Too Good…or For Sale?

Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is the Theology Central Podcast, making

Theology Central.

Good afternoon everyone, it is Thursday, March the 12th.

And that is the wrong date.

No, it's actually March the 12th, but I should have been giving this intro on March the 10th.

That's when I should have been giving this intro.

So it's the wrong date, but there was nothing I could do.

This is when I can broadcast, so I'm two days late, so I'll have to redo my intro for

it to all make sense.

But I will say good afternoon, welcome everyone.

It is Thursday, March the 12th, 2026.

It is currently 12.44 pm central time, and I'm coming to you live from Theology Central

Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

Now on Tuesday, March the 10th, that marked the anniversary, according to many sources.

Now it's somewhat disputed and somewhat debated, but from the best I can find, well at least

according to Spotify, I'm not saying they're the authoritative source, but if you look

for the specific album on Spotify, it states March the 10th, I believe, 1972 is the year,

1972 or 1973.

But it's the anniversary, according to some of an album that basically is seen as sparking

what would eventually become the entire contemporary Christian music industry.

And I did an entire episode about the album, about its significance, things about it, and

the name of that album is Love Story by the band Love Story.

Love Story by Love Story, all right?

Now, what began, if you go back to the origins here, what began in the early Jesus movement

as something that was very simple, something that felt very sincere, something that felt

very organic.

I mean, you just had young believers riding and singing songs about their faith.

That's how it started, right?

These young people just singing about their faith and the musical language that they

knew.

They knew this musical language, it's the world they came from and they just used that musical

language to sing about their new found faith, their belief in Jesus, how they understood

it, how they perceived it, how they wanted it to be, and let's be very, very honest.

When you look at some of that early music coming out of the Jesus movement, it was not

theologically profound in many cases, it was very simplistic, it was, it was more designed

for people to participate in, not just to consume, but to take the songs and sing the

songs, share the songs with others, and so there was a, it had a whole, a whole different

feeling and vibe.

Now, I am not going to say it was perfect because it wasn't, it was still being made

by sinners, right?

I mean, that's the one thing the church seems to forget.

I don't care which era of the church you go to.

I don't care.

Go to the 1500s, go to the 1200s, go to the 700s, it doesn't matter, 700 AD, 1200 AD, 1500

AD, or 1972, 1973, it doesn't matter where you go.

Whatever is happening in the church, whatever people are doing, whatever they are saying,

whatever movement is beginning, it's still made up of fleshly, sinful people.

And their lives are marked by that sin.

Now we love to tell the stories where we leave out all of the sinful part, we leave out

the failures, we leave out the struggles because we always want to make Christianity as, when

you become a Christian, you're now victorious and everything is perfect, but it's not.

It never has been, it never will be.

Every pastor is a fleshly human being who sins and struggles, the church is made up of

that.

So when you go back to the early Jesus movement, there is a organic, there's, there is a

purity in it from a human perspective, but if you go read all of the stories about many

of the artists, it's marked by scandal, divorce, marriages falling apart.

It's marked by sin and that should not be shocking.

That should not be surprising.

Whether someone is holding a guitar, singing about Jesus or whether someone is sitting

in a podcast studio talking into a microphone, you know what is true of both people?

The person holding a guitar or the person sitting in a studio talking into a microphone,

they are sinful, fleshly people and their lives are marked with it.

The thing is, the sinful, fleshly people have believed that the Bible is the word of

God and that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who came to die for our sins.

Now, I'm not excusing sin.

I'm just trying to speak of the reality of it.

I said a telling stories as if it's marked by people who are perfect because it's not.

So, but at the same time, this music that started off so simple, so organic, at least from

a human perspective so pure, I'm not saying from a theological perspective because it was

still made by sinners, well, it would eventually grow into a massive industry worth millions

upon millions of dollars.

What started as something that felt genuine slowly became something very structured, very

much branded, very much marketed and very much commercialized and monetized.

And that history makes the song I'm going to talk about in this episode, I think feels,

it feels strangely fitting and it kind of tells the other end of the story.

March the 10th is the anniversary of love story by love story.

That's the album that had nobody could have imagined what everything was about to become.

But you go from what 1972, you jump to 1982, you already see everything had changed dramatically.

Now we see structure, we see record labels, we see marketing, we see concerts, we see everything.

And then by the time you get to 1992, multi-million dollar industry, I mean, it's just crazy

all the things that happened, but sometimes we need to stop and look at what happened.

Not just with the contemporary Christian music industry, what happened to the church?

What happens when Christianity itself, not just music, but when Christianity itself becomes

marketed, structured, branded, commercialized and monetized?

Now here's what happened.

On March the 9th, I started thinking about the anniversary of love story by love story.

I started thinking about it.

So as I started thinking about it, I'm like, well, you know, let me dive in, see what's

going on in the contemporary Christian music world, right?

So I started looking at some of the streaming services, looking at the different playlists,

that somehow connected Christian music, everything from in B Christian music to alternative Christian

music, just looking around at all the different genres, the different playlists.

And then I stumbled upon something that takes me way back to the 1990s, something called

Radio U, Radio U, you can find RadioU.com, I believe, they have an app, they have basically

think of MTV, well, it's Radio U TV, which is basically like MTV was.

It's just music videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they throw in some music news,

they do some things like that.

So I just started looking into all of that going, okay, well, Radio U survived.

I didn't think that that would even be able to make it through all the changes that's

happened in the Christian music world.

And I can't believe Radio U TV is still alive.

So I was watching some of it just kind of keeping up with it.

And as I was just listening to different things, checking different playlists going, man,

Christian music world has gone through a lot of changes and there's been twists and turns

and a big evolution has happened, whether good or bad, I stumbled upon a song.

And the more I looked at the lyrics, the more I realized that, hey, this is not some lightweight

song.

This is not just another generic Christian single.

This is a song with a, I don't know, some teeth in it, I think there's a good way to

describe it.

It is sharp, it is somewhat uncomfortable depending maybe on your perspective.

It's somewhat satirical.

It's kind of got a sarcastic satirical, maybe a little cynical attitude about it.

It seems to be very self-aware of the reality that is happening around it.

And in my opinion, it's at least one of the most interesting Christian songs I've come

across in a long time.

Now, it's been a while since I've taken kind of a deep dive into the Christian music

world.

When I stumbled upon this one, I'm like, oh, this is pretty interesting.

And it would probably tick off some people, but I'm thinking, well, I see a podcast episode

in this all day.

So I started trying to put it all together.

Now, the song is entitled Too Good, T-O-O, Too Good by Gable Price and Friends.

I've never heard of Gable Price and Friends, I've never even heard of them, I'd never

heard the song too good.

I think what happened, if I'm trying to put this together and give you an accurate description,

I believe I was listening to Radio U, they played a song by Gable Price and Friends.

I'm like, oh, that's a pretty good song.

I went and tried to find it on a streaming service and ended up finding the song Too Good.

