I’ve Heard It All Before
“I’ve heard that before,” or “I already know that,” are frequent complaints directed to young preachers, if interpreted wrongly, such laments have the potential to damage him greatly. These erroneous comments imply that preaching is a form of mere entertainment designed to keep the hearers attention through freshness and relevance. But if the preacher and “church” are only scant entertainment, then the point of preaching has been utterly missed. In Paul’s exhortation to young pastor Timothy he reveals what the true purpose of preaching is
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
The job of the preacher is to preach the word! Not his own thoughts, ideas, opinions nor the latest avant garde heresy. He is not there to entertain, he is there to confront and correct. A much better picture is to view the preacher as a fitness instructor and the people as his class, they all have varied degrees of physical fitness but they all benefit from the exercise. So too with the preaching of the word (provided the preacher is not some godless heretic) every Christian can benefit from hearing the foundational truth’s of scripture addressed repetitiously.
Now, let us consider the critical comments at the beginning from our new point of reference…the Word. Who, in an exercise class, would be likely to object: “I’ve heard about a jumping jack before”, or “I already know about push-ups, they’re boring?” You would likely hear these objections from the pasty overweight gentleman in the back, who lives in his mother’s basement and invests most of his free time into his level 72 death troll on World of Warcraft.
There is much that physical and spiritual fitness have in common. Just as those who desire to be physically fit do not despise the lowly push-up; those who desire to be spiritually fit do not despise repetitive sermons regarding fundamental Christian truths. Here is the hinge on which the entire argument turns; such complaints do not reveal a problem in the preacher, but a problem in the recipient . . . a hard and calloused heart. Itching ears which desire to be scratched by the latest thing or newest “truth” do not indicate great spirituality but great carnality.
