Preacher, Preacher Itch My Ear
It had been a busy couple of days for sure. Jesus had fed five thousand on a hill, walked on the water in a storm, delivered His “Bread from Heaven” sermon, and then spun up the religious leaders with the first of His seven “I AM” declarations. I am convinced that in the three and a half years that Jesus ministered on the earth, not one second of one minute was wasted. Having been anointed with authority by the Father, filled with power by the Spirit, He went about doing the will of the Father and destroying the works of the devil.
Oh! If my time of ministry could be an inth of what Jesus did. If you don’t know what an inth is it is just a little. But if I do my little, and you do your little of what the Lord wants to bring to pass, just imagine how effective the Church would be. If we would simply follow the Lord Jesus and do only what the Father did and said only what the Father said. If we did though, I am certain we would see some of this.
John 6:60 NIV
On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
If today, we the Church preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teach the epistles, we will go crossways to the world. But sadly, we could offend some that are in the Church. Remember these were disciples of Jesus that said this. Why? Because there is no middle ground with God. Today the more people hear the Word, a divide is created. There will be those that hear, understand and grow, and those that reject because they don’t like what they hear. I can boldly say this because Paul by the Holy Spirit said it.
2 Timothy 4:3 NLT
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.
Let’s follow this verse backwards. I often do this when meditating on a verse as it helps me to understand.
“Want to hear.”
Have you ever found yourself thinking that you hope that your Pastor would preach on a particular topic or passage in the Word of God. Hopefully, you did not ask him to do so like I did once. I never made that mistake again. You know a good Pastor or Teacher, will not take request, they take direction from the Lord. Many will tell you that they do not get to preach on what they want, let alone what the congregation wants. No, what you and I want to hear is what God has for us to hear. But not so for the itchy ear.
“Whatever their itching ears want to hear.”
Looking at web.md we are told that the major cause of itchy ears is an infection in the ear. But the itchy ears Paul is talking about are from a heart infection. A severe infection of the physical ear can sometimes affect one’s hearing, a severe infection of the heart will always affect one’s hearing. These are they that only want to hear touchy feel-good messages that puff them up and cause them to believe that they are close to Christ-like perfection. They do not want instruction in righteousness, or correction that would save them problems.
“Today we want the Kingdom without the King.”
Mark Sayers
“Will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itchy ears want to hear.”
Ignoring the Lord’s leading to connect with a church that He has chosen for them to serve in, they will look for after the convenient, popular, and places no responsibility or requires accountability. They want a twenty-to-thirty-minute sermon that checks the box for church that week and gets them out quickly. They are more concerned on getting to the restaurant before the Baptist, or the football game.
“Follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”
Now we see why I say that the itchy ear is because of a heart infection. They follow their own desires. Pausing to allow the Holy Spirit to show me some examples, He reminds me of the rich young ruler and his interaction with Jesus, and Demas, John Mark, and Phygelus and Hermogenes with Paul. The rich young ruler and Demas both loved the things of this world, Phygelus and Hermogenes allowed doctrinal misunderstanding to pull them into opposing the Truth, and John Mark, well he found ministry to be hard and went home. But hey, there is hope for some with an itchy ear in John Mark. He eventually did get it right.
Itchy ears manifest in many ways. Here are some that I have seen.
Church hoppers.
I liken them to plane practicing touch and go landings on a carrier. They come in ready to go and glow, but the first time they are encouraged to grow, they gotta go. Never lowering their tailhook they take off at the first itch of discomfort.
Groupies.
While they may not be worshipping Baal, or following a false prophet, these show the behavior of giddy high schoolers idolizing a pop artist. Idolatry is idolatry no matter the form.
Dry Bones.
Recently I became aware of something that happened in a small church in my community. When I learned of the details my heart broke for everyone involved. This small rural church was without a Pastor, and for some time had been shrinking in numbers. They asked a Pastor that I knew closely and had served with some years back, to come and pastor their church. Within a few weeks attendance grew, people were hearing the anointed Word preached and lives were being changed. The church began to prosper, and resources became available for more effective outreach. But then…do I need to go further? Let me just say that when these words were spoken, “We have never done it that way before” the wall of resistance quickly went up, and the call went out. “Pastor, you don’t need to come back anymore.” Within a couple of weeks, the church was back to running, with fifteen in attendance on a good Sunday.
“Resistance to change is a tactic the enemy uses to scratch an itchy ear.”
It is my hope that every Christian often come to this. That they would hear the Word in a sermon or message and be challenged to accept it as Truth. Truth that sets free and brings spiritual growth. Just do not react like those that complain or leave and don’t come back. (John 6:61,66)