But now Paul
takes it a step further. He's getting ready to depart the scene and wants
Timothy to mark well the fact that this demonic activity, this false
Christianity is something that will be characteristic of the entire age.
The last
days will be perilous, a time of danger for Christians. The last days are of
course the entire period spanning the Ascension of Christ to His return. It is
the time of delay and restrained judgment, the era of longsuffering, but also the
time of imminent destruction. Christ by all rights should have ascended and
immediately returned (Parousia) to complete the Messianic mission, but in God's
mercy there's a delay of Judgment. The Kingdom sits in a state of
in-between-ness, an interlude, a state of being already but not-yet and God's
people who are translated into this Kingdom live in between the ages as well.
We live at once in two worlds, in this age and the age to come.
The last
days began in the first century. Peter makes this clear in Acts 2 and it is
also prominent in the opening chapter of Hebrews. It is mentioned elsewhere but
those passages suffice for the present to make the point. The last days must not
be thought of as the time right before Christ returns, except in this one
sense. Christ can return at any point and so we need to always be prepared and
always be vigilant. The newspaper is not our guide to determining if Christ is
about to return.
It must be
emphasized that the New Testament is the key which unlocks the whole of
Scripture. The New Testament helps us to understand the dark and obscure
passages of the Old Testament. If we start with the Old Testament and establish
our principles there, we are in danger of misinterpreting the times in which we
live. One might think (as the Jews did) that the Kingdom will be political in
its nature and conquer the earth and yet in the New Testament we learn that
imagery referred to the ultimate conquest by Christ, when he ends this age at
His second coming. The imagery of world-purification, conversion and total
conquest points to the completed consummated Kingdom, that which we usually
refer to as heaven. It's not something that finds fulfillment in this age or in
the work of the Church. The Church brings a taste of it, and a warning, but
we're not telling about what is here and now, what is temporal, but what is
heavenly and eternal.
The New
Testament teaches us that rather than earthly victory, the New Testament or New
Covenant period, the Last Days, will be a time of persecution and suffering,
it's the time when the Church lives in the wilderness as strangers and
pilgrims. It's a perilous time as Paul says here.
These are
clear passages. They are not clouded by symbolism, or poetic language. The
epistles are characterized by plain speaking. It is in such passages that we
establish our first principles that help us to interpret the rest of Scripture
and we ignore the authority of the Apostles, the prophets of the New Covenant
at our own peril. If we put the Old Testament first and use it to discern the
New Testament, (this is something that many have done and continue to do) we
run the risk of failing to understand the Kingdom in the very same way the Jews
did. The Kingdom as presented by the New Testament becomes something
distasteful and to be rejected. This is what the Jews did. This same Judaizing
spirit has plagued the Church and dominates it even in our own day. In fact it
leads to the very sort of attitudes and theologizing that Paul is warning us
about.
Eschatology
shouldn't be about end times chronology. There's precious little of that
contained in Scripture. Rather it informs our understanding of the Kingdom, its
nature and purpose and very importantly it tells us how to live now.
In these
perilous last days men will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money. Some
have argued this list is without order in its arrangement but actually what we
have two key and related ideas, the love of self and money and out of these
twin but corrupted sources flow all the rest of the evils.
There is a
tendency to read this list and think in terms of our culture. While not
entirely inappropriate it misses its real import. The critical point in the
passage is verse 5 where we learn that Paul is speaking of not the culture at
large, the outside as he labels it elsewhere, but those who have a form of
godliness but ultimately deny its power and authority. It speaks of a time of
false Christianity.
Paul is
clear in 1 Corinthians 5 that the world is characterized by sinful behaviours
and attitudes and in no way suggests that these things can be eradicated. They
will characterize this age and he emphasizes again the antithesis between the
Church and the world even to the extent that we don't utilize the full scope of
rights and social means available to the outside world. He characterizes our
walk in 1 Thessalonians 4 as something that is separate and different from
those who are without.
The danger
of the false prophets who are in the background of much of this epistle is that
they teach entanglement with the world, they teach a theology that to put it in
today's terms empowers the self. The New Testament epistles are constantly combating
the error of the false teachers and pseudo-apostles who shadowed the true
teachers and prophets commissioned by Christ. Their false claims and false
theology whether under its Gnostic or Judaized form taught a false
understanding of the Christian's place in the world.
Their
theology in the end destroys the antithesis and through its speculative
theology and false piety confuses the Church with the world. The world is
covenantalized, baptized as it were. This age will be perilous and
characterized by evil and this theology leads the Church to embrace this
'worldview' and attempt to Christianize it if we can use such a term.
