(As always happens, you’ll want to listen to this as I don’t stick to the following as a “script”)
Imagine a scene…there’s an older, avuncular kinda guy, kinda scrawny, kinda weird looking. But he’s got his arm around a young guy, and you sense that there’s just some kind of connection. You might even call it love. And the younger man is eating it up, like he really appreciates whatever the old guy is saying.
In a way, that’s a bit like reading Paul’s letters to Timothy. We know Paul was probably short and scrawny and weird, and Timothy was young. But instead of seeing the two on a park bench, we get to look over Timothy’s shoulder as he reads the letters that Paul wrote to him.
In the second letter, Paul’s writing from the Roman prison which was probably Paul’s last earthly dwelling. As Timothy’s hearing Paul’s heart of encouragement, the tone turns serious. Tough times are ahead.
“Timothy,” Paul says,” “reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. 24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.”[1]
As Paul’s exhortation rolls on, he says something that sounds like it could have been written last week in light of political debates and debauchery.
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.[2]
Remember that Paul is writing to Timothy with pastoral advice. Paul’s assuming that there will be people with itchy ears, so the exhortation is to Timothy as a teacher…and he’s assuming that there will be a temptation.
Why? Because every single one of us want to be liked.
It’s hard to speak the truths of God when that’s not what people want to hear.
“So, Roger,” you say, “I’m not a pastor or teacher, what’s that got to do with me?”
Actually, a lot.
There isn’t a one of us who doesn’t run into pastors or teachers who face this temptation. Sometimes they want to be liked. Sometimes it’s because they want to avoid coming down hard on one of their own sins. Whatever the reason, they then find clever ways, ways that sound academic and studied and well-reasoned, for twisting something that the Bible teaches. The idea that the Bible would come under attack as an authority in one’s life is nothing new. In a way, in fact, it goes back to the Garden of Eden. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
First, I want to give you a radar-sharpening question:
Is the meaning determined or discovered? Created or uncovered?
Here’s what I mean by way of another historical story.
There once was a priest or pastor named Arius. He was teaching that Jesus was not eternal. He’s a man, but he was created at some point in time by the Father.
But you’ve heard me say – and I hope you’ve heard your pastor say – that the trinitarian God we worship is one God, one essence or substance, in three persons. And there definitions and distinctions there that we won’t go into today, but this has been the orthodox position of the church since… since when?
Well, since the Council of Nicea in 325 AD when the 300 bishops or leaders or elders got together to respond to Arius. They issued what we now sometimes recite as a creed – which is a statement of belief – that clearly states what we believe about God and therefore Jesus.
Sometimes, however, you might hear someone make an objection that this “doctrine” – which is a statement of a belief – was made up by men.
So here’s the question…did they create the Trinity? No, they discovered and clarified what was already there. They wrestled through Scriptures (that I’m not going to go through now) and stated in a more clear manner how God has already revealed Himself.
So that’s the question for you today: Is the pastor talking about something – a “truth” -- that is created by human beings? Do they say something like “The Bible is a human book” or that it “contains” the word of God rather than that it is the word of God? Do they say, or at least imply, that the Bible doesn’t really mean something that it states clearly?
In other words, is there some way that they trying to explain their way out of some truth being there that emanates from the eternal character of an unchanging God…something that is our to discover or uncover…or are they saying that we have liberty to redefine something because, explicitly or implicitly, they’re saying that the Bible includes human errors or misunderstandings.
Said again, is meaning determined or created? Or is it uncovered or discovered?
Itchy-ear people don’t want to be challenged, but sometimes it’s also pastors or bloggers or teachers.
They don’t want the broccoli that’s good for them.
They want candy.
And here’s my point: I think this is why the Bible comes under attack.
My heart today is reflective and instructive.
It’s reflective in that my heart hurts. People want candy instead of broccoli. So they grab onto “God loves you unconditionally” or “I serve a God of love who tells me not to judge people” but avoid the broccoli that says, “There are consequences to sin. You need to change behavior.”
No, just because God loves you doesn’t mean He’s going to let your junk slide.
So if we reflect, it’s not hard to see people with itchy ears.
But how do we spot people – teachers or otherwise – who are feeding people candy instead of something with the nutrients that are actually good for them?
Reflectively, Paul knew that Timothy would face hard times. He told young Tim to ‘preach the word in season and out of season.’
Remember what The Enemy’s lie to Eve and Adam was? “Oh, that’s not what God really meant. You won’t die.”
He redefined what it meant to die. He twisted the focus to mean “die right now, a human-body death,” when the true death was death of their relationship with God – a spiritual death.
“Because God knows that you’ll be wise like Him!” Satan says. “You’ll get to decide what good and evil is for yourself. He’s holding out on you, after all, trying to deny you. He’s giving you broccoli, but look at this candy!”
So moving from reflection to instruction, the question is, “Determined or discovered? Created or uncovered?”
Is the Bible’s meaning something for you to create or determine? Do we ask, “What does this mean to me?” Or do we ask, “What is God saying and, if we don’t understand it, we have something to discover or uncover?”
One path is broccoli. One is candy.
Your choice.
But only one gives you life.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 2 Ti 2:23–25.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 2 Ti 4:3–4.