I remember sitting in Sunday school when I was about 12 years old and 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.
