended to be a purely passive exercise. This is one of the reasons I started putting discussion questions in the bulletin. The questions stir you up to meditate on the truths, to allow you affections to be stirred as you meditate on those truths and to get you thinking about what you can do to apply the truth to your life.

God wants worshippers who will worship Him with a spiritual response, but I want to throw this out there as well. He wants worshippers who worship Him in truth. Maybe you have slipped into a habit of passively just attending services, maybe you haven’t given any though to what response God wants you to have to the message He in His sovereignty led you to hear, maybe you have been just putting on a show; tonight will you commit to worshipping God in spirit and in truth. If you say pastor Shirk, this is me I needed this reminder would you raise your hand. God desires a group of people who will commit to worshipping God in this way. The Father seeks such to worship Him John 4:23 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” If we desire to receive grace during the preaching, we need to have a heart ready to receive it.