Do your ears itch? 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Today I am going to talk to you about itching ear syndrome. Though not a formally recognized medical term, it is a condition that effects a significant portion of the population. According to Google an itching ear can be caused by dry skin, wild hair growth, or infection. Recently I myself have succumbed to the scourge that is itching ear syndrome, and I can tell you, while there are certainly worse things with which to be diagnosed, there are few things more irritating than an itching ear. At times the desire to scratch the itch is almost unbearable and all you can think about is jamming your finger in your ear in the hope of finding some relief. However, I have learned the hard way, the more I scratch the more it itches and if I can somehow resist the urge to scratch the itch eventually subsides. You don’t have to have a medical degree to know that jamming a dirty finger in your ear is not a good idea. Scratching the itch might provide temporary relief of a symptom but it isn’t a cure, if anything scratching the itch could make things worse. Which is why Google recommends you consult your physician if itching ear syndrome persists.
I am making this public service announcement this morning because in his second letter to Timothy saint Paul mentions an itching ear syndrome that is drastically more serious than the one, I just described. In 2 Timothy 4:3 Paul warns, “3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Paul here warns about a spiritual itching ear syndrome that afflicts 100% of humanity.
This itch is scratched not by jabbing a dirty finger into your ear but scratched by the teachings of men who Paul previously described as “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” These teachers, Paul warns, “worm their way into homes and gain control over weak willed women”. Paul warns they “are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires.” Paul warns these teachers “oppose the truth” and “have depraved minds”. The sort of teachers Paul describes sound like pretty bad teachers. Who would want to be instructed by a teacher who is swayed by evil, opposes the truth and has a depraved mind? Would you? Of course not! Right? I am afraid it is more tempting to have your itching ears scratched by these teachers than it at first appears.
Paul warns, “3… a time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.” The first symptom of an itching ear syndrome has to do with sound doctrine and an individual’s unwillingness to “put up with it”. Having spent a few decades sharing sound doctrine with people, I understand why people don’t want to “put up with it”. Sound doctrine is at first rather offensive. Paul doesn’t sugar coat it. Paul says, “sound doctrine” is used for “16… teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.” None of that honestly sounds very pleasant, indeed it sounds rather painful. It sounds that way because it is that way. Sound doctrine at first seeks to curb our sinful desires and behaviors, It limits us it restricts us, and when we give in to our sinful desires sound doctrine rebukes us and corrects us. Simply put, when we do something that is not right; that is contrary to the clear teachings of Scripture, sound doctrine slaps our hands and sets us straight. Turns out people don’t like to be slapped and set straight, and by “people” I mean me-people and you-people.
Sound doctrine is at first painful, but another reason people are unwilling to put up with it is because sound doctrine deals with infallible facts. We don’t like infallible facts; we like flexible feelings. We like to feel a thing is right or wrong, we like to feel a thing is good or bad, we like to feel a thing is true or false and we convince ourselves because we feel it, it is true. But sound doctrine doesn’t really care how we feel; sound doctrine separates feeling from fact by deciding right and wrong, good and bad, true and false based not on the word of man but on the Word of God. Paul reminds us that sound doctrine is “God-breathed”. Peter agreed with Paul when in 2 Peter 1:21 he wrote, “prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Sound doctrine is not a feeling of man, it is a fact of God. However, it turns out most people prefer flexible feelings over infallible facts and by “people” I mean me-people and you-people.
The first symptom of an itching ear syndrome is an unwillingness to put up with sound doctrine. Another symptom of an itching ear syndrome has to do with an individual’s desire and want. Paul warns, “to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Desire and want arise from a rebellious sinful nature that longs to be free; free from the accusations and limitations of sound doctrine, free from accountability, free from responsibility, free to indulge, gratify and satisfy appetites. Desire and want compelled Adam and Eve to reach out for the forbidden fruit. Desire and want compelled David to commit adultery and murder. Desire and want compelled Judas to betray Jesus. Desire and want compel you to do the sinful things you do.
