Is the Sunday Sermon Biblical?

http://www.youthblog.org/2005/04/

I challenge you to search through both the Old and New Testaments and see if you can find any precedent for the Sunday morning sermon.

The preaching in the Old Testament was normally done by prophets and priests. However, these speeches were not regular. They were done only on certain occasions and often only when God had something to say to His people.  These "speeches" also allowed active participation and interruptions by the audience, including the preaching that was later done in the Jewish synagogues.

The preaching in the New Testament by Jesus and the apostles followed the same pattern. It was sporadic, took many forms, was delivered on special occasions to address certain problems, and also involved audience participation.  The every-member-functioning church we see in 1 Corinthians 14 was marked by interruptions as well. Never do you find a single person developing a weekly sermon that was given to a quiet, captive audience.

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So where did the traditional sermon come from?  To find the answer we must go back to the fifth century Greeks. The sophists were a group of wandering teachers who were expert debaters at using emotional appeals and clever language to persuade people of their position.  As these sophists grew in popularity, they also grew in style, wearing special clothing and receiving lots of money for their work. They were the most distinguished men of their time, some even having statues erected in their honor.

Around the third century, as we already discussed, the Christian church began to be move from the home into buildings,  the service became institutionalized, and a hierarchical structure began to take root.   At that time, many pagan orators and philosophers were becoming Christian and thus naturally began to take on roles of early theologians and leaders of the Christian church. They began to use their Greek-Roman oratory skills for Christian purposes, and the sermon was born, a masterpiece of polished rhetoric, flowery eloquence, and strictly a monologue, devoid of listener participation.  The sermon became the privilege of church officials trained in schools to learn how to deliver it best.

Throughout the centuries Christian leaders have further raised the importance of the sermon to where it has become the center of the service today and the reason most people attend church.  The famous theologian, John Calvin, argued that the preacher was the "mouth of God".

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So what? I like the sermon. I truly do. I look forward to it each Sunday. Through the years, I've heard some pretty good sermons! In fact, my husband and I have switched churches because a pastor who gave great sermons left.  The sermon is indeed the center of the service and why we attend.  But then I got to thinking. does the sermon really change me? Do sermons really cause Christians to grow in their faith?  If they do, then why do we have so many floundering Christians these days? Why are there so many who struggle with the same problems over and over?  I'm not saying the sermon never helps anyone. Just hearing the Word of God can definitely encourage, comfort, and spur someone to move in a better direction. But how much does it really help?

• The sermon makes the preacher the main performer of the church, making the church a preaching station and relegates the congregation into a group of muted spectators.
• The sermon stalemates spiritual growth by encouraging passivity
• The sermon creates an unhealthy and unscriptural dependence on the pastor for one's Biblical knowledge
• The sermon makes church distant and impersonal
• The sermon does not equip the saints for their own ministry. This can only be done by experience and apprenticeship.
• Some sermons can be very impractical, being more inspirational, feel-good, and lacking practical application.

Let's face it, very few Christians are transformed by weekly sermons. They may be inspired, they may even apply some of the things they learn, but it is only through personal, meaningful encounters with Jesus can anyone truly be changed. And those encounters rarely come during a sermon. They come in our private times with the Lord and also in personal and deep fellowship with other Christians.


(Taken from Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna)