The Sermon and the Listener
The Sermon and the Listener
Ministers, in their preaching, intend to reach the congregation. In our circles we have always been of the conviction that preaching is about the service of the Word of God to the congregation of Christ.1 A sermon, that does not allow the Word to speak to the people in the pew, is not a service of the Word. Those who want to serve the Word, must always keep the listeners in mind.
Yet, today we often hear the complaint that sermons are abstract, that they are way over the heads of the listeners, and that one does not feel addressed on Sunday.
At the university in Kampen we take these concerns seriously. This has led to a closer consideration of the place of the listener in the preaching, as well as in sermon preparation, yes, even to what has been called "a contemporary reformed" preaching vision in which attention is given to the hearer.
The publication, Preken en Horen2 and, later, the dissertation of J. R. Douma3 has gotten this discussion started. In several articles, I want to try and make a contribution to this discussion. In this article I would like to explore the questions: can we, indeed, say that in the sermon the text is brought into relation with the listener4 and is this the task of the minister to bring together text and listener and in that way show to the listener the relevance of the scripture passage for his life?5
God's Word Addresses Us⤒🔗
The Word that is proclaimed in the sermon, is the Word that God speaks to us in the frame work of His covenant. That Word has the characteristic quality that it is the covenant word. This idea is expressed in Psalm 25:14 as: "The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them". The Lord interacts with His people. In that interaction, He speaks and makes Himself known to His children. Israel did not see God's form at Mount Sinai, but did hear His voice (Deut. 4:2). But that voice must be listened to. The 'Hear O Israel' determines Israel's attitude as people of the covenant.
How much this 'voice' of God is characteristic for the way in which He interacts with us, we hear also in Hebrews 1:1 "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son." In redemptive-history, the speaking of God culminates in speaking through the Son. This implies that the call to listen has deeper roots in redemptive history. Now it is necessary to pay "more careful attention" (Heb 2:1). The 'Hear O Israel' finds its deep fulfillment in what God says regarding His Son: "Listen to Him!" (Matt 17:5); "you must listen to everything He tells you." (Acts 3:22).
This age-old speaking of God, with as high point His speaking through the Son, has been written down with particular care (cf. art. 3 Belgic Confession). We hear God's living voice in the Holy Scriptures. One may not make a separation between the Word of God and the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the Word of God. Paul states in Galatians 3:8 and 9 that what the Scriptures say is the same as what God says (Gal 3:22). Peter calls what the prophets prophesied the testimony of the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. 1:11), by which the apostle firmly established the authority of the written words of the prophets.6
The author of Hebrews quotes the Old Testament scriptures with the introductory words: "So, as the Holy Spirit says" (3:7) or "declares the Lord" (8:8), while in chapter 10:15 he writes "The Holy Spirit also testifies". C. Veenhof notices here that the Holy Spirit is portrayed as the present acting speaker of the, already centuries old, written word. The Holy Spirit takes that word, as it were, again in His mouth. And thus He Himself speaks also to the contemporary church with truth and power.7
How much the voice of the Spirit comes to us in the scriptures, is also apparent in Revelation 2:7; 2:11; 2:17: "He, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." John must write (Rev 2:1; 2:8; 2:17). What he establishes in writing is the Word of the Spirit, and what the Spirit says to the churches. It does not say has said! In other words John writes what the Spirit is speaking. It is His Word that must be heard.
Calvin says that in the scriptures we are dealing with the Person of God who speaks through it (Inst. I, 7, 4). The speaking of God, in the framework of His covenant, always continues. Whenever the scriptures are opened, God's living voice sounds; we hear what the Spirit says to the churches. We do not need the words of scripture to engage the listener, for that connection is already there. The Word of God is not an impersonal pronouncement, but addresses the listener personally.8 God, Himself, speaks the written word and with it searches out His people. It has been tuned to the listeners. For the Lord wants to be heard by His people. God's voice and our hearing connect us inextricably with each other! In that sense we say with G. Wingren that listeners in the pew already grasp the text of the sermon.9
God's Word Speaks about Us←⤒🔗
We are spoken to, however, not only by the written word. The Scriptures are also about us. God's Word is a message to us. At the same time it is a message about us. Also from this it is clear that there is a relationship between the text and the listener, already before the minister makes his sermon.
The message of Scriptures is the gospel (cf. 1 Cor 15:1; Gal 1:11; Col 1:23), the good news of God's love in the gift of His Son for lost people (cf. John 3:16). The Bible proclaims what God, in Christ, has done for us (cf. Acts 3:26). He came with message of redemption (Eph 1:13), for He died for us (Rom 5:8), and the reconciliation in which we share (2 Cor 5:20, 21).
The Bible bears witness to what in Christ has happened to us. We have been crucified with Him (Gal 2:20), died with Him (Rom 6:8), buried with Him (Rom 6:4), raised with Him (Col 3:1), ascended with Him into heaven (Eph 2:6).
It also speaks about what we have in Christ: sealed with the Spirit of promise (Eph 1:13), the liberation through His blood (Eph 1:7), the inheritance (Eph 1:11), approach with confidence (Eph 3:12), the grace of God (1 Cor 1:4), all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3), the fullness (Col 2:10) and so much more.
