 |
Every disciple is called to make disciples. This is an oft-repeated phrase what is biblically true but may not be always obeyed. If you are a disciple of Christ, you have an all-encompassing call on your life: to speak of Christ in such a way that lost people are called to faith, and those who believe are deepened in their life with Christ.
There are many venues and activities where disciple-making can be carried out. But they all have this in common: prayerfully speaking God's word. Why? We speak God's Word to others because it is by the Word that God's Spirit creates faith (Rom 10:17). And we speak it prayerfully, because we need God's help--his help to make the message clear and his help to unstop the ears of sinners so they can rightly hear it (John 6:63).
One overlooked tool for disciple-making is the weekly sermon. Most believers likely think about being fed by the preached Scripture. This isn't in any way wrong! When heard well, the sermon can be a feast for the soul. It is the most essential way believers are discipled by the pastors of a local church. But I want to encourage you to expand your view of the sermon. Don't just listen for yourself. Listen for other too. Listen in such a way that you will be able to feed others with the same words of life with which you have been fed.
How can we listen this way? Take good notes.
Some will argue against any sermon note-taking. They believe it's a distraction that keeps you from being fully engaged in the moment. That can happen. And I certainly am not laying down a law for all believers to follow at all times and in all circumstances. But, generally speaking, I think taking notes during the sermon actually helps people stay focused, which helps rather than hinders their engagement. Moreover, if you take notes well, you will have a resource for disciple-making.
So, what does this look like? How can we take sermon notes that will be useful for making disciples? Here are three simple tips:
Write down the big idea of the sermon.Usually the preacher will state this somewhere during the introduction. If not, he will almost certainly do it at the very end when he summarizes the sermon. Knowing the big idea will help you understand how the rest of the sermon fits together. Even better, it will help you understand the biblical text for yourself, enabling you to teach it to others.
Write down the main points.This is baseline sermon note-taking. If the preacher has an outline, write it down verbatim. This is practice for good listening. It will also help you think through how he was working out the big idea of the passage in his sermon. Summarizing in your own words can come later. But if you don't have his outline to check it against, you may get it wrong.
Summarize the main points.This is where we move from basic note-taking to note-taking for disciple-making. Think about how the preacher explains his main points. You need to write down any ideas, phrases, illustrations, summary statements, or Bible verse cross-references that will help you remember what he was talking about. This will be the basic biblical truth that you're going to pass on to someone else in a disciple-making context.
Now, how do I take those notes and make them a tool for disciple-making?
Think through what you heard.Before you can pass on what you've learned, you need to really digest it. Sunday afternoon, or early in the mornings, finds time to read and reflect on what was said and how you can apply it to your life. This will better prepare you to help others understand and apply those biblical truths to their own life.
Adapt your notes for the disciple-making context. How are you using the sermon to make disciples? Are you meeting one-on-one or with a small group to discuss the sermon and delve deeper into application? Are you taking through it with your wife? Are you using it for family devotions? Each of these setting will find you using your notes differently.
For example, if I'm going to meet with someone else at church to reflect on and apply the sermon together, I would use these notes as a rough guide for the discussion. I would have the notes with me and refer back to them about parts that struck me or I need to work on applying.
If I was going to use my sermon notes for family devotions, I would use them differently. First, I would see how the outline breaks down into thought-units. Generally, this corresponds to the main points (but not always!). At the beginning of the devotional time, I would read the entire passage. Then, on the first day, I would focus on the first main point. I would summarize the point, show how it flows out of the text, and then ask questions for discussion and application. I would repeat this for each point; one point per day.
If a main point has sub-points, those might be used for a day on their own. In this way, good sermon notes become the devotional material for leading family devotions over the course of a week.
Doing this maximizes the preaching of the word. It gives you more time to process what was said. This is also true for your wife and kids who may have been with you. If they were not in the service, then you are reteaching the same content which keeps the whole family on a similar learning trajectory.
In the end, my advice to you is simple: take good sermon notes. Don't just listen for what is immediately helpful. Think about longterm growth, both for yourself and those around you. Change your thinking about Sunday mornings to that you will be able to take what is given and use it to make disciples.
Note: Another helpful resource is David Platt's Reteaching Guide. Here, Platt walks through how to make the most of the Sunday sermon, both for personal growth and application as well as teaching and training others.
Comments