Are you being taught or tickled?

As Paul wrote to Timothy, the evangelist –

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. – 2 Ti 4:3-4

It is the job of any teacher to teach and, in the verse before these, Timothy was specifically commanded to “reprove, rebuke and exhort.” These are actually all very maternal words – the types of words one would receive from a concerned parent. Parents show the unlearned child what sin is, they rebuke only when the child persists in the behavior, and they teach a better way. None of these, by themselves, constitute a balanced ministry or a balanced relationship. If one does nothing except point out sin, they are clanging, ineffective cymbals. If one does nothing but rebuke, then they probably just enjoy faultfinding. If one does not teach a better way, then they are loveless tyrants setting people up for failure. Yet we see people all over social media pointing out sin (some of it very questionable and subject to opinion) and rebuking people – without having taught them first. This is the fallback ministry of those who are not ready to minister, and potentially not even called. If someone is not compassionately and gently teaching people how to live righteously, yet rebuke them soundly at every given opportunity, then they are the worst kind of parent.

So why do they do it? They see themselves as bold proclaimers of truth, but I submit that they have simply settled into a niche and gathered a crowd around themselves who like to have their ears tickled.

Surely not, you might protest. Having your ears tickled is being told what you want to hear, and no one wants to hear about the evils of sin! Well, of course, they do–if their sins aren’t the ones being pointed out. For example, if someone else’s practicing homosexuality (which biblically is undoubtedly a sin within the believing community) is being called to the forefront, or idolatry, or <insert sin here> then it is really quite enjoyable to listen to “those people” get it. Preach to the same crowd about the sin of not caring for the poor, or pridefulness, or <insert lack of Fruit of Spirit X here> and they might start howling. You can take my word for it, I’ve done it! Your social media likes go waaay down when you remind people that we are to be radically kind, forgiving, and peaceable.

Anything that tells us that we are special, more especially set apart, more righteous, more intelligent, more obedient, more genetically acceptable, etc. than others is going to tickle anyone’s ears. It puffs us up in all the wrong ways. It’s an incredible temptation and hard not to fall for. Sadly, it’s also passing for teaching in a lot of circles. It isn’t teaching, however, it’s just tickling the ears of the choir. It might have started as gutsy at first – back when someone was new to a whole Bible lifestyle and felt zealous and drove away all their friends and family only to find them replaced by the types of people who also drove away all their friends and family, cheering them on for being preachers of righteousness. But as time went on, no one who was a “sinner” was listening anymore, they might have even been unfriended and or blocked for challenging what they heard, and the person kept preaching as though they were doing evangelism work. But really, they were just tickling the ears of people who enjoy hearing other people being criticized–this time behind their backs because they had long since left the building.

It feels like a public service but, in reality, it is just feeding the flesh. Listening to rants feels good when you aren’t being ranted at, it tickles the ears. It isn’t challenging. It also leads to worse and worse behavior.

The person who obtains this type of audience has a big problem–because there is no real substance in a ministry devoted to talking about “other people.” That’s just gossip. We have to know who is listening, and do whatever it takes to reach them in their level of sin–whether it be the obvious sins, or just bad spiritual fruit. It’s all sin, and frankly, the bad spiritual fruit is the most pervasive and hurtful of all to others. We all display bad spiritual fruit–unloving, critical, picking fights, impatience, unkindness, stinginess with those in need, being untrustworthy/unfaithful, coarse, and not exerting the proper level of self-control. Add to that the works of the flesh of Galatians 5–outbursts of anger, envy, jealousy, causing dissensions and rifts within the Body, mocking, slandering–biting and devouring one another. No one likes to hear sermons on those, and few want to give them–but the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua/Jesus’s greatest sermon, did just that. He even *gasp* told His followers that if they were meek, they would be blessed.

What people want to hear is what others are doing wrong, they want to hear that where they are is where everyone needs to be. They want to hear that they are set apart by knowing stuff, and not by the blood of Messiah, and certainly not by the excruciating refining work of the Spirit. People want to hear anything other than–your character is still not good enough.

Well, I love you guys but guess what? Our character isn’t good enough. No amount of studying divisive side issues, no amount of pointing out how much worse the other guy is, and no amount pretending that our group is an elite remnant is going to change that simple fact.

It’s time to buckle down and give God permission to break us.