I'm going to confess a trade secret. We preachers often wonder just how much good our preaching does. We all appreciate the compliments at the end of the service, especially when someone says that he or she really needed a particular sermon we have preached. At those moments, we begin to believe that our work and struggle have paid off. We wonder, though, about the compliments we receive at the end of the service. A friend of mine noted wryly that he has had parishioners compliment his sermons even on Sundays on which he had not preached. After a guest preacher had spoken, or the choir had led a hymn sing, someone would shake his hand on the way out, saying, "I enjoyed the sermon today, pastor."

Even when such a comment is genuine, we want to know more than that. We want to know more than…