Never bore people with the gospel

It is a sin to bore people with the gospel. It is a sin to take the greatest news ever to hit planet earth—the hope of mankind—and present it in a way that people get the idea that it is not that interesting, not that important, not worthy of getting excited about. It is a sin to bore people with the gospel.

Yet, people do it all the time. My research indicates about a third of our classes are boring. (More precisely, the way I asked the question was this: What percentage of Sunday School classes that you have attended over the course of your life drop below the bar of “half-way decent.” I asked this question to several groups. The averages always came in at about a third.

I recently asked on Facebook: What percentage of the Sunday School classes you have attended were boring? Check out the replies:

These things ought not to be. The Bible say:

• A wise teacher makes learning a joy; a rebellious teacher spouts foolishness. Proverbs 15:2 (The Living Bible)
• The large crowd was listening to Him with delight.  Mark 12:37 (HCSB)
• So that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.  Titus 2:10 (NIV2011)

That last verse is actually not talking to teachers. It is talking to slaves. Paul is telling them to be honest so that they will make the gospel attractive. We get our work “cosmetic” from this word. Look at it in a couple of more translations:

• So that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.  Titus 2:10 (HCSB)
• Then their good character will shine through their actions, adding luster to the teaching of our Savior God.  Titus 2:10 (The Message)
• Then they will show the beauty of the teachings about God our Savior in everything they do.  Titus 2:10 (GW)
• In this way they will make people want to believe in our Savior and God.  Titus 2:10 (The Living Bible)

We adorn the Word by the way we live—through honesty and integrity. We also adorn the Word through the way we teach it—by teaching in a way that is interesting and engaging. Boredom kills. Boring teaching has done more to hurt the spread of the gospel anything I know.

Haddon Robinson said it this way:

Boredom is like anthrax. It can kill … Dull, insipid sermons not only cause drooping eyes and nodding heads, they also destroy life and hope. What greater damage can we do to people’s faith than to make them feel like God and Jesus and the Bible are as boring as the want ads in the Sunday newspaper?1

He goes on to say, “More people have been bored out of the faith than have been reasoned out of it.”²

One of my goals in writing Good Questions Have Groups Talking is to help you, the teacher, not enage your group in an interesting, life-changing lesson. Check them out at www.mybiblestudylessons.com