Fables the Church Follows

1 and 2 Thessalonians are usually considered Paul’s eschatological letters. But key futuristic passages appear in both epistles to Timothy.
For instance, 1 Timothy 4:1-5. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;
5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 ¶ If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.
Notice what the primary danger and warning is about? V 1 Everything else seems to rise out of this first problem. Paul is not just passing along information here. Check out verse 6. What ‘these things’ is he talking about? Vss 1-5. Timothy needed to know that teaching the church about coming heresies and departures from the faith was part of growing by faith, 1 and 6, and good doctrine.
There is another of these forward looking passages in 2 Timothy 3:1-7. Take note that this information is also to elicit action. What an awful lot of misbehaving will come. 1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Of course there is much of that going on today. What’s a leader to do? Verse 5 It’s a command, turn away from! But notice why this action is required. Verse 6-7.
Not only is the increase of willful men prevalent. They prey on increasingly more gullible women! Women who are loaded down by sin and submitting to all kinds of lusts. And verse 7 refers to the women. The verb forms are feminine. It is these silly women who keep learning but never gain knowledge of truth. And think about all the men responsible for leading them astray.
The final indictment of these corrupt men who are responsible for this seduction of women is in verses 8-9. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
They are disapproved concerning the faith. Weighed in the balance of belief and found without true faith.
Not much to look forward to. But the passage I want to use as a platform for this blog and a few others is 2 Timothy 4:1-5. 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.
There are several important points made in this final chapter of Paul’s writings. He gets Timothy’s attention with the first phrase. I charge you before God and Christ. It’s a combination of our word witness and the idea of thoroughly. It expresses tremendous urgency. It is only used 4 times by Paul. But perhaps the best example of the urgency of this word is in Luke 16:28. The rich man there asks that Lazarus be sent to his five brothers that he might testify to them. Talk about urgency! My brothers are heading in the same path as me. You have to let Lazarus go and charge them, dramatically, thoroughly explain to them what is ahead. Please! With that passion Paul now begins this final admonition regarding ministry with an intense appeal to Timothy.
What activity is most urgent for Timothy? This is Paul’s last teaching to Timothy regarding ministry activity. It is his last plea to the young disciple. What is paramount for the preacher? What is the most important activity a minister can perform in view of the coming end? Preach the word! I think Paul chooses his words carefully. The emphasis of this word is on the process. Preach, clarify, exposit, exegete, expound. There must be urgency in the fulfillment of the urgent plea.
When should he preach? Be ready, literally, at a good time or when there is no time. Urgency is also present in the being ready.
How should he preach?
Preach so that error is shown, in a convincing way.
Preach when a rebuke is necessary, in a commanding way.
Preach to encourage, in a comforting way.
Preach with patience, in a longsuffering way.
Preach doctrine, that is what teaching is, in an informative way.

Why should he preach? This is the essential part of the admonition. Verses 3 and 4. The preaching is to prepare the church for the time when these things will happen.
Here’s an important question. Who is ‘they?’ They will not endure correct doctrine. They will turn away from it. Who? To whom would Timothy be preaching the principles of this letter? Same as 1 Timothy 3:15, the Church, believers. See why this mandate is so urgent? Right in the church there will be those who cannot tolerate sound teaching. The word represents good health. Titus 2:1 Doctrine is good for you. But the time will come when some will not give patient attention to this healthy teaching and will accumulate more teachers. Heaps of other ideas will be collected.
Some in the church will become dissatisfied with the teaching handed down from Jesus to the apostles to us through the Scriptures. What a provocative description Paul gives. They have itching ears. Ever have an itchy ear? Get the cue tip, I know you aren’t supposed to stick something small in your ear but you do and you try to get that itchy spot. Then the itch comes back, and etc. This an apt way to describe these who have begun to search for some other way. But there is no cue tip for this itchy ear. Piles of teachers with contrary ideas but no relief for the ear that itches to hear some new thing.
This produces a perhaps fatal result. The truth will not satisfy their impatient curiosity so they turn their ears away from the truth altogether and begin to follow fables. Or myths, that’s the Greek word. Notice the process. They turn their ears away and then they themselves are turned aside.
I think that in all periods of history there have been cases like Paul describes. In fact, there are evidences all around us that the church is still plagued with itchy ears. And is right now following fables. Here are 4 that I find quite prevalent.
FABLES THAT THE CHURCH FOLLOWS
1. That orthodoxy is generous.
2. That the church does not have a voice in secular society.
3. That science is essential to understanding life.
4. That the ‘secret’ to success is metaphysical.
I will be addressing these briefly in blogs to come.