What’s a Sermon?: A Perspective for People in the Pews (Part III of III)
“Five-billion people.” I answered, “There are five-billion people online right now, according to the latest data.”
I had been asked to come on the radio to talk about three news stories that stood out to me from the previous week. Two had come to mind easily, but for the third I decided to look for something encouraging; I wanted to find a story about a local pastor doing the work of the gospel or who was being celebrated for ministry faithfulness.
I searched everywhere.
I found nothing.
The “five-billion people online” statistic jumped out to me on my search, and so I decided I would use it to make a point. If there are that many people online, then a good deal of them must be Christian. So where are all the stories about tremendous pastors? I know they’re out there ready to be told! Yet, it doesn’t seem like anyone is telling them.
I finished the interview by saying something to the effect of, “I’d just love to use my time here to say how thankful I am for my pastor. He loves our church and loves God, and that might sound boring, but I think that is awesome.”
It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t controversial, it was just true.
As much as I would love to see more people publicly praising their pastors, the work starts closer to home. In the first two installments of this series, I’ve talked about what a sermon is and how to get the most out of a sermon each Sunday, but in this article, I want to look at how and why we should encourage the man standing in the pulpit. How do we love our pastors well, submit to them, and encourage them? To be clear, this is an area we all need to grow in—myself included.
Be most known for encouragement. “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves” (1 Thess. 5:12–13).
I make it a point to ensure everyone whom I love, knows that I love them. The words “I love you” hold a specific weight when spoken to my wife, but they aren’t reserved merely for her. Jesus taught us that people would know who we belong to and whose disciples we are if we “have love for one another” (John 13:35). It is, therefore, no surprise that this extends to our leaders. Pastor Jared C. Wilson has mentioned on several occasions that he never leaves the pulpit without expressing his love for the congregation.
If your pastor did this, would that expression of love be reciprocated?
My guess is that if you’re plugged into a local church, whatever differences you might have with your pastor, you do love him. Like a cheesy 90s rom-com, however, this love might go days, weeks, or years without being revealed, leading both parties to question its existence.
This commandment to love is accompanied by another that seems to be intrinsically linked to the first. “Esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.” How often might we avoid church schisms, disagreements, and conflicts if we honor and love our pastors well?
Being supportive helps you too. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb. 13:17).
Submission is a difficult word in the twenty-first century, but more than that, I think what we struggle with is “deferred benefit.” Yet the author of Hebrews doubles down on the idea that not only loving our leaders but also submitting to their authority might be to our advantage.
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear says, “The costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.” I think there’s some truth to this idea. In a world in which we can download a dopamine hit at the click of a button or order it to come via next-day delivery, the idea of investment is entirely foreign. As recently as this week I heard a stock advisor saying that the most common question he gets asked is, “What can I invest in now to get rich quick?” He laughed at the juxtaposition of rich and quick.
Author Peter Orr relates that same mindset to our view of church leaders. “It is easy to adopt that consumer mentality . . . which causes us to express thanks and encouragement only when we receive benefit” (Fight for Your Pastor).
I raise this point because whether we like it or not, there’s a very real temptation to ask, “What benefit is this to me?” This is a question to which the Bible gives a specific answer. Our leaders are given the right to lead, and all the responsibilities that come with it, a burden made all the heavier when the flock fights the shepherd. Let him protect you from wolves, preach the gospel, and do the ministry of the Word “with joy and not groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
Conversely, how would it look if each church member was thanking, supporting, loving, feeding, and praying for their pastor? Would that be of benefit to them?
Be building up with encouragement and prayer. “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of adouble honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages’” (1 Tim. 5:17–18).
There are currently about seventy adults in our church plant, made up of around fifty households. Imagine for a second that each of those households committed to feeding the pastor and his family on a rotation. Each household would cook only seven times a year, but the family would be fed every single day. What difference do you think that would make to his life and the life of his family?
Maybe that’s a genuine option for your church, there are many reasons it might be, but for most of us, this is just a physical example of something less concrete. Many of you will be in churches of more than fifty households, but let’s stick with the number seven.
What difference would it make if everyone in your church committed to writing an encouragement to your pastor seven times in the next year? What about offering to pray or to babysit so that he and his wife can go out to dinner or so he can catch up with friends? What if you told him one thing you took away from the sermon seven Sundays out of fifty-two? It might not seem like much, but I am sure it would mean the world, and it would stack up!
Finally, to that last point, many people will struggle to remember the sermon as soon as they’ve left the church building. What if seven times a year, or even every Sunday, you made a point to ask someone else what they thought of the sermon or to share something that stood out to you?
It would make a huge difference if once the tea and biscuits come out—that’s coffee and cookies for those of you across the pond—there were murmurs of conversation going on about the word of God taught that day. Would that be to your advantage? To the advantage of the pastor or your fellow congregants? Yes, of course, to all of us!
We should not be passive participants in the work of the church as members, even when it comes to the sermon or the life of our pastor. He is meant to serve you, and you him. He is meant to teach you, but you are not therefore absolved from the commandment to make disciples.
Let me encourage you to encourage him in the work he has been given and encourage those around you to do the same.
* To read Part I and II of this series, click here and here.
Adsum Try Ravenhill is married to Anna and together they are passionate about seeing young men and women discipled within the context of the local church. You can find Adsum through his writing at The Raven’s Writing Desk and alongside Anna as the co-host of the Consider the Ravens Podcast, you can also find Adsum’s articles for GCD here.