For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
On Sunday, June 22, 2014, our church went though a sermon on 1 Kings 22:1-38. In it we saw Micaiah, a man of God, stand and deliver a message to a wicked king. It was a message that the wicked King did not want to hear. Despite this, Micaiah held his ground and spoke truth; unbridled, necessary, and unpleasant. He did so because he knew that God wanted him to counteract the hundreds of false prophets that spoke from their own imaginations. Micaiah was one voice in a sea of voices. His was the true message that would not be accepted because it wasn’t palatable to the hearers of his day.
The verse above speaks to us. It tells us that in the days that we live in, the truth will not be acceptable to the ears of many. In these days, people will accumulate teachers that will tell them exactly what they want to hear. They will settle in and listen to messages that are uplifting, inspirational, comical, entertaining, and overall positive. However, our modern system will not tolerate a message that proclaims the biblical facts. It is wonderful to be encouraged but it is also necessary that we hear the message of sin, separation, judgment, repentance, forgiveness, and justification.
Our verse tells us that if we partake of a diet of false teaching which only emphasizes those things that we, in our passions and flesh, want to hear, we will wander away from the truth into myths. This is a stark warning. Ensure that your pastors are preaching the whole truth of the Bible and that you do not “accumulate” ministers to yourself that will tell you what you want to hear at the expense of what you need to hear.
Older
Top