The heart of
Christian piety, the application of the Spirit working in our lives is to be
those who deny the self. We already spoke of mortification in the previous
lesson. This self-denial, this endurance, keeping our eye heavenward is crucial
to the Christian life and the ability to persevere. God is glorified in his
servants being weak. They have no power of their own but through a focused
faith, that rejects the world and all it has to offer they serve him and do
mighty deeds (as it were), spiritual deeds that build the Kingdom and oppose
the forces of darkness.
The theology
of the false teachers knows nothing of this power but instead is filled with
pride of place and intellect. It rejoices in its accomplishments and measures
success and victory by the world's terms. Those who have embraced such a
mindset quite literally cannot 'see' the Kingdom of God.
Self-denial,
poverty of spirit, humility and meekness are unknown to this worldly theology.
The love of self is closely related to the love of money, the love of silver
coin as it says. As we've said before the love of money is related to notions
of security, respectability, the granting of a voice in social matters.
Ultimately it's about power, power to control our own lives, the opposite of
self-denial and the desire to wield power over others, the opposite of meekness
and humility.
The love of
self and the love of money go together and serve one another. This twin evil is
at the very core of how the world is at odds with those who are indwelt by the
Spirit. These are those who are not born-again, those who are dead in their
sins.
Paul is
saying in this passage that the great danger to the Church through these Last
Days is not secularism or even pagan idolatry but the world and its ways
entering the Church. We cannot eradicate secularism and idolatry. We witness against
them but because our weapons are not carnal, we will not destroy them in this
age.
But the
great danger to us is when unregenerate people bring the world's attitudes into
the Church, and even worse, cast them and frame them in Christian terms. They have
a form of godliness...
The great
enemy to the Church is not the outside. It's not some political party or
terrorist group. It's within. We are warned repeatedly against false teachers
and prophets. We are told the agents of Satan will appear as angels of light,
messengers of heaven. Politicians and tyrants cannot harm the Church. Think
spiritually here. They can only destroy the body. The false teachers destroy
the soul and lead people into the pit. We live in the world and there is a war
that we fight but the great danger is when people come and bring the love of
self and money into the Church and try to pass it off as Christianity.
While it's
easy to see this sort of thing manifested in people like Norman Vincent Peale
and Joel Osteen it's not as easy to see that this is in fact the theology of
Christendom, it's a theology embraced by most of the Church and is actively
promoted today across a broad spectrum. It comes in many forms.
How will we
know them? By their fruits.
Paul
elaborates on what flows from these twin fountains of polluted water, the love
of self and money. As we go through these keep in mind the Beatitudes of
Christ, the hallmarks of the Christian life, poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness,
hungering and thirsting after righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking
and being persecuted.
This list
reads as almost a catalogue of anti-Beatitudes and all the swagger that goes
with denying them.
Boasting is
one of the rotten fruits and with it goes Pride, the enemy of Christ, the trap
of Satan produced by those who focus on themselves and measure themselves by
the world's standards. Pride is a dangerous lens by which to read Scripture.
Pride is respectability and security as well. With these things in mind, the
boaster will read Scripture and misunderstand its lessons. The parables become means
of gain, godliness becomes a means of gain. Riches are not the wisdom of Christ
as we learn in the Proverbs but instead wisdom becomes a means to attain
worldly riches.
A theology
of power turns the acquisition of riches into an act of piety and a Christian
duty. Remember riches and money mean more than just purely material things.
Many Christians today decry materialism but seem to fail in understanding what
it is. The danger isn't the 'stuff' piled in your house but the attitudes that
go with having 'things' and the pride and power produced by this empty quest. It's
the power to buy, to make choices, to set your own path and fulfill your
desires. It's an empty quest to be sure, but those who desire this and fall
into its traps manifest the state of their hearts.
As many
businessmen will tell you, it's not about the money, it's about the game, the
victories, the power and success. That's the same materialist trap.
This quest
for power leads to the harming of other people and this brings us to this
interesting term of blasphemer. Normally we think of blasphemy as cursing God
using His name in a way that dishonours Him. This is true and we also take the
Lord's name in vain when we do evil things in His name and bring reproach on
His Kingdom and His people.
Blasphemy
can also be an attitude toward those who bear the image of God. Pride and
self-love will lead us to think we are 'above' the others, others who also are
made in God's image. When we treat others disdainfully in the quest for power,
when we are ensnared as the devil in the trap of pride and seek a spiritual
place 'above' our true place and calling then we can harm other people, even
destroy them and believe we are serving God.
