“Paul said: ‘Itching ears’”
II Timothy 4:3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Four years ago, back in March of 2016, after a long trip from the Canary Islands, a seven hundred foot-long cargo ship by the name of Star of Abu Dhabi, made its way up the Mississippi River to dock near a fertilizer plant. On board was a full load of phosphate rock. A little after nine o’clock at night, first it dropped its port anchor, then its starboard anchor, then it shut down its engines.
All was quiet until about 2:30 the next morning. That’s when, all of a sudden, the chain on the portside anchor broke. Immediately, the eighty-one thousand ton ship started to drift, carried along by the current. Eight minutes later, the captain was back on the bridge, and gave orders to restart the engine.
But it was too late. Two minutes later, she rammed into the dock, piercing a 14 x 7 foot hole in her side. One minute later, he sounded the emergency alarm.
When it was finally over, four hours later, and the ship was once again under control, it had suffered $230,000 in damage. Damage to the dock was $4.6 million.
So why did it happen? There are any number of reasons. For one, the water was high, just two feet below flood level. For another, the engines should never have been shut down.
But the most important was this--the ship had lost its anchor. And without an anchor, it was out of control.
A ship needs an anchor. And we do too. That’s why Paul wrote the words of II Timothy chapter 4, starting at verse 1: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 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. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (II Timothy 4:1-5).
In all, the apostle Paul wrote thirteen epistles, thirteen letters, to churches, pastors, and people. He wrote to the Romans: “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” He wrote to the Corinthians: “Now we see in a glass dimly, but then, we shall see face to face.” And he wrote to the Philippians: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
And while each letter is, in its own way, so important and so unique, this letter, his second letter to Timothy, is the very last one. As he wrote in chapter 4, verse 6: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing” (II Timothy 4:6-8).
And since this is Paul’s very last letter, it’s his last opportunity to encourage Timothy to remain strong in the faith, and faithful at all times. What would happen in the days to come? Would he continue to proclaim sin and righteousness, law and judgment? Would he declare not the dignity of man, but the depravity of man? Would he lift high the cross and speak of truth and grace and faith? What would happen after he was gone?
So he wrote in chapter 4, verse 1: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
Why? He wrote in verse 3: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching...”
If you’ve ever been to a state or a county fair, you know just how large and loud the crowds can be. Thousands of people flow from one place to another, from the food, to the bands, to the tractors, to the rides, one thing after another, one attraction after another.
And at that fair, you can see all kinds of things. You can see the latest and greatest performers, like Miranda Lambert and Tim McGraw. There’s an “oink booth,” where you can meet sows and piglets up close. You can eat foods like “pronto puffs,” soft pretzels with cheese, deep fried pickle slices, and even “Sweet Martha’s” chocolate chip cookies. You can see champion steer, and pumpkins that weigh well over a thousand pounds.
But you know what the problem is about state fairs? You could say the expensive rides or the deep-fried foods, and you wouldn’t be wrong.
But one of the biggest problems is that people go from one thing to another, from one event to another, staying as long as their curiosity or interest is satisfied. Whatever pleases their senses, whatever gives them what they want for the moment, whatever steals their attention, that’s where they go. Then just as soon as their back starts to ache and their mind starts to wander, they move on to one of the many other promises of fun.
And that’s just how it is for many when it comes to religion. As one author wrote, “We have become addicts--always looking for another fix, another spectacle, another image or product to consume, with the hope that it’ll finally satisfy our seemingly insatiable appetite.”
But no matter how much fun they have, it doesn’t last, so they move on to something bigger, something better, something more shiny and smiley, always at the mercy of those with soothing tongues, with the promise to relieve their itching ears.
As Paul wrote to Timothy in verse 3: “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.”
Why don’t people want to endure sound teaching? Because they’ve been corrupted by this world. Because they love sin.
They don’t want healthy teaching. They want someone who makes them feel good about the way they live. They want to be entertained.
But you know what’s funny about itches? No matter what you do, no matter how many times you scratch it, it always comes back--another scratch, another itch. It just never seems to go away.
But the truth of God doesn’t tickle our ears, it boxes them. It burns them.
Imagine, for a moment, that you pick up your car from the shop after a routine check-up, and the mechanic says, “This car is in great shape. Clearly there’s been an automotive genius who’s been taking great care of your car.” But just as soon as you drive off the lot, your brakes fail because you ran out of fluid. You could have died! So you go back to the shop and say, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
The mechanic replies, “Well, I didn’t want you to feel bad. Besides, to be honest, I was afraid you’d get upset with me. I want this to be a safe place, where you feel loved and accepted.”
How would you feel? You’d be furious! You’d say, “I didn’t come here for an ego boost! When it comes to my car, I want to know the truth!”
Imagine you went to the doctor’s office for a checkup. And after looking you over from head to toe, the doctor says, “You are a magnificent physical specimen. You have the body of an Olympian. You are to be congratulated!”
But later that same day, while walking up some stairs, your heart gives out. Only later do you find that your arteries are so clogged that you were one jelly doughnut away from the end.
You go back to the doctor and say, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
The doctor replies, “Well, I knew your body was in worse shape than the Pillsbury doughboy, but if I told you that, you’d probably be offended. And that’s bad for business. You might not come back. I want this to be a safe place where you feel loved and accepted.”
How would you feel? You’d be furious! You’d say to the doctor, “When it comes to my body, I want to know the truth!”
John Ryle was a pastor in the mid-1800s. After serving in a number of smaller parishes, he eventually became a leader in the Church of England. One who knew him said he was a “man of granite, with the heart of a child.”
This is what he said: “In the place of distinct Biblical doctrine, the idol of the day is a kind of jellyfish Christianity--a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or sinew, without any distinct teaching about the atonement or the work of the Spirit, or justification, or the way of peace with God--a vague, foggy, misty Christianity, of which the only watchwords seem to be, ‘You must be liberal and kind. You must condemn no man’s doctrinal views. You must consider everybody is right and nobody is wrong.’”
Now as beautiful and graceful as a jellyfish might be, contracting and expanding like a little, delicate, transparent umbrella, toss it on the beach and you’ll see that it’s nothing more than a helpless, defenseless, lump of goo.
Then he said, “Every year, we have thousands of jellyfish sermons, sermons without an edge, or a point, or a corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint. Even worse, we have myriads of jellyfish worshippers--respectable church-going people, who have no distinct and definite view about any point in theology, who think everybody is right and nobody is wrong, everything is true and nothing is false. And ‘tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine,’ they’re ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old.”
So what’s the truth?
The truth is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one is good, not even one. No one is righteous, not even one.
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds we’ve done, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.
And by His grace we are saved, through faith. But this isn’t our doing; it’s the free gift of God, eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord. And though one might dare to die for someone good, God shows His love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, reconciling us through the cross--a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, it’s the power of God and the wisdom of God.
And if we boast, may it be in nothing but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to us, and we to the world.
All thanks be to You, dear Father, for the grace You’ve shown, and the love we’ve known. Grant that we may find refuge in no other place than the cross of Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen