Back in the day look up the year, there was a lawsuit against McDonalds, where a woman had bought a cup of coffee, put it in her lap and as she was driving away, it spilled on her lap and leg area. It was a well-publicized event that went something like this:
“Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants case. It was a highly publicized 1994 product liability lawsuit in the United States against the McDonald’s restaurant chain. The plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman, suffered third-degree burns in her pelvic region when she accidentally spilled coffee in her lap after purchasing it from a McDonald’s restaurant. She was hospitalized for eight days while undergoing skin grafting, followed by two years of medical treatment.
Liebeck sought to settle with McDonald’s for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses. When McDonald’s refused, Liebeck’s attorney filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, accusing McDonald’s of gross negligence. Liebeck’s attorneys argued that, at 180–190 °F (82–88 °C), McDonald’s coffee was defective and more likely to cause serious injury than coffee served at any other establishment. The jury found that McDonald’s was 80 percent responsible for the incident. They awarded Liebeck a net $160,000 in compensatory damages to cover medical expenses and $2.7 million (equivalent to $5,000,000 in 2022) in punitive damages, the equivalent of two days of McDonald’s coffee sales. The trial judge reduced the punitive damages to three times the amount of the compensatory damages, totaling $640,000. The parties settled for a confidential amount before an appeal was decided.
This case became a flashpoint in the debate in the United States over tort reform. It was cited by some as an example of frivolous litigation; ABC News called the case “the poster child of excessive lawsuits”while legal scholar Jonathan Turley argued that the claim was “a meaningful and worthy lawsuit”. In June 2011, HBO premiered Hot Coffee, a documentary that discussed in-depth how the Liebeck case has centered on debates on tort reform.”
After this incident, everybody, everywhere, including McDonald’s began to label all their items in very specific, almost elementary ways. For instance, coffee now has a huge label on it stating, ‘CAUTION HOT!’. However, note, before that time, it was not labeled. Was it because we didn’t know that it was hot. No, on the contrary, we bought it because it was hot. We bought it hot because we liked it hot. But now, everyone tries to cover their tracks and because of the liability. Yes, some of this can border on the ridiculous.
Now there are various sorts of Aerosol sprays that not only give you good information, like how to store them and where so they do not combust, but also things like how to hold the can and spray away from your face, do not hold over a fire, do not inhale, etc. Though these things should be common knowledge and no brainers, they must put the simplest information on the labels. They are having to explain things as if we are all in kindergarten. The products are for adults, kindergarteners cannot even read yet, nor do they have jobs or money to purchase these items. It is sometimes ludicrous.
Paul states in 2 Corinthians 9:1-15, “For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remains forever. Now he that ministers seed to the Sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplies the want of the saints but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”
Paul is making the correlation between ministering to the saints and giving. And though he states it may be ridiculous and overkill to give so much information that they already should know, he finds it necessary to reiterate the teachings they have heard before. Hebrews 6:1-6 states, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” However, many of the teachings are repeated more than once because of the tendency of humanity to say things like, “I didn’t know that.” or “When did they make this policy?” and play the ignorance card. To a builder, this analogy is ridiculous, and it would be superfluous to tell a contractor not to forget the foundation before building the house, or you’re going to have to redo the foundation, after the walls are already installed. Just like the warning on the hot coffee that the coffee is hot. This was Paul’s point. The foundation is the beginning and will be there for the duration of the building. If you decide to put a second story on your home, you do not need to dig up the foundation, and absolutely should not, though more structural beams and pillars may need to be added to the existing structure.
When we pastored in the little town of Cedar Lake, Indiana our installation service was preached by Brother Kenneth Mendenhall. The message was called, “All I really need to know, I learned in Kindergarten”. This was taken from a book by the same name, written in 1986, by Robert Fulghum. He was talking to us about the basics of life. You start out life and school by learning your ABC’s, colors, shapes, manners, social and interactive skills such as playing together, sharing, waiting in line for the restroom or lunch, motor skills like cutting and holding a pencil. Taking naps or laying down whether you want to or not, are lessons in being obedient to authority, and the list continues. But the point of this book was these are the foundations, and they do not change, though we will build upon them as we grow and mature. For instance, in first, second and third grade you will take those ABC’s and learn how to make words and then sentences with them and you will learn to read what others have written. You will learn how to take colors and make an actual picture with them. If by third or fourth grade you have not learned these skills and more, there may be something drastically wrong with the teacher, or you may have a learning disability. However, if everything is normal, everyone would think it ridiculous to get to fifth or sixth grade and the teacher begins going over the ABC’s or start to read, “See Spot Run” to the class.
There are many things that seem redundant, and superfluous; however, there are so many instances that we continue to have to repeat ourselves. For instance, “Don’t drive drunk”, there are many people who have multiple DUIs to show that they just have not gotten the message yet, or a single mother continues to have children that she cannot support and is not getting the message of ‘abstinence’ or ‘free contraceptives are provided by the state’. This is precisely Paul’s contention. Why are we having to continually say the same things over and over, it is superfluous. In Galatians 1:9 Paul states, “As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preaches any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” The foundation has already been laid, and it is not to be dug up or changed. The truth has already been revealed to us and has not changed. If you are allowing other waves of doctrines to come into your life, you will be compromising the structure and the integrity of your temple. We can see this happen in physical foundations also. If moisture is seeping in, it will cause it to crack, as will our spiritual foundation if we try to water down the word. There is a beautiful hymn called, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand”. Keep your foundation strong and secure and do not second guess the blueprints.
We must not be ‘that person’ that must be babied as if we are in kindergarten again. Don’t make your teachers and leaders sound ridiculous and superfluous by having to repeat everything to you. God wants us to grow and mature in Him. He does not tell us whether to drink Coke or Sprite, coffee, or water, or what specific cigarettes ‘not’ to smoke. He expects us to treat our bodies as the temple of the Holy Ghost and be mature about it. God is not a dictator or a legalist. He is a loving Father who teaches us, then there are expected behaviors that follow teaching. If the required actions are not seen by a father, there are consequences. Therefore, Paul, knowing this, often repeated things anyway, knowing that there would be those who would need to hear the instructions again.
I for one am glad that we have a patient loving Father who will allow us to ask the same questions repeatedly, even when it seems ridiculous. He wants us to succeed in life, and He wants us to make heaven our home. He gives us chance after chance. He put a quota on forgiveness when the disciples asked how many times they should forgive, that was so superfluous and extra, that it is incumbent upon us to forgive others all day long, as he does us. Matthew 18:21-22 says, “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Let us also be patient and kind to others who are just not ‘getting it’ and need to hear certain instructions again. This may be the day it actually ‘clicks’ for them. On this subject, in 1 Thessalonians 4:9 Paul once again states, he is not going to repeat himself, “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” We know what to do, so instead of having to hash and rehash the same things over and over, let’s just be doers of the Word, building upon the foundation we already have.