How to listen to preaching
One of the trends in some services of worship in recent years has been the divorcing of preaching from ‘worship’. Statements like ‘We are going to spend some time worshipping God, and afterwards so-and-so is going to preach for us’ give the impression that listening to preaching is disconnected from the worship of God.
We need to remind ourselves continually that every part of a biblical church service is ‘worship’, including the hearing of God’s Word. On seven occasions, the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are given this exhortation: ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
There is a definite ‘chain of communication’ shown to us in Revelation 2 and 3. The message is initiated by Christ in glory, communicated to ‘the messenger’ who in turn communicates it to the relevant church. That message is then applied by the Holy Spirit to the hearers in each church. They are to hear what the ‘Spirit says’ – i.e. to engage with its particular application to them.
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