2 Tim. 4:1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 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; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
A few points to consider:
1. Paul "charged" Timothy to fulfill his ministry. The Greek word translated "charge" διαμαρτύρομαι, is more than just an urging, but rather conveys that this is a solemn or even grave exhortation. Paul warns Timothy that the work of the Lord is very, very serious!
2. God will judge all people! Christians will be covered in the blood of Christ and saved, but Paul suggests Timothy's faithfulness in this matter is important in relation to his meeting Jesus when He returns. No wonder it is considered grave or very serious business!
3. The thing that is so important, the thing that will be accepted or rejected with very grave consequences is "doctrine"! Timothy is called to "preach the word"; it is further defined or expanded to include convincing, rebuking, exhorting and teaching, which are all to be done with longsuffering.
4. What will be the reason people turn away? They will have desires for other things; they will have itching ears and want what the church/teachers to scratches their itch!
5. They will find people who will deliver what they want. What exactly is it? "Fables" is translation of Greek word μύθους, which means myth or story. However, it is only logical that anything that becomes more desired than sound doctrine is a very great danger to the church.
6. How is Timothy to deal with this coming rejection of sound doctrine? He is to watch for it, be sure he addresses errors as he sees them. He is also to expect hardships as he fights for the truth, yet he must, through this difficult time, continue to fulfill the ministry God has called him to!
Ok, so are we in a time when myths or stories are valued in the church more than doctrine? I know many people like a good story and I have heard sermons that lost whatever truth they were trying to convey in the entertaining and touching stories they used in an attempt to convey that truth. So stories are a danger, but in our day, perhaps we need to look a little more broadly at the concept of wanting ears tickled over sound doctrine.
The most basic question we must consider is: why do we or anyone else come to church? If it is to learn about God from His word (doctrine), then that sounds like the right motive. We would expect prayer, worship and the sacraments (Baptism and the Lord's Supper) to be observed as well, but we would expect to have the word proclaimed and applied as much as possible and judge the church and its teachers mostly on that criteria.
Ok, so consider this question - can seeking to do things in the church in the most pleasurable way possible, actually encourage itching ears? If the sermons are full of entertaining, funny or touching stories, if the music is always very professional/entertaining, if programs are filled with fun or if you make sure everyone has a place they feel comfortable (grouped by age and/or interest), what happens when those things are not meeting their pleasure expectations in your church? What happens when the church down the street is more fun, has better music or has a more happening group for you age/interests?
Can things we use to get people into the church to hear the word, actually minimize or downplay the importance of the word in the end? Paul told Timothy these people would "not endure sound doctrine", it almost makes it sound like learning doctrine was no longer fun or pleasurable to them!
If we emphasize pleasure and fun at church, should we wonder if people eventually come to value it more than the soundness of the teaching?
If we asked the average Christian church attendee why they attend their particular church, how may would quickly respond “to learn sound doctrine”?
If I had asked that question first, how might you have answered?
"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
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