We can fail
to see them as people as we trample them into the dust and appropriate their
goods. We can dominate them and conquer them and believe it's permissible
because it serves 'the kingdom'. We can root our self-love in myths and fables.
We can create nations and societies and claim that God's with us as we destroy
others. We can root this blasphemy in race. All of these things have been done.
Men have in the name of Christ woven these mythologies about themselves and
their glory and the consequent worthlessness of others and have used this way
of thinking as an excuse to exploit and harm.
It lives on
in the Church today and many Christians grow rich on the pain and suffering of
other people. They believe they are serving God but in fact they are covetous,
self-idolaters and blasphemers. They think themselves above other image-bearers
and destroy the testimony of God by prosecuting their dark deeds in His Holy
name. This is at the heart of our social and economic system. Again, it's to be
expected of the world but the Church has baptized this system, celebrating it
as Christian, and has grown wealthy on the fruits this system has produced.
They are
disobedient to parents. This is an interesting phrase that almost seems out of
place on the list but I think we can work out what Paul is getting at. These
types of people are self-serving and reject the proper authority that God has
placed over them. As children they are brats. They are spoiled, and by that I
mean not just indulged and accommodated, but they are ruined people with seared
consciences. That's the true meaning of
spoiled. They are not grateful to their parents for what they have done.
Everything they're about is the self and they only use other people, even those
who have provided for them and loved them. All affections are calculated and
self-serving.
And not just
this, but they produce children who are the same and perhaps even worse. This a
deadly cycle and we see it at work in our society. That's no great marvel but
what is tragic is that the art of parenting has been lost to the Church and
since the Church has become all but indistinguishable from the self-loving,
self-esteeming world these attitudes now run rampant within the Temple of
Christ. There are those who will take great exception to such a statement but I
stand it by it without equivocation.
The
blasphemy, the hatred of other people, other image-bearers runs deep and leads
the worldly heart to harm others, even those who are closest to them.
This is a
tough concept. Relationships are often messy and it's not always clear what to
do and how to behave toward parents. The sword of the Word, the Gospel can also
bring division that's not easy to deal with. But what Paul is speaking of here,
is something more. This is about people who use others, people who put
themselves and money above other people, even people they should (naturally)
care about and respect.
And naturally
these attitudes of ingratitude are labeled by Paul as a disposition of
unthankfulness. Yes, this is an attitude of entitlement and it's quite
prevalent in our culture. For the sake of brevity I will only add that the
attitude of entitlement is by no means restricted to the poor. There seeming
entitlement and demanding posture is often rooted in frustration and anger. But
there's another type of entitlement just as pernicious that reigns in the
middle and upper classes and it is rooted in pride and a feeling of
accomplishment and a need to have others recognize it. This entitled pride
which trumpets itself and is not humble before God can lead to the harm of
others. It can lead to the trampling of other people and their ingratitude
sears the conscience about what is being done. The person believes they have
'earned' the right but they are fools akin to the man in the parable who wants
to tear down and build new barns.
Unholiness
flows from all this. These attitudes do not promote a 'set apart' demeanour and
mindset. They are consumed by the world. They mind earthly things as Paul says
in Philippians 3. They are entangled by the world and the affairs of this life.
But it's okay, their theology has taught them this is a good thing. It's taught
them that pursuing worldly success and power are in fact acts of worship and
godly. They turn to the passages that speak about whatever we do, we do to the
glory of God and miss the point. What we do is rooted in love and service to
God and therefore that shapes 'what' we do and 'how' we do it. It does not
automatically endorse 'all things' we do just so long as we do them to our
utmost. We can do them to our utmost, believing we honour God and yet may in
fact be deceiving ourselves. Much today that is labeled as 'ministry' and 'service'
is in fact self-advantage, an unholy endeavour masquerading as Christian
worship.
These
attitudes do not promote holiness... poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness
etc...
This
theology says that doing accumulating wealth and building a company or society
is the equivalent of building the Kingdom. You serve God just as fervently by
putting in extra hours as you would, leaving work to spend time with your
family and study Scripture with them or with others. It is a theology from the
pit.
These people
are labeled by Paul as unloving, for indeed love means the denial of the self,
the putting of others first even to your own discomfort and hurt. These people
would never do that. They cannot look beyond their possessions and status. They
cannot love other people or empathize with them. It's beyond them. But what
they do, is they create a speculative system that tells them as they accumulate
power and harm others that they're doing it for their good and it is (even as
they are harming them) an act of love.
They are
unforgiving. Mercy and grace are not part of their vocabulary. Every move is
political, rooted in the struggle for power. Revenge is their hallmark. These
are those who reject Paul's contrast of the Christian Church in Romans 12 with
the state in Romans 13. They baptize the state and it's sword of vengeance.
