Preaching Sound Doctrine in a Time of Itching Ears
From The Forum Magazine, Winter 2013 - view the full issue here
For the time will come when people 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. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. —2 Tim. 4:3-4
That time has come. I know that from my own experience, from reports passed on by colleagues, from my reading, and from the uncanny resemblance between Paul’s prophecy of the last days in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and the prime-time programs on TV. We are in that time when people will not tolerate sound doctrine.
Why is that? Because they have itching ears. When you have an itch, you want to scratch it with anything at hand. People want to hear something that will make their ears stop itching, something that will make them feel better right away, something that will minister to their felt needs. So they look for teachers who will scratch where it itches, who will tell them something that works. Now that’s not a bad thing for a preacher to do; in fact, touching on felt needs is a key to getting people to listen. The problem arises when the preacher turns away from the truth and aside to myths because that seems to work better.
That is exactly what has happened. Like the marketplace of ancient Athens, the world is filled with competing myths. That may seem counterintuitive in a rational age dominated by science. But, of course, those are two of the major myths of our time: the myth of reason believes that human intellect can solve all the mysteries and miseries of life, especially as it employs the methods and technologies of science. Then there’s the myth of government which believes that the right organization of human effort will produce heaven on earth—the recent elections in the United States presented us with a fierce debate between competing versions of that myth (more government versus less government). There’s the myth of celebrity culture, the myth of education, the myth of consumerism. At the heart of them all is the myth of the divine self—the belief that each of us is a god in charge of our own life—which, of course, goes all the way back to the Garden and whispered lie, “You will be like God….”
It doesn’t matter if these competing myths agree with each other. It doesn’t even matter if they are internally coherent. Indeed, it doesn’t matter if they agree with reality. What is reality, after all? Reality is just a perception, your perception, your own personal construction of meaning. There’s no such thing as the truth, just your truth and my truth. So find a myth that works for you. People have turned aside to myths that scratch where it itches.
As a result, we preachers are tempted to give up on preaching sound doctrine. I don’t mean that we simply drop doctrine, as old-fashioned liberal Christianity did. (If some element of Christianity like the Virgin Birth seemed unscientific or simply embarrassing, liberal preachers simply denied it.) In our circles we wouldn’t drop sound doctrine entirely; instead we might de-emphasize it in favor of other things. We are tempted to blur the borders of doctrine in the interests of ecumenism and evangelism and effective preaching.
Now of course we should be committed to Christian unity, passionate about reaching the lost, and persistent in our efforts to become more effective at preaching the Word. But none of those concerns is contrary to sound doctrine. Indeed, in 2 Timothy 4 Paul insisted that we should preach the Word in a doctrinally sound way as we do the work of an evangelist.
What does that mean? The word “sound” in 2 Timothy 4:3 is the Greek ugiainouses, which means literally “healthy.” Preach healthy doctrine—doctrine that is healthy, that will make you healthy in every way. Given the strong distinction Paul makes between truth and myth, in this setting this word undoubtedly means “correct.” This is not just moral teaching about how to live; it is doctrinal teaching, teaching about the death and resurrection of Jesus and what those historical events mean for human life. This word occurs eight times in the Bible, all of them in the pastoral epistles. In nearly every use of the word, you find that combination of truth for life. Preaching sound doctrine means preaching the truths of the gospel in a doctrinally correct way, so that believers and seekers can live healthy lives in a sick and dying world.
What does such preaching actually look like? Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2 is a masterpiece of doctrinally sound ev angelistic preaching. Note that it begins with a direct response to the challenge of the culture: “These men [speaking in tongues are not drunk, as you suppose.” He begins exactly where his “congregation” is in its opinion of the Christian faith. Then he jumps immediately into Scripture, because these are Jews who knew that Scripture. After quoting from the prophet Joel, Peter turns immediately to the focus of all sound doctrinal preaching, Jesus. But notice that he again refers to their experience: “... as you yourselves know.” Then, in an incredibly bold move, he addresses their sin and God’s predestination. “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” This much they knew—the bad news of human depravity and a cruel cross, all somehow part of God’s plan.
Now for the good news, boldly announced but not simply explained: “But God raised him from the dead….” And then, to counter the claim that the Scripture knew nothing about such a doctrine as a dying and rising Christ, Peter engages in some pretty fancy exegesis that led to some deep doctrine about Christ’s ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit. He concludes with the summary doctrinal claim of the Christian faith: “God had made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” The crowd responded to that culturally sensitive, Christ-centered, biblically rich, doctrinal preaching by crying, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And about three thousand of those formerly hostile listeners were added to the church that day.
Paul’s address to the philosophical dilettantes of Athens in Acts 17 is another masterpiece of doctrinally sound evangelistic preaching. Note that he too begins by connecting with the cultural milieu of the Athenians: “People of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.” And though he was greatly distressed by the rampant idolatry on display on every corner, he doesn’t begin with outrage. Instead he uses their myths as a launching pad for the proclamation of the truth of the Christian faith: “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”
He begins his proclamation with pure theology—the doctrine of God, of creation, of God’s relationship with all humanity, of providence—all done in a culturally sensitive way, even quoting one of their poets. But then he brings down the hammer of the truth on their false ideas about God, calling it ignorance and commanding them in God’s name to repent. He closes with the doctrines of the final judgment, the incarnation, and the resurrection of Jesus. Notice that Paul’s sermon, like Peter’s, was Christcentered. Peter’s began with Christ; Paul’s ended with Christ. In both Christ was the point. That’s doctrinally sound preaching.
That combination of culturally alert but doctrinally sound preaching did not bore the Athenians. It did offend some of them, as such preaching always will, and they responded with the kind of ridicule we hear today. But others wanted to hear more “on this subject”; and a few believed and followed Christ, on the spot.
Timothy has a word of advice for those who want to resist the turn from truth to myth: “But you, keep your head in all situations” (2 Tim. 4:5). The word translated as “keep your head is naphe. It has to do with getting drunk. We must “stay sober” as we do the work of preaching and evangelism. Don’t get drunk, so to speak, and lose control, lose your balance, fall over. When the world is on fire and the church doesn’t have any fire, it is tempting to become unbalanced in our preaching, to stagger off in one direction or the other. What we need to do is to preach the Word in a doctrinally sound way—culturally sensitive, biblically based, theologically sound, Christ-centered, lifechanging. Keep your head and preach sound doctrine in this time of itching ears.
(Stan Mast, Adjunct Professor of Preaching)
