Expositional Listening

The care-group that Jess and I are a part of is reading through Thabiti Anyabwile’s little book, What is a Healthy Church Member. In our most recent meeting, this past Wednesday, we read chapter one together, which as you can see from the title dealt with listening expositionally. I had read the book before, but in re-reading it I was reminded of some great practical suggestions that Thabiti gives us in this opening chapter. In light of tomorrow being Sunay, I thought that it would be a great encouragement for us to consider as we prepare our hearts for our corporate worship services. In talking of ways in which we can help cultivate this discipline he recommends the following:

• Meditate on the sermon passage during your quiet time. I can not stress the importance that this can play in preparing us for listening expositionally on Sunday morning. If your church doesn’t give advance warning of the coming text, then ask your pastor a few days in advance so you can be praying for him and preparing your own heart for the hearing of God’s Word.
• Invest in a good set of commentaries. A great idea! Again, if you are not sure what to get, check with your pastor about what would be the best set or the best volume for the particular series you are in. What a great way to help you have a greater understanding of the passage as you come on Sunday.
• Talk and pray with friends about the sermon after church. Can I say, “Ouch!” Oh, that I would be bolder to do this or maybe, just more cognizant to do it on a regular basis. What a blessing this would be to us personally and to the the church body corporately if we practiced this. Pray about this, we, and I am speaking of myself, are so quick to move on to the next thing and this may help us keep our mind fixed on the truth of God’s Word throughout the week.
• Listen to and act on the sermon throughout the week. In this, Thabiti warns that we should not the sermon on Sunday be a one time event. We need to think about it and reflect on it and act on it throughout the week. One way to do this is to listen to it, get an audio copy of it from your church or listen to it online if that service is available.
• Develop the habit of addressing any questions about the text itself. Follow up on any questions you have in regard to the text. Don’t let them be forgotten as you go about your regular duties. Serious study of Scripture should be a priority for all of us.
• Cultivate humility. Here, Thabiti warns us that the purpose of listening expositionally is not to become a professional listener. Rather, it is to humble ourselves before the Word of God and listen for God’s agenda in the text to be proclaimed and exalted.

The underlined material above is taken from pages 22-25 in What is a Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti Anyabwile and published by Crossway books.