And I don't know what made me click on it, but I decided to click on it.

It started playing and I'm like, wow, this, whoa, this is interesting.

This is far more interesting than the song that I originally heard.

I don't even remember the name of the original song, but Too Good, it was released on February

the 13th, 2026.

So almost a month old, now that's almost, and sometimes in music, that's almost already

archaic, it's already, you know, everyone will already move on.

And the Christian music world, that's not really that old because, you know, there's

not as many releases in the Christian music world as they used to be.

If you go back to the 80s and the 90s, there were so many albums being released, it wasn't

even funny.

There's still a large number of things being released in the Christian music world,

the Christian music world now, for the most part, as far as the mainstream is concerned,

it just basically became all worship music, basically controlled by a few churches.

Bethel, Passion, Evolution Church, Elevation Church, not Evolution, Elevation Church, what's

the other?

Hillsong, there's like four or five, basically it just became basically about that.

And underneath the surface of that, there's all these interesting things happening, I think

you can call them interesting in the Christian music world because of streaming, right?

Now artists can kind of bypass the whole record industry, they're not necessarily controlled

by what that the Christian music industry would want, and then they can just upload it

to streaming services.

The problem is, are you ever going to find it, right?

You're going to be almost impossible to find, unless, I mean, you're going to have to

stumble upon it.

Now things like Radio U, which is very famous for kind of pushing the envelope of maybe

what is even considered Christian, they're going to be playing the more indie bands and

playing genres of music that maybe many people would not like, Alt Rock, indie rock, very

hard, heavy metal type kind of music, rap, EDM, they're going to really be pushing the

boundary there.

Like many Christians would hear Radio U and immediately throw it into the pit of hell

and throw it aside, but it always kind of appealed to those who were looking for something

other than your typically sounding Christian music.

This is the music that doesn't sound typically Christian and they play bands who can also

be very critical of what's going on in the Christian world itself.

So they have kind of a, they've always kind of had a very small audience because they're

doing something that would be almost rejected by many within the church, but yet it's

two Christian from people in the world to like.

So I don't even know how they've survived.

So two good kind of falls right there in that world that, you know, it's going to be challenging

a lot of what's going on in the Christian world.

But that's ultimately how I've stumbled upon the song, all right?

And I felt that the song, I think on the surface, if you listen to Too Good by Gable

Prize, I think if you just hear the title, Too Good, and you know it's a Christian song,

you're going to be like, Oh, they're going to be telling me that God is too good.

He's too wonderful, right?

I think in, if you just look at the title or if you even hear the chorus just by itself,

you may assume that, Hey, this is a, it's a simple worship song about the goodness of

God.

And I think in one sense, there is a little of that going on.

But in another sense, it's doing something far more interesting than I think the, it's

doing something far more interesting that I think is worth our time to consider and try

to unpack and try to take apart because it's using the language of worship.

But at the exact same time, it's using the language of worship, which is very much the

language of most of contemporary Christian music today, which is basically worship music,

controlled by a handful of churches, all right?

We could get into a whole discussion about how that all came to be and the good and the

bad of that.

But it's using the language of worship, which fit makes sense.

But at the exact same time, the song is exposing the machinery, the system, the culture.

Maybe it's even exposing a little bit of the human heart.

It's exposing the human heart that turn Christianity into something that's transactional, something

that's marketable, something that is performative, something that is useful.

So it's using the language of worship, but trying to expose how the Christianity has become

this transactional, marketable, performative, and useful tool, product.

And I'm like, wow, that fits a lot of things I've said on this podcast over the years.

So then that really got my attention.

So I think immediately it's worth discussing, it's worth an entire podcast episode

about, right?

Because I will say it this way.

It's not, I think in a sense, this is not merely a song about saying, God is good.

I think this is a song asking, now this is important, whether the church, the church Christianity

at large, has it turned the goodness of God into a commodity?

Has the church turned the goodness of God into a commodity into a product?

Have we packaged it?

Have we sold it?

Have we reduced it?

Have we built an entire culture that speaks of grace while functioning like retail,

like branding, like image management, subscription access, and live entertainment?

I mean, those are some questions I think we have to consider, has the church done that?

And I think it has.

Think about, has the church turned the goodness of God into a commodity?

Has it packaged the goodness of God?

Has it tried to sell the goodness of God?

Has it reduced the goodness of God, again, to just a product to a commodity?

Has it built an entire culture that speaks of grace, but it functions like retail?

We've got branding, we've got image management, we have subscription access, we have live

entertainment.

So you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I always do, we're going to slow

down, we're going to work through the song carefully, I'm going to try to walk through

the lyrics, I'm going to try to build, I'm going to, I am going to, I am going to spend

an entire section of this episode looking at the three, I think there's three ways in

which this song can be interpreted.

I think there's three separate ways in which they can be interpreted.

You can choose which way you, you hear it.

And then I'm going to ask, why can we actually take away from the song?

And then I'm going to try to end hopefully with a strong conclusion because I think the

song deserves more than a quick reaction.

I think it deserves some reflection.

Now, again, this was designed to be done on March the 10th on the anniversary of Love

Story by Love Story because that's the album that ultimately created the contemporary

Christian music industry.

I think it was perfect to then jump from what, 1972 to 2026 and go, what has happened

in that time?

What has happened not only to the contemporary Christian music industry, to the church

at large, to how the, what has happened to Christianity at large?

Now some of you have been around and alive during this time period, you've seen things

yourself.

So does the song describe it accurately or not?

Now, let me make it very clear.

As we walk through these lyrics, I did three write-ups on how I wanted to do this, right?

On one, I was just going to kind of read the lyrics and then kind of do, just kind of summarize

everything.

Then I did kind of a, almost line by line.

I did it a lot of different ways and then after I, then when I realized I could not record

and then another day I couldn't record, then I kind of threw all of that out, started

over.

So you're going to hear a little bit of different approaches to how I walk through the song.

So it may feel like, well, you should have done it this way, you should have done it

this way.

I'll be more than happy to acknowledge I probably should have structured this a little

bit different.

But after a while, I was like, you know what?

This reflects all of my thoughts and all of my feelings as I kept listening to the song.

So instead of trying to make this perfect and structured, I'm just going to try to be

very real and organic.

These are feelings and thoughts I had while listening and then listening again and then

listening again and then listening again.

So hopefully it will capture that.

It's not, it's supposed to be like, you came over.

We sat down, I'm like, I'm listening to music, you're like, great, I'll listen with you.

We hit play and then we stop at some.

We let it play all the way through.

We started over and we talk and we talk and we talk and we talk and we talk and we talk

and we talk and we go back and forth, back and forth and finally, you're like, shut up.

I'm going home.

I didn't come over here.

Okay.

What?

So you may, you may tell me this shut up halfway through.

That's okay.

But I'm going to, I'm going to talk about everything because I think this deals with so many issues.

