Got Milk?

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” ~1 Peter 2:2

I can still hear the hungry cries of my infant children in the middle of the night. I remember after a feeding they would quiet down just long enough for the echoes of their cries to disappear, which apparently was the trigger for them to feel hungry again. They really longed for milk. 

Westminster Larger Catechism question 160 asks: "What is required of those that hear the Word preached?" Required is an interesting word. The implication is that God expects something of those who gather to sit under the preaching of His Word. The whole experience is not passive for the listener, but is rather an active event. Apparently the preacher isn’t the only one doing something during the sermon. 

Well, the answer, in part, says, "It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer." (It says more, which I will leave to you to discover and contemplate.) Let’s focus on those three nouns: diligence, preparation, and prayer. 

God requires of His people that they sit under the preaching of His Word with diligence. That is to say, they listen actively and longingly. They are steady, earnest, and energetic in their reception of God’s Word. This means that when you come to corporate worship, your full attention is to be directed toward receiving God’s Word as the very Word of God. To those who listen with diligence He promises blessing: “Blessed is the one who listens to me” (Proverbs 8:34).

Secondly, we ought to attend upon preaching with preparation. Picture that scene in Exodus 19 where Israel is gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai to hear God speak. There, the Lord says to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow… and be ready for the third day” (vv 10-11). Israel was to prepare themselves for the voice of God by setting themselves apart for this special event. Preparation for preaching today might look like reading over the text to be preached with your family during Saturday evening family worship. It also includes accomplishing all your tasks during the other six days of the week so you aren’t distracted with other obligations. 

Prayer before attending upon God’s Word suggests that we need His help to hear it, to understand it, and to apply it. We need His Spirit to assist us in our reception of His Word. We are helpless without Him, in other words. Like an infant who can’t climb out of his crib to warm a bottle, we need the Lord to wake us from our slumber, bring us into His throne room, and feed us from His Word. Pray, Christian, that God would help you be ready to receive His Word in its preaching. 

Do you long for the Word of God like a newborn longs for milk? God has built into babies to desire milk instinctively, for it is life to the child. His Word is no less life for you. Long for it. Desire it above all else. And attend unto its preaching with diligence, preparation, and prayer. This will radically change your reception and application of it. It will produce holiness in your life and love for Christ in your heart. Could anything greater be desired by the people of God? 

Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Pastor