When God Speaks: A Guide to Listening to Preaching

Preaching—and therefore listening to preaching—is integral to Christian corporate worship, yet, if we are honest, many of us struggle to engage well with preaching. Christopher Ash’s Listen Up offers valuable guidance, encouraging church members to evaluate how they receive God’s preached word. But what does it mean to listen well—and how do we handle sermons that don’t hold our attention?

Several attitudes hinder our ability to receive God’s word.

First, arrogance, which approaches a sermon with a you-had-better-feed-me, mentality reveals pride. Similarly, assuming you already know everything about the text preached—particularly when it is a familiar text—closes your heart to fresh insight.

Second, passivity simply turns up without expectation or preparation and means we are unlikely to benefit from preaching. Laziness shows contempt for the privilege of hearing God’s word proclaimed.

Third, distraction reveals a failure to prepare spiritually and mentally before worship, which makes concentration difficult when the sermon begins.

Fourth, isolation severs us from the need from communal worship. While listening to sermons during the week can be beneficial, if your regular diet consists of livestreams or podcasts rather than gathered worship, you miss something vital. There is a covenantal aspect to listening together as a congregation: You actively participate in the sermon alongside fellow church members, even though only one person is preaching.

Ash emphasises a crucial truth: When the word is accurately interpreted and preached, God speaks. If you walk into a sermon nitpicking grammar, posture, or delivery style, you are not really listening to what God is saying. You forget your responsibility to receive what God is saying in that moment, preoccupied instead with how you would have said it.

In our fallenness, we are naturally inclined to listen poorly. Rather than focusing on what the preacher says, we fixate on how he says it. Instead of listening with expectation—asking, “What is God going to teach me today?”—we sit with demands: “I expect you to bless me, teach me, enlighten me.” One attitude is humble and receptive; the other is entitled and critical.

Ash offers practical advice for cultivating expectation, including reading the text head of time; praying for the preacher during the week; praying for yourself that, by the Spirit, God will grow in heartfelt expectation that he will speak; getting adequate rest so as not to arrive exhausted; and deliberately quieting your mind, focusing on what the preacher is saying.

As we listen, several things should occupy our minds. First, notice how the preacher structures the passage. Observing word repetition and structural choices teaches you how to read the Bible better. Second, reflect on how the text applies to you personally. The text may convict you of sin, encourage you in affliction, or comfort you in suffering.  It’s not always about learning something new; sometimes, it is how God ministers to you through the familiar. Third, think beyond yourself. You might know someone struggling with a particular issue, and the sermon can equip you to help them.

This balance matters. Sermons shouldn’t always be about our own sin and condemnation, nor should we fall into the trap of thinking they are always about somebody else.

Let’s be honest: Boring preaching is a reality. Some preachers deliver God’s word in monotone, without excitement, or with poor structure. Yet even boring sermons require engagement. Here are some tips for listening to dull sermons.

First, remember that God is speaking. His word is being proclaimed, regardless of delivery quality. Set aside how the preacher is preaching and focus on what he is saying.

Second, look for something new, or something you need to be reminded of or encouraged in. Even in a tedious sermon, try to identify one way God can speak to you. Hold on to it.

Third, and related to the above, lower the pressure. If you cannot maintain concentration because the sermon is particularly bad or long, set a modest goal: Find just one thing you can learn, apply, pray about, or use to encourage someone. Don’t burden yourself with the sermon’s length or the preacher’s problems. Accept that it may be a struggle to concentrate and then actively seek that one thing.

Fourth, adjust your expectations. Not every meal will be a juicy steak. Sometimes it will be nothing more than rice and gravy, or pap without chakalaka. Recognise that not every sermon will be great, but see it for what it is—spiritual nourishment, even if modest.

Fifth, engage with the text yourself. If you are struggling to concentrate, study the text yourself during the sermon. If the preacher says that vv. 1–5 form a unit, ask yourself why. Look for word repetition. Don’t completely tune out, but supplement weak preaching by examining the text directly.

This approach reflects a sense of urgency: You are being fed. It may not be the tastiest meal, but the meal itself has nutrients and benefits. God is speaking in that moment, and you must get something out of it.

If you are visiting another church and the sermon is poor, be thankful for your own pastor. But also examine yourself. A critical spirit during a bad sermon might reveal pride in your own heart. Pray for yourself in that moment—as you pray for the preacher.

Knowing the behind-the-scenes work of sermon preparation—the labour, prayerfulness, and desire to be faithful to God’s word—dismissing a preacher’s effort after one Sunday reveals a level of pride that needs addressing. Make every effort to gain something from that time.

Some situations demand a different response entirely. If a sermon is heretical or fundamentally untrue, you should probably consider leaving.

However, exercise great care in assessing “heresy.” There is a critical difference between heresy, heterodoxy, and error. Heresy contradicts essential biblical teaching about the person and work of Jesus Christ. If someone preaches that Christ was not born of a virgin or did not rise physically from the dead, that’s heresy. If they hold to a different eschatology, they may be wrong (or perhaps you are wrong!), but it’s probably not heresy.

Errors are different. If a preacher accidentally says Jesus fed the five thousand with five fish and one loaf rather than five loaves and two fish, that’s mistake—a bad one, given that it’s right there in the text—but it’s not heresy. You can approach him afterwards, and he’ll likely correct it next week. Don’t cry “heretic” too quickly.

If you are convinced that error has been preached, speak directly with the preacher. Don’t immediately confront him with accusations. Instead, ask questions: “Where did you get this from the text? How did you see this?” Try to understand his reasoning. If he pushes back and won’t acknowledge the error, it may be time to look for another church.

Good sermon listening involves approaching with expectation that God will speak, listening in the gathered church week in and week out, focusing on what is said rather than how it’s said, and drawing something from the sermon to apply to your life. Even boring sermons deserve our engagement. Even imperfect preachers proclaim God’s perfect word. Our responsibility is to receive it humbly, expectantly, and actively—recognising that when the word is preached, God himself has spoken.