The Amen in Public Worship: Practical Guidelines

The point: Learn to speak clearly in public utterance to ensure edification.

The example of crying babies hindering clear understanding in worship illustrates how anything that undermines corporate edification must not be tolerated.

But we know that if the crying of a baby causes the eardrum to be unable to pick up the clear sounds that are being articulated by the teacher or preacher, there can be no edification. So we do not tolerate crying babies. Why? Crying babies undermine corporate edification because they hinder a clear understanding of the Word of God.

11:31 - 11:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Learn to speak clearly in public utterance to ensure edification.

These examples further illustrate how unclear communication or distractions undermine edification, emphasizing the need for clear speech in preaching.

That's why we wouldn't tolerate a babbling drunk who might stagger into the back row. That's why we do not tolerate mumbling preachers. And that's why students, learn to speak clearly. Use all your speech apparatus.

11:57 - 12:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Learn to speak clearly in public utterance to ensure edification.

The analogy of a preacher spitting while speaking clearly highlights that the priority is understandable speech, even if it has minor inconveniences.

Not just your diaphragm and tummy muscles and the larynx, but the lips and the tongue and the teeth. And so what if you spit once in a while? Let people vacate the wet row that's in the front.

12:16 - 12:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Develop a simple working man's vocabulary, following 50-cent words with nickel words.

This analogy illustrates the need for preachers to use simple, understandable language to ensure edification, following complex words with simpler explanations.

Do not utter by the tongue words easy to be understood. There can be no edification. That's why we must develop a simple working man's vocabulary. If we use a 50 cent word, follow it up with a nickel word.

12:32 - 12:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not tolerate ill-timed, overly loud, or individual Amens that distract.

An anecdote about a brother who used a 'machine gun' staccato Amen illustrates how overly profuse or ill-timed Amens can distract and hinder edification.

We won't tolerate them. I was at a conference once where, putting the best construction on the man's motives, a dear brother felt he had to be like almost a machine gun with a staccato Amen after every phrase. And it actually became distracting both to preacher and hearer. You couldn't carry through a thought in preaching because you were shot between the eyes with an Amen before you got your subject and verb together.

13:41 - 14:07 Read in full sermon

The point: If unsure about the appropriateness of your Amen, be open to correction from others.

A possibly apocryphal anecdote about a preacher Amen-ing his own sermon between syllables illustrates the extreme of Amens undermining clear communication.

I actually heard of one preacher, now this may be apocryphal, but he got so carried away with Amen-ing his own sermons that he even got an Amen between Jeru and Salem. And it was Jeru-Amen-Salam when he was saying Jerusalem. Well, you see, this does not serve the ends of edification. And when this principle becomes a kind of intelligent spiritual obsession, it will answer 98% of your questions about when and where to say an Amen.

14:07 - 14:39 Read in full sermon

The point: If unsure about the appropriateness of your Amen, be open to correction from others.

Spurgeon's prayer is quoted to show that 'decency and order' does not mean staidness, but rather a proper, edifying expression of worship, even if it's noisy.

That's what the Scripture means when it says, let all things be done decently and in order. That doesn't mean let everything be as staid as a tomb. Spurgeon one time prayed, Lord, for a season of holy disorder! And I've Amen-ed that prayer many times.

15:12 - 15:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a sense of corporate identity as a temple of God when gathering for worship.

The analogy of the modern church growth movement's dictums is used to contrast Paul's vision of Jew and Gentile unity in the church, emphasizing corporate identity.

And of course, the whole implication of the 1 Corinthians 14 passage is there is that man who occupies the place of the unlearned, and the whole congregation is able to say the Amen, and that poor fellow feels uncomfortable in his silence because he doesn't understand what is being said. There are a couple of texts which though they may not in their primary meaning have any direct reference to this, I cannot help but believe there must be some secondary element of reference to this very principle. Romans chapter 15, a text that is fascinated me for years, and I've wondered how in the world can...

18:21 - 19:48 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a sense of corporate identity as a temple of God when gathering for worship.

The metaphor of the congregation glorifying God with 'one mouth' is explained as a figure of speech for corporate unity in praise and affirmation, despite physical impossibility.

no, the church must express that every barrier is broken down in Christ. And so he writes whole chapters to give the principles by which Jew and Gentile are to be integrated into one harmonious expression of the saving power of Jesus Christ. And towards the end of that subject being treated in the epistle to the Romans, he says in verse 5 of chapter 15, Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's that phrase that ye may...

