Something New

Wise King Solomon famously said, “There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).” He continued by adding, “Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us (v.10).” 

There is nothing new under the sun, and that applies to theology as well. It troubles me when I hear people talking about their church or their pastor who always have a “new” message. I have heard people say things like, “At that church, its always the same old thing.” Please don’t misunderstand me; I am not talking about preaching timeless truth in a fresh way, for that should be our goal. Neither am I talking about bringing something to light, such as a cultural nuance that may help 21^stCentury Westerners understand 1^stCentury Middle Eastern life. That information may be new to us when we first hear it, but the truth of the message is not new. It is dangerous when we become bored with the gospel and go out searching for something new. 

Sermons on grace, mercy, love, the Golden Rule, heaven, sin, repentance, the cross, or the empty tomb should never get old to us. According to the Talmud, “One who repeats his lesson a hundred times is not like him who repeats it a hundred and one times (Hagigah).” In other words, the more we study the Bible, the more sermons we hear on the same topic, the better we will become. The Talmud continues: “He who studies the Torah but does not review it is like one who plants and does not harvest.” In the Jewish culture, the Bible was committed to memory by constant recitation. 

The Shemah of Deuteronomy 6 (that God is one, and we should love Him with all of our heart, soul, and might) is to be spoken of when we lie down and rise up, when we sit down and walk. The truths of God’s Word produce a harvest in our lives when we not just read them, but when we constantly review them. That is the idea behind Psalm 1, which says the blessed man is one who meditates on God’s law both day and night. We need to chew on God’s Word just as a cow chews the cud. Have you ever seen a cow that was not chewing? Every time I see one she is chomping on a bite of food. That is the picture the psalmist was painting, and it is how we are to reflect on the things of God. 

The Greeks loved to hear something new (Acts 17), but they did not give the words much reflection. Any new message or deity would tickle their ears, but it would go in one and right out the other. We need to reject any ear-tickling “new” doctrine, and instead constantly reflect on the timeless theology that God recorded for us in His Word.