They love themselves and will brook no insult, tolerate no affront. Those who
do not give them their proper respect and accolades are to be suppressed.
And thus
they are slanderers. They are whisperers and backbiters to use another of
Paul's phrases. Their speech is motivated by self-service. They do so without a
conscience. Their speech and their actions are not to testify to truth. They do
not love the truth but themselves and when they speak, it is for their own cause.
They will lie, they will tell half-truths, they will manipulate of obfuscate,
and will do whatever is required to serve their goals. If others are harmed,
they don't care. If slander helps to deflect an attack, then they will happily
employ it.
All of these
things we're looking at are the ways of the world. And to succeed in that world
you have to play by these rules. Or you will be destroyed. The Church tends to
laud and sing the praises of Christians who have attained positions of fame and
power. It is folly, for it is nigh on impossible for these positions to be
obtained without the abandonment of integrity and the embrace of the world's
values.
The men of
this perilous age who have a form of godliness but deny its power are said to
be without self-control. They not only lack moderation in their appetites, but
they are slaves to their passions and their lusts. They have lost the ability
to regulate their thoughts and actions. They are susceptible to outside
influences and can be manipulated.
There's an
irony here that shouldn't be missed. In their quest for self- enthronement and
mastery, the elevation of self and the desire for power, they in fact lose it
and become enslaved, or snared and taken captive as Paul says in chapter 3
verse 26.
But they
usually cannot see it. But we can. We can see what power does to others and
often how miserable they are. They find no satisfaction and many turn to
self-destruction. They are caught on a treadmill and can't get off.
This cycle
of destruction leads to a certain callousness and thus what Paul labels as
brutality. They can become very cold and in fact violent toward others.
We could say
much about this but let's just consider for a moment that at a fundamental
level violence involves coercion, forcing others to bend to your will, and in
some cases restricting the movements of others to allow you to move. Violence
is by no means restricted to the sword or the gun. Those are the final stages
in what can be described as violent acts. Long before punches are thrown or men
with badges and guns show up violence can already be at work.
This
brutality is closely tied in with slander, the unthankful and boastful attitude
of entitlement, a lack of love and empathy and attitudes of vengeance,
self-love and power.
Not everyone
who is brutal is necessarily or overtly violent as we would think of it. Many
such people can be very affable and pleasant people, maybe even mild in their
manners, sitting at a desk and wearing a suit. And yet, they can be vicious,
brutal and destructive in how they go about their business or even by
supporting a world-system which does this to others. Remember in Romans1 Paul
makes it clear that those who approve of such evil are also guilty, let alone
those who profit from such brutality.
The list
continues. As if all of this isn't enough, Paul tells us that these people in
their ungodly and distorted way of thinking will in the end despise those who
do good. They will take those who work for good, those who challenge their evil
and make them into monsters and enemies of their 'form of godliness'.
Their
consciences are seared and they can no longer see the truth and discern what is
good and what is evil.
They are
traitors to Christ's Kingdom to be sure and yet they are also traitors in the
sense of being backstabbers and betrayers. They will trample anyone who gets in
the way of their self-pleasure and empowerment. They will harm friends, family
and brethren. And they are headstrong about it, stubborn and unshakeable. The
seared conscience cannot be reasoned with or won over and even when it
seemingly changes, the empathy or repentance that we see are false, worldly and
calculated. Paul warns us of such false repentance.
Paul
mentions haughtiness and here there is something implied that is beyond pride.
To borrow a term from secular psychology we might say they are sociopathic.
They think the rules that apply to everyone else don't apply to them. They are
above the morals and standards that apply to others. They are engaged in large-scale
self-deception. Their lofty goals which are really self-serving allow them to
play fast and loose with morality. The end justifies the means.
This is the
ultimate spirit of entitlement that is not only ubiquitous among those who
wield power and those who seek it, but it's actually quite easy to see. It
requires no great wisdom or discernment. Fallen politicians and businessmen can
be unbelievable at times as they seek to justify their actions. We can also
think of fallen 'Christian' leaders who caught in sin cannot let the power go
and after a period of feigned repentance come right back and seek once more the
power they wielded. There's not a humble or repentant bone in their bodies.
They are haughty and without self-control.
Ultimately
these people who are of the world but in the Church. They are lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God. They live to please themselves and have
built a system of theology which justifies their way of life and their desire
for worldly power and success.