Desire and want are a powerful pair. So powerful, Paul warns, that they cause people to “4… turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Ultimately, the rebellious sinful nature desires and wants to be free from the truth. The rebellious sinful nature wants this freedom so badly that it is willing to believe a lie as long as that lie allows an individual to do what they desire and want to do. Unfortunately, there are a great number of teachers who are willing to lie to you. Now, you can point your finger at the ear scratcher at the mega church down the road, but the teacher you ought to be most concerned with is yourself. What lies have you told yourself so that your sinful nature is free to do what it desires and wants to do? You see, It is not the myths proclaimed from the mouths of others that ought to concern you, rather it is the myths you tell yourself in an attempt explain, excuse and justify your sinful desires and wants that ought to concern you the most. You ought to be most concerned with you after all you have more opportunity to scratch your itching ear than anybody else.
An unwillingness to put up with sound doctrine and a willingness to believe myths are symptoms of an itching ear syndrome. I think you can see how tempting it is to have your itching ears scratched by someone who sets you free from the accusations and limitations of the law and allows you to freely indulge your desires and wants. But before we give in to that temptation, before we turn from the truth and turn aside to myths, let’s see what we would be giving up.
Paul encourages you to “14… continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Timothy would have thought of his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois; godly women who made sure Timothy knew the holy Scriptures from the time he was a baby. Timothy would have also no doubt thought of Paul who used the Scripture to rebuke and correct not to cause Timothy pain but train him in righteousness and equip him for every good work. Who do you think of? When you think of the people who have shared sound doctrine with you, what face comes to mind? Chances are you are seeing the face of a parent, grandparent, or pastor. Chances are you are seeing the face of someone who cares about you; loves you, wants what is best for you. I guarantee the people who shared the holy Scriptures with care more about you than the ear scratchers do.
But I am not asking you to resist the urge to scratch an itch simply because you learned sound doctrine from people who love you. I am asking you to resist the urge to scratch an itch because you know the scriptures are true. In the pages of Scripture, you have learned hundreds of ancient prophesies all of which have been perfectly fulfilled by Jesus. The odds of one person fulfilling 50 of these prophecies is considered to be a mathematical impossibility. Jesus fulfilled over 300 of these prophecies. And from your own personal experience you know the scriptures are true. Your conscience forces you to concede that the law is true and the peace that transcends all understanding assures you that the gospel is true. You don’t believe the scriptures are true because someone told you they are true, rather, through the work of the Holy Spirit you have become convinced they are true.
Like Timothy you have learned and become convinced the Scriptures are true and this truth sets you free. Freedom to indulge desire and want is really no freedom at all. Once you start scratching that itch you must keep scratching it, you can’t stop scratching it. In contrast, Scripture offers you true freedom that comes from “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Scripture tells us Jesus was “tempted in every way just as we are”[1], which means Jesus felt the itch of desire and want. But Scripture also tells us Jesus was “without sin”1, which means Jesus never scratched that itch. Scripture tells us “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us”[2], which means Jesus allowed Himself to become guilty of every itch we have scratched. Scripture tells us “by his wounds we have been healed”, which means our sinful scratching has been forgiven. Scripture tells us Jesus now gives us the ability to say “no to ungodliness and worldly passions”[3], which means we have the ability to resist scratching the itch.
As sinners living in a sinful world, we all suffer from spiritual itching ear syndrome. But today we have been reminded, scratching a sinful itch might provide temporary relief of a symptom but it isn’t a cure, if anything scratching the itch makes things worse. Jesus our great physician is the only one who can provide us a cure. Therefore, let us continue in what we have learned and become convinced of, let us put up with the teaching rebuking correcting and training of sound doctrine, let us turn our ears to the truth of God’s Word and be made wise for salvation in Christ Jesus. Amen
[1] Hebrews 4:15
[2] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[3] Titus 2:12