So are you ready?

Here is verse one of two good by Gable price and friends.

Look it up on your favorite music streaming service.

Now.

All right.

Did you see it?

Have you found it?

All right.

Too good.

Well, I don't know.

Some of the streaming services do not have the lyrics.

I had to go do some searching.

So these are the lyrics that I found that I think are the most accurate.

All right.

I hope so.

If I get anything wrong, someone out there will correct me.

All right.

So here we go.

Here is verse one.

Get your Sunday stop.

As soon as I get your Sunday stop, well, that's interesting.

That's kind of like very like.

So church is just your Sunday stop.

Like you, you get your Monday stop at Starbucks, you get your Tuesday stop at McDonald's to

get a McChicken.

Like, you know, you get your Wednesday stop to get a burger from Wendy's and it's like,

get your Sunday stop.

It's, it's church just become a, okay, I'm, see, I'm already going to start interpreting

lyrics.

Get your Sunday stop.

One way exit through the gift shop.

Wooden sweatshop cross.

Bible with an eagle on top.

I was lost, but now I'm found 10% off leather bound.

Top tap to pay for holy ground.

Least the kingdom.

Keep the crown.

I mean, come on.

Come on.

As soon as I heard that verse, I'm like, whoa, okay, I'm not in Kansas anymore.

Okay, this is, this is Christian music talking about the Christian world.

All right.

So let me listen, just listen to that again.

Oh, I could, I could break down every one of these lines, all right?

Get your Sunday stop.

One way exit through the gift shop.

Wooden sweatshop cross.

Bible with an eagle on top.

I was lost, but now I'm found 10% off leather bound.

Tap to pay for holy ground.

Least the kingdom.

Keep the crown.

I mean, come on.

That's some good stuff.

All done in the verse of just, I mean, I know you could go through that quickly, but if

you start breaking this down, so the song begins, and I'm just going to go through all of

my notes and just talk about all of it, okay?

So the song begins with language that immediately, I mean, you have to see it.

It immediately frames the entire experience of church and the terms of a consumer as if

you are a customer coming into a business.

Get your Sunday stop.

Right?

Hey, this is where you need to stop on Sundays and then look at everything.

One way exit through the gift shop.

Wooden, wooden sweatshop cross.

Bible with an eagle on top.

I was lost, but now I'm found 10% off leather bound.

I mean, all of that is the language of a consumer.

The opening phrase right there, get your Sunday stop.

It's presenting Sunday.

It's like an errand.

It's your Sunday experience.

It's an errand.

It's a routine stop.

It's something that has just worked into the flow of your weekend schedule.

Okay.

Hey, Sunday is church.

And to me, that alone says a lot and it's very difficult for us not to just start seeing

it that way.

See, churches, and this is just true of all of us.

This is just not true of what has happened to Christianity.

This is true of the human heart.

It's very, it's very possible for all of us that churches no longer, you know, being,

we no longer speak of church necessarily with the language of reverence, of with all

or with worship or with repentance or with covenant or with divine encounter.

It's introduced.

I mean, come on.

I mean, it has a stop.

It's a destination.

It's somewhere we have to go.

You may see it as a requirement.

It's like, okay, I got to go, I mean, my spiritual life is important to me.

I need to go.

It's like going to the gym.

You may not want to go.

You may feel like you have to go.

You may feel like you need to go.

Sometimes we go to church because it's like, well, I don't want to feel guilty.

I don't want to feel like, I'm going to go.

I'm going to get my Sunday stop in.

It's like, this is where I'm supposed to go.

This is what I'm supposed to do because I think it's important, the song, I think in

a sense, I know it says, get your Sunday stop, but it's not, oh, it's not, the song is

not opening in the sanctuary.

It's really about the culture surrounding the sanctuary, right?

It's not about the sanctuary in God.

It's describing everything in Sunday and consumer terms because of the culture that

is, how can we say it, has overcome the church itself.

And then immediately, right after that line, it moves, I think into some of the strongest

images in the entire song, right?

Look at the, immediately after that, get your Sunday stop, one way exit through the

gift shop.

I mean, come on, I mean, come on, the entire, the idea of the exit leading through the

gift shop, that's a, that's a loaded image because it turns the religious experience into

something resembling a tourist attraction or a branded destination.

You come, you experience the environment and then on your way out, you're going to be

sent through the place where you can get you some merch.

You can get you some merchandise, go through the gift shop right here in Abelene, Texas.

There's a place called Frontier, Texas, really awesome museum that talks a lot about the

area and all the things that happen with the Native American tribes and just everything.

I really do love it, but when you go through the entire Frontier, Texas museum, if you're

ever in Abelene, Texas, you should check it out.

So when the doors finally open and you leave, all the interactive experience of the museum,

where do you end up in?

You end up right there in the gift shop.

That's where you end up.

Many of the places in Salem, when you go through whatever it is about the Salem witch trials,

when the door is open, there's a gift shop right there, okay, and I understand that.

I know why because you know, they're trying to make money, but the church having bookstores

and stores inside where you can buy some merch, churches that sell merch, I mean, Christian

podcasters sell merch, get our shirt, get our hat, you know, and we've talked about some

of these mega churches and they sell, you know, and some of these Christian podcasters,

$25 for a shirt.

I mean, should I be selling theology central shirts?

Get your theology central merch right now, as a podcaster, it seems to make more sense

because I'm a podcaster, I'm not connected to a church, I'm just a podcaster, but when

churches start selling merch, I don't know, now it's becoming a product.

So yeah, I mean, right there, it's already, so, and I think this image works because it's

recognizable.

I mean, we all know this, I mean, I just gave you some examples, it feels like a theme

park, it feels like a museum, it feels like a conference, even Christian conferences

do this, check out all of the exhibit tables downstairs, even many, many Christian conferences

inside of church.

Up front, I'll have my book table, make sure you stop and get all of my books.

It's a church has become a branded event, and I think the problem should be obvious.

And the Christian experience becomes tightly joined to products, to labels, to promotions,

to curate identity.

Then the line between faith and consumer begins to disappear.

Is it faith?

Is it culture?

Is it a product?

Is it marketing?

I mean, right there, it's all right.

I mean, I could spend hours talking about just those first couple of lines, but I think

the next, if we look at it, so get your Sunday stop.

One way exit through the gift shop, wooden sweatshop cross, whoa, that's, that's pretty

lay, that's pretty, uh, that's pretty powerful, all right.

And so the song continues going in the same direction.

It references objects associated with Christianity, but not in a way that emphasizes their spiritual

meaning.

So the focus is on their production, sweatshop, on their presentation, an eagle on top,

their cell, and that matters.

The song is not saying that the symbols are meaningless.

It is suggesting that the symbols can be absorbed, overcome, can, um, captured in a commercial

system.

There's nothing wrong with a cross, but now it's a wooden sweatshop cross.

There's nothing wrong with the Bible.