The Bible tells us also what the Spirit of Christ does to us. He sanctifies us (2 Thess 2:13), lives in us (Rom 8:11), leads us (Rom 8:14), teaches us to pray (Rom 8:15), comes to help us (Rom 8:26), fills us (Eph 5:18) and He works His fruit in our lives (Gal 5:22).
God speaks in scripture about us. That does not only apply to the content of the gospel. It pertains also in another way. As such the Word of God is also an expression of the covenant and shows how people respond to God's speaking. God's intimate interaction with people brings forth various responses. We hear about their belief (Gen 15:6), their trust (Ps 56:4), their knowledge (Job 19:25), their hopes (Rom 4:18), their perseverance (James 5:11), but also about their struggles (Ps 73:16), their questions (Ps 43:2), their lack of faith (Matt 14:31), their unbelief (Heb 4:2) and their refusal to listen to God's voice (Judges 2:20).
The Bible bears witness to the progress of redemptive-history. It shows us how God has worked towards the coming of our Saviour. C. Trimp has rightly pointed out that this progress is given form in God's interaction with people.10 With all attention on redemptive history, we may not forget about the covenant. The covenant opens our eyes to people and their reactions to what God says and does on the way to Christ. We discover the work of the Holy Spirit in the stories the Scriptures tell. The effect God's Word has we find strongly in the book of Psalms. Here, especially we hear how people react to God's voice. We see there — according to Luther — into the hearts of the saints.11
What God's Word does to Us←⤒🔗
We discover just how much the listener is involved in the Word of God in the way that the Word is spoken about in the Bible. The Word is the word of life (Phil 2:16), the Word of mercy (Acts 14:3); the Word of the reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19); the Word of truth (James 1:18). All these definitions of the word are not just indications of what the word says and communicates. No, these definitions say much more. They are, before anything else, the indication and description of what the word gives and does.12 The gospel message is "a power of God for salvation" (Rom 1:16). A power that works salvation.
The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.Heb 4:12
What is said about the Word also applies to the preaching of the Word. In almost all cases where the Word is mentioned in the New Testament, the preached Word is meant. This preached Word is "the power of God" (1 Cor 1:18). F. W. Grosheide remarks: "The expression is very strong. It states, that preaching is not the means by which God exercises power, but it is, itself, the power of God. The living God reveals Himself in it.13 The preached word renews people (c.f. 1 Pet 1:23 and 25). The preaching of the gospel message has come to the Thessalonians "with power, with the Holy Spirit" (1 Thess 1:5). It is characterizes by the powerful working of God's Spirit. In the preaching, the Spirit is at work. For this reason it is called the service of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:8). Paul also describes the preaching as "the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:18). In the preaching, the reconciliation of people is served. Yes, in the preaching, the voice of God, Himself sounds: Be reconciled with God! (2 Cor 5:20).
The reformers, writing on the basis of what the New Testament says about the preached word, underlined the sanctifying character of preaching. Something happens when the Word is administered! Holiness is distributed, the kingdom is unlocked, forgiveness is proclaimed and faith is worked. I am reminded of the well-known words of Calvin: "When the gospel is preached, at the same time, with the voice of the preacher, drips the holy blood of Christ down on us." (Commentary on Heb 9:20).14
The Holy Spirit is active in the preaching. He carries Christ and all His good works to us and makes that holiness our own. Also for this reason the (preached) Word should never be thought of separately from the listener. If the Word is served, the listener finds himself under the powerful influence of God the Holy Spirit!
What is Preaching?←⤒🔗
Based on the above I have difficulty saying that in the sermon the texts are related to the listener and that in terms of sermon preparation the task of the preacher is to relate the text to the listener. I can see that these formulations would work well in a handbook of sermon preparation (homiletics) that goes out from the starting point that the Scriptures are about a human historical text, a text that does not obviously speak and make a contemporary appeal.15 But in a reformed homiletic one cannot look in my opinion at the matter this way.
C. J. the Ruijter and J. R. Douma come to this understanding from a particular view of the listener.16 De Ruijter speaks, with respect to the listener, about a "continual alienation".
'Alienation from the trusting interaction with God. Estrangement from the Christian life as prayerful contact with God',17 that has as result that what one hears in church, is difficult to relate to everyday life.
Douma writes in this context about "the problem of God darkening and secularization" and "the experience of an absent God". Douma, speaking expressly about bringing into relation the text and the listener, says: Such a formulation assumes the absence of this relationship.18 Douma comes to this formulation, because he thinks that a sermon preparation definition is partially determined by the reality within which the preaching takes place and the realness of the preaching.
I emphasize the word 'partially'. With that little word one has wanted to do justice to reformed homiletics by pointing out that preaching is the service of the word, this consists of the explanation and application of the scriptures, or in other words in the explanation and coordinating the scriptures applying to the church of today. Also in these descriptions "the reality in which preaching takes place" unmistakably plays a partial role. But that word 'partially' is superficial in the definition of preaching of De Ruijter and Douma. In this definition, the listener has the role of a constituent. Preaching now becomes the relating of the text to the listener or bringing the text and the listener together. That is the consequence of assigning to the minister the task of incorporating a particular point of view of the listener.
