Scripture:
II Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV
[1] I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: [2] Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. [3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; [4] and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. [5] But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
Observation:
In the two letters to Timothy. Paul is writing to a young man who has been placed as the overseer or Shepard of a church. Encouraging him and teaching him what it’s going to take to get this new church off the ground. Throughout the two letters, Paul also has several warnings for young Timothy as well. Verse 1 of character 4 is one of those warnings. Paul knows the tendency to get discouraged when first starting in ministry and how that discouragement might lead to compromising the truth. So he starts out by saying, ” I charge you therefore before GOD and the LORD Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at HIS appearing and HIS kingdom: preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” The way Paul said this was not a question. It was a charge or a command. He was not asking Timothy if he would he was telling him he had to. The tendency to fade away from the truth when people don’t like it or want to hear it was a real temptation and Paul knew it. Maybe because he himself had come across it and been able to hold fast or maybe because he had been given insight through the Holy Spirit. Possibly both. Whatever the cause, Paul saw what could be a problem and was doing his best to correct it before it ever happened in the church Timothy was going to oversee. Buy he didn’t stop there Paul wanted young Timothy to understand what would happen and why. Telling Timothy, “Don’t get discouraged,” in a sense. He continues guiding him by explaining human nature. People do not want to be corrected or rebuked. They want to stay in their sun and be told it’s OK, and they will put people in the pulpit that will reinforce that behavior. Turning away from correction and exhortation. They will sit under those who tell them what they want to hear. Turning their ears away from the truth and running after the fluffy stuff. The stuff that makes them feel good. In verse 5, Paul drives his point home to Timothy, be watchful in all things. In other words, be faithful to GOD and HIS word. Protect the ministry. Speak the truth. Don’t be intimidated. Fulfill the calling that has been placed on you. Even if it costs you everything. Don’t water down the word.
Application:
Correction can be hard to take. I think about the crucifixion and the kangaroo court that took place just before we nailed HIM to the cross. The choice was put out there. Do you want Jesus an innocent man, or do you want a known killer and insurrectionist to be set free. By this point, you know what was said… we all cried out for our sin, giving us the killer and crucify the innocent man. As time goes by, how often do we do the same thing in the way we receive correction. If we are to be honest, most of us don’t really want to hear it. We want to pick out the fluffy parts and pass over the parts that correct us, rebuke us, and take away the things we enjoy. We want to be told that it’s OK the live however we want. Using grace as a license to do so. Forgetting that the bible says that it’s not ok. We run towards that kind of stuff. I believe I have been charged to tell the truth. Even if it costs me everything. GOD’S word is all I have to go by. Not man’s version of what it says. But what it really says. I don’t want my ears tickled. I want my life to change. The Bible and what it teaches is able to correct even the worst of sinners like me. Have I reached perfection? NO. But GOD is not going to start something that HE doesn’t finish. We should all want to turn from our sins. My desire is to be conformed to the image of Christ. Being sanctified is the key. Pressing on to more. By grace, you have been saved, and yes, that is what it takes to get into the kingdom. I don’t know about you, but my sin sucks I don’t want that life. I didn’t cone to christ because things were good. I wanted the things that were happening to stop… and honestly, now that my life is being steadily conformed to the image of christ now that the things I was doing are no longer a part of my life by the power of Jesus Christ and the presence of the holy spirit leading me into ALL truth. It’s just not the same. The grace of GOD and the blood of Jesus Christ has drawn me more and more away from my sin. Not left me stuck within it. GOD will not leave you where HE found you. HE will restore you, redeem you, correct you, and sanctify you. Train your ear to hear the Holy Spirit by reading GOD’S word for yourself. Don’t turn to the things you want to hear. Turn to the things that are hard to hear. You are a new creation that old man is gone. Don’t resurrect him. Die to your flesh daily, pick up your cross, and follow HIM. Salvation is free. Sanctification is a process. Listen to the Holy Spirit. If you don’t want what you were getting, you have to change what you were doing.
Prayer:
Father, you have not called us to tickle the ears. You have called us to tell the truth. I’m asking you to do what only you can do. Take what you have said and use it to correct rebuke and exhort us. Help us to repent from our sin, not stay stuck in it. Send revival to our hearts. We want to put that old man to death and be conformed to the image of your son. We are made new. Help us to live as though that we’re true. That old life is gone. In the mighty name of Jesus. Draw us out of our sin into the marvelous light of Christ. By grace, we have been saved. Help us to press on to the upward call, not turning from the truth but turning from our sin instead. I know it’s not easy to be corrected. We want more of you. Overwhelme our hearts with your truth… not what will tickle our ears. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen.