“Bored Enough To Leave Pt. 2”

Saturday, March 02, 2013

This question is a follow-up to “Bored Enough To Leave”

Why is listening to one man preach for an hour the focus of our worship?

Sincerely,
Yawn

Dear Yawn,

Who ever said that it was the only focus?  Who ever said that it had to be an hour?  Our congregation’s sermons tend to range from 35 minutes to 45 minutes – a good 25% less than an hour.  Paul once preached until midnight (Acts 20:7)… a good deal longer than an hour!  The length of the preaching isn’t set in Scripture.

However, the purpose of preaching is made clear in the Bible.  In Nehemiah 8, Ezra set out to preach to the people of Israel.  He gathered the people (Neh 8:1) – specifically those old enough to understand truth (Neh 8:2).  He set up a pulpit, so he and the others who spoke could be seen and heard (Neh 8:4).  Then Ezra began to read from God’s law (Neh 8:5) and explained that Law, so the people could understand it (Neh 8:8).

Preaching is a planned and prepared explanation of God’s Word so that people who want to learn can understand it.  Now, if you are going to explain something, it is going to take some time.  Depending on the size of the subject, it might take a long time, or it might take just a little, but it does require time.  Every congregation must decide what amount of time is appropriate to allot for that.  If you don’t allot enough, the people can perish because they don’t understand God’s Word (Hos 4:6)… however, it is also true that if you spend too much time preaching (especially if it isn’t thoughtful preaching) that you can hinder people’s understanding and growth in the text.  The issue comes down to wisdom – wisdom of the congregation and wisdom in the preacher.

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