Itchy Ears(2 Timothy 4:1-8)                                                                                       2009.09.06       Pastor Edward Cheng

         On a recent vacation with some friends, we found ourselves in Houston, TX.  There, we decided to visit the church of a famous pastor, Joel Osteen, who is often seen on television late at night and on Sunday mornings.  I wanted to visit this church because I have found his messages to be mainly centered on the idea that God promises to believers health and prosperity in this life.  The refrain that comes from his messages, service bulletins and books is, “Your best days are ahead of you!”  It’s an uplifting message of hope for his followers and listeners, but we ask, is that a true message?  Is that a message from Scripture?  Is that a heavenly message that is based on the Truth of the Word of God?  I believe that Paul refers to messages like these in 2 Timothy 4:1-8.

           In this passage, Paul makes it clear to Timothy what his primary responsibility is a pastor to a church: “Preach the Word.”  There is no higher calling for the pastor than to have as his main focus the ministry of the Word.  While in this day and age the pastor finds himself counseling church members, attending meetings of the various church committees, and doing other administrative tasks, this is still “Job 1,” to preach the Truth of the God’s word to God’s people.  Paul is consistent throughout the letter to Timothy as he emphasizes again and again this singular focus.  He says in 2 Tim. 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”  And again in 3:14-15, “But as for you, continue in what you have believed and have become convinced of…and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  There is no doubt that Paul wanted to stress the importance of remaining committed and faithful to the Word to Timothy.

          The reason behind such an encouragement seems to be because of the times that we live in.  Paul says that there will come a time in history when people will no longer stand for sound doctrine, but instead will only want to hear the things that are more desirable, things that make them feel good, things that scratch their “itchy ears” (4:3).  They will grow weary of the Truth and will only want to hear “fluffy” messages, whether those messages are from Scripture or not.  It seems that we are certainly in that time of history now, and through the ministry coming from Houston, people are having their itchy ears scratched.

This ministry fits the profile Paul is speaking about for several reasons.  It lacks a focus on the Word of God.  When people speak at their church, they hold the Bible (which looks great on TV), but never open it.  The result is that the Bible is misquoted often in order to fit their theological needs.  Secondly, their focus is on providing a “feel good” message to their hearers, one that scratches those itchy ears, without properly interpreting and handling the Word of God as the basis for such a message.  When the Bible is twisted in such ways and not properly handled, it can be made to sound like almost anything we want.  Finally, their message causes the hearers to have an unhealthy focus on the here and now, on present day earthly blessings, instead of causing people to think about heavenly, eternal things.  When we come to church on Sundays, shouldn’t a result of that time be that we are drawn to think about eternity?  We have every other day to worry about the stresses of this world and the fleeting nature of material possessions, which makes our time on Sundays so important to refocus on that which is truly important.

Again, Paul makes it clear to us that eternity should be our focus when it comes to the Word of God.  He references several times, “that day,” saying that his focus is on the day in eternity future when he enjoys the everlasting life promised to us (cf. 1:1, 9-10, 12; 2:10-11, 4:8).  When the bulk of the teaching causes the listeners to long for material possessions with the promise that God will provide for them in the “now,” the result is a lack of attention on eternal values and truths. 

Just as Timothy is encouraged over and over to remain faithful and committed to the Word of God and the truth contained therein, so we are encouraged to remain faithful to that same Word, critically evaluating the messages of some who would only want to tickle our ears.  Let us have as our focus a desire and pursuit of God’s Truth with our hearts longing for eternity in heaven with our Lord.