LaGrange Baptist Church

Deacons, this is the third part of our discussion concerning being an Expositional Listener. In my last post I talked about how being an expositional listener benefits us in that it “cultivates a hunger for God’s Word” (pg 20) and “protects the gospel and our lives from corruption.” (pg 21). Today I want to talk about two more benefits of being an expositional listener.

First, in John 10:27 Jesus says “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow me” (NASB). The goal of a Christian is to follow Christ. The key to following Christ is that Christ knows us, and we recognize His voice. Our job is not to make ourselves known to Christ. He knows us because we were given to Him by the Father. Our job is to hear, recognize and follow His voice. The only way to get to that point is by listening intently to Him regularly with the intention of understanding what He is saying to us and where He is asking us to go. This is exactly the exercise of expositional listening, which “helps us focus on God’s will and follow Him” (pg 20).

Next, Expositional Listening “benefits the gathered congregation” (pg 21) in that it promotes unity and the gospel. In several areas of scripture we are told to agree, remove division, be like minded and  live in peace with each other. Jesus’ prayer for us, the church, was “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in you, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may know that You sent Me” (NASB).

Remember, Expositional Listeners are focused on knowing God’s desires not fulfilling their their own. If a church practices expositional listening, then the church will discover the desires of God’s heart and will banish their own desires replacing them with God’s. The result of this practice is unity and thus a display of the gospel – “so that the world may know that you sent me.”

There are other benefits to being an Expositional Listener, but these should suffice to encourage us to take up the practice. Next time I will talk about some ways to cultivate the practice of Expositional Listening.

Blessings, Mark

• Part One
• Part Two

Anyabwile, Thabiti M. What is a Healthy Church Member?. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.

Deacons, this is the second part of our discussion concerning being an Expositional Listener. Here I recap some of the benefits of being an Expositional Listener

First, we discussed how being an expositional listener “cultivates a hunger for God’s Word” (pg 20). As one reads Psalm 119:97-104 one sees that to the Psalmist the Word of God was like sweet honey in his mouth. He loved it. It made him wise, more so even than his teachers and the aged. It restrained him from evil.

The reason the Word of God was of such high value to the Psalmist was because he meditated on it ‘all the day’ and while he meditated on God’s Word, God Himself taught him.

As an expositional listener you must spend time in God’s Word. You cannot read it with a cursory glance. You must engage it as did the Psalmist. In so doing, you will not be able to help but be taught by God, because, as an expositional listener, you are looking for His teaching. As a result, you will find yourself loving His Word like the sweetness of honey in your mouth.

Second, we discussed how being an expositional listener “protects the gospel and our lives from corruption.” (pg 21) Paul tells us that some in the church look for preachers to preach messages in line with the desires of the listeners. An expositional listener does not choose this course.

By the very definition of the term, an expositional listener does not read into the text his own meaning. Rather, he searches for the meaning of the text put there by God. This type of listener, one who is focused on knowing God’s desires and not fulfilling his own desires, will not tolerate a preacher or seek one who would lead himself or the church away from the truth toward myths. An expositional listener will encourage and praise those preachers who preach expositional sermons, who seek to find and declare the message of the text so that the body can benefit.

Next time we will look at two more benefits to being an expositional listener.

God bless, Mark

Part One

Anyabwile, Thabiti M. What is a Healthy Church Member?. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.

Deacons, Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some insights from our study of the book “What is a Healthy Church Member” by Thabiti Anyabwile. Our study this past Sunday focused on the idea that a healthy church member is an expositional listener. One of the first things we must do is define some terms.

Two important definitions:

"Expositional preaching is that preaching that takes for the main point of the sermon the point of a particular passage of scripture." pg 19

An important note to make is that expositional preaching is not providing a running verse by verse commentary of a passage. Doing so produces a commentary not a sermon. It is an important work, but it is not preaching.

"Expositional listing is 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." pg 20

Here we need to note that as we practice expositional listening we are doing just that, we are listening. However, we are doing more than just listening, we are accepting. We are accepting the meaning of the passage.

As we think about listening for and accepting the meaning of the passage we also need to think about why we need this message. It is vital to a healthy church that we ‘grasp’ the message individually and as a body. There are many benefits in expositional listening for us as individuals and as a church. Next time I will highlight some of those benefits.

Blessings, Mark

Anyabwile, Thabiti M. What is a Healthy Church Member?. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.

Deacons, this Sunday will be the second meeting of the new deacon calendar year. We are working to make these meetings helpful to you so that your time invested will be to your benefit and that of the church. To that end we are planning to have some time dedicated to our spiritual growth. We are going to begin by looking at biblical principles of church membership, “what is it, what does it look like”. I will begin by walking us through a short book called "What is a Healthy Church Member?" by Thabiti M. Anyabwile (I won’t try to pronounce that name for you).

As you prepare your hearts for this study and for our meeting together this Sunday, I would like for you to consider a couple of statements from the book.

• "…the Lord’s intent is that you play an active and vital part in his body, the local church" (pg.14).

Please note, he is talking to every church member. As deacons and leaders in the church, this cannot be understated. God intends for you as deacons to play a very active and vital part in his body. Our intention together should be to encourage each other to do just that, capitalizing on our God given gifts and passions, while supporting the overriding mission of the church.

• "The health of the local church depends on the willingness of its members to inspect their hearts, correct their thinking, and apply their hands to the work of ministry" (pg 15).

This will be one of the very things we will try to do together throughout the coming year. I look forward to serving you this year in an effort to help you express your faith in God through vital ministry to His church.

God bless, Mark