Preach the Word II Timothy 4:1-5 There will come a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. They will collect teachers who say what they want to hear because they are self-centered. They will turn their back on the truth and turn to myths. But you must keep control of yourself in all circumstances. Endure suffering, do the work of a preacher of the good news, and carry out your service fully. I’d like to begin by calling your attention to verses 3-4 of this passage. They describe a scene that seems amazingly contemporary: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (II Timothy 4:3-4 CEB) Note that Paul makes three predictions in these verses: 1) There will come a time when men will not put up with sound doctrine. They will not only reject the truth, they will refuse even to hear the truth. 2) These men will prefer lies instead of the truth because they have what Paul calls “itching ears.” “Itching ears” are ears that are eager to hear every new idea, every new theory, and every wild idea, no matter how fanciful or farfetched it may be. “They have an itch to be entertained by teachings that will produce pleasant sensations and leave them with good feelings about themselves” (John MacArthur). People with itching ears want preachers who tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. 3) There will be many teachers who will be glad to tickle the itching ears of their hearers. Make Me Happy” Itching ears. We live in a world of itching ears, where people come to church and demand to be told what they want to hear. And it’s not just in the liberal churches, either. It happens in evangelical churches as well. People come to church with a personal agenda in mind: Make me happy. Meet my needs. Don’t talk about sin. Tell me how to be successful. Don’t be so negative. Bible doctrine is boring. Theology doesn’t matter. Sermons are too long. Make the gospel relevant. Tell more stories. Make me laugh. Tell some jokes. Help me feel good about myself. Build up my self-esteem. Don’t be divisive. Don’t talk about hell. Be positive. I want a happy religion. What the preacher says, God says. That’s right—as long as the preacher is truly preaching God’s Word and not his own opinions. But note the limitation of the preaching. We are to preach “the Word.” Not “Preach your ideas” or “Preach your theories” or “Preach your analysis of current events” or “Preach the latest hot gossip.” And we are not to preach “a” word, but “the” word, the Word of the Living God. We are to stand and declare to an unbelieving world, “Thus says the Lord.” Consider what this means: In a world of itching ears, Preach the Word! To a generation gone astray, Preach the Word! In a time of moral crisis, Preach the Word! When people don’t want to hear you, Preach the Word! When false teachers abound, Preach the Word! In good times and in bad times, Preach the Word! When people listen and when they don’t listen, Preach the Word!
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:38:31 +0000
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