"Keeping Count"

A few weeks ago, as my 7-year-old son sat with me in the second row pew of our church, I noticed something quite disturbing. He should have been listening to the sermon. But, apparently, my wife and I gave birth to a distracted little monkey. He twitched and turned, placed his hands on his face, and repeatedly tried to lay down. In frustration I forcefully whispered in his ear to, “Sit up straight and pay attention!” Of course that lasted all of…say…5 seconds before returning to his monkey ways. Once I even had to retrieve him from the rafters. At least it seemed that way. Anyway, I pondered why this otherwise well-behaved young man could not sit still and listen to the sermon that took no more time than an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. I have seen this child sit without moving a muscle when he watches his shows (I have video evidence to prove it if you’d like to see.)

Not long ago, I walked into the living room and asked him to pickup his toys (which is their obvious permanent resting place) and he stuck out his hand to me and said, “Wait! This is the part where Spiderman saves Mary Jane!” (If you don’t know who the Mary Jane character is, I’m surely not going to tell you.) I was, of course, taken aback by this brazen disobedience and about to exact swift and stern correction (yea, right) when I stopped. This child was so interested in what Spiderman was about to say and do that he shut out the world around him. Then it clicked. Perhaps the reason why this child seems so bored during the sermon is because he doesn’t know what he should be listening for. In the Spiderman universe it’s pretty cut and dry: Save the day and Mary Jane. However, deep concepts such as the substitutionary atonement and grace by faith alone require more context to be understood. No wonder he is about to die of boredom! In his mind he’s probably saying to himself, “Wow, I don’t understand a thing Pastor is saying. Please let it be 12:00 already!”

To solve this dilemma I had to rethink the way I encouraged him to listen. We should start with something more manageable. So, I think to myself, “What does my son know? Let’s see… Spiderman, Batman, Superman, The Incredible Hulk…. No, no! What does he know about the Bible? Jesus! He’s got that one down. Ok… let’s see, God, the Holy Spirit, the cross, grace…” As I continued down this list I came up with several keywords that my son could listen for in the pastor’s sermons. So this past Sunday I told him to count on his hands every time he heard the pastor say “Jesus.” As the sermon began I focused on my son and listened intently for the mention of “Jesus” to see if my count would correspond with his count from the digits on his hand. The first few minutes went handsomely. He was really excited and would get jazz hands every time heard “Jesus.” However, after the tenth mention where he had to start over, he began to lose count and shortly thereafter, his interest as well. From then on I would point to his hand when the keyword was said. He would look at me with eyes glazed over, but then promptly increment his fingers. At the end of service I had counted 37 times “Jesus” was mentioned. He had something like 15 and a half (I say half because one finger only went up half way). I was slightly disappointed that his count didn’t match mine. Yet, I noticed something. No, it wasn’t the fact that he seemed to be more engaged, even though he did. It was the fact that I seemed to remember more of the message myself. Because I was intently listening to what the pastor said, it gave me a renewed focus. I found that I was able to retain more of what was said. How many times have I sat in the pew just wanting the preacher to talk to me rather than me actively listening to him? What we tend to forget is that every time the preacher proclaims God’s Word, he is submitting first and foremost to the Lord. Realizing this can revolutionize how you participate in church. Preaching is worship too. Just as we participate in worship through song, we should give ourselves equally to an active listening to His Word. When we meet together for worship we are entering the throne room of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 is pretty clear about this kind of worship. When we realize this we will more actively seek to set distractions.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus...who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Perhaps we should all keep count; keep our minds engaged and seek to worship as we listen to the Word of God being proclaimed. I’ll be watching! Well…at least at my son. By the way, I got him a little pad that he will use so he can better keep count. Maybe next week his keyword will be Supralapsarianism!

- Jordan McGehee