DO YOU HAVE ITCHING EARS?

2Ti 4:3 is an interesting verse. It says “You're going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food--catchy opinions that tickle their fancy”.

This was written by Paul to Timothy who was one his disciples. It was written to deal with an issue in the church at Ephesus where women were teaching and usurping their authority over men.

Using the original Greek, the verse goes something like this. People will not put up with healthy instruction; they will have a longing for teachers that will tickle their hearing.

The word “instruction” is the word “didaskalia” which comes from the word “didaskalos”, the Greek word for teacher in the five Ephesian Ministries.

This is interesting as the church today has a dearth of teachers. It has plenty of people who can hypothesize over the meaning of a verse of scripture, but there are very few who can teach sound doctrine and expound scripture truth.

All we get are sound bites or as the verse says catchy opinions, but no in depth study. What we are fed is milk but very little meat so we end up with “spiritual junk food”.

One has to assume that according to this verse we have no stomach for solid teaching.

How do we know when that happens? Advertise some charismatic preacher who makes you laugh and has learnt what gets him invitations, and you will have a full house. Advertise a gifted teacher who is going to give an exposition of the subject of holiness and you have a house that is less than full.

At the end of the day, the charismatic preacher adds very little to the life of the church. The gifted teacher on the other hand will probably give us something to think about for a long time to come. The first is milk the second is meat.

One of the reasons why most teachers do not get a look in is due to the idea that the “pastor” is the one anointed to lead, teach, evangelise, organize, and inspire etc. etc.

I have been told that a certain person cannot teach because that is the pastor’s job. I have seen people bring a vision from God to the church and who have no say in its implementation because they are not the pastor.

The end result is that we have a shallow, feel good Christianity that denies most of the scripture. Instead of chasing after Jesus, we are chasing after church growth, prosperity, name it and claim it, spiritually correct meetings, buildings, power and position and denominational superiority to name a few.

Paul said he didn’t want to know anything except Christ crucified. We would do well to heed his words. If we don’t all we produce is McChurch with the drive through being the busiest part.