Good Misconceptions

Misconceptions are never good. But there are some good misconceptions. That's not a riddle, although I can see how the phrase might be confusing, so allow me to clarify: it is quite common for people to have misconceptions about what it means to be "good," or for something, or someone, to be good.

Of course, there is the misconception that all "good" people are going to heaven. The most glaring problem here is that the Bible teaches otherwise; the Bible is clear that only those who are faithful and obedient to the Word of God will be saved. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'" (Mt. 7:21-23). Clearly, a lot of very good, moral, religious people will be lost for the simple reason that they failed to submit to the will of God; they settled for "human religion" rather than "biblical religion." 

The second problem with this misapplication of good is that the people that we call "good" are not really good. Just because YOU think that someone is a good person doesn't mean that God agrees with you. Paul says in Romans 3:12 and verse 23 that, "There is none who does good, no, not one...for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." We have all sinned, and sin is a very serious thing; it separates us from a holy and perfect God. So from God's perspective, none of us are truly good, or deserving of His grace. 

Another misapplication of the word good is to the singing that takes place in church worship. When someone says after church, "Boy, the singing sure was good this morning," what do they mean? Chances are, they're talking about the quality of the singing: how well everyone harmonized and how beautiful it was. You know what I'm talking about. Similarly, when someone is singing off-key, or the songs are pitched too low or too high, or the tempo is off...you won't find people saying that the singing was good.

Nowhere in the Bible are we told that our singing has to be beautiful, that we have to strive for perfect four-part harmony, that we have to get the tempo and pitch right, or that we have to sound like a professional choir or music group. Those are expectations that WE place upon OURSELVES. God's expectations are far different. In places like Ephesians 5:19, wer're told to "[speak] to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in [our] hearts to the Lord." Paul adds in 1 Corinthians 14:15 that we are to "sing with understanding." Other verses, such as Hebrews 2:12 and Hebrews 13:15 emphasize the importance of praising God with our voices.

So, according to GOD, what characterizes good singing? Here's a list that I've compiled based on the scriptures cited above:

• Paying attention to the words
• Understanding the words
• Singing with our brethren in mind; singing to teach and encourage others
• Focusing on God; worshiping in "spirit"

Everyone in church can be singing beautifully and with perfect harmony, and yet the singing can be awful on the basis that the singers are focused on the wrong things. Conversely, the church members can be off-key, off-tempo and off-pitch, and yet if they're paying attention to the words and singing with their whole hearts, their singing can rightly be called "good singing." I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with beautiful singing, or four-part harmony, just that those things have nothing to do with "good singing."

Finally, we hear the phrase "good preacher" from time to time. So and so is a "good preacher." Or, "that sure was a good sermon this morning." Again, what do most people mean when they use these kinds of expressions? Generally, we're talking about how dynamic the speaker was, how he kept everyone's attention, how he made the church members laugh or cry, or both. "Good preachers" use a lot of jokes and illustrations. They know how to raise and lower their voice at just the right times. They move around and gesture with their hands. These are things that "good preachers" do, right? These are the kinds of things you'll see/hear in a "good sermon," right?

Paul lays out the characteristics of a good preacher in 2 Timothy 4:2-5: "Preach the WORD! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." Hmmm. I didn't see anything in there about the importance of illustrations or the value of using humor to teach the gospel. Paul didn't chastize Timothy for not being dynamic enough, or for being too dry. This young evangelist was simply told to preach the truth and to never back down from the truth. Paul implies that a good preacher is going to occasionally offend some folks and that there will be people that will object and oppose from time to time. In short, good preaching is Bible preaching.

Apollos was an "eloquent" preacher (Acts 18:24), and yet he wasn't teaching the truth on baptism and had to be taked aside and corrected. On the other hand, there were those in the first century who said that the apostle Paul's bodily presence was weak and his speech "contemptible" (2 Cor. 10:10). Apollos' eloquence didn't make him a good preacher, and Paul's LACK of eloquence didn't make him a bad preacher.

Again, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with a dynamic preacher. That's not the point. The point is that we need to better understand and apply the term "good" to preachers and to sermons. A preacher may speak monotonously, he may never move out from behind the podium, he may not have very many illustrations or jokes in his lesson, but if he teaches the truth and imparts knowledge and encouragement to the listeners, he has done a good job.

So, like I said, there are a lot of good misconceptions out there. It is vitally important that we, as Christians, do not settle for human standards and definitions of what is or isn't "good." We need to think the way God wants us to think. We need to love what He loves. We need to live with HIS standards in mind.

Easier said than done, I know. But if we stay focused, and if we pray for the strength to "rightly divide" what is and isn't good, I'm confident that we'll do better.