19:48 - 20:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate a sense of corporate identity as a temple of God when gathering for worship.

The metaphor of the gathered congregation as a 'temple of God' is used to cultivate a sense of corporate identity and God's peculiar dwelling among His people.

Try to inject for at least a few moments as you see your brothers and sisters coming in and sitting and taking their places around you. Sit and let your mind be filled with this wonderful wonderful wonderful thought. A temple of God is here and God in a peculiar way dwells in the midst of His gathered people. What is the precise nature of that dwelling?

23:35 - 24:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Sing the Amen at the end of all psalms and hymns, meaning it as an enthusiastic, whole-souled affirmation.

These contrasting analogies illustrate how the sung Amen should not be a fading out, but an enthusiastic, whole-souled affirmation, like planting a flag on a mountain peak.

Not something by which we wind down the last stanza and peter out into nothing, you know, like the cowboy riding off into the sunset and then they just fade him out and then the end appears on the screen. No, no. Let it be like the last two or three steps of a mountain climber who's finally come to the place, the pinnacle of his mountain and plants his flag so that our Amen is an enthusiastic, whole-souled affirmation that everything we have expressed we ratify with all our heart and soul.

27:26 - 28:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Give thought to the content, volume, and length of prayers to ensure the great majority of God's people can enter into the sentiments expressed.

The analogy of preaching to a sleeping congregation is used to describe the heartbreaking feeling of a leader when there is a dull silence instead of a corporate Amen, indicating a lack of engagement.

It's a wonderful thing when there is the affirmation of the Amen of God's people and you feel that God has used you to be their mouthpiece. But I tell you, it's a heartbreaking thing to hear a dull silence when you've poured your heart out to God and wonder if you may as well have been in the back there behind the folds praying to God in secret. It's like preaching to a congregation where half the people go asleep. It's the same effect upon the one who leads.

33:15 - 33:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of using the Amen in such a way as to do violence to yourself by trying to conform to another's expression.

Examples of Scot/New Englander vs. South American/Southern American, and Irish vs. English Puritans, illustrate natural cultural differences in expressiveness, warning against forcing conformity.

Well, simply this. And I read just a paragraph from an article dealing with this subject. To be sure, there are natural differences within the true Church of Christ. The Scot or the New Englander may be less expressive than the South American or the Southern American.

36:51 - 37:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of allowing the Amen to degenerate into a vain repetition of religious jargon, devoid of heart.

The analogy of kissing one's wife after 23 years of marriage illustrates how Amens can be fresh and meaningful, not vain repetitions, if spiritual realities burn in the heart.

And what was the mark of their praying vain repetitions? Or Mark 7, this people draws near with the lips but their hearts are far from me. Beware of allowing the Amen to degenerate into a vain repetition that has either on the one hand the pagan idea, the more Amens I use, the more spiritual I am, or on the other to maintain the soul of the body of the Amen as it becomes introduced more and more into the life of our congregation. So beware of allowing the Amen to degenerate into vain repetition. It's not necessary. I've been married 23 years. If I had a penny for every time I kissed my wife I'...

39:13 - 40:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of indulging a sinful reticence to engage in the use of the Amen.

This analogy illustrates the expectation of corporate affirmation; a silent, folded-arms posture during a pledge is seen as a refusal of allegiance, akin to a sinful reticence to say Amen.

What would you think if you came into a group of individuals, all of whom were standing facing the American flag, had their hands over their heart, had a hand over their heart, and they were pledging allegiance, and you saw someone sitting there with his arms. Folded, looking to the ground.

43:01 - 43:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of indulging a sinful reticence to engage in the use of the Amen.

This analogy further illustrates the insolence of refusing to participate in a corporate act of respect, drawing a parallel to a sinful reticence to say Amen in worship.

What would you think if there was a group of people, and into their midst walked a dignitary, a president, a governor, and everyone stood. And someone sat slouched down in the chair, with a toothpick in his mouth, chewing on it.

43:47 - 44:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Learn to say the Amen, even if it feels funny at first, because it is scriptural for the congregation to affirm God's Word and worship.

Martin's personal story of being scared to preach on a street corner but doing it anyway illustrates that initial discomfort with saying Amen can be overcome through obedience and practice.

Scared to death, knees knocking. But I did it anyway. Because I got backed into it and there was nothing else I could do. Until after a while, preaching on the street corner was as natural to me as breathing.

45:52 - 46:05 Read in full sermon