Is Anyone Listening?

Is anyone listening? It is a question I often ask. For communication to happen there are two essential elements - there must be a message sent and the message must be received. It is not enough just to send messages. Like writing a letter only to throw it away, having a message that is not effectively received is of no effect. Likewise, if a letter is sent, but the recipient does not open the letter, the message does not have any effect.

Preachers are communicators. And every communicator desires to effectively communicate. That is to send messages in such a way that they are received by as many as possible. In the first century, Paul would go to the city center, where the leaders of the city would gather and preach. His preaching would be considered and responded to. Sometimes the leaders and the people would receive well what Paul preached, but often he would receive very hostile reactions. And though the result of these hostile reactions was often unpleasant, he was communicating, and for that Paul was thankful. In the early days of radio, it was often preachers who saw the opportunity to communicate to a greater audience through this new medium. Many effectively communicated through radio programs to larger audiences than would ever come to hear them in their church pulpits. This tradition continues today with digital communication. From the largest metropolitan church to the smallest country congregation, preachers today make use of the internet to publish blogs, podcasts, and live-stream their preaching. These resources are made available on the internet, and thus are unlimited in availability and possible reach. But the question must be asked – is anyone listening?

I have spent my adult life preaching the gospel. The primary consumption of my time for the past 20 years has been preaching and teaching and preparing to preach and teach the Bible. My bookshelves are filled with collections of my sermon notes. I have hard disk drives filled with countless hours of audio and video recordings of my sermons. Over the years I have published written transcripts, sermon outlines, and CD and DVD recordings of my sermons. With the advent of the internet, I have uploaded sermon audio podcasts, sermon audio, and video recordings to websites, and live-streamed the services live. I am very thankful for the many volunteers who have worked tirelessly to record, edit, and publish these resources. But for all these ways of communicating the gospel, I often wonder, is anyone listening.

For many years there has been an undeniable decline in American church attendance. Early in my ministry, church folks would complain about the people who only attended Christmas and Easter services. On these Sunday’s attendance would swell beyond the seating capacity of the building only to fall back to normal levels the following Sunday. In our present day, we still see an increase in attendance on these Sundays, but it is noticeably smaller than in years past. Even among the faithful church members, there seems to be a decline in tolerance for preaching. Complaints that church services last too long coincide with frequent absences. This contributes to a sense that even the faithful member in the pew is not actively listening. And all this makes me wonder, even for those who are in the room, is anyone listening?

To be transparent and honest, sometimes I am given to self-pity when I go to the pulpit to preach and lookout to discover that attendance is lower than I had hoped. My heart breaks when I plead with a wayward church member to return to faithful attendance only to meet with lukewarm acknowledgments but no commitment. And I often wonder if I am the only pastor who secretly wonders if anyone is actually listening (I don’t think I am). At these moments, I am reminded that scripture is very rich with examples of mighty men of God called to declare God’s truth to His people whose ministries were characterized by the people, to whom they were called to preach, not listening to them. And I am reminded of another truth as well. It is my responsibility and calling first to preach faithfully. Yes, I want to preach in such a way that people are drawn to listen. But my calling is to the truth of God's word, not to entice or even entertain the people so that they will listen. This is not to say that a preacher should not work at the craft of communicating and use all available abilities, tools, and skills to draw in the listener. But this is to say that the primary responsibility of every preacher is to preach faithfully the word of God.

Men desire eloquence. God desires faithfulness. Men long to have their ears tickled. God longs for His truth to be known. Men judge importance by worldly metrics and success. God rejoices in humility and obedience. I believe that the pleasure of the Lord is more in the faithful preacher who is meager in skill than the great orator who is unfaithful to the truth. The danger is that the allure of the attentive crowd is great. The temptation for every communicator and preacher is to surrender fidelity for celebrity. Some may speak so eloquently and attractively that they will be able to draw a crowd but will not faithfully declare God’s truth. Their words may be celebrated by men, but their labor will be rejected by God. I would rather be meager in ability and faithful to my calling than possess great talent without the conviction to declare faithfully the word of God.

I will likely ask until my dying day, “is anyone listening.” I will likely struggle to see the effectiveness and worth of my labor in this lifetime. But regardless of the crowds that assemble, there is always one who is listening. The Lord sees and the Lord hears. He delights in His word and rejoices when it is proclaimed. I may shout into the canyon of doubt, “is anyone listening?” But by God’s grace, the eco reply will be I AM is listening. And that is all that matters.