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

                           FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

 

“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from    me.  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”   Matt. 15:8-9

 

A while back I read where some members have left the church and joined with various denominations with many of them being of the charismatic type.  When questioned about why they left most of the answers given were in the realm of “the service was too dull and boring” or that they felt the music wasn’t inspiring enough.  Some cited the lack of “activities” as their reason.

 

In other words they wanted to be entertained.  They were going to church, not for worshiping God, but rather to be entertained.  In essence, they were putting themselves first and God second.  And, as I see it, that’s why many of the “mega-churches” seem to be gaining in membership.  They are providing “entertainment” and “activities” in place of “worship” and a lot of people don’t seem to recognize the difference. 

 

They like hearing sermons the likes of “Dale Carnegie talks” or “self-improvement lessons.”  They’re more pleasing to the ears than listening to the preacher teach a boring lesson from the Gospel.  Remember what Paul said about things that would happen in “times to come?”  In 2Tim. 4:3 he said, “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.”  (ESV)

 

I’ve got a little story with a moral to tell you that I think helps us to get the point of my lesson today.  It goes like this: “How’s it going down there?” barked the big walrus from his perch on the highest rock near the shore.  Down below, the smaller walruses were trying to figure out how to answer the Old Man without making him mad as he had a nasty temper.

 

The problem was that the water level in the bay had been falling for some time and it was now necessary to travel farther to find herring.  Someone should tell the “Chief” about this but they were afraid to speak the truth.  So one of them, we’ll call him Basil, spoke up and said, “Things are going pretty well, Chief.  As a matter of fact, the beach seems to be getting larger.”  The Old Man grunted, “Fine, fine.  That will give us a bit more elbow room.”  He closed is eyes and went back to sleep

 

The next day a new herd of walruses moved in just down the beach from them.  This really posed a problem as it affected the herring supply.  This could be a dangerous invasion of their territory.  But, how to tell the Old Man about this problem.  Finally Basil got up the courage and said, “Oh, by the way Chief, a new herd of walruses seem to have moved into our territory.”  The Old Man’s eyes snapped open.  “Of course, we don’t anticipate any trouble.  They don’t look like herring-eaters to me.  More likely interested in minnows and, as you know, we don’t bother with minnows ourselves,” added Basil.

 

 

Well, time went on and things weren’t getting any better.  One day the big walrus looked down from his rock and noticed that part of his herd seemed to be missing.  He called Basil and demanded to know what was going on.  Poor old Basil didn’t have the courage to tell him that many of the younger walruses were leaving the herd and joining up with the new herd.  So, he replied, “Well, Chief, we’ve been tightening up things a bit.  You know, getting rid of the dead wood.  After all, a herd is only as good as the walruses in it.”

 

“Run a tight ship, I always say,” the Old Man grunted.  “Glad to hear that all is going so well.”

 

It wasn’t long before everyone except Basil had left to join the new herd.  After much soul-searching, Basil decided that it was time to tell the Old Man the truth.  He climbed up the big rock and facing the Chief he said, “Chief, I have bad news.  The rest of the herd has left you.”

 

The old walrus was so astonished that he couldn’t even work up a good bellow.  “Left me,” he cried.  “All of them?  But why?  How could this happen?”  Basil just shrugged helplessly as he had no answer.  “I can’t understand it,” the Old Man said.   “And just when everything was going so well.”

 

MORAL:   What you like to hear isn’t always what you need to know.

 

My closing thoughts: people might like to be entertained.  I like to be entertained, but I know and understand that entertainment and worship are two different things.  Worship is not entertainment.  It’s a lot different from going to a play, a movie or a ball game.  Do you know the primary difference?  It’s that the worshiper is the actor and God is the audience.  It is the interaction between the worshiper and God and that action comes from the heart and soul of the worshiper.

 

If you attend church services to be entertained then you are totally misunderstanding of what constitutes worship.  To be blunt about it, we’re there to worship God and not ourselves.  Those who seek entertainment in the church services are just exhibiting a lack of reverence and appreciation for the God of all creation and for our very lives.  As far as I personally think, that borders of blasphemy.

 

When we get to the point that we’re “serving ourselves” instead of “serving God” our souls are in grave danger.  And, if you think about it, that’s exactly what those wanting to be entertained in church are doing - “serving themselves” instead of God.

 

Hearing what we need to hear may not be entertainment, but it is far more beneficial to our eternal soul.  Think about this as we close: in heaven, everything and all things are wonderful and beautiful.  There is no sadness there.  Just total happiness and you’ll be enjoying this because you heard and heeded what you needed to know to get there.

 

Ron Covey