Do we need to put an eagle on top?

Do we need to put an American flag on it?

Do we need to call it the Trump Bible?

See, that's when things become problem.

And I think to me, at least for me, I feel like it's a devastating critique because Christianity

has, in a sense, always had a material culture around it.

Books, art, crosses, music, liturgy, architecture.

So the, in some ways, that's not new.

The song, I think, appears to be criticizing how these things can become detached from

worship and absorbed into branding, status, market, identity, and image.

I think it was at what 28, 19 church, I believe it was 28, 19 church.

We talked about all of the branding.

One of the pastors was at some conference recently.

There's a lot of YouTube videos going, man, this is a man of God.

He's anointed.

He's letting the church have it.

We reviewed some of that mess from that church, right?

One of the, what, number one podcast at one point, I haven't been keeping up with it,

but it's like, it's the church getting all the buzz now, right?

A lot of the other churches have kind of moved on, but this is the new one.

And so he's at the conference.

He's preaching.

A 28, a 28, 19 hoodie.

Now, come on, you're preaching and you're wearing the merch of your church.

Oh, but, but no, he's anointed and he's preaching the Word of God while he's promoting his

merch.

There's no way to get around it.

And professional wrestling, it became a thing and professional wrestling that wrestlers

would wear their shirt out to the ring because that shows everyone, look at that shirt.

Where can I get that?

Well, there's a, there's a merch table right outside the arena, right there in the, you

know, and when you, in the entrance way, go get your shirt now and I don't even have

to say anything.

They just wear it.

So when a pastor's wearing the merch that they're selling, I mean, come on now.

Come on.

Right?

And in that case, what's got 28, 19, Matthew 20, I think it's a Matthew 28, 19 is what

they use.

Hang on, let me look at it really quick.

I think it's 28, 19.

I did a number of episodes on it.

I just don't want to misrepresent the number.

Yeah, 28, 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations.

There's nothing wrong with 28, 19.

There's nothing wrong with it.

But it's the, I did that you've turned Matthew 28, 19 now into merch that you can sell.

Even though you're already a massive church bringing in millions of dollars and it's 28,

19, should it be turned into merch?

I don't think the song and you can correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think it's the song is concerned that that Christian things are being sold.

I think the concern is that the Christian meaning is being flattened into Christian merchandise

that sooner or later when you turn it into merchandise, the meaning gets lost and it

just becomes merchandise.

At least I think that that's a concern, all right?

So then look what the song does.

Let me go back here.

Let me read it all again, the lyrics to you again.

Again, I was going to break these down so many different ways like a, but yeah, here

we go.

Get your Sunday stop.

I'm going to get into all of the weeds of how I try to put this together and how I

did it different ways, but we'll just work through it.

So get your Sunday stop.

One way exit through the gift shop would in sweatshop cross Bible with an eagle on top

and then here's the powerful line.

I was lost, but now I'm found 10% off leather bound, I mean, come on, come on.

What is the song doing is taking one of the most recognizable Christian ideas being

lost and found and it's placing it right next to the language of sell and promotion.

You've got to see the way they're putting them next to each other.

To me, it's brilliant, it's brutal.

It's a statement associated with conversion, it's a statement associated with grace.

I was lost and now I'm found with rescue and immediately it's set beside the logic

of 10% off leather bound.

I was lost and now I'm found and now I want 10% off the leather bound copy of the word

of God.

See, when you get converted, do you get converted to be a follower of Christ or do you

just become converted to now become a consumer of Jesus' merch?

Does conversion, is it about you being a Christian in a follower of Christ or is the conversion

that now you're there to sit in the pew so that you'll give money to keep the church

industry going?

You'll buy the books, you'll buy the music, you'll go to the conferences, you'll buy

the merch.

Do you get converted because people care about your soul or do you get converted because

now you can show up to church which increases the attendance numbers that we're going to

report back to the denomination and because you now start may giving 10% and you may buy

some merch.

Does every Christian now just a potential consumer, giver, financial supporter?

To me, I think the contrast there, I was lost and now I'm found 10% off leather bound.

I think it's forcing the listener to feel the absurdity, right?

There is an absurd thing about the two worlds touching each other.

I was lost and now I'm found that's saying so pure, so genuine, but now 10% off leather

bound.

It's hard to put those two worlds together and not feel some absurdity about it.

The song is saying in effect, look, look at what we've done, some of the most sacred

words in the Christian tradition.

I was lost and now I'm found, sits now very comfortable beside cell language, product

language, curated market appeal and whether one thinks that's entirely fair or not, you

can't, well first you can't deny how effective it is in the song.

It's very effective in the song, but you cannot deny that it is a little uncomfortable.

So here that in many of these conferences, you pay $100 to get into the conference already

that turns the preaching of God's word into a merchandise that you're paying simply

to hear it preached and then almost inevitably one of the speakers will say, check out my

book at being sold in the exhibit hall, check out my book almost inevitably in my book,

in my book, in my book, in my book and it's like, okay, so I pay $100 to hear you preach

and now what you're doing, you're sending me to the book table where I can pay $25 to

get the book and nobody in Christianity goes, what has happened to this thing?

What has happened?

It's industry, it's merch, it's products and we don't even care if the cross was created

in a sweatshop, we don't even care if the Bible was created in a sweatshop.

We don't even know where the shirts were found or are made.

Now I know it's very difficult to go and most Bibles, someone emails me a lot and he

will point out how many Bibles are made in China, how many Bibles are made in China,

how many Bibles are made in China.

I don't know where this one is currently made, yeah, right here.

I don't even know where, when I got this one, this is from Tendell, that's a very well-known

name, printed in China, printed in China, was it printed in a sweatshop?

I don't know, who was the workers?

I don't know, and why am I giving money to come in as China so that I can read the word

of God?

Now, when I get ready to buy a Bible, I mean I could sit there and try to do research

where was this printed, where was this printed, but isn't that crazy that the word of God

is being printed in an atheistic society, isn't that crazy?

Hey, and you say, well, what should we do?

Well, most likely if it was printed in America, that Bible right here would probably cost

me probably $20, $30 more, am I willing to pay for it?

This one printed in China, all right, so those two printed in China, hang on, let me look

down here, I got Bibles everywhere, I got so many Bibles, it's not even funny, well,

this was printed in India, all right, hang on, how about this one?

I got Bibles everywhere, this one printed in China, it's almost all of them are printed

in China, we don't care, and on one hand, I want to make it very clear, I want to make

it very clear, it's the merchandising of it all that should bother us, first of all,

that's the main thing, where it's printed, I don't know if it should bother us or not,

and I'm saying that in this sense, how much researcher are you going to do, are you

going to even be able to find one?

