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.
2 Timothy 4:3
A good friend of mine was married a few years ago and moved quite a distance away. One of the things she left behind was her church that she dearly loved. She faced many changes as she left Pennsylvania and moved South.
She could never understand why her fiancée really didn’t enjoy her church. She had been to his and liked it and thought he should enjoy hers – if for no other reason than to please her. In his mind it didn’t compare to the one he attended in the South. She chalked it up to a cultural difference and let it go.
She has now lived in “his” town and attended “his” church for about three years. She is in “my” town today and called to see if we could get together. When she arrived at my home her hands were full. She brought me CDs of the Pastor’s preaching in her new church.
I will listen to them when I have time but what was most interesting was our conversation. She can now see why her now husband did not like her church. Using her forefinger and thumb about 1/8 of an inch apart she said, “This is how much Bible was in my church here,” and then with her arms spread wide she said, “This is how much Bible is in our church now.” That’s very little Bible compared to a whole lot of Bible and the difference is showing in her life.
Even in phone conversations I have been able to hear the spiritual growth in her. She is able to see things from God’s perspective. The adjustment to leaving her friends and being married after years of a single life, the transition into a new family while hers stayed “up North”, and going from full time work to “just a wife” for a while have been traumatic. Today she could look back and see how God had used these things to grow her faith and her trust in Him!
The church she attended here is a big church – not mega church big but for our area it is a large church. I can’t help but think that these people are the ones with itching ears who acquired teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. I happen to know a few sweet sisters in Christ who go there. I am concerned for them because now I know they are not being fed the solid food of scriptural teaching. Do I warn them? Will God show them? It wasn’t until this friend had the comparison of longer term teaching of the Word of God that she realized how far short this church was falling.
The women I know in that church get fed in other Bible studies so they do have some idea what they are lacking in that church. Perhaps family commitments or traditions keep them there. Perhaps they are comfortable and because they do know more think that more would be expected of them if they were to attend a church that preaches the whole counsel of God. I don’t know and don’t need to know why they stay.
I do wonder about their Pastor. James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” These men and women will have to give an account to God one day for what they have taught here. They have the call to feed the sheep and shepherd the flock of Jesus Christ. If they don’t they will have to answer for it.
My friend’s transition to the South will be nothing compared to the entrance to eternity that these teachers and preachers will face. It is an awesome thing to take on teaching for the Lord. But, there are also consequences here for those who sit under this kind of teaching. The Bible teaches us that sound Biblical teaching is to our advantage. Look at the following verses to see some of the benefits of sound doctrine:
Psalm 119:28, “My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!” So, we are strengthened by the Word of God.
Psalm 119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” The Word of God keeps us from going astray.
Psalm 119:101, “I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.” God’s Word keeps us from doing evil.
Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” His Word lights our way as we walk through life on earth.
Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” His Word is refreshing and sweet.
1 Peter 1:23, “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” It is the power of God’s words that saves us.
1 John 2:5, “but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him.” His Word gives us assurance of our salvation.
Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” It is through God’s Word that we are convicted of sin and redirected to the path He has set for us.
When we obey God’s Word we reap His blessings. When we don’t know it, we can’t follow it and so we lack the blessing. Why would any of us sit in a church where we are being fed food that provides no spiritual nourishment?