The danger of an insufficient accuracy …

Some years ago, Pew Research conducted a massive study with church members and guests as to why people pick the specific local church they join or visit regularly.

What do you think the number one answer (at that time) was?

A whopping 83 percent said it was the quality of the preaching.

Thom Rainer, Founder and CEO of Church Answers, noted in a blog post of his at the time, “The primacy of the pulpit is the number one factor for those looking for a church home. These results are very similar to my research published in the book, Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, the demands on many pastors make it difficult for them to put the time they need in sermon preparation.”

People like an eloquent, dynamic, charismatic speaker!

Those qualities draw people like gnats drawn to a light.

They certainly drew people to a preacher named Apollos, who was a contemporary of the Apostle Paul. Let’s look at how scripture gives us a glimpse of the appeal, dynamism, and effectiveness of this preacher:

“Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism,” Acts 18:24-25.

Apollos had the appeal many people favor of being an eloquent and enthusiastic preacher, and pairing that with the notation that he knew the scriptures well, the combination of his charisma and knowledge enabled him to deliver an enticing message with accuracy.

But …

Yes, there’s a “but” to this.

Apollos preached with an insufficient accuracy. Let’s continue in scripture:

“Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately,” Acts 18:24-26.

Apollos “… had been taught the way of the Lord …” but only insofar as “… he knew only about John’s baptism.” This preacher was preaching accurately what he knew, the problem was that what he knew wasn’t enough! Fortunately, Priscilla and Aquila, who were co-workers of the Apostle Paul, took Apollos aside and “… explained the way of God even more accurately.”

They did this because there’s more to being a good preacher than just being eloquent and dynamic. There’s more to being a good teacher than just being enthusiastic and bold and accurate in what you’re saying … there’s being even more accurate.

A preacher can take just a slice of the Gospel, just one small portion, and preach “accurately” on it, but if it’s not the whole Gospel message then he’s delivering an insufficient accuracy.

Accuracy is vital, which is why it’s something people work so hard to achieve. This story, reported by Business Week in 1990, is an example of the pursuit of accuracy:

Time technicians at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (Formerly the National Bureau of Standards) set a new level of precision in 1949 by inventing the atomic clock. It counted the oscillations of the nitrogen atom in an ammonia molecule — and was reliable to within one second in three years.

More recently, NIST switched to an atomic clock based on the vibrations of cesium atoms. It will need 300,000 years to gain or lose a single second. But NIST scientists are working on a still-better model: a single mercury ion will be trapped in a vacuum by laser beams and cooled to its lowest possible energy level. The atom’s oscillations will then be so stable that the new timepiece should be accurate to within one second in 10 billion years–the total life span of stars similar to our sun.

A passionate pursuit for accuracy is necessary because accuracy really does matter, a point illustrated in this report from an unknown source:

“On Jan 25, 1990, Avianca Flight 52 from Colombia crashed just 15 miles short of New York’s Kennedy International Airport, killing 73 passengers. Reason: The plane just ran out of gas. Under international regulations, an airliner must carry enough fuel to reach its destination as well as its assigned alternate, plus enough extra to handle at least 45 minutes of delays. Due to low fuel condition, the Avianca pilots had requested “priority” (not “emergency”) landing. Because the exact word “emergency” was not used, and due to heavy traffic and bad weather conditions, the ill-fated plane was placed on a holding pattern … until it simply ran out of gas.”

It’s important to be accurate in most things, but when it comes to preaching and teaching the word of God, it’s vital to be equipped “even more accurately.”

Souls depend on it.

Scotty