The Time Has Come

Gtcotr/ss051924 

Passion is not evidence of truth.

 

Everyone is the hero of their own narrative.

 

It seems the more times a story is told, the more it is believed, even by the ones who made it up.

 

Acceptable truth includes the facts which support a chosen storyline. All other evidence is unacceptable.

 

Revisionist history is at best a lie.

 

Being done wrong does not make it right to wrong someone else.

 

This morning I would like to take a walk through what are perhaps the last known words of the Apostle Paul prior to his martyrdom. From a dungeon in Rome, Paul writes to his son Timothy. This is the last letter from this Apostle to the Gentiles. Timothy will be left to continue the work of the Gospel during some of the most trying times the Church had ever known.

 

At best I figure the year was AD65/66, during Paul’s second imprisonment, which was most likely due to the great fire in Rome (AD64) and the beginning of the mass persecution of Christians under Emperor Nero. The Jews had just begun their revolt and within a year after the beheading of Paul (AD67),  the emperor committed suicide (AD68). It was a very troubling time in the known world which was dominated by Rome.

 

Knowing he had but a short time (2 Timothy 4:6-7), Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy to pass the mantle and the ministry on to the next generation. He writes about the importance of preaching the word. 

 

2 Timothy 4 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, fulfill your ministry.

 

We cannot allow other things to distract us … we must preach the word and be ready when it is convenient and profitable for us and also when it is not. In verse 2 Paul said to be ready to:

• Convince; Rebuke; Exhort

o Convince = Refute and Defend

o Rebuke = Correct and Admonish

o Exhort = Comfort and Encourage

• With all patience and doctrine.

 

This is a progression of reasoning, before sharp correction, and then supply the acceptance, comfort, and encouragement when change occurs.

 

Paul was acutely aware that Every saint was at one time a sinner, himself, he claimed, to be the chief. Those in Corinth who were former prostitutes and idol worshippers along with those in Ephesus who conjured demons and consulted with the dead, were all poured into one holy Church upon receiving Christ as Lord and Savior. To be saved they needed the truth.

 

“Preach the Word!” Paul said. 

 

2 Timothy 4:3 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;

 

A simple, non-scholarly exegesis of verse 3: (I might advise thus …)

• The time will come when the people of this world will not 

• Endure – put up with; uphold

• Sound – healthy; solid; truthful

• Doctrine – the true teachings of the Church as established by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, set forth by the Apostle Paul.

 

Not put up with or stand up for the true teachings of the Church. But – according to their:

 

• Own – Gk: idios – private; self

• Desires – lusts; longing for the forbidden; cravings; insatiable pursuit

• Itching – to lightly scratch, so as to tickle, creating a sensitivity, like a tasty morsel that excites and promises relief, but doesn’t relieve.

• Heap – draw and accumulate additional (teachers in this case)

• Teachers – Those who love to influence others by sharing what they have learned, good or bad … right or wrong … truth or fable – impassioned, even when they are passing on damnable heresies. 

 

Passion is not evidence of truth. 

 

2 Timothy 4:4  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

 

It happened to Jesus, it happened to Paul, it happened to Peter, and the day will come that it will happen even to you. The world will stop listening when you start sharing the truth. They had rather listen to lies … fables. Especially cunningly devised fables…

 

2 Peter 1

16  For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

 

What can we do? 

 

Preach the Word. Don’t be intimidated by the word “preach.” It does not mean become a pastor or stand in a pulpit. It simply means to proclaim, to share the truth of God’s word with an impassioned conviction. 

 

1. Defend the Love of Christ and the Word of God.

2. Patiently correct the false narratives and lies of the devil.

3. Accept, comfort, and encourage those who come to Jesus.

 

Or, as Paul so eloquently put it in verse 5:

 

2 Timothy 4:5  But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

 

We have our marching orders and … I believe the time has come!

 

Don’t forget the part about being patient when you are sharing the truth. I think the word most often used is “longsuffering.”