I don't know, I've got other Bibles over there, I have to leave the microphone to go get

them, but look for yourself, look for yourself, I don't know what the answers are in some

of these cases, but the point is, everything sacred about Christianity that was lost and

now I'm found, God is holy, the Trinity, what if it turns into, buy my book on the Trinity,

buy my book on the holiness of God, get RC Sproul's book on the holiness of God right

now for 1999, hey, there's going to be a conference on the love of God, this conference

will change your life, get early registration, $150, I'm in fact, I just got an email the

other day from some ministry, early registration, $189, so I can get into a conference to hear

someone preach the Word of God, so what am I paying $189 for, they've turned the preaching

of God's Word into a product in which I pay for, now it's just crazy, now that it takes

a contemporary Christian music song to criticize it because the church itself will not criticize

this, the church is so much a part of the industrial complex, it no longer will reject it and

fight against it, it's in it, it makes money from it, it props it up, so thank goodness

it's some Christian alt band who's criticizing it, but see their criticism will just be rejected

by the churches, well they're not very godly, listen to the music they play, well congratulations,

you're so worried about the sound of the music that you won't hear the words that are being

said, the song, let me go back and read the whole verse again, what we're not going to

even get through the first verse, the first verse could keep us here for a month, get

your Sunday stop or stop, I want to say get your Sunday slop, it's what I want is, I want

to change the words, okay, a lot of what you get in church on Sunday is simply slop,

but okay, get your Sunday stop, one way exit through the gift shop, wooden sweatshop cross,

Bible with an eagle on top, I was lost, but now I'm found 10% off leather bound, tap to

pay for a holy ground, lease the kingdom, keep the crown, wow, man that, all right, now I'd

almost turn into kind of this transactional holiness, right, the song shifts to the language

of payment, all right, and I think this is where the critique becomes maybe even more pointed.

The issue is no longer just the product, it's no longer just the merchandise.

The issue becomes transaction itself, holiness, sacred space, religious experience, spiritual

access, all of it is now wrapped in the logic of payment, and I think maybe this is where

the song becomes dangerous, but in the best possible sense, because the critique is not

merely external, it's just, it's not just saying churches sell things, and since it's asking,

have we trained ourselves, has the church, has Christianity trained itself to think of

spiritual life in a transactional way, do I give an order to receive, I mean, come on,

the church has been, about giving to the church has been sold that way from, you give

because of what you get, if you give, God's going to get back, if you give, God will

bless you, if you don't give, you'll be cursed.

Do I support the entire industrial church complex so that you belong?

Do you participate in order to gain access?

Do you think in terms of exchange when it comes to God?

And I think the lyrics are sharp because I don't, is it even exact, and some ways I wanted

to say it's exaggeration with truth inside, I don't know, it may be so much truth that

there's not even room for exaggeration, I don't know.

And then, I think that last line there, that last line there is the idea of, if you go

back to the verse, tap to pay for holy ground, lease the kingdom, keep the crown, lease the

kingdom, keep the crown, that's, I think that becomes even, now it's the idea of suggesting

possession of authority without really surrendering.

You get kingdom language, but without kingdom reality.

It almost hints at the possibility that an institution like the church can speak the

language of Christ reigning, but while operating as systems of control, systems of preservation,

systems of image, systems of influence.

It raises the possibility that the crown, the crown itself is kept, while the kingdom

is simply rented out.

The kingdom is rented out, it's leveraged, it's packaged, it's monetized, right, I mean,

look at that again, look at that verse again, lease the kingdom, keep the crown, I want

the crown, I want that, but I'm just going to lease the kingdom, very, I mean, very

sarcastic, very, I mean, we could talk about that line forever, I mean, we really could,

I mean, come on, there's a lot, there's a lot going on here, okay, there's so much

I could say.

It almost hints at leaders, systems, platforms, institutions, they benefit, think of it

this way.

The leaders, the church, the platform, the institution, the conference, whatever, they

all benefit from the language of God by using that language, they benefit, but while preserving

their status, preserving their prestige, preserving their control, and let me make it very clear,

this song is not giving us any new criticism.

This has been criticized throughout church history, but it feels very current because

it's wrapped up in a very catchy song.

I mean, that first verse is so, it's so powerful, it really is, in fact, let me do this,

I'm going to, I'm going to grab, give me one second, I want to pull up, I'm going

to pull up the entire rest of the song here, because it's so, it is so powerful here,

all right, so we, now listen here, so get your Sunday stop, one way exit through the

gift shop, wouldn't sweat shop cross, Bible with an eagle on top, I was lost, but now

I'm found 10% off leather bound, tap to pay for holy ground, lease the kingdom, keep

the crown, and then we get to the pre-chorus.

And then there's, it's, it's these questions, all right, are you ready?

Here we go, listen to these questions.

Is this what you expected?

Is this what you deserve?

Subscription paid confessional?

Oh no.

Is this what you expected?

Is this what you deserve?

Subscription paid confessional?

Oh no.

Right now, the pre-chorus turns into these kind of questions here that I think are very,

very important, very important, all right, because the question start arriving, and I mean,

is this really what we, was expected?

Is this really what was deserved?

I think the song pauses here to kind of ask whether, whether what Christianity has become,

right?

What Christianity has taken, is it actually worth, is it actually worthy of the God it claims

to represent?

God is this, and it's God, God is this what, and of course, God knows everything, but

it's saying it, is this what God expected?

Is this what God deserves?

But what church has become, we talk about God, and such lofty language, but everything

we do, is God, we only speak of God in lofty language because he becomes a product in which

we sell, because we've monetized him, we use him to build our little kingdoms, to build

our little institution, and to sell a whole lot of merch.

See, at this point the song, at least in the pre-course, it's no longer mocking, it's

almost like it's grieving, it's disappointed, it's disillusionment, that it goes from satire

to almost a pain or a discouragement.

And then, so it asks those questions, and then it comes to the idea of a paid subscription

like confessional, because it captures the, this captures like the modern digital, digital

age, right?

It evokes paid access, exclusive content, monetized guidance, premium spirituality, ongoing

billing for what should be sacred, communal, and free.

And you watch Sermon Audio, watch some of the webcast, it'll show up on their little

screen, hey, you can give, you know, basically direct deposit taken out so that your tides

will be taken every single week.

Sign up for direct deposit, never miss giving, we'll make sure we take that 10% right out

of your pay, sign up for monthly giving, don't ever miss, and you can do it all transactionally,

you can do it all digitally, I'm not saying necessarily it's bad, but it turns everything

and sign up for Christianity plus, get your monthly subscription in.

Now I understand monthly giving is critical to the survival of a church.

I know that monthly giving is critical to the survival of a podcast, monthly, monthly

subscription fee is critical for the survival of Sermon Audio.

I understand that, but it's very difficult sometimes to see how it all starts turning

in to an industry and a business.

It's very difficult and how to manage that and it's something we should all struggle

again with, all right?

And I think I want to make this point, or at least I want to try to get this across.

I'm not arguing that pastor should starve, or that Christian creator should never be supported.

I'm not saying that.

