The Power of Repetition

By Chris Philbeck

One of the most significant things I learned over the course of more than four decades of preaching in the local church is people don’t need to be taught something new as much as they need to be reminded of what they already know. Samuel Johnson captured that truth when he said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” The bottom line is building disciples doesn’t happen by telling people the truth one time and then moving on because none of us gets it right the first time. That means it’s not just okay to revisit certain themes over and over again, it’s necessary because what’s repeated gets remembered and what’s remembered gets repeated. If you’re uncertain about that, stop and think about the kind of responses and comments that routinely come from preaching on topics like handling the trials of life, or prayer, or the power of your words, or forgiveness. There’s a reason people often respond to sermons on these topics. They are consistent challenges for all of us which means we need to consistently hear from God about how to respond to the challenge. 

We see precedent for repetition in the New Testament. For example, Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:12-13, “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body.” Those words come right after Peter reminds his readers: 

• God had given them everything they needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). 
• God had given his great and precious promises so they could participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world (2 Peter 1:4). 
• God had given them a spiritual formula to keep from being ineffective and unproductive in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-8).

Peter made no apology for reminding his readers of things they already knew. Likewise, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:1, “Now brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.” He then went on in 1 Corinthians 15:2-5 to remind them of the fundamentals of the gospel message. Perhaps the early church father John Chrysostom, who served as the Archbishop of Constantinople, captured this truth about repetition best when he spoke these words in one of his sermons, “If therefore you would not have us wearisome or annoying, practice as we preach, exhibit in your actions the subject of our discourses. For we shall never cease discoursing upon these things till your conduct is agreeable to them. And this we do more especially from our concern and affection for you.” In other words, he refused to stop preaching on a subject until his listeners obeyed the teaching.  

Whenever I would put together my preaching calendar for the upcoming year, there were certain things I always tried to include. For example, I wanted to feature verse-by-verse preaching. I wanted to cover what might be called “needs based” topics from a biblical perspective, and I wanted to preach about practical Christian living. Those are a few examples. But whatever kind of series I was involved in, I always wanted to weave fundamental biblical teaching and truth into every sermon no matter how many times we had talked about it before. I did that because people don’t need to be taught something new as much as they need to be reminded of what they already know. In other words, people need repetition.  

Here are two suggestions for helping you embrace repetition in the most powerful way. 

First, work on finding ways to repeat truth without being repetitive. You can do that when you find different ways of saying the same thing. There are certain things that need to be repeated the same way over and over again—a mission statement, for example. But talking about the power of prayer, trusting God in trials, or the necessity of forgiveness can be shared in multiple ways. In the church my wife and I are attending post-retirement, I’ve not heard any biblical truth I haven’t already heard (or preached myself) before. But my heart has been fed and filled every week. 

Second, remember there’s always someone new in the audience. In almost every church there’s an ever-changing demographic. So, while many of your people have heard the same truth before, there will always be those who are hearing it for the first time.  

There’s power in repetition. I have preached a message series on financial stewardship every year for as long as I can remember. When I retired from full-time ministry this past June, I had many people share with me, either in person or in a card or letter, the impact my preaching had on their lives and family. The one specific topic that was mentioned repeatedly was financial stewardship. And yet I can tell you there were times I agonized over how to say the same thing in a new way. Many times, I was afraid my words were falling on deaf ears due to repetition. But I was wrong because, in the words of Mike Murdock, “Repetition is the persuader of the mind.” So don’t be afraid or anxious about reminding people of what they already know when you get up to preach because what’s repeated gets remembered and what’s remembered gets repeated.