Seek Little, Find Little

“The community is wonderful;” “There are so many ways to get involved;” “The children’s ministry is great;” “God really seems to be moving here;” “It has such a presence in the community.” These are some of the most common reasons individuals give when asked why they joined a particular church. I rarely hear people say, “We joined our church because it had the most faithful preaching of God’s word that we could find,” or “we loved the ministry of the ordinary means of grace and the biblically informed worship service.” By way of contrast, I have heard many say, “The preaching isn’t the best at our church, but we get fed in our small group. That’s really more of our church;” and “We’re not crazy about the performance in the worship service, but we love the community.” In no rational world would someone ever dream of saying that the competency and skillfulness of a doctor, teacher, lawyer, mechanic, plumber, engineer, banker, athlete or chef didn’t matter. However, individuals functionally say that very things about churches and ministers every time they opt to join a church that is not committed to theologically sound, exegetical, Christ-centered preaching, the ministry of the ordinary means of grace, and biblically informed worship. So, why do multitudes of men and women settle when it comes to the ministry of God’s word? This question obviously has more than one answer; however, consider the following:

In his essay, “From the Scriptures to the Sermon,” J.I. Packer explained the widespread reception of theologically and biblically shallow preaching when he wrote:

“Low expectations become self-fulfilling. Where little is expected from sermons, little is received. Many moderns have never been taught to expect sermons to matter much, and so their habit at sermon time is to relax, settle back and wait to see if anything the preacher says will catch their interest…It is now assumed that those who sit under the preaching are observers, measuring the preacher’s performance, rather than participants waiting for the Word of God. Many in our congregations do not know that there is any other way of listening to sermons than this way of detached passivity, and no-one should be surprised to find that those who cultivate such passivity often dismiss preaching as an uneventful bore. Those who seek little find little.”1

Packer’s analysis captures the essence of the biblical shallowness that has so permeated the Christian church in North America (and, throughout the world–for that matter) for well over a century.  In turn, faithful ministers of God’s word are often discouraged as they find themselves pushing against the grain of bad models of preaching. Packer explained:

“Lack of good models tends always to lower standards, and unfortunately good models have been in short supply throughout this century. Far too many pulpit discourses have been put together on wrong principles. Some have failed to open up Scripture; some have expounded biblical doctrine without applying it, thus qualifying as lectures rather than preachments. . .

Some have been no more than addresses focusing the present self-awareness of the listeners, but not at any stage confronting them with the Word of God; some have been mere statements of the preacher’s opinion, based merely on his own expertise, rather than messages from God carrying divine authority. Such discourses are less than preaching…but because they were announced as sermons they are treated as preaching and people’s idea of preaching gets formed in terms of them, so that the true conception of preaching is forgotten. . .

But preaching is more than teaching – not less, but more! Preaching is essentially teaching plus application (invitation, direction, summons), and where that plus is lacking something less than preaching takes place…Many in our churches have never experienced preaching of the historic evangelical sort at all.”2

What the church needs more than anything at present is for men who have been called by God to be faithful preachers of His word, and adherents to worship that is formed by the word of God. Of course, they must do this for His glory and the salvation of His people–not for self-aggrandizement, promotion, or church growth. There will always be those with “itching ears,” who heap up for themselves teachers (2 Tim. 4:3). However, if more churches and ministers wholeheartedly committed themselves to this all-important work, the church would have examples to follow and the spiritual expectation of God’s people would necessarily rise. As Packer noted, “those who seek little, find little.” Let’s commit to being those who seek much and find much. 

1. Packer, J. I. (1999). Preaching the Living Word (pp. 32–33). Geanies House, Scotland: Christian Focus. 2. Ibid., p. 32