Pastoral Musings

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves

preachit (Photo credit: Brent Nelson)

teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4)
“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)

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

What are the dangers of expository preaching?

Some would say that the danger is that of becoming a cold and dry academic preacher.

Others would say that the danger is that of becoming bogged down by details to the extent that one goes so slowly that the people are bored.

There is a greater danger. That danger affects the souls of the hearers in a way that is worse than the above dangers.

First of all there is the danger of despising expository preaching and turning to story telling. Paul warned Timothy that people would turn away from the truth and listen to the stories of those who would say what was pleasing to hear (See 2Timothy 4:1-5). This is extremely dangerous, because we reject the Word of God to the detriment and damnation of our own souls. Story telling preachers should beware lest they be found guilty of tickling people’s ears instead of preaching the truth.

There is also the danger of rejecting the truth of Scripture by desiring to hear only that which does not convict us of our sins. Isaiah spoke of those who called for smooth preaching and deceitful words (Isaiah 30:10). Smooth preaching is relative. For some smooth preaching is that which makes them cry, but never addresses their sins. For others smooth preaching is rough, tough, and harsh; but it only addresses the sins of society, or the sins of other groups of people.

There is too much that passes for biblical preaching these days that is nothing more than story telling. The preacher is the hero (or the villain who becomes hero) in most of the stories. The preacher takes a text, reads it, and then never truly presents to the people the meaning and intent of the text. It is often called biblical preaching because it deals with preferences that the preacher and the people have: preferences that are based upon shallow exegesis and not upon what the Scriptures truly say.

I speak from sad experience today. I understand what it means to see a group of people reject God’s Word. I know how if feels to see people one desires to help reject the help that God presents to them in His Word. I understand now more than ever that the there are many who will turn their ears away from the truth and listen to fairy-tale-like stories that move the emotions. Sadly said folks do so unto their own destruction.

Is expository preaching dangerous? Yes, it is extremely dangerous to the one who rejects it.

not fame, nor fortune.

Simply to hear someone say, “You know, that guy loves us enough to preach the truth to us.  I sure appreciate that.”

Has your pastor heard that?

If not, what are you waiting for?

There you are, a grown person who has paid his dues. You are now middle -aged, you’ve lived a morally pure life, you have worked hard to gain respect by being a respectable and holy person; but there is a handful of people who simply won’t accept that you will ever amount to anything. The are armchair quarterbacks who second-guess every decision, every move, every belief….well, not absolutely every one of those, but so many of them are questioned that you feel that you cannot sneeze without someone wondering if it is genuine.
What can you do? What shall you do?

Considering that I have written in the last two posts (here and here) that we should continue to prove ourselves, my answer may be surprising.

My answer is that we should simply be what God has called us to be. We are to prove ourselves according to His demands and expectations. If people desire to expect more, or if people doubt that we live up to God’s standards; let them present their proof of our failure to live up to His standards. Let them beware, however, lest their standards appear to be held above the standards of God. It may be that one is dealing with a Pharisee who has substituted his commandments in place of Biblical doctrine (See Matthew 15:6-9). If that is the case, the sin is with the one questioning, and a person has no need to prove anything to them.

Honestly, I am tired of bending over backwards to please those who refuse to be pleased. I am tired of kissing rear ends to appease people who will never be at peace with me. I refuse to be intimidated by people with an unbiblical standard. I refuse to bow down to those who desire to be king of my life. My ruler is Jesus, the King of kings, ’nuff said.

When we look at this, it is imperative that we understand that Jesus consistently rebuked folk such as those. Paul, too, refused to bow down to them. When he took Titus to Jerusalam with him, there were those who demanded that Titus be circumcised. Paul refused for them to intrude upon his Christian liberty in any manner (See Galatians 2:1-5). He would by no means bow down to those who wanted him to go beyond what was necessary to prove himself. He knew who he was. He knew whom he served. He knew he was in obedience to truth. That was all that mattered to Paul.

That should also be what matters to us. We shall never please everyone. There are some who refuse to be pleased. So long as we know that we are pleasing our Heavenly Father, we should be content to continue on our way. We should no allow them to cause us to be bitter, but we should love them in spite of their hypocrisy and unChristian attitudes. We should never bow down, though.

We cannot prove ourselves to those who refuse to accept the proof. The proof is in our faithfulness to Christ.

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

(1Timothy 4:13-16)

RLV has a great post on dealing with sexual predators in the church.

This post does a great job of addressing a Biblical manner in which Baptists can respond to this problem.