I mean, even me as a podcaster, I mean, we have a donate tab, so I understand that.

I think what I'm trying to, trying to get across is that that which is spiritual,

that which is scriptural, that which is godly, can begin to look and feel like a subscription

ecosystem, right?

And I think something goes very wrong with the way at all how it shifts and what it turns

in to, right?

Then we kind of go to the course here, right, of the song, or we have the pre-course, and

then the course is, here we go, I'm going to read the pre-course to you, is this what

you expected?

I think it's asking that of God.

And is this what you expected?

Did you expect the church to turn into, again, get your Sunday stop, one way exit through

the gift shop, wooden sweatshop cross, Bible with an eagle on top, I was lost.

Now I'm found 10% off leather bound, tap to pay for holy ground, least the kingdom, keep

the crown.

Is that what God expected?

I think we can all go, it asks the question, it doesn't necessarily give the answer.

It's just like, is this what you expected?

Is this what God deserves?

Does God deserve that, we've turned it into a subscription paid confessional?

And then it says, oh no, I guess it does give an answer.

Oh no, it's like, how did we get here?

We should have never gotten here in any way, shape or form.

And I think, and then it goes to the course, you're just too good.

You're just too good, you're just too good, you're too good, you're too good.

Now it kind of, it kind of turns into, not an ad is playing on the iPad.

Now it's getting into, God, you're too good for this, it is almost now it kind of enters

in, almost like a worship course, God, you're too good.

You're too good for Christianity to have, to have devolved, disintegrated, turn into

this transactional business, industrial complex, you're too good for this.

It does almost now enter into the language of worship, which I think is very, very powerful

at that point, all right?

And I think it's something that we have to consider.

And the course itself, I mean, it's almost a childlike and it's simplicity.

It just repeats, you're just too good, you're just too good.

And I think in some way it makes it effective.

Sometimes I would not like such a simple course and the repetitiveness, but I think after

all of the complexity, after all of the critique, after all of the sarcasm, after all of

that loaded imagery, they strip the course down and it's almost disarming, it's almost

in a disarming, it kind of disarms you, it's so direct.

And I think the simplicity does at least three things, that I think that the simplicity

of the course does three things.

It creates a contrast, the world around God is noisy, it's manipulative, it's commercial,

but the truth about God, there should be some simplicity about the truth about God, right?

God is holy, God is love, God is good, God is just too good for all of this.

So I think it's supposed to create contrast, I think it's supposed to create, maybe, now

this is interesting, is it possible?

And I struggle with this one and you'll have to draw your own conclusions here because

this one is me speculating.

Does the course though, because it's so simple, is it ambiguous in a little bit?

Does it create ambiguity a little bit?

Because I almost, when I listen to the course, are they being sincere, are they being sarcastic?

You're just too good, you're just too good, is that the church saying, God, you're just

too good for us while we go around and we say God is too good, but in reality, he's

just the product we're selling.

So we got to, we got to make sure we praise him so that he looks like the product everyone

should want, right?

Is it being a little sarcastic there?

I don't know.

So I think it creates a little contrast, it does create a little bit of ambiguity so

that I don't know for sure how sincere the course should be sung, but I think it also

exposes how thin our religious language can become.

God is good, that is true, but he can become just a slogan.

So I think it forcing us to ask, when I say God is good, do I really mean it?

Or am I just repeating a phrase that's going to end up on a t-shirt that's going to end

up the catch phrase from my podcast, that's going to end up the cool little name for

the youth group, or the name for our next conference, two good, God is too good.

Now pay $189 to hear the conference.

I will have some two good coffee cups, two good pins, two good, you know, because that's

what everything turns into.

If anything in Christianity becomes big enough and popular enough, they're going to sell

merch around it.

Doesn't matter what the book is, it doesn't matter who, it doesn't matter if it's R.C.

Sproul, John MacArthur, doesn't matter, it can be Jonathan Edwards or Charles Hathen

Spurgeon.

If they can turn it into merchandise, they're going to sell everything they can with the

phrase or idea on it.

So the course really has a powerful effect.

Let me read the, I'm going to read everything again here, I'm going to go through the whole

thing.

All right, here we go.

Get your Sunday stop, one way exit through the gift shop, wooden sweatshop cross, Bible

with an eagle on top.

I was lost, but now I'm found 10% off leather bat, tap to pay for holy ground, lease the

kingdom, keep the crown.

Is this what you expected?

Is this what you deserve?

Subscription paid, confessional, oh no, you're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're too good.

Such a simple course, almost childlike, but I think it's doing three things there, or

at least three possible things, all right?

Now this should bring us to a believe verse two, all right?

I believe this should bring us to verse two and then we can really start, well yeah, we'll

just read, I'll read all of verse two, okay, I'll read all of verse two.

Here we go.

Here is verse two, if I can find it.

Here we go.

All right, the website that I'm using to look at the lyrics keeps refreshing about every

five seconds, okay?

And then it wants to play ads and it's doing like a million things, all right?

Here we go.

Here's verse two.

I hear your mercy flows as deep as both my pockets go, unrelenting growth, fill the

seats, enjoy the show.

I was lost, but now I've found the top three secrets for revival.

Draw me in and shake me down, sell me a sequel to the Bible.

I hear your mercy flows as deep as both my pockets go, unrelenting growth, fill the seats

and enjoy the show.

I was lost, but now I've found the top three secrets for revival.

Draw me in and shake me down, sell me a sequel to the Bible.

Now it's right back to very much to the sarcasm and to the critique and to the criticism,

all right?

And in some ways, maybe the second verse is even stronger than the first.

We could have a discussion about that.

I think the first hit you so hard because it's the first thing you hear.

By the time you get to the second verse, you're kind of like I'm expecting more critique,

more sarcasm, so maybe it's not as powerful, but those are some very strong, some strong

language here, all right?

Because it's now going to take the critique, I think it takes the critique from merchandise

to theology.

Now it connects the reception of divine mercy with your financial capacity.

It presents a world in which your spiritual experience seems to be deepened according

to what you can contribute.

And I'm going to, and this is where I'm going to go off on the conference, industrial

complex.

That's what the conferences do.

Come to this conference and it will transform your life.

Come to this conference, it will change you.

It will make you holy.

It will help you have breakthrough and save you from pornography and save your marriage

you need this conference.

It will revive you.

It will be the best thing that will happen to you in all of 2026, but you can only get access

if you give me $226.

But early sun up, you can get a discount for $189.

I mean, you need to hear these men of God.

They will change your life.

But if you're going to change people's life, why aren't you charging them $189 or $249

to get inside your stupid conference so that you can sell God and sell the word that

you're preaching and the church continues to sign up for these conferences.

And yet they scream, we hate the celebrity, the celebrity pastor.

No, you don't.

You just hate the celebrity pastors you don't like.

But you support the celebrity pastors that are on your theological team and they're selling

you God.

