I
remember sitting in Sunday school when I was about twelve years
old thinking,
“You have got to be kidding! We
are
talking about the cross again?” I
was
sick of hearing the same stories over and over.
Sometimes, though,
there are no
other options.
For example, when I
change oil in
my car I always put oil in the crankcase.
Putting honey in there instead, just to do something
different, is not going
to work. That same logic
applies to the
church. We must keep going
over the same
stuff because that repetition is not only good, it is necessary. As Paul said, “It is no
trouble for me to
write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you”
(Philippians
3:1).
The
question that the church must answer then is this: “How do we
teach the same
old things without boring people to death?” The Old Testament book of
Deuteronomy gives
us the answer.
In
chapter
5, Moses records what we call “The Ten Commandments” and tells the
people that
they must keep teaching these things. In
the next chapter, he tells them how to do it.
“Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you
sit at home and
when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get
up. Tie them
as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write
them on the
doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). Notice that their hearts were
to be impressed,
or shaped, by applying the teaching to their everyday life. Every activity was to be
bathed in God’s word
so that they would learn to act and react in Godly ways. The law was never something
to simply talk
about, debate and study. It
was meant to
be put into practice.
In
1
Corinthians 2, Paul echoes this same understanding when he says
that he will
continue to repeat the basic message about “Jesus Christ and him
crucified” (verse
2) until his readers develop “the mind of Christ” (verse 16). The teaching was going to be
useful and interesting
to them because it was going to challenge their thoughts and
actions.
You
will always be bored at church if all you are doing is listening.
Scripture comes to
life when it
is lived.
Comments