This is a question that preachers love to hear. Make sure you ask your preacher this question sometime! In Mark 4, Jesus warns us that sermons can have diverse responses. Some folks arrive with hearts hard packed from repeated trampling, and Satan easily snatches the truth from them. Others leave excited to do all that God has spoken but, when they find the Christian life difficult, they quit. Another group walks out of church into a world of worry and work and the sermon is choked out. Only the final folks who hear the sermon, believe the Bible, and do the will of God end up producing good fruit in abundance.

Twice Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9, 23), and to make His point clear He adds, “Pay attention to what you hear” (4:24). The letter to the Hebrews echoes this sentiment: “We must pay much closer attention to what we heard, lest we drift away from it” (Heb. 2:1). In our age of distraction, obeying these commands is increasingly difficult. In an attention economy, the temptations of idolatrous distraction are particularly acute. Paying careful attention to a 30-minute (or so) sermon requires effort. Consider adding three exercises to your spiritual life that should strengthen your ability to hear, believe, and obey.

First, take time each week for preparation. Encourage your pastor to share the order of worship as early as possible the week before. Even if you only have Saturday night or Sunday morning, you have an opportunity to read and sing and pray through the Scriptures and Psalms. Since sermons are usually designed by the Holy Spirit to say something specific to us, take time on Friday or Saturday to prayerfully think through the sins, struggles, and spiritual successes of the past week. What has God been doing in your life or world? The sermon will probably say something about that. If possible, go through this process with your family or spouse or friend for maximum effect. Take time before worship to prepare for worship, and make sure you get plenty of sleep!

Second, take steps to maximize your participation. Figure out your learning style when it comes to sermons. Is listening and staring at the preacher best? Does note-taking help? This may depend a bit on your preacher, too. Does he speak with a pace and rhythm that are meant to make you sit still and listen, and make it hard for notes? Maybe doodles or cartoons capture his message better! Does he speak a little slower with longer sentences that translate to the written page smoothly? If you’re a writer, a beautiful well-bound journal may help. If you’re a listener, finding the right seat in the room may be key to helping you capture the sounds and sights of the sermon.

Other circumstances are important to consider: babies or kids and sickness will affect your “best practices.” And, when it comes to helping your preacher, cultivate communication with smiling, laughing, nodding, and audible amens. A little evidence of your participation helps the preacher!

Third, turn the sermon into your life’s practice. This starts right after the benediction or doxology. Introverts might need to sit back down for a couple of quiet minutes to work through what they just heard. Extroverts might need a few minutes of quick conversation to solidify their sense of the sermon. The preacher will usually appreciate a few small but eager questions or comments that show the hearers did in fact hear.

On the drive home or around the dinner table, families and friends can take up the conversation. By Monday morning, try to have one idea, habit, thought, speech pattern, or behavior that you can remember in prayer that week. Later in the week, consider having coffee or lunch with a friend where you can try to review the sermon pieces that remain. Or, start a pen pal relationship that includes sharing sermon summaries.

This is such an important part of our Christian life. Becoming a careful listener of sermons is a discipline worthy of hearty effort. Jesus and all His benefits are presented to us and applied to us in the sermon. Let us “pay much closer attention” to the sermons we’re hearing.