It's like you've got to pay to get access to the thing that supposedly will change your

life.

Look on the back of many Christian books.

This book will transform you.

It will change your devotional life.

It will change your life.

Well, if it's going to change my life, why aren't you charging me $199 to get access for

my life to be changed?

If you really wanted to do ministry, why wouldn't you be giving it away so that everyone's

life could be changed, everyone could be transformed.

There would be no more divorce, no more watching a porn, no more adultery, no more anything.

Because you don't care if anybody gets fixed, you just want your $1999.

And why do Christian podcasters put episodes behind a paywall or sell access to them?

You can ask me three questions if you pay $1999 to become a reformer.

And the Christian world has so, because we've been so trained by the commercialized culture

that when the church adopts the same culture, we just go along with it and we're just consumers.

Now giving more money, not only to the water we do in the culture, but now what we do

in the church and the church and everyone in the church goes along with it.

Thank goodness.

A Christian alt band is like, hey, does anyone not see what's going on here?

How can I say it this way?

This may be one of the darkest accusations in the entire song.

It's not merely saying churches ask for money.

It's almost accusing the church of suggesting that at least some religious systems create

the perception that grace flows or spiritual success flows from the proportion to your

financial investment.

So whether that's intended or not, you have, I think some of you have to recognize exactly

that.

That's what the song is pointing to and that's what the church does.

It's pointing to the emotional economy of modern religion or modern day Christianity where

your support, giving, platform loyalty and ministry participation is tied to your acceptance,

to your access, to your spiritual success, maybe even your spiritual legitimacy.

So the song moves into the language of filled seats, a spectacle.

Now, see, the problem is not just the money now, it just because it becomes a performance.

The church gathering is a show.

The emphasis is on attendance.

The emphasis is on growth.

It's on image.

It's on the presentation.

And these lyrics work because it's touching reality.

It's today or structured around production values, atmosphere, emotional flow, audience,

retention, experience, design.

Now the song is not denying anything about God.

It's critiquing what this culture has become.

As the way the church started to function, is it reshaping the way people think about

church?

And I think it has because the people have accepted it.

And then we have that line about revival secrets.

Let me read all of verse two again.

Let me read all of verse two again.

I hear your mercy flows as deep as both my pockets go.

Unrelenting growth filled the seats and joy the show.

I was lost, but now I'm found using that phrase again.

But what?

I was lost, but now I found the top three secrets for revival.

Draw me in and shake me down.

I mean, come on.

Now it's really getting critical, and it's really, I mean, now we get this lyric about

revival secrets, right?

And to me, this line is devastating because it captures, I think something deeply familiar

to any of us who are familiar with modern day Christianity.

It's the endless production of techniques, the endless production of systems, the endless

production of methods, the endless production of strategic formulas, promising you spiritual

breakthrough, promising you church growth, promising you revival, promising you renewal.

You get three keys, seven habits, five steps, one hidden principle, the strategy that will

change everything.

The song exposes that entire mindset.

Revival is something that is marketed rather than something sovereignly given.

The Christian life becomes a project of how to optimize, how to optimize, how to level

up.

Ministry is nothing more than a stupid technique you pay money to learn.

And in the process, I don't know, is God even there?

I think God is simply packaged.

God is simply replaced by expertise.

And then the song turns towards this idea of you're drawn in and then you're shaken

down.

Think of it this way, there's an attraction and there's extraction.

The emotion, you're pulled in emotionally and then you're shaken down, you're taken,

you're going to get your money, they're going to get what they want from you.

That's what the church is.

They need you in.

They need you to join because they need your money.

They need your support.

You got to keep the beast.

You got to keep feeding the beast and the only way to feed the beast, you need more people.

It's not that we need more people to keep them from hell.

We need more people so that we can keep the industry going.

We got books to sell.

We got shirts to sell.

We got a building to pay for.

We need people because we need money.

We're invited in on the basis of the beauty of Jesus.

But once you get in, you're going to get shaked down because they need your money, they

need your time, they need your ability, they need your gifts to keep the machine working.

You may walk into church and encounter beauty, music, kindness, energy and hope, but beneath

it all, if you wake up, you're being managed.

You're being targeted.

You're being monetized and then comes that line about selling a sequel to the Bible.

I love this.

The idea of selling a sequel to the Bible to me is very effective because it collapses

several critiques into one line.

It's critiquing novelty, it's critiquing platform culture, it's critiquing spiritual branding,

it's critiquing the endless need for the next book.

It's the endless need for the next voice, the endless need for the next conference, the

endless need for the next movement, the endless need for the next revolution, the endless

need for the next secret.

The Bible is not enough.

We need the next this, we need the next that.

So sell me a sequel to the Bible.

I need you got to sell me the sequel to the Bible.

The church has to keep producing things for you to buy.

Christianity has to keep producing the next thing.

So the point is that people are actually writing a new Bible.

The point is that Christian culture behaves as if Scripture is not enough.

It's not enough to sustain attention.

So it's got to be supplemented by marketable add-ons, spiritual trends, and fresh products.

Now that line alone, I could do an entire podcast episode about.

And then we get to the outro of the song.

Here's the outro of the song, but I can get here.

So here we go.

So we get to verse two, then we have the pre-course, is this what you expected?

At this time, look at what it does.

Is this what you expected?

Ha, ha.

Is this what you expected?

Ha, ha.

Now that is very interesting.

God, is this what you expected?

Ha, ha.

This is what you get.

Like, now there's almost a little sarcasm brought into the pre-course.

And then I love this.

It's not what I expected.

In other words, now the songwriter is like, hey, I don't know if this is what you expected,

aha, this is what you got.

And then it's like, this is not what I expected.

In other words, now the songwriter is saying, hey, I got into Christianity,

and this is not what I expected.

So then that goes back to the chorus.

Now note, you're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

Too good, too good, too good.

And then there's this interlude of, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Whoa.

That's really telling.

And then here's the outro.

You're far too good.

Too good to me.

To just reduce you to meet my needs.

Now that's, now the songwriter here is kind of like, I forget the church.

Forget Christianity.

Now the person is singing for himself.

And I think at this point in the outro, all the music is brought down.

All the music is brought down.

And it just becomes very much like the songwriter is now going to speak for himself.

You're far too good, too good to me.

To just reduce you to meet my needs.

There's no height nor depth that's out of your reach.

You've been too good to me.

You've been too good to me.

So it's almost like the songwriter at this point begins to speak for himself.

But there's a little bit of sarcasm thrown in.

And throughout that, all right, to me, to me, this outro begins to change everything.

Because I think at this point it becomes merely a critique.

And it becomes deeply personal.

I think once you get to the kind of the outro and the kind of the ending there,

the closing lines confess that God is too good to be reduced to something that merely meets my needs.

Because the song is no longer just accusing.

It becomes very personal, all right?