They have a
form of godliness. They have a visible outward identification with
Christianity. They go through the rituals, they attend church, they know the
lingo but their hearts and their minds are set on worldly things. They are
ultimately ungodly and profane in their thoughts and aspirations. They may
learn theology, but it's only to justify and vindicate their overall worldly
goals.
They profess
to know God but in works deny him.
When
confronted with the authority of God's word, His mandates and imperatives they
chafe and resist. They refuse to submit to God's will and the supernatural
order. The way of cross is wholly unknown to them and transformation is absent
from their lives. They give lip service to God's authority but the fruit they
bear demonstrates that they deny it and know nothing of God's Kingdom.
We are told
to turn away from them! These people are toxic, destructive to the Church and
even destructive to the Christian life. I cannot help but think of many
innocent (in a good sense) Christians who are caught up in these types of
theologies. They are swept away and lose their first love. They would say they
are following the Lord more zealously than ever, but they have strayed from the
path of Biblical obedience and their hearts and attitudes demonstrate this. I
always think of one Christian man I used to know who had a simple almost
child-like faith, a humble desire to learn obedience to God's Word. But then
the Dominionists got a hold of him and now his time and energies are spent
waging culture war, seeking power and yet the Scriptures are not really part of
His life.
How many
Christians do I know who know little or next to nothing of Scripture or
doctrine and clam up when these topics are raised but come alive and can talk
endlessly of political strategy and the evil deeds of Obama and his allies?
These types
of teachers that Paul is speaking of are in fact looking for self-glory and
accolade. There's a dangerous formula that often works within the Church. These
types of men feed on praise and attention, on importance and they get a high on
being in positions of leadership. The eldership, the role of Church leader is
no different to them than being a CEO or a politician. But in the Church there's
another danger. There are many women who are spiritually unfulfilled. Married
to unbelieving men or men who are spiritually dull they desire knowledge and
intimacy they are not receiving. There's a bad dynamic that can come into play
when these types of worldly teachers encounter this specific type of woman.
If these
women are the type that are given to what is today often called 'drama' and
they are desirous of tangible spiritual experiences and are held captive to
their emotions and lack self-control, these men can get hold of them and they
begin to feed off each other. It can become quite destructive to the marriage
relationship and to the Church at large.
Paul is
warning Timothy and the Church of this type of teacher and this type of woman.
The formula is a bad brew indeed.
The teachers
are in effect little different than sorcerers. At the heart of witchcraft and
sorcery is the idea of manipulation and the quest for control. It is an attempt
to tear the reins from God and the laws and boundaries which He has established
and to manipulate nature, people or whatever to serve and conform to the will.
The evil is not so much potions and incantations which are mere instruments,
but the quest for power. Today there are many other types of potions and
incantations. It's all sorcery.
Jannes and
Jambres are the traditional names given to the sorcerers of Pharaoh who turned
staffs into serpents. Do not think for a moment that such power is not real.
Some think it's not possible today and some are even embarrassed by suggestions
of the supernatural in our day. No doubt some in Christian circles have abused
this and made it into something almost ridiculous, but that's the danger. It's
not ridiculous. It's very real. At yet at its heart is the desire, this power-impulse
that can work in many situations in the Church and without. But it's particularly
dangerous, heinous and destructive when brought within the context of the
Church.
These teachers
resist the Truth even when it is presented to them. They show themselves to be
reprobates who understand nothing of true repentance. They cannot break with
their quest for power. It would break them and indeed that's exactly what needs
to happen for one to walk with Christ. We have to be broken.
Paul seems
to suggest in v.9 that these types of teachers or even schools of thought will
only progress so far. They may still fool people but to anyone who's even
casually watching they will seem them for what they are. And indeed these types
often self-destruct and in time the people of God are able to see them for what
they really are. And if not, be sure they will be exposed on that great and
terrible Day.
Again, the
great enemy to the Church is not found or sourced from the outside. It works
from within. The great threat is the wolf in sheep's clothing. We must be
conscious of the antithesis, conscientious about it and be sure to teach and
exhort within the Church that the flock may also keep the lines clear and
distinct. Inevitably the Church must wrestle with the world but the great
danger is when the line grows blurry and the Church can no longer discern the
difference or it lets the world define these and other concepts for us. Then
the Church ceases to be the Church and ends up denying the authority and power
of God. This can happen in the Liberal Churches but don't think the Conservative
Churches are exempt. They can just as easily fall prey to the impulses of the
world. Don't think the answer is legalism. Man-made rules are certain to be
rooted in cultural contexts and attitudes and are in the end little more than
another interpretation or aspect of the world.
How do we
avoid these pitfalls? Paul will tell Timothy before the chapter is complete.
The answer lies in adherence to Scripture.
