How the Congregation Worships in Preaching

Imagine a chaotic Sunday morning scene. You’ve got a family of five smiling as they come into your building. Just a few minutes earlier, there was a spilled drink all over the floor of the car. The baby cried as soon as she went into the car seat. There may have been some screaming in the car because “We are going to church!” Sound familiar?
In reality, many of our people have these kinds of interactions before coming to worship. In a previous article, I argued that preaching should be seen as worship and offered how a preacher can accomplish this. But, how does the congregation participate in preaching as worship?
Thabiti Anyabwile argues that our people should be “expositional listeners.” He defines expositional listening as “listening for the meaning of a passage of Scripture and accepting that meaning as the main idea to be grasped for our personal and corporate lives as Christians.”¹  If I could say it differently, there is an expectation to hear from God through His Word. How can we help our people do this?

Let me propose some “ABCs of Expositional Listening.”

1. Assume a correct posture for preaching
   This means that our participation in worship happens before we even walk into the worship center. A correct posture of worship for the people of God is one of humility. Accordingly, the most common words in the Bible translated “worship”, histahawa in the Hebrew Old Testament and proskynein in the Greek New Testament, are words that convey a notion of homage or grateful submission to God.²  This means that one must consider the posture of their own heart before they can truly worship.
2. Be in prayer for preaching
   Pastor, do you have people in your life that pray for your preaching? Are there prayers being offered on your behalf, for the unbelievers in your midst, and for the edification of the saints? Prayer is one way that our people can worship during the sermon. Not just a prayer that one’s spouse would really “listen” to what the preacher is saying, but a fervent commitment for the Word to do its work.
3. Commit to accountability during preaching
   Expositional listeners can follow along in the text and ask, “Is this really what God is saying to us?” Invite your people to look at the text for themselves. Teach them to read the Bible for themselves. Perhaps you can even offer a time during the week for feedback and accountability in preaching from a select group of people.
4. Do the application of the preaching
   James 1 exhorts us to be “doers” of the Word. Exhort your people to listen to and act on the sermon throughout the week. Review and apply the sermon in small groups or families. Talk and pray with friends about the sermon after church. Begin spiritual conversations based on the sermon. How did it challenge or speak to you? What surprised or encouraged you? How did your thinking change?
5. Engage with the Preacher
   A final encouragement can be different between churches because of cultural traditions. Preaching is an oral event. It is also dialogic. Encourage your people to respond in some way to the preaching. Tony Evans writes about preaching and worship, “Exuberance and joy should not be anomalies in the worship of God. Sacredness does not necessarily imply that we have to be solemn and silent. We are not the ‘frozen chosen.’”³

Preaching is worship for the preacher and the listeners. Encourage your people to prepare to worship before and continue their worship by applying the truth to their lives during the week. Invite them to be active participants rather than spectators in worship.

¹Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member?, 20.

²David Peterson, Encountering God Together, 28.

³Evans, A Survey of the Black Church in America, 127.