It never grows old

I am a proud member of a minivan family. Minivans are a marvel of modern transportation innovation. I’m convinced that everyone who says, “I’ll never drive a minivan” has just never done it. To drive a minivan is to love it. Our minivan is getting up there in miles and years, and as a result, there are a few accessories that don’t function as well as they used to (if at all). The CD player is broken. The aux input is also currently out of order. That means we are left with only one form of audio entertainment—the radio.

There are three Christian radio stations in our city, and we have all of them saved in our presets. I’m thankful for Christian radio and the service and ministry it provides. Being able to turn on the radio and not worry about what the little (and big) ears in my minivan are going to hear is a great thing. I try not to be nitpicky, but I do have one issue to pick with the Christian radio stations (and all the other genres for that matter). They play the same songs over and over and over. Not long ago, we were driving to church, and as I switched between all three presets, we realized the same song was on every station!

Are there new songs out there that these stations could be playing? I can only imagine.

I do understand the rationale. The station has a goal to keep people listening, and a sure-fire way to get people to stop scrolling that dial is to play the hits. A station that only played new songs in a one-and-done succession would not stay on the air for very long. So … they play the hits.

If you’ve been preaching or teaching (or hearing preaching) for any length of time, you may sometimes feel like it’s all been said before—over and over again. I’ve had moments where I thought, “How many different times, and in how many different ways can I keep saying the same things?” From the preacher’s perspective, every week when you sit down to prepare a sermon or lesson, you feel the pressure to come up with some fresh insight or obscure truth. But we must constantly remind ourselves that while the Bible is 66 books with 30,000-plus verses, there is one central message. It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. Congregations need to keep that clear as well.

The temptation to come up with something new isn’t unique to the 21st century. The Scriptures themselves are full of exhortations to “remember” and to “keep reminding.” In the opening sentence of 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved…” Why do we need to be reminded? Because by nature we remember the things we need to forget and forget the things we need to remember. And if there’s one thing we need to remember, it’s the saving, sanctifying, and sustaining gospel of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

You and your church needed to be reminded last week. The same thing will be true next week. I know this because I need to be reminded. As I face each day, as I battle with sin, as I lead my family, all as I’m following Jesus, I need constant reminding that it is only possible by and through the power of the gospel. We ALL need reminding.

A faithful church will not take pride in how deep the sermon was, or how smart the preacher is, and certainly not in how much humor was deployed. The preaching of the Bible is central and essential so that God’s people can know God’s Word and obey it. Preaching is to remind us of what the Word says and then challenge us to embrace and obey it. If we really believe the Bible has one central gospel message, then faithful preaching will always have one central underlying theme.

The New Testament makes clear that Christians need to hear the same truths—the same gospel—declared and applied over and over again. The gospel never grows old.