Daily Encouragement (Archive Edition)

The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

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Friday, August 27, 2021

A tall and vibrant Hyacinth Bean Vine

"Itching Ears"

Message summary: Itching ears are extremely perilous to our spiritual life and health.

Listen to this message on your audio player.

"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 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. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:1-4).

In our family I (Stephen) tend to be the prankster but the other day Brooksyne pulled a fast one on me that's a bit uncharacteristic of her personality (actually a lot). We were driving home from a company visit when she complained about her ear itching. She asked me to take a look and turned her ear toward me. I looked over and saw a big glob of waxy looking substance dangling out of her left ear. It was yucky but after a few seconds she couldn't contain her laughter and told me she had found a dallop of glue from a glue gun at the previous company we had just visited and stuck it on her ear! (Note: Brooksyne did not consent to a photo!)

Well, that sure got me thinking about the only reference to "itching ears" in the Bible. It's so interesting how the Bible uses timeless, cross cultural illustrations. After all, regardless of when or where people live I am sure some people have had literal, physical itching ears. In fact an internet search reveals it's not at all unusual. Bluntly speaking, now and then my ears itch. Not the outside parts where I can scratch but rather inside my ear canal.

Medical experts say you should never put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow but I've never managed to get my elbow anywhere near enough to scratch my ear! (Seriously, I confess to periodically using a Q-tip although the packaging warns against it, I'm pretty sure I am not the only one on planet earth who uses Q-tips this way.)

Over 40 years ago the late creative songwriter Keith Green, whose message through songs has timeless meaning, penned the thought-provoking words to "Satan's Boast"; a song written as if it were by the devil himself. One line from the song goes like this: "I put some truth in every lie, to tickle itching ears." These words ring Scripturally true and are so easily observed in our age. Merely consider the many lies we are exposed to and the efforts to "tickle" itching ears.

Today let us examine this type of itching ears that affects many. It's always been around to some degree but in my lifetime I've seen it greatly increase. It's not a medical condition of the ears but rather a spiritual condition of the heart that our daily text is referring to.

Paul begins this section of Scripture with a solemn charge often used at ordination and commissioning services: "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:1,2).

The faithful minister of the Gospel will heed this command realizing, "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" (2 Timothy 4:3).

The specific reason for "itching ears" will likely vary from generation to generation and from one region to the other. The "itching ears" message is described in the text as the failure to "put up with sound doctrine" along with a quest to "suit their own desires" and to hear "what their itching ears want to hear". (The graphic to the left presents a wolf in sheep's clothing speaking to the gullible sheep.)

This graphic below well describes far too many in the modern church and what their itching ears want to hear.

In light of the peril of having itching ears we address two groups in this message:

Listeners: We must be on our guard against having itching ears. We need to open our hearts, minds, and ears to biblical teaching including that which may not be our preference or the cultural norms of our day, but rather stands the test of biblical authority. In being exposed to sound doctrine we must not seek out teachers and teachings that suit our own desires of what we want to hear. We need to listen with hunger and discernment and apply the practice of the Bereans "who received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" (Acts 17:11). We need to pray for our pastor and other spiritual leaders that they will not succumb to the pattern of this world which is a great temptation. That means that sound preaching will include teaching that is faithful to the Scripture but may be and increasingly will be contrary to culture.

Preachers: We need to examine our heart and align it with biblical teaching. There is a great temptation to go along to get along but that is not our call. A neutral message or silence when God's Word speaks clearly on a matter is not faithfulness to truth. Like Paul, we need to be committed to sound doctrine while teaching the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). Our first priority must be, what does God want proclaimed, not what do people want to hear. Many years ago I heard this succinct definition of responsible ministry as "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable". According to 2 Timothy 4:2 faithful preaching includes not just exhorting but also reproof and rebuke (something many do not want to hear).

Itching ears are extremely perilous to our spiritual life and health. Let us, "Apply our heart to instruction and our ears to words of knowledge" (Proverbs 23:12).

Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, as we seek to follow You in all our ways we will endure sound doctrine by prayerfully fine tuning our thoughts and actions in accordance to Biblical instruction. Otherwise we might turn our ears from the truth, and turn aside to myths. We know that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that we are equipped for every good work that honors You and builds us up in the faith.

2 Timothy 4:4, 2 Timothy 3:16,17

The strong emphatic instruction to Timothy that follows our daily passage is so instructive, especially to ministers: "But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5).

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

Here's another thought-provoking graphic related to today's topic.

"Satan's Boast" AKA "No One Believes in Me Anymore" Video Keith Green

Remember, this song is written from the devil's perspective!

Oh, my job keeps getting easier
As time keeps slipping away
I can imitate your brightest light
And make your night look just like day
I put some truth in every lie
To tickle itching ears
You know I'm drawing people just like flies
'cause they like what they hear

I'm gaining power by the hour
They're falling by the score
You know, it's getting very simple now
Since no one believe in me anymore

Oh, heaven's just a state of mind
My books read on your shelf
And have you heard that God is dead
I made that one up myself
They dabble in magic spells
They get their fortunes read
You know they heard the truth
But turned away and followed me instead

I used to have to sneak around
But now they just open their doors
You know, no ones watching for my tricks
Since no one believes in me anymore

Everyone likes a winner
With my help, you're guaranteed to win
And hey man, you ain't no sinner
You've got the truth within
And as your life slips by
You believe the lie that you did it on your own
But don't worry
I'll be there to help you share our dark eternal home

Oh, my job keeps getting easier
As day slips into day
The magazines, the newspapers
Print every word I say
This world is just my spinning top
It's all like childs-play
You know, I dream that it will never stop
But I know it's not that way

Still my work goes on and on
Always stronger than before
I'm gonna make it dark before the dawn
Since no one believes in me anymore
Well now I used to have to sneak around
But now they just open their doors
You know, no one's watching for my tricks
Since no one believes in me anymore

Well I'm gaining power by the hour
They're falling by the score
You know, it's getting very easy now
Since no one believes in me anymore
No one believes in me anymore
No one believes in me anymore
No one believes in me anymore

What does 2 Timothy 4:3 mean by itching ears? (from the study site "gotquestions")

Early yesterday morning we walked into a metal fabrication shop at Smucker Laser and heard a style of music quite uncharacteristic for such a setting based on our many years of visiting factory or warehouse settings. Andrew, the young welder, was playing soft morning jazz! (Listen here for sample)

Yesterday we moseyed about a portion of eastern Lancaster County near the Shady Maple where we almost always get some good photos and cultural experiences.

We passed a large Amish-run auction house so we decided to step in to have a look. Multiple auctions were taking place simultaneously with Amish auctioneers, so it made for an interesting audiological experience!

This room was full of animal and fish mounts!

We passed this tractor and wagon delivering watermelons.

(click on photo to enlarge)

We don't see too many of these, a two room Mennonite schoolhouse, in a very serene setting.
(click on photo to enlarge)

Finally today:

We stopped by one our favorite Lancaster County stores, the Village Farm Market along Rt 322 east of Ephrata, PA. For many years we stopped by here regularly and have befriended Keith, who is the owner. As Brooksyne was shopping he gave me a tour of the kitchen and food prep area which was a sight to behold. As stated on their website the younger and older ladies were "Baking and cooking using Mother and Grandmother’s recipes from long ago and still baking from scratch make our products distinctly different." I didn't take any photos since the workers were Plain and probably would not want their photos taken.
(click on photo to enlarge)

Keith blessed us with an oatmeal pie. Yum, yum, yum!

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.

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