And there is now precisely where my difficulty lies. In my opinion, when it comes to deciding what sermons are in practice, we begin with the Word. When we start from there, I believe it is incorrect to say that the preacher must make the text relevant to the listener. In many ways that relationship is already there. The relationship is given with the Word of God. That Word is addressed to the listener. In the scriptures God addresses His people, it lays claim to His people and calls them to respond. That Word is at the same time a power of God for preservation. It is an active Word that the listener seizes and works out in his heart. It is also a Word in which the listener is involved in everything that is given in Christ, in everything that the Holy Spirit does to us and in everything that the Word works out and awakens in people. De Ruijter and Douma would not deny this. But too much is lost when they define what the minister must do. In their description I do not hear any of this. In my view the minister does not relate the text and listener, but he clarifies the relation that already exists. He shows how the Lord in the text speaks to God's people, what the Spirit says to the churches. He makes clear that the Scriptures are the Word of God that addresses the listeners of today, in their situation.
And so the task of the ministers remains modest. He does not "bring" anything together. For text and listener belong together by virtue of the nature and the content of the Word. The minister does not create this relation, but the Word of God itself is relational. It is, in fact, the Word that the Spirit speaks to the church now and with which He approaches her with the sanctification in Christ!
Recognition←⤒🔗
Defining sermons from the point of view of the listener leads to a strong emphasis on the recognition of oneself in the sermon. The Word is intended for people. At the Theological University in Kampen they want the sermon to be listener directed.
With that is meant that in the preaching the listener is a topic that must be brought up. After all, the sermon is intended for him and therefore it is also important that he recognizes himself and his life in what is said from the pulpit.19
The listener is a 'distracted seeker of God'. 'He wants to be recognized and acknowledge in his searching and in his distractions. He wants to hear, again, that the God of the Word is the God of his daily reality'.20
The minister must speak a language that offers recognition.21
In order to accomplish this recognition the sermon must not only geared to the understanding and knowledge of the listeners, to the 'cognitive'. Especially important is the 'affective-evaluative' level, which is even 'crucial',22 because knowledge and insight are eventually of little value if the content is not met with heartfelt acceptance. Personal acceptance comes when someone is, not only addressed rationally, but it is especially met in its sensitivity:
He recognizes, in what confronts him, certain aspects of his own humanity, function and life experience. Also, he experiences strength if what he hears is relevant for his world view and function as human being.23
The minister tries to fulfill the conditions for a real dialogue and takes care that his preaching contains recognition, relevance and emotion.24
The relevance of the sermon is, according to this argument, strongly dependent on recognition: the listener recognizes himself and his situation in what he hears and so can personally experience the relevance of the content of the sermon.25 The emotions that lead him to acceptance and change will occur when the listener recognizes himself as human in what he hears and can recognizes his own life situation. Then he obviously feels himself addressed.26 I have objections to this recipe for "directed sermons". A number of objections have already been brought out by K. de Vries.27
I find most of his points are worth consideration. In response C. J. de Ruijter has said, among other things, that the sermon must not only be about recognition. That narrows the outlook of the congregation to her own horizon. The sermon must also offer discovery. The gospel also broadens our outlook and goes beyond our horizon. That is an important addition. But yet de Ruijter insists that there is much that may not be sacrificed from the requirement of recognition.28
This is what I continue to question. First of all: do the apostles lead us in this direction? in the book of Acts we hear how they served the Word. I think of the discourses of Peter and of Paul. They proclaimed God's great deeds in Christ and pointed to the fulfilling of the scriptures in Christ. Their intention is not: the listeners must recognize themselves "as human beings" in what we proclaim, but they must hear what God has done and how He now calls them to faith.
The strong emphasis on recognition originates, in my opinion, from the point of view one takes in regards to points of departure to the "distracted seeker of God",29 "desires" and "wants",30 and that one allows relevance to depend too much on recognition. But the starting point must be elsewhere. The minister does not, in the first place, have to honour what the listeners desire or want. He has to serve the Word; God wants to address His people. And of this God and speaking the minister is a servant. If God wants to speak, what is crucial is not that the listeners recognize themselves in the sermon but what God want to say here and now to His people. The minister must serve the Word in such a way that the congregation can hear what the Spirit says in the scriptures.
I do not deny that there can and should be moments of recognition in the sermon. But I have difficulty with the idea that the pertinence of the sermon depends on this.
Also the close linkage of recognition and relevance is something I cannot accept. Is the sermon only relevant, when the listeners recognize themselves in it and so feel meaning for their life situation? Does the scripture not have its own power of expression and its own relevance and does this not also apply to the sermon (when the Word is faithfully served)? Does this power of expression and relevance not go far beyond what people recognize (let alone the state of their sinful heart)? Moreover, who will determine what is relevant? Is it the listeners who apparently have their own list of priorities? Do the listeners determine when the sermon is really addressing them? Do we not get, then, a subjective criterion whereby the relevance of the sermon is measured?
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