Maybe the song at the end is saying the deeper problem,

the deeper problem may be our human beings are tendency to use God,

to reduce God, to turn God into a means to an end,

to seek God because of what He provides rather than who He is.

So I think in some ways, the song moves from cynicism to almost confession in some form of repentance,

of seeing what we all tend to do.

Now, I think there's three ways we can interpret this song, all right?

Here's the first possible way of interpreting it.

And you can tell me which one you go with, all right?

The song is a critique of the modern Christian culture, right?

To me, this is the most obvious reading, all right?

The song is a critique of the commercialization and performance culture of modern Christianity.

Within this reading, the song is targeting the visible machinery surrounding religion,

the products, the platforms, the conferences, the branding, the atmosphere, the fundraising,

the aesthetic packaging, the strategic manipulation, and the market logic that increasingly shapes church life.

To me, this reading is strong because the lyrics are full of material, visible, external images,

gift shops, discounts, payment systems, show like environment, monetized confession, formulas for revival.

There's no way to miss this level.

This level is at least there to some extent, all right?

And I think this reading has forced because many people immediately recognize the world that's being described.

If you've gone to church for any length of time, you recognize the world.

This song is critiquing. You've seen it.

You may even live inside of it.

But some have left it.

I think some have left it and said they're done with the church because of all of this.

Some still may try to make sense of it.

To me, at this level, the song almost functions in a prophetic way.

It says, hey, guys, stop. Stop. Look.

Look at what you have allowed Christianity to become.

Look at it. It's a mess.

So I think that level is the most obvious.

It's simple, it's straightforward, and we can all understand it.

But I think there's a possible second level, all right?

I think the second level is a little bit more subtle.

In this reading of the song, the song is not only criticizing the system around Christianity.

It's criticizing within Christianity the slogans, the cliches, the language that dominates Christian speech.

And the course becomes very important. You're just too good.

It is true, but because it's repeated in such a simple way and so often,

it almost sounds like a phrase that loses its depth.

It becomes the kind of thing Christians will say because they know they're supposed to say it.

So in this reading, the song is asking how even worship language becomes performative.

How the language appraise becomes so familiar, so repetitive, so reflex.

It's a reflex that it loses sincerity.

It loses sincerity. It becomes insincere.

It takes on a form of insincereity.

And I think this is a powerful possibility and how to understand the song.

Because I think one of the greatest dangers in religion is not false doctrine,

but it's empty language.

Words, maybe they're true, maybe they're not true, but they just become words.

They just become how we market the next book, the next sermon, the next sermon series,

the next class, the next women's Bible study.

Maybe the song is exposing the crisis of meaning inside religious speech.

And then there's a possible third level.

On the third level, this is a critique of the human heart.

The song, maybe not even necessarily about churches.

It may not necessarily be about brands.

It may not necessarily be about pastors.

It may not necessarily be about conferences.

It may not be about Christian products.

Even though those things are present and they are critiqued,

but they are the symptom of the problem.

The problem is the human heart.

That's the real issue.

We all have a tendency. We all do this.

We turn God into something useful.

I want healing.

I want peace.

I want purpose.

I want security.

I want comfort.

And I want every one of my stinking needs met.

And God is the means to the end.

As human beings, we are needy.

We suffer.

We long.

We ache.

We reach for help.

But the song seems to say that even in all of that,

we reduce God to a to function.

We make him a provider of outcomes,

a manager of pain,

a server of problems,

a dispenser of emotional relief.

And I think that's why the outro matters.

It's not just saying church culture is bad.

It's saying God is too good for me.

For me to use him that way.

That's why the entire song goes from criticism,

satire, to a confession.

So once that happens,

the song becomes much more than social critique.

It's almost a spiritual diagnosis.

So what makes the song so powerful,

at least to me,

what makes the song so powerful,

is that all three of those levels,

I think, are true at the same time.

It is critiquing Christian culture.

It is critiquing empty religious language.

It is critiquing the human heart.

And that's why the song lingers.

And that's why I've listened to it so many times.

Now, I could go on and on and on.

I got so much,

but I'll just try to conclude.

I'm not going to go through the rest of the things I wanted.

I was going to give us some takeaways,

but I didn't realize we're already at 81 minutes, all right?

I think this song matters not because

it may feel that it's edgy,

not because it's clever,

not because it manages to criticize church culture in a way

that we find relatable.

I think the reason it matters is because beneath all of its satire,

beneath all of its sharpness,

because of all of the lyrical bite,

it forces a brutal question.

What have we done with God?

What have we done with Christianity?

Have we turned it simply into a product,

a platform, a slogan, a business model,

a set of experiences,

a means of meeting our emotional and spiritual demands?

And maybe even worse, we've done all of that

while using the language of worship.

And I think that's what gives this song power.

It's not attacking God.

It's exposing what happens when people speak about God constantly

while we reduce him to something manageable,

marketable, and useful.

And maybe that's why the course is so simple.

Maybe after all the noise,

all the products,

all the systems,

all the conferences,

all the slogans,

after all the manipulation,

after all the spectacle,

after all,

maybe all that is left is,

God is too good for all of us.

Too good to be merchandise,

too good to be packaged,

too good to be leveraged,

too good to be turned into a strategy,

and too good to be reduced to my needs.

And maybe that's the most condemning part of the song,

because if God truly is too good,

then much of what passes for Christianity,

is way too small.

It's too shallow,

too performative,

too market-shaped,

too human-centered,

to reflect him rightly.

See, the song does not leave us with any comfort.

It leaves us with exposure.

It leaves us with indictment.

It leaves us with the possibility

that the problem is not just out there in the Christian industry.

It's right here inside of me.

It's right there inside of you.

It's in how we approach God.

It's how we speak about God,

and most importantly,

how we want to use God.

And that's why a three-minute song

can sometimes do what a 30-minute sermon never does,

that can tell the truth so directly

that you can't hide from it.

Now let me read the lyrics one more time.

And I do apologize that the lyric page

has caused so many problems

and me having to pause to get it to refresh,

but here we go.

Here we go, the song Too Good by Gable Price and Friends.

Get your Sunday stop.

One way exit through the gift shop.

Wooden sweatshop cross,

Bible with an eagle on top.

I was lost,

but now I'm found

10% off leather bound,

tap to pay for holy ground,

lease the kingdom,

keep the crown.

Is this what you expected?

Is this what you deserve?

Subscription paid confessional?

Oh no.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're too good.

I hear your mercy flows

as deep as both my pockets go.

Unrelenting growth,

fill the seats,

enjoy the show.

I was lost,

but now I've found

the top three secrets for revival.

Draw me in,

shake me down,

sell me a sequel to the Bible.

Is this what you expected?

Ha, ha.

It's not what I expected.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

You're just too good.

Too good.

Too good.

Ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha.

You're far too good,

too good to me.

To just reduce you,

to meet my needs.

There's no height or depth

that's out of your reach.

You've been too good to me.

You've been too good to me.

God bless.