2 More Reasons You’re Not Getting Anything From the Sermon

You have spiritual pride

One of the first symptoms of spiritual pride is the dismissal of true Biblical teaching.  Pride clogs our spiritual ear canals with a waxy mess of arrogance, distain, and conceit.

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Note: This is part two, you can read part one here.

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• Pride tells me the sermon is boring
• Pride tells me the sermon is not up to my high standard of excellence
• Pride tells me the sermon doesn’t follow a proper outline
• Pride tells me there’s nothing new for me to learn in this sermon
• Pride tells me I’d be better off studying the bible on my own
• Pride tells me if only they’d let me preach I’d give them a real sermon
• Pride tells me the preacher didn’t prepare well enough
• Pride tells me the preacher didn’t read the commentaries I read
• Pride tells me that I certainly know that passage better than the preacher
• Pride tells me so much I don’t have time to think about the simple message of the text being preached!

Like a thin layer of oil spiritual pride often goes unnoticed until the truth rains down and instead of penetrating my heart in it beads up and rolls off leaving the heart in the same parched condition.

Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Isa 6:10  

This ancient vice has brought many to spiritual destruction and done it so skillfully and surreptitiously that its victims saw no danger, no peril, no hazard but only spiritual superiority and success. Even in reading this you’re likely thinking: 

I know someone just like that!

And if you are thinking that then spiritual pride may already be starting its insidious work in you. Another sign of spiritual pride is the harmful habit of truth passing. This happens when we take a good truth from God’s Word and instead of applying it out our own hearts we quickly find a culpable soul and transfer that truth on to him.

We’re all for the truth as long as the truth never condemns us and always condemns our neighbor. 

We’ll hold onto any truth just long enough to pass it off into the hands of someone else and say, “brother, you really should work on this problem.”

We love sermons about him and her and them.

We grab hold of hard truths and convicting texts of Scripture and hurl them and the deacons, the Sunday school teachers, the church leadership! 

This type of spiritual juggling gives us the appearance of Biblical knowledge and Scriptural skill but it keeps our hearts hard and and tires our inner man. Juggling isn’t something we can do forever.

The spiritually proud person shows it in his finding fault with other saints, that they are low in grace and how cold and dead they are, and are quick to discern and take notice of their deficiencies.  The eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts.

Jonathan Edwards

The most insidious thing about spiritual pride is that it is most prevalent in those who are most present at every church service and function. Spiritual pride doesn’t lurk in the dark corners of the sanctuary, no it finds itself boldly comfortable on the front row, in the middle of the worship team, and behind the pulpit!

In his day Jesus described it this way:

“They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” 

 Mat 23:5-7

There is really only one way to recover from a bout of spiritual pride and that is to regain a right view of our position before our Sovereign and Holy God. You can choose to do this now or wait for God to force your knee. I highly recommend the first option.

“so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

 Php 2:10-11

Without exception true humility can only be found in light of true understanding of the Lordship, divinity, and majesty of Jesus Christ. To see Christ as the All-powerful, All-knowing, Ever-present, Eternal One is to know humility. All other forms of humility are mere human attempts to artificially put on an air of reserve and timidity. At best this is a temporary superficial form of humility.

However, when we come into the true knowledge of God’s holiness it changes our inward attitude towards self forever. Isaiah is the best example of this. When he met with God’s Holiness he cried out:

Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips,

Isaiah 6:5a

A woe is me attitude in regards to self, our abilities, our knowledge, and our spiritual success is absolutely necessary in order to crack open our parched heart and nourish it with the healing waters of God’s Word preached by Godly men.

You’re spiritually lukewarm 

Another reason I’ve noticed which can keep you from getting anything out of a sermon is spiritual apathy. I’ve seen far to many blank stares, empty eyes, and and fidgety hands on Sunday morning than I care to remember.

It seems like people are passionate about all kinds of strange things these days. I’ve seen people shed tears over sports games and pound the table in ecstasy over a win from their favorite team. How sad that many of who can’t control their outbursts of passion over the placement of an inflatable ball are deflated themselves on Sunday morning.

They come to church with little to no expectation to hear from God. They don’t look forward to worshiping with other followers of Christ. They care little for the times of prayer. They show no interest in the Bible being read or preached and are only positively affected in the slightest way by the thought of what they will do after the Church service is over!

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 

 Rev 3:15-16

Of course, there’s no way you can expect to get any spiritual benefit from the sermon when you are spiritually lukewarm and unfit to listen. 

Sadly many of these lukewarm christians haven’t even take the time and effort to find out what makes them so. If they only invested a little time looking into God’s Word surely they would find the problem!

“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” 

 Rev 3:17-19

Spiritual lethargy is the result of not seeing our own spiritual needs. The emptied eyed pew sitter who who thinks only of how he will enjoy the rest of his Sunday has thought little about his spiritual poverty. The drowsy church goer who daydreams of sermons ended and freedom from his pew prison fails so see how his pursuit of pleasure has imprisoned his own soul.

The solution to spiritual apathy is spiritual acuity. To learn of your spiritual need, to acknowledge that need and to cultivate a true thirst for the only one who can meet that need.

In short this is what we call repentance, repentance always cures spiritual apathy. Looking over the pews of many churches and I can only conclude that we need more real repentance, we need clearer understanding of our spiritual poverty. 

Repentance not only leads us out of an apathetic spiritual state, it is the gateway to learning and benefiting from even the simplest sermons and truths from God’s Word.