Over and over again

Most preachers have been accused of or asked about preaching on the same thing so often, “harping on it” is the way some put it. It is true that we often emphasize the same things over and over again. Yet, in most cases, it is not because it is our “pet project”, but because there is a valid need for it. One way of showing the need is to look back to the days of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. They had opposition and were spread out in their work, thus not in a good position to defend the city. Nehemiah’s solution was to have a man to blow a trumpet standing by him. Whenever there was an attack, Nehemiah had the trumpet sounded. When the workers heard the sound of the trumpet, they rallied. They rallied to the point that needed to be defended (Nehemiah 4). In like manner, preachers have to go where they are needed, not just geographically, but also topically. We are going to present a few of the topics that are visited often and often complained about being preached on too much.

A topic that easily gets our point across is that of attendance to the worship services. There are several reasons why every Christian should worship every first day of the week, if they possibly can. The first is that God commanded that Christians not forsake the assembling of the saints (Heb. 10:25). No other reason is really needed. But, a second reason every child of God should be present when possible is that by doing so we help each other to be faithful and strong in the Lord (Heb. 10:24). And, certainly, every Christian needs at least one weekly dose of the gospel of Christ. Yet, preachers can preach on it and point out these reasons that all should be present regularly and many will continue to just attend haphazardly. That calls for “over and over, again”.

A related topic that preachers regularly preach on is that of, the contribution. Most of the denominational world calls it tithing, which was a command for the Jews under the old law, but the topic is still the same. It would not be a stretch to say that most of those seen on television urging that people send their money to them so that they can carry out their ministry are doing so in order to pad their bank accounts. Yet, those faithfully proclaiming the word of God will find themselves having to preach on giving more than what seems reasonable. The reason is that God commanded it (I Cor. 16:1-2; II Cor. 6:6-7), but many are not heeding the command. Some give nothing, some give only a token amount, some give sporadically, and some give out of a sense of “have to”, and they continue to do so, even after being reminded time after time.

Those that teach the truth concerning baptism, find that they must do so over and over again. We have mentioned that we get more negative comments from articles showing the necessity of baptism in order to be saved than any other topic. Because there is so much misinformation being spread on the topic, an ongoing defense against that errant instruction is necessitated. Baptism in water, for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), in order to be saved (Mark 16:16; I Pet. 3:21), putting one into Christ (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), is so plain that one must have help to misunderstand it. Those who promote the teachings of Martin Luther, John Calvin and other reformation leaders rather than the word of God are all the help many need in order to misunderstand. Thus, the need to teach the truth on this over and over again.

Faith is a topic that is preached over and over again, and one could say rightly so, for faith is one of those basic foundations upon which salvation sits. Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). However, another great need to bring up faith time and time again is the great misunderstanding of what and how faith operates. The word “faith” means that which one believes. Biblical, saving faith is the knowledge and believe of what God has said. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Heb. 10:17). Faith in those teachings of the reformers is not saving faith. Biblical faith requires obedience to the commands of God (Jam. 2:17-26). Faith has become a word used to nullify the commands of God to repent of one’s sins, to confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and to be baptized into Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; Matt. 10:32-33).

It is true that sometimes, preachers and teachers of any kind, can become obsessed with one particular aspect of the subject they teach and spend an inordinate amount of time on it, but sometimes, the additional attention is much needed.